Waves of Fiction

Monday, March 23, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bookish folk to share their lists on that topic.

This week the theme is: Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List:

I'm excited for everyone of these books!

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl #6) by Matt Dinniman

Release date: 7/2/23

Whisper Creek by Allison Brennan

Release Date: 6/23/26

A Bitter Cut (A Lady Darby Mystery #14) by Anna Lee Huber

Release Date: 6/23/26

An Ordinary Sort of Evil (A Rip Through Time #5) by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: 5/19/26

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

Release Date: 5/19/26

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Release Date 5/5/26

The Final Target by Nora Roberts

Release Date: 5/26/26

The Shippers by Katherine Center

Release Date: 5/19/26

Meet Me in Italy by Brenda Novak

Release Date: 4/7/26

Five-Star Summer by Sarah Morgan

Release Date: 5/5/26

What's on your Spring 2026 TBR?

Sunday, March 22, 2026

Sunday Post #331

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

Happy Sunday!

It's been unseasonably warm, in the 80s and we've done a lot of cleaning up and planting. We took the covers off our patio furniture and have sat outside in the evenings enjoying the weather.

Out front

Camellias: Debutante

Peach tree on our normal walk

We went on another hike along the Yuba River and brought my sister and BIL. Went to lunch after and then took a nap.

South Yuba River hike

All went well with my husband's procedure, which was a relief. We have a lot going on this coming week. I have an appointment for my mammogram, work and travel.

1000 Piece Puzzle completed: London Passage by Galison

Puzzle 15 of 2026

500 Piece Puzzle completed: Disco Life by Galison

Puzzle 16 of 2026

Read:

Everybody's Favorite Guy by Katherine Center

A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn

Half City by Kate Golden-4 Stars

Everybody's Favorite Guy by Katherine Center-5 Stars

A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn-4 Stars

Received:

The Anniversay by Alex Finlay

Marion by Leah Rowan

The Final Target by Nora Roberts

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press!

How was your week?

Friday, March 20, 2026

Audiobook Review: Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief (Ernest Cunningham #4) by Benjamin Stevenson

Publication Date: March 17th 2026 by Mariner Books

Pages: 368

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 51min

Narrators: Barton Welch

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

My Thoughts:

With three solved murder cases behind him, Ernest Cunningham has officially leveled up from writing about how to craft a mystery to actually cracking them himself. Now he and Juliette are planning their wedding and trying to secure a bank loan to launch their own detective agency. But their meeting at the bank takes a sharp turn when, mid‑interview, the place is suddenly held up and everyone inside becomes a hostage.

It’s an absurd, high‑stakes setup: the thief demands just one dollar, but insists it must come from the vault. Unfortunately, the bank owner is unable to open it, his brother changed the code and then vanished. From there, the suspects pile up, motives twist in unexpected directions, and while I guessed a few things, most of the reveals were a surprise to me. And yes, like Juliette, I wanted to shake Ernest after one particularly boneheaded decision, but that’s part of his charm. He’s infuriating, endearing, and somehow always makes sense in his own Ernest‑logic way.

Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief was a lot of fun. Being inside Ernest’s clever, analytical mind is half the fun, and his dry humor is threaded through the story making for an entertaining read. The mystery is smart, layered, and full of those “ohhh, now I see it” moments I love.

I’ve listened to the whole series on audio, and Barton Welch is Ernest for me. His comedic timing is impeccable, love his Australian accent, and he shifts between characters, men, women, all ages, effortlessly. It’s a fantastic performance that enhances an already entertaining story.

4 Stars

Book Description:

Nothing is quite what it seems in this spin on the classic bank heist, with more suspects, more puzzles, and more danger than Ernest's ever faced before.

I’ve spent the last few years solving murders. But a bank heist is a new one, even for me. I’ve never been a hostage before.

The doors are chained shut. No one in or out. Which means that when someone in the bank is murdered, everyone is a suspect.

