Monday Mini-Reviews: Five Star Read: Lady Tremaine

I'm not a girl who grew up reading fairy tales. The stories were read to me, but I didn't have any special attachment to them, or the Disney movies that then followed.  

Lady Tremaine is a re-telling -or an untelling, as Hochhauser called it in a recent podcast I listened to - told in the perspective of Cinderella's stepmother.

 

The wicked stepmother and horrible stepsisters from the Cinderella of my childhood look vastly different than they do in Tremaine.  We get an entirely different perspective when we hear Lady Etheldreda's side of things.  Her first love ended in tragedy, leaving her with two young daughters, and the need to create a life on her own.  Etheldreda is a survivor, and despite the variety of challenges that life continues to present to her, she perseveres.  When she finds a man who can bring some sense of stability for her and her children, she takes the chance, also taking on raising Elin, who has been raised without a mother for much of her childhood.  

Elin isn't the easiest child, yet when the prince picks her over one of her new stepsisters, Etheldreda doesn't understand what the attraction could be  until she does a little research on her own and realizes that things aren't quite what they appear.

I loved this book so much, and will think of Cinderella in an entirely different way from now on.

Friday Five

Fri-yay!  I am so ready to have a weekend, although I've got nothing planned.  I look forward to downtime, and yet, sometimes, that seems a little boring.  Becoming an empty nester isn't something I'm enjoying every minute of.  I like having the girls home and always being busy.  So, apparently I need to find a few new hobbies.  I've found a few things to share with you this week - the spring weather is making me ready for warm weather clothing.  

 

1.  Spot On Half Zip Sweatshirt

2.  Margot Embroidered Blouse

3.  Mackie Mary Jane Espadrille

4.  Zoey Pullover Sweater

5.  Denim Puff Sleeve Top

6.  Millie Tee

7.  Preston Pleated Top

8.  Valencia Lace-up Platform Espadrille

9.  Field Jacket

10.  Rooster on HBO

That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Waiting on Wednesday: American Fantasy

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: American Fantasy by Emma Straub

Due out: April 7, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous, nineties-era boy band and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them since childhood.

Feeling slightly out of place amid this crowd is Annie, newly divorced, turning fifty with an empty nest, and here on a lark to appease her sister. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing, something is unlocked. Call it memory. Call it nostalgia. Call it the chemical reaction of hormones, hope, and sexual reawakening. Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the familiar music, and the throngs of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she meets one of the band members—not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend—she has accessed a new sense of possibility.

In a smart and incisive book packed with laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, aging, marriage, and middle age, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured story that shows us real passion is never truly lost, that what we love makes us who we are, and that deep meaning can sometimes be found in a sea of screaming fans

Monday Mini-Reviews: A Week Of Little Focus

 

If you read my Friday post, you'll know that last week was rough.  I have had a hard time focusing as I ponder my job prospects.  Reading has been almost non-existent.  

I did actually find a way to read two books this weekend, and enjoyed them both.

I've had this book since last winter. My husband read it and enjoyed it, but it has sat on his nightstand ever since.  

Theodora goes with her fiance Connor to his family's winter retreat at Idlewild where they are planning to spend the holiday.  While there, Theo starts to remember bits and pieces that seem familiar to her; she was adopted when she was four and there has always been a missing piece from her early years.  

Theo is also getting threatening texts from someone who doesn't want her at Idlewood, and as more of her past seems to indicate that she spent some time at Idlewood, when she finds a picture of her and her mother there she wants to find answers that have long eluded her about what happened to her mother. 

I turned pages quickly in this book which kept my attention - a difficult task at this point.

 Anna Quindlen is an auto-read author for me.  And this latest novel is a solid addition to her collection of work.

Polly and her three friends have been meeting for book club for years, weathering the ups and downs of daily life.  As a gift her book club friends give her a DNA ancestry kit that show Polly is related to someone she's never even heard of. Although she's convinced the test must have be mistaken, she still wants to explore the results.

Add this in with her fertility problems, and one of the book club member's health problems, and this is a novel with fantastic character development that I didn't want to end.

There's always a let down after a story ends, so I'm left looking for my next great read.

Friday Five

This past week was A. LOT.  It started with a school board meeting on Monday night where we were informed of the many budget cuts they are making - and once again they are reducing librarians in our district.  For the second year in a row I "get to" reapply for my job.  I go back and forth several times a day; one minute I think certainly I have a chance of being hired, and the next minute I have no faith in being hired again.

Jobs in libraries are few and far between and because I've been teaching now for a looooooooooong time, I am an expensive option for any district that might be hiring.  I love what I do, but I do wish that the administrators saw value in libraries and having kids fall in love with reading. 

So, I've barely read a thing because I can't focus for long, but I did find a few things to share.

