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There came a point in reading Keely Parrack’s YA thriller Don’t Let in the Cold (Sourcebooks) that I found myself huddled under a blanket. Yes, I was dressed for winter. Yes, the heater in the house functioned just fine. It was… Wait. I should give you a little plot here. Seventeen-year-old Lottie is being deposited… Continue reading Brace Yourself! (a review)

While I prefer to talk about books that might not make it to your radar, this time I’m going against that grain. It’s been a very busy travel summer—long plane rides, solid downtime, an unexpected 7.5-hour delay in a Paris train station. So, knowing the unpredictability of transportation, I chose to travel with a couple… Continue reading Murder, Anyone?

Sometimes, you need to settle in with a cozy book and maybe a cup of tea. Or a fast read to make your flight (I took a flight!) speed by. Enter Pride and Premeditation (Harper Teen, 2021) by Tirzah Price, a fun spin on – you guessed it – Pride and Prejudice. And that’s exactly… Continue reading A Cup of Murder, Anyone?

If you like solving things – yet, even if you don’t – it may soon dawn on you that you can read the title of the entry when you use your most basic substitution code. Yes, 1=A, 2=B, 3=C… Feel free to stop and “read” it or skip right below the picturs for an instant… Continue reading 8 1 12 6 . 1 . 2 15 15 11 . 18 5 22 9 5 23

…if it hadn’t been next in my to-be-read pile. Here’s how this book got there:When this whole quarantine business started, I asked a local bookseller to gather a group of middle grade titles together for curbside pick-up, books that might have flown under my radar. I got that stack home, however, and I discovered that… Continue reading I Might Never Have Picked It Up If…

Here it is. A book that was SO written for me!There’s mystery, intrigue, tons of WHAT THE #@*$ for the main character. Oh, and puzzles! It’s a book I would have read and reread as a kid, and I would reread it now, but my To Be Read pile is stacked way too high. Luckily… Continue reading Luckily… (a review)

Growing up, I couldn’t get enough Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown…Then, because YA wasn’t yet a big thing, I launched directly into Agatha Christie and continued to gobble up a huge variety of mysteries and thrillers. So, I’ve been asked, if I’ve always gravitated toward those genres, why don’t I write in them? Honestly,… Continue reading First Up in My Genre of Choice

The particulars of what you’re reading happened because of this Facebook post. Above the picture, it says, “My current TBR pile. What should I start first?” I’d been leaning toward FINDING LANGSTON by Lesa Cline-Ransome because at 104 pages, I could inhale it in one day. That fit my current mood. And a recommendation in… Continue reading ICYMI…You’ll Want to Find It Now

Dear Teachers, Librarians, Parents;Dear Aunts, Uncles, Friends;Dear Anyone In a Position to Influence the Children of this World, Coo.It’s a book. It’s a main character.It’s also pigeon-speak.In sum, they tell a wonderful, beautiful, engrossing story that’s also extraordinarily suited to help people of all ages — ALL ages — understand the concept of empathy even… Continue reading Speaking for Coo

I was at a writing conference years ago when Lisa Yee and I met. It promised to be one of those fleeting moments. It was just me in line to have her sign my book. She paused to let me know about about a thing we had in common. Since then, our paths have crossed… Continue reading No Matter the Title: A Review