Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Florida!

Good Reads: Santa 365

Santa 365: A Chet and Bernie eShort Story by Spencer Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Santa 365 is a fun Christmas romp with Chet and Bernie. It is a well written and professionally edited novella.

This is a quick, fast paced mystery that is swiftly solved and remains upbeat throughout the story.

Definitely a must read for Chet and Bernie lovers.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

Math Rant and Other Stuff

This is the first year in which Dear Daughter (DD) has had Common Core math.  I had noticed that her algebra book had Common Core on the front, but didn't really give it much thought.

One evening I noticed her writing line after line of incorrect answers for a problem that she could easily do in her head.  Five lines in I asked what she was doing and why didn't she just write the correct answer?  At this point DD huffed and said she knew it didn't make sense, but her teacher told them to do it this way to get full credit.

For the past few months I've watched her learn fairly simple algebra in such a convoluted way that I've been gob smacked (as my English friend says).  After a bit of research I've realized that I am witnessing Common Core in action.  And it's really, really scary.

If an employee of mine tried to solve problems the way Common Core does, they wouldn't work for me very long.  I want to see efficiency, correct answers and swiftness when making decisions.  Not a list of wrong ways to solve a problem, then finally the big reveal of the best solution.


Sigh.  What are we allowing our government to do to our children?  Why aren't our leaders listening to the teachers and parents that have been very vocal about the Common Core system of teaching.
Massachusetts recently opted out of the Common Core system and we should push our representatives to do the same.

So, write a few letters and make some noise.  Teach your child the streamlined way to solve math problems.  Become a member of the Math Underground (not a real thing) and prepare your children for the real world.

Thanks for letting me rant.

God Bless,
Pam

Good Reads: Diner Knock Out

Diner Knock Out by Terri L. Austin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Diner Knock Out is the fourth book in the Rose Strickland Mystery series. It is a very well written and professionally edited full length novel.

I love this series; the heroine, Rose, is smart and determined to make it through life as an independent woman. The secondary characters are complex and fully part of the plot.

The plot is a fast paced mystery intertwined with the romance between Rose and her underworld boss boyfriend.

I would suggest that this series of mysteries be read in order; this book wouldn't read well as a standalone novel. It does end with a satisfying HFN.

ARC provided by Henery Press via Netgalley.

Good Reads: Guaranteed To Bleed

Guaranteed to Bleed by Julie Mulhern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Guaranteed To Bleed is the second book in The Country Club Murders series. It is a well written and professionally edited, full length mystery novel.

The heroine is a widow (the first book was about her husband's murder) and part of the Kansas City country club set. She has been programmed to deny her feelings and hide any unpleasantness in her life by her controlling mother and promiscuous late husband.

In Guaraneed the h stumbles upon the body of a teenager under the bleachers at a high school football game. She finds herself and her daughter embroiled in a murder investigation, while she dodges the lawyer her matchmaking mother has decided should be her next husband. And there's the handsome police detective that keeps getting drawn into her life by the murders she stumbles upon.

The mystery was complex and fast paced; and the characters well developed. I was disappointed to see that the h was still allowing her mother to manipulate her. With everything she's been through she should have developed the strength to break free of outside influences.

All in all, Guaranteed To Bleed is a satisfying read with a HFN ending. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

ARC provided by Henery Press via Netgalley.

The Frugal Kitchen: Baked "Hard Boiled" Eggs

I had read about baking eggs to make "hard boiled" eggs the easy way.  All I had to do was pop some whole eggs in a muffin tin and bake them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit.  The eggs were supposed to be easier to peel than boiled eggs, but have the same consistency as traditional hard boiled eggs.

I followed the baking instructions.

Then I popped the eggs into iced water.

After they were cool I peeled them and they did peel easily.  Unfortunately, the whites had a rubbery texture and had at least one brown spot per egg.

Maybe I should have baked them for a shorter period of time, but every article I read said 30 minutes.  I think I'll stick with the traditional boiling method, but if anyone has some tips please let me know.

God bless,
Pam

Good Reads: Sky High

Sky High by Susan O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sky High is the second book in the Nicki Valentine mystery series. It is a nicely written, full length novel.

Nicki has been a self employed private detective for a year with a home based business doing background checks. She has two small, school aged children and a budding romance with, Dean, one of her past instructors from the PI school. Nicki's character has been fleshed out in this novel, with more information on her past and her philandering late husband. She was a much more well rounded character and I enjoyed her interactions with her best friend.

The Dean character wasn't my favorite. Nicki seems to have well founded reservations about him, but she never openly communicates her concerns. As a result I didn't relate to their relationship.

The runaway groom/murder victim plot was fun and fast paced. The culprit wasn't evident until the end of the book. I like to be kept guessing.

One big problem I had was with a contradiction in the plot. We are told that the woman Nicki's late husband was having an affair with thought that he was separated and didn't know about the children. But toward the end of the book Nicki finds a letter that indicates that she did know about Nicki and the kids. It blows one of the big plot devices out of the water.

Overall, this is a decent read, a good mystery with a so so romance. It ends with a HFN.

ARC provided by Henery Press via Netgalley.