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Hello friends! In another month, it will be a year since I was sent home from the university to work from home. At the time, they were saying 2-3 weeks. In my mind, I was thinking 1-2 months. I rigged a watering system for my plants and left most of my personal items there, only taking my work computer and the important paper files I knew I would need.

A month later I went back to the building for my plants and some other items. The trash had not been emptied anywhere and the campus was a ghost town. At that moment I knew I would be gone for some time. Here we are, almost a year later. Unbelievable.

Hasn’t the year gone by fairly quickly though? Time is funny that way, isn’t it? As most of you do, I busy myself with work during the day and then it’s cooking, so much darn cooking it seems, and then I surround myself with all the books I can to escape from reality. Okay, sometimes I read about pandemics but reading about the hardships of others is not the same as living through your own. Am I right?

Right now, I am enjoying Klara and the Sun which comes out March 2. I should be done with it today and the review will post next week.

Klara and the Sun

Last weekend we made a rare trip to another city so I could visit one of my favorite bookstores. I found this gem in the Valentine’s Day gift section. This is the kind of humor my husband and I share. He told me to take a pic and to post it on social media. He thought it was so funny and I think it is too.

Valentine’s Day is coming up so why not surprise your loved one with this sweet sentiment?

Tea Towel

Is anyone watching the Super Bowl this weekend? I am not a fan of either team. I was hoping the Packers would be in it but alas, it wasn’t to be. Now that I am vegetarian I am stumped on what snacks to make. I could make a meal out of seven layer dip and good tortilla chips. Perhaps, I will.

Tell me how you are doing and what’s new. How are your sweet pets doing? Mine is in love with me more and more every day but then she will turn a corner and be totally sick of me! She has perfected her canine side eye. She surely did not get that from me!

The Wife Upstairs
By Rachel Hawkins
St. Martin’s Press, 9781250245496, January 5, 2021, 304pp.

*No Spoilers*

The Short of It:

This is the perfect read for now. Quick, impossible to put down and some twists for good measure.

The Rest of It:

Jane’s life has been less than luxurious. As a product of the foster care system, she is skeptical, guarded and envious of those who have it easier. Scraping pennies to get by and forced to live with a roommate she truly cannot stand, she finds a job walking dogs in a ritzy neighborhood. Jane is not much of an animal lover but she is fascinated by the McMansions in this community and the people who live in them. The women, all rich and well-taken care of, have no idea what it’s like to not make the rent. Jane wonders what it would be like to be one of them.

Jane’s fascination with these women leads her to Eddie who is recently widowed. His wife Bea went missing in a boating accident with her best friend Blanche. Bea was eventually declared dead even though they never found her body because in order for Eddie to take over her home decor business her death had to be legally noted. Eddie lives alone in his big, beautiful house but when he sees Jane walking the neighbor’s dog there is a little spark. A spark that prompts him to get his own dog so that Jane can walk his dog too. The two find an instant connection but Jane senses something more there.

Eddie’s wife has only been gone for a short while and since many of the ladies in the neighborhood were good friends with Bea and Blanche, they can’t help but be skeptical over this new, young woman in Eddie’s life but Jane is determined to be one of them and when Eddie provides free use of his credit card, she begins to find her way in.

It all sounds very superficial but it’s superficial in the way those rich housewives shows are. Juicy and full of gossipy goodness. Jane is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but as the story unfolds, you quickly begin to realize that something much darker is at play and it’s good, very good. I picked this book up and didn’t put it down until I turned the last page.

It’s being called a modern retelling of Jane Eyre which I find interesting. I didn’t see it as that myself but it was juicy and twisty in all the right places and perfect for my mood. Very entertaining.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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