Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: A Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn

Pages: 288

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Kathleen Flinn started to write a memoir of her childhood and realized she needed to go back to her grandparents to get a true picture of her family. She interweaves the family history with favorite family recipes. Everything from farm jam to the pizza her parents sold in San Francisco. 

She realizes that her love of food and cooking comes from multiple generations of her family and she is thankful for all that they have taught her. Most of her life her family lived in the Midwest and her stories of farm life are a mixture of stories my mom and dad told me and my own experiences growing up. 

For me this memoir was like a familiar friend, sharing their life story, ups and downs, burnt toast and all. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Pages: 382

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This book was such fun to read. Clever insights, short chapters, and a gentle writing style easily guide the reader through several murders. Set in a peaceful retirement village in England, this story unwinds slowly but steadily. We are introduced to the village and its residents by new comer, Joyce. She is excited to learn about the weekly Thursday Murder Club meetings, where three other residents of the village meet weekly to discuss unsolved crimes. Then a local builder is found dead in their village and they have the chance to solve a "live" case happening around them. The reader shares in the discoveries of different characters from chapter to chapter, sometimes reading Joyce's diary, sometimes with detective in charge of the case, other times with random people from the village. But the tidbits of knowledge go together to make a cohesive puzzle with just enough extra "clues" to keep the reader guessing. 

An Apple for the Creature by Charlaine Harris

 An Apple for the Creature by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 336

Rating: 3 out of 5 star

This short story collection features scary tales set in schools. Is the teacher really a creature, or does the teacher need to be worried about her students?

This collection features a Sookie Stackhouse story, Playing Possum.

Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook by Justin Warner

Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook by Justin Warner

Pages: 144

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Justin Warner, winner of the 8th season of Food Network Star and chef/co-owner of Michelin-rated Do or Dine restaurant in Bed-Stuy, New York. This cookbook is based on Marvel's hit digital cooking series hosted by Warner. Recipes span a variety of skill levels. With sixty recipes inspired by Marvel Comics' heroes, this cookbook is fun to read even if your not a skilled cook. Some recipes include: Hulk Smashed Potatoes, Green Goblin Pumpkin Bombs and Storm's Tournedos. 

Some recipes are for a brave or a skilled home cook, but some are accessible for anyone to try. Detailed instructions are given for each recipe. 

Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse

Title: Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse

Editors: Toni L. P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris

Pages: 352

Stars: 4 out of 5 stars 

You know a book series is popular when the fans clamor for more stories and more information about characters after the author has officially ended the series AND written a book to explain what happens to each of the characters after the final book. Charlaine Harris wasn't sure about turning her beloved Bon Temps and the characters over to other authors, but she was pleased with what the 15 invited authors submitted. 

The stories included in Dead but Not Forgotten are:

"Nobody's Business" by Rachel Caine (featuring Kevin Pryor & Kenya Jones)
"Tyger, Tyger" by Christopher Golden (featuring Quinn)
"The Real Santa Claus" by Leigh Perry (featuring Diantha)
"Taproot" by Jeffrey J. Mariotte (featuring Andy Bellefleur)
"Knit a Sweater Out of Sky" by Seanan McGuire (featuring Amelia)
"Love Story" by Jeanne C. Stein (featuring Adele Hale Stackhouse)
"The Million-Dollar Hunt" by Jonathan Maberry (featuring Mustapha Khan)
"Borderline Dead" by Nicole Peeler (featuring Desiree Dumas)
"Extreme Makeover Vamp Edition" by Leigh Evans (featuring Bev & Todd)
"Don't Be Cruel" by Bill Crider (featuring Bubba)
"What a Dream I Had" by Nancy Holder (featuring Alcide Herveaux)
"Another Dead Fairy" by Miranda James (featuring Claude & Claudia Crane)
"The Bat-Signal" by Suzanne McLeod (featuring Luna)
"The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars" by Dana Cameron (featuring Pam Ravenscroft)
"Widower's Walk" by MaryJanice Davidson (featuring Eric Northman)

Dead but Not Forgotten was edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner.

Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy

Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy edited by Dana Stabenow

Pages: 306

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This collection of short stories combines mysteries with paranormal fantasy. From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment, to Santa Claus's Australian vacation and an enemy of Sam Spade's out for revenge, plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse's hometown, these stories will take readers around the world on a magical mystery tour.

"Lucky" by Charlaine Harris -- a Sookie Stackhouse short

"Bogieman" by Carole Nelson Douglas

"Looks are Deceiving" by Micheal A. Stackpole

"the House of Seven Spirits" by Sharon Shinn

"Glamour" by Mike Doogan

"Spellbound" by Donna Andrews

"the Duh Vice" by Michael Armstrong

"Weight of the World" by John Straley

"Illumination" by Laura Anne Gilman

"the House" by Laurie R. King

"Appetite for Murder" by Simon R. Green -- a Nightside short

"A Woman's Work" by Dana Stabenow

Down These Strange Streets edited by George R. R. Martin

Down These Strange Streets edited by George R. R. Martin

Pages: 479

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Urban fantasy where mystery waits at the end of every alley and things that go bump in the night have something to fear...

