My Current Interest

Image provided by Kensington Books      I find I go through streaks where I reject book after book for one reason or another.  For some reason, I just don’t want to read what I have on hand.       I was going through one of these streaks when I began reading A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder .   As I read, I found myself relieved.   Finally, I had found a book I wanted to read to the end.      Frances Wynn, AKA Lady Harleigh, AKA Countess of Harleigh, is ready to break free from her family.   She has completed her year of mourning for her husband, Reggie, and wants to escape her brother-in-law and his wife.   Graham and Delia have been using Frances’ money to keep up the household.   With Frances leaving, and taking the money with her, everything may fall apart.      Taking her daughter Rose with her, Frances moves to the city.   She finds a place to live, and experiences a gre...

     What to say about Andi Mack ?  In all honesty, I don’t know.  It’s definitely a different kind of kid’s show, dealing with teenage motherhood to begin with; then moving onto other situations, such as one of the main characters being gay.  These are not topics generally seen on shows aimed at a younger audience.  Yet, Andi Mack talks about these situations, and others.  They do it with a maturity that makes the show enjoyable for older viewers, but also a lightness to make the show not too serious for others.  It is truly a show for all ages.      On her thirteenth birthday, life for Andi Mack (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) changes forever.   She is excited her older sister Bex (Lilan Bowden) is in town, but does not know Bex has arrived for something other than Andi’s birthday.      Bex has returned home to tell Andi she is her mother, not her sister.      This information shakes Andi’s enti...

     It seems the Olivia situation may have FINALLY gotten taken care.  The resolution doesn’t come until the end of Going, Going, Ganache , but it gives me hope for the future of the series.  It’s about time.         Cupcake bakery owners Mel Cooper and Angie DeLaura are going to be featured in a popular and prestigious local magazine, Southwest Style .   It is a great honor which goes badly from the start.   Instead of being photographed as themselves, Mel and Angie are forced to pose in costumes.   Then rival baker Olivia Puckett crashes the photo shoot.   A fight breaks out, the photo shoot is damaged, and Fairy Tale Cupcakes are the ones blamed.      To cover the cost of the damages, and to get his publishing team to finally work together, the new owner of Southwest Style , Ian Hannigan, has Mel and Angie hold a cupcake bootcamp.   His team must work together, guided by Mel and Angie, in...

     Darn these cliffhangers!  Just when I thought things were going to be resolved, the book ended with uncertainty again.  Now I have to wait for book three to find out what is going to happen to these storylines I want an answer to!      With life becoming settled at the Bell Inn, book two of the Tales from Ivy Hill series turns to those living at Ivy Cottage.        After losing her house to a distant heir, Rachel Ashford has moved into Ivy Cottage, the home of her friend Mercy Grove.   Mercy has turned the house into a school for girls.   To feel less like she is being given a place to stay out of charity, Rachel offers to teach in order to earn her keep.   The problem is, Rachel is not very good at teaching.   Still wanting to earn her lodgings, Rachel must figure out another way to earn a living.                   R...

     Just as I did when I wrote about the first two seasons of The Crown , I start this post with a declaration.  As the characters in this show are based on real, living people; I want it clear all comments I make are about the characters, not the people themselves.      Some time has passed since the end of season two.   The characters are changing, which means the cast must change along with it.   Queen Elizabeth II ( Olivia Colman ) is facing new times as her children get older and society changes around her.   What doesn’t change is the family she has been battling from the start. Heavy is the Head... /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) is as cantankerous as ever.   He always has something to complain about, to the point he hardly lets Elizabeth get a word in.   Why Elizabeth doesn’t crack and tell him to shut up, I have no idea.   Philip always thinks he is right, and does ...

     Somehow, I managed to cram through The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill in under twenty-four hours.  The story moved very quickly, and all I wanted to do was keep reading.  Unfortunately, not everything was resolved in the end.  Which means I have to go out and get the second book in the series to see what happens!  I wonder if I will read it as fast as I did this one. At the Ring of a Bell /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Things are not going well for The Bell in the village of Ivy Hill, an inn that has been in business for generations.   A year ago, its owner, John Bell, died.   As a result, the inn was left in the hands of his wife, Jane, a woman who never wanted to work there.        It was an inheritance that shocked John’s mother, Thora.   She had managed the inn for years.   Then, after John’s funeral, she went to live with her sister, leaving the business in Jane’s care.   Now she is back in ...

     My mom is the reason I read The Jane Austen Society  when I did.  Well, really it was Richard Armitage .  Every month I pick up this free magazine from the library called The Book Page .  I go through and mark which books I think are interesting so I can try them at a later date.  One month, a while back, one of those books was The Jane Austen Society .      It was listed in the audiobook section, and I didn’t pay much attention to who the reader was.  Then my mom asked me about the Richard Armitage book.  I had no idea how I could have missed a book by one of my favorite actors.      Well, it turns out the book my mom was talking about was The Jane Austen Society .  Mr. Armitage did not write the book, but he read for the audiobook.  Still, I knew I had to read this book sooner rather than later.      World War II has ended, and the small English village of Chawton is tr...