It‘s been a few years since I last read anything of Erdrich‘s, but she‘s an author that I always keep an eye out for! This year I am the closest I have been in a while to reading a book from each state, but I still needed #NorthDakota, so I started listening to this one! The author performs though initially I wished for a cast list since a variety of the community emerges here in this historical novel based in part on Erdrich‘s own grandfather.

Usually the heaviest sleeper in the house, Jessica is the only one to stir when the house rumbles around her. In the morning, they learn this is the first #SweetValleyEarthquake since 1972! Liz wants to write about it for The Sixers, but Jess is the only one who seems to have experienced it. As usual, she starts exaggerating & soon has talked herself into predicting the next quake! Lila wants to humiliate her, so she throws a party, tees are made!

#VacationReading—the book I read (mostly on the plane)& the book I bought while in Key West! My husband and friends were nice enough to make the trek to both bookstores & I couldn‘t resist a signed book(& tote)! As for my November #BOTM pick, this found family fantasy made me feel nostalgic, would be great to read out loud to a younger reader & could‘ve used a map! I appreciated the thorough ending that tied up literally everything! Strong debut!

This 6th #SweetValleyChristmas is my favorite! In an It‘s A Wonderful Life-esque twist, Elizabeth gets a taste of a Sweet Valley without her, after she wants to disappear after giving away the Christmas party fund to a family at the homeless shelter, her guardian angel, Laura, shows her— Sarah Thomas & Denny Jacobsen are both dead, the Wakefield family‘s in shambles (divorce, tattoos— the Unicorns are Sharks) & life without her just isn‘t Sweet!

Set in 1980 Birmingham, this mystery comes from two perspectives trying to solve a disturbing string of murders— an investigation by 14-year-old Ava, involved since a discovery during her own pursuits of her version of a Body Farm on the local roadkill, & the more official one by the police. Well-performed, I definitely found myself listening at every chance & loved that the ending interview confirms that this isn‘t the last we‘ll see of Ava!

While Elizabeth & her friends look for seashells, Denny Jacobsen & his brother surf. But when a big wave knocks Denny out, Liz doesn‘t hesitate to dive in & save him! Afterwards, Denny starts worshipping her which Liz finds annoying—especially since it incurs Janet‘s wrath since she has a huge crush on Denny. And so the scheming begins for how Janet can save Denny‘s life instead. This one is genuinely hilarious & just plain fun from start to end!

This #YAThriller hooked me with its alternating perspectives from identical twins, Saffron & Georgia. Though not alike—& barely even friends after Saffron‘s posting embarrassing videos online. But they continue to play Sole Survivor with the same group of seven others. When Saffron speculates which of their group archetypes would win the game in real life, a rogue AI grants her wish in this oddly deadly mashup of Willy Wonka & The Breakfast Club.

When the Unicorn Club visits Lila, she enthusiastically shows them all the steps to Melody Powers‘ latest video. Rock TV holds a school contest & the Unicorns organize a band for the grand prize of (another!) VCR for the school. Lila demands to be the lead singer but other than dance moves, she can‘t sing it… so she forces nerdy Johanna Porter to sing while Lila lip syncs. Surprisingly, Lila raises Johanna‘s confidence & gives her a makeover!

Three mothers of children at an elite Atlanta private school come together for a fundraising committee. Each woman harbors big secrets and their coming together helps them each change their lives for the better as their secrets come to light. It‘s a quick listen, albeit rather predictable and I‘m not sure how genuine their friendship ever really feels. Still, it‘s well-performed and kept my attention until the end!

The Unicorns scramble for an idea for their charity carnival booth before landing on the creation of a love potion (pineapple punch). Meanwhile, the Wakefield siblings make bets over who will get tickets to the upcoming Johnny Buck concert with the Sweet Valley Tribune & Mr. Bowman raffling off tickets for the charity carnival. Meanwhile, nerdy Peter Burns overcomes the Unicorn‘s disdain in his pursuit of Mary Wallace proving the potion works!

