Red Rabbit (Jack Ryan Book 9)

Posted on December 12, 2025December 7, 2025 by Reluctant Retiree

Don’t Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski!

Tom Clancy reveals the details of Jack Ryan’s first days with the CIA in this #1 New York Times bestseller.

It’s the early 1980s—and historian, teacher, and recent ex-Marine Jack Ryan is now a CIA officer on loan to the British SIS. On his very first day, an extraordinary document crosses his desk. Because of government repression in Poland, the new Pope, John Paul II, has threatened to resign his papacy.

In Moscow, another man is contemplating the very same document. Yuriy Andropov, the chairman of the KGB, does not like what he reads, does not like what it means for him or for his nation. All it takes is one man to cause everything he has worked for to crumble. All it takes is one man to stop him. The Pope is very powerful, but he is also mortal….

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Clancy returns to Jack Ryan’s first days in the CIA, when the fate of the free world hung in the balance as Ryan discovered a heinous plot to assassinate the Pope. Clancy is so big that this new novel merits a special limited edition (ISBN 0-399-14914-7. $150).
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for Red Rabbit

“An impressive achievement.”—The Washington Post

“Demonstrate[s] what Tom Clancy does best.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“An entertaining tale of well-matched wits and high-tech gadgetry.”—The Tallahassee Democrat

More Praise for Tom Clancy

“He constantly taps the current world situation for its imminent dangers and spins them into an engrossing tale.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A brilliant describer of events.”—The Washington Post

“No one can equal his talent for making military electronics and engineering intelligible and exciting…He remains the best!”—Houston Chronicle

Daily Thought

Verse of the Day December 11, 2025

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Reluctant Retiree

From My Kitchen

Easy Ham Soup Ideas for Leftover Holiday Ingredients

Posted on December 11, 2025December 9, 2025 by Reluctant Retiree

These ham soup recipes will help you make the most of a holiday ham. Here’s how to transform those leftovers into ham and potato soup. You can also make creamy ham chowder. Another option is a brothy soup packed with vegetables.

A whole smoked ham is a beloved celebration food. Does your family serve a big Easter ham? Or do they make a holiday ham instead of turkey for Thanksgiving? There’s no wrong way to enjoy this smoky, savory main. You could also add a sweet touch to the holiday spread with Christmas ham recipes. Ham is such a large cut of meat that there are always leftovers. That’s when ham soup recipes become useful.

You can combine leftover ham with hearty vegetables like potatoes. Alternatively, pack your soup with beans to create a filling dish. This dish will be up to the task of feeding a crowd. Ham soups tend to be hearty. They’re perfect for chilly nights. However, they taste great anytime you want to use up leftover ham from a holiday feast.

When it’s time to serve ham soup, prepare some soft dinner rolls. You can also make buttery cornbread to serve on the side. The slight sweetness pairs beautifully with any ham soup.

Taste of Home

Find more recipes like this on my companion blog, “Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let’s Eat!”

Cozy Mysteries

The Inn at Holiday Bay: Riddle in the Review

Posted on December 11, 2025December 3, 2025 by Reluctant Retiree

A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn’t seem to convince to leave, and a new family she’d never be able to live without.

In book 22 in the series, someone is going around town vandalizing merchants who have received a negative review on the new social media site everyone is talking about. Initially it seems like a mere annoyance, but things begin to escalate, and Colt fears that the trend will lead to someone’s death.

Meanwhile, Vaness Blackstone from Firehouse Books is heading out of town and leaves her spunky Aunt Lou in charge. When the bookstore becomes the most recent victim of the Holiday Bay Prankster, Lou joins Abby and Georgia in their quest to track the troublemaker down.

#BookTours

Undisciplined Catalyst

Posted on December 10, 2025December 8, 2025 by Reluctant Retiree

I was sixteen when I found out not only am I an alien hybrid,

but monsters called the Tai-Kok were getting ready to invade our world.

Guess who gets to stop them? Me.

Undisciplined Catalyst

Coletti Warlord Series Book 19

by Gail Koger

Genre: SciFi Paranormal Romance

I was sixteen when I found out not only am I an alien hybrid, but monsters called the Tai-Kok were getting ready to invade our world. Guess who gets to stop them? Me. How?

My uncle, the mad scientist, created a machine called the portal that instantaneously sends a test subject from one location to another by converting them into energy. His idea is to port me onto a Tai-Kok ship. All I have to do is leave a bomb, hit the retrieval button on my spiffy traveler’s belt and poof! I’m back on Earth before the Tai-Kok ship goes kaboom. Sounds simple, right?

Wrong. Uncle Ben doesn’t have a clue where I’ll actually appear on the ship. It could be the engine room, the crew quarters, or even the bridge. It’s like playing Russian roulette. The Tai-Kok don’t like surprises or uninvited guests.

To make things even more fun, I have an alien battle commander stuck in my head and I’m related to a powerful Coletti warlord. Yippee. The chances of me living to see eighteen aren’t good.

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“Give ‘em hell.” A wild look in his eyes, Uncle Ben tapped on the portal’s control console.

The circles of light surrounded me, but this time it felt like a zillion fire ants were crawling over my body. Holy hell! Something had gone wrong! I appeared in midair and dropped like a rock. Smack! I slammed into someone, and my Glock went flying.

My eyes bugged. I was on the bridge of a futuristic warship, and the viewscreen showed one hell of a space battle that was going on. To make things even more fun, I was lying across the lap of a huge, muscle-bound male wearing black battle armor. Since he was sitting in the captain’s chair, I was assuming he was the boss.

A very angry-looking boss. I blinked. Holy cow was he good looking, if you were into the whole merciless predator thing. Huh? The red chains woven into his black warrior’s braids matched the communication device on his left wrist. Who knew aliens accessorized and why did I care? I took a deep breath trying to control the panic streaking through me.

A low growl rumbled in his chest

One look into his disturbingly hostile amber eyes and I knew I was in big trouble. I reached for my retrieval button.

His arms clamped around me painfully and he spat a bunch of gobbledygook.

“Sorry, I don’t speak that language,” I replied mentally. Somehow, I knew he was psychic.

A harsh voice sounded in my head, “How did you get through our shields.”

“Dunno. My uncle is the scientific genius, not me. I’m just the delivery girl.”

“What do you deliver?”

Did I look stupid? The minute I told him bombs; he’d kill me. I pasted a friendly smile on my face. “Stuff. I’m Lexi and you are?”

“Battle Commander Kaelen. I serve Zarek the Coletti Overlord.”

I had no clue who Zarek was, nor did I want to meet him. “You must be so proud.”

“Do you have a death wish, female?”

I grimaced. “Some people would think so.”

Howdy. My name is Gail Koger and once upon a time I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Too many years of wild requests, screwy questions, bizarre behavior and outrageous demands have left me with a permanent twitch and an uncontrollable craving for chocolate. I took up writing science fiction romance to keep from killing people. So far, it has worked.

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