Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten

November 2024

I so enjoyed Ina Garten’s memoir, BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS. I have been looking forward to this book for a while, and I listened to it on audio. Ina is the narrator, which makes it all the more special.

I have cooked from her cookbooks (and this book inspired me to do that a lot more), I went to the Barefoot Contessa store when it was in East Hampton, and I watched her show on Food Network, always getting ideas from her. But what I took away from this book was advice from a savvy businesswoman far beyond how to make a brilliant dinner party, or how to use a knife or an interesting ingredient. While cooking is at the heart of what she does, there are lessons on when to go big, when to fold and when to say, “This really is not worth the time that I am putting into it.” And there was a dose of saying something to the effect of “If I had just done that sooner, it might have been better for me,” which takes time to admit.

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The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella by Nita Prose

November 2024

I love novellas. There are times when I am busy, and reading a short book from an author I love is just the trick. It gives me the feeling of accomplishment, albeit on a smaller scale than usual. I loved every minute of THE MISTLETOE MYSTERY, Nita Prose’s latest title featuring Molly the Maid. It has everything that the longer Molly books have had --- great characters in Molly, Juan Manuel and the others at the Regency Grand Hotel, clever writing, and a plot that showcases a mystery to be unraveled but in a shorter time frame.

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Stephanie Booth, author of Libby Lost and Found

Meet Libby Weeks, author of the mega-bestselling fantasy series The Falling Children --- written as "F.T. Goldhero" to maintain her privacy. When the last manuscript is already months overdue to her publisher and rabid fans around the world are growing impatient, Libby is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Already suffering from crippling anxiety, Libby's symptoms quickly accelerate. After she forgets her dog at the park one day --- then almost discloses her identity to the journalist who finds him --- Libby has to admit it: she needs help finishing the last book. Desperately, she turns to 11-year-old superfan Peanut Bixton, who knows the books even better than she does but harbors her own dark secrets. Tensions mount as Libby's dementia deepens --- until both Peanut and Libby swirl into an inevitable but bone-shocking conclusion.

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Susan Rieger, author of Like Mother, Like Mother

Detroit, 1960. Lila Pereira is two years old when her angry, abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Lila never sees her mother again. Three decades later, Lila rises to the pinnacle of American media as the powerful, brilliant executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila leaves the rearing of her daughters to her generous husband, Joe. Grace, their youngest daughter, feels abandoned. She wishes her mother would attend PTA meetings, not White House correspondents’ dinners. As she grows up, she cannot shake her resentment. She wants out from under Lila’s shadow, yet the more she resists, the more Lila seems to shape her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her mother. In the process of writing it, she realizes how little she knows about her own family.

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