Ms. Marvel: Time and Again

I had been a little meh about the last few volumes, but this one really renewed my love for this whole series. It really shows the stress of being a teenager, sometimes there are scarier things then fighting villains, like keeping secrets from your friends or trying to come to terms with your crush. Kamala Khan fights off the bad guys while navigating friendship, family, the future, and compassion. Cute while still being totally kick ass!

Homegrown and Handpicked

A wonderful follow up to Carol Michel's first book of gardening humor! Filled with vignettes, gardening tips, letters, advice, and more; this little collection is pure fun. Just as with here first collection, this book inspires the reader to get out there and start gardening, right this second! It's cute and inspiring; and reading it at this time of year (spring) makes me want to do even more in my yard. I can't wait to get my hand on the third book in this trilogy, if anything like the first two it's going to be amazing :)

Scooby Apocalypse: vol. 4

This series has been a mixed bag for me, and volume four is easily my least favorite of the bunch. It wouldn't have been as bad if it just focused on Scooby and the gang but we kept getting weird side stories with a talking mole and squirrel (top agents) with babes in bikinis assisting them.... ok. Is it going to tie in later? Did it already tie in and I miss it? God knows. It was weird and diverting. The rest of this graphic novel the gang has to focus on if there can be good monsters and deciding what they want to do with the rest of their lives now that they know there isn't a way to reverse the nanites that affected everyone and turned them into monsters. They decides to hole up in a mall and make the best of it. Very meh, I'll give it one more volume, but my heart isn't really in this anymore.

Inland

Charming, heart-wrenching, and seamless; this literary western is an instant classic. Two story-lines dance around each other before weaving themselves together in an unforgettable way; Nora, a stubborn frontierswomen trying to navigate family strife and find water in the midst of a drought and Lurie, a young outlaw whose past ghosts keep him company as he aimlessly meanders across the west with his camel. Nora's husband was due back two days ago, but she's not worried, she doesn't have time to be; she has to look after her superstitious young son and the head strong and spirit seeing cousin. As the day progresses and her thirst grows stronger, Nora starts to realize something is amiss. Lurie's story on the other hand, spans decades while Nora's is merely one long, hot day. Lurie travels across the country on one expedition after another, with no place to truly call home. Home is where his camel and the spirits are Poetic, beautiful, and haunting, this story spins a tale so fascinating that the reader can't stop reading. A wonderful novel!

Cold Days

Amazing as always! I am thrilled that we're back to having James Marsters be the narrator, because he's the best and his voice is the voice that brings this series to life for me. Cold Days opens with Dresden waking up from his coma and beginning rehab. He tried getting rid of his Winter Knight mantle in the last book, but no dice, he's got obligations that he can't get out of. When he's fully recovered Queen Mab throws him a lavish birthday party and gives him her first command - to kill her daughter, Maeve. Harry has one full day to go back to the mortal world, survive Halloween night, dodge fairies that are trying to kill him, and find a way to kill an immortal. Tons of shit gets thrown at him, and Harry being his usual sarcastic, charming self, can be counted on to somehow figure it all out. Another stellar installment!

Brunch at the Bittersweet Cafe

A quick Christian read that I initially thought was going to be super predictable, but ended up being more than I expected. For starters, I will admit, that I did not read the first in this series. That being said, it didn't seem to hinder any of my understanding of this book, I think the first one may have focused on another couple in this friend group (although I may be wrong). The novel opens with a spunky single 30 year old baker helping an attractive airline pilot after his fancy sports car gets stuck in a snowdrift. Spark fly, but they don't exchange numbers because neither of them are looking for a fling. Their paths continue to cross but they soon realize that any relationship they might spark is doomed because both of their futures aren't compatible. Could Melody give up her dreams of co-owning a bakery with her best-friend and could Justin turn his back on his sister and his family? Peppered with family strife, friendship problems, doubting of faith, and lots and lots of food descriptions. This book will definitely make you hungry. It was cute, romantic, and like said the ending didn't end how I thought it would, so there is that.

Commander in Cheat

I couldn't put this book down. Amazon delivered it yesterday afternoon and I spent all evening at my local watering hole devouring this book. I've never picked up a golf club or been a fan of Donald Trump but I've read books on both topics and this book takes the cake. Rick Reilly uses golf's Trump techniques (cheating and lying) to explain his terrible practices in office. Trump has been a notorious cheater in golf for decades, something he can't argue against; it's on film, hundreds of athletes, celebrities, and politicians will attest to it, he's admitted it, and his caddies joke that "Trump doesn't cheat... because we do it for him." Trump boasts that he's won 18 golf tournaments, although not ONE can be verified (16 are easy to disprove). He usually bullies course managers to put his name up on the trophy plaques because he "plays better than most other players all the time (most tournaments he never even played in!). Reilly then elaborates on Trump's business practices: specifically with his golf courses (lawsuits galore), his fight against paying contractors in full, and his failure to ban any Muslim countries that he had golf interests in. The book also discusses all presidents and their attachment (or lack thereof) to golf and how it influenced their presidential terms. "Obama wound up playing 306 rounds in office, or once every 9.5 days. Trump is on pace to, over eight years, to obliterate Obama's number - 759 rounds, which goes to show you that bone spurs do heal very nicely." The humor, the insight, the golfing parallels, and the writing make this book a showstopper. It was eye opening and golf was the perfect lens to view Trump and his "ethics" through. "In life, we're defined by the obstacles we overcome. That's the stuff we hang on our inner wall. But if you cheat to get around those obstacles, you never know the thrill of actually beating them. It's like buying a trophy in a pawn shop. You can shine it up and show it off and pretend you won it, but when you get close to it, it only reflects the face of a loser." make this book your most read political/sports book of 2019!