Suburban Hell (Kilmer)

Suburban Hell
Maureen Kilmer (2022)

[NO IMAGE, AUDIOBOOK ONLY]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. The audiobook becam available while I was reading Starter Villain. I haven't included an image because that's my rule if I only listen to it. That said, I've had the paperback from the library on my nighstand for a couple of weeks and the ebook should be available soon. Since nothing about it turned me off, I will likely read it and update this post.

A capsule review: It starts with breaking ground for a she-shed and then turns into a Poltergeist possession novel. Poltergeist is referenced in the text.

I'll keep this brief until I edit it.

In a small planned community in the suburds where everyone knows everyone, one person, Liz, suddenly starts acting weird. Amy notices and tells her concerns to Jess and Melissa. But it isn't until after an incident with some dead bunnies that it gets creepy. And then Liz tries to kill Amy in a ditch where something evil or demonic is trying to attach itself to her.

This leads to learning about demonic possession and exorcism, as well as learning more about the area the development was built upon and who lived -- and died -- there. The good guys eventually win, but there's an epilogue that unravels the entire thing.

I have to say, I hate epilogues like that. They basically say, "Nope, we failed. Evil will continue to win unless we do it all again and again.

That in itself won't stop from reading the book, but I don't think I'd do a sequel that follows the story unless I get a strong recommendation from someone I trust. As it is, this is out of my "comfort zone" for pleasure reading.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer (Garone)

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer
Kevin Garone (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book (ebook). The following is what I plan to post on Library Thing:

I really liked this book. Twelve-year-old me would've loved this book. However, I think even young me might've found Marv's single-mindedness in seeing aliens and alien conspiracies everywhere to be a little tedious. He doesn't even refocus when confronted with both actual alien creatures and a real conspiracy while out one night searching the night sky for a possible invasion.

Marv's best fried Jace, aka Baller One, loves basketball and spew stats and history from memory, but he's still grounded in reality. Rounding out the group is their new neighbor, Nora, whom Marv gives the codename "Space Cadet". Marv believes she's actually an alien like her father but she might not be aware that she is. He also believes Nora's father knows something about the alien and the ship that appears in the woods.

After a freak lightning strike send Marv and Jace into the middle of the conspiracy, it's up to those meddling kids (and one dad) to save the day.

Four stars.

-----

If I had to give a rating on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give it 4 because it was well-written, but Marv did get on my nerves sometimes. The story hits the mark for its target demo, in my opinion.

One comparison I might make about Marv is to Fox Mulder on X-Files. He believes in UFOs, and has an "I Want to Believe" poster in his office. That said, he doesn't see aliens and conspiracies in every case he investigates. He's aware of the conspiracies and can be a bit skeptical about evidence of aliens, and when he's not, he still has Dana Scully there to check things out and, hopefully, back him up.

Marv believes his neighbors are likely aliens from the moment they move in. In fact, I thought at first that they actually were and that the book was going to be set in a world where aliens had already settled among us. That was just my misunderstanding and my misreading of Marv's attitude. I guess I read so much science fiction that I thought "Of course, they're aliens" and not "There are no aliens living among us, duh!"

The father and the first "spaceman" who appears are both refugees from a scientific lab. They stole a prototype of a teleportation device before it can be used to take over the world by assassinating world leaders. The device has a couple of problems. First, there's a time lapse where the capsule reappears hours or even days after it disappears. Second, when it reappears, it's covered with "sleeches", what Marv names the small creatures that look like a cross between slugs and leeches.

When the capsule is later struck by lightning with Marv and Jace inside, the disappear for over a week, reappearing back inside the very lab that the ship was stolen from, there's a giant Sleech onboard, like the mother alien in Aliens compared to the eggs. The thing wreaks havoc with the lab, killing most of the security.

And one point, I would've expected or at least hoped that one of the security guards was going to turn against the evil villain if for no reason then the man was being ordered to his death because he wasn't going to be able to kill the thing when no one else could.

There is a "smart" move later on. They need to send the capsule somewhere where it can never be recovered with all the alien creatures aboard it, along with any new passengers that leech on the next time it jumps. But they need to capsule to get home, until Nora reminds them, "We're in Iowa." In other words, they don't need to teleport to Delaware. And they will be free to leave since just about everyone else is dead.

