The photo above shows the back of my computer. You might recognize the “Embrace the Quest” line as the one I offered in my Lufkin Prize speech. I had those stickers made with Hotchkiss’s Main Building, sparkles, and that catchphrase to give out after the speech. (If you’re reading this and want one, please let…
“Why”…Wednesdays
NetGalley Review of How to Fall for a Scoundrel
title: How to Fall for a Scoundrel author: Kate Bateman publisher: St. Martin’s Paperback publication date: August 20, 2024 pages: 320 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: none summary: Ellie and her friends run a detective agency under a man’s name because many people won’t hire women, but one night at a party, a handsome stranger first…
NetGalley Review of Prime Time Romance
title: Prime Time Romance author: Kate Robb publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback publication date: September 3, 2024 pages: 336 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: vomit, drinking and binge drinking summary: After her divorce, Brynn spends as much time as possible watching her favorite teen series, Carson’s Cove, in which everything ends happily ever after, except the…
283. Why Getting Older Isn’t What I Expected
If you zoom in really close on the above photo of me (I’m not recommending this), you’ll see my gray hair. I didn’t have any grays at all until I became a head of the English Department at my school. Now, I have plenty of them. I am not surprised by gray hair, as I…
NetGalley Review of A Legend in the Baking
title: A Legend in the Baking author: Jamie Wesley publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: November 19, 2024 pages: 336 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: none summary: Sloane Dell impulsively quits her marketing job after not getting the promotion she deserves. To prove herself for another job, she runs the social media accounts for her brother…
282. Why Parenting is Hard 2.0
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you read the first iteration of Why Parenting is Hard in May 2020. I’m linking it here, in case you want to go back to it. Well, here we are four years later, and I have more thoughts on the topic. They’re related, to be sure,…
NetGalley Review of The Au Pair Affair
title: The Au Pair Affair author: Tessa Bailey publisher: Avon publication date: July 16, 2024 pages: 384 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: broken nose and other hockey violence; traumatic past/stalker summary: Tallulah is moving to Boston to work on her MA in Marine Biology. To be able to afford to live there, she takes a job…
281. Why Convenient isn’t Better
I took the photo above when the school where I work put a fence around the dining hall, which is attached to the Main Building, which houses the library, chapel, snack bar, student center, administrative offices, office of admission and financial aid, both auditoriums (or is it auditoria?), most classrooms, and probably more I’m forgetting….
280. Why Look for the Invisible
Last November, which in some ways feels like a hundred years ago, I got to travel to Poland and Slovakia with another teacher and a group of students from my school. In addition to learning a lot about World War II history and the two countries we visited, I also learned about the kinds of…
NetGalley Review of Savor It
title: Savor It author: Tarah DeWitt publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: May 21, 2024 pages: 336 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: death pf parents (off-page), grief, career burnout, bodily injury (off-page) summary: Sage, who has a menagerie of pets and a simple, if overly solitary life, meets Fisher, who’s renting the neighbor’s house…