The American Adventuress

The American Adventuress is a biography of Jennie Jerome Spencer-Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill. This novel is Gortner's 7th. He writes historical fiction accounts of women and in the past has written about Catherine de Medici, Coco Chanel and Lucrezia Borgia. He holds an MFA in writing, specializing in Renaissance Studies, from the New College of California.  

The publisher's summary:

Daughter of New York financier Leonard Jerome, Jennie was born into wealth—and scandal. Upon her parents’ separation, her mother took Jennie and her sisters to Paris, where Mrs. Jerome was determined to marry her daughters into the most elite families. The glamorous city became their tumultuous finishing school until it fell to revolt. 

Fleeing to Queen Victoria’s England, Jennie soon caught the eye of aristocrat Randolph Spencer-Churchill, son of the Duke of Marlborough, one of Britain’s loftiest peers. It was love at first sight, their unconventional marriage driven by mutual ambition and the birth of two sons. Undeterred by premature widowhood or society’s rigid expectations, Jennie brashly carried on a lifelong intimate friendship with Edward, Prince of Wales—a notorious bon vivant—and had two later marriages to younger men. When her son Winston launched his brilliant political career, Jennie guided him to success, his most vocal and valuable supporter.

By turns scandalous, tragic, and exciting, Jennie Jerome lived an unconventional life full of defiance—one that enshrined her as an American adventuress.

The American Adventuress is a fantastic read.  Gortner did a great job of telling Jennie's story. I knew before reading the book that she married into the British aristocracy when she married Randolph Spencer-Churchill and that she was the mother of Winston Churchill. I did not know though that she was a playwright, entrepreneur, interior decorator, and publisher. I also was not aware of her affair with Edward, Prince of Wales who later was crowned King Edward VII. Jennie also married twice after Randolph died. Both of these husbands were half her age which was scandalous at the time. She was definately a woman ahead of her time. 

I enjoyed the New York City, Parisian and English settings. Jennie's childhood was in New York City where her parents attended and hosted banquets for the Guilded Age millionaires. When her mother separated from her father, they moved to Paris where Jennie met Randolph. Former Empress Eugenie became a friend of Jennie's mother so they were in the top social circles. After her marriage, Jennie and Randolph moved into Blenheim Palace where Randolph's family lived. I was surprised to read that it was cold and oppressive inside it's walls. That is not how I believed living in a castle is really like. The Palace did not appeal to me but Jennie and Randolph's London homes did. This is where they did their politicking and hosted many parties. Another fact that I learned was that Randolph's oldest brother Charles, the heir of the Dukedom of Marlborough, married an American himself, Consuelo Vanderbilt. 

I loved this historical biography and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Cleopatra Cipher

The Cleopatra Cipher is book number 1 in the Adrian West Thriller series by L. D. Goffigan.  It is an archeological thriller/treasure hunt mystery set in Rome and Egypt. The next book in the series, The Excalibur Deception, will be published in July 2022.

I LOVED this book!  From the first pages I was captivated by this story. Cleopatra's burial place and her treasures are sought by two opposing groups. One is from academia and the other is from a crime syndicate called the Daughters of Cleopatra. Both groups are present at a Languages and Antiquity Conference in Rome. Sebastian Rossi has given a lecture on the various languages of Ptolemac Egypt. While always a popular lecture, the recent finding of Cleopatra's treasures one week prior to the conference made his lecture a must to hear. Sebastian's friend Adrian West is also in attendance at the conference and soon after Sebastian's lecture has ended, she receives a call from her former FBI partner Nick Harper. Nick tells her that Sebastian has been abducted. The hunt is on to not only locate him but to find out why he was abducted.

The writing was tight and suspenseful and the characters were fully developed. The protagonist of the series is Adrian West. She is a great character but I believe that without Sebastian as a counterpart, I am not sure how well she can carry the series. I definitely liked Sebastian better. I was not able to tell if he will be an ongoing character in the series. Nonetheless, we will find out in 2 months when the second book in the series is published.

I preferred the Rome setting. Fortunately the setting didn't move to Egypt until the midway point in the story. We read more about the Italian landscape and food than the same in Egypt. The Egyptian part of the plot centered on action more than setting description. 