This was listed as "Alien Survival Guide (1)", so I have to assume more books in this series will follow. If I hear about them, I might check out one more just to see what direction the series takes.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Audio: New Beginnings (Masters)

New Beginnings
C.C. Masters (2018)

[No image. Audio only]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was basically a random selection from the Libby app. I needed something to listen to while walking. I chose Fantasy and looked for the shorter ones. There was one before this that was shorter which might've had a good story if not for all the "spicy" bits (basically, porn, but the "acceptable" kind).

The basics of the story: Lori lives with a pack of wolves who are usually human and go to human schools and everything is pretty normal. Except that her 18th birthday has arrived, and she knows that means that every male wolf in the pack that wants to have his way with her is welcome to do so. She has no rights and no longer has any protection. She's ready to attempt the first wolf through the door but it turns out to be her mother, who helps plan an escape.

The pack follows. Several die or are deeply wounded. Lori's mother is dead, so she has to continue alone. She hides in the back of a truck and manages to travel a great distance before sneaking out.

The new town seems friendly enough, and Lori is mistaken for a girl from the private school. She manages to get a job and a room at the Y (and a shower). She plans to lay low for a while.

There's abrupt narrative shift when suddenly a man's voice takes over. He's a wolf but not from her pack. He's one of four lone wolves without a pack who sense Lori's presence and start watching her. They think that she's been sent there to spy on them as there are no active packs around.

There's a clash between the wolves but Lori becomes part of the new pack. There's a lot of talk of pack dynamics. This small pack is opening a garage inside an old firehouse. A few people know who they really are, including one group (I don't remember the name of it) that runs tests on the wolves to learn more about them. Lori becomes a part of that in exchange for protection from her old pack.

There's not too much story here, other than her becoming part of a new pack and finding a place to fit in. The title "New Beginnings" should refer to that, but it also refers to an entire series being planned. (From what I've seen online, this is Hollow Crest Wolf Pack #1, and not a prequel.)

For one thing, there's much more to learn about that organization that helps them out. For another, the private school that doesn't associate with the town is a magic school. The only of the ice cream shop who hires Lori turns out to be not nice to say the least, and the owner of other garage in town has it out for the pack. (Plus the only cop we meet is corrupt.)

There's an epilogue setting up the next book with wolves from the old pack.

It was pleasant enough to listen to while walking. I don't think I'll look for it in print any time soon. Would I listen to Book #2? maybe. It's not my usual sub-genre but there was nothing wrong with it.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Starter Villain (Scalzi)

Starter Villain
John Scalzi (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club book. The ebook became available pretty quickly.

A capsule review: If you like John's Scalzi's Redshirts but though it fell apart toward the end, then this book is for you!

That might not be the greatest of reviews, but fans of Redshirts will buy and love this book. People who liked the idea of Redshirts but not necessarily the execution will enjoy this one more.

The one thing off about the book is the cover. As much as I like the picture of the cat in a suit, the tagline "Meet Your New Boss" is misleading. Also, the main cat we interact with is female, and cover cat is wearing a male's suit and tie. Granted, that could be how the most enterprising female cats dress. In any case, the cats aren't the boss, although they might rank higher in the company than others, including the dolphins (who aren't happy about that).

Charlie is a substitute teacher who's living in his deceased father's house while he gets his life together. His much older half-siblings want the house sold already as the estate attorney keeps reminding him. (There's a clause in the will that allows Charlie to remain there.)

The one thing Charlie wants to do is buy an old pub now that the current owner is thinking of retiring. He hasn't got the money for it, and his piece of the house isn't enough collateral. His family would have nothing to do with it (or for that matter, with him, being a much younger half-brother).

His life changes when Mathilda “Til” Morrison shows up, introducing herself as the assistant of Charlie's estranged Uncle Jake who recently passed. Charlie initially wants nothing to do with him since Jake couldn't be bothered with Charlie. He finds out that this wasn't entirely true and that there were reasons. Morrison wants Charlie to stand for Jake at his wake and Jake's company would make it worth his while. For one thing, they'd buy Charlie's house through a shell company and then gift it to him.

The wake fills with business associates including one guy who is ready to stab Uncle Jake's corpse just to make sure. Charlie, in the heat of the moment, prevents it by pushing the guy. The stabber, suitably impressed, allows Charlie to live. Apparently, no one is there to mourn and everyone is there to make sure that Jake is actually dead.

