Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Tours for the chance to read and review Campfires and Corpses .   Campfires & Corpses: A Maine Campground Cozy Mystery by Nikki Weber About Campfires & Corpses Campfires & Corpses: A Maine Campground Cozy Mystery Cozy Mystery/ Cozy Animal Mystery 1st in Series Setting – Maine Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (February 24, 2025) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 282 pages ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8311619622 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DS6KRK16 When the campground becomes the scene of the crime, will Noelle’s peaceful summer go up in flames? Down on her luck event planner Noelle Cooper is returning to rural Maine to do the one thing she swore she would never do: run her family’s campground. But it’s only for the summer, and the timing couldn’t be better–she’s lost her job and has nowhere to live. She hopes that a change of scenery will be the thing she needs to regroup and reinvent herself. But Noelle’s plans go up in smoke on h...

I found Matt Haig's The Comfort Book in the library listings while looking for his fiction, and decided that in these times, a book with that title was worth a closer look.    Title : The Comfort Book Author: Matt Haig. Read by the author Publication Info :  Penguin Random House 2021. 3 hours. Hardcover by Penguin Life, 2021, 272 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads) : “It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learnt while we are at our lowest. But then we never think about food more than when we are hungry and we never think about life rafts more than when we are thrown overboard.” The Comfort Book is Haig’s life raft: it’s a collection of notes, lists, and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as gentle reminders to Haig’s future self that things are not always as dark as they may seem. Incorporating a diverse array of sources from across the world, history, scienc...

I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  I'm pretty sure I learned about this book from one of my fellow MMGM bloggers--they've been tipping me off to the best books lately.   Title: The Secret of Honeycake Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco Publication Info : Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2025. 363 pages. Source: Library Blurb (from Goodreads) : Hurricane is quiet while her Aunt Clare is a force of nature with very particular ideas--and a host of Latin sayings to back them up. When Hurricane gets stuck living with her, she retreats into herself...until a series of unexpected friends, including a mangy cat, help her find her voice in a whole new way. With a name like Hurricane, you'd think this girl would take the world by storm. But instead, she's almost invisible. And when her sister gets tuberculos...

Big thanks to the author and to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the chance to review this Hawaiian mystery, and extra thanks to the author for a great interview. I reviewed the first in the series a year ago.     Waters of Destruction (An Orchid Isle Mystery) Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series Setting – Hawaii Publisher ‏ : ‎ Severn House; Main edition (April 1, 2025) Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1448312183 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1448312184 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DKXTRTX5 Retired caterer Valerie Corbin investigates a suspicious drowning in this Orchid Isle cozy culinary mystery, featuring a feisty queer couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions in tropical Hilo, Hawai‘i After a vacation of a lifetime in Hilo, Hawai‘i, retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have decided to move permanently to the beautiful – if storm-prone – Big Island. The couple are having fun furnishing their new house, exploring their new neighborhood and playi...

In my on-going quest to learn more about Iceland before I travel there in the fall, I picked out Hjorleifur Helgi Stafansson's collection of Icelandic Folk Tales as a follow-on to the biography of Thurídur Einarsdóttir . It made a nice complement, as some of the tales and their settings resonated nicely with the history I learned from the first book.   Title: Icelandic Folk Tales Author: Hjorleifur Helgi Stefansson Publication Info: History Press, 2020. 192 pages. Source: Library (Libby)  Publisher's Blurb: Iceland is a land where stories are as important as history. When Vikings settled the island they brought their tales with them. Every rock, hot spring and waterfall seems to have its own tale: cruel man-eating trolls rub shoulders with beautiful elves whose homes are hidden from mortal view, whilst vengeful ghosts envy the living, seeking to drag lost loves into their graves. Many of the stories in this collection are classic Icelandic tales, while others are comp...

I'm heading to Iceland later this year, so my reading has begun to include books of Icelandic history and legends, as well as guide books. This book caught my eye because it is the story of a remarkable woman, and also tells us a lot about the culture of the time.  Title: Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain Author: Margaret Willson Publication Info: Sourcebooks, 2023, 420 pages Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: A notorious crime, a lone woman fighting for equality, and the thrills of the wide-open sea A daring and magnificent account of Iceland's most famous female sea captain who constantly fought for women's rights and equality—and who also solved one of the country's most notorious robberies. Many people may have heard the old sailing superstition that having women onboard a ship was bad luck. Thus, the sea remains in popular knowledge a male realm. When we think of examples of daring sea captains, swa...

Another of the books I've found browsing around the library catalog (I love those "similar books" lists!),  this was an interesting companion to Journeys North, which I reviewed last week . Title: The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind--and Almost Found Myself--On the Pacific Crest Trail Author : Dan White Publication Info : Harper-Collins, 2008. 427 pages, Kindle Edition Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: When Dan White and his girlfriend Melissa [note: her name, per the books, is Allison] set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada through boiling desert and snowcapped mountain passes, his parents wondered how two people who had never shared an apartment could survive in a tent in the desert. But when Dan and Melissa, dubbed “The Lois and Clark Expedition” by a fellow hiker, quit their doldrum jobs to set out into the wilderness, the hardships of the trail provided these addled adventurers with a crystalline view of the Ame...

I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there--like the one I'm reviewing today.   Title: The Long Way Around Author: Anne Nesbet Publication Info: Candlewick Press, 2024. 185 pages (Kindle edition) Source:   Library Publisher's Blurb:* During a hiking trip with their parents in the mountains of California, cousins Owen, Vivian, and Amy are finally allowed to camp for one night at a little lake all on their own. But when a massive earthquake blocks their return path, there’s only one way: the long way around, through a wilderness filled with fierce animals, raging rivers, unstable weather, and high passes. The hardest challenges the cousins face, however, are the troubles they’ve brought with them: bold Vivian’s fear of starting middle school and of changes she c...

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this fun cozy! A  Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series) by Lesley A Diehl About A Basket Case       A Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series)   Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series   Setting - Upstate New York   Publisher ‏ : ‎ Camel Press (November 12, 2024) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages   ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684922208 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684922208 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D4MWFWSP   Maddie Sparks believes she has found the perfect balance in her life--Zack, the man she loves, a book she loves writing and volunteer work at a local museum with a granddaughter she adores. An old flame from Zack's past arrives and drives a wedge into Maddie and Zack's romance, her writing stalls and someone murders the museum's director just as the museum is about to return a collection of Native American artifacts to the Onondaga and Oneida nations. Standing over the dead body o...