This is a hugely entertaining novel!  5 out of 5 stars.

The Delicacy

James Albion's The Delicacy is a fictional story about the restaurant industry told in graphic novel format. Set in the world of flashy restaurants, this story of greed and ambition comes with a macabre ending as rare and delicious fungi spell trouble for two brothers who are running a restaurant. 

The story opens with Tulip and his brother Rowan having left the simple comforts of their remote Scottish island with a plan to grow succulent, organic vegetables in an idyllic market garden, and to open a restaurant serving these wholesome culinary delights to the busy sprawl of London. However, the world of fine dining seems impossibly competitive until they discover a delicious new species of mushroom. The dish brings diners in droves, catapulting their small restaurant to success beyond their wildest dreams.  Pressured by the demands of a hungry city, Tulip decides to crack the secret of their new ingredient's growth. But just how much will he sacrifice to feed his own insatiable ambition?

I was not expecting this comic to be so suspenseful. If it wasn't for the graphics, I would call it a cozy mystery. It has a perfect mystery plot with fast pacing. The Tulip character surprised me. His ambition seemed to be unbelievable. I don't think new restauranteur's would want to expand their business as fast as Tulip. However, the stress he endured created more and more suspense for the story. The ending was unexpected and I am still not sure how I feel about it. I was wanting something else while I was reading but I guess karma finally found its way to Tulip.

I LOVED The Delicacy and highly recommend it for comic lovers. 5 out of 5 stars.

Island Queen

When I initially saw this novel for sale on Amazon I was not sure whether I wanted to buy it. However, I did get it and I am glad that I read it. It is the fascinating, true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. At 592 pages, the book qualifies as a selection for the Chunkster Challenge.

The publisher's summary:  

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.

The story began when Dorothy was five-years-old. It started out slow but picked up when Dorothy was 18. At that point I couldn't put the book down. There were a couple of unsavory sections where Dorothy or another female family member were being raped and/or referred to with racist and sexist language. The book is not for everyone but it does tell a part of history that we don't usually hear about. I was surprised at how easily and quickly Dorothy was able to save money to buy herself and several family members freedom from their slave owners. This ease seemed wrong from the history that I have been told over the years. Her ability to get away with talking back to her white owners did not feel right to me either. Perhaps she was able because she lived in the Caribbean. I am not sure. Dorothy was able to build several businesses and became one of the most wealthy women in the Caribbean. It would be interesting to find out whether this was a norm or an anomaly for black women in the Caribbean during the early 1800s. 

Dorothy pushed her daughters to marry white men. She prospered off of these relationships but perhaps her motivation was just to ensure that her children had food to eat. These white husbands had the power of manumission and this was one way for Dorothy to keep her descendants free people. The language used in the book took some getting used to. The West Indies dialect as well as the Irish words used by the white slave owners was very hard to get used to. Most of this language was used in the first half of the book. It got alot better in the second half.  With all of these issues in my mind I am still thinking to myself about my feelings about the novel. There are many questions that the Author's Note does not answer.

3 out of 5 stars.

Valentine

Valentine was published in 1996. It is a novel of revenge and was made into a horror/slasher movie in 2001 with superstars Katherine Heigl and Denise Richards playing parts. Valentine is a tightly woven suspense story with a jaw dropping ending. I did not see this one coming and I cannot remember being this surprised by an ending before. In fact, I had to go back a few pages to confirm that the ending I read was correct. I just couldn't believe it.

The publisher's summary:

Jillian Talbot has it all: a beautiful home in New York's Greenwich Village, a string of bestselling suspense novels, and a handsome and adoring lover. She has something else too.  A silent stalker. A secret admirer who sends her pink, heart shaped messages with an unmistakable threat in blood red letters. His motives are as cryptic as the name he goes by:  Valentine. But his intentions are deadly clear. He has watched other women in the past, and he has killed them. Now he's ready to add Jillian to the list, to carry out the punishment he has chosen for her, retribution for a long-ago crime that only he remembers. For Valentine, vengeance will be complete. For Jill Talbot, the terror has just begun. Wherever she runs, he will find her. And soon she will meet him on his terrible day of judgment. His triumphant day. Her darkest day.  Valentine's Day. 

