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The Colours of Spring

The Colours of Spring is a 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Terry Redlin. Redlin is a new-to-me artist, and I thought the image was kind of charming on the box, but I found it to be darker on the puzzle than it was on the box, which made it somewhat difficult.

This was another one I got for free from the friend who moved away. She had told me she couldn’t guarantee the puzzles were complete, but I was still quite surprised to have a total of eight missing pieces! There was also so much dog hair in the box – more than I’ve ever seen before in a used puzzle.

This one unfortunately had to go in the trash. I am not willing to pass it on to anyone with so many pieces missing.

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The Door-to-Door Bookstore

⭐⭐⭐💫/5

The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a novel written by German author Carsten Henn and translated by Melody Shaw. It is the story of Carl Christian Kollhoff and how his friendship with a young girl who goes by the name of Schascha changed his life.

I was initially drawn to this book because it is about a bookseller, but I quickly felt connected to Carl and wanted to get to know him better. He has a daily routine that includes delivering books each evening to the customers that have ordered from the bookstore he works at. One evening he is joined by a nine-year old girl named Schascha who has decided she wants to be his friend.

We follow along as Carl and Scascha become friends, get to know his customers better, and deal with Carl losing his beloved job at the bookstore. I found the overall tone of this book to be very melancholy, but I am glad that I read it.

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Mothers Day at the Park

Mothers Day at the Park is a sweet Americana image by Sharon Ascherl. This puzzle was 500 pieces and came from Sure-Lox, and I am pretty sure this is my first puzzle from both the brand and the artist.

I was impressed by the quality of this puzzle, especially given that they aren’t very expensive. I got this one for free from my friend who moved away recently and enjoyed it quite a bit.

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What I’m Reading – June 2025

What I’m Reading Now

In the Woods by Tana French – this is the first in the Dublin Murder Squad series and was recommended to me by someone on Bookstagram. I am just a few chapters in and am warming up to it.

What I Recently Finished

Fiction

  • Plymouth Undercover by Pamela Kelley – Court Street Investigations #1
  • Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #2 (I didn’t realize until I was partway through that it was the second in a series, but I don’t think it detracted from the book and I plan to read the first one now)
  • Not Quite by the Book by Julie Hatcher
  • How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake
  • Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison – Shoe Addict #2
  • A Shoe Addict’s Christmas by Beth Harbison – Shoe Addict #2.5
  • The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn
  • More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
  • Rise & Shine, Benedict Stone by Phaedra Patrick

Nonfiction

  • Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley

Short Stories

  • The Bookstore Family by Alice Hoffman – Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #4
  • Death Row by Frieda McFadden

What I Added to my TBR

Fiction

  • The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland
  • The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #1
  • Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
  • Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza
  • On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen – The Fire Island Trilogy #1
  • Modern Persuasion by Sara Marks – 21st Century Austen #1
  • Take a Moment by Nina Kaye
  • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – Time Quintet #1
  • Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  • Homemaker by Ruthie Knox – Prairie Nightingale #1
  • Loveless by Alice Oseman
  • Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts
  • Woodworking by Emily St. James

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 161 books on my TBR. Of those, 16 are nonfiction and 145 are fiction.
  • I finished 4 more of my 25 in 2025 list, bringing that total to 22.
  • I have read 58 books so far this year (my goal is 75).
  • I have adjusted my nonfiction goal to 1 per month, and I have maintained that pace thus far.

If you’re on Goodreads, feel free to add me as a friend. I’m always looking for new recommendations!

I have also joined The StoryGraph to see what it is like. My handle there is bookwormtrish if you would like to be friends. I am still getting used to it, and my favorite thing so far is the detailed stats. Here is my May Wrap-Up from the site:

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Paris Windows

Paris Windows is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Amanda Haley.

I had *so* much fun doing this puzzle. Buildings are my favorite things to puzzle, and this one has a ton of them! It is a very busy image, so a lot of it was pick and place one piece at a time. The quality was mid, but about what you would expect from this brand.

