It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 18, 2023)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

This was another quiet week with above average temperatures. It actually rained all day Friday with rain turning to snow overnight but melting away again on Saturday. I woke up this morning (Sunday) to a light dusting of snow on the deck and very light snow is still falling but melting when it hits the ground. Right now, it's 32F with mist and fog. With temperatures forecast for this week of 20s and 30s, it doesn't look like we are in for a white Christmas. I'm more than okay with that. Snow means I don't drive and right now I still can if I feel like leaving the house. Not that I can think of any good reason to actually leave the house.

I added a bunch of new review books to my stack this week including a couple that are being released on January 11. I read those this week and enjoyed them. I also read four other review books releasing in early January. And I listened to two audiobooks. I'm getting closer to finishing the Amelia Peabody series. 

This week's cooking adventures weren't really all that adventurous. I make a salmon noodle casserole using the leftovers from our baked salmon and I made Salisbury steak. I also made his version of Macaroni and Cheese which includes a can of Cream of Something soup to go along with fish sticks on Friday. 

I have begun making my brother "TV dinners" to eat when he gets home from work on those shifts when he misses the dinner hour. We have some very handy microwaveable sectioned plates with vented lids. There will be a few of those needed this week. Today he works until midnight, and we'll eat Chinese he bought yesterday for our midafternoon dinner. He'll also be working until midnight Thursday and Saturday but will need his TV dinners Wednesday, Friday, and Christmas Eve. It is hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away. 

This coming week includes reading a number of review books and one book of my own. If I finish Children of the Storm, I have the second in Elly Griffiths' Brighton Mysteries series and the penultimate Amelia Peabody in queue. 

Read Last Week

• The Expectant Detective by Kat Ailes (Review; January 9) -- Alice and Joe move to the country to live because they think it will be a better place to raise a family given that Alice is 8 months pregnant only to discover a body after their first childbirth class. Alice and some of the other pregnant ladies investigate the death. My review will be posted on January 4.
• A Body on the Doorstep by Marty Wingate (Review; January 11) -- One of Mabel Canning's first assignment for the Useful Woman Agency is to help with a wake for a man who died seven years earlier. She wasn't expecting to find the body of another man on the doorstep and investigates who he was and how he came to be there. My review will be posted on January 3.
• Northwoods by Amy Pease (Review; January 9) -- Set in rural Wisconsin and starring a man suffering from PTSD who is now working for his mother at the Sheriff's Department, this mystery concerns murdered and missing teenagers, the opioid crisis, and scheming drug companies. My review will be posted on January 6.

• Dream Town by Lee Goldberg (Review; January 16) -- Fifth in the Eve Ronin series. Eve investigates the case of the death of a reality TV show even while the series based on Eve's life is beginning shooting. My review will be posted on January 9.
• The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews (Review; January 16) -- Historical romance set in the 1860s in England. Both characters are dealing with secret stuff which gets in the way of their romance until they confide in each other. My review will be posted on January 9.
• A Body at the Seance by Marty Wingate (Review; January 11) -- The second in the London Ladies' Murder Club series. Set in 1921 and starring Mabel Canning who is newcome to London to become an independent lady, the story deals with the death of a man at the seance who had supposedly died six months earlier. My review will be posted on January 10.

• The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook Reread) -- This 14th (or 17th) in the Amelia Peabody series takes place during World War I. It deals with discovery of a new tomb and Ramses' secret mission to Gaze to determine if his Uncle Sethos is a traitor to British Intelligence. My review will be posted on January 11.
• The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths (Audiobook; Audible Plus) -- This is the first in a new historical mystery series set in Brighton in 1950. Edgar Stephens was once a member of the Magic Men, a military unit designed to confuse the enemy, but is now a police inspector. When he discovers the body of a woman cut in three pieces, he calls on his old magician friends from the unit to solve the case. My review will be posted on January 16.

Currently

• Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (Review; January 16)
• Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook Reread)

Next Week

• Deadly to the Core by Joyce Tremel (Review; January 16)
• Random in Death by J. D. Robb (Review; January 23)
• The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Review; January 23)

• The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka (Review; January 23)
• Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (Mine since May 19, 2021)
• Of Hoaxes and Homicide by Anastasia Hastings (Review; January 30)

Reviews Posted

• The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters
• Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

• One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt
• Sweet Starfire by Jayne Ann Krentz
• Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• A Body at the Seance by Marty Wingate (Review; January 11)
• A Body on the Doorstep by Marty Wingate (Review; January 11)
• The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett (Review; March 19)

• The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George (Review; April 23)
• Lights, Camera, Bones by Carolyn Haines (Review; May 21)
• Liar's Point by Laura Griffin (Review, May 21)

• Original Twin by Paula Gleeson (Review; May 28)
• A Collection of Lies by Connie Berry (Review; June 18)
• Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus (Review; July 30)

Bought:

• Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook, Chirp, $4.99)
• Birthright by Nora Roberts (Audiobook, Chirp, $4.99)

• Angels Fall by Nora Roberts (Audiobook, Chirp, $4.99)
• Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts (Audiobook, Chirp, $4.99)

• Deep Six by D. P. Lyle (Kindle, $1.99)
• The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas (BookBub, $1.99)

What was your week like?