The BookFetish Blog

It’s been a long time. I know. I wonder if I have any readers left? Like many of you, the past couple of years with the pandemic and associated isolation and then re-entry into mostly normal life took its toll on me.

I’ve stopped doing some things I once enjoyed. They don’t really appeal to me any more. I’ve taken up other activities. I’ve slowed down. A lot. I relish being alone now much more than I used to, and I find that I need that downtime.

And although I’m three books behind on my reading goal for this year (and that’s another thing I’m not sure I’ll do again- set a goal for reading. Which is funny, because that’s how this blog got started… but I digress), the one constant with all this upheaval has been the companionship of books.

I was in Highlands, North Carolina this weekend, and I was able to visit Shakespeare & Company Booksellers. The door was open, and as we walked towards it, I noticed it had that bookstore smell. You know what I mean. The store itself was quaint and cozy and a little cluttered, but in that comforting way that makes you just want to browse. Stu was working yesterday, and we talked about books, author signings, and authors we recommend. I made myself stop at buying only four books. I came away with Southern Shamrock by Lee Lyons (who lives just down from my friends in Highlands), Moonrise by Cassandra King, The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb, and The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda.

Wandering in that bookstore made me miss the blog. I decided that when I got home today, I would sit down and write a post.

I won’t go back and review every book I have read this year, but I will list them here and I will be reviewing again going forward. Despite being on a laptop all day for work, writing about the books I’ve read lets me use my brain in another way.

Here is the list and my Goodreads rating for the books I’ve read so far this year.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn- 5 stars

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez- 4 stars

Vladimir by Julia May Jones- 3 stars

The Huntress by Kate Quinn- 4 stars

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler- 4 stars

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks- 4 stars

The Cul de Sac by Joy Fielding- 3 stars

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney- 3 stars

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall- 3 stars

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley- 3 stars

The Verifiers by Jane Pek- 3 stars

The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub- 3 stars

My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams- 4 stars

The Library Book by Susan Orlean- 4 stars

Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles- 4 stars

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid- 4 stars

Reinventing Cybersecurity by Jasmine Henry and others- 4 stars

Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran- 3 stars

Mother Dear by Nova Lee Maier- 3 stars

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica- 3 stars

I finished two books this weekend, and they will get reviews.

If you’ve read any of the ones I’ve read this year, what did you think? And what are you reading that I need to put in queue?

In my last post, you saw how much I enjoyed Aimee Molloy’s Goodnight Beautiful. I remembered that I had another Molloy read in the house, that in fact I had started another Molloy book sometime last year and hadn’t finished it, so I grabbed The Perfect Mother off the bookshelf and started it again from the beginning.

From the Publisher’s summary:

They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.

When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they want a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed. 

As much as I enjoyed reading Goodnight Beautiful, The Perfect Mother felt tedious. It didn’t grab me the same way, and I read it at a much slower pace. I’m not sure that if I had read The Perfect Mother first that I would have chosen to read Goodnight Beautiful so I am glad I read them in the order that I did.

That isn’t to say that The Perfect Mother is a bad read. I gave it three stars in Goodreads. Some of the characters got on my nerves (not much, just a little bit) but overall the story is enjoyable and engaging. I did not figure out the villain ahead of time, which I always appreciate. There’s actually more I want to say about that, but I’m afraid of accidentally spoiling if I do, so I’ll just say that I think the Molloy does a good job of hiding how unhinged our villain is as they interact with others in the story.

I wonder if I would have liked this one better if I had allowed more time before starting this one, especially since I liked Goodnight Beautiful so much. If you put this one on your list, keep that in mind. If you want to read only one book by Aimee Molloy, choose Goodnight Beautiful.

Aimee Molloy’s Goodnight Beautiful is a thriller I read in one evening. Part homage to Stephen King (and that’s all I will say because I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything), it is packed with twists and turns.

From the Publisher’s Summary:

Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York City and start a life together in Sam’s sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist’s wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie’s happily ever after. 

It’s hard to say a lot about this one without giving away some of the parts that made it fun to read. It uses some of the current tropes in thrillers- unreliable narrators, for example- but in unexpected was that add to the suspense and what you think you know is going to happen.

The story grabbed me from page one, and I enjoyed finding out all the twists. This is one where I definitely did not see everything coming and have it all figured out ahead of time. Exactly what I like in a thriller. So if you, too, are a thriller fan, put this one on your list

Wow, has it been a long time. I read a lot in 2020, but my heart wasn’t in blogging. I missed it, but it was just one more thing to do during a stressful time. I am not quite ready to give up The BookFetish Blog, though, so I decided it is time to get back to it.

I have read three books in January, so now is as good a time as any to get back on track with blogging.

The first book I finished in 2021 was John Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I learned a lot with it. I have mentioned before that I am a bit of a political junkie, and I found the insights into foreign policy fascinating.

