C.'s bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:54:59 -0700 60 C.'s bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Secrets of the Blue Moon 217484042 all her ghosts.

Marnie Putnam is devastated by her husband’s seeming indifference over her recent miscarriages and job loss. Trying to avoid the inevitable, she makes a temporary move to quaint Lake Gardner, Georgia, to record some local oral histories and find some space. But when noises and visions plague her at night, Marnie grapples to know if it’s her own past regrets that haunt her—or something more sinister here in the house where two women died under the blue moon years earlier.

Deciding to confront her fears, Marnie stays, embracing the town’s quirky stories and characters. She even begins to face ghosts of her own—psychological and real—that she thought she’d buried long ago. But when another blue moon rises and yet another heinous death takes place, Marnie knows her life is in danger.

If she returns home to her husband, she’ll be safe, but without the answers she desperately seeks. But if she stays, will she survive?]]>
303 Jan Heidrich-Rice C. 0 to-read 4.43 Secrets of the Blue Moon
author: Jan Heidrich-Rice
name: C.
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Diamond Eye 58490567 The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper--a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC--until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila's past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.]]>
435 Kate Quinn 0062943510 C. 5
In the story, she deals with chauvinism, a jealous, vindictive husband, and a plot to kill Franklin Roosevelt, then blame it on her.

It is fast-paced and intriguing.]]>
4.26 2022 The Diamond Eye
author: Kate Quinn
name: C.
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
I love a good fictionalized story based on real events. The Diamond Eye was one of those. Quinn tells the tale of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a young Russian woman who is shipped off to war and becomes one of the top sharpshooters during the war between Russia and Germany. In the end, her official record of kills was 309 with more that were unofficial.

In the story, she deals with chauvinism, a jealous, vindictive husband, and a plot to kill Franklin Roosevelt, then blame it on her.

It is fast-paced and intriguing.
]]>
The Rose Code 53914938 The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy...]]>
624 Kate Quinn 0062943472 C. 5 ]]> 4.42 2021 The Rose Code
author: Kate Quinn
name: C.
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
The Rose Code is an excellent novel that blends history and fiction into an intriguing and memorable WWII story. At the core are three women who in peacetime would never have met, their loves and losses, and the vow of secrecy that would bind them together for a lifetime. However, the author steps up the intrigue with a traitor and a horrible miscarriage of justice. Like a whodunit, the reader won’t know who that traitor is or if they will be brought to justice until almost the end.

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Romney: A Reckoning 101025305 A remarkably illuminating biography of the political maverick, filled with revelations and written with his full cooperation by an award-winning writer at The Atlantic.

Authoritative, personal, and vividly written, Romney: A Reckoning is a revealing account of Mitt Romney’s life.

Based on dozens of exclusive interviews with Romney, his family, and his inner circle as well as hundreds of pages of his personal journals, this book offers a rare, portrait of a politician who in recent years has been at the center of our nation’s most defining political dramas.]]>
416 McKay Coppins 1982196238 C. 0 to-read 4.33 2023 Romney: A Reckoning
author: McKay Coppins
name: C.
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Exiles 49397137 The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in nineteenth-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.


During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose,ĚýThe ExilesĚýis a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

Ěý
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370 Christina Baker Kline 0062356348 C. 4 4.12 2020 The Exiles
author: Christina Baker Kline
name: C.
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis]]> 198493808
No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, THE SITUATION ROOM will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations, THE SITUATION ROOM is the definitive, past-the-security-clearance look at the room where it happened, and the people—the famous and those you've never heard of—who have made history within its walls.]]>
368 George Stephanopoulos 1538740761 C. 5 fabulous-non-fiction
You'll hear about men and women who made critical decisions--both right and wrong, learn about the honorable people who sought to serve their country and their president to the best of their ability and find out some of the worst about those in power.

Another fascinating aspect of The Situation Room is how it traces the development of technology and the way it has affected U.S. security. It’s available on Audible. I don’t usually recommend audiobooks, but this one is unique.]]>
4.30 2024 The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
author: George Stephanopoulos
name: C.
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos is a must-read. It includes fantastic first-hand interviews, original taped exchanges, and anecdotes that cover the history from the Kennedy to the Biden administration in the crucible of one hugely important room in the White House.

You'll hear about men and women who made critical decisions--both right and wrong, learn about the honorable people who sought to serve their country and their president to the best of their ability and find out some of the worst about those in power.

Another fascinating aspect of The Situation Room is how it traces the development of technology and the way it has affected U.S. security. It’s available on Audible. I don’t usually recommend audiobooks, but this one is unique.
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Commonwealth 28214365
Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.]]>
322 Ann Patchett 0062491792 C. 5
This was an intriguing read with frequent but well-constructed flashbacks from different points of view. Each one reveals a bit more of what happened over the decades this story takes place. Excellent read.]]>
3.81 2016 Commonwealth
author: Ann Patchett
name: C.
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves:
review:
When Bert Cousins crashes a baby shower with his "inappropriate" gift--a bottle of gin and meets Franny Keating, a tiny drop of fate ripples throughout both families. First, there's divorce, then relocation, the mingling of the Cousin and Keating children, and years of lives altered. For the better or the worse? That's the question and a very human one.

This was an intriguing read with frequent but well-constructed flashbacks from different points of view. Each one reveals a bit more of what happened over the decades this story takes place. Excellent read.
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<![CDATA[Snapshot of a Murder: An Izzy Munro Cozy Mystery (Izzy Munro Mysteries Book 1)]]> 196704771 Isadora Munro can take a hint. After being laid off from her job, dumped by her fiancé, and ousted from her home—all on her fortieth birthday—Izzy packs up what’s left of her life in San Francisco and heads to the picturesque beach town of Carmel-by-the-Sea to lick her wounds. To her surprise, the cottage she’s inherited from her Great Aunt Dora comes complete with a built-in roommate—a bossy Burmese cat named Bogart.After a local baker and chocolatier collapses in Izzy’s arms at the town’s annual Halloween parade and later dies, a colorful trio of Aunt Dora’s friends rallies to her side. The whole village is on edge with a killer on the loose, so Izzy and her new friends team up with an old colleague, a former SFPD homicide detective, to solve the murder before one of them becomes the next victim.]]> 280 Alison Henderson C. 4 4.60 Snapshot of a Murder: An Izzy Munro Cozy Mystery (Izzy Munro Mysteries Book 1)
author: Alison Henderson
name: C.
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 203956647 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 059365322X.]]>
400 Richard Osman C. 0 to-read 4.06 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: C.
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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Unshelter 7727077 34 Page Hill Starzinger 1934819115 C. 0 could-t-finish 3.46 2009 Unshelter
author: Page Hill Starzinger
name: C.
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves: could-t-finish
review:

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Unsheltered 37959904
Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development.

In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland’s past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.

A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Thatcher’s friendships with a brilliant woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor draw him into a vendetta with the town’s most powerful men. At home, his new wife and status-conscious mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his financial worries and the news that their elegant house is structurally unsound.

Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred—whether family or friends—and in the strength of the human spirit.]]>
Barbara Kingsolver 0062865501 C. 4
I had one issue that I'm still thinking about--the ending. I wanted to know how Zeek and Tig resolved or didn't resolve the issue of motherless Dusty. I wanted to know more about Thatcher Greenwood and Mary Trent's final relationship. ]]>
3.58 2018 Unsheltered
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: C.
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
Unsheltered takes its place alongside The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, and Demon Copperfield, to name three of my Kingsolver favorites. Once again, I was captivated by her intelligent, poetic prose and the characters who spun into life as complex and relatable humans.

I had one issue that I'm still thinking about--the ending. I wanted to know how Zeek and Tig resolved or didn't resolve the issue of motherless Dusty. I wanted to know more about Thatcher Greenwood and Mary Trent's final relationship.
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The Dead Sea Cipher 66505 384 Elizabeth Peters 0380731142 C. 3 meh 3.66 1970 The Dead Sea Cipher
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: C.
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1970
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/05
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: meh
review:
I was disappointed in this one and surprised because I usually enjoy Peters's books. The plot seemed fragmented and the characters uninteresting.
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<![CDATA[Transcender: First-Timer (Transcender, #1)]]> 12180852 The powerful Inter-Universal Guidance Agency (IUGA) engineers her escape and is working overtime to return her home.

But now Jaden's not sure where she belongs. In this world, she has her mother back (a miracle she never imagined). She's known as Princess Jaden, a member of the royal family of one of the three surviving nations,and against her better judgment, she's fallen insanely in love with Ryder Blackthorn, the most wanted outlaw in the land.

Can the IUGA force her to go? Or is Jaden what others in the land beleive she is--a Transcender with the ability to travel among alternate worlds at will?

She's not sure what to believe or who she can trust--except herself.]]>
426 Vicky Savage 0615497225 C. 0 to-read 3.86 2011 Transcender: First-Timer (Transcender, #1)
author: Vicky Savage
name: C.
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Quest for Home (Crossroads #2)]]> 52846761
"Bravo Jacqui! A fine read and meticulous research." -- Sue Harrison, author of the acclaimed Ivory Carver Trilogy,

Xhosa flees what she had hoped would be her new home after being attacked by invaders from the North. She leads her People on a grueling journey through unknown and dangerous lands of what we now call Europe. As she struggles to overcome strangers around her and disruptions within her People, Xhosa faces the reality that her most dangerous enemy may not be the one she expected. It may be one she has trusted with her life.

The story is set 850,000 years ago, a time in prehistory when man populated most of Eurasia. He was a violent species, fully capable of addressing the many hardships that threatened his survival except for future man, a smarter version of himself, one destined to obliterate any who came before.

Based on a true story, this is an unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict and passion as early man spreads across Eurasia. Xhosa must regularly does the impossible which is good because nothing less than the future of mankind is at stake.]]>
358 Jacqui Murray 1942101414 C. 5
Once again Murray has made primitive men and women come to life on the page. There are those we admire, those we find intriguing, and others we come to dislike. The author includes so much about early man—medicine, language development, migration—based on her research, but she does so without letting the pace of the action suffer.

I read Clan of the Cave Bear years ago, and enjoyed it, but I truly felt that A Quest for Home had a much richer story because of the character development and the details of primitive life. This is book two of the Crossroads trilogy, and it takes its rightful place next to book one, Survival of the Fittest. Both are excellent reads.