By the time it's over, Jake heads home where he finds his two cats, Hera, who he's had for a long time, and Perseppone, who he recently found and adopted, sitting on the curb across the street from his house. He stops to get them, then sees someone in his bedroom. That someone sees him looking back and disappears. And then the house blows up.

Charlie isn't doing so well.

And then he finds out that his Uncle Jake was a Villain, like in James Bond, and that there's an entire community of villains, like SPECTRE, which might've been influenced by the real group.

Charlie flies to a volcano island lair and starts to learn the business. In a couple of days, he's expected for a special convocation in Italy where the other members will size him up and decide what to do next.

Antics ensue.

It was a fun novel and a quick read. I didn't really have any problems with it. Scalzi played with the usual tropes.

...

Anyway, this should've been posted a while ago. I don't remember if there was anything else I wanted to add.

The book club hasn't met yet to discuss this book, but I've already started on future possible books.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

The Fairy Godmother's Tale (Marks)

The Fairy Godmother's Tale
Robert B. Marks (2025)

(Unlike most of my other posts, this post is a review. I received an ARC from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review. The review is posted there, but is also included on this page. For those who stumble upon this page, generally my posts are not review, but rather some notes to help me remember the things I've read.)

A young woman finds that she can grant wishes, causes a catastrophe, becomes a penitent, and starts a journey that stumbles through several fairy tales. Then she becomes the wife of a soldier and marches back and forth a lot before a final showdown with an adverserial wish granter.

The story opens ten years after The Peace of Westphalia. I know this because it's mentioned several times. Not being a student of history, I put the book aside to learn that the peace marked the end of the Thirty Years War, so the year must be 1658.

There's an island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Germany that has managed to erase itself from maps and live on their own during the war. Elisa, no last name, is the daughter of a bookbinder, who realizes that she can see other people's deepest wishes. Then she realizes that these wishes have strings that she can mentally pull to grant them. She's unsure about using this power because she doesn't know if it's from God or the devil, and she's afraid that she might be declared a witch. After consulting with a priest, she grants a wish, and it turns out well. So she decides to grants the wishes of everyone on the island at once. It sets off a revolution where the royal family is put to death as well as her own family and friends. She manages to the escape as the island is engulfed in flames.

After making it to Germany, the first person she meets is the Wandering Jew, whereupon Elisa resolves to become a penitent. I know this because it's mentioned dozens and dozens of times, as she will constantly repeat it to people who already know, including the reader. After this comes a long retelling of Cinder-Ella. Elisa helps Ella's dream come true with the help of Ella's father and extended family but few actual wishes. Elisa also disovers that there is another wish granter around when that unknown person sends birds after Ella's step-family to poke their eyes out.

Ella then leaves, because she still a penitent, and stumbles through several more Grimm fairy tales, some briefly like Little Red Riding Hood, and a few that might be more obscure. During this time, France invades the Rhineland. An Internet search told me that this happened in 1687 during the Nine Years War, which is a discrepancy that does not get addressed until much later in the book. It does get addressed, but at the moment, I almost put the book down because it seemed to shatter what realism it was setting up.

Elisa finally finds out that as a wish granter, she is immortal but she hadn't noticed because she'd encountered other immortals, and she'd lost track of the seasons passing. She only finds out when she visits Ella who is now an old woman. Elisa finally meets Clever Gretel, the other wish granter who can grant her own wishes and who toys with Elisa until finally stabbing her, declaring, "I hate to tell you this, but this whole penitent thing has gotten really boring."

I couldn't agree more. It had been for a while. But that's when the book changes to very long march back and forth with the Bavarian army with her new husband during the Seven Years War. It's so different, it could be a separate book of its own. As it was, this diversion was much too long for this story.

I'd give this book three stars. If I could give half stars, I might consider 3.5. The final confrotation, which was given only a few pages, was anticlimactic. The ending wraps up the story plots a neat, but not overly satifying, way.

-----

I thought a bit about how I was going to write this. Originally, I thought I was being too harsh, but I kept reading the book, and my feelings didn't improve. If anything, this book slowed my reading momentum and I found myself playing games and scrolling social media more on the subway, even if I only had a few stops to go. It didn't win me over, which is a shame because I was hoping to leave a great review for the first book I reviewed for Library Thing.

