Skylark

Paula McLain has finally written her World War II novel, but it's not at all what you might think.  Her latest book Skylark (#1,341) opens with a reclamation expert combing the remains of Notre Dame Cathedral after the disastrous fire of 2019.  She comes upon a small glass fragment etched with the outline of a bird.  That's the hook Ms. McLain uses to interweave two stories of Paris: one set in the 1660s and one set in the period leading up to and including the Nazi occupation in WWII.  Both use the extensive tunnels excavated below the city of Paris from Roman times to the present as an important story element.

Aloutte lives in the fetid enclave of Sant-Marcel, home to the influential dyers' guild.  Her father is obsessed with perfecting a unique shade of red.  Aloutte learns the fundamentals of dying from him, but in the own experimentation she finds her own unique color.  Both are framed for withholding their knowledge from the Guild and sentenced to imprisonment.  Aloutte must survive the infamous Salpetriere's women's prison for three years if she is to have any hope of ever being released.

Kristoff is a Dutch psychiatrist who has come to Paris to learn new methods of treating the mentally ill, especially those veterans shell-shocked from their experiences in the Great War.  He becomes friends with his neighbors living on the floor below him in his apartment building, a family who fled from the Nazis in Poland.  He also spends considerable time with one of the other residents at his hospital exploring the network of tunnels under the city.  When the Nazis begin emptying the psychiatric wards and rounding up Jewish families, Kristoff is forced to act in the only way he knows how.

How Ms. McLain binds these seemingly disparate stories together as both plot lines build to a climax keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and if there is any hope for the future in either timeline.  Highly recommended.

Murder On The Marlow Belle

I do enjoy reading Robert Thorogood's Marlow Murder Club Mysteries, even if the actresses who play the characters on TV look nothing like their descriptions in the books.  And speaking of watching things on TV, the British Acorn TV streaming service's Canal Boat Diaries provided some welcome background for the goings-on in Murder On The Marlow Belle (#1,740).  The eponymous boat is the site of a seemingly unsolvable murder.  Too many suspects, and too many incriminating clues!

When Verity Beresford contacts Judith Potts about her missing husband, Judith cannot understand at first why she's come to her door.  A call notifying Verity that her husband's body has been found by the river confirms Judith's reputation as Marlow's premier crime solver as she's witness to the call.  But have she Suzie and Becks, her confederates, finally met their match?

Oliver was the flamboyant leader of the local amateur theatrical group.  Many people had a motive to dislike, even hate him.  But they were in the middle of staging The Importance of Being Ernest and the show must go on.  What better way for Judith to get to know the prime suspects than to become a member of the cast?

Again, Mr. Thorogood waits until almost the final page to reveal the killer, and it's good fun along the way.  The gloom and doom Suzie promised for Judith from her tarot card reading hangs over the plot, but it's the final element that will pull readers into the next book.  Can't wait!

The Baby Dragon Cafe

The Baby Dragon Cafe (#1,739) by A.T. Qureshi delivers what the title promises: adorable baby dragons hanging out with their owners in a cozy cafe with almost every possible potable plus snacks you can imagine.  It was exactly as described by fellow members of one of my book groups.  Lots of romance between incredibly good-looking people from different social classes to add a bit of tension.  And dragons.

Saphira is on her own, able to start her dream cafe after her beloved grandmother leaves her enough money to start up.  She can't possibly afford a dragon of her own, so what better way to get close to them than to open a shop that welcomes baby dragons and their owners?  It's the best of all possible worlds until she runs into Aiden.  He has a dragon, but he's not training his baby properly.  Saphira offers to take on the job for him and bonds with Sparky, all the while encouraging Aiden to participate.  Sparks fly between the pair, but Sparky won't unless Aiden bonds with him as well.  Does the course of true love ever run smoothly?  

Looking for something light and entertaining?  The Baby Dragon Cafe might just be your ticket.