Bolton’s style, though. The man is not short on ego and that comes through in so many places, with snarky jabs at the press, people on the left, and anyone he doesn’t feel is as smart as him. It was tiresome after a point.

However, the insights gained outweigh those annoyances. The chaos in the Trump administration was rampant, and we should be grateful for the people who tried to successfully govern- especially from a foreign policy perspective- even if we don’t align with them politically.

Bolton does a good job explaining complex foreign policy issues with both our allies and adversaries. He also illustrates how nuanced foreign policy is. As Bolton recounts incidents in our relations with North and South Korea, China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and the European Union, it is clear that while on occasion, Mr. Trump was on target with foreign policy points, too often he was distracted, bored, incurious, and more concerned with buddying up to Kim Jong-Un than actually advancing an advantageous policy. As Bolton points out, Trump figuratively tied the hands of the very people he appointed to advance his agenda. That, coupled with some of the dangerous policy decisions Mr. Trump pursued, are what led Bolton to resign.

If you like politics, and are curious about the inner workings of the White House, this one is worth the read.

I am thrilled to be featuring an interview with author Kim Megahee on the blog. Kim and I became friends years ago when we were both consultants for the same client. Although our careers took us in different directions, we’ve stayed in touch. It’s a pleasure to be able to celebrate him as an author as he publishes his new book, Time Twisters, the second in a series about an Army Ranger who conducts historical research via time travel technology.

Blogging is not my full time job, so I have not invested in great video and audio recording equipment. We did this interview in a written Q and A style, but we did a video chat for about an hour catching up and talking about his writing career and life in general. What follows is our interview as it was written, with some additional commentary by me.

TBF: To the extent you are comfortable talking about it, you’ve had some major life changes over the last few years. How have they changed your writing? [Commentary- I felt a little awkward asking this question- I knew there had been really big changes in Kim’s life, and I wasn’t sure how welcome this question would be].

KM: A lot has happened since I started writing – I changed from a large client account to a consulting firm and then launched a boutique consulting firm with a friend. I also got divorced, went back to single life, met my soulmate, got married again and moved from Atlanta to Gainesville GA. 

I’m sure it’s impacted my writing in some way, but I’m not sure what to point out as an impact that I wouldn’t have done anyway as I learned more about the writing craft.

Over the last few years, I dove into craft books for writing – all about character arcs, plot points, “man in the mirror moments”, etc. That’s what’s changed my writing over the last few years.

TBF: Tell us a bit about your main character, Marc McKnight.

KM: Marc McKnight was raised up as a farm boy near Pendleton Oregon. He got a good set of values from his parents and good grades and won an appointment to West Point.

His Dad was in Army Special Forces and his team was ambushed in Afghanistan when Marc was in college.

He’s somewhat introverted, but handsome, 6’0’’, dark, some Native American blood, brown hair and eyes.  Picture Henry Cavill. Cavill looks a lot like what I envisioned McKnight would look like.

He’s afraid of making a mistake. It’s rare that he does, of course. When his father was killed, he resolved to be the best, so he trained and studied hard. His team sees him as a role model – fair but demanding. He won’t ask them to do something he wouldn’t do himself.  He is driven and assertive at work, but keenly afraid of making a mistake that gets someone killed.

This fear of making a mistake spills over into his social life. He has no trouble meeting girls, but most don’t hang around for very long because he’s married to his work. He really does want a relationship, but shies away from the point of commitment.

He’s very conscious of having screwed up many a relationship by inaction, so he’s stuck in paralysis of analysis.  

TBF: With Lieutenant Karen Hatcher, you had a character go in a direction you weren’t expecting. Tell us about her.

KM: Karen Hatcher was raised in Hinesville, GA and got her military officer training at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. Many people don’t know that UNG is right up there next to West Point for the quality of their officers.

She’s 5’9’’, pretty and athletically built. Dark hair, brown eyes. Think Gal Gadot – who looks just like the Karen I envisioned. Ponytail and all.  She doesn’t say much, but is the consummate professional officer at work.

There’s a man in her life, but they work in different cities and we don’t meet him at all.  I wanted Hatcher to be a strong female protagonist that didn’t live in anyone’s shadow. [Commentary- as we were talking about this in our Zoom, when Kim mentioned this, I commented that it’s awesome that this would likely pass the Bechdel Test. A very good thing.]

She’s an expert in hand-to-hand combat. McKnight is the only one to beat her in PT sparring, and he only did it once. She’s a legend because of this and highly respected in the local officer ranks. She gets a couple of chances to show off her fighting skills in THE TIME TWISTERS.

Karen is special because she is second-generation female Army Ranger. Her mother is a General in the Rangers and her dad is retired Special Forces.  She claims she doesn’t, but it’s clear that she feels the need to prove she’s where she is on her own merit, not her family’s.

