This book is an absolute smorgasbord of holiday cheer. Fifteen short pieces by John Scalzi including an interview with Santaslawyer, a list of nefarious Christmas specials (if you wouldn't pay to see "A Canadian Christmas with David Cronenberg", we cannot be friends), and a great story about Christmas in July are among the goodies in this delightful book. It's a treasure!

I adored this book! Sam is a great character and the secondary characters are great, too! When a man is murdered on a retirement home bus trip to Chicago, Sam and her grandmother are shocked. Sam has a few murder solves under her belt and thinks she has a shot at it, due to the ineffective police. It turns out there are some people with pretty good reasons for wanting this man dead. The mystery is solid and I appreciated the solve.

Have you ever watched Cutthroat Kitchen and wished that the show could just be a teensy bit more cutthroat? Well, have I got the book for you! Courtney Archer is a woman with a secret. She's not actually the down home country girl her legions of fans think she is. This probably wouldn't be such a big deal if she wasn't the host of a very popular cooking show. Courtney is chosen to host a baking battle with her reputation as a country girl. Unfortunately one of the contestants is fatalky beaned in the head with cast iron filled with dessert. More precisely, a dessert poor Courtney had left to cool. Everyone is a suspect, including Courtney. Trying to keep her secret and unmask the murderer keeps Courtney on her toes. I really enjoyed this one and was honestly surprised by how much I liked Courtney. (Look, she's lying for fame. Not very nice) but Ross manages to make her very relatable and sympathetic. First in the series.

This was a really fun read featuring likable characters and an engaging mystery. It has three pov's: Megan, a police officer Brigit, Megan's k9 partner The poacher, a man who commits crimes to keep his family together. This book was incredibly sympathetic to The Poacher while not letting him off the hook. For instance, he stole the toys from the toy shop to give his kids a good Christmas. Megan starts off investigating a rich woman's missing ring and then is alerted to the birdnapping of two macaws. I figured out what was happening with the rings pretty early on but the plot is written really well and it didn't interrupt the flow of the zoo abductions storyline.

Day Zero Video

Oh my gosh! I can't stress how happy I was to read this book! It contains an amazing bts look at the filming of Alien. (One of my all-time faves!) It is absolutely a gorgeous book!

Catfishing on CatNet was amazing and I most definitely will recommend it to fans of YA fiction. So, what I'd like to talk about is the joy in community found on the internet. Yes, it can certainly be a hive of scum and villainy but I have often found my family online. Care to talk about your online family? -Sarah

Welcome back to the world of Jill Gardner, Greg, and the awesome pupperino Emma. This time, Jill is super concerned about her Aunt Jackie who has suddenly called off her engagement. It turns out poor Jackie may have been contacted by her supposed husband. To make matters worse a man has been shot. (I would like to say that while I was typing this, I mistyped "shot" and started laughing because considering Ben's character, it seemed pretty apt.) All the clues seem to point to his doormat girlfriend, Paula. Jill can't believe that Paula would be capable of doing such a thing and decides to investigate. The Tourist Trap Mysteries are excellent stand-alone books. I've read two in the series and while I want back ground on the characters, I don't feel I've missed out on anything.

So, this book deals quite bluntly with themes of suicide and depression. If these are issues you have difficulty with please be careful when reading this book. It's wonderful but very intense at points. Oh, this book. Would you believe I almost didn't finish it? I'm so glad that I did. Here's what's happening in this book. Coral is a young mermaid whose culture considers emotions a disease. Her older sister fell in love with a human and is now waiting to die of the horrific Red Tide Brooke is staying at an inpatient care facility for her depression and is struggling over painful memories. Merrick is struggling with his domineering father, his depressed kid sister, and his mother leaving.

This is a phenomenal addition to Arthurian legend. I've always thought that Guinevere was done dirty by legend. This Guinevere is not actually born as Guinevere and that's such an interesting thought in the "What's in a name?" line of thinking. Our Guinevere is sent by Merlin to marry King Arthur to protect him since magic has been banished in Camelot. The writing is wonderful and there are some twists that are absolute delights. I'll not spoil it but it was an absolute delight to read! I am here for this and you should be too!

This book was so good! It's almost like two books in one. The beginning is very gothic horror, like VC Andrews but focused on a creepy Manor instead of...you know. The story is told through the alternating viewpoints of Zuhra and Inara. Inara seems to have extreme sensory issues and has attacks where she can barely speak due to being do overwhelmed. The girls live with their mother and servant in an old musty citadel protected by a sentient hedge. Yes, a sentient hedge that only let's Sami (the servant) out if there's an emergency. One day, a man somehow gets by the hedge and the adventure begins. This was a fascinating tale of loyalty and well, abuse. Yes, I understand that Cinnia felt deserted but did she have to treat her daughters so cruelly just for having questions? Honestly, I just wanted her to die! I really liked Halvor. His enthusiasm for knowledge of the Paladins was charming.

Previously... This book has great fun with flashbacks and doesn't get to the present until about 75% in (much like the first one) the difference is this one takes us back 25 years ago. I'll admit that while the twist is fun, I saw it coming from the first book and I don't think this is a knock against Barnes but more due to the fact that I grew up watching really weird soap operas. More info about the Taft family is given and I really enjoyed that. I really want to talk more but I don't want to soil the book. While not as laugh out loud as the other one (c'mon, Campbell's kidnapping was comedy gold) I actually believe this is an improvement on the first.

It struck me after reading this that this book could be a continuation of a Romeo and Juliet story.  What happened in the decade after if nobody had learned their lesson? The situation Valerie finds herself in is a difficult one until she literally has the choice taken away from her at gunpoint. So she adapts. This is a very sad story, the premise being founded on a child's murder but it's also a celebration of life. Valerie finds happiness and a sense if community with the Stags as they attempt to fight gentrification. And I've got to say, having lived in Seattle, Shannon Price is on point about this.