I did receive an ARC of this book, and this is my honest reaction to the story.



Merged review:

A Quest for Home hits the ground running. Xhosa and her People have fled from the Others, but they’ve barely survived. The question is will they be able to regroup, re-establish the leadership they need, and make the treacherous journey to the home they seek? The odds are against them. The environment, the clans that are already established in the territory they must cross, and a traitor in their midst all conspire to destroy their chance of survival.

Once again Murray has made primitive men and women come to life on the page. There are those we admire, those we find intriguing, and others we come to dislike. The author includes so much about early man—medicine, language development, migration—based on her research, but she does so without letting the pace of the action suffer.

I read Clan of the Cave Bear years ago, and enjoyed it, but I truly felt that A Quest for Home had a much richer story because of the character development and the details of primitive life. This is book two of the Crossroads trilogy, and it takes its rightful place next to book one, Survival of the Fittest. Both are excellent reads.

I did receive an ARC of this book, and this is my honest reaction to the story.]]>
4.52 The Quest for Home (Crossroads #2)
author: Jacqui Murray
name: C.
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/28
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves:
review:
A Quest for Home hits the ground running. Xhosa and her People have fled from the Others, but they’ve barely survived. The question is will they be able to regroup, re-establish the leadership they need, and make the treacherous journey to the home they seek? The odds are against them. The environment, the clans that are already established in the territory they must cross, and a traitor in their midst all conspire to destroy their chance of survival.

Once again Murray has made primitive men and women come to life on the page. There are those we admire, those we find intriguing, and others we come to dislike. The author includes so much about early man—medicine, language development, migration—based on her research, but she does so without letting the pace of the action suffer.

I read Clan of the Cave Bear years ago, and enjoyed it, but I truly felt that A Quest for Home had a much richer story because of the character development and the details of primitive life. This is book two of the Crossroads trilogy, and it takes its rightful place next to book one, Survival of the Fittest. Both are excellent reads.

I did receive an ARC of this book, and this is my honest reaction to the story.



Merged review:

A Quest for Home hits the ground running. Xhosa and her People have fled from the Others, but they’ve barely survived. The question is will they be able to regroup, re-establish the leadership they need, and make the treacherous journey to the home they seek? The odds are against them. The environment, the clans that are already established in the territory they must cross, and a traitor in their midst all conspire to destroy their chance of survival.

Once again Murray has made primitive men and women come to life on the page. There are those we admire, those we find intriguing, and others we come to dislike. The author includes so much about early man—medicine, language development, migration—based on her research, but she does so without letting the pace of the action suffer.

I read Clan of the Cave Bear years ago, and enjoyed it, but I truly felt that A Quest for Home had a much richer story because of the character development and the details of primitive life. This is book two of the Crossroads trilogy, and it takes its rightful place next to book one, Survival of the Fittest. Both are excellent reads.

I did receive an ARC of this book, and this is my honest reaction to the story.
]]>
<![CDATA[Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Fall/Winter]]> 25579577
Excerpts include new work from established leaders in the field (James Dashner, Jennifer Donnelly, Patrick Ness, and Lauren Oliver), authors best-known for their adult books (Eleanor Herman and Cammie McGovern), and newsmaking titles such as the highly graphic History of Glitter and Blood, Illuminae, and The Thing About Jellyfish.

You will find a full range of YA titles previewed here —dystopian, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, humor, literary and more — and you will find some works for tweens and middle-grade readers. As always, many are sure to make bestseller and “best of” lists.

Four of our titles will be featured at this year’s Book Expo America convention on their own YA or Middle Grade Editors Buzz panels: Everything Everything, Nightfall, This Raging Light, and The Thing About Jellyfish. Plus, half of our 20 Buzz Books: Young Adult authors will be in attendance at BEA.

Start reading some of the best future books right now, and then share the fun by telling your friends and family to download this free edition of Buzz Books for themselves at any major ebookstore or at buzz.publishersmarketplace.com.

And for even more great reads, be sure to look for Buzz Books 2015: Fall/Winter, also available now (9780990835394), for the best in adult fiction and nonfiction.]]>
270 Publishers Lunch 0990835375 C. 5 4.15 2015 Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Fall/Winter
author: Publishers Lunch
name: C.
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

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I Live In A Doghouse 23596419

I LIVE IN A DOGHOUSE is the story of a boy's struggles to accept his new family while he longs for the old. When his father finally returns, will Nick's dreams come true? Or will he discover that memories sometimes are faulty, and it’s best to forget the past and treasure the present?]]>
128 Beverly Stowe McClure C. 5 4.82 2015 I Live In A Doghouse
author: Beverly Stowe McClure
name: C.
average rating: 4.82
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/04/12
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:

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The Ex-Husband 57578397
It’s an offer she can’t refuse…and might not survive.

Charlotte has an unsavory past, but she’s on the straight and narrow these days. She was so young then—she married the wrong man, falling for Sam’s sweet-talking charm and charisma, and got caught up in his con artist games.

If only she’d left him before things went too far.

Now Sam is missing. But before he disappeared, he left urgent, cryptic messages about someone threatening him—someone who has been threatening Charlotte, too.
So Charlotte takes a job as a personal assistant for an engagement party aboard a private luxury cruise ship, the Cleobella , to get far away from anyone who means her harm.

But as the Cleobella sails through its glittering destinations, increasingly sinister events haunt the guests, and the turquoise waves and sun-drenched beaches give way to something darker. Someone knows what Charlotte did. Is it the blushing bride? The seemingly placid mother-in-law? Or the mysterious heiress?

Someone knows, and someone wants revenge—before the ship reaches its final port.]]>
352 Karen Hamilton 1525811606 C. 4 shameless-pleasure-reads 3.19 2022 The Ex-Husband
author: Karen Hamilton
name: C.
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: shameless-pleasure-reads
review:

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Elon Musk 122765395 From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?]]>
688 Walter Isaacson 1982181281 C. 5
I came away with important information about a man who is so much in the daily news and who espouses opinions I disagree with but goals (privatization of space exploration/colonization on Mars) I admire. My take is that while Musk has the gift of a visionary, he lacks the capacity for compassion. He might well be the most dangerous man in the world. ]]>
4.28 2023 Elon Musk
author: Walter Isaacson
name: C.
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:
Isaacson is an excellent biographer. Elon Musk is the second of his books that I've read, and once again, I admired his research and the way he presented it. There are parts that read like an exciting novel.

I came away with important information about a man who is so much in the daily news and who espouses opinions I disagree with but goals (privatization of space exploration/colonization on Mars) I admire. My take is that while Musk has the gift of a visionary, he lacks the capacity for compassion. He might well be the most dangerous man in the world.
]]>
Because No One Noticed 216016326 Editor's Pick

Five juniors at Las Animas High have a long history together. They love, dislike, or tolerate each other depending on the day. Occupied with class assignments, career choices, family disharmony, and the usual teen turbulence, none of them thinks seriously of the danger lurking in their near future or how fragile and temporary life is.

Inspired by real-life tragedy, the story unfolds in alternating points of view as the characters explore the resilience of their hearts and their ability to rebuild their lives after a shattering tragedy.]]>
271 C. Lee McKenzie 0369510240 C. 5 4.64 Because No One Noticed
author: C. Lee McKenzie
name: C.
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves:
review:

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Redemption Road 26883206 Now at NYT Besteller

Over 2 million copies of his books in print. The first and only author to win back-to-back Edgars for Best Novel. Every book a New York Times bestseller. After five years, John Hart is back.

Since his debut bestseller, The King of Lies, reviewers across the country have heaped praise on John Hart, comparing his writing to that of Pat Conroy, Cormac McCarthy and Scott Turow. Each novel has taken Hart higher on the New York Times Bestseller list as his masterful writing and assured evocation of place have won readers around the world and earned history's only consecutive Edgar Awards for Best Novel with Down River and The Last Child. Now, Hart delivers his most powerful story yet.
Imagine:

A boy with a gun waits for the man who killed his mother.

A troubled detective confronts her past in the aftermath of a brutal shooting.

After thirteen years in prison, a good cop walks free as deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen…

This is a town on the brink.

This is Redemption Road.

Brimming with tension, secrets, and betrayal, Redemption Road proves again that John Hart is a master of the literary thriller.

]]>
417 John Hart 0312380364 C. 3
Still, it was a compelling story, and I was gratified by the ending.

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4.07 2016 Redemption Road
author: John Hart
name: C.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves:
review:
There are two main threads in this story: the incredibly strong police officer, Elizabeth, and the reason for her connection with the abused children, and then Adrian, the convict who suffers at the hands of a corrupt prison system. Numerous side issues complicate, obfuscate, and enhance the story. There were so many that I sometimes became impatient. I wanted the plot to unfold more quickly.

Still, it was a compelling story, and I was gratified by the ending.


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<![CDATA[The Last Child (Johnny Merrimon, #1)]]> 5556466
Determined to find his sister, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown. It is a desperate, terrifying search, but Johnny is not as alone as he might think. Detective Clyde Hunt has never stopped looking for Alyssa either, and he has a soft spot for Johnny. He watches over the boy and tries to keep him safe, but when Johnny uncovers a dangerous lead and vows to follow it, Hunt has no choice but to intervene.

Then a second child goes missing...

Undeterred by Hunt's threats or his mother's pleas, Johnny enlists the help of his last friend, and together they plunge into the wild, to a forgotten place with a history of violence that goes back more than a hundred years. There, they meet a giant of a man, an escaped convict on his own tragic quest. What they learn from him will shatter every notion Johnny had about the fate of his sister; it will lead them to another far place, to a truth that will test both boys to the limit.

Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power.]]>
373 John Hart 0312359322 C. 5 4.11 2009 The Last Child (Johnny Merrimon, #1)
author: John Hart
name: C.
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
It has been a year since Alyssa Merrion vanished. Neither Detective Hunt nor Alyssa’s twin brother, Johnny, can stop their search. What is surprising and engaging about this story is that you’ll never guess what the truth is until the end. Even the significance of the title doesn’t become clear until The End. The excellent characterization is a bonus. Usually, I don’t expect that as much as the fast-paced action-driven plot. In The Last Child I got everything. This is the kind of book that you can’t stop reading, but you’d like never to end.
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<![CDATA[Irresistible In Love (The Maverick Billionaires, #4)]]> 30001625
Paige Ryan has always loved Evan Collins, a secret she's hugged close to her heart for nine long years. But when her sister's devastating betrayal is revealed, Paige can't keep her feelings hidden any longer.