I was hooked on this story from the get go. The plot premise is about a nasty practical joke that went wrong and the long time repercussions of the joke. I would not say that the book is a horror/slasher novel as the movie turned out to be. It is a novel of terror, suspense and a psychological thriller all rolled into one glorious story. The chapters alternated the point of view from Jillian to the killer. It was impossible to figure out the identity of the killer until the author tells us his name late in the story. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I am refraining from telling you more about the plot. Just take note that Valentine is a must read.

I cannot imagine that any other book that I end up reading this year can top this one. 10 out of 5 stars!

Trust

Trust is Sharon Mitchell's 2nd book in her When Bad Things Happen series of psychological thrillers. Her first book Gone was fantastic. Novels 3, 4, 5 and 6 have already been published.  Selfish was published in May 2021, Instinct was published in October 2021, Reasons Why was also published in October 2021 and Mine was published on January 7, 2022. The author is currently writing the 7th novel in the series. 12 books are planned for the series and it looks like they are all going to be fantastic.

The publisher's summary:

Elizabeth thought that after all they'd been through, the bad parts were over. Guess not. After saving herself and her little boy from abductors, Elizabeth yearns to put the terror behind them, to cocoon with her sone, safe and secure at home. Court hearings confirm that they suffered the worst betrayal possible. She never dreamed that she'd have to battle the law to protect her medically fragile boy when his life and sanity are on the line. When her son is targeted and taken, Elizabeth will do anything to save him. 

 

I absolutely LOVED this book. It continues the story of Elizabeth Whitmore and her four year old son Timothy from Gone. In this installment of the series Elizabeth is awaiting the trial of her ex-husband who tried to kill her. She keeps her son within her eyesight at all times and does not let him socialize with other children. Elizabeth does not trust anyone near him not does she trust her neighbors who try to be friendly. Timothy is not speaking since the attempted murder but he did have a late onset speaking ability from birth as well as a seizure disorder. However, whatever gains he made in speech he lost. We see inside Elizabeth's mind as she grapples with day to day decisions on who to trust. Elizabeth does eventually trust someone but it turns out horribly bad.

The novel was full of emotion but had plenty of suspense. With Elizabeth's emotions highly charged the reader cannot figure out what she is going to do and this is what creates the suspense. I don't think that she even knew herself how she was going to handle each new day. As I was reading, I thought that the villain might be Elizabeth's tormented mind.  However, Timothy's court ordered psychologist becomes the villain toward the end of the story. I was surprised at the psychologist's actions and did not see her machinations coming. It was a great ending.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Winthrop Woman

I selected this historical novel because I thought that my ancestors might be in it. The book is a historical biography of Elizabeth Fones Winthrop, daughter-in-law to John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. My people were cousins to John Winthrop and lived in the same English village as the Winthrops. Lavenham is also known as the birthplace of Harry Potter. Yes, my people are in the book and some of them traveled with Governor Winthrop in 1630 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the Arbella. I highlighted my copy of the book each time an ancestor was mentioned.

The Winthrop Woman was published in 1958. Elizabeth Fones was the niece of Governor John Winthrop and she married her cousin Harry Winthrop, which gave her prestige among the Puritan set. Elizabeth was a Puritan in name only. She scandalized her family and community with brazen behavior such as sleeping with a cousin before marriage, necessitating the marriage. Before her marriage Elizabeth blasphemed God during a conversation at home and was flogged in front of the entire family and household staff. She became areligious after the flogging and despised her uncle Winthrop for demanding that she receive the beating. Although Elizabeth was in love with her cousin Jack, she agreed to marry Edward Howes after Jack left England. She broke that engagement after dillydallying with Jack's brother Harry. At first, Elizabeth and Harry were happy in their marriage but Harry was an alcoholic and a spendthrift. When Jack returns to England he is shocked that Elizabeth did not wait for him, even though he never told her of his desire for her. Elizabeth still loves Jack but is stuck with Harry. In order to tame his son, Governor Winthrop demands Harry move to the new world with him. On the way, Harry is drowned. Elizabeth follows him to the colonies, not aware that she was a widow. She is unable to abide by societal rules here either, maintaining her damning reputation.

I was surprised that Governor Winthrop became more conservative after emigrating to Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wanted to please the colonists who were already on American soil. The Separatists in Plymouth Bay were much more conservative than the Dissenters in Massachusetts and, being politically ambitious, Winthrop did whatever he had to do in order to be re-elected as the Governor of Massachusetts Bay. Sound familiar? He was cruel toward anyone who opposed him and loved to think up punishments for alleged wrongdoers. You didn't have to actually violate the law to be accused of wrongful acts. Sound familiar again? Some of these acts included celebrating Christmas, which Winthrop celebrated when he lived in Lavenham. However, his conservative views became radicalized as he gained more and more power. I had been taught in elementary school to idolize these first Americans but their personal foibles are fully on display here. Their politics are no different than the brash politics of today with everyone distrusting everyone else. As the saying goes, the more things change the more they stay the same. 

This historical novel was very readable even though it was written over 60 years ago. I loved reading about the people who began this American experiment. I was struck, though, by the similarity of our politics in the initial 25 years on our continent with the politics of today. There is no difference. During the first three elections for selectmen and governor, Governor Winthrop and his buddies changed the voting boundaries to ensure that only their kind of Puritan was elected. There was also alot of name calling.  I can only conclude that we are what we have always been. As for our Elizabeth, she was only able to get away with her misconduct because of her affiliation with Winthrop.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Vivaldi Cipher

The Vivaldi Cipher takes place during the election of a new Pope in mid-18th century Venice. Famed violinist Antonio Vivaldi is a close friend of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni who is expected to be elected as the next Pope. Before Ottoboni is killed during the conclave, Vivaldi learns about a ring of art forgers who are replacing the Vatican's priceless artworks with expertly painted fakes. Feeling desperate, Vivaldi hides a message in a special melody hoping that someone will take down the culprits. There is an alternate plot that takes place in the current era. When a dying mafia don gives his final confession, he informs the priest hearing the confession that there are many forged paintings in the Vatican Museum and that the key to their identities lies hidden in a piece of music. Father Dominic, prefect of the Secret Archives, investigates. He is mystified when he finds a cipher in an old composition from Vivaldi. Wanting to stop this centuries long conspiracy, he calls upon fellow sleuth Hana Sinclair and Dr. Livia Gallo, a music cryptologist, to help him crack the code and learn which paintings are fake. However, the Camorra, an Italian mafia clan, refuse to allow Father Dominic to interfere with their lucrative operation.

While this is an engaging story I could not help but think that the secret concerning the art thefts was divulged to too many people. By the time Hana and Dr. Gallo consult with other art experts as well as those providing security for them, 10 people know what the secret is. They, of course, tell more people and this deathbed secret is no longer much of a secret. Everyone in Venice who counts knows and so do several folks at the Vatican, putting them all in danger. 

That said, the story was engrossing. I couldn't put the book down and spent an entire day reading it. As an art lover, the descriptions of the artist studios interested me. Of course, it should go without saying that the Venetian setting was delicious. Reading about the boats gliding through the Grand Canal reminded me of my own gondola rides in Venice several years ago. The mask shop described in the novel sounds like one I actually visited so the book sent me on a huge trip down memory lane. 

It was quite creative for the author to hide clues to the art thefts in a musical score. The score needed a cipher so that someone could discover the clues. Esteemed musician Antonio Vivaldi created the cipher in the story as well as the score. The type of music was also another clue so there were many twists and turns in this mystery.

One of the characters, Dr. Gallo, is a music cryptologist which I had never heard of before. It is an actual profession though. The cipher is created by assigning a letter to each note in a score. A secret message can be found by decoding each word and then each sentence. Music cryptology has been written into the novels of other authors as well as in to a TV program. It is a new concept for me though. I found out from Wikipedia that it was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.

While advertised as a historical mystery, approximately 60% of the story takes place in the current time period.  I thought that it was a great book and both historical fiction and mystery fans will like it as well. 4 out of 5 stars.

