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Friday's Letters

Dear Friday.  Woohoo!  To some, it's the start of the weekend.  To me, it's the middle of a grand four days off of work.  Yay!  Dear cold.  You, my dear, suck.  Dear Germany.  We haven't had tons of great weather lately, but it cleared up for one day last week and gave me a chance to capture your gorgeous countryside [above].  I love you when you're not rainy.  Dear Husband.  We haven't quite figured out this new schedule of ours (FYI, your mid-week days off are awful), but we have to soon so that we can start getting out of the house again.  Dear November.  Almost over, already?!  Time has flown!  Dear December.  You can still hurry up and arrive, though.  I'm ready for my family to visit, Christmas Markets to start, and snow to play in.  Dear U.S. of A.  We're doing the countdown…two years til we live on your chaotic, spread out, dirty streets again.  I'm not so stoked to leave behind my beloved Europe, but I could do with some easy shopping, amazing food, and movie theaters in English.  Dear everyone.  Hope you're having an amazing week, have an amazing weekend, and are just good to go in general!

Bookish Sundays: The Cuckoo's Calling

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling
Author: Robert Galbraith
Synopsis [℅ B&N]: "A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this."

℅ Barnes & Noble

Review: I usually tend to review books in the order that I read them, but this particular novel is fresh behind the eyes and could do with a little talking about.

As another of JK Rowling's attempts to branch away from Harry and Hogwarts, I was a little hesitant to pick Cuckoo up.  Her last novel, Casual Vacancy, was an epic fail (in my opinion, at least).  This one, however, is definitely a go to.  If you're a fan of whodunnit crime fighter private eye types, go ahead and give this a whirl; you won't be disappointed.  Set in England, of course, you may face the occasional lingo or turn of phrase that doesn't quite translate to our American ways, but Rowling does a much better job at using worldwide phrasing this time around.  This isn't your typical love story (although I thought for a minute it would be and was groaning in horror), but does incorporate heroic military types, jaded famous starlets hopped up on drugs, mothers on the edge of death, secretaries hanging onto the coat tails of adventure, and more.  

Alas, our beloved Cuckoo has thrown herself from her balcony…or has she?  Hired private eye, Cormoran Strike, has recently left his fiancee for the last time, and is now living in his office, a fact that both mortifies and intrigues his temporary hired secretary.  As Strike begins to unravel the mystery of why Lula (Cuckoo) either killed herself or was killed by someone else, he meets a very interesting caste of characters.  Thrown into a world of the elite combined with the dredges of humanity, he must figure out who amongst Lula's friends and associates would push her off the edge.  Could it have been the power hungry neighbor?  The coke-head boyfriend?  Perhaps the diabolical uncle or the unsuspecting homeless girl?  Strike's job isn't easy, but he's the best of the best.  Not every single bit will be a page turner, but it will make up for it in the end.

As always, if you happen to read, please let me know what you think!  I enjoy hearing other perspectives.  

Friday's Letters

Be Freckled Photography

Dear Friday. Hello, dearest.  Dear November.  What what?!  You came around a tad quickly.  I'm not sad, just a little surprised at how fast September and October passed.  Dear December.  I'm more excited for you to arrive…family flies in for the holidays, Christmas Markets begin, a little snow fall to please the pups…I could do with some December in my life.  Dear work.  Have I by any chance mentioned that I have a new job?  No?  Well, I do!  I start Monday as a full time kinder aid.  I'm pretty excited to have a regular schedule, work with cute little kids, and earn some income.  Hooray for me!  Dear camera.  We've been pretty busy, hanging out on a regular basis to freeze some memories for clients.  I love you so.  Dear clients.  You all make me so happy!  Not only with coming to me, but always supporting me and encouraging me to move forward.  Thanks for everything!  Dear husband.  Now that the kidney stone that's been plaguing you since Budapest is out of your system, let's plan on not going through that ever again.  Dear school.  I'm so close to being done with you!  After this semester, I'm not going back.  It's a huge decision, but I'm so so so happy with it.  Goodbye forever, WSU.  Dear peeps.  I've missed you!  I'm back in the game, and ready to hear what's been going on in your lives as well as share a little more about what's going on in mine :)  P.s.  Anyone know of a great website designer than can help me set up a photography business page?  After much thinking and debating, the business thing is happening.  Would love some help putting my design ideas into action!