Friday 5ive- August 8, 2025

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featurng five things that caught my attention this week.

The weekend was so beautiful, perfect weather to sit on my balcony and catch up on my reading.

1) We went to see Just in Time, a Broadway show about legendary 50s and 60s singer/songwriter Bobby Darin. The show is fantastic, with the staging as a nightclub setting. (Darin performed a great deal in clubs like the Copacabana. My companions didn't know anything about Bobby Darin and they loved the show. I knew a little about him, but I didn't realize that Connie Francis (who recently passed away) was his first love. Jonathan Groff gave an astonishing performance as Darin, winning a Tony nomination for it. If you're in NYC, I highly recommend going to see Just in Time. 

2) You see a lot of interesting things walking around the city, but I've never seen anything quite like the sight of an ad for a handyman. On top of his little car. On top of a gigantic box where I guess he keeps his tools? 

3) I like to try new items at Trader Joe's and this week it was Dark Chocolate Covered Cashews (with a  hidden layer of sweet caramel confectionary coating). Need I say more? They are delicious!

4) I binge-watched the sitcom Leanne on Neflix. It's a throwback to the traditional network TV sitcoms starring standup comic Leanne Morgan, with Kristen Johnston as her sister. Leanne portrays a woman married for 30+ years when her husband leaves her for another woman. It's very Southern and funny (if you've seen Leanne's comedy act you'll get it.) Leanne has to deal with her ex-husband, wild child daughter (who's almost 30), a son who is the light of her life, a beautiful grandbaby, nosy neighbor, and her elderly parents. The chemistry between Leanne and Kristen is perfection, and Tim Daly as Leanne's FBI agent love interest is terrific. There's  16 episodes and I hope we see season two. 

5) I read Beck Dorey-Stein's fantastic new novel Spectacular Things in one day this week (on my balcony). It's about two sisters, one of whom, Cricket, is on her way to becoming an Olympic soccer star. Older sister Mia has sacrificed much to help her talented sister realize her dreams. When Mia has a serious situation arise where she needs Cricket to make a choice that could put her career in jeopardy, the sisters face a crossroads in their relationship.

I devoured this story of sisters, it hooked me from the very beginning. We see the challenges their single mom faced to give them a good life, as well as the blessings and curses of being a star athlete with so much potential. 

The writing and characters draw you in, and if you are a soccer fan you will love this story even more. I'm always intrigued by athletes who perform at a high level, particularly if they begin as young children. Even though I don't follow soccer, I was captivated by that storyline.

Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Carrie Soto Is Back will want to read Spectacular Things. It was a Reeses' Book Club pick.

Have a safe and healthy week- until next time.

The Cover Girl by Amy Rossi

The Cover Girl by Amy Rossi

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778368267

Hardcover, $28.99, 336 pages

From the publisher:

Find them early enough, and they will always be her girls.

Birdie Rhodes was only thirteen when legendary modeling agent Harriet Goldman discovered her in a department store and transformed her into one of Harriet’s Girls. What followed felt like the start of something incredible, a chance for shy Birdie to express herself in front of the camera. But two years later, she meets a thirty-one-year-old rock star, and her teenage heart falls hard as he leads her into a new life, despite Harriet's warnings. Then, as abruptly as it began, it’s over, like a lipstick-smeared fever dream. Birdie tries hard to forget that time—starting over in Paris, in the dying embers of the LA punk scene, in Boston at the height of the AIDS crisis. She’s not that person anymore. At least, that’s what she’s been telling herself.

Decades later, Birdie lives a quiet life. She works modest gigs, takes Pilates and mostly keeps to herself. Maybe it’s not the glamor she once envisioned, but it’s peaceful. Comfortable. Then a letter arrives, inviting Birdie to celebrate Harriet’s fifty-year career. Except Birdie hasn’t spoken to her in nearly thirty years—with good reason.

Almost famous, almost destroyed, Birdie can only make her own future if she reckons with her past—the fame, the trauma, the opportunities she gave up for a man who brought her into a life she wasn't ready for. Just like she’s not ready now. But the painful truth waits for nobody. Not even Birdie Rhodes.

For fans of My Dark Vanessa and Taylor Jenkins Reid, this striking debut novel explores the dizzying fallout of being seen and not heard in a high-stakes industry that leaves no silhouette unscathed.

My thoughts:

At first glance, I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book, the modeling industry doesn't particularly intrigue me, but I was immediately captured by Birdie's story. Birdie was just a young teenager when her parents, who seemed not very interested in their own daughter, willingly allowed her to travel on a world tour with the much older rock star, even agreeing to give him what they thought was temporary guardianship of Birdie.