Note that my book, A Bucket Full of Moonlight appeared on Library Thing last year. Out of 25 copies given out, I got 3 or 4 reviews. One of them from someone who obviously hadn't read the book or posted a review for a different book "by mistake." This book was a PDF file. I don't know if it was the final published edition because there were several grammatical errors that hadn't been corrected yet. A Table of Contents might've been nice, too, just so I knew how much farther to the end of each chapter.

I've already picked out a book of short stories to read on my kindle, so I can keep my daily progress going while I read a hardcover that I started a month ago but put aside for this book.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

A Peppermint Mocha to Die For (Valentine)

A Peppermint Mocha to Die For
Wynn Valentine (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a free ebook I download prior to Christmas but didn't get a chance to read until the new year had already begun. It was short, a novella really, with 65 pages.

Note that Good Reads and Amazon list the full title as "A Peppermint Mocha to Die For: Because Nothing Says 'Happy Holidays' Like a Murder Investigation" even though the latter half does NOT appear on the cover. It does say "A Haunted Inheritance Mystery".

The book opens with Sol hanging Christmas decorations following the very specifc instruction of her aunt while her uncle looks on. Her aunt and uncle are both ghosts.

Right here I figured that I stumbled onto the Christmas episode of a sitcom that I don't watch regularly.

The ghosts can apparently leave the house if they choose to, and other people can see them and know about them. I'm guessing that there are more ghosts to be found in town.

A mystery arises when Sol finds an old recipe card with a protection symbol on it belonging to her great aunt Edna. Aunt Prudence doesn't want to talk about it. It was a long time ago. Better to let some things lie.

But the "house" wants Sol to continue because Edna is in the house. She just isn't appearing like the other two.

There's a mystery, which really isn't a mystery, with a resolution that doesn't feel entirely satisfying. The ghosts know what happened. The older folks in town remember that Christmas party but no one wants to talk about it, until Sol finds the one woman from the original group of friends who is still alive. She finally opens up for no reason other than she's old now.

I had no interest in the characters. The story kept my interest but only because I was waited for something to happen. The writing didn't wow me but it didn't distract me either.

The book includes the recipe for the famous Mocha. I didn't try to make it.

This book doesn't check off any boxes on my Challenge checklist. I don't recall the lycanthropy being a curse. I already read a Christmas book. The title has 24 letters, unless I use the extended title frod Good Reads. (Then it would have a lot more than 25 letters!)

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Christmas, Pursued by a Bear (2020)

Christmas, Pursued by a Bear
Ryann Fletcher (2020)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a free ebook I download prior to Christmas but didn't get a chance to read until the new year had already begun.

For starters, Christmas is almost an afterthought in the book. It's there, and it's celebrated, but basically, it's cold and icy. Second, the main character, Andie, get pursued by a bear romantically, and she does a little pursuing on her own even if she's embarrassed by it. Third, the Bear in question is a werebear.

Side note: the phrase "pursued by a bear" refers to the off stage death of Antigonus in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale". There is no offstage death here.

In this universe, werebears, as well as werewolves, werelions, etc, would be a genetic anomaly and not something passed by scratching and clawing. Also, the weres seem to have some control over when the "shift" and if they shift at an less optimum time, it could affect their overall health for a while.

Speaking of "shifts", Fletcher, the author, uses the word a lot early on as a way to distract the reader into thinking the characters are, for example, refering to working at a coffee shop.

Andie is a photgrapher who sneaks into a restricted area of a wildlife preserved to get a shot that could win a competition and give her career a boost (and bring in some needed money). She briefly encounters a bear, runs off, and loses her camera in the dark. There shouldn't be any bears on this reserve or in the Midwest. She goes to her tent, expecting to find it in the morning. She meets Cat, whose illegal campsite Andie is using. Cat tells her she must've been seeing things because there aren't any bears in this area. By the morning, Cat is gone but the Park Ranger is there and makes her leave without looking for the camera.

Andie, being poor, doesn't know what she'll do and might have to cancel jobs. Then her camera shows up on her doorstep, minus the memory card.

Andie and Cat meet up again and seem to like each other. Honestly, I didn't see any chemistry between the two of them. And, of course, Cat can't let Andie know that she's a Bear. Or that her friends are also Bears. This would definitely put a crimp in any relationship.

Around this time, the big, bad, evil corporation is introduced. They're planning on developing part of the reserve for tourists. Of course, by the time they're done with their secret plans, there won't be much of a reserve left. Obviously, they can't develop it if there are protected bears on the reserve. That said, there are legal methods for removing bears and transporting them elsewhere. But that takes time and delays development. So they send poachers.

