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Ok, this post isn't technically about a library...unless we're counting your personal library. Because today I have a chance to fill your library with help from Partners in Crime Tours and a $100 gift card. Plenty of time to enter this one HERE. You have until November 26 (what a great thing to be thankful for) and there are plenty of option to earn extra entries.

Thanks to Partners in Crime blog tours for the opportunity to interview author BJ Condike about his debut novel Murder is Personal. Jake Powell is perfectly happy in his adopted Texas town until an old friend shows up. And then shows up dead. Can he figure who did it and why before he ends up behind bars? You can read my review HERE. And don't forget the giveaway! Jodi: Your author bio includes a list of past occupations/hobbies – everything from bookkeeper to archer to furni

Welcome to my first Wednesday offering for Nonfiction November. Today it's a memoir. Paris...hooray! Sexual assault...boo! Conquering your demons...hooray! Thanks to WOW Blog Tours and author Deborah Svec-Carstens for a copy of Toward the Light. If you enjoy a memoir about working through trauma to triumph, this is the book for you. You can read a great author interview HERE. More about Toward the Light What happens when the City of Light turns dark? At twenty-two, Deborah Sv

Thanks to WOW book tours for a copy of What Happened in Beulah. You can check out lots of other fun stops, an author interview and a giveaway HERE. More about What Happened in Beulah A teenage girl uncovers the dark secrets of her Smoky Mountain town while searching for a missing classmate in this gripping coming-of-age mystery perfect for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing. Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Beulah has always seemed steady—rooted in tradition, sha

Overall, November is a drab sort of month in my world. The cold finally settles in, the sky is mostly gray and the chance of snow becomes a reality. On the flip side, it really is perfect reading weather and November has been renamed Nonfiction November. The challenge is to read more nonfiction than you would normally read. For you, reading just one nonfiction book could be enough to meet the challenge! Because I can't give up reading fiction completely, I'll be featuring my

Thanks to Partners in Crime Tours for a copy of Murder is Personal, the debut novel by BJ Condike. Check out my review today then come back next week for an author interview & a giveaway. More about Murder Is Personal Jake Powell came to Rattlesnake Bend to disappear. The dying North Texas lake town was the perfect place to outrun his past: no questions, no connections, no reminders of the life he left behind in Massachusetts. He kept his head down, worked for a local woodwor

Thanks to WOW Women on Writing Blog Tours and author Toni Curtis for the chance to join the WOW Blitz for her debut book Beyond Depletion: A Nutritional Therapist's Guide to Postpartum Healing. Scroll down for more information about the book but first, a little bit from me about how motherhood changes. Motherhood Changes When moms and moms-to-be get talking about childbirth experiences I like to say I've done it all (I haven't). But I have had a variety of experiences. Baby

I'm beginning to think I should dedicate each Monday to library and bookstore news! Today's news is: You could win $250 for your favorite library! This fun contest is hosted by the Chicago Public Library Foundation and you can enter HERE. Don't miss this chance, the contest ends on October 27 at 11:45 pm. US residents only. Nonfiction Essay Here's a totally unrelated thing! Just a week left to enter the WOW Creative Nonfiction Essay contest. The deadline is Saturday, October

Thanks to Partners in Crime Book Book Tours and author Julia L. Rule for the opportunity to read How Can I Help You Today? Ever since I received this book I could not get Julia L. Rule off my mind. Not because of her book (not true, OF COURSE because of her book - scroll down for my review) but also because she has no online presence. I didn't even get an author's pic to post. Which of course has made me obsessed with her. Is Julia L. Rule her real name? (Probably not). Did

Thanks to WOW Women on Writing Blog Tours and contributing author Elle Mott for a copy of When Women Talk. Have you ever read an anthology and thought, "Why wasn't I a part of this?" My writer brain was screaming this when I heard about When Women Talk. You can check out an author interview and enter to win a book giveaway HERE. You also check out my review of Elle's creative nonfiction: Marie Conner: A Leading Lady HERE. More About When Women Talk Ever wish you could call y

