Audiobook Review: Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Our Perfect Storm
Author: Carley Fortune
Narrators: AJ Bridel and Jack Copland
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 5, 2026
Print length: 420 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 51 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.

Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.

Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.

Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good.

There’s nothing like a Carley Fortune book! Heartfelt storytelling, deep connections, and beautiful settings are the hallmark of her beach bag-ready novels. Her fifth novel, Our Perfect Storm, captures all the elements I love so much about her writing and delivers a friends-to-lovers story that, despite the trope, feels fresh and expansive.

Our Perfect Storm opens at the start of Frankie’s wedding weekend — a high-end affair at a luxury resort, no expense spared. But initially, it’s not perfect: Frankie is distracted throughout the opening dinner because her best friend (and best man) George hasn’t arrived. Her seemingly ideal fiancé Nate is sitting right next to her, but she can’t enjoy the food or the company… until George finally walks in. (It may not be obvious to Frankie, but we readers know deep, unacknowledged love when we see it!)

The perfect wedding is now back on track… until Frankie wakes up the next morning to a note from Nate, calling off the wedding with no explanation whatsoever. Devastated, Frankie moves back home with her parents and spends the next couple of months trying to get her life back on track.

George hasn’t been seen since the wedding, so Frankie is shocked when he shows up one day, and has a plan. Nate has already told Frankie that she should go to the resort he’d booked for their honeymoon, since it was already paid for. Frankie had no intention of going, but George insists that it’ll be just what she needs — and that he’s going with her. Frankie needs an escape from the world so she can heal, George has been researching recovery after a breakup, and he’s going to guide her through the process.

So off they go to Tofino, a beautiful location on Vancouver Island, where they’ll be staying in a luxury villa at a fancy resort, with nothing to do but enjoy the scenery, explore, eat good food, and let Frankie find fresh inspiration and let go of the past. Of course, the past is not so simple. While Frankie had only known Nate for a total of one year prior to their almost-wedding, she’s known George since childhood. They’ve been there for one another through family sorrows, personal challenges, growing up, and turning into adults. From next-door neighbors to best friends to college roommates, they were inseparable for most of their lives, until George pulled away in recent years, leaving Frankie to miss him and wonder what happened to their friendship.

As they week in Tofino unfolds, George and Frankie reconnect, falling back into their easy dynamic, sharing truths and secrets, but also noting new elements to their chemisty… like a intense attraction that Frankie was never willing to fully acknowledge in the past. It becomes clear that there’s way more between them than friendship, but they’ll need to get past old hurts and traumas before they can fully trust that what they feel might just be love… and that they might have a very different future ahead of them than either could have imagined.

I just loved Frankie and George! They’re both fully developed characters. We can care about them because we get to know them so well. Flashback chapters take us back to their childhood and adolescence, and of course it’s clear to a reader that these two are way beyond “best friends”. The way they trust one another is lovely, as is the way they’re so easily able to fall back into spending constant time together, even after being apart for years.

In addition to her cancelled wedding, Frankie has a lifetime of unresolved issues to finally come to terms with, particularly in regard to her complicated relationship with her mother. I appreciated seeing the thoughtfulness with which the characters deal with this, and how past trauma gets addressed and acknowledged.

Of course, the heart and soul of the story is the connection between Frankie and George. The plot points I’ve mentioned so far may not sound action-packed, but that’s not what this book is. There’s plenty of humor, serious talks and situations too, but overall, the pacing is leisurely and gives time for the relationships and character growth to unfold.

The armchair travel elements can’t be ignored. Carley Fortune’s books always have the most lovely settings, and I was practically dying over the descriptions of Tofino. (Sad but true: I took a fantastic road trip to Vancouver Island last summer, but didn’t have quite enough time to get to Tofino… clearly, I need to go back!)

As with the author’s other books, the audiobook is narrated by AJ Bridel, who does a wonderful job. This time, she’s joined by Jack Copland, who does the dialogue for the male characters. I loved listening — the voices, pacing, and delivery are all fantastic.

Obviously, I’m a big fan, and Our Perfect Summer hit all the right notes for me. I’ll eagerly await whatever Carley Fortune writes next. Meanwhile, I highly recommend Our Perfect Summer, and all of her other books too!

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

For more by Carley Fortune:
Every Summer After
Meet Me at the Lake
This Summer Will Be Different
One Golden Summer

15May2026

Book Review: Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Dead Weight
Author: Hildur Knútsdóttir
Translated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Publication date: May 26, 2026
Length: 160 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs – or even bodies – in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.

Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.

When she tracks down the cat’s wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur’s life.

It’s unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn.

The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.

This new Icelandic thriller opens with a bang, as I shared in a recent First Lines Friday post:

I have thought long and hard about how I would dispose of a dead body. I have carefully weighed options such as digging, sinking, burning, hiding. It’s something I do when I can’t sleep. I used to think that everyone did this, that each person I met had a plan of their own. But the day I casually mentioned mine during lunch at work, a weird and uncomfortable silence settled over the table. So it turns out that most people listen to audio books when they can’t sleep. It’s only me who hides bodies. I find it relaxing.

With an opening like that, it’s clear that at some point in this tense novella, there WILL be a body to deal with. The questions are — whose, and why, and how?

I’ll pause here for a second — I don’t typically share content warnings, but when it comes to abuse, I feel it’s necessary.

Content warning: Domestic/relationship violence, physical and emotional abuse.
Content reassurance: Cats are an important part of the plot… and they are fine! No animal deaths or injury (although they are threatened).

The story is told by Unnar, who is somewhat of an odd duck, and does not necessarily appear to be a reliable narrator. She’s a successful businesswoman who has learned to feign reactions to get what she wants.

I practice the look I’m going to use. Raise my eyes up and to the right. Because I’ve read that people look there when they’re doing creative thinking, but to the left when doing recall.

Meanwhile, she lives alone and conducts a passionate relationship with a married man, whose influencer wife she stalks on Instagram, convinced that he’s being honest when he says that theirs is a loveless marriage and he’s only staying for the sake of the children. Hmm, no married man has ever claimed that before, have they?

Unnar’s predictable life is interrupted when a cat shows up on her doorstep. The cat seems to find a way inside, even when the apartment doors are closed. After a couple of days of visits, Unnar searches Facebook for posts about missing cats, and tracks down the owner, a young woman named Ásta. Ásta is thrilled to be reunited with Io, but has an odd request: Can Unnar keep her for a while? Ásta’s boyfriend really doesn’t like cats, and she doesn’t want to rock the boat. When Unnar comes home again to find that Io has had a kitten, she agrees with Ásta’s proposal that mom and baby kitty will stay until the kitten is old enough to be moved, and they set up a schedule for Ásta to come and visit.

But with each visit, Unnar becomes more and more concerned about Ásta’s well-being. She shows up with bruises, and is clearly scared to upset her boyfriend. When he tracks her to Unnar’s home, violence ensues, and the growing friendship between the two women leads to startling results.

I’d love to be able to say which book (from almost 30 years ago) that this reminded me of… but even to name the book would be to reveal more than I should about the plot! Suffice it to say that things take a turn for the grisly, and Unnar’s detachment and level-headedness become a necessary counterweight to Ásta’s emotions and fragility.

I have mixed feeling about Dead Weight. On the one hand, it’s a highly readable, fast-paced, absorbing story — and given that it’s novella-length, it’s a very quick read. On the other hand… I’m not sure what to make of certain plot elements and characterizations.

Unnar is both incredibly competent and seemingly emotionally stunted. She hints at incidents from her family history, but we never entirely get the full picture. Her romantic relationship shows both her ability to feel and her ability to compartmentalize and shut down the emotions that don’t serve her own narrative; there are clear signs of denial and possibly even more serious mental health concerns that become apparent as she interacts with Ásta.

On a more practical note, Unnar’s narration makes very clear all the ways in which society doesn’t value women’s strength, expects certain types of performance and demeanor, and doesn’t recognize or have sufficient resources when a woman experiences abuse and needs an escape plan. Unnar seems to lack a moral compass, yet even thought she’s practically a stranger to Ásta, she’se the only person in Ásta’s corner when she’s in danger.

I found the ending ambiguous. I’m not sure how to interpret the very final scene. (There are two options — I don’t know which answer I like better, and I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to know or guess).

This book is definitely not a good choice for the squeamish — only read if you can tolerate blood and gore!

Overall, while I still prefer the author’s previous book, The Night Guest, I found Dead Weight an intriguing, all-in-one-sitting read. Check it out for the Icelandic vibe, and if you enjoy ambiguity and unreliable narrators.

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

15May2026

First Lines Friday 5/15/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!

