Planning A Bookish NYE By Lynn Cahoon

photo of fireworks display
Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com

As an introvert, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be the one waiting in Time Square with an adult diaper on waiting for the ball to drop. Not that there’s anything wrong with those types, it’s just not my type of party crowd. And since I was just in Times Square on a Thursday night, I know I couldn’t breathe on a holiday night.

Instead, I’m planning a book themed NYE’s party this year.  First, I’m inviting my friends who love to read to come over on a night NOT NYE but around the same time.  We’ll do prime rib as the main course and potluck the salads, sides, and desserts.

But the main part of the party will be a book exchange. Each guest will bring five of their most loved books in 2019. Paper copies.  We’ll set these books out in the living room on a large table and after everyone’s there, we’ll do a round robin of table visits. You can pick one book and as you hold it up, the book bringer will tell you why the book hit their must read list.

We’ll do this in rounds until the books are back in the bags each guest brought and then we’ll eat. I’m pretty sure most of my friends will disappear quickly after dinner since they have new reads waiting for them to dive in, but if they stay around, we’ll put on a book related movie – like You’ve Got Mail or The Jane Austin Book Club or a book turned into a movie and talk about all the ways the book was better.

At the end of the party, we’ll all be ready for a few months of winter with our TBR pile already built.

So, if you were invited, what is one book you’d have to bring to this year’s party?

Have A Deadly New Year by Lynn CahoonChef Angie Turner of The County Seat—Idaho’s finest farm-to-table restaurant—is preparing a private dinner in the mountains during ski season, but the trip’s about to go downhill . . .

It’s a rockin’ New Year for Angie and her crew as they cater a bash for a famous band—and as a bonus, they’ll get to stay at the singer’s Sun Valley house for a whole week once the party’s over. But there are hints of discord, and the event hits a sour note when one of the musicians is found with a drumstick in his chest.

Is this a case of creative differences turned lethal or is there another motive at play? Angie’s jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire as she and her fellow foodies try to solve the case before the killer comes out for an encore . . .