Python's Kiss

I don't normally read short story collections, but when I saw the name Louise Erdrich on the cover, I grabbed Python's Kiss (#1,738).  Several of the stories did, in fact, feature snakes, not my favorite animals!  None of the stories were light reading, but I found a few of them haunting indeed.  Louise Erdrich sure can write to snag the reader's attention.

I suppose the biggest surprise was that two of the stories were science fiction.  That, I did not see coming! Of all of them, I think my favorite was the one about the children on a school bus caught in a sudden April blizzard.  Did they or didn't they survive?  I think you'll have to read it for yourself and decide...

History Lessons

 I started reading Zoe B. Wallbrook's debut mystery novel History Lessons (#1,737) because of its positive reviews.  To me, the mystery is how.  Did not finish.

The Correspondent

Honestly, I can't decide whether or not I liked Virginia Evans epistolary novel The Correspondent (#1,736).  I couldn't stop reading it because most of it was written in short bursts, but I never did warm up to Sybil Van Antwerp, the main character.  I think her writing keeps everyone in her orbit at bay, including the readers.

Without giving too much away, Sybil is writing letters non-stop, as she has throughout her life, as she is aging and her health is declining.  She is at odds with most of the people who matter in life and still trying to get her own way.  Her past is colored by a major tragedy, but when it comes down to it, whose life isn't?  But it does reflect in her attitudes on what she feels she is owed by those around her.  In those few confidants she is lucky, but doesn't realize it until almost too late.

I will say that Virginia Evans does have the knack of keeping the readers' interest.  I wish her a long and fruitful career as an author.

Replaceable You

I always know I will learn a variety of wacky facts when I pick up one of Mary Roach's fascinating non-fiction books.  That proved to be the case with her latest, Replaceable You - Adventures in Human Anatomy (#1,735).  This time, she tackles the subject of replacing body parts with a variety of things - metal objects, cultured cells, animal parts - the list is seemingly endless.

I did learn a lot about the cataract surgery I had which I definitely did not learn from my doctor!  But humans' efforts to experiment with replacement parts is in equal parts amazing, heroic and horrifying.  Ms. Roach also introduces us to a host of courageous people who have been willing to play their parts in perfecting replaceable parts for future generations.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book for mealtime reading, but do give it a read!

The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne

I thought a romantasy with garden magic and a quest sounded interesting, so I picked up The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne (#1,734) by Summer N. England.  I stuck with until it turned into a lesbian romantasy.  Not my thing, and the story wasn't compelling enough for me to stick around.  Did not finish.

The Night Watchman

I went back to re-read the post I wrote after I read Louise Erdrich's novel The Night Watchman (#1,373) the first time in December of 2023.  It's been so long that I had to re-read it for my book club.  As far as I'm concerned, it was even better the second time around.

Ms. Erdrich writes about her Chippewa background - ordinary people just trying to survive on the meager scraps the American government is constantly trying to take away from indigenous tribes (and who's the "Indian Giver" here?).  This time the threat is real, and Thomas Wazhashk is doing his best to combat the House Bill proposed by the Utah Senator to "terminate" the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe.  In other words, using seemingly benign phrases to wrest away the tiny scraps of land left in their reservation and stop providing any kind of services - health, education, agricultural - in a way that sounds as though it's beneficial to the tribal members, and not an effort to leave them destitute.

As Thomas mounts his campaign, we are introduced to a variety of characters whose lives intersect with Thomas's.  It makes for an enthralling read.

The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake

 A book about family, loss, hard choices and cooking, all set in the picturesque Lake Garda region of Italy.  What's not to like about Rachel Linden's The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake (#1,372)?  And the author and her mother actually developed the Orange Blossom Cake featured in this story!

