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I stumbled upon the study of Stoicism just over a year ago and found it intriguing but when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I got more serious about it. Having a good grasp of what I can and cannot control became very important. Now that I'm cancer-free, I've gotten away from studying but Journal Like a Stoic is helping me to get back into the groove.

The book is broken down into two parts: first, a brief history of the philosophy so the reader is prepared for the more hands-on bits in the second part, the actual journaling prompts. I was happy with the amount of history given - not a tremendous amount - because my real interest is the journaling. Was not disappointed with the prompts, for sure. Polat shares quotes and background and then lays out the prompts which helps to keep it all in context. And don't skip around! These are meant to be tackled in order.

Now that I've gone through with reading it all, I'm ready to get down to business with the writing and reflecting bits.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

It took me a little while to become fully immersed in the story, and there's a lot going on with a lot of characters but, by the end, I had a good handle on who everyone was and how they were related to each other. But, wow, there's a lot going on.

I think I would have given this a 5 star rating except the motivation and plan of the Bad Guy seemed a bit of a stretch to me. I'm not giving anything away but when the reveal happened, I was left scratching my head wondering, "What? Really?"

With that said, I came to love Hetty and Benjy and their friends. I definitely want to continue with their adventures so I hope the next in the series is coming out sometime soonish.

We're discussing The Conductors on the next Cocktail Hour (10/1/22) so you can check that out if you want a much more in-depth review from all three of us.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ebook ARC. Of course I waited so long to read it, I was able to borrow the audiobook from Hoopla and my local library. January Lavoy is great as the narrator, by the way. I bounced back and forth between the audio and ebook as I had time for eyeball reading.

This is my first Riley book. I've heard her name for years and even picked this book up as an ARC last year but kept passing it by on my ereader in favor of something else that piqued my interest a bit more. I've been on a romance kick lately and Beginner's Bet finally grabbed me.

I was pretty sure this was going to be a 4 - 5 star review for me but as I got to the last quarter or so, a few things got in the way. The sheer perfectness of Ellison got to be too much. I mean, really, she's perfect: gorgeous, super rich, charming, generous, devoted, and a knight in shining armor for Katie. Katie is pretty awesome, too. I won't go into spoilers but Katie stopped being pretty awesome in order to create the drama in the story. Suddenly and without much thought, it seems. And the resolution was just too easy.

This is a longish book for romance and there was a lot of time given to family issues, work stuff, reflecting on just how rich Ellison is, and how poor - and plagued by bad luck - Katie is. What there wasn't much of was discussion between the protagonists about the future. Which struck me as very odd since one of them was actively trying to have a baby. You know, a pretty huge thing. The very thing that broke up her marriage.

I don't know... Maybe I'm being too hard on the way these things were handled. I really loved the beginning of the book so I was extra disappointed when it all seemed to unravel for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I'm pretty sure this is the first book by Richardson that I've read. I know I've picked up at least a couple before but, for whatever reason, put them back down. I initially passed over this one when looking at releases available on NetGalley for just this reason. It was a nice surprise to be immediately pulled into the story.

While the story was good and mostly believable, it was Cam's profession that really drew me in. I had never heard of death doulas before but it makes total sense that such a thing would exist. I hope I have someone like Cam around when my time is near. And the character of Cam seemed damn near perfect - at least current Cam, not Erica-Cam.

Brooke, on the other hand, was a bit of a struggle for me to connect with. And her drastic transformation seemed a bit too drastic for the time spent working on it. But, as my wife loves to remind me, it's pretend.

The secondary characters definitely add to the reading enjoyment and my heart broke for Landon and Tenley.

All in all, Ten Days in May was an emotional and fulfilling read and I'll be much less hesitant to pick up a Tracey Richardson book in the future.

Thanks to Bella and NetGalley for the review copy!

I avoided this one for a while because the cover makes me cringe. Yes, I love a woman of color being a protagonist and being able to see that right away but it just looks, well, not appealing to me.

But I'm glad I eventually picked it up. I started with the audio, which I loved the narrator, but ended up finishing the last half with my eyeballs.

Honestly, I mostly loved the story and the writing. I lost some of that love as the climax of the book and the final scenes rolled out but my love from before that point still made this an enjoyable read.

Back to the cover... This is the second book I've read this month that features a "curvy, full-figured" woman but the cover doesn't show it. Personally, I prefer wlw covers that don't show people at all because it's invariably going to be two thin white women and I'm so tired of that but even this one that has a Brown woman - which is great - still shows the curvy woman as small or smallish.

I know this isn't an issue for everyone but why not show a larger woman on the cover?