This week's Wrap is short because, despite some life shenanigans putting speed bumps in the way, the husband and I are (finally!) on our annual friends' ski trip. We're enjoying lots of quality time, a hot tub, putting together a puzzle, and eating  great food with people we don't get to see often enough. (I am the strictly après ski type.)

What's one of your favorite friend traditions?

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This week, I started Reign by Katharine McGee. It’s the fourth book in her American Royals series. I've enjoyed the books in this series so far but now the plot seems to be extra convoluted just for the sake of drama. In the past few years, I've read a lot of books by McGee and she has this habit of introducing lots of new characters towards the end of a series. I get that world building is hard, but this feels like a weak spot. It comes across like she doesn't know where the series is going so she needs some new people to bail things out. The book is still an okay read, but it's getting too unwieldly. 

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• I have a folder in my work inbox for "happy emails." [Career Contessa]

• Coffee is a cup of happiness. [The Atlantic - gift link, reader submission]

• College level reading comprehension is crashing. [Slate]

• Reading tools meets stationery. Love. [BookRiot]

• An oral history of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. [The Kitchen Sisters Present]

• For love of White Castle. [99% Invisible]

• How to handle your childhood stuff. [Life Kit]

• Mental household labor? Women do most of it. [ParentData]

• Role Play is a sort of assassin, action, comedy, romance. Basically all the genres rolled into one. It's headlined by Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo in a non-drama role. It's fine - completely over the top in some areas but not to the point of absurdity. I think Oyelowo has some comedy chops I would like to see expanded in other movies. [Amazon Prime]

• Back in the day, I used to read the books in the Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series as soon as they came out. These action/political drama books were filled with shades of gray and it was great. After 9/11, everything became very black and white, good and evil. I enjoyed them less so I stopped reading the series. Unfortunately, Flynn passed away. His estate, however, continues to publish the series with another author. I was not surprised when they turned a prequel book, American Assassin, into a movie. The movie was clearly set up to be a new Bond or Jack Ryan-type series but it doesn't work. It wanted to be better than it was, but it takes itself way to seriously and the CGI is awful. Also, Michael Keaton plays a mentor character and he is far from my idea of an action star. [Netflix]

• One quick meal I don't make nearly enough is skillet shrimp fajitas. It's a few minutes of chopping, cook time, and then assembly. Since the husband peeled the shrimp for me, I got this on our table in about 15 minutes. It helped that I skipped the individual spices and just used a mix we had in our pantry. Love a quick weeknight meal. [Taste & Tell]

I think this is a legit reason for research. [xkcd]

A co-worker shared Cat Bounce in our internal chat and it amused us all. It’s designed to teach physics but is mostly just absurd fun. Make it rain!

No interviews for work this week so I my calendar has some breathing room. Maybe I can get some project work done.