Juliana Costa's life seems to be at a dead end.  She and her roommate have just shot the last episode of her vintage recipe cooking show which got them through the Covid pandemic.  Now Drew has a shot at Hollywood, and she's being left behind with eccentric roommates taking over Drew's part of their Seattle lease.  Plus she's already spent the advance for her cookbook contract due in September, and the samples she's sent are not even what they want! 

So when her mother contacts Jules to see if she will chaperone her half-sister Alex to Italy for the summer, all expenses paid, Jules jumps at the chance.  She barely knows Alex, but it will give her an opportunity to see her aging nonna at the olive farm where she spent so many happy days of her childhood learning to cook at her nonna's knee.  Jules hasn't seen Nonna Bruna since that summer when her father died and the bottom dropped out of her world.  Maybe this trip is the solution to finishing her cookbook contract on time.

It turns out that she's not the only one returning home; Nicolo, her first love, has come back to manage his nonna' s olive farm as well.  With the help of a magical cookbook Jules begins to see what was right under her nose the whole time...

Evensong

There are so few books out there written about women of a certain age which don't turn them into amateur detectives or murderers, that to find one which treats them seriously as actual people makes it a rare treasure indeed!  Evensong (#1,371) by Stewart O'Nan is indeed such a gem!

Set in Pittsburg, the story centers around the relationship between four women, the youngest of whom is a sprightly sixty-three.  What binds them together is Calvary Church where they are, or were, choir members, bridge partners, and active members of the Humpty Dumpty group.  The HDs, as they call themselves, perform a myriad of "church lady" functions: visiting the sick, bringing meals to shut-ins, sending cards, picking up groceries and medicines and bringing people to doctor's appointments for those who cannot drive.  

These activities have always been managed by the dynamic Joan.  But when Joan takes a tumble down her stairs and is incapacitated for weeks, her responsibilities are delegated to Kitzi, a member of the central quartet.  With Kitzi taking on added responsibilities, the dynamics of this group are shifted, and Evensong deals with the subtle changes and losses each member of the group endures.

It's so real that I felt Mr. O'Nan was channeling me.  Much of the ladies' social life revolves around the choir.  Although only Susie is still singing, the others are always in attendance supporting her.  For me, it was fun reading about the Anglican  (Episcopal) traditional services and musical selections for Evensong, Requiems and Lessons and Carols; Charpentier? check!  Faure's Requiem? check!  Jesus Christ the Appletree? check and why didn't the ladies know this one?!  But mostly it was the sympathetic way the characters are portrayed that appealed to me so strongly.  

I understand that Emily and Arlene, two of the main characters, are not new.  They are apparently in some of Mr. O'Nan's earlier books.  I look forward to spending more time with them there!

The Battle of the Bookshops

Romeo and Juliet re-imagined as modern day rival booksellers is the plot of Poppy Alexander's The Battle of the Bookshops (#1,370).  In case you didn't pick up on this, the main characters are called Jules Caperthorne and Roman Montbeau.

Here the premise is that the hundred-year-old Caperthorne's Bookshop in a quaint seaside town must thwart the efforts of the sparkling new Montbeau bookstore directly across the street to run it out of business and take over its real estate lease.  

Jules is called home by her estranged mother to help out her elderly aunt after she's taken a serious fall in the bookshop where she's always lived and worked.  Her weekend at home costs Jules her job with a high-pressure publishing firm in London.  She realizes how much she's missed the bookstore where she spent much of her youth and is determined to put it back on firm financial footing before going back to London.  But when her handsome teenaged nemesis turns out to be the one running the rival bookstore with all the bells and whistles, she decides that under no circumstances will she let Roman win.  Let the battle begin!

Family of Spies

Family of Spies (#1,369) by Christine Kuehn proves the old adage that "Truth is stranger than fiction."  A phone call from a stranger asking about her father turns her life as a suburban American wife, mother and teacher upside down.  The caller wants to contact her father to ask about his family's role spying for the Germans' allies, the Japanese.  Specifically, he wants to talk to Eberhard about their role in the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Christine is flabbergasted.  She knew her father's family was originally from Germany, but he is reluctant to talk about them.  The only other member of his family she has met is her aunt Ruth, who also refuses to discuss family history.  Furthermore, she knows he fought in the American Army as soon as he was old enough in World War II.  What could he, or they, possibly have to do with Pearl Harbor?

