My Current Interest

             I wasn’t sure I was going to write about this film.   Because of what the main character goes through, so much of it was awkward, painful, and uncomfortable to watch, especially when the character Martin was on the screen.   Then, all of a sudden, those moments lessened and Love, Simon turned into a really great film.   A film I think is important for people to see.                   Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) has a secret.   He’s gay.   No one knows this.   Not his family.   Not his friends.   Absolutely no one.   In order to finish his senior year as the guy everyone has known him as throughout his life, Simon decides he’s going to keep this secret to himself.   After that it’s unclear as to what he will do, but for now he will stay as the Simon everyone has known for so long.   It is a post by...

             The end of this book frustrated me so much!   Just like what happened in one of the Magical Cats books, the man thinks he knows what is going on and ends things before the woman he is involved with can fully explain.   What is wrong with people?!                 Life is going well for Lindsey Norris .   She has settled in as the library director in the small town of Briar Creek.   There is good group of friends around her, including the children’s librarian, Beth.   Then on top of that, she’s dating Sully, a man she really likes.   In fact, the only real problem Lindsey must deal with is her employee, Ms. Cole, who always compares her to the director that came before.   Fortunately, this isn’t a big problem.   Lindsey can definitely handle Ms. Cole.           ...

               This book is so much fun.   I think the reason I find it so much fun is because of the relationship between the main character and her cat.   As someone who had cats for many years, I understood their interactions all too well.                         Librarian Minnie Hamilton is excited to finally be on the road with her library’s bookmobile.   With so many libraries in the area being closed to save money, the bookmobile is the best way to give the community access to books.   Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this thought.   Minnie’s boss sees the bookmobile as pointless and a waste of money.   He also happens to be the person behind the closing of the other libraries.   With this type of antagonism towards the bookmobile and libraries, Minnie knows the first day of the boo...

Image provided by Acorn TV.           George Gently is over.   Unlike other series, because of what happens in the last episode, I don’t see much chance of this show being revived.   Which is okay.   Even though I enjoyed this series, I think it was more important to have things end the way Gently would have wanted them too, instead of leaving things open for possible further episodes.   No, even though the ending is finite, it was, in my opinion, the best thing that could have been done for the character. Image provided by Acorn TV.         A lot of things have happened since I last wrote about George Gently (also known as Inspector George Gently ).   One of the biggest is that Chief Inspector Gently (Martin Shaw) and his partner, Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), were almost killed.   Gently was confronting someone in a church when John comes in to help him and they both get shot.   Aft...

Only one more book to go, then I am all caught up with this series.   Getting caught up with a series can sometimes be difficult.   That’s because, once I do, I have to wait for the next book to come out! Librarian Kathleen Paulson’s young employee, Mia Janes, is thrilled to show her grandfather Leo off around town.   She is not so thrilled about her great-uncle Victor (Leo’s twin brother) being in town as well.   Years ago, Victor had an affair with Leo’s wife, Meredith.   She ran off with Victor, leaving not only Leo behind, but also a teenage son, Simon.   Then, before anything could be resolved amongst these three adults, Meredith died in a car accident, leaving bad feelings between Leo and Victor. Now Simon is an adult and the single father of Mia.   Like his daughter, he is not happy that Victor is in town.   It is Leo that wants him there.   Despite years apart and all that has happened, Leo wants his family to get to kn...

           With reading so many mystery series at the same time, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of what is going on in each one.   This is especially true when I have more than one mystery series involving a library.   Fortunately, once I start reading the book I have in hand, I can usually figure out where I left off. It probably should not have come as too much of a surprise that Carrie Ruston’s husband was killed.   Markus was whiney, unsupportive, a liar, and a crook.   In fact, everyone in Carrie’s life wondered why an extremely nice woman like her was married to such an awful man.   This belief in Carrie’s niceness is part of the reason that no one in town believes that Carrie is the culprit when Markus turns up dead.   Or at least most people believe in Carrie’s innocence.   There are a few willing to listen to the ramblings of Marjorie “Batty” Bilson.        ...

Image provided by Kensington Books. I was so excited when Premeditated Peppermint arrived in the mail.   It was sent to me as an advanced copy (without a promise of a review) because I had reviewed a previous book in the Amish Candy Shop mystery series.   Eager to know what was going to happen next to Bailey, it didn’t take me even twenty-four hours to read the book once I had started it.   Yet, despite my enjoyment of the story, I waited to post about it.   I wanted to be sure others were able to buy the book or get it from the library before I said a word.                 It’s time for the Christmas Market in the Amish community of Harvest, Ohio.   Chocolatier Bailey King is busy making peppermint treats in her grandmother’s Amish candy shop when the last person she ever expects walks through the door.   That person is her ex-boyfriend, celebrity chef, Eric Sharp. ...

