currently reading: This is a big week for me. Two of my favorite authors have new books out, and I am reading them both right now. Donna Andrews’s Meg Langslow is back, juggling wedding preparations with her investigations. Her brother Rob is marrying his longtime fiancée Delaney, and their mother and the bride’s mother are working together to make it a huge production. Meg has been volunteered to help out, of course, especially since the wedding is being held at the farm where she lives with her husband Mike and their twin boys. Meanwhile her nephew Kevin has started a true crime podcast with his friend Casey where they take a look at cold cases in Virginia. Apparently, they got a little too close on one of their episodes, and someone tried to run Casey down. He wasn’t hurt, but the podcasters are spooked, and Kevin asks Meg to help him try to figure out which case it was that caused someone to panic. He’s chosen the 3 crimes that are most likely to cause problems if they are solved, so Meg starts looking into a woman’s disappearance, a convicted murderer who says he was innocent, and a college cheating scandal at the local university’s business school. It’s a lot to juggle, both for Meg and for readers, but it’s so much fun! I adore these characters, and I can’t wait to find out what happens at the wedding. Do you think the mothers find out that Rob and Delaney actually got married months ago and they’re just going along with the big celebration to make their mothers happy, or do you think they get away with it? Oh, and the crime stuff, of course. Which case is it that cased someone to try to run down Casey with a car? And will Meg be able to figure it out in time? (spoiler: she usually does).

I’m also reading Smells Like Tween Spirit, where the original class mom Jen Dixon is back in her new job as mat mom. Her son is now in middle school and has taken up wrestling. She is still at her emailing best, and her friend’s psychic mother is telling her to get in shape. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out! With lots of heart and family, some new perimenopause symptoms, eldercare questions, spin classes, and lots of really smelly laundry, this one is almost as fun as Laurie Gelman’s first book about Jen and her brood.

up next: We haven’t started watching Paper Girls yet, but we did get the whole thing all in one book. Looking forward to reading it!