This week’s lines are from a 2025 book with a split timeline:

At our school in Waikiki, there were two camps. Those whose families were invited to the grand opening of the Moana Hotel, and those who weren’t. Ours wasn’t, but I don’t care because I think it was a foolish idea to build a hotel right on the beach.

So what’s the book?

The Guest in Room 120 by Sara Ackerman
Published: September 23, 2025
336 pages

Synopsis:

A gripping novel inspired by one of America’s most mysterious deaths, that of Stanford University’s founder Jane Stanford.

1905. As the mother of a university and a woman with an iron will, Jane Stanford has made her share of enemies. After a scare at her mansion in San Francisco and on the advice of her doctor, she flees to Honolulu and the fashionable new Moana hotel. But as fate would have it, the island is not as safe as it seems.

2005. Zoe Finch is a bestselling author who desperately needs a jump start on her next novel when she makes a split decision to attend a writers conference at the Moana under an assumed name. As a storm brews offshore, she begins having nightmares that feel hauntingly real. Terrified, Zoe enlists the help of mystery writer Dylan Winters, and over the course of the week, races to uncover the shocking truth of what happened in the hotel one hundred years ago almost to the day.

1905. Iliahi Baldwin’s life changes the moment she lands a job at the Moana. Newly hired and reeling from a tragic loss, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the formidable Jane Stanford upon her arrival, leaving young Ili devastated when the unthinkable happens. Ili knows things, but there are powerful people who need the truth to remain hidden, and to cross them could prove disastrous.

An unforgettable tale of betrayal, secrets, and death that still echoes through the years.

I picked up a copy of this book a few months ago, but haven’t read it yet. I’ve heard great things!

Does this sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

14May2026

Book Review: An Ordinary Sort of Evil (A Rip Through Time, #5) by Kelley Armstrong

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: An Ordinary Sort of Evil
Series: A Rip Through Time, #5
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: May 19, 2026
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley
Rating:

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns to Victorian Scotland in the latest in the genre-blending Rip Through Time series.

Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Mitchell has grown accustomed to life in Victorian Scotland after travelling 150 years into the past into the body of a housemaid. She’s built a new life for herself. Even though she works as an assistant to forensic-science pioneer Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie, she considers them true friends. And with Gray in particular, perhaps, someday, something more.

Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there’s been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray’s presence. The ghost is Lady Adler’s former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she’s dead or alive. But unsure if there’s been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling–and more dangerous–than it first seems.

An Ordinary Sort of Evil, book #5 in the excellent A Rip Through Time series, delivers the twisty mystery and terrific character moments that we’ve come to expect over the course of these books.

A quick explanation of the story so far: Mallory Mitchell, a Canadian homicide detective from the 21st century, stumbles through a time anomaly while visiting family in Edinburgh and finds her consciousness now inhabiting the body of a 20-year-old housemaid in Victorian Scotland. This housemaid words for Dr. Duncan Gray, an undertaker and scientist who assists the Edinburgh police with unusual cases, which is probably the best of all possible situations for Mallory to have landed in.

As the series progresses, Mallory adapts to her new life, and after sharing the truth about herself with Duncan and a few other close connections, she’s able to apply her detective skills in this new, strange world. Five books into the series, Mallory is established as Duncan’s assistant, although with her modern-day detective and forensic skills, she takes the lead for their investigations. Meanwhile, Mallory and Duncan’s professional closeness and personal friendship seems to be developing into something more, and yet Victorian standards related to class, race, and gender threaten to put an end to any deeper relationship before it can even start.

As An Ordinary Sort of Evil opens, Mallory and Duncan are summoned to a wealthy patron’s home in the middle of the night — not to investigate a murder, but because a ghost summoned during a seance has asked for Duncan by name. Or so the medium says: She claims that a maid working in the patron’s household has contacted her, and wants Duncan to investigate her murder. The problem is, the maid was last seen alive and well, and was believed to have left for new opportunities. Mallory and Duncan scoff at the spiritualism fad, but when a body turns up, they’re immersed once more in an investigation, trying to determine if this is in fact the missing maid, what happened to her, and how someone at the seance could have known of her death.

It’s an ordinary sort of evil. The kind people do every day, and never think twice. It’s just how you get ahead in life.

Once again, Kelley Armstrong skillfully blends an intriguing, unpredictable murder mystery with Mallory’s fish-out-of-water existence in a time not her own, while also keeping the character development moving forward and building upon everything that’s happened so far in the series. That’s a tough order to fill, but this author makes it work, and then some.