I‘m not the target audience, as I‘m about as far from having a green thumb as possible (I manage to kill even the hardiest ones!) & despite my deep love for #MurderSheWrote (referenced within the book!), #CozyMysteries aren‘t my go-to. Maggie returns to the small MA town where her grandmother raised her after the collapse of her marriage. Dodging a greedy cousin & persistent real estate developer, she finds a body & investigates! Too predictable!

Jessica loves making Lila jealous & when SVMS‘ soccer team makes it to a higher division, she loves the extra attention she gets from Aaron Dallas dedicating his goals to her. When they learn the field must be enlarged, Jessica fundraises hard, but wealthy Mr. Fowler pulls through & puts Lila in the spotlight. So, Jessica switches sides & tries to stop the expansion which will require cutting down trees. Meanwhile Liz‘s journalism improves here!

This quick listen sucked me right in! A fan of Banghart‘s YA Fantasy, this foray into YA Thriller makes for an exciting & fun time! Jessa, despite being the younger sibling, is a natural rule-follower, mess cleaner & committed to a life plan. Though her parents don‘t allow friends over without supervision, they make an exception for Jessa & her 3 besties to have a sleepover in their remote & haunted home. But a storm changes their lives forever!

The hospital is fundraising for the children‘s wing with a talent show. Jessica wants to be in it, but Elizabeth‘s Pea-Pong fame isn‘t special enough for it. But the morning after the twins fall asleep in the den, jokes that they are psychic turn into something more than funny as they correctly guess each other‘s answers time and again! But the more they practice for the show, the worse their abilities seem to get. Can Maria help them cheat?

With multiple perspectives, a late-1990s & a modern storyline plus multimedia content, this writing duo‘s second novel makes for an engaging mystery. Jess Fadley disappeared in only moments from the front of her home while her younger sister looked away for only ten seconds. 24 years later, the grisly discovery of remains brings new focus on what was actually a string of disappearances. Red herrings & a real twist beg for this one to be discussed!

Another favorite featuring yet another abandoned #SweetValley mansion! In this 2nd spring break, Jessica finds a barnacle-encrusted necklace that soon captures all of her attention & seems to cause recurring nightmares. When Liz finds it, she falls victim to it next—with cousin Robin following suit as they all work as extras in the movie filmed in the mansion. Working together, they learn the real story of the Keller mansion & the cursed necklace!

Recommended by my very favorite author, this historical ghost story set in the frigid & isolated Arctic Circle, this makes for an unsettling listen. Jack joins this small research expedition, almost immediately at odds with one of his older & rougher companions. When circumstances strand him alone with the huskies, it‘s more than just the months of darkness that add to the chill… It‘s a quick listen & one that‘d make for a good book club pick!

This is another memorable installment! New student Anna Reynolds is not only different because of her interest in aerobics & health food but also because she‘s SVMS‘ first deaf & Asian student. Adept at reading lips, this is still a huge transition, but she quickly makes friends with both twins. Cammi Adams seems to be avoiding Anna— but only because she knows all about being deaf from living with her parents. Cammi risks her secret to help Anna!

For the cover alone, I‘ve been saving this used bookstore find for reading on actual Halloween! Unfortunately, the cover is the best part of this very 90s horror novel. With gore, absolutely cringingly awful sex scenes & wooden characters who so nonchalantly accept the supernatural & never really discuss anything, this is a slog to get through. Never delivering any real chills or thrills, I guess I‘ll be using this as a decoration moving forward!

This one is so much fun!! Across SVMS, students are randomly paired off for two week “marriages” to learn to budget, compromise on important decisions, prepare a healthy meal & keep an egg baby alive. The pairings make this fun: Elizabeth/Bruce Patman, Jessica/Rick Hunter, Lila/Todd, Ellen/Winston Egbert, etc. Rick‘s teasing covers his genuine feelings for Jessica & it‘s clear she feels the same way! Even Bruce goes all in for his new family!