Birdie and the rock star are inseparable, and even though her mentor Harriet tries to move her away from this relationship and back towards her career, it's no use. Birdie is devastated when the rock star dumps her, as the life span of that relationship was doomed from the beginning.

Watching Birdie spiral is so awful; she has no support as she hasn't seen her parents in years and Harriet's past efforts to help Birdie were rebuffed. Thank goodness Birdie has a friend in Bernice, a fellow young model. As Bernice's star rises, Birdie's flames out.

This is a strong debut novel, Amy Rossi has created a memorable character in Birdie. The reader is so invested in her life, pulling for Birdie to get her life back on track even though the adults in her life failed her. I highly recommend The Cover Girl.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting on their Summer 2025 Blog Tours.

Friday 5ive- a Trip to Watkins Glen

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

We made a trip to Watkins Glen, home to the famous Watkins Glen International Raceway. 

1)  While two of our group drove their cars on the raceway, two of us walked around the town of Watkins Glen. There are many cute second hand stores, filled with nostalgic items. One store had bookcases filled with minature salt and pepper shakers, many of them holiday-themed.  The Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein ones caught my eye in particular.

2)  I got to visit my good friend Kelly who lives close by. It was so great to have a glass of Finger Lakes wine and catch up. 

3)  I grew up in the Finger Lakes and there are some items that I just can't find in NYC grocery stores so a trip to the local Tops Supermarket scored some key items. I got salt potatoes (why doesn't Wegmans sell them in their NYC stores?), Dinosaur Barbeque Sauce (hard to find in NYC for some reason) and Gianelli sweet sausage patties. (I have looked all over for sweet sausage patties to no avail- hot sausage yes, sweet, no.) While there, a customer told us to stop at a little place called Art & Nancy's for the best sandwiches in town. We picked up turkey subs to bring to the guys at the track and they were so good, we went back the next day again for lunch. If you ever go to Watkins Glen, stop into Art & Nancy's.

4) One night we had dinner at Nickel's Pit BBQ for delicious Carolina barbeque sandwiches. As I am fan of Prince's music (the best concert I ever saw was Prince at the Carrier Dome), I tried the Little Red Corvette, made with vodka, pineapple juice, vanilla, coconut, and cherry. I enjoyed it, but I was in the minority in our group in that opinion. 

Little Red Corvette

5) Our hotel (Glen Harbor Hotel) was located right on the shores of Seneca Lake, and every evening we had this beautiful view. 

Have a wonderful and safe week- until next week.

Friday 5ive- July 25, 2025

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. It was a glorious weekend in New York City last week and I was able to spend much of it on my apartment balcony overlooking the East River reading good books. By luck, I chose several short books and was able to read one each day.

1) One of the best things about volunteering at the Book Cellar is that I get to meet authors. One of our frequent customers brought in his friend Ed A. Murray who wrote a novel titled Autumn in Wolf Valley. The description enticed me to read it and I'm glad I did.

Howard lives in Autumn Valley in Pennsylvania, and he has been bereft since his wife Amber died last year. He only has a dog named Coby for company, and an occasional drop by from his neighbor. When a storm approaches that leads to dangerous flooding, Howard refuses to leave his home for a shelter because he would have to leave Coby behind.

The story goes back in time as we relive Howard and Amber's love story, their marriage, the challenges that we all face in life. Love stories written by men are not all that common, and this one is wonderful.

The scenes of the flooding are realistic and frightening, especially given that so many people have been experiencing this recently all around the country. There is a secret revealed at the end of the story that I did not see coming, and it makes this a good book for book clubs to read. The discussion regarding that secret would be fascinating. I recommend Autumn in Wolf Valley. 

Ed A. Murray

2) Linda Dahl's novel Tiny Vices is a sibling story that draws comparisons to Anne Tyler and Jojo Moyes' books. Four middle-aged siblings are dealing with their own crises-and those of their siblings. Kathy is the oldest and the one who seems to take on responsibilities of others. Corina has early-onset Alzheimer's and Kathy decides that a family vacation needs to be taken now before it's too late.

Brother Pete has a lot of medical issues as well, many of them self-inflicted from years of drug and alcohol abuse. Youngest daughter Becca and her husband are struggling with financial troubles and their own son's addiction that caused them heartache.

The only place they can all travel is to a beach town in Mexico where years ago something awful happened to Kathy on spring break, something she has never told anyone. 

