Do you have a friend, a spouse or a parent that loves to read? These are my top picks for the book lover in your life. The Gibson Vaughn Series by Matthew Fitzsimmons is a thrilling mystery with interesting characters with military expertise and strategy. Now a four book series, get the book worm the first book in the series, The Short Drop, to get them hooked or gift all four, so, they can binge read over the holidays. Books in the series in order: The Short Drop, Poison

My oldest is now 3, and I look for books that introduce topics that I know he will learn more about in the future. The goal is to get him familiar with the words, ideas, or images associated with these essential subjects. Solar System by Jill McDonald fits this category. Eli can not read on his own yet, but he quickly memorizes the stories he loves from listening to us read to him. He now can identify each planet and even share the fact about each one described in this fu

Body Movers is a fun series of sexy murder mysteries.  How can this be?  Well, the main character, Carlotta Wren, finds herself in the middle of crime scenes and is entangled with Detective Jack Terry, as well as, her former fiancé Peter Ashford, and former medical examiner turned body mover, Dr. Cooper Craft.  Carlotta has been living with the consequences of her parents skipping town a decade earlier, and is scraping by as a sales associate at Neiman Marcus, and decides to

The Martian by Andy Weir is the story of a castaway on Mars. Astronaut Mark Watney finds himself alone and has to use his knowledge and skills as a botanist and engineer to survive. Watney is funny and clever. The story follows him as he problem solves his way through one obstacle after another with humor and cunning. The author does an excellent job of immersing the reader into a world with astronautical knowledge and problems while still being entertaining and gripping.

Another one of our favorite books for little ones is Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry. This book, like Busy Week, also has a great rhythm when reading. The illustrations are beautiful. Our three year old enjoys the story so much, he has it memorized. He also loves telling us what each of the animals are. He exclaims "Uh oh!" when the dump truck and Blue get stuck. This comes as a board book which is always much appreciated, so, it is

We read a lot with our son, Eli, who is now three. So, we have come across some great books, some alright books, and of course a lot of duds. So, I want to share our favorites here one at a time. First up, Busy Builders, Busy Week! by Jean Reidy and illustrated by Leo Timmers is a winner for several reasons. 1.) It's a board book which is always good, because kids are destructive and have an easier time turning these sturdy pages 2.) It has great rhythm when you are re