This fourth installment of the #EdinburghNightsSeries reminds me the most of the first one! It‘s an entertaining blend of action, mystery, intrigue & heartbreak! Ropa‘s working with the English magician, planning a new life away from Scotland. But Edinburgh isn‘t ready to let the ghost talker go. Ropa learns more about her family & past, but more questions—& trouble— arises. This ends on a real cliffhanger & I can‘t wait for book 5!! Great audio!

This book opens with Elizabeth‘s frustration over a missing turquoise sweater that she can‘t find in Jessica‘s disaster of a room. But when all the Unicorns except for Jessica fall victim to the Sweet Valley Swiper (a missing coat, silver earrings, Lila‘s Watchman), it‘s Liz & Amy to the rescue, resurrecting the SVK Super Snoopers to catch the case & catch the thief red-handed! I always love when a twin-switch helps save the day!

Oooo! This #ThreeListThursday was a tough one! I‘m not sure that any of my real favorites made the list, but I still had a hard time narrowing this down to three!
Other than the Sweet Valley High Thrillers, my childhood was filled with exchanging Mary Higgins Clark books with my grandmother and though this isn‘t my favorite of hers, I have read it a few times. And I love both Case Histories and Big Little Lies!
Thanks @dabbe for organizing #TLT!

A great #SpookySeason read! This mystery, told through two perspectives— the ghost of a woman in her forties & the twenty year old who takes over the lease on the furnished apartment— makes for a fun read! Cordelia & Ruby work together to solve the murder of the guy living across the hallway in “their”Boston apartment building. With struggles to communicate & plenty of lingering questions, this feels fresh & leaves you eager for the sequel!

It‘s the “first” (okay, not the actual first!) boy/girl dance at SVMS. Lila‘s awful new neighbor, Veronica Brooks keeps bragging about her old school & has her competitive sights set on none other than Todd! And when Jessica ditches Aaron for Bruce, Liz consoles Aaron—& winds up kissing him! But for a #SweetValleyValentinesDay, Ellen hosts another boy/girl party where all the mixed-up couples can be set to rights! Make-up kisses & a food fight!

This is my original book club‘s choice for the month and I enjoyed this quick listen! It‘s a very fun one that had me laughing out loud and taking the extra long way home to keep listening! Multiple perspectives center around a community center on the verge of closing. At 70, Daphne plans on embracing life more fully while Abe, an actor with a shoplifting habit yearns to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Teenage dad Ziggy needs a better life.

Patty Gilbert, a relatively new girl to #SweetValley, loves ballet dancing more than anything. She even ignored Kerry Glenn‘s friendly overtures because Kerry is her only real competition in their advanced class. But when Mme Baril notices something different about Patty, she is scared to go to the doctor & even more scared after her diagnosis that may mean the end of her dancing days! Meanwhile, Jessica schemes to get their class on television!

Thanks for the tag, @JenlovesJT47 and thanks for organizing this fun #WonderousWednesday, @Eggs
🎃Sweet candy
🎃Buy costume
🎃Ghost
🎃Owls
🎃Mummy
🎃Party
🎃Hocus Pocus
🎃Drink Witches Brew
🎃Carve pumpkin
🎃 Haunted House

Just in time for the #SpookySeason, my favorite author has a collection of new short stories (and an updated version of his slim monograph about the 1972 film HORROR EXPRESS which is part history/breakdown of the movie and part autobiographical regarding Connolly‘s own nostalgia surrounding it). I loved adding on more tales about the Caxton library and the ghostly & monster-y stories are perfect for this time of year! As usual, I love his writing!

