Inside of a Dog: 2025

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Audiobook Review: The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery

The Vineyard at Painted Moon
Author: Susan Mallery
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Publication: Harlequin Audio (February 9, 2021)
Length: 10 hours and 34 minutes

Description: Step into the vineyard with Susan Mallery’s most irresistible novel yet, as one woman searches for the perfect blend of love, family and wine.

Mackenzie Dienes seems to have it all — a beautiful home, close friends and a successful career as an elite winemaker with the family winery. There’s just one problem — it’s not her family, it’s her husband’s. In fact, everything in her life is tied to him — his mother is the closest thing to a mom that she’s ever had, their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend. So when she and her husband admit their marriage is over, her pain goes beyond heartbreak. She’s on the brink of losing everything. Her job, her home, her friends and, worst of all, her family.

Staying is an option. She can continue to work at the winery, be friends with her mother-in-law, hug her nieces and nephews — but as an employee, nothing more. Or she can surrender every piece of her heart in order to build a legacy of her own. If she can dare to let go of the life she thought she wanted, she might discover something even more beautiful waiting for her beneath a painted moon.

My Thoughts: Mackenzie Dienes is living the life she has always wanted. She's a winemaker for an excellent and established winery. She's married into the Barcellona family which gives her family which she didn't have as an orphan. She is best friends with her sister-in-law Stephanie.

But her perfect life comes tumbling down when Rhys, her husband of sixteen years, asks for a divorce. Sure, Mackenzie knew that she and her husband weren't in love anymore and were more like friends and roommates, but the family and the job were enough for her.

Mackenzie doesn't know what to do. Divorce, even an amicable one, will cost her the job she loves and the family she has built. And, to pile on, farewell sex has left her pregnant with a baby her husband doesn't want.

As Mackenzie is trying to rebuild her life, her sister-in-law Stephanie is also at a crisis point. She wants a new job that will take her away from the family vineyard where she can never seem to please her perfectionist mother. And she doesn't want to start over with her ex-husband even though they are getting along better as they parent their two children.

When Mackenzie partners up with a man who wants to develop a vineyard, she has a chance to rebuild her life, but her ex-mother-in-law Barbara is doing everything she can to sabotage her. And things don't really improve with her ex-mother-in-law when they recruit Stephanie to do the marketing for the new vineyard.

Barbara is also a viewpoint character, and she doesn't come off well. Her complete focus on her vineyard has ruined her relationships with all of her children but she isn't accepting any of the blame for the way things are turning out. She manages to alienate the man who loves her and asks her to marry him.

This was an interesting story. I liked the way Mackenzie and Stephanie managed to rebuild their lives once they got out from under Barbara's thumb.

I bought this one May 21, 2021. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala

Death in the Cards
Author: Mia P. Manansala
Publication: Delacorte Press (May 13, 2025)

Description: The young adult debut from the award-winning author of Arsenic and Adobo! When a high school tarot reader’s latest client goes missing after a troubling reading, she must apply everything she’s learned from her private investigator mother to solve a case of her own.

Danika Dizon is a natural problem-solver. Thanks to her private investigator mom and mystery author dad, she's equipped with the skills to offer guidance to anxious classmates who come to her for a tarot reading between classes. For a price, of course.

But when one of her clients vanishes shortly after they're dealt a death card, the girl’s younger sister Gaby begs Danika to figure out what went wrong. Danika takes on the case, thinking it's the perfect way to prove to her parents that she should be an official investigator in the family’s detective agency.

What starts off as a compelling challenge quickly devolves into something darker as Danika and Gaby peel back layer after layer of the secret life the missing girl has been living. A life that those involved would do anything to keep from being revealed…

My Thoughts: Danika Dizon is a high school junior and a tarot card reader. She has a good business reading the cards for her high school classmates. But when a stranger comes for a reading, Danika is concerned by what the cards foretell. And when the stranger's sister comes to see her the next day blaming her for her sister's disappearance, Danika finds herself in the middle of quite a problem.

Danika has some experience with investigations. Her mother runs a private investigations agency, and her father writes mystery novels. Danika has done research for both and intends to be a private investigator herself after she finishes school.

