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Hello Everyone,

I hope you've all had a good week. Spring has sprung in New England, flowers, trees and allergies.

Sheri - we haven't heard from you in quite a while. I hope everything is okay with you. Join us when you can.

This week I finished a bunch of short stories/novellas from the "stuff your kindle" romance or the various collections on Amazon Prime.

First I finished Barren. I did not like this and could not wait for it to be done. It was kind of bizarre. I gave it one star. I have no interest in reading more from this series. It was a weird circus, freak show but also was quite gruesome. Not for me.

I finished a cute short story The Exception to the Rule. This was from the Improbable Meets Cute collection on audible/Amazon. It was a fun hour with a cute premise.

I finished Be Brave with Me from the free kindle romance novels. It was just okay. Entertaining enough to finish.

I am currently listening to The Mosquito. One of the short stories from the Obsession collection on Amazon. It is short, about an hour, but I just didn't have time to finish it on my walk today.

I am reading another of the romance novels Going Solo. It is okay enough to finish but kind of "whatever".

I need to find what I want to read "for real" rather than these freebies that are of questionable quality. I'll get on that this week.

QOTW:
This question came to me while reading something in the "suggestmeabook" sub-reddit: Is there any book/author that completely surprised you because what you read was so different from the author's typical book?

For me the biggest "shock" was John Scalzi's The God Engines. I have enjoyed, if not loved, everything Scalzi has written, except this one. It is more horror than sci-fi and I don't like horror.

I have a week of vacation! The forecast currently has rain every day, but what can you do.

Beatrice Likes the Dark - A witchy girl and her boisterous sister learn to appreciate each other. The story isn't anything special, the pictures are all right, but really I think the point is the tiny goth representation. Share it with your morbid wee folk or those that love them.

Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral - This wasn't what I expected it to be, but that's clearly my fault for not reading the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ description, which is very accurate. This is mostly about the founder of BuzzFeed, secondarily about his frenemy the founder of Gawker, and then tangentially about the other blogs and social media platforms involved in their rise and fall (Drudge Report, HuffPo, Breitbart, Facebook, Twitter), by a guy who used to work for BuzzFeed. I read some Gizmodo and Lifehacker back in the day, but I wasn't super involved in that part of the internet, so I wasn't quite as interested in the book.

Unnatural Ends - I read a book by this author that was a pretty good Golden-Age-inspired mystery, and I thought that was what this would be, but ultimately I'm not sure I'd even call it a mystery. It starts out as one, but then most of the book is spent unraveling the pasts of the three siblings and their horrible father, and it's more family drama than mystery. At some point it becomes fairly obvious what's happened, and by the time a trap was being laid for the perpetrator I just wanted it to be over.

QOTW: Aside from the above (which is a sample size of two) I can't think of anything at the moment.

Happy Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be with you! :)

Finished:
Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier - 4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this. Makiia Lucier really is a hidden gem. I liked the characters and their journey. There was only one thing I thought was unnecessary: (view spoiler)[The villains killed a magical animal (essentially a pet) to show how evil they were. (hide spoiler)]

Funny Story by Emily Henry - 4 stars. Emily Henry has done it again. I loved the characters and their love story. As usual, everything could have been solved sooner had people just talked to each other, but hey, romance.

Saint-Seducing Gold by Brittany N. Williams - 4 stars. I like this YA series. Shakespeare is a character. The main character is bi with two love interests, which is normally a turn-off for me, but... (view spoiler)[both love interests are likable, and it's looking like they will end up a trio rather than Joan having to choose between Nick or Rose. (hide spoiler)] This one was a little stronger than the first, but I'd still say start with the first if interested.

Misunderstood Vegetables: How to Fall in Love with Sunchokes, Rutabaga, Eggplant and More by Becky Selengut - 3.5 stars. I picked this up because I subscribe to a farm CSA box, and I wanted some ideas of what to do with less familiar veggies. I enjoyed the history and descriptions of each vegetable, and the basic storage and cooking tips. As a cookbook, though, I didn't find many of the recipes appealing. They mostly seemed way too complicated and fussy for a weeknight meal.

Comics/manga:
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 28
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., Vol. 1

Currently reading:
Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker - not for a challenge (yet)

Upcoming/Planned:
When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller - for Popsugar's book recommended by a librarian

Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - for Popsugar's book set in a travel destination on your bucket list

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson - not currently for a prompt

QOTW:
I honestly can't think of any examples off the top of my head.