Andie sneaks into the reserve again and is sitting in a tree when she's discovered by a pair of poachers. They make her toss her camera down. A new bear appears and they attack it, but Cat shifts off-schedule and scares off the poachers. Along the way, Cat "accidentally" smashes Andie's expensive camera. She apologizes afterward.

This really should've been the deal-breaker. Cat is trying to "protect" her clan by preventing any pictures of bears because it will attract poachers from all over. Even though there are already poachers here. Additionally, she knows that Andie is poor and relies on that camera for work. And Cat isn't rolling in the dough either, so it isn't like she can replace it.

And to top it off, the poachers have cameras in the trees. There is already video of the bears. It is known that they exist.

The corporation is finally "defeated" with bad publicity. The reserve is safe and the shops the corporation bought up won't have their rent jacked up. The one thing that I found amusing was that all the characters signed non-disclosure agreements at the end for a lot of money so that they aren't poor any more. For now.

The book was okay. It wasn't the "Christmas spirit" book I look for in December. (Yes, I read it in January.) I didn't fully read the preview, but I read enough to know that Syndicorp is back and that doesn't really interest me. Everything that needed a resolution had one. Would I consider circling back to this series? Probably not. I have a lot in the TBR pile. If something else with bears strikes a memory, then maybe.

This book doesn't check off any boxes on my Challenge checklist. I don't recall the lycanthropy being a curse. I already read a Christmas book. The title has only 23 letters. I have no idea how old she was in 2020.

There are two square presents on the cover, so I could count that, even though they aren't actually drawn to be squares. (There are variant covers apparently.)

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Russell)

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Rachel Renée Russell (2009)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was one of a bunch of books that I took from a little book library. I plan to return them all for another kid to enjoy. Some of the references might be dated, but the experiences are likely the same. Unfortunately, I have misplaced the bunch I have, other than the first book, somewhere in my house.

I started this sometime in 2024, and I remember I was reading it on the train, and then I put it on the side and forgot about it. Odds are that I had a book club book to read. I didn't mind reading this on the train even though it was a little difficult to balance on top of my backpack while I had a coffee in one hand.

Nikki Maxwell is the new girl in a new school. Her dad is an exterminator who has a van with a large insect on top of it, but her mom drives her to school ... usually. Her locker is right new to the popular and mean girl, Mackenizie Hollister, who believes she's the best at everything and thinks that she deserves everything.

Nikki goes to the office to sign up for the art contest but freaks out because MacKenzie is already there, so she says she's just there to sign up for the Library Club (because there's a sign-up sheet sitting there). In the library, she meets her new friends, Chloe and Zoey. The three of them sit an an unpopular table far from the popular girls. Still, she's noticed by school photographer Brandon Roberts, who seems to like her more than Nikki can possibly believe. "Obviously", he'd be more interested in girls like MacKenzie, who definitely wants to get Brandon's attention.

Antics ensue and are recorded on journal pages. The book is even lined like a journal would be, and "Nikki" doodles in it because she is an artist.

Nikki gains popularity because she can draw temporary tattoos on students in exchange for book donations but it starts to take over her life.

Other trials and tribulations of middle school occur.

I don't know if I would've read something like this in 7th grade -- not true, I definitely would not have, for 7th grade reasons of my own -- but it was a cute book to read now. And, yes, I will read YA if only because it's a market and it might be a market that I eventually have to try. If nothing else, I like seeing how other writers write tweens and early teens.

I don't know if I'll read all of the ones that I took from the library (assuming I find where I put them), but I reserved the ebook of the second one from the library, so I'll read two of them, at least.

The following is from a website for the book:

New school.
New mean girl.
New crush.
New diary so I can spill about all of it…

I put a lot of really personal stuff in this diary along with my sketches and doodles.

But, mostly it’s about how TRAUMATIC it was transferring to my new private middle school, Westchester Country Day.

And, how a lot of the CCP (Cool, Cute & Popular) kids were really SNOBBY and made my life TOTALLY miserable. People like, oh, I don’t know, maybe…

MACKENZIE HOLLISTER!!

