Happy Valentine's Day and a short reading update...

 

Happy Valentine's Day to all!  Yes, that is a red velvet cupcake above.  No, I didn't have it this year for Valentine's Day, but my daughter did make us some of those several years ago.  Looks yummy, doesn't it?  We did go out for a Valentine's Day dinner last evening and enjoyed some tasty seafood and then actually ordered dessert.  I had a sort of brownie thing with a salted caramel sauce and tiny scoop of chocolate chip ice cream with it.  It wasn't a huge serving at all, but it was tasty and definitely enough.  

As I'm sitting here writing this, we have rain falling outside.  Not a storm or not yet (hope it doesn't progress to that), but just some quiet moisture that we can definitely use.  The wildflowers will need some in order to be able to bloom in quantity.  The moisture will also tamp down some of the pollen that has been blowing in and around quite freely.  Since cedar pollen and I don't get along, anything to help with that is welcome.  I have had some pretty bad sinus headaches this week and I hate those.  

My reading has been a bit slow, but I did finish a couple of books this week and attended one book group.  I didn't get to go to our mystery book group meeting because of a sinus headache and so had to miss talking about The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict.  I did enjoy that one though and hope they had a good discussion.  I also attended that 'Book Cafe' group and had nice time talking with others about their recent reading.  I forgot to make notes though and so don't have titles to share - sorry.

The first book I read this week was a re-read of The Wonder Test by Michelle Richmond.  I originally read that book back in 2021 and wrote about it in a post here.  I did enjoy it again and remembered why I often like mysteries or thrillers that include private schools or those type of settings.  I think I would life a sequel to this one because of the mother's FBI agent profession.

The second book I read was new to me - This Book Made Me Think Of You by Libby Page.  This one was published recently and I had seen a couple of really positive reviews by other bloggers.  It's a very touching, sweet story, but I will warn you that it does contain sadness as well.  Tilly Nightingale has lost her husband and six months after his passing, she receives a birthday gift from him for her to pick up at a local bookshop.  Joe, her husband, has given her a year of books - one for each month.  He wanted to help her get back to her reading, which she had almost stopped while he was ill, and also encourage her to get through this time and heal.  One interesting thing is the author has the book divided into the months of the year and each month has a theme and some suggestions for books that would fit that theme.  That's a gift to the reader for sure.  I'll tease you by saying that the first sentence in the book is:  'The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.'  I thought this book was lovely and since I completely agree with the first sentence, I highly recommend it.

Think that's about all I have to share.  Again, Happy Valentine's Day!  And hope all of you have a nice reading week to come.  I'll be back around soon.