The mystery was engaging and the Chicago setting interesting too. Danika is a Filippino, and the story is filled with her family and the foods they eat. Danika is also a little focused on problem solving and isn't really good at interpersonal relationships. She isn't sure what to make of her client Gaby's interest in her. Nor does she know how to handle her relationship with a boy she meets during the course of the investigation.

I enjoyed this one for its very interesting main character and the mystery she has to solve.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

ARC Review: The Language of the Birds by K. A. Merson

The Language of the Birds
Author: K. A. Merson
Publication: Ballantine Books (May 13, 2025)

Description: A brilliant but solitary teenager must unlock ciphers, unearth buried clues, and reckon with the outside world as she pursues an ancient secret in this brainteasing, puzzle-filled mystery.

Seventeen-year-old Arizona’s favorite things include cryptography, geocaching, the writings of Jules Verne—and exploring the Sierra Nevadas on her Russian Ural motorcycle, with her dog Mojo riding shotgun in his sidecar.

So when she learns her mother’s been kidnapped and finds a cryptic test accompanying the ransom note, she’s not just horrified—but electrified. Solving puzzles and cracking codes are what she does best, and she knows exactly how to tackle the challenge the kidnappers are dangling in front of her.

What she doesn’t yet realize is that she’s been enlisted in a treasure hunt, on the trail of an occult, centuries-old secret her father supposedly took to his grave. And if the prize at the end is real, it could shake the world.

As Arizona chases the truth through fiendish puzzles and ancient texts, unearthing clues both buried underground and hiding in plain sight in the Western landscape, she’s forced to navigate the outside world in ways she never has before―and begins to forge connections she never dreamed she could.

Featuring an indomitable young heroine and a plot that ingeniously weaves together real facts into a treasure hunt of epic proportions, The Language of the Birds is an irresistibly quirky, endlessly surprising adventure that will leave readers wondering where the truth ends and fiction begins.

My Thoughts: Seventeen-year-old Arizona and her mother are making a pilgrimage to a ghost town to scatter some of her father's ashes. He died just seventeen days before this story started in an accident while riding his motorcycle. She and her mother are both grieving as they travel.

But when Arizona's mother disappears as they went their separate ways at the ghost town, Arizona is left not knowing what to do. She's neurodivergent and talking to other people is hard for her. Asking the park rangers for help is hard and useless.

When Arizona gets a phone call telling her that "they" have her mother and that she needs to solve some puzzles for them if they are to release her mother, Arizona finds herself solving a variety of difficult puzzles and gradually uncovering clues to what might be a conspiracy that has hidden since the days of the alchemists.

I enjoyed the puzzles and the many references to actual people, notably Herbert Hoover, and actual government documents. I liked the way Arizona and her trusty boxer Mojo traveled together to solve the puzzles and rescue her mother.

This story was a journey ranging from the desert Southwest to a Pacific Island used as a US Navy missile testing ground. It was also a journey for Arizona from a lonely, isolated young woman to a more out-going young woman who proves herself and gathers some friends along the way.

I thought it was an excellent story.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

ARC Review: Hounding a Killer by Kallie E. Benjamin

Hounding a Killer
Author: Kallie E. Benjamin
Series: A Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Berkley (May 6, 2025)

Description: It’s chaos in Crosbyville when someone tries to swindle a large inheritance, but as Pris and Bailey start digging for the missing money, they uncover the wrong kind of bones….

Finally finished with the renovations on her new house, bestselling children’s book author Pris and her trusty bloodhound, Bailey, are finding more opportunities to join the community, including attending the annual town festival. But their efforts are paw-sed when David Townsend, volatile grandson of the late wealthy resident Edward Townsend, comes to fetch his inheritance.

After the new arrival riles up several other locals with petty arguments, the once sleepy town goes barking mad. Before long, the wealthy bachelor disappears without a trace, and the police suspect foul play. Bailey’s tracking instincts helped them collar the last criminal in Crosbyville, so the cops turn to Pris and her sweet hound to track down David.

But on their search-and-rescue mission, Pris and Bailey sniff out fraud, theft, and a body. Before they know it, both are hackles-deep inside another homicide investigation. Can the unlikely duo chase down the killer, or will they be left chasing their own tails?

My Thoughts: Pris and her bloodhound Bailey are back in their second investigation. It is time for the Crosbyville Fall Festival. This time the venue has been changed to the estate of Edward Townsend instead of the fairground. Townsend has recently died and the question of who will inherit the multi-billionaire's fortune is on everybody's mind.

