Hello and welcome to the last Sunday in February! I finished five books this week, here’s a recap.

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia. P. Manansala

Cozy mystery/Audiobook

I’m learning cozy mysteries just aren’t my jam. This was an entertaining audiobook but the story was slow and the writing was weak. I always appreciate the glimpse into a culture different from my own and the details were great here. I liked the characters. The food was a character of its own and I enjoyed seeing the role it plays in this family and their culture. The mystery was compelling enough for me to keep listening, but it was pretty easy to figure out the “who done it.” I recommend this for readers of cozy mysteries.

Electric Idol by Katie Robert

Erotic romance

HOT HOT HOT! I didn’t like this one quite as much as Neon Gods but I still loved it. Robert’s character development and world building is so stellar, I get absolutely sucked into her stories and can’t put them down. This is an epic take on enemies to lovers, Psyche and Eros mothers hate each other. When it appears that they are romantically involved, Eros mother demands he kill Psyche. So he presents her with an ultimatum, either I kill you or I marry you. There is so much drama and political maneuvering in Olympus. It makes all the side stories and characters just as interesting as the main ones. I highly recommend this novel for readers of erotic romance, and anyone who wants a new (highly sexual) spin on Greek mythology.

The Ex-Boyfriend Yardsale by Haley McGee

Memoir

This is a brilliant memoir, the concept is unique. Haley is broke and trying to figure out how she can make some cash, when she decides to sell a bunch of gifts she has from old boyfriends. The question is, how much are these things worth? From here, Haley gets the idea to create a formula to figure out the worth of each item based on the particulars of each relationship. She partners with a mathematician and they put in a ton of work to create a formula. Along the way, she decides to turn this into a one woman show (which is what she does, she’s an actress.) The book chronicles her journey from idea to finished production. Her writing is honest and she is absolutely vulnerable as she looks into all the aspects of a relationship, there’s humor and sadness. Reading this made me think of my past relationships and realize that no amount of time was ever “wasted”, even if it felt that way at the time. The book explores what we gain from relationships and take with us into the rest of our lives. I highly recommend this for readers of memoir.

Love in a Pickle by LB Dunbar

Contemporary romance

The second half of this was much more enjoyable than the first half. Both characters are pretty unlikable at first, and it took a while to understand their motivations. I wish that had happened sooner. Scotia and Chet ping pong back and forth so much between hating and loving each other, it was a bit too much. But once they get into a groove, and begin to understand each other, they were a fun couple. I like romance novels with charters who are older (40 plus) because they tend to know what they want san don’t want from the relationship. Scotia’s past made her very clear about what she wanted from Chet and I appreciated that she wasn’t willing to compromise. There’s a lot going on in this book and it covers some heavy topics such as death, grief, kidnapping, and the foster system. Yet there are funny moments as well and an overall hopeful tone. I recommend this one for readers of romance. It’s part of a series but works fine as a stand alone too.

Hello Molly! by Molly Shannon

Memoir

I like Molly Shannon more now than I did before reading this. I loved her as an actress but I didn’t know anything about her life. It turns out she’s had an interesting life and dealt with a lot of tragedy from a young age. I enjoyed learning how her life influenced the characters she created later on in her career. With all that being said, this book isn’t well written. The writing is simple and repetitive. At times the anecdotes feel forced and there’s a bit of name dropping. Molly tells us everything but never shows emotion. She skips over some portions of her life (getting married an having kids) which is her choice as the author but the book feels incomplete because she gives so much detail about other areas of her life. If you’re a big fan of Molly’s, this is worth reading. If not, skip it.

Currently Reading

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