Wow, what a bad week that was! Between being sick myself and sitting in the waiting room to the waiting room to the emergency room for almost 8 hours (not for me, for a family member), it was just a rough week. I didn’t get much read, and what I did get read I couldn’t make the words go together to talk about them. But I am feeling stronger today, and I have gotten some reading done this weekend, so I am feeling better about this coming week and look forward to bringing lots of great book talk this week!

just finished: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and it was bananas! Basically, a woman and her husband go to a non-traditional therapist to help them, and things get bonkers. Nothing is quite what it seems, except maybe Romeo (he’s a dog).

currently reading: as part of a challenging week, I needed some comfort reading (listening), so I’ve been spending time living in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by listening to the audio book for E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It’s an absolute classic, and read by Jill Clayburgh, is super fun and classy. I have about an hour and a half left to enjoy next week, so that will bring me joy on a busy day. I’ve also been listening to Brad Meltzer’s The Lightning Rod. I got an early copy that I didn’t get a chance to get to, and I had an Audible credit just sitting there, so I bought the book on audio to listen to at work. It’s really good, but I’m only about two-thirds of the way through, so I know there are still lots of surprises coming. But it’s amazing, of course, and one to add to your TBR if you haven’t already.

I’m also reading a couple of books that come out this Tuesday, Peter Swanson’s Nine Lives and Kate Spencer’s In a New York Minute. Very different books, and both are fabulous! In the thriller category, we have a story where 9 people are mailed a letter with their names in a list. There is no explanation of the list, and no one knows anyone else on the list. And then one of the people on the list is murdered. I don’t know why yet, or how many of these people will lose their lives before they figure it out, but I am in with this book. I can’t wait to get back to it!

Doing a 180, In a New York Minute is a classic rom com with the strangest meet cute. Franny gets let go from her job at a startup and is lugging her stuff home from the office on the subway. She feels something unusual behind her and realizes that her dress got caught in the subway doors and has sheared in two. As soon as she gets to the next station, she will be mooning everyone there. She asks for help, despite it being New York and despite it being the subway, and the man standing in front of her offers her his suit jacket. She has no choice but to take it, with gratitude. But it turns out that someone else on the train has witnessed what happened between them and thought they caught a spark between them. This person calls them “SubwayQTs” and shares it all to her stories. Of course, the story goes viral and they become a hashtag. From there, it just gets crazier. But so far my favorite part of this may be the author’s note before the book itself, where the author talks about her love for New York and how that is where she started this story. It just made me want to read harder, to diving deep into the story and feel the city.

I’ve also starting diving in to the audio book of The Wok, and I am loving it. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt just has a way of talking about cooking that draws me in and ignites my own passion. Not too long ago, I snagged the audio version of his first book, The Food Lab, in a sale at Audible, so I’m looking forward to listening to that one next!

up next: I’m not quite sure. For now, I’m just keeping my head down and reading, trying to get caught up on that loss of sleep from daylight savings and continuing to put that nasty cold/bronchitis behind me. Because I don’t have any new bookmail to share, and I don’t know what I want to read next, I am sharing a picture of my cat, because he is awesome. This is him stealing my bf’s chair. #DonDonrocks