currently reading: Madrigals and Mayhem, the latest in Elizabeth Penney’s Cambridge Bookshop Series. Molly Kimball is thrown in the middle of family drama when she befriends the woman who just reopened the toy store just down from her bookshop. The toy store, and the gorgeous dollhouse in the holiday window display, was an inheritance from her grandfather. But his ex-wife and her daughter are disputing the will. There is a murder attempt and a missing doll that is worth a lot of money in contention, and Molly decides to step up and help figure out how to get her new friend out of danger.

I’m also reading P.S. I Hate You, a rom com about a man whose death leads his sister and his best friend to spread his ashes over 8 different states, despite them being mortal enemies. Well, maybe not mortal enemies, but Maddie had adored Dominic in high school, and after he broke her heart, she has been living elsewhere and trying not to think about him. Now, Josh seems to be matchmaking from the grave, and Maddie has to decide if she wants to risk her heart again. I’m not too far in yet, but it’s beautifully written. This one is out Tuesday and not to be missed for rom com fans.

I’m also reading the new book from Pip Drysdale. I loved The Sunday Girl. Drysdale has a way with thrillers, and this one is just as good. A writer trying to come up with her second novel has been blocked for two years, until she gets back involved with the guy whose rejection fueled her first novel. Back then he was a bartender. Now he’s a huge action star and People’s Sexiest Man. Zoe doesn’t want to risk her heart again, but she needs something to get her moving on her latest novel. But when someone starts stalking her, just how the main character in her first novel was stalked, Zoe is taken aback. Is she genuinely in danger? If she survives, she will have the greatest novel of her career, but is it worth risking her life for?

I’ve also decided that as much as I love all these books that I get from publishers to review, I want to keep a book going just for me as well. It was Harriet the Spy, but I finished it. So now it’s Believe, The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso. It’s so fun to get a backstage look at the show and how it came to be. I am enjoying this one immensely. If you know a Ted Lasso fan and they love a deep dive like a big old nerd, then keep this one in mind for holiday gifts.

up next: Christmas books. I’m running out of time, lol.