 

1. Striped Neck Sweater

2.  Wrap Top

3.  Fallon 18k Gold Bezel Earrings

4.  The Colette Magic Fabric Crop Wide-Leg Pants by Maeve

5.  Quince Everyday Fleece Straight Leg Sweatpants

6.  The Liza Smocked Puff Sleeve Denim Blouse

7.  High Rise Wide Leg Sunday Sweatpant

8.  AE Half-Zip Waffle Fleece Sweatshirt

9.  Open Stitch Textural Crew Sweater

10.  Cornbread Crackers from Trader Joe's

That's it for me this week.  What's caught your eye?

Waiting on Wednesday: Once and Again

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: Once And Again by Rebecca Serle

Due out: March 10, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

The women of the Novak family were each born with a gift: they can, just once, turn back time.

Lauren has known since she was fifteen that her mother Marcella saved Lauren’s father from a deadly car accident. Dave is alive and happy, and out on the Malibu waves. But ever since, Marcella, her power spent, has lived in fear of what she won’t be able to reverse. Her own mother, Sylvia, is her polar opposite: a free-spirited iconoclast with a glamorous past she only hints at. Lauren has spent her life between these two role models—and waiting for her own catastrophe to strike.

Then one summer, Lauren’s husband takes a job in New York and she moves back to Broad Beach Road, back into her childhood home on the shores of Malibu. Lauren looks forward to surfing with her dad again and perhaps repairing an unspoken fracture in her relationship with her mother. What she doesn’t expect is for the boy next to door to return home as well: Stone, Lauren’s first love, who broke her heart nearly a decade before.

As Lauren falls into familiar patterns, with her family and, more dangerously, Stone, she finds herself thinking about all the choices, large and small, that have brought her to this moment. And wondering, finally, if one of them should be undone.

NonFiction Tuesday: American Wolf

I have so many great nonfiction books on my TBR and American Wolf is one I've had on my radar for a while, but the TBR just keeps on growing and as new things arrive, it seems to always be pushed aside.

This weekend I was happy to get to devour it in just a day.

Prior to American Wolf, I don't know that I've thought very much about wolves.  This is nonfiction that reads like a story that begins back when wolves were in abundance in the United States.  

Over time wolves were hunted to near extinction until they were reintroduced in the West.  Blakeslee focuses on a few wolves, especially O-Six, an alpha female who gives birth to several generations of wolves.  She is a good leader, a fierce fighter, a loving mother, and a favorite of the wolf watchers who spend their days watching and tracking a variety of wolves.  

There are several viewpoints on the wolves returning to this area.  Elk are being hunted by the wolves reducing their numbers, the wolf watchers want the wolves to be a protected species, and packs are in conflict with each other as they try to gain control of portions of land.  And while all of these things continue to occur, Blakeslee's narrative about the different wolves created animals that I cared about and was amazed by.  

Animal lovers, nonfiction readers, anyone who enjoys nature or a good book, this is a title you should pick up.

Monday Mini-Reviews: Dear Debbie

I have read several books by Freida McFadden, and while I found most of them entertaining, I also read a few that were less than stellar.  I decided to take a break from McFadden's books but when I heard about Dear Debbie and saw a variety of instagram posts reacting positively to this latest book, it sounded like just what I needed.

 

And it was.

This is a fun, twisty story about Debbie, a suburban mom who has worked part-time for years as the author of the Dear Debbie column giving advice to people who need it.  But when Debbie loses her job, she has time to focus on other things going on in her life: her husband who is keeping secrets from her, the nieghbor whose garden is being featured in a local magazine instead of Debbie's, her daughter being cut from the soccer team - and as things continue to spiral out of control, Debbie decides it is time to take matters into her own hands and get revenge.

This is a fun story.  I found myself chuckling silently to myself throughout the entire time I was reading.  There's still the psychological thriller element and there are a few interesting turns the story takes, but this was a good break from anything heavy and the perfect escape from reality.

Friday Five

 

1.  Zip-Up Knit Jacket

2.  Hanna Stripe Sweater

3.  On The Loose Work Pants

4.  Pilcro Half Sleeved Collared V-Neck Popover Top

5.  Leather Moto Boot

6.  White Doublecloth V-Neck Ruffle Print Blouse

7. 100% Organic Cotton Denim Chore Jacket

8.  Women's Chalet Stripe Knit Sweater

9.  BLANKNYC Bellamy Twofer Sweater

10.  THML Polka Dot Bubble Hem Top

That's it for me this week. What's caught your eye?

Waiting On Wednesday: Go Gentle

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature where I highlight a soon to be released novel I can't wait to read.

This week's pick: Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Due out April 14, 2026

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

The New York Times bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette returns to form in her most exuberant and life-affirming novel yet with the story of one woman’s cheerful determination to live a life of the mind only to have the heart force its way in.

Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a "coven"—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger.