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Relatable - A centuries-old ghost taking her new friend out on a dark walk to meet her tree friends (plus a harbinger of doom nbd). Just bff things. 💕

Yesterday afternoon was a wall cloud; but as they might say in England, a bit of a lie-in today with close-knit dreams really helped this morning. That and a good book to read? A tried and true recipe for clearing the cobwebs.

Finally Mr Cat is back (I understand that's what they do best). And young Julian wanting to throw him a party ;;

Also Meena and Jenny's friendship is so lovely. The kind where friends become family. Keeping each other safe and opening new worlds for each other. And Future Meena somewhere off-page, but ever-present, encouraging Jenny to write her story. My heart. I love them.

(too sleepy to summarize. Just gotta burrow below my ten fathoms of blankets.)

(it's good so far)

Forty pages in and we're finally in England. Magic and myth are juuust starting to blur the hard edges of reality we started with in New York. Slow beginning, but effective framing and transition. Jenny feels real and messy in a way a lot of heroines don't. Mr. Cat should be with his girl, out chasing crows and harassing pigs on the farm and whatever else they'll get up to... (solving cold cases??)

Jenny's got some anger issues, sure, but I, too, would be furious if someone forced me to quarantine my cat for 6 months. I get it, kid.

"They linked arms and left the villa--and all of its memories--behind them." <3 <3 <3

**spoilerish**
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The back-and-forth examination of these malicious letters has me more suspicious than ever that this is all an elaborate hoax set up by the victim *squints* Then again, I'm also entertaining the idea of Miami underworld ties. Orrr the possibility that there's a total stranger hiding on the island... (I'm not trying terribly hard to solve it. I'm just speculating. Just here for the ride.)

"...traces of North American potting soil are present." Herman out here diagnosing dirt, meanwhile is anyone still concerned about the state of the body?? I just can't help thinking that if they leave him for too long in the Florida climate, some pretty gnarly things are gonna happen. (ALTHOUGH I also can't help but wonder if Declan is actually as dead... or if this tableau is part of his career revival).

You'd think with a-little-more-than 12 hour trip I'd have found the chance to finish this book sometime during that stretch. Travel nerves got the best of me, but looking forward to burrowing back in sometime this weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed for an appropriately silly big finish.

A weekend of soft, steady rain and a chill in the air. The damp, earthy scent of fall? That too. Perfect weekend for getting lost in crafts and chores and, of course, more murder mystery antics. Things are getting weirder and more chaotic, which was exactly what I was hoping for from this book. So content to curl up with this one and come along for the ride <3 <3 <3

"Where are they now?" Rose said.
"In my underwear," Dorothy confessed.

I'm crying lol this is the best. Leave it to the Golden Girls to put a stupid (and much needed) smile on my face through sheer silliness.

A fun thing about this series is the limited tech--power goes out, phone lines go down, ship washes away? It matters; they're in the dark. No cell phones, no fridge, no way to signal the mainland. I mean, that's the world I grew up in, but it's wild how much has changed so quickly. Cell service (heck, a digital camera alone) would change this story entirely. Imagine!

*mild spoiler*
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"You brought a book to a dance club?!"

This line is particularly funny to me, the person who, fresh out of college, once brought a tome of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to a bowling alley because I thought it was important to socialize with some new work colleagues, but I didn't really want to be there, and I didn't really want to bowl *facepalm*

The shenanigans are shenaning again. Do they ever do anything else, really? I love this book for not spoiling anything about book 1 as I read them simultaneously. I can immerse, just waiting to see what weird situation will unfold next. There's a bittersweet quality to Blanch's storyline so far that has me feeling some kind of way... I need people to give her more credit. But I guess that's true for all of them.

A slow-paced weekend here that somehow went by fast. The pace (and the shenanigans) have picked up for our amateur sleuths as well. I feel for Rose after recent developments. She's trying to rescue her friend, a wedding, an inheritance, and her own dignity... and no one's making it easy for her. If only she had a cozy, comfort-read like this book to curl up with.

There too is a mystery in my neighborhood. A gray morning; a soft and steady rain. I had the window open to listen.

While on a work call the power flickered, followed a split second later by a concussive explosion. Like a lightning strike right on top of us. Only there was no storm.

Power stayed on here--but everyone across the street from us has gone dark.

We're living the murder mystery mood here.

Like our heroes, there too is a mystery in my neighborhood. A grey morning, a soft and steady rain While on a work call this morning the power flickered

Once again I've hit the goal too soon. *sigh* I'm hoping these shenanigans will unravel into truly Shakespearean levels of misunderstanding. Also hoping for a lavish wedding scene that goes completely sideways (but not so much that it can't be salvaged later). So far the gals have not let me down.

Thoreau is way snarkier than I gave him credit for.

Storms, power outages, strange sounds in an old house at night?? Something sinister is afoot.

Also? Being stranded without an overnight bag is the real terror here, okay? Good thing Blanche, at least, thought ahead. Nice of Declan to share his pajamas. ... How many pairs of pajamas does he own anyway? Is this just a me thing? Does everyone just have, like, 10 sets of jammies on hand?

Inquiring minds.

*possible spoilers?* Rose blaming Dorothy for these shenanigans feels so unfair. Dorothy was trying to make a connection, and there was literally no way she could have anticipated what would happen. Sure, she may have relied on the 80s equivalent of Tinder, but still! Give her a break.

Right now I'm rooting for the bride and groom to give everyone the middle finger and just go to the courthouse.

I've recently discovered a little trick. When I'm lacking motivation to complete a task, I tell my brain, "Hey, I need some dopamine, please." Weirdly, it tends to work *shrugs*

But no motivation needed for sneaking behind the back of book one with book two of this series, though. More 80s nostalgia that genuinely captures the characters and feels like burrowing into a cozy time capsule. I'm enjoying it.

Having reached the reading goal way too early, I might need to start another one of these to tide me over until I can continue with this one...

*spoilers* The sheer number of times Néstor gets distracted by Nena wearing his clothes lol

Started this audiobook a few months ago on vacay. Enjoying the immersion in historic Mexico, but the vampires aren't particularly scary and I'm longing for a twist to the typical romance beats (friends to enemies to lovers). Good character dev, but maybe the last few books left me missing more queer rep idk

Having grown up watching the TV series, listening to this audiobook is like falling headfirst into an old CRT television. The attention to little scene-setting details that bring you into 1980s Miami is perfection. Chunky VHS tapes for modern dating? Little lizards skittering across the lanai? Signature 80s perfumes and shampoos? Amazing. The audiobook reader is nailing the voices, too. Total comfort read.

"Tova never liked shaking hands, well, not with people, anyway. Octopuses are another story."

It's an odd thing to have the Happy Days song playing on loop in the back of your mind while events and character arcs are just beginning to coalesce. Not *entirely* offbeat of the narrative, especially when it comes to Avery and Cameron's paddleboarding date, but slightly dissonant with the overall tone of the narrative, which is more poignant and has softened into beautifully-imagined emotional complexity.