In this fifth #SweetValleyChristmas for the twins, it‘s Christmas Eve & the twins stay behind to exchange gifts to each other while everyone else goes to the airport for Alice‘s parents. Liz wrote a special story & a framed photo while Jess planned ahead & bought tickets for a concert & the bus to LA. Their disappointment leads to an epic fight & special harlequin dolls lead to an epic adventure in a fantasy land to bring them together again! ⬇️

This was my book club‘s pick for the month— a solid piece of historical fiction set in Maine just over a decade past the Revolutionary War. Based on the life of midwife Martha Ballard, Martha makes for a strong heroine in a time when respect for a woman is hard won and rare. She gets involved in a murder investigation while seeking justice for a friend, with flashes into her own past. Her husband‘s perfection, however, is the larger mystery! 🤣

When an art gallery/charm school opens in #SweetValley, Elizabeth‘s immediately suspicious of the owners & its employee when simple answers don‘t line up. While Jessica & the Unicorns are excited for charm school, Elizabeth convinces Amy & Maria to sign up so they can prove the Beaumonts are frauds, at least & crooks at worst. Liz gets embarrassed a few times but in the end, only Jessica helps her catch them red-handed! A fun & silly mystery!

Well this marks my first #audiobook that I‘ve ever listened to where the main character shares my first name! Distracting at times, it was also kind of fun! This police procedural set in a MN town starts with the disappearance of Tori‘s identical twin. On the 20th anniversary of that night, another woman vanishes in the same way! But now, Tori‘s an FBI agent. A bit predictable in some ways, but well-plotted, I am looking forward to the sequel!

Lila prepares to throw the Founder‘s Fling to celebrate Unicorn Club (the mayor even attends!) with souvenir tees & wants a purple hot air balloon to add the perfect finishing touch. But after her credit card is declined, the chauffeur‘s fired, George says no to the balloon & she overhears him saying he lost a fortune, Lila concludes she‘s poor. She asks Melissa to be her “poverty advisor”— it‘s all ridiculous & a dog manages to warm Jessica‘s ❤️!

I‘ve been looking forward to this one since I first heard about it! I really enjoy Chizmar‘s writing & this standalone set in 1983 Appalachia has plenty of time period nostalgia, & a creeping tension as three college friends work together on a school project on roadside memorials. When creepy things start happening, it quickly becomes impossible to know who to trust. It opens a little slowly, but the ending certainly keeps the pages flying fast!

Sarah Thomas & Sophia Rizzo feature here when their single parents have a meet-cute in the principal‘s office after Sarah & Sophia get into a paint fight over a library mural! At first, their parents dating makes them crueler than ever to each other until they start working together to break them up until they become friends for real. Jessica‘s side story of a rumor that famous baseball player, “Quakefield” Wakefield is related to them is great!

Yikes!! This was the scariest, tensest listen that I‘ve encountered in a while. I‘d heard the hype, but still found this to be an electrifying debut with such immediacy that it‘s hard to stop listening for any reason! The book opens with a mother of two young children startling awake at the sound of a person in their house in the middle of the night. The tension & horror begins there… and between this fresh horror, we learn the family‘s backstory.

The SOAR! (Science Offers Awesome Rewards!) program comes to #SweetValley with an aptitude test allowing a select group of students to spend 2 weeks in an interactive immersion class. No one is more surprised than Jessica when she tests in & though she‘s horrified to be with the nerds, she can‘t help but be interested in the subject matter, field trips & being in class with Elizabeth. Janet‘s jealous because her latest crush is in SOAR too!

Thanks, @JenlovesJT47 for the tag for the #ThreeListThursday! It was tough to narrow this one down to three since the top 100 has so many good movies on it, but Jaws is my favorite movie and Strangers on a Train and ET both are ones that I love, too! Thanks, @dabbe for organizing the #TLT— and glad Jaws was available to be selected finally! 🤣

I‘ve enjoyed several of St. James‘ earlier books so I was excited to dive into this one! I appreciated the 1995 setting & really liked the pop culture references though some of the MI geography seemed a little confusing. This ghost story fails to deliver real chills but opens with newlyweds driving to their honeymoon, waylaid by an unexpected encounter with a stranger on the side of the road changes their lives forever! A bit predictable but fun!

