Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

This book came onto my radar in October and I've been excitedly waiting for it ever since! Which might have been a bad thing, since my expectations were so high... 

The best part about this book was how well-written the characters were. I felt like I was watching an episode of Golden Girls while I read it. In fact, I stopped reading several times to go watch an episode! I do think the most important part of bringing existing shows/movies/characters to life is nailing their personalities... *Blanche smirk*. And that was done here, so that's very satisfying. If the girls hadn't seemed like themselves, this would have been impossible to get through.

The mystery, however, was very lacking to me. It wasn't compelling. The stakes felt low at the beginning until Dorothy became more of a prime suspect. But her link to the crime felt very weak and it was hard to feel invested. Too much focus was given to the wedding and the St. Olaf traditions as well. While I know there needs to be a B story for a novel, it felt like that was often the main focus and the mystery was just something to hook you in.

By the time the mystery was solved, it was tough to keep up with all the loose ends. They were explained away by the very end, but I don't think it's possible for readers to solve this along with the girls - and solving mysteries with the sleuth is my favorite aspect of cozy mysteries, so that was a disappointment.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to any Golden Girls fan because the characters truly come to life and it's great in that regard. If you're wanting a satisfying cozy mystery, though, I can't promise this will deliver.

The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary

The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary is by Robb Pearlman and illustrated by Melanie Demmer.

This book is a must-have for any fans of The Office, whether you have kids or not.

My son is too young to watch The Office with me, but he loved this book! It has a lot of inside jokes for fans, but still works as a stand-alone school story for kids.

Michael is chosen to be line leader for Ms. Levinson’s class, and he wants to be the best he can be! He won’t accept help from anyone, but he soon realizes he can’t handle everything on his own.

This book has callbacks to the show hidden in every illustration, so there’s an extra engaging aspect (for kids and their parents!). There’s also a fun bulletin board beneath the dust jacket, and the endpapers are super cute!