1 The Bastard Stepchild - George R.R. Martin
2 Death by Dahlia - Charlaine Harris
3 The Bleeding Shadow - Joe R. Lansdale
4 Hungry Heart - Simon R. Green
5 Styx and Stones - Steven Saylor
6 Pain and Suffering - S.M. Stirling
7 It's Still the Same Old Story - Carrie Vaughn
8 The Lady is a Screamer - Conn Iggulden
9 Hellbender - Laurie R. King
10 Shadow Thieves - Glen Cook
11 No Mystery, No Miracle - Melinda M. Snodgrass
12 The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery - M.L.N. Hanover
13 The Curious Affair of the Deodand - Lisa Tuttle
14 Lord John and the Plague of Zombies - Diana Gabaldon
15 Beware the Snake - John Maddox Roberts
16 In Red, with Pearls - Patricia Briggs
17 The Adakian Eagle - Bradley Denton

Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Toni L.P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris

Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Toni L.P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris

Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Toni L.P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris

Pages: 340

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Using the theme of home renovation, Kelner and Harris invited other authors to share paranormal short stories, and this collection is the fun result! 

This is the fourth anthology that Kelner and Harris have teamed up on following from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Many Bloody Returns and Death’s Excellent Vacation.

Includes:
"If I Had a Hammer" (Sookie Stackhouse #12.5) by Charlaine Harris
"Wizard Home Security" by Victor Gischler
"Gray" (Mercy Thompson #0.5) by Patricia Briggs
"Squatters' Rights" by Rochelle Krich
"Blood on the Wall" by Heather Graham
"The Mansion of Imperatives" by James Grady
The Strength Inside by Melissa Marr
"Woolsey's Kitchen Nightmare" by E.E. Knight
"Through This House" (October Daye series 4.5) by Seanan McGuire
"The Path" by S.J. Rozan
"Rick the Brave" (Downside Ghosts series 3.5) by Stacia Kane
"Full-Scale Demolition" (Spellcrackers.com series 0.5) by Suzanne McLeod
"It's All in the Rendering" by Simon R. Green
"In Brightest Day" by Toni L.P. Kelner

Games Creatures Play (Sookie Stackhouse #13.5 - The Blue Hereafter)

Games Creatures Play (Sookie Stackhouse #13.5 - The Blue Hereafter) edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner

Pages: 356

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner co-edit another fun collection of paranormal short stories, this time using the theme of sports and games. Harris gives Sookie Stackhouse fans another short story featuring Sookie and introducing her readers to Manfred, the main  character of the Midnight, Texas series. 

The Blue Hereafter by Charlaine Harris

Hide and Seek by William Kent Krueger

False Knight on the Road by Mercedes Lackey

Ice by Laura Lippman

Jammed by Seanan McGuire

Dreamer by Brandon Sanderson

Case of the Haunted Safeway by Scott Sigler

Stepping into the Dead Zone by Jan Burke

Dead on the Bones by Joe R. Lansdale

The Devil went down to Boston by Caitlin Kittredge

On the Playing Fields of Blood by Brendan Dubois

The God's Games by Dana Cameron 

Prise de Fer by Ellen Kushner

Hide and Shriek by Adam-Troy Castro

Bell, Book and Candlepin by Toni L.P. Kelner

After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse (Sookie Stackhouse #13.5)

After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse (Sookie Stackhouse #13.7) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 195

Rating: 4 out of 5

Charlaine Harris acknowledges that you can't tie up every character's story in the "world" of a book series, in the last book. To satisfy fans curiosity about other characters in the series, she created this coda. Characters are listed alphabetically from the Ancient Pythoness to Bethany Zanelli and each have a short synopsis of their life after book 13.  

The book also features extensive interior art by acclaimed artist Lisa Desimini, including a Sookieverse Alphabet, color endpapers, and several full-page black and white interior illustrations.

Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13)

Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 352

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the last novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series and Harris returns to her writing roots, with the main storyline being a murder mystery. Sookie is arrested for the murder of a former friend, Arlene. Investigating the murder, Sookie learns some painful truths including the depth of her relationship with Eric, vampire sheriff of the area, as well as who her true friends are, both human, shifter and vampire. 

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12)

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 327

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Dating a vampire has always been complicated, but now that Eric's King, Felipe de Castro, is in town, life has gotten even more complicated for Sookie. There are things going on that she'd rather not know about, but other things she needs explained, just to understand what is going on. Ignorance is bliss, may be true for some people, but for a human, caught up in the politics of the vampire world, it can be deadly. 

