Wakela Runen's World

The Dollmaker by Morgan Shamy narrated by Kate Rudd Set in the 1920s, there were a few anachronisms that did take me out of the time period.  However, for the most part, I was right there in the time with the characters. The story revolves around Dawn, a single woman who wants to be a doctor.  This is something of an anomaly for that era.  Women were housewives, teachers, nannies or maids.  They did not attempt to achieve anything more than that.   Dawn's parents are wanting to marry her off to a grotesque elderly man because he is rich and Dawn's father has lost all of the family's money.  Of course, this is something that Dawn is not wanting.  In the meantime, women are going missing and parts of them are being found sew together sort of like a deranged Dr. Frankenstein's version of a porcelain doll.  It isn't until one of Dawn's friends is taken that she starts her search for the murderer.     I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I know that some people are upset

A Bean to Die For by Tara Lush narrated by Kae Marie Denino This may be the fourth book in the series, but it is the first one that I have read.  I was hooked from the beginning.  I do have to admit, I am not into coffee.  Yea, I know that isn't something to admit to.  I will drink coladas occasionally.  I just don't like regular coffee.   Now that we have that out of the way, the main protagonist is Lana who owns the Perkatory (a coffee shop in Devil's Beach, Florida).  She is to the point in her career where she is thinking about growing her own coffee beans.  Her dad gets her set up with a plot in the community garden.   Darla, the woman who runs (or should I say rules) the community garden, has a long list of rules that must be followed.  It is very easy to get thrown out.  In fact, Lana is taking over the plot of someone who was recently thrown out.  While she is there clearing out his plot, she finds his dead body.   The victim's name is Jack and at first it looks

Huggable Amigurumi by Franziska Pfoser   IG: @franzi_einfach_tierisch I am fairly new to crochet.  Well, I guess not since my mom tried to teach me back in the 80s.  However, she was a righty & I am a lefty.  So, I made a mess of things.  I gave up quickly.  I wish that I would have stuck with things though.  I was always enamored with all the wonderful things that my mom would make.  Now with all the tutorials on YouTube, I have been learning.   Since I live in South Florida, I don't want to make tons of blankets like my mom did.  I also don't want to make hats and scarves that I won't be able to use.  So, I have been trying out fun and cute patterns that will hold my interest (especially since I am an extremely slow crocheter).  This book is full of squishy, adorable cuties!!   Franzi has marked each pattern with stars to let you know how hard they are.  They range from 1 to 3 stars.  I am still sticking with a 1-star pattern.  Yes, I am still working on my first one.

Hammers and Homicide  by Paula Charles narrated by Petrea Burchard A new series by a new author and what a way to start!  After the last word of the book was spoken, I immediately wanted the next in the series.  Alas, this series is fresh off the press.  So, there will be quite a bit of waiting to go. Hammers and Homicide is the first in the Hometown Hardware mystery series.  The main character is a recently widowed woman named Dawna who owns a hardware store that she opened with her husband.   I loved that the author jumped into the story and you learned about the characters as the story progressed.  Instead of giving a detailed backstory about the main character first.  You meet many of the townsfolk and learn about their quirks and foibles.   There is a very small hint of paranormal to the story as Dawna does feel like the ghost of her deceased husband is still with her.  She feels like she smells him around her.  She talks to him regularly.  Because of this, her kids think she is g

The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale narrated by Stephanie Cannon Audiobook publication date: Feb 13, 2024 For the most part, I liked the book.  However, at times the pacing was a little too slow for me.  An audiobook this length would normally take me a day or two at max to get finished.  I kept finding myself pausing and it ended up taking me about 4 days to finish.   I loved how each chapter was started with a card from the tarot deck and its meaning.  I have loved the tarot since I was young.  The "theme" of what was happening in each chapter then revolved around the meaning of the card.   I also don't feel like there was much tension built up to the big reveal.  When it came down to it, it was just put out there.  But the story along the way was interesting enough to keep me listening.   Would I listen to another book by this author?  I am really not sure.  Like I said, the story was interesting, but I didn't find myself invested enough to want to keep readi

Deadly to the Core by Joyce Tremel narrated by Hilary Huber First, I need to fan girl about the narrator a little bit!!  I absolutely love Hilary Huber. 😍 She narrates some of my favorite series and does a fabulous job.  So, when I hit play and heard her voice I was overjoyed!  There are three narrators that I will go out of my way to look for books that they do, and Hilary is one of them.  I always know that she will do a great job with the characters.  Ok, gushing over Hilary over.   Let's get on with the review of the actual book.  This is a new to me author and I am glad that I found her.   Kate physically survived a crash that took her beloved husband away from her, but mentally she feels like she died with him.  Or at least she wishes that she did.  That is until her Uncle Stan passes away and leaves her an orchard.    She uproots her life and moves to the orchard in the hopes of starting fresh and healing from her past.  However, the orchard manager and her uncle's trus

Living the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron narrated by Eliza Foss I was so excited when I was accepted to review this book.  I had read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron ages ago when it was first published.  I had done my morning pages religiously up until I had my stroke.  Then I got frustrated.  I was so angry that words didn't come easy to me.  I struggled for even the simplest of thoughts.  So, I shut myself off from something that really would have been beneficial to me.  When you think about it, morning pages aren't about what you write, they are about just the act of writing.   Living the Artist's Way reminded me of that and then took it one step further.  In this book, Julia Cameron talks about how we can use our writing to ask our higher self (the higher being or whatever else you feel guides you) to answer questions in our writing.  These pages are done separately from our morning pages.   She takes you through 6 weeks of learning how to listen to that guid

NetGalley Reading Journal For about a year now, I kept seeing people posting pictures of their reading journals online in various groups.  They would have all these stickers and pictures in them.  They were always so cute. NetGalley has made a reading journal for all the people who do reviews of their books.  Inside there are pages for all the books in your to be read (or listened to) pile, pages to keep track of your reviews, pages to keep track of challenges that you are taking part in.  They even provided stickers that you can use. The only thing that I don't like is that I don't find it very easy to use.  They could have made it so easy since it is a PDF.  When creating PDFs, you can make them where they have fields that are easy to fill-in.  Instead, when you want to fill in the field, you have to edit the file and create a text field yourself to fill in the area.  You have to do that for each and every area.  To me, that is very tedious.   One good thing is that NetGalley

The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes Narrated by Kitty Kelly It has been ages since I have reviewed any books.  I would like to apologize for that.  I had a stroke, and it took away my ability to read regular books.  I was too proud to turn to audiobooks.  I finally did and I have been enjoying them.  I was too afraid to do reviews because I didn't feel that my words would come to me.  Maybe they will, maybe they won't.  However, this is my true feelings about this book.   It has been ages since I was pregnant.  My youngest would have been 24 this year if she would have survived.  So, to say that reading this took me back in time to when I was pregnant is to definitely say something.  The author wrote it in such a way that it brought back those memories for me.  I could remember the weight of the baby on the bladder and how it felt to walk.   The main character of the book is Alice.  She and her partner Joe have just moved to a lovely little village in England named Penton.  D