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2025 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 bookish books. 100% done!

2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


46 / 50 books. 92% done!

2025 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (2)
- Arizona (2)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (9)
- Colorado (3)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (2)
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois (1)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (3)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (4)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (1)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (8)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (3)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (2)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (3)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (4)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (1)
- Washington, D.C.* (1)

International:
- Australia (5)
- Canada (3)
- England (16)
- France (2)
- Greece (2)
- Italy (1)
- Japan (1)
- Norway (1)
- Puerto Rico (1)
- Scotland (2)
- Vietnam (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


31 / 50 books. 62% done!

2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 50 books. 74% done!

Booklist Queen's 2025 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


40 / 52 books. 77% done!

2025 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


43 / 52 books. 83% done!

2025 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


30 / 40 books. 75% done!

2025 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


38 / 51 cozies. 75% done!

2025 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2025 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


26 / 26.2 miles. 99% done!

2025 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


33 / 100 books. 33% done!

2025 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


70 / 109 books. 64% done!

2025 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


57 / 62 books. 92% done!

Phase Out Your Seriesathon - My Progress


23 / 55 books. 42% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


97 / 100 names. 97% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


75 / 80 skills. 94% done!
Showing posts with label Ashley Weaver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashley Weaver. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Hot Summer, Cool Reads


Ahh, summer. Although I appreciate the relaxed, laidback vibe of the season, it's still my least favorite one. It's just TOO DARN HOT. Ugh. The Phoenix area has been under an extreme heat warning all week and it's only going to get worse. It's supposed to be 115 degrees here on Thursday. Heaven, help us! Thank goodness for air conditioning and our backyard swimming pool. I'd die otherwise.

In happier news, it's Tuesday and today's TTT prompt is a fun one. I always love the seasonal TBR lists, so I'm excited for: Top Ten Books On Your Summer TBR List. I've already posted my list for the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge, but I have more than 20 titles I'm hoping to read, so this list shouldn't have any repeats. We'll see.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten (More) Books On My Summer TBR List 


1. The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa—Even though I no longer do blog tours, I agreed to review this novel for one. It sounds so heartwarming that I just couldn't resist! The story is about five characters who are riding a train traveling between two Japanese towns. Each is dealing with different dilemmas and challenges. Six months later, they're riding the rails once again. How have their lives changed in that time? Have they found resolutions to their problems? How have their lives and stories intersected? This isn't my usual kind of read, but I'm excited for it.

2. The Enemy's Daughter by Anne Blankman—This middle-grade historical novel is about Marta, a young German girl who is traveling on the Lusitania with her father in 1915. Although they've kept quiet about their identities to avoid being accused of espionage, her dad is detained after the ship sinks. Clare, an Irish girl, believes Marta to be a Dutch refugee and brings her home to be taken care of by Clare's family. While struggling to keep her true origins a secret, Marta must also wrestle with the idea of what an "enemy" is. Her family and Clare's are on opposite sides of the war, but how can she hate people who have been so kind and welcoming to her? And what will happen if Clare discovers who Marta really is?

3. Murder Past Due by Miranda James—In this cozy series opener, we're introduced to Charlie Harris, a librarian in small-town Mississippi who's known for walking his cat, Diesel, around town on a leash. When Charlie's former classmate, now a famous novelist, is killed, it's up to Charlie (with a little help from his favorite feline) to find a killer.

4. The Experiment by Rebecca Stead (available September 16, 2025)—This middle-grade science fiction tale doesn't come out until the Fall, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get my hands on an early copy. The story revolves around Nathan, a boy living on Earth who is secretly from another planet. When other members of The Experiment suddenly start disappearing, Nathan's family is called back to the mothership. Confused and frightened, Nathan begins to question everything he knows about who he is, why he was on Earth, and just what he's supposed to do now.

5. Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes—It's 1948 and Mercy Windsor is fleeing Hollywood after a scandal knocked her from her glamorous life as a leading lady. She purchases an abandoned estate with a mysterious past in an isolated Colorado town and throws her efforts into restoring it. The more she works, the more she uncovers about her new home, including rumors of a disappearing train and the priceless treasure it carried. As Mercy mines the past for answers, she finds renewed purpose and hope in her present.


6. The Last Resort by Erin Entrada Kelly—When Lila's grandfather dies, her family heads to Ohio to figure out what to do with his creepy old Victorian inn. On the way, they get into a car accident, after which things start to get decidedly weird. Lila is seeing things, ghostly things. Like her grandfather, who tells her he was murdered, probably by someone who wants to control his inn, which isn't just a hotel, but a portal between the lands of the living and the dead. Now Lila has to find his killer and stop evil spirits from wreaking havoc on her world.


7. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie—I've read several Hercules Poirot novels, but I've yet to read the one that started it all. In this most classic of mysteries, Poirot's wealthy benefactor is poisoned in her home and the Belgian must use his little grey cells to pick out a murderer from among a plethora of suspects, all of whom have something to hide.


8. A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver—This is the first book in a historical mystery series featuring Electra McDonnell, a thief who is caught while trying to steal valuable jewels from a posh home. Instead of incarceration, Electra is given a reprieve. If she will help the British government by stealing an important set of blueprints before they're delivered to a German spy, her attempted theft will be pardoned. With little choice in the matter, Electra accepts, only belatedly realizing just how dangerous of a mission she's been given. 


9. Dead As a Door Knocker by Diane Kelly—The first in an older cozy mystery series, this opener introduces Whitney Whitaker, a Nashville house flipper who discovers a dead body buried in the yard of her new fixer-upper. Who is the stiff and who is responsible for their death? Whitney is determined to find out.


10. Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson (available July 22, 2025)—I've got an e-ARC of this up-and-comer, Jackson's first novel for adults. The story concerns 27-year-old Jet Mason, who suffers a deadly head injury after being attacked by an unknown assailant. Jet's doctor is sure she will be dead of an aneurysm within the week. That may be, but until then, she is alive and determined to solve her own murder.

There you go, ten more books I'd like to read this summer. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Which titles are you planning to read over the next few months? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!

Friday, January 26, 2018

Murder at the Brightwell An Engaging Opener to Historical Mystery Series

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

After being wed to Milo—a notorious playboy—for five years, Amory Ames knows a little something about unsatisfactory marriages.  So, when Gil Trent, an old friend (and former fiancé), asks her to help him persuade his younger sister not to marry a disreputable man, she obliges.  As all the key players are staying at the Brightwell Hotel, Amory checks in to the lavish resort.  A relaxing holiday is just what she needs.  If she can help Gil and his sister in the process, so much the better.  

Despite her best intentions, Amory makes little headway with Emmeline, who's determined to marry self-absorbed Rupert Howe no matter what anyone else thinks.  Before that happens, however, the unsavory man is murdered.  With his well-known dislike of his sister's fiancé, Gil soon becomes the prime suspect in Rupert's death.  Amory knows gentle Gil could not have done something so dastardly.  To prove his innocence, she launches her own investigation into the crime.  An already tense situation gets even more complicated when Milo arrives at the Brightwell unexpectedly.  With her marriage crumbling and her old flame very much available (if she can keep him out of prison, that is), Amory must sort out her feelings for two very different men while trying to solve a murder that becomes more puzzling by the minute.  Can she find the answers she seeks in time to save Gil?  And what of her traitorous heart?  What will it decide?

Murder at the Brightwell, a debut novel by Ashley Weaver, is the first installment in an exciting mystery series starring likable Amory Ames.  Deborah Crombie calls this opening novel "an elegant Christie-esque 1930s romp"—a very apt description.  The story is engrossing, entertaining, and twisty enough that I didn't guess the killer's identity until the very last minute.  Because of its large cast, the tale does get confusing; the minor characters tend to blend together, which is a little annoying.  All in all, though, I found Murder at the Brightwell enjoyable.  I already have the next few books in the series and I can't wait to read them.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for violence and sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of Murder at the Brightwell from the generous folks at Minotaur (an imprint of St. Martin's Press/Macmillan).  Thank you!
Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Best New-to-Me Author Discoveries in 2017


In evaluating my reading year, I realized that I actually read a lot of new-to-me authors in 2017, so today's Top Ten Tuesday topic should be a breeze.  Picking my ten favorites will be the tough part.  While I contemplate that question, why don't you click on over to The Broke and the Bookish and join in the TTT fun?  All you have to do is read a few simple instructions, make your own list, and start hopping around to different blogs.  The book blogosphere is full of a variety of fun sites.  It's always exciting to discover new ones and revisit old favorites.  Trust me, you want in on the action!

Okay, here we go with the Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2017:


1.  Megan Miranda—I read three books by Miranda this year, so she definitely needs to be on this list.  I enjoy her twisty mystery/thrillers.  I have Fragments of the Lost out from the library right now and plan to read others by her this year.


2.  Anna Lee HuberLark introduced me to this author's Lady Darby mystery series.  I read the first two books last year and plan to read at least that many more this year.  


3.  A.J. Jacobs—Like many members of my church, I'm a *little* obsessed with family history.  While at RootsTech a few years ago, I heard A.J. Jacobs speak about his goal to organize a global family reunion by researching his roots and inviting all his "cousins" to New York City for a giant get together.  He's a charming and funny speaker, so I have been anxious to read It's All Relative, the book he wrote about this project.  It was such an enjoyable read that I want to read more from Jacobs.  I didn't get to his Drop Dead Healthy before I had to return it to the library a couple weeks ago, but I'm going to start with that one.


4.  Ashley Weaver—The Amory Ames mystery series is another discovery I made this year.  I read the first two books in 2017 and plan to continue with the series in 2018.  I've been trying to read cleaner, less gruesome mysteries lately and these fit the bill nicely.  


5.  John Marsden—This Australian author is best known for Tomorrow, When the War Began, his YA dystopian series about a group of teens who are hiking in the outback when their town is invaded by an army from a distant country.  The books follow the kids in their efforts to figure out what's going on and fight back against a powerful enemy.  I read the first three books in the series last year and plan to finish the last four this year.


6.  Jenny Colgan—I read The Bookshop on the Corner by Scottish author Jenny Colgan  back in May and really enjoyed it.  I'm definitely planning to read more of her books this year.


7.  Hugh Howey—I've only read one book by Howey, but I really enjoyed Wool, the first book in his SILO trilogy.  I'm planning to read the next two this year.


8.  Emily Bain Murphy—One of my favorite books of the year, The Disappearances, is this author's debut.  I don't know what Murphy has in the works, but I'm excited to read it!


9.  Anne Corlett—I forgot all about The Space Between Stars when I was making my "Best of 2017" lists, but I loved this debut novel.  I'll definitely be watching for more from this author.


10.  Lisa Wingate—I enjoyed Before We Were Yours, Wingate's newest novel (2016), last year.  I need to look for more of her books in the new year.

Who did you discover this year?  I'd really like to know as I'm always on the lookout for new authors to love.  Leave me a comment and I'll happily return the favor.

Happy TTT!    
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