🎉 Happy New Year! 🎉

I hope everyone survived the Christmas chaos. Sorry if I sound like a humbug, but Xmas was stressful for me—the ice maker supply line busted on Christmas night. Besides staining the basement ceiling tile, no other damage was done. The supply line is turned off, and I'll use ice trays in the freezer until a new line gets installed. There are other things I'm overly stressed about, but won't go into details here.

What Am I Reading?

Once again . . . my reading plans did not go as planned. I placed a bookmark inside Defense Protocol this morning, so that'll be the next read.

Song of the Week

Recently Reviewed

Books

Christmas in Bethel

★★½✰✰

Clive Cussler's Desolation Code

★★★★★

What's in the Mailbox?

I don't recall the day, but last week I received a copy of Dawn to Dusk by Ellis K. Popa. I had reviewed the first book via a book tour but declined to participate in the sequel's tour because of a lack of time, etc. Nevertheless, the author or publisher sent me a copy, probably hoping I would review it.

UPDATE: I did sign up for the Dawn to Dusk book tour. I really should write things down because apparently, I cannot remember things.

Why is Hamilton Books faster at shipping than Amazon during the holiday season? I'm still waiting on an Amazon package from Dec. 13th, but my Hamiltion Books order arrived within a few days. The books are Hell for Breakfast and The Shotgun Wedding by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, and Rebecca—the audio script adapted from the original film screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison (and directed by Alfred Hitchcock) that itself was an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's novel.

I received a few bookish things for Christmas: The Party by Natasha Preston, a 2016 Sterling Books Edition of Star Trek: The Classic Episodes, An Unfinished Murder by Jude Deveraux, and a Fire Max 11 tablet with keyboard—it has a Kindle app.

What's New on the Bookshelf?

I was in the city on Friday and stopped by Half Price Books. There was a 20% off sale, and I bought several books, of which a few were already on clearance. The titles are: Luke Jensen, Bounty Hunter: Dead Shot, Bloodshed of Eagles, The Last Gunfighter: Sudden Fury, and Last Gunfighter: Montana Gundown by William J. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone; Golden Buddha, The Chase, Trojan Odyssey, and Corsair by Clive Cussler; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds II and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds IV edited by Dean Wesley Smith with John J. Ordover and Paula M. Block; Star Trek: The Klingon Gambit by Robert E. Vardeman, Star Trek: Chain of Attack by Gene DeWeese, Star Trek: Stargazer: Enigma by Michael Jan Friedman, and Star Trek: The Lost Era: The Sundered by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels, and Babylon 5: In the Beginning by Peter David.

Note to self: Never go to Walmart two days after Christmas. It was a madhouse—in vain to the old Black Friday sales—my anxiety went through the roof. I was surprised the book section was even stocked, let alone have a new release on the shelves. I picked up Clive Cussler's The Heist by Jack Du Brul.