It's a road trip that also includes Kathy and Becca's husbands and Corina's caregiver and things get off to a difficult start and don't get better.

I raced through this story as I love a good family story, and Tiny Vices is surely one. The characters are vivid, and Kathy describes one thusly: "She knew him so well. Knew he was wearing his life like a musty old coat. And suspected that he wanted a new one." I highly recommend Tiny Vices to anyone who likes family stories. 

3) Katie Yee's new novel Maggie; Or A Man and A Woman Walk Into A Bar has been getting  a lot of buzz lately. Our unnamed narrator is at a restaurant when her husband tells her that he has fallen in love with a woman named Maggie. She goes to the buffet and fills up on samosas. They have two young children who prefer their father's entertaining bedtime stories to hers and now he wants out.

She feels a lump in her breast and discovers she has cancer (she names the lump Maggie). She turns to her best friend Darlene for support, and writes "The Guide to My Husband:  A User's Manual" for Maggie, alerting Maggie to her husband's many quirks. She eventually agrees to meet Maggie, resulting in an awkward scene at yet another restaurant. 

She turns to Chinese myths of her childhood to create bedtime stories for her children so they can better understand her culture- and theirs.  The novel is by turns funny and insightful. Katie Yee has drawn comparisons to Jenny Offill and Nora Ephron with her fantastic debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future. 

4) I first remembered Merrill Markoe as the head writer for David Letterman's Late Night with David Letterman. She was also in a romantic relationship with Letterman for years. In her collection of humorous essays Cool Calm and Contentious, she recounts in one essay her relationship with an unnamed talk show and how she learned that he had been cheating on her with young staff members. As someone who remembered this scandal, I found how she handled it in the essay brilliant. 

She also has essays about her narcassistic mother (oh wow, that woman is something), and maybe growing up with her mother helped her deal with a life in show business, and all the difficult personalities she encounters in her work. 

I picked this book up because I saw Markoe on HBO's Hacks this season and she is hilarious in her deadpan delivery. It was a good afternoon spent reading it. 

5) I caught uo with season four of Hulu's The Bear.  This season focuses less on the restaurant and more on the lives of Bear, Sydney and Ritchie. I found it a bit slow going at first, but as the season progressed, there were three standout episodes- Worms (Ayo Edebiri's Sydney shines here), Bears (a family wedding stuffed with great guest stars like Sarah Paulson, John Mulaney, and Oliver Platt among them) and the last episode Goodbye (with strong performances from Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach). I do agree with people who say they relied too much on music this season and not enough dialogue, but the last episode sets up season five beautifully. 

Have a safe and enjoyable week- until next time.

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

Published by Canary Street Press

Trade paperback, $18.99, 352 pages

From the publisher:

Always each other’s plus-ones, but never each other’s real dates, two childhood best friends have one last summer wedding to fall in love in this dual-narrative debut. 

One of The Washington Post’s ‘8 Romance Novels to Read this Summer’!

Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives.

It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.

Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren—and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best?

But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.

My thoughts:

I was immediately drawn into Friends to Lovers from the first page. I felt for Joni, who lost her job in New York and hasn't told anyone in her family- or Ren, her best friend since childhood. Ren and Joni had spent every moment together growing up, and when Joni moved away for her dream job, they kept up by being each other's plus ones to the weddings of family and friends. Until something happened two years ago and they haven't texted or spoken since.

You can feel the discomfort leap off the page between Joni and Ren as family and friends gather for Joni's sister's wedding. They pretend to everyone that all is well even as they share a porch bedroom as they always have. 

I liked seeing their relationship through the lens of the weddings they have attended over the years, it's a unique and interesting way to tell their story.

The secondary characters of various family and friends are so well drawn, and in another author's hands it could have felt crowded or confusing, but here it only adds to this wonderful story. The reader feels like we are there at the family vacation home along with everyone else, participating in the week of wedding festivities.

We root for Ren and Joni to figure out their relationship- should they make the leap from friends to lovers? Read and find out, you'll be rewarded. I recommend Friends to Lovers.

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on the Summer 2025 Blog Tours.

Friday 5ive- A Trip to Nantucket

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

We took a trip to Nantucket with our younger son and his fianceé. It was a glorious weekend, filled with good food and strolls around the pretty town.

1) We rented a Jeep (everyone in Nantucket has a Jeep) and went to Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge where you could drive the Jeep right onto the beach. There were a lot of people fishing, and a sign that read 'Warning- Seals Attract Sharks. Do not swim near seals'. We saw a lot of seals close up to the shore, they must figure that sharks can't come that close to the beach. It was pretty cool!

