Hello, dear readers! This week, we open with two fairly recent releases that I’ve only actually received in the past week, before swinging even further backward, then looking forward to some exciting books that are just on the horizon. First up is Irina McGrath’s Murder At Haddonford Manor, the first in the Charlotte Reinford Mystery …
Category: Doreen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/15/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-three/
May 14 2026
Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise by Adeola Sokunbi
This charming chapter book for advancing readers will delight and reassure any kid looking forward to the exciting experience of their very first sleepover! Alas, my own first sleepover was not a great time. I was seven years old and my best friend was my next door neighbor, who was a grade or two ahead …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/14/destiny-ink-sleepover-surprise-by-adeola-sokunbi/
May 13 2026
The Dogs Of Venice by Steven Rowley
Choosing this to read rn was 100% due to my recent coverage of it in the latest Tantalizing Tales column reminding me that it’s a manageably quick, grown-up read. Which is just what I need while my doctors puzzle out what’s been keeping me sick since mid-January, with only occasional bursts of energy that would …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/13/the-dogs-of-venice-by-steven-rowley/
May 12 2026
This Is Who I Am by Rashmi Sirdeshpande & Ruchi Mhasane
As a third culture kid myself, this book means a lot to me, as it beautifully captures and explains the experience of belonging to more than just one place and culture. Told in the first person, this charmingly illustrated children’s book is essentially the story of author Rashmi Sirdeshpande and her family. Her parents emigrated …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/12/this-is-who-i-am-by-rashmi-sirdeshpande-ruchi-mhasane/
May 11 2026
A Fishboy Named… Sashimi by Dan Santat
I almost feel bad reading this after the copious amounts of sashimi I had as part of my Mother’s Day dinner last night (but only almost, lol.) Sashimi is a fish boy who swims out of Barnacle Bay one night looking for refuge… and answers. He figures that infiltrating the local middle school will help: …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/11/a-fishboy-named-sashimi-by-dan-santat/
May 08 2026
Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part Two
Hello, dear readers! This one’s pretty late, as I spent most of the day either in a medical facility or passed out at home. My illness has gotten so bad that I barely even had the energy to read! Hopefully, some of these books I’m about to discuss will help entice me out of this …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/08/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-two/
May 07 2026
Chernobyl, Life, And Other Disasters by Yevgenia Nayberg
It’s so rare to find a memoirist whose art is as engaging as her prose, but Yevgenia Nayberg truly is phenomenal in both fields. You can very much tell that she’s a trained artist, even before she goes into the details of her academic beginnings in this arresting memoir of growing up in Kyiv in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/07/chernobyl-life-and-other-disasters-by-yevgenia-nayberg/
May 06 2026
Hello, Beautiful by Traci N Todd & Loveis Wise
I adore Loveis Wise’s work, which moved me to tears in the astonishing What I Must Tell The World, a children’s biography of Lorraine Hansberry. I wasn’t quite as moved here, but their art is spectacular throughout, in a book about encouraging young children to feel their feelings and embrace their entire selves. Hello, Beautiful …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/06/hello-beautiful-by-traci-n-todd-loveis-wise/
May 04 2026
Initiates Oracle by Marcella Kroll & Adam Smith
subtitled Occult Hermetic- and Egyptian-Inspired Rituals for Profound Transformation (as stated in the guidebook.) I can be pretty iffy on Oracle decks, as they don’t have the same established metaphysical journey going on in their cards as Tarot cards too. I have, unfortunately, been burned enough by Oracle decks that I thought would be cohesive …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/04/initiates-oracle-by-marcella-kroll-adam-smith/
May 01 2026
Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part One
It’s already May! (and yes, you should definitely sing that in a ramen-haired Justin Timberlake voice, lol.) I’m not sure why, but the first ten days of May are always so hectic for me, between annual string performances, random selections (Jeopardy! last year and jury duty this year) and my beloved Arsenal entering their statistical …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/01/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-one/