One of the delights of these books is seeing Mallory’s adjustment to life in Victorian times. For propriety’s sake, she must pose as Duncan’s subordinate and defer to him — publicly, at least — on matters in which she’s the expert. Behind closed doors, however, she lets loose and allows her outspoken nature to break free, which makes for all sorts of entertainment as we readers get to enjoy her anachronistic sass and snark.

I raise a slow middle finger.

“Too bad I do not know what that means,” he says. “I am certain, though, that it expresses your agreement with my point.”

The mystery in An Ordinary Sort of Evil is highly entertaining and not at all straightforward. I often thought I had a sense of how things might unfold; each time, I was wrong. Following Mallory and Duncan’s investigation is pure delight — I loved seeing how the clues and false leads and various suspects and their actions all come together by the end.

As for the characters and their relationships, things do progress in ways that will make readers of this series very happy, but there’s plenty of room for even more developments… and that’s all I’ll say about that!

A Rip Through Time continues to entertain and offer thrills and mysteries to puzzle through, and I can’t wait for more. Highly recommended — but do start at the beginning of the series! You won’t want to miss a thing.

Next up: A newly announced novella, to be release later this year. I absolutely plan to read it — I’ll need a Mallory fix while waiting for the next book in the series.

Brawlers & Burglars
Release date: December 1, 2026

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible audiobook – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

For more in this series:
A Rip Through Time
The Poisoner’s Ring
Disturbing the Dead
Schemes & Scandals (novella)
Death at a Highland Wedding
Kirkyards & Kindness (novella)

13May2026

Getting ready for the next Classics Club Spin (CC Spin #44; spring/summer 2026)

Posted in Bookish Thoughts, Fun and Whimsy, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

It’s time for another Classics Club Spin!

Hosted by The Classics Club blog, the Classics Club Spin is a reading adventure where participants come up with a list of classics they’d like to read, number them 1 to 20, and then read the book that corresponds to the “spin” number that comes up. This will be the Classics Club’s spin #44, and my 16th time participating!

Here are the dates and guidelines from the host blog:

On Sunday 17th May we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 5th July, 2026.

We’ll check in on the 5th July to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!

What’s Next?

Go to your blog.

Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.

Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday 17th May 2026.

We’ll announce a number from 1-20.

Read that book by 5th July.

I’ve become hooked on exploring 20th century fiction, so that’s how I’ve focused my list. Where will the spin take me this time? We’ll find out in a few days!

Here’s my list of 20 classics for the next Classics Club Spin:

The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R. A. Dick
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
White Fang by Jack London
Anna and Her Daughters by D. E. Stevenson
Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne DuMaurier
Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery
Peony by Pearl Buck
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Frederica by Georgette Heyer
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem
Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Under the Rainbow by Susan Scarlett

Wish me luck! I’ll be back on May 17th to reveal my spin result!

My previous Classics Club spins:

CCSpin29: The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
CCSpin30: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
CCSpin31: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
CCSpin32: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
CCSpin33: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
CCSpin34: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
CCSpin35: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
CCSpin36: A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
CCSpin37: Howards End by E. M. Forster
CCSpin38: The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
CCSpin39: An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
CCSpin40: Dracula by Bram Stoker
CCSpin41: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
CCSpin42: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
CCSpin43: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

12May2026

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is May Flowers, with the prompt: This is a companion to the April Showers topic from last month. Interpret however you’d like: books with flowers on the cover, colorful covers, books set in springtime, books where flowers/plants are a common theme, titles with flower names in them, characters named after flowers, covers that are as pretty as flowers, books featuring gardens, etc.

I did a version of this TTT topic just two years ago, featuring books with flower names in the titles… so rather than repeating myself, I thought I’d take a different approach. This time around, my top 10 are books where flowers or gardens are a plot element.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney
The Lark by E. Nesbit
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory
The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukayama
Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher
Mandy by Julie Andres Edwards
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Digging In by Loretta Nyhan

Have you read any books that fit my topic? What books make you think of May flowers?

If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!

11May2026

The Monday Check-In ~ 5/11/2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

I had a very nice Mother’s Day! Phone calls and flowers from the adult kids who don’t live nearby, a bit of outdoor dancing in the afternoon, and then dinner at a great restaurant with my husband and son in the evening. I hope all the moms out there enjoyed their days!