If you've read my blog for any amount of time you probably know that I LOVE my library. All libraries. I actually visit libraries on my vacations. You may think I'm crazy but have you ever been in a library that is a boat? I seem to have gotten off track. I was on my way to the library this Saturday to pick up the latest Janet Evanovich for my mom. As I walked down the sidewalk a man got out of a van and he was carrying a huge tray piled high with baked potatoes (I know this

I keep saying I dislike dual timeline stories but I keep reading them. Of course I don't have much choice because I love historical fiction and dual timelines are everywhere! The writer in me is wondering...are dual timelines the best way to format historical fiction, the easiest way, the way most readers enjoy it? Why am I seeing so many books with dual timelines (or the occassional triple timelines!)? Ok, tiny rant over. Up next is - you guessed it - a historical fiction wi

Not every book is my cup of tea. When my children were growing up there might have been books I didn't want my kids to read because of their age. But I looked at those as my reading choices and my parenting choices. It never even occurred to me to try and ban a book for an entire school district or community. Sadly, we seem to be living in opposite world now where books are banned wily-nilly, often for random reasons by people who haven't even read the whole book. My family w

Thanks to WOW blog tours for the chance to read my first Kristan Higgins book! Friendship, longstanding feuds, jealousy, love, grief, betrayal, guilt - this book has it all. You can read my review HERE and learn more about the book below. More About The Me I Used to Be Back in senior year, Audrey, Micah, Jasmine, and Beck were the Core Four: the lucky one, the beautiful one, the smart one, the sporty one. They had color-coded dreams, inside jokes, and a lifelong friendship th

Darcy Graves is back today with my review of her debut book The Harlot of St. Cecelia's. If you're a fan of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series, this could be your next mystery series. You can read my author interview and enter the giveaway HERE. More about The Harlot of St. Cecelia's London, 1923. American expat librarian Eden Brior thinks things are bad when she is accidentally locked overnight in the St. Cecelia’s Library vault with the charming and unreliable Simon

Thanks to Partners in Crime blog tours for the opportunity to interview author Darcy Graves about The Harlot of St. Cecelia's. Check out my review next week. Don't miss the first book in the Inspector Garrett mystery series - complete with buttoned up Englishman, curious American expat and beautiful French actress. Don't miss the giveaway at the end of this post. Jodi: I’m with you on the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Love it! If you could be one detective from the Golden

Thanks to WOW Blog Tours and author Sherri Dodd for a copy of Moonset on Desert Sands. In Book 2 of the Murder, Tea & Crystals trilogy, Arista and her aunt are temporarily uprooted from their California home for Arizona. Judging from the lush descriptions (that I sometimes had to read multiple times, just to relish in the images the language conjured up) Arizona must be a breathtaking place. Lately, I've been loosening up my "read a series in order" rule but I fell I must rei

To my immense pleasure, I've received my copy of Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham- that was just released in the US/Canada last week. Yes, what started as a quirky Substack started by a bored bookshop owner/author is now an actual book. And it is hilarious! What reader wouldn't want to see the reality behind our universal dream - to have our own bookshop? I ordered my copy through bookshop.org and they are having a special to celebrate the release. Use the promo co

True confessions, when I heard about the WOW Women on Writing Blog Tour for The Economy Always Gets Better, I flashed back to my high school economics class. Sadly, about the only thing I remember is that Mr. P. had a yardstick and roamed the aisles as he chatted -- and occasionally smacked the desk of a sleeping student. In general, it was a nerve-wracking class. Apologies to Mr. P. but I retained a lot more reading this book. And no worries that the crack of a yardstick hit

Thanks to WOW Blog Tours and author Marysue Moses for a review copy of Looking Past Dementia. If you're of a certain age you might remember the TV ad Is it Live or is it Memorex? Apologies to the ad men of the 1980s, but now we're asking a new question: Is it normal aging or is it dementia? Looking Past Dementia helps us answer that question as well as figure out what comes next. More About Looking Past Dementia: Learning from Those Who Live with It In Looking Past Dementia,