The Goose Girl - Shannon Hall (The books of Bayern, Bk. 1)

 This was a delightfully fun book and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys fiction.  The story is encaptivating and real without being gory or excessive (I'm looking at you GoT.) I believe this is a YA book, but I didn't think it came off the way many of those books do, like they're trying too hard.  The story doesn't need too much world-building, so it doesn't get bogged down in explanation.  The author introduces the information in an organic way that, once it becomes necessary, flows easily.  I've read many books where the animals speak for various reasons and this is my favorite depiction.  The MC sort of adds in the grammar in a way that reads like translation, which would be the only way to document what a goose honks at you, or the like.  Overall, this is just a very well written book.  

Bitcoin for Beginners: A guide to understanding Btc Cryptocurrency and becoming a crypto Expert - Michael Scott

 I rather disagree with this unnecessarily long title.  The information in the book was fine, accurate and whatnot.  But had I not previously read the Intro to Bitcoin book, I think I would have been rather lost.  Both books review pretty much the same information, but the presentation and pace of that other book was superior to this one. If you only read one Btc/crypto book this year, don't make it this one.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds - John C. Bogle

 This book took me so freaking long to get through! I do NOT recommend this for anyone who doesn't love reading a whole thesis on finances.  I like boring stuff and I found this one tough.  I'll save you the hassle and hours of mind-numbing by condensing the take-aways:

- Put your money in, leave it there, you will get the average market return, 6.7% over a decade regardless of what happens

- Don't pay someone to play with your money.  If you're not making the average market return after fees and commissions, fire your manager and just leave the money in and you'll get the average market return.

- Diversify to get average market returns.  All your eggs in one basket (or sector/subject/category) will not net you average market returns.

- There are no hot deals.  There are no guarantees. There are no secrets.  If there are, it's called insider trading.  

- Mutual funds are designed to be bought and held. Buy-sell-buy of mutual funds completely defeats their purpose.  

You're welcome. I just saved you 21 hours.

Introduction to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies - Various Authors

 This was a great introductory book.  If you have interest in learning about this topic, this is the book to grab.  It had just the right amount of detail without getting bogged down.  It was paced perfectly, not too fast so you miss absorbing the information, but not to slow to get boring.  I know this is my first book, but as an introduction, it was great.  I would like to find a more detailed book in the future, but I feel good about the information I'm walking away with from this one.  

Alvin Journeyman - Orsen Scott Card (The Tales of Alvin Maker, Bk. 4)

 This fantastic book starts out with a trial of false accusations against Alvin and I was so caught up in the trial and wondering what's going to happen after the trial that I was 90% of the way through the whole book before I realized the trial WAS the whole book.  I was a little disappointed by that, but it was captivating the way a Jerry Springer show can be, so I wasn't too sad.  This book had all the wit and beautiful world building one expects from Card seamlessly paired with the riveting train wreck that is Reddit's r/relationship forum.  

Card is absolutely one of my favorite authors and I encourage anyone who likes some sci-fi fantasy stuff to give him a try.

Rose Gardening - Nancy Ross

 Some useful information but it could have been just a single web page.  Good info on the standard stuff like air circulation, wet feet, when and how to prune, when to feed.  All standard stuff and nothing really new or unique.  Useful, but I think I'd rather just read about Texas specific rose gardening on the internet.  

The Gilded Wolves - Roshani Chokshi (The Gilded Wolves, Bk. 1)

 This was a recommendation from one of those hundreds of internet lists.  The series is brand new and the second book isn't due out until the fall.  However, this is not the author's first work.  She has published other books in a different series prior.

I enjoyed this book's characters the most.  They are all unique in a way that makes them both interesting and relatable, dynamic but not cliched. Each character has their niche, but it's not carried to the point of trope.  The world building is pretty good, it mostly stays within what is already known and being set in a historical period makes that easy for the author.  The source of "magic" in this case is very creative and I approve of her creative twist on an old fairy tale.  

While not a book I'm going to freak out over, I will absolutely read the next one when it comes out.