Royal Heir

Royal Heir is the 3rd installment of the Jagiellon Dynasty Series by P. K. Adams.  It takes place in Poland and Lithuania beginning in 1563.  The series began as a historical novel about Queen Bona. Bona has already passed away when this story began and it did not seem fulfilling or interesting to me. The plot concerns the son of Bona's best friend. 

The publisher's summary:  

At twenty-eight, Julian Konarski runs the family estate outside of Krakow, and he finds the job boring. Leaving the day to day work to his steward, he spends his free time reading Machiavelli, debating philosophy with friends at the university, or drinking at taverns at night. It is while on his way back from one such revel that Julian witnesses a brutal attack on a young nobleman in a dark alley in Krakow's ill-repute district. When the attackers flee, Julian rushes to aid the victim, but the unfortunate man dies in his arms. But before the last breath escapes the nobleman's body, he entrusts Julian with a mysterious message. Filled with sympathy, Julian promises to fulfill the dying man's wish and find its intended recipient.

When the judge presiding over the inquest dismisses the death as a result of a drunken brawl, Julian decides to conduct his own investigation. Aided by his cousin Rozalia and an impoverished noblewoman Magda, he soon discovers a connection between the murdered man and the household of Princess Anna, heir presumptive to King Zygmunt August. The search for justice becomes a desperate race to stop the throne from being usurped - but by whom? And will Julian avoid the deadly trap his elusive opponent is determined to set for him? 

I am sad to say that I did not like this installment of the series. It was dull. If you have not read the earlier books in the series, you will have no idea who the characters are. The main character, Julian, is not specifically named until page 57. Every paragraph begins with the word "I" and even though I had read the prior books I was not sure who "I" was. I kind of thought that he was the son of Queen Bona's female assistant but after a year passed from the time the last book came out, I was not sure. The author wrote alot of inner dialogue.  Each page we hear about Julian's thoughts, what he wanted to do on a given day, what he wanted to eat, etc... Even the crime to be solved was not known until around page 83 and I could not tell if this murder was the one that the plot would concern. All our information about it comes from Julian's thoughts.  

The series started out well with books one and two.  If there are subsequent books in the series I hope that the author will go back to the writing formula that has worked for her in the past. This is her fifth novel but only the first bump. I can't see that any action in this story will advance the series for future novels so let's hope she gets her groove back.

The Girl in the Ground

The Girl in the Ground is the 4th Nikki Hunt Mystery and I couldn't read it fast enough.  It is an edge of your seat crime thriller that captured my full attention in the first pages. Nikki is an FBI special agent working in her home town of Stillwater, Minnesota. The story opens with construction workers unearthing the skeleton of a girl in Stillwater. Nikki's boyfriend Rory Todd is working at the site and calls her when the bones are found. While Nikki knows instantly that the girl was murdered, she is shocked when Rory tells her that he knows who the girl is. The dead girl is his childhood girlfriend Becky, and he was the last person to see her alive before she went missing twenty four years earlier.  Rory, of course, becomes a suspect and Nikki is told to step away from the investigation. Soon it becomes clear that Becky was pregnant and that Rory was the father of her baby. However, Nikki still believes that he is innocent and investigates that case anyway. When Nikki finds a potential link to two pregnant girls who were found murdered years before, she believes that she may solved the mystery of all of the murdered girls.

The character Rory seemed somewhat different from his appearance in earlier novels in the series. He is incredibly untrusting of the police despite that fact that his girlfriend is one of them. While it is normal to fear law enforcement when you are a suspect in a murder, he even began lying to Nikki over mundane matters. I think if I was a suspect, I would take some comfort from knowing that my girlfriend could help me. Rory acts differently.  

 

The mystery concerning the pregnant girls being murdered was well thought out. The main missing woman is a surrogate for a wealthy couple who are unable to have kids. When she disappears they think that something sinister must have happened to her because she was not the type of person who would just disappear. Nikki is a close friend of the couple and decides to help them out and look for the girl. Her main investigation, though, is to figure out how Becky died and why. Nikki believes that the missing surrogate is connected to all of the other missing girls as all of them were pregnant. She has alot of cases to look into in order to solve the crimes.  

This latest installment of the series was a fun read. 4 out of 5 stars.