Paige is a beacon of light for Evan. Despite believing he needs to keep the walls around his heart stronger than ever, he's irresistibly drawn to her sweet, pure heart--and the undeniable sparks flaring between them. She's the only one he trusts to help him face the darkness of his past head-on before it destroys him. But will their forbidden romance end up destroying them both?

IRRESISTIBLE IN LOVE is an exciting and emotional contemporary romance from New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors Bella Andre and Jennifer Skully! The Maverick Billionaires are sexy, self-made men from the wrong side of town who survived hell together and now have everything they ever wanted. But when each Maverick falls head-over-heels for an incredible woman he never saw coming, he will soon find that true love is the only thing he ever really needed...]]>
330 Bella Andre 1945253312 C. 0 to-read 4.02 2016 Irresistible In Love (The Maverick Billionaires, #4)
author: Bella Andre
name: C.
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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In Doubt 19162674
As she digs deeper into Donny's past, Sophie begins to suspect that he might not be the cold-blooded killer everyone thinks he is. Does Donny's narcissistic mother really have her son's best interest in mind? Is Donny's mentor who runs Boys Into Men, a program for disadvantaged youths, the altruistic man he claims to be? Is Donny a deranged murderer, or a victim of his circumstances acting out of desperation? As Sophie races to uncover the truth, she is forced to come to terms with her past and to fight for what she knows is right...even if it means risking her reputation and possibly her life.]]>
384 Drusilla Campbell 1455510335 C. 4 middle-grade-romps
The reason I liked this story is because it's so much like life--it's messy and not tied up in a neat package. When the book ends the story continues in your mind, and you imagine the next chapter for Donny as well as his attorney, Sophie Giraudo.]]>
3.49 2014 In Doubt
author: Drusilla Campbell
name: C.
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/01
date added: 2024/08/01
shelves: middle-grade-romps
review:
There's no doubt that Donny Crider shot the governor. The real story is why. While everyone in town thinks he should receive the maximum penalty for premeditated attempted murder, a stubborn yet emotionally vulnerable attorney wants to find the real story. She wants to give the young boy some justice...something he has never had.

The reason I liked this story is because it's so much like life--it's messy and not tied up in a neat package. When the book ends the story continues in your mind, and you imagine the next chapter for Donny as well as his attorney, Sophie Giraudo.
]]>
Altar of Bones 9376703 “They didn’t have to kill him…He never drank from the altar of bones.”ĚýĚý

Cryptic dying words from a murderedĚýhomeless woman in present day San Francisco unlock a decades-buried secret that changed history.Ěý Now a pair of ruthless assassins are sent to cut theĚýfew living "loose ends."ĚýĚýAndĚýaĚýyoung, resourceful woman on the run encounters aĚýdetermined man with his own connected past and vengeful agenda.Ěý Forced to partnerĚýfor survival and answers, aĚýfast-pacedĚýand deadly game of cat and mouseĚýensues, taking them across the globe fromĚýthe winding streets of ParisĚýto the fadedĚýpalaces of Budapest to the frozen lakes of Mongolia...where destiny, passion,ĚýandĚýfurther betrayal await them.ĚýĚý

The Altar of Bones has it all: The Russian mob.Ěý KGB spies.Ěý Presidential assasination.ĚýĚýA doomed Hollywood legend.ĚýĚýDeathbed confessions.Ěý Corrosive power.Ěý Shattered families.Ěý Guardians of an ancientĚýreligious icon housing a secret others willĚýkill to possess.Ěý The dark promiseĚýof immortality.ĚýAnd it delivers on its ambitious premise to leave you stunned and breathless at the end.

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455 Philip Carter 1439199086 C. 3 meh ]]> 3.70 2011 Altar of Bones
author: Philip Carter
name: C.
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/26
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves: meh
review:
While I got caught up in parts of this book, there were times I thought about abandoning it because it was dreadfully dull. The two main characters that finally emerged were the stereotypical superheroes who almost leaped tall buildings at a single bound. However, they were charismatic enough to make their interaction exciting. There were several twists that also helped me through the book. It was an okay read, but I admit to skimming several chapters.

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Cat and The Dreamer 13485879
When Adam arrives in the office, Julia’s world takes a startling turn as she realises reality can be much more fun than fantasy. Finally she has someone who can help her make the most of her life.

But can she allow herself to be truly happy?]]>
73 Annalisa Crawford C. 5
I can't describe what happens in this story without giving away the brilliance of the storytelling here. All I can say is you will find it tantalizing and surprising. ]]>
4.42 2012 Cat and The Dreamer
author: Annalisa Crawford
name: C.
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/02
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves:
review:
Such a tragedy. Two girls. Both only fifteen and one of them dead? That's what happens and only because of a chance meeting at a vulnerable time.

I can't describe what happens in this story without giving away the brilliance of the storytelling here. All I can say is you will find it tantalizing and surprising.
]]>
The Bane Witch 211004908 Practical Magic meets Gone Girl in Ava Morgyn's next dark, spellbinding novel about a woman who is more than a witch - she's a hunter. Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things - plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become… concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story. But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger - it’s a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters - Bane Witches – women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men. Piers sets out to earn her place in her family’s gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle’s cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she’s been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing - it’s time to feed. In Ava Morgyn’s dark, thrilling novel, The Bane Witch, a very little poison can do a world of good.]]> 384 Ava Morgyn 1250835453 C. 0 to-read 4.02 2025 The Bane Witch
author: Ava Morgyn
name: C.
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind]]> 11735875
Lyrically told and gloriously illustrated, this story will inspire many as it shows how—even in the worst of times—a great idea and a lot of hard work can still rock the world.]]>
32 William Kamkwamba 0803735111 C. 0 to-read 4.23 2009 The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
author: William Kamkwamba
name: C.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Something Wicked This Way Comes]]> 248596 Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.]]>
293 Ray Bradbury 0380729407 C. 5
It's not so much the plot that pulls you into this dark fantasy and keeps you mesmerized as it is the language. Bradbury's prose is a shape-shifting octopus that wraps you with all arms and makes you read to the end. ]]>
3.91 1962 Something Wicked This Way Comes
author: Ray Bradbury
name: C.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
I read this book years ago, and this time I think it terrified me more than the first time around. Set somewhere in the USA in October--the month when death is most likely to visit--finds two boys caught up in the intrigue of a carnival. It arrives three hours after midnight and Mr. Dark soon ensnares some townspeople with promises and a carousel ride. Next, he wants Jim and Will, and the only thing standing between his success and their survival is Will's dad.

It's not so much the plot that pulls you into this dark fantasy and keeps you mesmerized as it is the language. Bradbury's prose is a shape-shifting octopus that wraps you with all arms and makes you read to the end.
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<![CDATA[The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession]]> 62873378 One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.

This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.]]>
224 Michael Finkel 0525657320 C. 5 fabulous-non-fiction
Part of the fascination with the thief named Breitweiser is that he steals to possess, not to profit. Another part is his genius which if turned in the “right” direction could have made him a valuable asset to the art world.
]]>
3.92 2023 The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
author: Michael Finkel
name: C.
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
The Art Thief reads like a soft-pedaled, but mesmerizing true-crime-psychological thriller. With each theft of a priceless piece, you’re sure the jig has to be up, but this most prolific art thief in the world eludes the police time after time for decades.

Part of the fascination with the thief named Breitweiser is that he steals to possess, not to profit. Another part is his genius which if turned in the “right” direction could have made him a valuable asset to the art world.

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The Heart of Winter 211025449
Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together—at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a seventy-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador, Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and from their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged.

But when Ruth’s loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they’ve created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other.

In this bighearted and profound portrait of a marriage, Jonathan Evison explores seventy years of big moments in subtle ways, elegantly braiding the Winters’ turbulent history with their present-day battles, showing us how the oddly paired college kids became parents, fell apart and back together, andgrew into the Abe and Ruth of today. Endlessly heartwarming and moving, The Heart of Winter is a reminder that true love lives in small, everyday moments.]]>
368 Jonathan Evison 059347354X C. 0 to-read 4.08 2025 The Heart of Winter
author: Jonathan Evison
name: C.
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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Bread Alone (Bread Alone, #1) 681545 Once again, the desire to bake bread consumes her thoughts. When offered a position at the bake shop, Wyn quickly accepts, hoping that the baking will help her move on. But soon Wyn discovers that the making of bread—the kneading of the dough—possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power—one that will ultimately renew her heart and her soul.

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368 Judi Hendricks 0060084405 C. 4
There's humor, pathos, and just a plain good story couched in some excellent prose.]]>
3.74 2001 Bread Alone (Bread Alone, #1)
author: Judi Hendricks
name: C.
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves:
review:
When her husband sets her possessions on the front door and changes the locks, Wyn gets the hint. Their marriage is over before she realizes it has been over for some time. She's desperate to find a way to survive the loss of not only her husband but her cushy lifestyle. What she finds is her true passion--making bread. And once she finds that, she also finds her very resilient self and a man who won't try to sweep her into his life, but will join her in hers.

There's humor, pathos, and just a plain good story couched in some excellent prose.
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<![CDATA[The Alexander Cipher (Daniel Knox, #1)]]> 2597301
It's 2007 and underwater archaeologist Daniel Knox has been on the trail of Alexander's Gold ever since he can remember. When a tomb is uncovered on the construction site of a new hotel, Daniel believes he has found the clue to what he has been working towards for years. But the discovery has alerted two of the most dangerous men in the world, and Daniel is now a marked man.]]>
517 Will Adams C. 3 meh
I finished the book because I love anything archeology, and the search for Alexander's real tomb grabbed my attention. ]]>
3.61 2007 The Alexander Cipher (Daniel Knox, #1)
author: Will Adams
name: C.
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves: meh
review:
The best part of this book was the final third when the Thriller part kicked in. The rest kind of slogs along. First, it was hard to identify with the characters because the characterization wasn't the best. One, Elena, was totally not believable, and the romance didn't spark much interest.

I finished the book because I love anything archeology, and the search for Alexander's real tomb grabbed my attention.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race]]> 54968118 The Double Helix on her bed. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would.

Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned ​a curiosity ​of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions.

The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code.

Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids?