Bookish odds and ends:

I came across two exciting books announcement and cover reveals, both for books scheduled for release in January 2027:

A Song of Sugar Sparrows (Wayward Children, #12) by Seanan McGuire: Some books in this series are better than others, but overall, I love this fantasy series and its cast of characters. This upcoming release focuses on one of the fantasy worlds I’m less interested in… but I’ll still be reading it!

The Stars Look Like Home by TJ Klune: I don’t even need to know what this book is about to know that it’ll be a must-read for me! How cute is that cover?

What did I read during the last week?

The Body by Stephen King: Brilliant coming of age tale, in a new audiobook version. My review is here.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones: I felt frustrated that this book — which has so many rave reviews — just didn’t work for me. My quick take is here.

Pop culture & TV:

Outlander (the TV version) is about to end! The series finale airs this coming Friday. I’ve mainly loved the show, although this most recent season has been uneven, with a few wildly weird storytelling and plot choices. The show has had to wrap up a story based on a book series that isn’t done yet. (Yes, the books are better, obviously!) Overall, though, I’m grateful that we’ve had eight seasons with these marvelous characters, and I’m sad to see it all coming to a close.

Beyond that, I’ve been sticking with Margo’s Got Money Troubles on AppleTV. I’m enjoying it, but I question some of the choices that diverge from the overall tone and content of the book.

I’ve also started watching Widow’s Bay. It hasn’t entirely sucked me in quite yet, but it’s clever and has a great cast, so I’ll keep going.

Fresh Catch:

This ARC arrived by mail this week! I’ve read one book by this author previously (A History of Wild Places), and I’m really looking forward to starting this upcoming new release.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

An Ordinary Sort of Evil (A Rip Through Time, #5) by Kelley Armstrong: This is such a great series, and I’m really enjoying this new installment. I should finish today or tomorrow.

Now playing via audiobook:

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune: I’d so happy to be listening to this new book by a favorite author!

Ongoing reads:

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s newest classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 15%. Coming up this week: Chapters 9 and 10.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: I’ll be seeing this play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this summer, and decided to read it before I see it! I’m taking it in small pieces, just a scene or two every few days. Progress so far: About to start Act IV.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

10May2026

Retail Therapy: A round-up of great puzzles

Posted in Fun and Whimsy, Real Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a shopping post! I try to keep my spending within reasonable limits… and yet, I just can’t resist when it comes to gorgeous books and puzzles!

Jigsaw puzzles may not be for everyone… but if you have someone in your life who loves puzzles, here are a few that I’ve loved recently and highly recommend.

I’m a picky puzzler: I look for engaging, lively designs. I prefer lots of color and details. Monochromes, too much background, an overabundance of sky/trees/mountains — none of these really appeal to me. Of course, it’s all down to individual taste, but I gravitate toward colorful illustration, and pretty much never pick up something photo-based or with abstract designs.

Beyond that, I look for reliable, high quality puzzle makers. I want that satisfying snap when the pieces fit perfectly together. Pieces that seem like they could fit in more than one place are deal-breakers for me. I also want good materials, nothing flimsy or that peels apart.

My go-to reliable puzzle companies are Ravensburger and Eeboo. Ravensburger probably needs no explanation; for those unfamiliar, Eeboo is a woman-owned company that supports and highlights artists, and offers gorgeous, one-of-a-kind designs.

I’ve also done quite a few of the Laurence King literary-themed puzzles, such as The World of Jane Austen, The World of Frankenstein, and many more. Great designs, perfect for book lovers, nice level of detail, and very good quality pieces! I also tend to enjoy Cobble Hill puzzles, and have done White Mountain puzzles as well (although their piece shapes and images don’t always appeal to me from an aesthetic point of view).

I do branch out… with caution. As I said, I’m picky — so before I try a new-to-me puzzle company, I scour the reviews and look for deal-breaking comments.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you click through a link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Here are some favorites — puzzles I’ve enjoyed recently, that check all my boxes for what makes a puzzle great! (I mainly do 1000-piece puzzles… but all of these companies have a variety of piece counts to choose from).

Midnight in Barcelona, from the Cities at Midnight series by KI Puzzles. I was so drawn to the colors and artwork that I took a chance on an unknown-to-me puzzle company — and loved the result! This puzzle was intricate, really fun to assemble, and just beautiful to look at.