Purple Lotus

I indulged my love of India fiction with Purple Lotus.  This beautiful book is the debut novel of Veena Rao, who was a finalist in the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award.  In addition, she was a finalist in several other book of the year awards for this novel.  Purple Lotus tells the tale of a woman's journey from a pariah in India to a free-spirited woman in the American South. 

The publisher's summary:

Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay.  Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life.   When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle  in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai.

Tara's memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband.  She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances.  Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth - a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha.

Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking.  Ultimately, Tara must face these fears to save her relationship with Cyrus - and to confront the victim shaming society she was raised within. 

This story ends with a bang.  Tara's newspaper article in the Morning Herald about her journey ends the novel. Her aunt makes an observation about her that gives us the title of the book. Aunty says that Tara has always been a shrinking violet. Tara responds that she is not a shrinking violet but rather a purple lotus. It was lovely ending to a lovely story.  Perhaps, you could say that Tara finally grew up.

It's impossible not to have empathy for this character. Tara has to endure emotional abuse from her parents and then from her husband. After several years of marriage, that abuse becomes physical. Thanks to strangers in her Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood, she finds the courage to face Sanjay and demand a divorce. Sanjay, of course, complains about this demand to her parents. Tara then receives more emotional abuse from her parents who tell her it is her job to make the marriage work. She must sacrifice her needs to her husband and eventually it will all work out. However, her American friends from the local church encourage her to leave Sanjay. Tara breaks free from her marriage but still has to consider her self-worth in order to be free.

Purple Lotus shows us that you may not come of age until you are much older than the 18 year old norm. Tara was 36 when she realized her worth.  Not every person starts out in life with all the necessary tools for a healthy existence. Some of us take longer.  The point here is that you can grow if you have the courage.

5 out of 5 stars.

2022 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

I am joining for the first time the Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge for 2022. This challenge will run from January 1, 2022 until December 31, 2022. You can join anytime. You do not have to post a review of the book. Books can come from any genre. Children’s books and novellas are acceptable but they need to be over 50 Pages. Crossovers to other challenges are allowed and encouraged! Books can be read in any order and all formats – print – e-book – audio – are acceptable for this challenge! If you post your books on Social Media please use this hashtag #AlphabetSoupChallenge.

The challenge is to read one book that has a title starting with every letter of the alphabet. You can drop the A’s and The’s from the book titles as shown below.

 

The First Main Word Needs To Be
The Letter You Are Counting 

Except For that pesky Q, X, AND Z titles then the word that starts with the challenge letter can be anywhere in the title.

So there are two different ways you can set up your own A-Z Reading Challenge.

A – Make a list on your blog from A-Z. Throughout the year, as you go along, add the books you are reading to the list. Towards the end of the year, you can check and see which letters you are missing and find books to fit.

OR

B – Make a list now of 26 books, picking one for each letter of the alphabet. 

There is also a very active group on Facebook where you can share your books read and converse with others taking part in the challenge. Alphabet Soup Challenge –  You can share your accomplishments throughout the year there. Right now they are finishing this year’s challenge but it will switch over to the new year on January 1. 

My 2022 List (all on my tbr list):

A:  The Amish Quiltmaker's Unruly In-Law by Jennifer Beckstrand

B:  Blood Runs Thicker by Sarah Hawkswood

C:  Cosmic Chemistry by John C. Lennox

D:  Double Blind by Sara Winokur

E:  Evil in Emerald by A. M. Stuart

F:  The Florentine's Secret by Jane Thornley

G:  Genetic World by Todd Easterling

H:  Honey Roasted by Cleo Coyle

I:  The Influencer by Miranda Rijks

J:  The Judge's List by John Grisham

K:  Kill for You by Trevor Negus

L:  London by Edward Rutherford

M:  Molokai by Alan Brennert

N:  A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee

O: Only You by Cathryn Grant

P:  Purple Lotus by Veena Rao

Q:  Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh

R:  Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

S:  Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali

T:  A Tapestry of Treason by Anne O'Brien

U:  Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor

V:  The Village by Caroline Mitchell

W:  Woman on the Edge by Samantha Bailey

X:  X by Sue Grafton

Y:  Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson 

Z:  Zoo by James Patterson