After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020.]]>
536 Walter Isaacson 1982115858 C. 5
While the book follows Doudna's fascination with the way nature works, and how that fascination led to her discovery of gene editing, it goes into much more, notably the shift from the research institutions pre-occupation with patents to more collegial relationships. This shift was a huge factor in developing the RNA Covid vaccine. It includes many significant discoveries by other scientists around the world, so the focus is much wider than Doudna's work that led to her Nobel Prize.

Reading The Code Breaker will not only enlighten you regarding CRISPER, but it will make you curious about what is coming next and how it will affect our species.]]>
4.23 2021 The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
author: Walter Isaacson
name: C.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:
This book is much more than a biography of Jennifer Doudna. In it, Isaacson delves into the highly complex and life-changing scientific breakthrough called CRISPER, a gene editing tool, and makes it possible for the lay reader to understand this new tool as well as the complexity of the ethical questions it has raised.

While the book follows Doudna's fascination with the way nature works, and how that fascination led to her discovery of gene editing, it goes into much more, notably the shift from the research institutions pre-occupation with patents to more collegial relationships. This shift was a huge factor in developing the RNA Covid vaccine. It includes many significant discoveries by other scientists around the world, so the focus is much wider than Doudna's work that led to her Nobel Prize.

Reading The Code Breaker will not only enlighten you regarding CRISPER, but it will make you curious about what is coming next and how it will affect our species.
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<![CDATA[The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane]]> 25150798
Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.

As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.]]>
384 Lisa See C. 5 4.29 2017 The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
author: Lisa See
name: C.
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
This was a beautifully told story about an ethnic Chinese woman who travels not only thousands of miles from her remote mountain village into the bustle of modern cities, but also from centuries of tribal tradition into the world of commerce and wealth. It follows Li-yan through sorrow, betrayal, and devastating loss and rewards the reader with a satisfying conclusion—a celebration of family, tradition, and love.
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<![CDATA[Crones Don't Whine: Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women (Devine Feminine and Goddesses in Older Women)]]> 378547 116 Jean Shinoda Bolen 1573249122 C. 0 to-read 3.87 2003 Crones Don't Whine: Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women (Devine Feminine and Goddesses in Older Women)
author: Jean Shinoda Bolen
name: C.
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion, #1)]]> 95617 520 Francine Rivers C. 4 4.57 1993 A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion, #1)
author: Francine Rivers
name: C.
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/12
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves:
review:

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I'll Walk Alone 8682579 The Queen Of Suspense Is Back!

Mary Higgins Clark’s new novel—the thirtieth and most spine-chilling of her long career as America’s most beloved author of suspense fiction— is about the newest and most up-to-date of crimes: identity theft.

Who has not read about—or experienced—with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity.

In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra “Zan” Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Zan is already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park—a tragedy that has left her torn between hope and despair.

Now, on what would be Matthew’s fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody—but who? Zan asks herself desperately, and why?—has stolen her identity.

Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Zan, wracked by fear and pain and sustained only by her belief, which nobody else shares, that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax. What she does not realize is that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself— and those she loves most—in mortal danger from the person who has ingeniously plotted out her destruction.

Even Zan’s supporters, who include Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner and amateur detective, and Father Aiden O’Brien, who thinks that Zan may have confessed to him a secret he cannot reveal, believe she may have kidnapped little Matthew. Zan herself begins to doubt her own sanity, until, in the kind of fast-paced explosive ending that is Mary Higgins Clark’s trademark, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place with an unexpected and shocking revelation.

Deeply satisfying, I'll Walk Alone is Mary Higgins Clark at the top of her form.]]>
337 Mary Higgins Clark 1439180962 C. 4 3.81 2011 I'll Walk Alone
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/27
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the â€80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]>
389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 C. 5 shameless-pleasure-reads 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: C.
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves: shameless-pleasure-reads
review:

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<![CDATA[Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry]]> 41745605
When investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a “CRyan” describing her “terrible experience” while working at REL, a high-profile television news network, including the comment “and I’m not the only one,” Gina knows she has to pursue the story. But when Ryan goes silent, Gina is shocked to discover the young woman has died tragically in a Jet Ski accident while on holiday.

Meanwhile, REL counsel Michael Carter finds himself in a tricky spot. Several female employees have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Carter approaches the CEO, offering to persuade the victims to accept settlements in exchange for their silence. It’s a risky endeavor, but it could well make him rich.

As more allegations emerge and the company’s IPO draws near, Carter’s attempts to keep the story from making headlines are matched only by Gina Kane’s determination to uncover the truth. Was Ryan’s death truly an accident? And when another accuser turns up dead, Gina realizes someone—or some people—will go to depraved lengths to keep the story from seeing the light.]]>
384 Mary Higgins Clark 1501171704 C. 5 my-mystery-delights
Of all her books so far, this is my favorite.]]>
3.71 2019 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
In this one, Clark does the Me Too movement proud. It was fast-paced, had some of her better character development than she usually does, and a plot that kept me reading into the night.

Of all her books so far, this is my favorite.
]]>
Lies We Sing to the Sea 194899075 432 Sarah Underwood 0063234491 C. 0 to-read 3.61 2023 Lies We Sing to the Sea
author: Sarah Underwood
name: C.
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Lost Years 12553276 In her long career as America’s most beloved suspense writer, Mary Higgins Clark’s The Lost Years is her most astonishing and dramatic novel to date. At its center is a discovery that, if authenticated, may be the most revered document in human history—“the holiest of the holy”—and certainly the most coveted and valuable object in the world.

In The Lost Years, Mary Higgins Clark, America’s Queen of Suspense, has written her most astonishing novel to date. At its center is a discovery that, if authenticated, may be the most revered document in human history—“the holiest of the holy”—and certainly the most coveted and valuable object in the world.

Biblical scholar Jonathan Lyons believes he has found the rarest of parchments—a letter that may have been written by Jesus Christ. Stolen from the Vatican Library in the 1500s, the letter was assumed to be lost forever. Now, under the promise of secrecy, Jonathan is able to confirm his findings with several other experts. But he also confides in a family friend his suspicion that someone he once trusted wants to sell the parchment and cash in.

Within days Jonathan is found shot to death in his study. At the same time, his wife, Kathleen, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, is found hiding in the study closet, incoherent and clutching the murder weapon. Even in her dementia, Kathleen has known that her husband was carrying on a long-term affair. Did Kathleen kill her husband in a jealous rage, as the police contend? Or is his death tied to the larger question: Who has possession of the priceless parchment that has now gone missing?

It is up to their daughter, twenty-eight-year-old Mariah, to clear her mother of murder charges and unravel the real mystery behind her father’s death. Mary Higgins Clark’s The Lost Years is at once a breathless murder mystery and a hunt for what may be the most precious religious and archaeological treasure of all time.]]>
292 Mary Higgins Clark 1451668864 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
Once I started this journey, I was hooked and had to read to the end. That was the only way to discover the name of the murderer.]]>
3.40 2012 The Lost Years
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
As usual, Higgins Clark has many characters involved in a mysterious crime—this time the murder of a biblical scholar. As in all her novels that I’ve read, she complicates the plot with a number of viable suspects. In this one, she includes a tantalizing movtive for the murder—a rare parchment. It’s reputed to be a letter written by Jesus Christ.

Once I started this journey, I was hooked and had to read to the end. That was the only way to discover the name of the murderer.
]]>
Just Take My Heart 3609537 IN WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING SUSPENSEĚýWRITER MARY HIGGINS CLARK’S SPELLBINDING NEW THRILLER, A BROADWAY STAR’S MURDER IGNITES A SHOCKING SERIES OF DEADLY EVENTS. . . .

After famous actress Natalie Raines is found in her home, dying from a gunshot wound, police immediately suspect her theatrical agent and jealous soon-to-be-ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. But no charges are brought against him until two years later, when a career criminal suddenly claims Aldrich had tried to hire him to kill her.

The case is a plum assignment for attractive thirty-two-year-old assistant prosecutor Emily Wallace. She spends long hours preparing for the trial, and unaware of a seemingly well-meaning neighbor’s violent past, gives him a key to her home to care for her dog.

The high-profile trial makes headlines, threatening to reveal personal matters about Emily, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant— especially when she experiences eerie sentiments that defy all reason and continue even after the jury decides Gregg Aldrich’s fate.

But little does she know, now her own life is at risk. . . .

]]>
322 Mary Higgins Clark 1416570861 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
As usual, Higgins Clark muddies the waters so you don’t know who the killer is until the end. In this mystery, it’s particularly satisfying when poetic justice is doled out to those who are guilty.

This story as with all the others I’ve read of Higgins Clark, is a quick satisfying read. However, I wasn’t fond of the title. I thought it missed the mark and should have been called Listen To Your Heart.

]]>
3.77 2009 Just Take My Heart
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/19
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
Broadway star Natalie Raines is found dead in her home and her estranged husband and agent, Gregg Aldrich, is suspected of the murder. A prosecutor, Emily Wallace, is assigned the case, but while she sorts through the evidence, she is unaware that she is in serious jeopardy from a disturbed serial killer who just happens to be her neighbor.

As usual, Higgins Clark muddies the waters so you don’t know who the killer is until the end. In this mystery, it’s particularly satisfying when poetic justice is doled out to those who are guilty.

This story as with all the others I’ve read of Higgins Clark, is a quick satisfying read. However, I wasn’t fond of the title. I thought it missed the mark and should have been called Listen To Your Heart.


]]>
On the Street Where You Live 41490 387 Mary Higgins Clark 0671004530 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
As usual in Higgins' mysteries, there are a lot of characters with several suspects. In this one, the writer introduces the thread of reincarnation to link the murders, but the logic isn't that clearly thought out, and didn't heighten the tension.

This is a quick read for those who like to find out who-dun-it without wading through a thick book.]]>
3.88 2001 On the Street Where You Live
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/10
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
In the late 1800s in a small town, young women disappeared, leaving their families to grieve for their loss but also to deal with uncertainty--were those girls dead, or had they run away? Then over a hundred years later more young girls disappear in the same town. When new construction involves digging behind one house in the community, a terrible truth is revealed, two skeletons, one very old and one fairly new, are uncovered in the same spot.

As usual in Higgins' mysteries, there are a lot of characters with several suspects. In this one, the writer introduces the thread of reincarnation to link the murders, but the logic isn't that clearly thought out, and didn't heighten the tension.