But as she presses her father for more information, and begins to explore on her own, Christine begins to uncover the truth about her own family.  It's an astonishing story as she tells it here, complete with photos.
 

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave

Is Finlay Donovan's past finally catching up with her?  In Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (#1,368), the fifth outing in Elle Cosimano's amusing suspense series, it certainly seems so.  This time a body is discovered in the yard of the crusty old neighborhood snoop across the street.  But when the body is identified, there's a link to Finlay's ex.  Much as Finlay dislikes Steve on so many levels, she does not believe the father of her children is capable of murder.  She and her nanny Vero set out to find the actual murderer.

It's not easy when the cranky neighbor Mrs. Haggerty is dumped in Finlay's lap as a house guest for as long as her own home is a crime scene.  It soon becomes apparent that Mrs. Haggerty is hiding secrets of her own.  The problem for Finlay is to keep her own secrets private when Mrs. Haggerty is poking everywhere in the Donovan household.  And it sure is putting the brakes on Finlay's growing relationship with hot detective Nick Anthony!

This is not a book I would recommend picking up and trying to read without having read the rest of the series first.  There are recurring characters and situations which depend on the reader's knowledge of previous plot points.  That being said, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the place to start.  

Her life is a mess, but it's relatable stuff - failed marriage, a clunker of a minivan, trying to meet book deadlines while juggling two toddlers.  Thank goodness she acquires a live-in nanny who has problems of her own.  Her messes are so spectacular, it makes your own problems seem trivial in comparison.  Always a good outcome!

Agent To The Stars

What would you do if you were asked to represent someone from the stars?  That's Tom Stein's dilemma in John Scalzi's very first book Agent To The Stars (#1,367), now re-published with updated cultural references.  It's still a hoot.

The Yherajk have been observing Earth for a long time and they know they are going to have an image problem because of the way they look.  So do they land on the White House lawn?  No, they have a better idea: get themselves a Hollywood agent to represent them for their first contact with humankind.  They choose to get in touch with the head of a powerful Hollywood Agency and convince him to take them on as clients.  Enter Tom Stein, a young agent who has just proved his mettle by negotiating an amazing contract for one of his clients.  Carl Lupo, his boss, thinks he'll be perfect to handle the job for the Yherajks.

So many great characters and outlandish situations here.  You just wonder where Scalzi will go next as Tom works towards his goal.  Enjoy!

Theo of Golden

I saw Allen Levi's best seller Theo of Golden (#1,366) on the Lucky Day display at my local library, so I grabbed it while I could.  I had heard mixed reviews of this book, but I wanted to read it for myself.  I'm so glad I did.

Theo is an older, obviously prosperous gentleman who arrives unannounced one day in Golden, Georgia.  On his walks around his new neighborhood, he stops for coffee at a local shop.  There he is transfixed by a series of pencil portraits.  He strikes up a conversation with the coffee shop owner and asks about the artwork done by a local artist.  Drawn back each day by both the excellent coffee and the portraits, Theo starts making friends and decides on a project.  He will buy the portraits and gift them to the persons, all locals, shown in the drawing.  He begins slowly, meeting with each individual and is gradually drawn into the community by their stories.  What happens next is the crux of the story.

Mr. Levi has really produced a remarkable journey of faith in this story.  I can understand why people might be uncomfortable with it, especially if they don't believe in a higher power as a guiding principle.  What Theo does in this book can be mimicked by anyone who wants to try.  You don't need a lot of money, only a kind word or deed will do the trick and make a difference to someone.  You never know the effect it can produce.