And, it just so happened that I got stuck with a locker right next to hers. I could NOT believe I had such CRAPPY luck. I knew right then and there it was going to be a VERY, VERY long school year. ☹️


If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop: A Novel (Mochizuki)

The Full Moon Coffee Shop: A Novel
Mai Mochizuki
Translated by Jesse Kirkwood (2014)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club book. Both the ebook nore the audiobook had months-long waits at all three libraries, so I finally requested the hardcover. I had that in two days. It's a quick read. It's not a novella -- it was over 200 pages. The book was published in Japan, where it is set, and was translated into English by Jesse Kirkwood.

The story is broken up into three parts with an epilogue that ties it all together.

There's a coffee shop that only appears when the moon is full, and it doesn't have a fixed location. It appears to people who may be lost and need some directions. And it's run by cats with names like Mercury, Mars, and Uranus (who can appear human). It's not an actual shop, but a cart that has tables and chairs set up in front of it. If you sit at one of their tables, you can't order anything. They will bring you what you need. And they will read your star chart stating which planets are in whatever house, and what that might mean when applied to your life.

In the first part of the book, a romance screenwriter is now writing story lines for side characters in romance videogames, the kind that can conclude happily but leave the player wishing for the better character, so they keep playing. She gets a call from a producer about a script she sent. The other woman wants to meet her in person. The producer doesn't realize that the writer doesn't live in that neighborhood any more because she's downsized a bit.

The lunch meeting doesn't go well. The producer tells the writer that the network wouldn't go for it. It seems like the stuff that used to be done and doesn't reflect today's trends. The writer is shocked that the producer came all that way to deliver bad news, so she doesn't advocate for herself. The producer notices this.

The writer then finds herself in the company of the cats and learns more about herself. She makes a decision and decides to focus on making the best script for the videogame she possibly can.

In the second chapter, the producer is having a crisis. She wanted to see the writer because she remembers her as a substitute teacher from when she was a child. But the meeting went so poorly that she never had a chance to tell her. The producer has a couple of problems. One is love-related, and the other is affair-related. She has to fire an actress who had an affair with a married man because the public would be outraged and wouldn't accept her in the kind of roles that she plays.

By the time the day is over, the producer is drinking with the cats and set her straight on a thing or two.

In the third part, the fired actress gets her stars read and we find that everyone seems to be connected, going back to the same school. The substitute used to walk a group of kids to school, and all of them are important to the story and the cats. They remember every day passing the house of an old man who used to have his window open and would play piano. One day, he wasn't playing. The substitute teacher was worried and checked on him. He'd collapsed in his home. The kids got help for him.

As one might guess, things start to work out for all the people to whom the Coffee Shop appeared to. And in the epilogue -- IF YOU FOUND MY PAGE BY RANDOM CHANCE AND HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK, THERE IS A SPOILER COMING AFTER THE DASHES ---

--------------

--------------

And in the epilogue, we find out that the old man was a symphony conductor who wasn't satisfied with his life. One night, he met the cats at the Full Moon Coffee Shop. After that, he quit conducting to focus on being the best piano player that he could be. He loved playing music for the children who walked past his house every day. And he remembered the kindness that they gave him. And as a reward, he asked the cats to look after the children and the teacher who helped him.

A touching ending that tied the book together more than I thought it would be.

I enjoyed this. This was the third hardcover book of the year, and it was only the middle of January! (Yes, I'm behind with my reviews!)

Next up, a YA book that I found a bunch of books in the series before misplacing all but the first somewhere in my house.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Auto-Phobia (Spiegelman)

Auto-Phobia
Art Spiegelman (2008)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was found in a Little Free Library in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on Bainbridge Street near Howard Ave. I haven't decided whether I should return it there or to the next one I see while walking. (It depends on which neighborhood I walk into next once the weather warms up, I suppose.)

This is meant to look like an actual art journal that Spiegelman kept to help combat writer's block back in 2007, and there are regular updates of whatever comes to mind. It's a little out there sometimes, but he carries on. Since he makes an R. Crumb reference, I'm guessing that Crumb is one of his inspirations. I honestly don't know much about Crumb except for a book I read many years back that I won at Lunacon. He was someone my older brothers probably read.

Anyway, Spiegelman's name rings a bell but I don't recognize his style in these pages, so I don't know where I might know the name from.

This was a short quick read. Yes, art books count as reading -- there are words on almost all the pages, and the pictures themselves tell stories if you follow them. Which I did.