Here are a few closeups:

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Amazon First Reads – May 2025

When the Amazon First Reads came out at the beginning of May, I wasn’t initially drawn to any of them and didn’t make a selection. I got an email a couple of days ago reminding me about them, however, so I took another look and decided to take advantage of the offer.

For the book, I chose a cozy mystery that sounds like fun. Homemaker, by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare, is about a midlife mother called Prairie Nightingale who gets intrigued when another mom goes missing and begins investigating.

There was a bonus short story, a thriller, which I also downloaded. Death Row by Frieda McFadden is about a woman named Talia Kemper who is on death row for murdering her husband despite having an alibi and no known motive. One day in the visiting area she sees a man who she thinks is her husband and has to convince everyone of what she saw.

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Mini Book Reviews

Not Quite by the Book by Julie Hatcher

Emma Rini is running her parents’ bookstore and slowly building up resentment against her parents, who seem to take her for granted, and her sister, who is focused on her first pregnancy. When her parents announce they are retiring, she impulsively decides to take a six-week vacation to a crumbling manor house where she can get in touch with her inner Emily Dickinson.

Emma obtains mixed results from her experiment, but learns a lot along the way about herself. Besides the expected love interest, there are new friends to be made and breakthroughs to be had with her family. I enjoyed this book quite a bit and appreciated the bookish themes.

How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake

Eve has just discovered her fiance is cheating on her and, after booting him out, is looking for a way to avoid the traditional family Christmas celebrations. She decides to take a pottery course in another town and finds a houseboat rental for her and Marmite, her dog. While there, she encounters the handsome local vet Greg, and they strike up a friendship. 

This book has both humor and heart. There are a lot of catastrophes and chaos, along with some misunderstandings, but eventually everything gets sorted out one way or another. It is a fun, lighthearted read.

Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison

This is the sequel to Shoe Addicts Anonymous and follows a group of friends–Tiffany, Loreen, and Abbey–who get themselves into various kinds of trouble during a school trip to Las Vegas. Tiffany is the sister of Sandra, who is one of the main characters in the first book. When all three ladies need to raise money fast, Sandra helps them out with a side hustle that will do the trick.

I enjoyed seeing these women grow closer throughout the story, as well as how they handled the challenges of their new job and their romantic relationships. It was also nice to see Sandra again and watch her attempts at dating. A quick, fun read.

A Shoe Addict’s Christmas by Beth Harbison

This is an adorable take on a Christmas classic. When Noelle gets locked in the department store she works at on a snowy Christmas Eve, she meets her guardian angel. As they clean up the shoes her angel knocked over as she was coming in, she has the chance to revisit several moments of her life and see how they could have gone if she hadn’t let her fears hold her back. Short and sweet, cute holiday story.

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Puzzle Haul & Thomas Kinkade Puzzles

Check out my puzzle haul! A woman from my church is moving and gave me a bunch of puzzles she didn’t want to take with her. Of course, I said I’ll take them all! I’ll do the ones I like and them pass them all to other puzzlers.

The first ones I chose to do were the set of Thomas Kinkade puzzles. They were from Ceaco, and there were 3 of them. I have never done any of his artwork and thought I would give these a try even though they are not my normal style.

I had a pleasant time doing them. The largest one was a bit tricky because there was a lot more sky and also the border has a lot of false fits. I had to mess around with the border a few times to get it right.

Collector’s Cottage – 100 pieces
Stillwater Bridge – 300 pieces
Evening in the Forest – 500 pieces

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Disney Together Time Puzzle

This is the Disney Together Time Puzzle from Ceaco. It is 400 pieces.

I have done this image before, but when I saw it in a local puzzle box in this version, I knew I wanted to try it. Together Time is a type of puzzle that has three different size pieces in one puzzle.

The idea is that a group of people of different ages or abilities can work on a puzzle together. I think it is a good concept, and I would be interested to do a puzzle like this with a child to see how they liked it.