Hey there, avid readers! Did you know that today is Gene Roddenberry’s birthday? The man who created Star Trek. This was my sons’ original due date when I was pregnant, but he was five days early. God, time flies. My son Dante is four years old now! I’m treasuring every moment of it. In other news, I did finish writing my book. Super proud of myself for that, and I started the next and final one in the series. It’s a quartet. Setting timers for myself really helps me focus when I work and read.

Anywho, check out my latest reading list, a list of reviews to come. And, as always, happy reading!

1. Drawing Outside the Lines

by Susan Austin

Meet the brilliant, fearless, and ambitious Julia Morgan. In 1883, eleven-year-old Julia visits the amazing new Brooklyn Bridge—an experience that ignites within her a small but persistent flame. Someday, she decides, she too will build an astounding structure.

Growing up in horse-and-buggy Oakland, Julia enjoys daring fence walks, climbing the tallest trees, and constantly testing her mother’s patience with her lack of interest in domestic duties and social events. At a time when “brainy” girls are the object of ridicule, Julia excels in school and consistently outsmarts her ornery brothers—but she has an even greater battle ahead. When she enrolls at university to study engineering, the male students taunt her, and the professors belittle her. Through it all, however, Julia holds on to her dream of becoming an architect. She faces each challenge head-on, firmly standing up to those who believe a woman’s place is in the home. Fortunately, the world has yet to meet anyone like the indomitable Miss Morgan.

Drawing Outside the Lines is an imagined childhood of pioneering architect Julia Morgan, who left behind her an extraordinary legacy of creativity, beauty, and engineering marvels.

2. Fall of the School for Good and Evil

by Soman Chainani

What rises . . . must fall.
Two brothers
One Good.
One Evil.

In exchange for power and immortality, they watch over the Endless Woods and rule the School for Good and Evil. Yet all School Masters must face a test. Theirs is loyalty. But what happens when loyalty is corrupted? When the bonds of blood are broken? Who will survive? Who will die? And what will become of the school and its students? The journey that started a hundred years ago throttles towards its end. This final chapter in the duology that began with the RISE OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL brings the tale of the twin School Masters to the brink of war and a shocking conclusion that will change the course of the school forever. 

3. The Chamber

by Christopher Hawke

When Detective Jacob Sterling is called to investigate a heinous murder at Traverse City Mental Hospital, nothing is as it seems.

Not only are the renowned Doctor Elliot Turner and his staff less than cooperative, but they’re hiding a secret even more sinister than the crime.

Sterling’s departed wife having been committed there only adds to the mystery as he uncovers a reality beyond imagination.