2) Topper's is a famous restaurant on the island and we had a special engagement dinner there. My first course was a summer fruit and vegetable dish that had such a beautiful presentation, as did the pavlova desset. If you watch Hulu's The Bear, you would appreciate it.

3) One of the highlights for me was a visit to the popular The Club Car for their piano bar entertainment. My son and his fianceé manuevered us to get right up close to the piano where the large crowd sang along enthusiastically to songs like Tiny Dancer (a big fan favorite that night).

4) As we were walking near the waterfront we ran into a wedding party marching down the street, complete with musicians and everyone had a tambourine. I wanted to ask if I could have a tambourine, but I did not. It was like something you'd see in New Orleans. 

 
5) Our trip home took a little longer than planned. We were supposed to fly out of Nantucket on Monday, the day of the horrendous storms and flash flooding in New York City. Our 3:30pm flight kept getting delayed and we figured our best bet was to get off Nantucket and to Boston where we'd stay overnight and get a flight the next morning. 

The only flight to Boston was on Cape Air in a little eight-seater plane. It was kind of like being up in a hot air balloon, very peaceful and slow going over the water. You had to tell the Cape Air agent your weight and all I could think of was comedienne Leanne Morgan's story of going on a small plane and when asked her weight she lied and she knew everyone lied too and she was sure they were going to crash.

 When we went to get our luggage at the Boston airport, my bag was missing. (But my husband's golf clubs made it.) The other couple on our flight were also missing a bag, so we read a sign that said "If your bag is not here, wait 15-20 minutes before going to the Cape Air desk upstairs." The wife and and I waited while the husbands went upstairs and sure enough, our bags showed up 25 minutes later. They arrived on the following Cape Air flight. That made me laugh! 

After a 90 minute car ride from Newark airport to NYC, we were home. Our flight from Boston to NYC took 45 minutes. Only 22 hours behind schedule. What are you going to do?

Our trip to Nanticket was so lovely, we had a fantastic time and I would go back again. Have a great and safe week.

The Friday 5ive is back!

It's been a long while since I wrote a Friday post. I've been busy with running the Book Cellar, traveling and spending time with our beautiful, smart and curious granddaughter, but people have asked me about the Friday 5ive so let's give it a try. Here are five things that caught my attention this week.

1) You can thank this lovely lady here for the return. While attending Adriana Trigiani's comedy and music show at Molloy University in Rockville Centre this week, a woman came up up to me and said "you're Diane- bookchickdi! I read your blog and love your book reviews. I miss the Friday 5ive." Gabriella was so sweet and she took me by complete surprise. No one has ever recognized me from my blog! So Gabriella this one is for you. It was a delight to meet you!

2) I was at the Molloy University theater to see author Adriana Trigiani's comedy and music show celebrating the release of her latest novel, The View From Lake Como. (My rave review here.) The sold-out crowd watched Adriana talk about her family -she is one of seven children- and she had the crowd raoaring with laughter. It was the funniest comedy show I've ever seen and we got a copy of her book too! She had a slide show with family photos, her brother Mike and his band The Predictables played some fantastic music and it was a terrific evening of joy and laughter. If you get the chance to see the show, do it! You can find ticket information here.  Here is a group photo with my friends and I at the Meet and Greet after the show.

3) Before the show, the ladies pregamed at my cousin Mary Beth's home, where she and her friends brought Italian treats to get us in the mood for the show about Adriana's Italian family. Everything was delicious, and Mary Beth's whipped ricotta with honey and herbs was the big hit. 

4) My husband is a big golfer so we watched the show Stick on Apple TV this week. It's about a down-on- his-luck-golfer who years before had a meltdown and now he teaches golf lessons to anyone who will pay. When he finds a young golf phenom he believes he can take this kid all the way to the amateur championship. He along with the young man and his mom, take off in his best friend's old RV for a cross country road trip to make it happen. Owen Wilson and Mark Maron star and it's funny and charming. 

5) The best book I read this week is Jess Walter's So Far Gone. Here's a description from the publisher:

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

It's got humor and heart and what I liked best about it is that the characters feel real- they are flawed but no one is all good or bad. (Well, maybe one guy is pretty bad...) It's another road trip story (like Stick) so maybe that is the theme for this week's Friday 5- road trip. 

Welcome back to the Friday 5ive, see you next week!