This is a quick read for those who like to find out who-dun-it without wading through a thick book.
]]>
Fellowship Point 58438505
Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, a philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She strives to create beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons—but what is it that Polly wants herself?

Agnes’s designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes’s resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all.
]]>
592 Alice Elliott Dark 1982131810 C. 5
I’ve neglected to mention the brilliance of the prose and the incisive moments in the writing that make you stop to re-read and savor and nod.]]>
3.98 2022 Fellowship Point
author: Alice Elliott Dark
name: C.
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/04
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
The brilliance of this book is the slow reveal, not only of character but also of plot. You’re rather on your own to figure out where this story is going until the path gradually illuminates and you arrive at “The End.” Believe me, the end is so worth the journey.

I’ve neglected to mention the brilliance of the prose and the incisive moments in the writing that make you stop to re-read and savor and nod.
]]>
<![CDATA[Every Breath You Take (Under Suspicion, #5)]]> 34466495
Laurie Moran’s professional life is a success—her television show Under Suspicion is a hit, both in the ratings and its record of solving cold cases. But her romantic break from former host Alex Buckley has left her with on-air talent she can’t stand—Ryan Nichols—and a sense of loneliness, despite her loving family.

Now Ryan has suggested a new case. Three years ago, Virginia Wakeling, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of the museum’s most generous donors, was found in the snow, after being thrown from the museum’s roof on the night of its most celebrated fundraiser, the Met Gala. The leading suspect then and now is her much younger boyfriend and personal trainer, Ivan Gray.

Ivan runs a trendy, successful boutique gym called Punch—a business funded in no small part by the late Virginia—which happens to be the gym Ryan frequents. Laurie’s skepticism about the case is upended by a tip from her father’s NYPD connection, and soon Laurie realizes there are a bevy of suspects—including Virginia’s trusted inner circle.

As the Under Suspicion crew pries into the lives of a super wealthy real estate family with secrets to hide, danger mounts for several witnesses—and for Laurie.]]>
304 Mary Higgins Clark 150117164X C. 3 meh
Having written that, I did read to the end, so that means I had a level of engagement.]]>
3.85 2017 Every Breath You Take (Under Suspicion, #5)
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: meh
review:
This is my eighth Mary Higgins Clark book, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The plot was straightforward and uncomplicated…so different from her earlier, non-collaborative work. When I read a mystery I want to be mystified until the end, and I wasn’t. I guess the word to describe plot that comes to mind is “thin.”

Having written that, I did read to the end, so that means I had a level of engagement.
]]>
<![CDATA[The 23rd Midnight (Women's Murder Club, #23)]]> 173404136
An attention-seeking copycat is recreating murders by a famous killer from the Women’s Murder Club’s past—with devastating new twists. Ěý Detective Lindsay Boxer put serial killer Evan Burke in jail.Ěý
Ěý
Reporter Cindy Thomas wrote a book that put him on the bestseller list.
Ěý
An obsessed maniac has turned Burke’s true-crime story into a playbook. And is embellishing it with gruesome touches all his own.Ěý
Ěý
Now Lindsay’s tracking an elusive suspect, and the entire Murder Club is facing destruction.]]>
368 James Patterson 1538710625 C. 0 to-read 4.15 2023 The 23rd Midnight (Women's Murder Club, #23)
author: James Patterson
name: C.
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>
<![CDATA[The Deliverers 4: Sparkling Mist of Time]]> 208031424 You can’t change the past—can you? That’s what Eric Scott always thought. But that was back before he learned about the Hallway of Worlds and the sparkling mist. Now, after three Assignments to save other worlds, he’s not so sure. When the Gatekeeper tells him someone might be using the mist—matter from failed worlds—to change the past on Eric’s world, possibility becomes probability.In their fourth and final Assignment, the Deliverers—Eric Scott, Stig the owl, Kate Endria, and Hallo Tosis the dwarf—face a challenge like no other. They must prevent the worlds they have helped on their previous Assignments from being wiped out. They are sent back in time to the American Revolution to stop an unknown foe from using the sparkling mist to change history. Worlds, the Hallway and the universe as we know it, hang in the balance. Will the Deliverers be able to contain the sparkling mist once and for all, or will everything they have achieved so far be annihilated?]]> 215 Gregory S. Slomba C. 5 middle-grade-romps The Deliverers are Stig (an owl with the gift of speech), Hallo (a dwarf), Kate, and Eric. In this last book of the series, they step back to colonial 1777 America and relive the Revolutionary War era, only to discover that there’s a twist in what happens during this time—a ghostly one. And if this ghost has his way, history as everyone knows it will be changed in all the worlds where the Deliverers exist. The result of this change will be catastrophic. Will these stalwart time travelers be able to stop the evil Caligo or will they return to unrecognizable worlds? In the worst case, will the Deliverers still exist because of the changes?

Vivid battle scenes between the British and the American militia are threaded with ghostly interference while Eric shows leadership and bravery, and the Deliverers fight alongside the American ragtag soldiers. I liked the use of real historical characters like the Leatherman and the setting of the story from Hangman’s Hill to Musket Ridge and quaint Candlestick Corners. This is a clever adventure that brings the Deliverers series to an end. There’s just enough history to ground it in the real world, but a lot of other-worldly events to make it an exciting tale for a young reader. I think it would be a great read-aloud between a parent and their pre-teen child. ]]>
5.00 The Deliverers 4: Sparkling Mist of Time
author: Gregory S. Slomba
name: C.
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: middle-grade-romps
review:

The Deliverers are Stig (an owl with the gift of speech), Hallo (a dwarf), Kate, and Eric. In this last book of the series, they step back to colonial 1777 America and relive the Revolutionary War era, only to discover that there’s a twist in what happens during this time—a ghostly one. And if this ghost has his way, history as everyone knows it will be changed in all the worlds where the Deliverers exist. The result of this change will be catastrophic. Will these stalwart time travelers be able to stop the evil Caligo or will they return to unrecognizable worlds? In the worst case, will the Deliverers still exist because of the changes?

Vivid battle scenes between the British and the American militia are threaded with ghostly interference while Eric shows leadership and bravery, and the Deliverers fight alongside the American ragtag soldiers. I liked the use of real historical characters like the Leatherman and the setting of the story from Hangman’s Hill to Musket Ridge and quaint Candlestick Corners. This is a clever adventure that brings the Deliverers series to an end. There’s just enough history to ground it in the real world, but a lot of other-worldly events to make it an exciting tale for a young reader. I think it would be a great read-aloud between a parent and their pre-teen child.
]]>
<![CDATA[When Among Crows (Curse Bearer, #1)]]> 195790597 When Among Crows is swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear.

We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.

On Kupala Night, Dymitr arrives in Chicago’s monstrous, magical underworld with a perilous mission: pick the mythical fern flower and offer it to a cursed creature in exchange for help finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga.

Ala is a fear-eating zmora afflicted with a bloodline curse that’s slowly killing her. She's just desperate enough to say yes to Dymitr, even if she doesn’t know his motives.

Over the course of one night, Ala and Dymitr risk life and limb in search of Baba Jaga, and begin to build a tentative friendship. . . but when Ala finds out what Dymitr is hiding, it could destroy them both.]]>
166 Veronica Roth 1250855489 C. 0 to-read 3.71 2024 When Among Crows (Curse Bearer, #1)
author: Veronica Roth
name: C.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

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Two Little Girls in Blue 154423 New York Times bestselling writer Mary Higgins Clark brilliantly weaves the mystery of twin telepathy into a mother's search for a kidnapped child, presumed dead.

When Margaret and Steve Frawley come home to Connecticut from a black-tie dinner in New York, their three-year-old twins, Kathy and Kelly, are gone. The police found the babysitter unconscious, and a ransom note from the Pied Piper demands eight million dollars. Steve's global investment firm puts up the money, but when they go to retrieve the twins, only Kelly is in the car. The dead driver's suicide note says he inadvertently killed Kathy.

At the memorial, Kelly tugs Margaret's arm and says: Mommy, Kathy is very scared of that lady. She wants to come home right now. At first, only Margaret believes that the twins are communicating and that Kathy is still alive. But as Kelly's warnings become increasingly specific and alarming, FBI agents set out on a desperate search.]]>
416 Mary Higgins Clark 0743497295 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
This is a fast-paced hunt with many near misses. Just when success is almost within reach, something else makes the safe return of both girls seem unlikely.]]>
3.88 2006 Two Little Girls in Blue
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
The worst nightmare a parent can experience happens to the Frawleys. Their identical twin daughters are abducted for ransom. One twin is sick and might lapse into pneumonia. The clock's ticking while police and a distraught mother search for the children. The possibility always remains that the kidnappers have already killed them.

This is a fast-paced hunt with many near misses. Just when success is almost within reach, something else makes the safe return of both girls seem unlikely.
]]>
Nighttime Is My Time 41492 "The definition of an owl had always pleased him: a night bird of prey...sharp talons and soft plumage which permits noiseless flight...applied figuratively to a person of nocturnal habits. 'I am The Owl,' he would whisper to himself after he had selected his prey, 'and nighttime is my time.'"

Jean Sheridan, a college dean and prominent historian, sets out to her hometown in Cornwall-on- Hudson, New York, to attend the twenty-year reunion of alumni of Stonecroft Academy, where she is to be honored along with six other members of her class. There is, however, something uneasy in the air: one woman in the group about to be feted, Alison Kendall, a beautiful, high-powered Hollywood agent, died just a few days before, drowned in her pool during an early- morning swim, the fifth woman in the class whose life has come to a sudden, mysterious end.

Also adding to Jean's sense of unease is a taunting, anonymous fax she has just received, referring to her daughter, Lily, a child she had given up for adoption twenty years ago, the offspring of a romance between her and a West Point cadet killed in an accident a week before graduation. She had always kept the child's existence a secret, so who has found out? And why the implied threat now?

Struggling to conceal her fears, Jean arrives at the hotel where the reunion is being held. One by one she sees the other honorees, including Laura Wilcox, the class beauty, whose dazzling exterior belies the fact that her television career is sinking, and the four men who, like Jean, had spent four bitterly unhappy years at Stonecroft: Carter (formerly Howie) Stewart, an acerbic and successful playwright, once the class nerd; renowned child psychiatrist and talk-show celebrity Mark Fleischman, who has never been able to resolve the pain of his own adolescence; Gordon Amory, a media mogul, hardly recognizable as the awkward boy who was the butt of cruel jokes; Robby Brent, a popular comedian, whose caustic humor emanates from a childhood of rejection. Omnipresent is an old classmate, Jack Emerson, the chairman of the reunion, whose reasons for spearheading the event may be motivated by something other than class spirit.

