Wayward Bookshelf

The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst I thought I really liked the first book in this series, The Queen of Blood , but I really, REALLY liked The Reluctant Queen. And I again found myself reading far past bedtime in order to finish it. The book picks up shortly after the end of Queen of Blood. Daleina is queen after the event known as the Coronation Massacre, and is working hard to be the leader Aratay needs - the one that will protect her people from the bloodthirsty spirits that share their land. But when it becomes clear that something is terribly wrong with Daleina, she urges her champions to find an heir just in case . And this is where things start to get a little out of control. The urgency of the queen's command to find an heir drives some of the champions to make rash decisions, and push their candidates harder than they would normally dare, taking risks that they would not usually chance. And Ven, the Queen's own champion, convinced that the children at the ac

It Takes a Village Idiot: A Memoir of Life After the City by Jim Mullen I just moved from the greater LA area to small town Kansas, & came across this book in the local used bookstore making this a timely read for me. Mullen’s humor was pretty great, at times he finds just the right amount of over the top sarcasm to be downright hilarious. And alongside the humor there is also a warm story of finding home in the unlikeliest of places.