I was home to visit my mother and sisters last week. I should know better than to take books. I read a chapter and a half. That’s it. I spent all the time enjoying the time with family instead. So, I don’t have books to review this week.


What I did have when I went back to work yesterday was a stack of books waiting for me. The library holds rolled in during the week I was gone. So, instead of talking about what I read, I’m going to tell you about the seven books I hope to read soon. (As soon as I finish the projects I’m working on. I always seem to be on deadline.) Fiction, a mystery, several romantic comedies, nonfiction. I have tons of mysteries at home, so I usually pick up rom coms at work.

As a librarian, I always throw these at you in alphabetical order by author. Let’s start with Helen Cullen’s The Dazzling Truth. It’s the story of one Irish family, the Moones, over three decades. Aspiring actress Maeve meets pottery student Murtagh Moone in the courtyards of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1978. The relationship progresses to marriage and motherhood. Maeve’s joy in her children also comes with a struggle to hold on to herself. Decades later, the family is struck by tragedy. It’s then the family must confront the past while planning a future none of them could have predicted.

Romance author Sarah MacLean calls Alexis Daria’s You Had Me at Hola “soapy, smart, and so sexy”. After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodrigues finds her face splashed across the tabloids. She hopes to remedy her infamy with a new bilingual romantic comedy TV show. But, a casting change pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suarez. There’s a disastrous first impression, and the two agree to rehearse in private because their careers are on the line. But, the media spotlight could destroy both of them, and their new relationship. 

Why recreate the summary when Sharon described K.C. Dyer’s Eighty Days to Elsewhere just a couple weeks ago on Thursday? She said, “EIGHTY DAYS TO NOWHERE by k.c.dyer. The building that houses her uncles’ book store and her apartment was won in a poker game. Now the new evil landlord wants to tear it down unless the family can come up with money they don’t have. So Romy Keene applies for a job at ExLibris Expeditions, a company that re-creates library journeys. Romy must recreate the Phileas Fogg’s journey from Around the World in Eighty Days.”

I had Elin Hilderbrand’s 28 Summers home earlier this summer, but others were waiting, so I took it back. Mallory Blessing gives a deathbed instruction to her son, asking him to call a number on a slip of paper. Jake McCloud answers. His wife is the front-runner in the upcoming presidential election. But, Mallory met her brother’s college roommate, Jake, in 1973. They formed a bond that lasted for years, through all the changes in their lives, until Mallory learns she’s dying. The book is inspired by the film Same Time, Next Year.

Either Miranda James’ Cat Me If You Can or 28 Summers will be my first read. Cat Me If You Can is the latest Cat in the Stacks Mystery featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel. Charlie, Diesel, Charlie’s fiancee, Helen Louise Brady, and the Ducote sisters all head to Asheville, North Carolina for a vacation and to participate in a gathering of a mystery reader’s club. But murder doesn’t take a vacation.

From cats to Julie London’s You Lucky Dog. Carly Kennedy’s sister convinces her to foster Baxter, a depressed basset hound. But when the dog walker accidentally switches Baxter for Hazel, a cheerful basset, Carly discovers Hazel’s owner feeding Baxter mac and cheese. And, Baxter becomes besotted with Hazel, so Carly starts spending more time with Max Sheffington, her polar opposite. 

Even the nonfiction book is in alphabetical order, Olive the Lionheart by Brad Ricca. It’s subtitled “Lost Love, Imperial Spies, and One Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Africa”. In 1910, a strong-willed, free-spirited Scottish noblewoman, Olive MacLeod, was engaged to be married to Boyd Alexander, one of the most famed naturalists of his time. When Boyd’s work takes him to Africa, and he goes missing, Olive decides to take matters into her own hands. Her search for him led to a whirlwind, history-making adventure across the globe.


If I didn’t have books to review right now, these seven would keep me out of trouble for a couple weeks. I can’t wait to start on them. Anything on the list jump out at you?