Friday the 13th's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday the 13th!  Time to check in with a Friday Post, where I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

For the first three, I will be be pulling quotes from Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year's by Liz Ireland.

This is the fifth in the Mrs. Claus Mysteries series.  And yes, our main character is the real Mrs. Claus.  Which put the opening sentence in context:

You don't know the meaning of "mixed emotions" till you've waved your beloved spouse off on a round-the-world trip in an overloaded antique sleigh powered by flying reindeer.

Meanwhile, on page 56, we find this exchange between Mrs. Claus and one of her best friends - Juniper, who happens to be an elf.

Juniper looked as if she might speak, hesitated, then took a long drink of eggnog.
I leaned forward. "What?"
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"You were going to say something, but then you did that awkward looking-away thing everyone did last night. As if there's this big secret I'm not supposed to know."
"It's not a secret," she said. "We Santalanders just don't like to talk about it."
My curiosity ramped up another notch. "About what?"
She looked around furtively, then lowered her voice. "Adolph the Naughty."

Want to know more?  You'll have to wait until the book comes out on the 24th to find out what secret they've been hiding.  You won't have to wait as long for my review, however, which will be out on Wednesday.

For now, let's switch over to the Book Blogger Hop.  This week's question is:

It's back-to-school time. What book would you recommend to students, whether it's an educational read or an enjoyable diversion from textbooks?

I've been itching to reread the books of Elizabeth George Speare, especially The Bronze Bow and The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Both great pieces of historical fiction.  If you haven't read them or haven't read them in a while, go pick them up!

Have a great weekend!