Edward was something of a recluse, but he did patronize Pris's Aunt Agatha's diner for his Sunday dinner. Agatha and Edward were friends. Edward had lost track of his descendants and hired a private investigator to try to track down his heirs. Edward's lawyer found David Townsend who is a grandson. The private investigator found a young girl who is a more distant related.

Pris and Bailey are demonstrating his tracking ability when she discovers the body of one of Edward's trustees in a garden shed. He was badly beaten and dies shortly later in the hospital leaving a vacancy in the trustees who include his lawyer and his accountant - two women who don't get along at all well. Their rivalry is only one of the many at the Townsend estate.

Pris is more than willing to leave the investigation to her boyfriend who is the Chief of Police, but she keeps stumbling on clues. Things heat up when it is learned that Edward Townsend died of poison rather than of natural causes. Now, the Chief of Police has two murders to investigate. Besides the murder, there is also the matter of embezzlement from the estate and a backpack filled with $50,000 in cash which Bailey digs up.

This was an engaging cozy mystery. Pris is not your usual heroine given that she is prone to fainting when the going gets tough. But she and Bailey along with her boyfriend to solve the mystery in the end. And Pris does get her second Bailey the Bloodhound children's book finished too.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding by Catherine Mack

No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding
Author: Catherine Mack
Series: The Vacation Mysteries (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 13, 2025)

Description: The second in a witty, USA Today bestselling series following author Eleanor Dash as she goes from wedding guest to murder mystery investigator at her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.

Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.

Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way―because of course there is―but nothing will stop their nuptials . . . that is until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail . . . before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.

My Thoughts: This second book in the Vacation Mysteries was an engaging romp. Eleanor Dash is on the set of a movie being made from her first book - the book that launched her career. Her best friend Emma is playing her main character and A-List movie star Fred Winters is playing the part of Connor Smith. Unfortunately, the director is a childhood frenemy. Things should be going well despite her disputes with the screenwriter who has seemingly changed not only her dialog but the ending of the story.

The finale of the filming is a trip to Catalina Island for the wedding of Emma and Fred. Eleanor is convinced the Emma is moving too fast. Sure, she's had a crush on Fred for years, but she doesn't really know him. Then the notes start arriving - vaguely threatening and cut out of letters from recent scripts.

Does someone want Emma dead? Or is something else going on? Connor has shown up claiming to be hired by the director who wants Connor to look into Fred's finances. Fred owes him bunches of money. And not only are there threats but a hurricane is bearing down on Catalina Island leaving one lone rookie cop when threats escalate to suspicious deaths.

This was a very twisty story with generous punches of humor. One seldom reads a mystery with footnotes, but they are very successful here. And the story is told by Eleanor in the first person. She has a very quirky viewpoint and voice.

For fun and thrills, this is an excellent story.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Monday, May 5, 2025

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 5, 2025)

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.

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

Other Than Reading...

Last week was a quiet week. We had some rain but no snow. I hope that means that snow is over for the season and Spring will finally arrive. With many sunny days and no snow on the solar panels, we are banking a lot of power and entering into the period when we don't have to pay power bills because we're producing more than we use. This makes my brother very happy as he's the one who pays the power bill.

We are having our yard cleanup guys coming this week to give the shrubbery their annual trims. We should have done this last Fall, but things got away from us and snow arrived before we could get it scheduled.

Otherwise, this coming week should be quiet. I've fallen behind in my reviewing again because of my In Death by J. D. Robb audiobook addiction. This week I'm setting myself a goal of reading/listening to all the books I've listed for next week before I listen to another In Death book. We'll see how that goes since I seem to have very weak willpower.

April Reading

I read 36 books in April with a total of 13,222 pages. I listened to seventeen audiobooks for a total of 212.9 hours. Thirteen of the seventeen audiobooks were rereads. I read twenty of my own books including all of the audiobooks. I also read sixteen review copies. Seven of the books/audiobooks I read this month were from my TBR pile.