And, yes, the book is going into my bag to go to another free library. Just not the one in front of the grammar school.

So this is one real, solid, paper book for the year. And I'm counting it as nonfiction because it's a journal, so even the "fiction" in it is editorialized to represent something. I don't think this book checks any boxes on my Reading Challenge list.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Leo the Elf Saves Christmas (Doxon)

Leo the Elf Saves Christmas
Bradley Doxon (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an online freebie, one of those books that was meant to put me in the mood for Christmas. Unfortunately, my Book Club meeting was arriving and I needed to read that book first. And then I really didn't want "Leo the Elf" to be the first book I read in the new year, so I put it aside half-read.

But I came back, so there's the story!

Leo is Santa's guardian, his top elf and defender of all things Christmas. He has a sword and a scepter that he usus to protect the realm, and it's a good thing that he does, too.

Leo is sent on a mission by Santa to increase Christmas spirit which seems to be lacking in recent years. While he's away, the lack of Christmas spirit is enough for the Sorrow King, long ago imprisoned in another dimension by Santa and the forest Elves (not the toy-making elves like Leo), manages to break from of his prison in his dark dimension. He then banishes Santa and his reindeer to that dimension while impersonating Santa himself. His Despair Minions take the place of the reindeer. He then has the elves work on a device that will suck up all the Christmas Spirit in the world so that, the fake Santa tells them, he can distribute it to the world.

Leo returns to the North Pole with a young human girl, Ava, who is filled with Christmas Spirit and who has the ability to wield Leo's scepter, making it shine bright. The two travel, with the help of the forest Elves, to the Realm of Darkness to rescue Santa. Then they must defeat the Sorrow Kind, destroy his machine, and return Christmas Spirit to the children of the world (which doesn't really happen).

My two problems with the narrative are that the Sorrow King succeeds early on, so his able to deliver garbage to the kids of the world and suck up their Christmas spirit. Kids will awaken on Christmas morning to the terrible presents that fake Santa left. This cannot be undone and yet it isn't explained to the children of the world what happened.

Second is the prologue. I'm not anti-prologue by any stretch of the imagination but this one seems added on to explain who the Sorrow King is and how he was banished hundreds of years ago.

The book is YA, so I don't question it much. Like with "The Year Without a Santa Claus", the elf goes into the world and visits a single town to check on Christmas spirit, but i guess that's enough to do reconnaissance.

Despite this, it was enjoyable. It was as goofy as I might've expected but not in a bad way. That said, I don't see myself reading the next book, except for my goal of reading more "second books" this year.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Eggs in a Casket (Childs)

Eggs in a Casket
Laura Childs (2014)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I was reading a YA book about an Elf saving Christmas and I decided that I didn't want that to be the first book I completed in 2025, so I put it aside. But what to read? Well, I recently got an email that an auidobook I had requested had become available at the library -- only to discover that I had listened to it a while back and the ebook was still not available. However, the next book in the series was. (I might've been waiting to read it so that I could read the previous installemnt instead of just listening.)

As a happy accidental bonus, this is the fifth book in the series, and on a Reading Challenge list I downloaded, reading the second or fifth book in a series (for the number 25) was one of the goals. Honestly, I'd thought about the goal of reading more "book 2" books this year since I start many series.

Eggs in a Casket opens at a cemetery on a rainy day. The weather will actually play a part in the plot with this one. It's Memorial Cemetary's 150th anniversary, and Suzanne and Toni are delivering flowers when they accidentally come upon Lester Drummond's body in an open grave right after they were almost sideswiped by Missy Langston who was speeding away.

Missy is a suspect, especially after it's discovered that Drummond had been tasered multiple times and a taser is found in Missy's house. (This is the kind of town where many people don't bother to lock their doors.)

Sheriff Doogie has his hands full, but does a competent job as always, even if it has to follow each lead wherever it goes, and if that means arresting Missy, so be it. Unfortunately, he's in a car accident and in intensive care for the last part of the book, leaving it Suzanne to figure out who did it, where Missy is, and possibly save Dr. Sam's life along the way.

I'm enjoying this series. I don't know that I'll start any of Childs' other series or any other cozy mysteries (paranormal or not) for that matter either. But I've add "Childs" as a tag, and at some point, I'll go back and add it to the others. If I start a second series, then maybe I'll add a "Cackleberry" tag, too. We'll see.

Okay, back to the elf.


If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.