Be warned, though.  If you do make it to the end of Theo of Golden have a box of tissues nearby.  You'll need them.

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster

I didn't realize who Gerri Willis was until after I had finished reading her Lincoln's Lady Spymaster - The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War (#1,365).  Although I did find this an interesting read, I think the title is a bit misleading.  Ms. Willis does chronicle a bit about Elizabeth Van Lew, the Richmond society belle who remained staunchly Northern in her sympathies throughout the Civil War, but the author does tend to go off on lengthy tangents about other Civil War movers and shakers, especially John Wilkes Booth.  In fact, much of this material is ably covered in Erik Larson's recent book: The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism.  I would have much preferred a book about the purported subject.

Missing from this account are any details about how her spy network actually worked; the nuts and bolts of the operation.  Just how did Elizabeth Van Lew survive in such a hostile environment both during the War itself and the bitter aftermath?  Ms. Willis alludes to the fact that her neighbors hated her, but how did she actually cope on her own?  She turns Miss Van Lew into a pathetic old ghost of her own story.  If there wasn't enough material to fill an entire book, perhaps it would have been better to include her story in an anthology of Civil War characters.  Just my opinion.  If you're interested in women's roles during the Civil War period in Richmond, read Mary Chestnut's A Diary from Dixie instead.

Math Cats - Scratching the Surface of Mathematical Concepts

Math Cats (#1,364) by Daniel M. Look, PhD caught my eye on the library shelf by the title alone.  When I pulled it off the shelf to look at it, the adorable cat sketches sealed the deal.  It's not a very big book, but it puts across some more complicated math principles in a straightforward way, using everyday words illustrated by amusing cat examples.  How can you not love cats posing to illustrate the different types of angles?  If you've ever watched a cat grooming itself, you can probably visualize the right-angle picture in your head!

Plus, Professor Look has thrown in interesting factoids in his explanations.  Being rather math-averse myself, if I had had the benefit of having my mind engaged this way during my math classes growing up, I definitely would have paid more attention and benefited greatly.  Who knew Pythagoras' own Theorem played a role in the thinker's death?  That's what would have stuck in my mind!

I felt upon finishing Math Cats the same way I felt when I finished Stephen Hawking's A Short History of Time; that I had just read something deep and enriching.  I promptly passed it along to my husband and my library book club, where a number of reserves were placed on this book during the meeting!

I envy both Dr. Look's students and his hosts of cats with delightful names.  He has succeeded in opening minds to new ideas.  What could be better for an educator?

A Sea View Christmas

Another new author for me.  Julie Klassen writes Christian romances, which I did not realize when I reserved this book online.  I'm not generally a fan of the genre, but this final book in her On Devonshire Shores series held my attention while weaving the religious component naturally into the story line.  It was a Christmas book - A Sea View Christmas (#1,363) - so how could I resist the Regency cover art?

Sarah Summers is so busy supervising everything at the family's seaside boarding house, she refuses to take into consideration her own wants and needs.  The rest of her sisters, except Georgina, the youngest, are all safely and happily married.  Her invalid mother has seemingly regained her strength and health, and they are finally making a modest profit with Sea View.  So when a guest from several years back travels down from Scotland and expresses his continued interest in Sarah, the rest of her family encourage her to reconsider her decision about marrying him.  The timing is not perfect; it never will be, but can she be courageous enough to take her chance for happiness?

The discussion of Regency-era Christmas customs is quite interesting.  Ms. Klassen has done her homework on what is authentic (with the possible exception of the Christmas tree!) and brings the festive season to life on the page.

Presumably the other sisters' romances are the subjects of the Ms. Klassen's On Devonshire Shores series if you are interested in finding out how they achieved their own happy endings.

The Mystery Of Mistletoe Hall

Yes, it's past Christmas, but I'm still reading Christmas books.  If people can put up their decorations at Halloween, I think I'm entitled to read holiday-themed books throughout the season of Epiphany!  Besides, The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall (#1,362) was a Christmas present.  It's not a new book, but the author, Benedict Brown, is new to me.  It's part of his 1920s Lord Edgington Investigates series which all have appealing Art Deco covers.