             It took me awhile to read this Witchcraft Mystery , which is unusual for me.   Normally I read these books very quickly after I pick them up from the library.   I think I hesitated this time because I was concerned about Lily and Sailor’s relationship.   People around Lily keep saying that because she is a witch she cannot have love.   I would hate to see something happen that would lead that to be true.                 It was only a matter of time before Oscar, Lily’s familiar, got Lily into trouble.   Always up to something, Oscar was in his pig form when he headbutted a woman in Lily’s store.   Now the woman, Autumn Jennings, is suing Lily for what Oscar did.   Lily does not think things need to go that far, and that the matter can be handled personally.   She goes to Autumn’s vintage shop to talk things out, but ...

             I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but this series really does get better and better.   Every Magical Cats Mystery book I read, I seem to enjoy a little bit more than the one before it.   That is not something I can say about every series, but I certainly can about this one.                 The citizens of Mayville Heights, Minnesota are in a debate over a new development that wants to come to town.   Librarian Kathleen Paulson is against the development, but she respects the opinions of those who are for it.   One of the big concerns Kathleen has is about the feral cats she takes care of.   People have a tendency to abandon their personally owned cats with the feral cats so they can be found by either Kathleen or one of her friends who also cares for them.   If there is a development being built near where the cats live,...

             It took me two tries to watch The Zookeeper’s Wife .   That’s because the first disc I got was so scratched up I couldn’t watch it.   Thankfully, the second disc was in much better condition, because I would have hated to have missed such a great film.                            Based upon a true story, The Zookeeper’s Wife starts just before the Second World War.   The young Z abin ski family runs the Warsaw Zoo in Poland, with Dr. Jan Z abin ski (Johan Heldenbergh) serving as the zoo director.   While everyone in the family and staff helps care for the animals, it is Antonina (Jessica Chastain), Jan’s wife, who has a special connection with them.   The animals follow Antonina around the zoo, and she is the one who can calm them down when they are in distress.   For Antonina, t...

Image provided by Crooked Lane Books.              When I saw Amanda Flower was going to have a book about a magic garden, I was very excited.   I have enjoyed so many other series of Ms. Flower's (as you can probably tell if you’ve read my blog for a while), I did not have any doubt I would enjoy this one too.   Unfortunately, when I was able to get Flowers and Foul Play from the library , I had to cram though it in seven days.   I don’t like doing that, but for a book I was waiting so long to read, I was perfectly willing to do it.                   Life has not gone according to plan for Fiona Knox.   She had to close her flower shop because competition opened up nearby.   Then her fiancé left her for their cake decorator.   Finally, her godfather, Ian MacCallister, died, eliminating a support Fiona always expected to have. ...

              I found this Library Lover’s mystery series because I came across one of its books in a Little Free Library .   As usual, the book I found was not the first in the series.   In fact, it was pretty far down the line, making it even more important that I start for the beginning.   Not that I wouldn’t have anyways.                          Lindsey Norris is the new director of the Briar Creek Public library.   Even though she is new to this small, northeast town, pretty much everyone loves what Lindsey is doing with the library.   Everyone except for Ms. Cole, the head of Circulation.   She is a very disapproving woman who constantly brings up the previous library director as though his methods were the only way to do anything.   Fortunately, Lindsey has the support of the library boa...

Image provided by Kensington Books.              When I saw the second book in the Amish Candy Shop mystery series was coming out, I was eager to give it a try.   With a mix of characters who are Amish and English (Englisch), and those who live in the town and those from New York City, I was curious to see how everyone was going to get along in this second book.   I’m sad to say, not well.                           New York City chocolatier Bailey King has entered the Amish Confectionary Competition in place of her deceased grandfather.   While this would not seem like a problem since Bailey does work in her family’s Amish candy shop, not everyone is happy Bailey is in the competition.   She is what the Amish call an “Englischer”.   Despite where she works, and being fully willing to follow the c...

Image provided by Acorn TV.           With a show called Loch Ness (also known as The Loch ), you would think this show was about the Loch Ness Monster in some way, but it’s not.   At least not in the traditional sense.   That’s because this time the monster is not a creature living in a lake.   The monster is a serial killer.                 In a small town located on Loch Ness, the body of a local piano teacher has been found.   At first glance it seems the death of Niall Swift (Jordan McCurrach) could have been an accident.   He was found not far from a cliff edge.   It would have been easy for him to slip and fall, or even take his own life.                 An accident or suicide is probably the way Niall’s cause of death would have been determined if the investigators ha...