Paris in a Day from Eeboo — No surprise that I loved an Eeboo puzzle! This one was especially appealing, with such vibrant colors and interesting patterns.

Here are a few more Eeboo puzzles I have my eye on:

Next up: Some Cobble Hill favorites:

Gardener’s Calendar: Tiny details and great quality — loved this one!

Save the Bees: Tricky but so satisfying!

I’ve also done Cobble Hill’s seasonal gardening puzzles, which are lovely:

I’ve done a few Pomegranate puzzles from their Charlie Harper national park series, and they’ve proven to be excellent, both in terms of design and piece quality.

Rounding out this batch of great puzzles… here are a few from Ravensburger that I’ve loved recently:

But wait! There’s more!

I know people seem to really enjoy Gallison puzzles too. I haven’t tried any yet… but did just acquire two through a puzzle swap, and I’m eager to start them! I’m also highly tempted by a few New York Puzzle Company designs… which I may break down and buy next time I’m ready to treat myself. Like this one…

Of course, there are plenty more companies selling beautiful, high quality puzzles… and some come with quite a high price tag as well! I ended up on the mailing list for Puzzledly, which sells puzzles I haven’t found anywhere else. Some are gorgeous! Alas, the ones that have really caught my eye are above my (self-imposed) price limit, but they do have special offers and discounts from time to time, so I may indulge at some point! Here’s one that’s really calling my name:

One more thing to note…

Buying puzzles isn’t the only way to add to your collection and get nice new puzzles to enjoy! I recently found a local puzzle swap group, and have traded five of my gently-loved puzzles for five new-to-me puzzles. What a treat! You may have a puzzle swap group near you. I found mine on Facebook (thanks to a friend’s suggestion), but I’ve also seen a bunch of options via Reddit and elsewhere. Take a look! You never know what you might find.

9May2026

Quick Take: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Publisher: Saga Press
Publication date: March 18, 2025
Length: 448 pages
Genre: Horror / historical fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians comes a tale of the American West, writ in blood.

This chilling historical novel is set in the nascent days of the state of Montana, following a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab as he haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation looking for justice.

It begins when a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall in 2012. What is unveiled is a slow massacre, a nearly forgotten chain of events that goes back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow, told in the transcribed interviews with Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar and unnaturally long life over a series of confessional visits.

This is an American Indian revenge story, captured in the vivid voices of the time, by one of the new masters of literary horror, Stephen Graham Jones.

Unpopular opinion time: This story of a vampire seeking revenge for the massacre of his people, the Blackfeet of Montana, should have been right up my alley… and yet, I had to force myself to stick with it and slog my way through to the end.

This book has an endless number of rave reviews, including from media sources and bloggers I tend to align with. And yet, it just didn’t work for me.

There’s a great premise: A newly discovered diary left behind by a Lutheran pastor in 1912 reveals a shocking set of confessions from a Blackfeet named Good Stab. Good Stab seeks out Arthur Beaucarne to share the story of his unnaturally long life, his transformation into a vampire, and the punishments he’s meted out to those he deems responsible for murdering his people.

And yet, I found myself disengaged and frustrated throughout much of the book. There are some compelling and horrifying set pieces, some very moving interludes as Good Stab recounts what’s happened to the Blackfeet and to the buffalos… and yet, the story he tells is full of names, places, and incidents that loop and cross, sometimes dropping important pieces of information into long bits of a tale so that they get more or less buried. I found it confusing to track the who and how and why of many of the developments, and ultimately ended up caring far less than I should have, with what should have been big revelations falling flat.

I’m definitely in the minority on this one. By the end, I just wanted it all to be over.

Sigh. Not a book for me.

8May2026

First Lines Friday 5/8/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!

This week’s lines are from an upcoming new horror novella:

I have thought long and hard about how I would dispose of a dead body. I have carefully weighed options such as digging, sinking, burning, hiding. It’s something I do when I can’t sleep. I used to think that everyone did this, that each person I met had a plan of their own. But the day I casually mentioned mine during lunch at work, a weird and uncomfortable silence settled over the table. So it turns out that most people listen to audio books when they can’t sleep. It’s only me who hides bodies. I find it relaxing.

So what’s the book?

Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Release date: May 26, 2026
160 pages

Synopsis:

An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs – or even bodies – in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.

Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.

When she tracks down the cat’s wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur’s life.

It’s unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn.

The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.

Too creepy? Or does it sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!