snapshot 5.30

So the plan was to be writing this last night and working on a new review tonight, but it wasn’t that kind of weekend. A couple of family members are dealing with some health issues, so there was some time this weekend spent sitting in ER waiting rooms and then hospital rooms. So I didn’t get the reading done I was hoping for this weekend, or the writing, but I will do my best this week. And my day job is about to heat up, so this next month I will do what I can, but it will be a challenge. Hang with me through June, because there are a lot of great books coming out, and I can’t wait to talk about them!

currently reading: I’ve been reading TJ Alexander’s Chef’s Kiss, which came out in early May, and it’s fantastic! Simone is an extraordinary baker working for The Discerning Chef, a magazine with expert recipes and a dwindling readership. The editor has decided that they need to raise their online presence with a video channel. And when the new kitchen manager Ray immediately goes viral for her enthusiastic videos, the powers-that-be want Simone to join forces with Ray and create a series that viewers might love. But Simone, a perfectionist, struggles a little with Ray’s spontaneity and even more with her growing crush on Ray, making the videos far more complicated. This is a fun, sweet, gender bending romance that will charm LGBTQ+ and cis readers alike.

I’ve also started The Favor, which comes out tomorrow. Author Nora Murphy has crafted a suspenseful domestic thriller about two women in controlling relationships and how far they take things to get free. I’m feeling a Strangers on a Train vibe maybe? I’m not too far in yet, but I have already devoured enough to know it’s fantastic and definitely one to watch for.

up next: things will be a little crazy soon, so I may be depending more on audio books for the next few weeks, which is good. I have a lot of good ones to read! But the one up first this week is The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz, who brought us last year’s mega hit The Plot. I can’t wait to dig in!

And later this summer, I will very happy curl up with this one, the latest in the Vera Stanhope series, thanks to Minotaur Books and Goodreads, where I won a giveaway.

marshmallow salad, homebrewing, and viral videos

austen, experimentation, investigation, and emotion