A retired Commissioner of Police is invited at the last minute to visit an old friend and colleague for the Christmas holiday.  Lord Edgington packs up his daughter, his two grandsons and the staff at his stately home and motors to Mistletoe Hall in the midst of a snowstorm.  No one is there to greet them at the car park, although they find a pair of sturdy horses which convey them to the mansion itself.  Although apparently ready for guests, the house is deserted.  What can be going on?

Yule (hah!) find out as more guests arrive and things go bump in the night.  Told from the perspective of Lord Edgington's schoolboy grandson, Christopher, together this odd pair solve the mystery and uncover a killer.  It's an engaging series, so now I'll have to go back and read not only this series, but his contemporary Izzy Palmer series as well.  What could be better than a whole new pile of books to stack on the side table for cozy winter reading?  Cheers!

The Queen of the Night

I have been meaning to read Alexander Chee's novel The Queen of the Night (#1,361) for some time now.  However, when I finally picked it up to read it, I only made it through the first couple of chapters.  It's not that the book wasn't well written, or on a subject of no interest to me; it was more the sheer volume of the prose, and the feeling that I could better spend my time elsewhere.  Every book has its reader.  The Queen of the Night just isn't the right choice for me.

And To All A Good Bite

In the holiday themed And To All a Good Bite (#1,360) is Andy Carpenter admitting that he might, possibly, potentially enjoy being a lawyer??!!   David Rosenfeldt's long-running character always goes on at some length with every case he reluctantly accepts, that he'd much rather being watching sports, or walking with the best canine on the planet, Tara, his golden retriever.  What is it about this particular case that appeals to his sense of justice well served?

Out of the blue, Andy receives a call at Thanksgiving, asking him to defend Jeffrey Wheeler, a local hero who dashed into a burning building to rescue his girlfriend after an explosion.  He didn't succeed, but he did find an adorable puppy in a crate in the building's lobby and rescued it.  Rufus eventually wound up at the Tara Foundation while being rehabbed, and Andy became acquainted with Jeff at the shelter as he waited for Rufus to be well enough to come home with him. Now Jeff is being accused of murdering one of the richest men in New Jersey, Stanley Franklin, and the police have a bagful of evidence to prove it was him.

His wife Laurie guilts Andy into at least meeting Jeff at the jail.  Of course Andy winds up taking not only Jeff's case but fostering his dog Rufus as well.  As Andy looks into the case, he is convinced Jeff didn't do it, but the only way he can prove it is to identify the real killer and the motive behind the murder.  Can he do it before the jury returns a verdict on Jeff?

With his trademark humor, David Rosenfeldt's Andy Carpenter series spends more and more time outside the courtroom to solve ever more intricate puzzles.  No wonder these books are so popular!

A Palace Near The Wind

I'm not sure I always followed the threads in Ai Jiang's fantasy novel A Palace Near The Wind (#1,359), but I certainly was intrigued by the journey in a tale beautifully told.  

 Lufeng is being forced to marry the king in the Palace which is drawing ever closer to her natural kingdom of Feng.  Her marriage will keep the borders from encroaching on Feng territory.  That was the reason given for marrying off her mother and three of her older sisters to the same king.  As far as Lufeng can tell, their sacrifices have had no effect so far.

Forced to learn the ways of the Palace before the ceremony, Lufeng is not sure who is a friend and who a foe, but one thing is certain; she is being watched closely.  Can she find her family and escape back to Feng, or will she be assigned to Palace duties forever at the cost of her soul?

I picked up A Palace Near The Wind from a library display of new books because I couldn't resist the cover art.  This is one of the most beautiful covers I have seen in a long time.  Kudos to Natasha McKenzie, the designer!