She’s introduced in my first book TIME LIMITS – a single scene where she demonstrates what a “bad-ass” she is.  I never intended her part to be as big as it became.  The vision for her came out of nowhere. This was definitely a really nice place that “pantsing” took me to. As the story for THE TIME TWISTERS started to develop, I saw her blooming as a character and knew she had to have a bigger role. She has her own character arc in the story as she learns that things aren’t always black and white. Sometimes they are extremely gray and a military officer has to learn that lesson before he (or she) can truly be a good leader.

TBF: What’s been the most illuminating thing about the editing and publishing process for you?

KM: The editing part is my favorite part. As a consultant, I took a lot of pride in my written communications, so I wasn’t a stranger to editing a piece to ensure it says exactly what I want. If anything, I over-edit. Sometimes I have to just tell myself to stop editing, it’s as good as I can get it – don’t obsess over it.

I self-publish my works. I spent some time querying agents, and I got some great feedback that made me a better writer, but I just couldn’t see the interval. Traditional publishing can take a year after you finish before anything hits the street. After a while, I realized I have a lot more stories to tell and I don’t want to wait. With self-publishing, I can get work on the street in less than a week.  I actually take much longer than that, but I think I could put out three to four books a year, now that I’ve settled into a rhythm of work.

[Commentary: Here, Kim and I talked about how, even if you sign with a publisher, the hard work of marketing a book, finding an audience, spreading the word, is really all on the author. And we talked about the importance of good editing.]

TBF: What’s it like preparing to release a book in the middle of a pandemic that has people staying home?

KM: I’m hopeful it will help me sell more books.  J   Since I retired from consulting about three years ago – can you believe it? – I’ve spent a lot of time writing and thinking about stories. I’m not doing much different except we spend some time checking on our families – making sure our kids and Grands are all well and happy. The Grands are ecstatic right now, but the kids are going stir-crazy.

And Martha (his wife) is great to spend time with. We come from the same sort of political leanings and business background (She ran a 22 Billion business for SunTrust), so we have plenty to talk about and speak the same language, most of the time.

TBF: You have a few creative outlets- you’re a writer and a musician. How do they play together for you, or do they?

KM: They do play together. We don’t do very many originals in any of the bands I play bass for, but the arrangements and the stories are both very creative. All the guys I play with are creative and interested in ideas, so I throw some story ideas at them and what comes back is normally very interested and thoughtful.  Okay, sometimes it’s lewd, but mostly fun and thought-provoking.

TBF: What are you reading right now? 

KM: I always have several writing craft books going. If you look at my GoodReads “reading now” library, you’ll be astounded at how many I’m reading at the same time.

I’m reading “The Quartet” by Joseph Ellis. It’s about the four guys who carried the United States from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution we have today – John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington.  I always thought it was Thomas Jefferson. A lot of people do. He was actually more involved in the Declaration of Independence. At the time the Constitution was being drawn up, he was in Paris as ambassador.

As it turns out, it’s becoming book research. Martha had an idea for a new Marc McKnight adventure involving those guys, and I’m investigating and thinking.  Can’t say more about it yet.

TBF: Is there something you would go back and tell your younger self about writing if you could?

KM: Absolutely. There are really two types of writers. We call them “Plotters” and “Pantsers”. Actually they are the two extremes. Plotters are writers who create an outline and use their creative juices to envision and plan the entire book before they write the first word of the book. Pantsers are writers who start with a premise and just start writing (by the seat of their pants) and let the “muse” lead them where it will. Most writers fall somewhere between the two extremes.

When I started writing, I didn’t know about Plotters. I thought everyone who wrote was a Pantser. So that’s how I started. I’d tell my younger self to learn how to be a plotter, which is much more like my personal self. Since I’ve started Plotting, I’m writing a lot faster and my stories are better.

[Commentary: This is the first I’d heard of “pantsing” in this context. Kim and I had a good laugh about that.]

TBF: What would you like readers to know about you and your books?

KM: My number one thing is to help the reader to have a good experience. I’ve always liked to tell stories and help someone have a good time. I picture the movie I’d like to see and write what I picture. My stories aren’t hard scifi. The science isn’t the important part – the people are. My stories are intended to be fun and escapism. I want there to be action, fight scenes, humor, good people working together to stop the bad guys from whatever bad thing they’re trying to do.

At the same time, I want my hero and heroines to be real people with idiosyncrasies and problems like the rest of us. I hope that comes across. If it doesn’t, I hope folks will tell so I can fix it in the next book.

I enjoyed having a chance to catch up with Kim. I hope you’re excited to check out his Marc McKnight series, and here’s how you can do that and how you can follow/reach Kim:

Click on the links below to find THE TIME TWISTERS

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KOBO and here for ebook fans

And on these links to get your copy of TIME LIMITS

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KOBO and to see anywhere you can get the ebook, click here.

Want to keep in touch with Kim? Find him at

Twitter:  @authorkmega

Facebook: www.facebook.com/author.kmega

Website:  www.AuthorKimMegahee.com

Email:  kim@AuthorKimMegahee.com