When the twins stumble over a foreign exchange program, they want to sign up. But without speaking another language, they apply to be a host family. After a call, Jessica gets everyone excited about Giovanni Screta. Lila brags about her experience with Italian boys but at the airport, Giovanna, a sophisticated tween from Florence joins them. Though her English isn‘t as great as her fashion sense, her messiness & flirting cause bigger problems!

1. Oh, this is so hard!! My favorite citrus is lemon, berry is strawberry, melon is watermelon but I also just love pineapple! 🤣

2. I think my most recent five star read with a meal memorably shared is Anna Johnston‘s THE BORROWED LIFE OF FREDERICK FIFE

Thanks for the tag @JenlovesJT47 and for organizing @TheSpineView !

I came to this award-winning debut with high expectations—& the promising beginning, while not frightening but intriguing with 4 renowned horror authors (with comparisons to real-life authors) spending Halloween night in a haunted house for an interview makes a great set up. Each author harbors their own secrets & leaving the house is only the beginning. The drawn out climax & unlikable characters eventually made me stop caring who‘d live or die!

This has always been one of my favorites! Great-Aunt Helen inherits the Lakeview Inn & decides to fix up the building that‘s been abandoned for 70 years. The Wakefield kids along with cousins Robin & Stacey & Joe Howell spend a #SweetValleySummer helping out—& pranking each other though insufferable Elizabeth keeps being too logical for their ghosty tricks… until the pranks take on a life of their own! Spooky but fun, I just love this ghost story!

I really enjoyed Audrain‘s debut novel, so I had some high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, despite the fast pacing, the unlikable characters & unsatisfying ending left me wanting. I‘m sure this could lead to lively discussion but the four different women‘s perspectives here certainly don‘t make neighborhood life appealing! Whitney‘s rage, Blair‘s creepy nosiness, Rebecca‘s extreme secrecy & Mara‘s pent-up emotion all were hard to connect with!

The Hairnet gets a student teacher who brings fresh fun to the pioneer unit— in class they pan for gold, make cosmetics from berries & best of all, spend a class field trip over the weekend to a pioneer style farm the college runs. The boys make a bet that they can follow the farm rules without modern comforts better than the girls with speech making stakes. Jessica sneaks in a portable CD player & the boys have a TV! A silly & fun one for sure!

Thanks, @JenlovesJT47 for the tag for this #ThreeListThursday! I must have a thing for the end of the alphabet because I had the hardest time narrowing down this list! But I love Witness For The Prosecution (thanks, Agatha Christie!) and I love the acting here! My ankle twinges just thinking about how my friend and I tried to perfect Verbal‘s limp in The Usual Suspects and The Uninvited is the first scary movie I ever watched— with my grandmother!

Thanks, @kspenmoll for the tag! Some tough choices here!
And thank you @Eggs for organizing this #WondrousWednesday!

What are your picks, @JenlovesJT47 ?

This debut novel quickly becomes impossible to put down! Mother horror has become a recent sub-genre & though this reminded me of a few other books, I still stayed up to finish in one sitting! With her husband deployed, Flora gives birth alone & though her dad & stepmother stay for a short time initially, Flora‘s isolation & sleep deprivation starts weighing on her, bringing back episodes from her own childhood, body horror & an uncanny visitor.

Siblings Andy & Melissa McCormick play starring roles here. The Hairnet‘s social studies class assigns partners to work on family interviews. Jessica gets Lila & Elizabeth‘s assigned to Melissa. When Melissa‘s mom suddenly succumbs to a heart condition, senior SVH basketball star Andy is determined not to let CPS split them up since they haven‘t heard from their musician father in years. The lies mount up, but as usual St. Elizabeth saves the day!