I added 53 books to my LibraryThing account in April. Only four of the new additions this month were audiobooks including three from Chirp and one added via Audible Credit. I added 18 books to my review stack from NetGalley. Most of my new additions were books I bought on sale after being alerted to them via the various emails I get each day from BookBub, BookPerks, and Early Bird books. Thirty-one of the new (non-Review) books are still on the TBR pile.

With one-fourth of the year finished, I have read 128 books. Seventy-seven of the books were mine including 33 from my TBR pile. Fifty-one were review copies. I've listened to sixty-one audiobooks so far this year.

Here is my State of the Stack post from May 1. June looks to be busy. I already had fifteen Review copies releasing that month and added one more after the State of the Stack was posted.

Read Last Week

Shadows in the Water by Kory M. Shrum (Audiobook; Mine since April 6, 2025) -- First in a paranormal mystery series. My review will be posted on May 15.
Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)

Thankless in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews (Review; May 20) -- Set in 1864 and first in a new historical romance series with lots of historical detail. My review will be posted on May 13.
Concealed in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)

Festive in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)
Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong (Review; May 20) -- Fourth Rip Through Time mystery. My review will be posted on May 14.

Currently

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis (Mine since April 1, 2025)
All Eyes on Me by Linsey Lanier (Chirp Audiobook; Mine since March 25, 2025)

Next Week

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (Review; May 27)
Tell Me by Anne Frasier (Audiobook; Mine since March 24, 2025)
The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson (Review; May 27)

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich (Mine since March 20, 2025)
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone (Mine since March 17, 2025)
Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney (Review; May 27)

Reviews Posted

Shot Through the Book by Eva Gates (Review copy)
Archangel's Ascension by Nalini Singh (Review copy)
Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay (Review copy)

Fantasy in Death by J. D. Robb
This Is Not a Dead Girl Story by Kate Sweeney

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

Review:

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (June 10)
For Duck's Sake by Donna Andrews (August 5)

Bought:

The Not-So Shocking Murder by Lily Stirling (BookBub, Free)
The Dead of Night by Robert Enright (BookBub, $.99)

Death on the Boardwalk by Caleb Wygal (BookBub, Free)
The Plot Twist by Eleanor Goymer (BookPerks, $.99)

What was your week like?

Saturday, May 3, 2025

ARC Review: Archangel's Ascension by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Ascension
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Guild Hunter (Book 17)
Publication: Berkley (May 6, 2025)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us back to her breathtakingly passionate Guild Hunter World, where an impending transformation will be both an ending and a beginning…

Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.

Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.

The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy...and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…

My Thoughts: ARCHANGEL'S ASCENSION is the seventeenth in the Guild Hunter series. It is also a story of love enduring through the ages. Aodhan and Illium are angels who have been best friends since childhood. Over time, their friendship added romance and love but over a long life many things can happen.

The story is told in two time periods: Yesterday and Today. Yesterday is actually about 700 years before Today. It tells of the time after the Cascade and epic wars. It is a time for rebuilding both the world and Aodhan and Illium's relationship. Aodhan is getting over being kidnapped and tortured and then being separated from Illium when they are sent separately to help rebuild China. This section spotlights a murder investigation conducted by the two of them.

Today is about Illium ascending to become an Archangel. This is literally a life-changing experience for him that will rip him away from all of his friends and the home he has built in New York. Illium had hoped that the start of the ascending in the Yesterday that was aborted meant that he didn't have to worry about it happening to him. He was wrong. However, Today has him several hundred years older and more able to deal with the stresses of becoming an archangel.

This was an excellent story about two of the favorite characters of the Guild Hunter series. I enjoyed catching up with old friends and seeing how the years have treated them. I can't imagine that this would be a good entry point for someone new to the world and the characters.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, May 2, 2025

Friday Memes: Archangel's Ascension by Nalini Singh

Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires.

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not.

Beginning:

Illium swept past the sleek skyscraper that pierced the white clouds of an early spring day, so close that his wing threatened to brush against black glass tough enough to withstand an angelic strike.

Friday 56:

We have few staff--none for the house. We've shut up most of it. The staff we do have help with the wounded beasts."

This week I am spotlighting Archangel's Ascension by Nalini Singh. This seventeenth in the Guild Hunter series is from my review stack. Here's the description from Amazon:

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us back to her breathtakingly passionate Guild Hunter World, where an impending transformation will be both an ending and a beginning…

Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.

Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.

The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy...and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…