At the award dinner, Jean is introduced to Sam Deegan, a detective obsessed for years by the unsolved murder of a young woman in Cornwall, who may also hold the key to the identity of the Stonecroft killer and the source of the anonymous threat to her child. She does not suspect that among the distinguished people she is greeting is The Owl, a murderer nearing the countdown on his mission of vengeance against the Stonecroft women who had mocked and humiliated him, with Jean his final intended victim.

In Nighttime Is My Time, Mary Higgins Clark creates a riveting novel of psychological suspense, penetrating behind the pervading façade of status and respectability to depict the mind of a killer.

]]>
434 Mary Higgins Clark 074341263X C. 4 my-mystery-delights
As usual, Clark mystifies the reader with a tangle of characters and red herrings.]]>
3.84 2004 Nighttime Is My Time
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
All but two women from a high school clique have died. A terrible coincidence or something more sinister? It's not until a reunion that the truth slowly is revealed.

As usual, Clark mystifies the reader with a tangle of characters and red herrings.
]]>
<![CDATA[Mary Higgins Clark 9 (Nine) Lot Audio Book Collection : Second Time Around, You Belong to Me, Well Meet Again,before I Say Goodbye,all Through the Night,all Around the Town,stranger Is Watching,lottery Winner,silent Night]]> 11631612 Nine Audio Books 0 Mary Higgins Clark C. 4 my-mystery-delights
As usual, Clark mystifies the reader with a tangle of characters and red herrings.]]>
4.00 2000 Mary Higgins Clark 9 (Nine) Lot Audio Book Collection : Second Time Around, You Belong to Me, Well Meet Again,before I Say Goodbye,all Through the Night,all Around the Town,stranger Is Watching,lottery Winner,silent Night
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
All but two women in a high school clique have died. A terrible coincidence or something more sinister? It's not until a reunion that the truth slowly is revealed.

As usual, Clark mystifies the reader with a tangle of characters and red herrings.
]]>
<![CDATA[As Time Goes By (Alvirah and Willy, #10)]]> 28688182 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In this exciting thriller from Mary Higgins Clark, the #1 New York Times bestselling “Queen of Suspense,” a news reporter tries to find her birth mother just as she is assigned to cover the high-profile trial of a woman accused of murdering her wealthy husband.

Television journalist Delaney Wright is on the brink of stardom after she begins covering a sensational murder trial for the six p.m. news. She should be thrilled, yet her growing desire to locate her birth mother consumes her thoughts. When Delaney’s friends Alvirah Meehan and her husband Willy offer to look into the mystery surrounding her birth, they uncover a shocking secret they do not want to reveal.

On trial for murder is Betsy Grant, widow of a wealthy doctor who has been an Alzheimer’s victim for eight years. When her once-upon-a-time celebrity lawyer urges her to accept a plea bargain, Betsy refuses: she will go to trial to prove her innocence.

Betsy’s stepson, Alan Grant, bides his time nervously as the trial begins. His substantial inheritance hangs in the balance—his only means of making good on payments he owes his ex-wife, his children, and increasingly angry creditors.

As the trial unfolds, and the damning evidence against Betsy piles up, Delaney is convinced that Betsy is not guilty and frantically tries to prove her innocence. A true classic from Mary Higgins Clark, As Time Goes By is a thrilling read by a master of the genre.]]>
280 Mary Higgins Clark 1501130447 C. 5 my-mystery-delights
The story switches between courtroom scenes with the mounting evidence against the accused and the search for Delany's mother. Other threads complicate and enhance the mystery and lead to a satisfying conclusion.

]]>
3.63 2016 As Time Goes By (Alvirah and Willy, #10)
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
Delany Wright is determined to find her birth mother even though it seems impossible. Fortunately, she has two very wealthy and very loyal friends in her corner, so her hunt just might be successful. In the meantime, she's a busy reporter covering a notorious murder. Delany has a hard time remaining neutral because she's convinced the woman who's accused of murdering her husband is innocent.

The story switches between courtroom scenes with the mounting evidence against the accused and the search for Delany's mother. Other threads complicate and enhance the mystery and lead to a satisfying conclusion.


]]>
I'll Be Seeing You 43352
In a tragic bridge accident, Meghan’s father has disappeared—but no trace has been found of his body or his car. Meghan’s mother, neither widow nor wife, is unable to convert joint assets she needs to retain ownership of the family’s Connecticut inn. Before his disappearance, Edwin Collins had taken all the cash out of his substantial insurance policies. Now, in absentia, he has become the suspect in a brutal murder.
Trying to identify the dead girl, find her murderer, and clear her own father’s name, Meghan finds that her search is entwined with a story she’s doing on the Manning Clinic, an in-vitro fertilization center where women seek the children nature has denied them. On a twisting trail of deadly passions and deceit, Meghan is venturing ever closer to the truth...a nightmare journey that may cost her her very life.

Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 0671888587 here.]]>
307 Mary Higgins Clark 0671888587 C. 5 my-mystery-delights
While this is the central thread, there are more complicating ones: an imposter posing as a doctor, a fertility clinic with a sketchy history, and an obsessive and dangerous stalker. Meghan's in very serious trouble from many different sources.

Well plotted and totally engaging from beginning to end. This is one of Clark's best mysteries.]]>
3.83 1993 I'll Be Seeing You
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
Meghan Collins can't believe that the murdered woman looks almost like her. This shock coupled with the death of her father not so long ago, is a lot for her to deal with. But there's more. Her mother may have to sell their family inn because the father's body has never been recovered. That means the insurance company won't pay and their assets are frozen. People now believe he faked his death to escape the double life he's been living.

While this is the central thread, there are more complicating ones: an imposter posing as a doctor, a fertility clinic with a sketchy history, and an obsessive and dangerous stalker. Meghan's in very serious trouble from many different sources.

Well plotted and totally engaging from beginning to end. This is one of Clark's best mysteries.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Body in the Marsh (DCI Craig Gillard #1)]]> 36228143 When a woman goes missing, it gets personal for DCI Craig Gillard. But he could never imagine what happens next.

Criminologist Martin Knight lives a gilded life and is a thorn in the side of the police. But then his wife Liz goes missing. There is no good explanation and no sign of Martin…

To make things worse, Liz is the ex-girlfriend of DCI Craig Gillard who is drawn into the investigation. Is it just a missing person or something worse? And what relevance do the events around the shocking Girl F case, so taken up by Knight, have to do with the present?

The truth is darker than you could ever have imagined.
Utterly gripping and full of twists, this is a compulsive thriller from master Nick Louth for fans of Robert Bryndza, Patricia Gibney and Carole Wyer. ]]>
360 Nick Louth 1911591770 C. 3 my-mystery-delights
Even after extensive investigation, police can't find the husband. It's not until a body turns up inside the trunk of a suspicious car that the pieces begin to fit together and the case might be solved.

The crime is clever and the search complicated. The end was something of a disappointment. It reveals things about the "victim" that seemed so out of the blue and uncharacteristic based on how the woman had been viewed by the community, her friends, and her lover.

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4.20 2017 The Body in the Marsh (DCI Craig Gillard #1)
author: Nick Louth
name: C.
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
When a brilliant and well-respected teacher disappears, the police become convinced she's been murdered by her husband, a noted criminologist. All clues point to this man who, it seems, is on the run in France. The lead investigator has a small problem. He once dated the missing woman and is still in love with her.

Even after extensive investigation, police can't find the husband. It's not until a body turns up inside the trunk of a suspicious car that the pieces begin to fit together and the case might be solved.

The crime is clever and the search complicated. The end was something of a disappointment. It reveals things about the "victim" that seemed so out of the blue and uncharacteristic based on how the woman had been viewed by the community, her friends, and her lover.


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Moonlight Becomes You 237114 352 Mary Higgins Clark 0743484304 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
While thin on character development, this Clark mystery is magnificent in plot. As in her other stories, the twists are numerous, delightfully confusing, and intriguing. ]]>
3.84 1996 Moonlight Becomes You
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/13
date added: 2024/01/13
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
Maggie Holloway is accidentally reunited with her beloved ex-stepmother only to find herself embroiled in a mysterious series of accidental deaths--all elderly women and all residents of the same luxury retirement home. Maggie's suspicions of foul play lead her into a dangerous and perhaps fatal trap.

While thin on character development, this Clark mystery is magnificent in plot. As in her other stories, the twists are numerous, delightfully confusing, and intriguing.
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Where Are You Now? 1629007
Mack's sister, Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother's Day call, Carolyn interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie, receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: "Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me."

Mack's cryptic warning does nothing to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn's honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia.

Carolyn's pursuit of the truth about Mack's disappearance swiftly plunges her into a world of unexpected danger and unanswered questions. What is the secret that Gus and Lil Kramer, the superintendents of the building in which Mack was living, have to hide? What do Mack's old roommates, the charismatic club owner Nick DeMarco and the cold and wealthy real estate tycoon Bruce Galbraith, know about Mack's disappearance? Is Nick connected to the disappearance of Leesey Andrews, who had last been seen in his trendy club? Can the police possibly believe that Mack is not only alive, but a serial killer, a shadowy predator of young women? Was Mack also guilty of the brutal murder of his drama teacher and the theft of his taped sessions with her?

Carolyn's passionate search for the truth about her brother -- and for her brother himself -- leads her into a deadly confrontation with someone close to her whose secret he cannot allow her to reveal.]]>
289 Mary Higgins Clark 1416566384 C. 4 my-mystery-delights
You won't know until the end who the killer is, and you have to read to the end to find out if the sister escapes death.]]>
3.80 2008 Where Are You Now?
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: C.
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves: my-mystery-delights
review:
Mack has been missing for years, yet each Mother's Day he calls home. Finally, his sister decides it's time to find her brother and stop the pain his mysterious absence has caused the family. She's soon plunged into even more confusion and upset because her search triggers an investigation into the possibility that Mack may be a serial killer in hiding.