A Jingle Bell Mingle

I grabbed A Jingle Bell Mingle (#1,358) off the Christmas books display shelf without reading the cover blurb - the cover was attractive and upbeat.  When I picked it up to actually read it, I felt I had grabbed an ugly lump of coal instead.  Authors Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone must think it's edgy to begin a book about a porn star with several menstrual jokes on the very first page.  When you factor in the jolly Christmas theme I found it offensive and repugnant.  Didn't read beyond the first few pages because it didn't get any better.  Ugh!  Be warned.

The Impossible Fortune

The Thursday Murder Club gang is back in Richard Osman's latest installment The Impossible Fortune (#1,357).  Elizabeth is taking her first tentative steps outside herself after Stephen's death.  And it comes just in time to help her friends at Coopers Chase as they face their own problems and threats.  

While the gang are celebrating her daughter's wedding with Joyce (who is eagerly seeking out opportunities to introduce Paul as "my son-in-law"!), Elizabeth is approached by a guest who claims that someone is trying to kill him by planting a bomb on his car.  Can she help?  How could she not?  The root of his problem is an impossible fortune - in bitcoin. Meanwhile, Ron and his entire family are in deadly peril from a hired assassin.  As the Murder Club closes ranks around Ron's grandson Kendrick, a Club favorite, they also have to discover who is behind the deadly plot.

Such a pleasure to follow the gang's new adventure!  I've also read and enjoyed Richard Osman's new series debut We Solve Murders, but the ensemble cast of the Thursday Murder Club is just so darn appealing.  Growing older doesn't mean growing invisible! (Unless that helps you solve a mystery!).  Keep them coming, Mr. Osman!

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

Christmas is not Brenda Malloy's favorite holiday.  It never has been, but when her beloved dog Tiny Tim almost dies from eating something which causes a bowel obstruction is the worst.  Especially when the culprit turns out to be a pair of sexy panties that don't belong to her!  After the divorce, Brenda has devoted her time to remaking her life - slimming down by training for a marathon, starting her own business and settling into her volunteer passion in Austin, Texas - Underdogs.  It's a charity whose mission is to relocate shelter dogs from the overwhelmed Texas area to the Northeast where there are many more homes looking to adopt the dogs . And that's how Susan Wigg's The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (#1,356) begins.

As it happens, Brenda is pressed into service to help deliver the dogs in the specially equipped van.  Drive up, deliver the dogs to their pre-vetted homes, and then drive the van back on her own, as her partner has family in New York and will stay on for the holidays.  She didn't count on a blinding snowstorm, a freak accident, or the picture-perfect holiday charm of the town.  Nor did she expect to fall for the handsome EMT who rescued them.  Adam and his little boy are adopting one of the Underdogs, even though things don't quite go according to plan...

Charming, warm, fun and everything a Christmas-themed romance should be.  I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat (#1,355) by Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda is really a continuation of her first book, We'll Prescribe You A Cat, and according to the dust jacket, the middle book of a trio already out in Japan.  These books are charming, quirky, and most importantly, about the power of cats to heal and change lives.  They also have a definite "woo-woo" element which is becoming more pronounced as the story progresses through these books.

In each chapter, someone has a problem.  Whether or not they can put it into words is immaterial because the Korokoro Clinic For the Soul will find them down a narrow alleyway in Kyoto.  After climbing up five flights of stairs in an apparently deserted building, each patient will come across a rude nurse who will direct them to step into the doctor's office.  The slim young doctor they encounter will joke with them and without much ado, call for the nurse to bring in a cat for the patient.  They are then ushered out the door with instructions on how to care for their cat and when to return to the office.  That is it.  But, oh what a change is wrought by dealing with the creature unexpectedly handed to them!

But just who are these mysterious practitioners?  Hints are dropped as to their identity, but I believe that the various story lines won't be resolved until the third and final book.  If you love cats, you won't want to miss these books.