The Bank Robber

The Manager

The Security Guard

The Kid

The Film Producer

The Priest

The Receptionist

The Patient

The Caregiver

Me

Turns out, more than one person planned to rob the bank today. You can steal more from a bank than just money.

Who is stealing what? Are they willing to kill for it? And can I solve the crime before the police kick down the door and rescue us?

Monday, March 16, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Green Book Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bookish folk to share their lists on that topic.

This week the theme is: Green Book Covers

Fun fact: Green is my favorite color!

I loved everyone of these books! I've linked my review on the titles.

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

A Judgement of Powers by Benedict Jacka

Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay

The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Off the Map by Trish Doller

Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong

Death in Kew Gardens by Jennifer Ashley

Someone to Honor by Mary Balogh

Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong

Have you read any of these books? What is your favorite color?

Review: You Did Nothing Wrong by C.G. Andrews

You Did Nothing Wrong by C.G. Drews

Publication Date: March 17th 2026 by Macmillan Audio & St. Martin's Press

Pages: 304

Audio Book Length: 8hrs 50min

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★½

My Thoughts:

Twenty-two-year-old Elodie has a whirlwind romance, gets married, moves from Australia to the US with her new husband and six-year-old autistic son, Jude. Her husband, Bren, is ecstatic and they're so in love. However, her son Jude is afraid there's something lurking in the walls of Bren's family home. A home Bren has painstakingly been restoring for their family.

Elodie was a mother stretched to her limits, worried that her son's condition would come out to her new husband. I have to say her actions were frustrating to me. Her son obviously needed more help and accommodation and Elodie wouldn’t acknowledge that or accept the help offered. I wasn't a big fan of Elodie.

I wasn’t sure what was going on. Was Jude imagining things? Was Elodie having a mental break or was there a paranormal force at work? I suspected what happened in Elodie’s past, which was slowly revealed as the story flashes back to past events. Bren was a sweetheart, but I wondered if we didn’t have the full story with him either.

You Did Nothing Wrong was a story I couldn’t stop reading/listening to, but I was not thrilled with how it all turned out, but my reactions to the ending of horror stories are mixed. (Highlight for spoiler) I think my biggest disappointment was with who survived. I wished it was the other way around. Better yet, why not work it out and survive together as an unhinged happy little family?(End of spoiler) I get why Elodie was the way she was and why she did what she did, but I didn’t get her actions after everything was revealed.

I alternately read and listened to an audio copy. Saskia Maarleveld did a wonderful job with all character voices, male and female in a variety of ages and accents.

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

A relentless, horror-inducing psychological suspense for fans of The Push and Baby Teeth by New York Times bestselling author CG Drews.

Single mother Elodie’s life has become a fairy tale. She’s met Bren, equal parts golden-retriever devoted and sinfully handsome. He’s whisked her and her autistic son, Jude, to the crumbling family house he’s renovating. She has a new husband, a new house, and a new baby on the way. Everything is perfect.

Then Jude claims he can hear voices in the walls. He says their renovations are “hurting” the house. Even Elodie can’t ignore it–something strange is going on. The question is, is it with the house, or with her son?

Then the one secret Elodie has been hiding is revealed, and no one is safe anymore.

A pulse-pounding, clever take on the haunted house novel, You Did Nothing Wrong examines the complexities of motherhood and the twisted bonds of family as it races to its shocking ending.

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Sunday Post #330

Happy Sunday!

We've had nice weather here with highs in the low 70s. My husband and I worked a bunch in the garden. A lot of clean up raking leaves and pulling weeds. We planted tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, Anaheim chilies, zucchini, summer squash. Some plants and some seeds. I had already planted radishes, spinach, green onions and carrots which survived the snow we had a few weeks ago.

View from the front

Radishes, Spinach, Carrots & Green Onions

Primrose

My mother-in-law fell and broke her shoulder so we may end up traveling there to help, but my husband has a medical procedure on Monday that we have to get through first.

The Closer, with Kyra Sedgewick, came out on Netfix. I watched the series when it came out back in 2005 and enjoyed it. It's still really good all these years later!