You won't know until the end who the killer is, and you have to read to the end to find out if the sister escapes death.
]]>
<![CDATA[Grave Secrets of the Dinosaurs]]> 18044929 in the flesh? Soft-tissue fossils give tantalizing clues about the appearance and physiology of the ancient animals. In this exciting book, paleontologist Phillip Manning presents the most astonishing dinosaur fossil excavations of the past 100 years—including the recent discovery of a remarkably intact dinosaur mummy in the Badlands of North Dakota.

Bone structure is just the beginning of our knowledge today, thanks to amazing digs like these. Drawing on new breakthroughs and cutting-edge techniques of analysis, Dr. Manning takes us on a thrilling, globe-spanning tour of dinosaur mummy finds—from the first such excavation in 1908 to a baby dinosaur unearthed in 1980, from a dino with a heart in South Dakota to titanosaur embryos in Argentina. And he discusses his own groundbreaking analysis of "Dakota," discovered by Tyler Lyson.

Using state-of-the-art technology to scan and analyse this remarkable discovery, National Geographic and Dr. Manning create an incredibly lifelike portrait of Dakota. The knowledge to be gained from this exceedingly rare find, and those that came before it, will intrigue dinosaur-loving readers of all ages.]]>
Phillip Manning C. 0 3.62 2008 Grave Secrets of the Dinosaurs
author: Phillip Manning
name: C.
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
review:

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Five Strangers 57008406
For the five strangers who observed the gruesome act, the memory of the gore is unshakable. But one of them—disgraced journalist Jen Hunter—is compelled to question the truth of what she thought she saw. Are the facts of the case plain as day, or were they obscured, in the moment, by the glaring sunlight?

As she mounts an obsessive investigation for a seemingly-impossible alternative, the lives of the other witnesses begin to unravel, each in its own particular way. Soon one thing becomes clear: the crime they witnessed was more terrible, more twisted, and more far-reaching than they ever could have imagined.]]>
346 E.V. Adamson 1613162421 C. 0 3.38 2021 Five Strangers
author: E.V. Adamson
name: C.
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
review:

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So Long (Faith Bold #1) 102625318 FBI Special Agent Faith Bold, hospitalized and haunted by her encounter with a serial killer, is ready to retire—when Turk, a K9 German Shepherd, himself traumatized, comes into her life. When a new serial killer strikes, leaving his victims at the bottom of isolated wells, Faith, this time with Turk at her side, will stop at nothing to hunt him down and save the next victim before it is too late.

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery.”
—Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)
â­â­â­â­â­

SO LONG is Book #1 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 7,000 five star ratings and reviews.

FBI Special Agent Faith Bold doesn’t believe she can ever return to the force after the trauma she’s been through. Suffering from past demons, she feels unfit for duty and content to retire—until Turk walks into her life.

Turk, a former Marine Corps dog, wounded in battle, suffers from his own demons. But he never lets it show as he gives everything to Faith to get her back on her feet.

Each are slow to warm up to each other, but when they do, they are inseparable. Each is equally determined to hunt down the demons chasing them, whatever the cost, and to watch each other’s backs—even at the risk of their own life.

A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the Faith Bold series is a riveting mystery, packed with non-stop action, suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Fans of Rachel Caine, Teresa Driscoll and Robert Dugoni are sure to fall in love.

Future books in the series are now also available.

“An edge of your seat thriller in a new series that keeps you turning pages! ...So many twists, turns and red herrings… I can't wait to see what happens next.”
—Reader review (Her Last Wish)
â­â­â­â­â­

“A strong, complex story about two FBI agents trying to stop a serial killer. If you want an author to capture your attention and have you guessing, yet trying to put the pieces together, Pierce is your author!”
—Reader review (Her Last Wish)
â­â­â­â­â­

“A typical Blake Pierce twisting, turning, roller coaster ride suspense thriller. Will have you turning the pages to the last sentence of the last chapter!!!”
—Reader review (City of Prey)
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“Right from the start we have an unusual protagonist that I haven't seen done in this genre before. The action is nonstop… A very atmospheric novel that will keep you turning pages well into the wee hours.”
—Reader review (City of Prey)
â­â­â­â­â­

“Everything that I look for in a book… a great plot, interesting characters, and grabs your interest right away. The book moves along at a breakneck pace and stays that way until the end. Now on go I to book two!”
—Reader review (Girl, Alone)
â­â­â­â­â­

“Exciting, heart pounding, edge of your seat book… a must read for mystery and suspense readers!”
—Reader review (Girl, Alone)
â­â­â­â­â­]±Ő>
161 Blake Pierce C. 0 4.21 2023 So Long (Faith Bold #1)
author: Blake Pierce
name: C.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
review:

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The House of Eve 61273858 From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.]]>
384 Sadeqa Johnson 1982197366 C. 0 to-read 4.23 2023 The House of Eve
author: Sadeqa Johnson
name: C.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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Never Lie 62080187
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]>
286 Freida McFadden C. 3 meh
What’s not to like about that?

But then there’s a switch in tone, and tantalizing turns into really dark and hopeless. The murders keep piling up and the one left standing has no redeeming qualities. What started as a fast-paced, thriller, dwindles off into something unsatisfying. ]]>
4.09 2022 Never Lie
author: Freida McFadden
name: C.
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/01
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: meh
review:
I liked McFadden’s book when I first started reading. I thought it was intriguing and definitely tense when the newlyweds arrive at a house they are considering buying and become trapped there. The hidden room, the cache of tape recordings of patients made by the psychiatrist who formerly owned the house, and the mysterious noises coming from the attic.

What’s not to like about that?

But then there’s a switch in tone, and tantalizing turns into really dark and hopeless. The murders keep piling up and the one left standing has no redeeming qualities. What started as a fast-paced, thriller, dwindles off into something unsatisfying.
]]>
<![CDATA[The Sixth Station (Alexandra Russo #1)]]> 15793212
Cynical reporter Alessandra Russo heads to the UN hoping for a piece of the action, but soon becomes entangled in controversy and suspicion when ben Yusef singles her out for attention among all other reporters. As Alessandra begins digging into ben Yusef's past, she is already in more danger than she knows—and when she is falsely accused of murder during her investigation, she is forced to flee New York.
On the run from unknown enemies, Alessandra finds herself on the trail of a global conspiracy and a story that could shake the world to its foundations. Is Demiel ben Yusef the Second Coming or the Antichrist? The truth may lie in the secret history of the Holy Family, a group of Templars who defied the church, and a mysterious relic stained with the sacred blood of Christ Himself.


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]>
368 Linda Stasi 0765334275 C. 0 to-read 3.53 2013 The Sixth Station (Alexandra Russo  #1)
author: Linda Stasi
name: C.
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Blue Monsoon (Blue Mumbai, #2)]]> 63264876
Amid incessant rains pounding down on Mumbai, Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput is called to a shocking crime scene. A male body is found dismembered on the steps of a Kaali temple. Drawn into his flesh are symbols of a tantra cult. The desecration of a body at a Hindu place of worship puts the city on edge and divides Arnav’s priorities: stopping a fanatic from killing again and caring for his wife who’s struggling through a challenging pregnancy.

Then video footage of the murder is uploaded onto the account of a Bollywood social media influencer, triggering twists in the investigation Arnav didn’t see coming. Caste systems at war. A priest under suspicion. And an anonymous threat that puts his wife’s welfare at risk. When more bodies are found, the savagery of the city begins to surface—and Arnav fears that no one is safe from a bigger storm brewing.]]>
394 Damyanti Biswas C. 5
Yet there’s more to this story that adds a brilliant texture. The characters— especially Tara, Sita, and Arnav—become very real as they deal with personal challenges in the midst of murder and threats to their families.

My favorite aspect to this story is the way the author captures the atmosphere of her native country—how she weaves in the religion, the caste system and social structure that is so much a part of today’s modern India. It was a delight to be transported to a monsoon engulfed Mumbai while being caught up in a fast-paced crime story.]]>
4.25 2023 The Blue Monsoon (Blue Mumbai, #2)
author: Damyanti Biswas
name: C.
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/03
date added: 2023/11/03
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
The Blue Monsoon hits the ground running with a ritual murder in a place of worship. The story doesn’t stop building tension as more crimes and the unexpected guilty persons are revealed.

Yet there’s more to this story that adds a brilliant texture. The characters— especially Tara, Sita, and Arnav—become very real as they deal with personal challenges in the midst of murder and threats to their families.

My favorite aspect to this story is the way the author captures the atmosphere of her native country—how she weaves in the religion, the caste system and social structure that is so much a part of today’s modern India. It was a delight to be transported to a monsoon engulfed Mumbai while being caught up in a fast-paced crime story.
]]>
Daisy Darker 59808050 The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.]]>
352 Alice Feeney 1250843936 C. 3
I really enjoyed the setting—Sea Glass House, isolated by a predictable high tide, and a cast of characters that, with only three exceptions, were very unlikeable. The set up was good, and the tension kept mounting. However, when I reached the final part of the book, it was truly disappointing.

I won’t reveal the last twist that turned what was a solid mystery into something unbelievable and unsatisfying, but at the climax, I was laughing and that was not the intended response nor what I’d hoped for. ]]>
3.75 2022 Daisy Darker
author: Alice Feeney
name: C.
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/28
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves:
review:
The Daisy Darker story follows the plot in Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None. It’s a classic plot and I had no trouble with the author mimicking the great mystery writer.

I really enjoyed the setting—Sea Glass House, isolated by a predictable high tide, and a cast of characters that, with only three exceptions, were very unlikeable. The set up was good, and the tension kept mounting. However, when I reached the final part of the book, it was truly disappointing.

I won’t reveal the last twist that turned what was a solid mystery into something unbelievable and unsatisfying, but at the climax, I was laughing and that was not the intended response nor what I’d hoped for.
]]>
The Possibilities 18144068 The Descendants, a grieving mother struggles to overcome her son’s death, when a strange girl enters her life with a secret that changes them both forever.

Sarah St. John, a single mother, is reeling from grief: Three months ago, her twenty-one-year-old son, Cully, died in an avalanche near their home in the ski resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado.

