The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

 

The plot:  When her estranged grandfather dies, Sam is surprised to learn that he left her their family's valuable lakefront property in his will. The catch: she has to stay at her family's old summer cottage for one month. The same cottage they were staying at when, as a child, she saw her father burying a dead boy's body. That was the summer that changed everything for Samantha Payne and her family. And the only reason she agrees to go back is because she desperately needs the money from the sale of the land to pay for her mother's dementia care.

But back in Paynes Hollow, the very place that supposedly inspired The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Sam is haunted by her own childhood memories of that long ago summer. Then her aunt goes missing. And Sam starts hearing phantom hoofbeats at night, and she thinks she sees the shadowy shapes of the drowned dead crawling from the lake. Is she losing her mind? Or is something more sinister going on? 

My thoughts:  Atmospheric. Suspenseful. And deliciously eerie. Armstrong has written a very fun supernatural horror story. I loved how she tied in aspects of the headless horseman with legends of the nykur. And I found Sam to be a very sympathetic character. I was rooting for her as she tried to parse the truth from the lies and figure out her own family's dark secrets. And they are dark. This is a fast-paced thriller that does not disappoint.  4.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

Haiku reviews...

 

Work in Progress by Kat Mackenzie

Three weeks: England, Wales,

Scotland. Alice, seven old ladies,

and one sexy Scot.

Contemporary romance....369 pages....4/5 stars.

(Travel, banter, humor and sparks. I liked it. Though I thought tour guide, Robbie Brodie, was inexcusably rude to Alice at the beginning, which is why I couldn't give this one 5 stars.)

Give Me A Shot by Gia De Cadenet

Single dad, neurodiverse, 

Mo is fine alone. Until he

meets Jess...who gets him!

Contemporary romance.... 297 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(This sweet, swoony, and a little spicy romance deals with loss, grief, and being a Highly Sensitive Person with poignant honesty. I loved Mo and Jess together!)

Hearts in Circulation by Sarah Monzon

Rockslide strands sunny

bookmobile librarian with grumpy

taciturn mechanic.

Contemporary romance .... 279 pages .... 5/5 stars.

(Swoony kisses and sweet romance between Hayley and Levi. Humor and books, too.) 

Happy Reading!

Everything's Coming Up Rosie by Courtney Walsh

 "Well, shoot. This isn't how my life is supposed to go."

The plot: Rosie Waterman has always dreamed of acting, which is why she moved to New York after college. But now, seven years later, the play she's in just closed after only two performances, her roommate is kicking her out for not paying her rent, and her dream feels like a distant memory. To add salt to her wounds, her three best friends from high school seem to have found success and love in their lives, making her feel even worse. She can't tell them the truth:  that she's a failure. So when she's offered a job directing a production of Cinderella at a regional theatre in Wisconsin, she jumps at the chance. It's not until she arrives and a very cute physical therapist named Booker Hayes is showing her around that she realizes the regional theatre is actually a retirement community, and all her actors are senior citizens. What's Rosie to do now? 

Favorite quote:  "Dreams shift and change and grow, and changing along with them isn't failing. Pivoting isn't quitting. Happiness isn't linear, and seeking it isn't selfish."

My thoughts:  This delightful novel is about finding and following your dreams, embracing all the big emotions, finding community, and not being afraid to open up and connect with others. After all, "People, it turns out, really are life's greatest adventure." There's also a lot of humor and heart. Rosie is an engaging character--relatable and funny. And I loved her cute romance with Booker, and her interactions with the Sunset Players. (My only complaint is Walsh's overuse of the word smirk--one of my least favorite words!) Other than that, this book is an entertaining 4-star read. 

Happy Reading!

January's Bookish Art...

 

Henri Matisse -- Woman Reading in Garden, 1902

"Stories take us out of ourselves and deeper into ourselves at the exact same time. They are specific and universal. Big and small. Something and everything."

-- Katherine Center

The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu

How it begins:  "You really had to hand it to Mr. Lehrer. While dying at work is never ideal, he had the decency to do it during his off period. And not only that, but at the start of it, too, giving the clerks in the main office plenty of time to find someone else to cover Ms. De La Rosa's Spanish II classes, even as they scrambled to figure out who should be telephoned when an eighty-two-year-old substitute teacher lies down on a ratty couch in a high school faculty lounge and dies."

So begins the school year for several teachers, old and new, the principal, his vice principal, the janitor, and others at Texas's Baldwin High School. This book explores the lives of these teachers, their frustrations, disappointments, griefs, humorous mishaps...and their love of teaching. It also highlights the current state of public education and the idiocy that often occurs within it. There's a scandal or two, snarky emails, clashes with parents, and even an unexpected romance.

The Faculty Lounge is a novel of friendship and found family. And it's very entertaining. My dad taught junior high school for over 30 years, and I work at an elementary school, so I found this book both funny and realistic. There are moments in it that made me laugh out loud, and other moments that made me want to weep and shake my head in sympathy. I liked all the characters and how Mathieu weaves their individual stories together. Each chapter is told from a different POV, but it comes together so well! For me, this was a 4.5/5 star read. 

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS RELEASING IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2026.

December releases that haven't come to my library yet:

In Your Dreams by Sarah Adams

Chasing Creed by Alex Kava

January releases:

No One Knew by Kendra Elliot

A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James

Inside Man by John McMahon

February releases:

Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz

First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong

March releases:

The Dark Time by Nick Petrie

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez

April releases:

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

The Antiquarian's Object of Desire by India Holton

The Name Game by Beth O'Leary

May releases:

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman

The Shippers by Katherine Center

I know there are probably a lot of other books coming out in the next 5-6 months that I've missed that I'll want to read, so I look forward to checking out everyone else's lists this week...and adding to my own. 😉

Happy Reading!

The Car Share by Zoe Brisby

 A ninety-year-old woman with Alzheimer's and a depressed young man end up sharing a car ride from France to Brussels that changes both their lives forever.

The plot:  Alex and Max (short for Maxine) could not be more different. Alex is an introvert, quiet, and lacking in self-confidence. Max is loud, stubbornly determined, impulsive and a bit wacky. When she first meets Alex, she thinks he must be a drug addict because he's so thin and pale. But he's just depressed. And floundering. And Max decides to 'save' him and get him to have fun and love life again before she goes to Brussels to die. And when Alex learns of Max's plan to be euthanized before her Alzheimer's gets worse, he decides to do everything he can to convince her to change her mind and keep living. Together, this mismatched pair forms an unexpected bond of love and friendship. 

My thoughts:   I was looking for a light-hearted, quirky kind of book when I stumbled upon this one at my library. And it's so humorous and fun! Talk about bookish serendipity. I love how Max draws Alex out of his shell and helps him deal with his depression and his panic attacks. Their arguments and their banter made me smile. And I loved all the crazy mishaps they get into on their road trip to Brussels. And Alex's concern for Max is very touching. Best of all, it has a happy ending. Which is exactly what I needed.  

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!