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11)

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 336

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In this part of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Sookie finds herself in danger no matter where she goes. Now that her boss, Sam is out as being two-natured, there has been trouble at the bar where she works. Eric and Pam are plotting a hostile overthrow of their superior in the vampire world and Sookie is being drawn into the plot.

The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (Sookie Stackhouse #10.5 - Small-Town Wedding)

The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (Sookie Stackhouse #10.5 - Small-Town Wedding) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 461

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Charlaine Harris gives fans of True Blood and of the Sookie Stackhouse series, what they have been asking for - a definitive guide to the world of Sookie Stackhouse.

This book includes a short story that takes place before Dead Reckoning. Sookie accompanies her friend and boss, Sam, to his sister's wedding. Trouble seems to follow Sookie wherever she goes, but this time, it has more to do with Sam and his family.

Also included in the book are information about Bon Temps, some of the characters' houses, Tara's dress shop and Merlotte's. Recipes from previous stories are shared including Caroline Bellfleur's famous chocolate cheesecake. There are trivia questions from the series and insights into Sookie's thoughts.

Together by Luke Adam Hawker

Together by Luke Adam Hawker with words by Marianne Laidlaw

Pages: 64

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

With beautiful, black and white sketches Luke Hawker shows how people weathered the "storm" that was COVID-19 and 2020. Using his grandfather as inspiration for his main character, that has to protect himself from a dark and dangerous storm, Luke explores feelings of isolation, both in crowds and alone. This book is short enough to be read to a child, but the thoughts and feelings evoked by the drawings and brief text, are deep enough for an adult to ponder. Hopefully, this book will help some people struggling with emotional and mental issues from COVID-19, that continues to add stress to our lives, to reach Hawker's conclusion that being together with family and friends, and surviving together as a community, culture, even world - is what is most important. 

Must Love Hellhounds edited by Charlaine Harris

Must Love Hellhounds edited by Charlaine Harris (Guild Hunter 0.6; Kate Daniels 3.5; The Guardians 5.5; Sookie Stackhouse 9.2)

Pages: 361

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This collection has 4 novellas from popular fantasy series, Guild Hunter, Kate Daniels, The Guardians and Sookie Stackhouse. 

This Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) short story happens between books 8 and 9. Side characters from book 8, The Britlingens, Clovache and Batanya feature in this story. This is an adventure where they are hired as bodyguards to take their client to hell, retrieve an item and then escape. 

I enjoyed the novella from The Guardian series so much, that I am going to try this series now. 

Death's Excellent Vacation

Death's Excellent Vacation edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner

Pages: 339

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Because everyone - and everything - needs a break from the routine, Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner return with an all-new story collection of members of the paranormal world taking a vacation. 

This was a fun read. A chance for the authors to have fun with some of their regular characters. Sookie Stackhouse and her vampire friend Pam go on a weekend getaway, a demon takes a trip to Paris, a shifter ends up protecting an heiress from supernatural hit men while on vacation and ten other short stories involving the furry, strange, and sometimes grotesque.  

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner

Pages: 340

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

This short story collection was edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner and includes fifteen original tales set at Christmas time with a werewolf theme. The collection also includes an original Sookie Stackhouse story, set between books 8 and 9 in the series.

This was a fun read. Perfect to read around Halloween and Christmas time both. Some of the werewolves are sad, some are scary and others show how human the creatures can be in these short stories. There are a variety of authors, some new, some established including Donna Andrews, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, Patricia Briggs, and Nancy Pickard. 

Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side

Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side Edited by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 358

Rating 3 out of 5

Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series and several mystery series, edits this collection of short stories about crimes and vampires. The volume includes a short story set in the world of Sookie Stackhouse and the events in the story occur between books 7 and 8 of the series.

Other authors in the collection are mystery writers but for some this was their first venture into supernatural fiction. They include: Steve Brewer, Dana Cameron, Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane, Barbara D'Amato, Carolyn Hart, Toni L. P. Kelner, Lou Kemp, William Kent Kreuger, Margaret Mahon, Elaine Viets and others. 

Arrowood by Laura McHugh

 Arrowood by Laura McHugh

Pages: 320

Rating 5 out of 5

This second novel, from Missouri author Laura McHugh is a gothic tale of family secrets in small town Iowa. A haunting novel from the author of The Weight of Blood about a young woman's return to her childhood home--and her encounter with the memories and family secrets it holds

After the death of her father, Arden Arrowood inherits the grand historical house, Arrowood, in her home town along the Mississippi River in southern Iowa. Searching to find her purpose and trying to finish her master's thesis she believes the quiet house and town are just what she needs.