As Sarah tries her best to go through the stages—the anger, the sadness, the letting go—she has trouble keeping her grief at bay and moving on with life. Her father, a retiree who has become addicted to QVC, urges Sarah to go back to work at Breckenridge’s local morning show. Her best friend, a recent divorcee who always manages to say the wrong things, convinces Sarah to sort through Cully’s belongings. Slowly, she comes to terms with a world without the swish of her son’s ski pants or the rolling of his skateboard outside her window. Then a girl named Kit appears on Sarah’s doorstep—and she’s carrying Cully’s child.

The Possibilities is a tender and darkly funny story about the fracturing and healing that takes place within a family after tragedy. Told in Kaui Hart Hemmings’s unsentimental and refreshingly wry style—praised as “audaciously comic” by The New Yorker—this uplifting novel asks difficult questions about what we risk to keep our loved ones close.]]>
275 Kaui Hart Hemmings 1476725799 C. 5
While the theme is heavy, the story isn’t. The quirks and foibles of each character lighten the mood and you have to laugh with them because they are far too much like people you know…even the person you are.

There’s no tidy ending, but Sarah is able to say goodbye to the time she was a mother and take up another role in this world without her son.]]>
3.47 2014 The Possibilities
author: Kaui Hart Hemmings
name: C.
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/09
date added: 2023/10/09
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
The Possibilities takes a deep dive into human grief without a cliche on a single page. Sarah has lost her son, but she’s also lost her sense of purpose and place. The family she has to support her are her father—retired from his career, but not really, the father of her child whom she never married, and a BFF whom she loves and resents constantly. And then Kit arrives and the story pivots in another direction.

While the theme is heavy, the story isn’t. The quirks and foibles of each character lighten the mood and you have to laugh with them because they are far too much like people you know…even the person you are.

There’s no tidy ending, but Sarah is able to say goodbye to the time she was a mother and take up another role in this world without her son.
]]>
The Covenant of Water 63429926 From the New York Times–bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of Cutting for Stone. Published in 2009, Cutting for Stone became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.

A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.]]>
802 Abraham Verghese C. 0 to-read 4.58 2023 The Covenant of Water
author: Abraham Verghese
name: C.
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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The White Lady 61346151
A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, and exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.

Post-World War II Britain, 1947. Forty-one-year-old “Miss White," as Elinor is known, lives in a village in Kent, England, so quietly and privately as to seem an enigma to her fellow villagers. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor's war work had been, or how deeply their mysterious neighbor continues to be haunted by her past.

It will take the child of Jim Mackie, a young farmworker and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White's icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie, who reminds her of the darkest day of her life.

Elinor’s wartime training and instincts serve her well, but as she endeavors to neutralize the threat to Jim, Rose and Susie Mackie, she is rapidly led along a tunnel of smoke and mirrors in which former wartime colleagues – who know the truth about what happened in 1944, and the terrible event that led to her wartime suicide attempt – are compromised by more powerful influences.

Ultimately, Elinor will hold a gun to the head of a Mackie crime lord to uncover the truth behind the family's pursuit of Jim, and in doing so, reveal the far-reaching tentacles of their power—along with the truth that will free Elinor from her past.]]>
321 Jacqueline Winspear 0062867989 C. 5
An interesting and well-told story about an era of world chaos and the complex nature of war. The question is who can you trust? The answer is nobody.]]>
3.89 2023 The White Lady
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: C.
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/07
date added: 2023/10/07
shelves:
review:
The White Lady tells Elinor White's story between the days of WWI and into post-WWII when she's a single woman living in a small villiage--probably a retire Lady in Waiting. That's the gossip.

An interesting and well-told story about an era of world chaos and the complex nature of war. The question is who can you trust? The answer is nobody.
]]>
Frizzy Haired Zuzu 61375743
Zuzu loves riding her bike and dancing to all kinds of music. Her curly red hair would bounce when she danced. But Zuzu hates her hair. The older she gets, the bigger it grows. With her sisters and mother, she tries several hilarious—yet disastrous—solutions to tame her frizzy hair. Finally she saves up all her money to visit a salon. But with straighter hair, will she still feel like herself? Zuzu must dig deep down to sort out her feelings about what is beautiful to others…and herself.]]>
32 Medeia Sharif 1433841576 C. 0 to-read 4.35 2023 Frizzy Haired Zuzu
author: Medeia Sharif
name: C.
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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Lucky You 294430 496 Carl Hiaasen 0330369032 C. 4
It's a mad romp from start to finish, and you have to find out who comes out ahead.]]>
3.86 1997 Lucky You
author: Carl Hiaasen
name: C.
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/01
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves:
review:
Lucky You had quite the cast of unlikely and quirky characters: JoLayne, the lottery winner with an environmentalist's heart; Tom Thorn, the irreverent almost famous newspaper reporter; his wife who won't divorce him no matter how much he tries; the three wannabe survivalists who are greedy and very stupid; the assorted Grange residents with a crying Virgin scheme and an oil stain that forms the image of Jesus. That's almost all of them, but not quite. There's a judge who is anything but honorable, his wife who wants justice and sets out to get it, and girl from Hooters who has more going for her than a great body.

It's a mad romp from start to finish, and you have to find out who comes out ahead.
]]>
My Mother's Secret 18167456 A novel based on a true story, a mother and daughter risk their lives to provide shelter to two families and aĚýGerman soldier--all unbeknownst to each other--in a tiny two-room house in Sokal, Poland, during the Nazi invasion.

Based on a true story, MY MOTHER'S SECRET is a profound, captivating, and ultimately uplifting tale intertwining the lives of two Jewish families in hiding from the Nazis, a fleeing German soldier, and the clever and "righteous" mother and daughter who teamed up to save them.

Franciszka and her daughter, Helena, are unlikely heroines. They are simple people who mind their own business and don't stand out from the crowd. Until 1939, when crisis strikes. The Nazis have invaded Poland and they are starting to persecute the Jews. Providing shelter to a Jew has become a death sentence. And yet, Franciszka and Helena decide to do just that. In their tiny, two-bedroom home in Sokal, Poland, they cleverly hide a Jewish family of two brothers and their wives in their pigsty out back, a Jewish doctor with his wife and son in a makeshift cellar under the kitchen floorboards, and a defecting German soldier in the attic--each group completely unbeknownst to the others. For everyone to survive, Franciszka will have to outsmart her neighbors and the German commanders standing guard right outside her yard.

Told simply and succinctly from four different perspectives, MY MOTHER'S SECRET is a reminder that there are,Ěýin fact,Ěýno profiles of courage and each individual's character is a personal choice.

This book was inspired by the true story of Franciszka Halamajowa, who, with her daughter, saved the lives of fifteen Jews in Poland during the Second World War. She also hid a young German soldier in her attic at the same time. Before the war, there were six thousand Jews in Sokal, Poland. Only thirty survived the war and half of those did so because of Franciszka.]]>
208 J.L. Witterick 0399168540 C. 5
Not only did this story deliver on the storytelling, it also delivered on the crisp and clean writing style I so admire. No frill. Just one good word after another.]]>
4.14 2013 My Mother's Secret
author: J.L. Witterick
name: C.
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/13
shelves:
review:
I had no idea what to expect from this book, but I was prepared to read another horrifying account of the holocaust. What I discovered was a poignant story about courage and the very best qualities humans possess.

Not only did this story deliver on the storytelling, it also delivered on the crisp and clean writing style I so admire. No frill. Just one good word after another.
]]>
The Coworker 123423832 Two women. An office filled with secrets. One terrible crime that can't be taken back.

Dawn Schiff is strange. At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m.

So when Dawn doesn't show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell—beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running—is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything…

It turns out Dawn wasn't just an awkward outsider—she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her wondering: who's the real victim?

But one thing is incredibly clear: somebody hated Dawn Schiff. Enough to kill.

The Coworker is a tense, unputdownable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden that explores the dark ways the past can echo through the present―with deadly consequences.]]>
362 Freida McFadden 172829620X C. 4
I also liked the twists that came toward the end. I hadn't expected them, so that was satisfying.

I had a hard time buying the romance that the deeply disturbed woman experienced, and I was annoyed by the repetitive email communications. That could have been because I "listened" to this book. I didn't read it. If I had, I would have been able to skip the preamble to each message: To. From. Re:

But I listened to the end because I needed to know what would happen to Natalie, and I wondered how Dawn would be portrayed in the end. Of all the characters, Dawn was the creepiest. I'd hate to be in her circle of "friends." If I were, I wouldn't turn my back.
]]>
3.68 2023 The Coworker
author: Freida McFadden
name: C.
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/12
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves:
review:
I'm still scratching my head over this one. I liked it. I didn't. So here's what I liked. The flawed--make that deeply flawed--female characters. One minute you like them, the next they've done either the unspeakable or the reprehensible. That appealed to me because that part of the characterization was real. Just like the two main women in this book, no one can look back and say they've behaved honorably or with kindness all the time. Just like them, many have left misery in their wake.

I also liked the twists that came toward the end. I hadn't expected them, so that was satisfying.

I had a hard time buying the romance that the deeply disturbed woman experienced, and I was annoyed by the repetitive email communications. That could have been because I "listened" to this book. I didn't read it. If I had, I would have been able to skip the preamble to each message: To. From. Re:

But I listened to the end because I needed to know what would happen to Natalie, and I wondered how Dawn would be portrayed in the end. Of all the characters, Dawn was the creepiest. I'd hate to be in her circle of "friends." If I were, I wouldn't turn my back.

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<![CDATA[Death du Jour (Temperance Brennan, #2)]]> 128756 451 Kathy Reichs 0671011375 C. 4 3.97 1999 Death du Jour (Temperance Brennan, #2)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: C.
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2023/09/09
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Lion in the Valley (Amelia Peabody, #4)]]> 35394356
Before the young family exchanges the relative comfort of Cairo for the more rudimentary quarters near the excavation site, they engage a young Englishman, Donald Fraser, as a tutor and companion for Ramses, and Amelia takes a wayward young woman, Enid Debenham, under her protective wing.

But there is danger and deception in the wind that blows across the hot Egyptian sands. A brazen kidnapping attempt, a gruesome murder, and an expedition subsequently cursed by misfortune and death—all serve to alert Amelia to the likely presence of her arch nemesis, the "Master Criminal," notorious looter of the living and the dead. But it is far more than ill-gotten riches that motivate the man known as Sethos. The evil genius has a score to settle with the meddling lady archaeologist who has sworn to deliver him to justice . . . and he's got her dead-on in his sights.

Replete with edge-of-the-seat suspense and scrupulous archaeological and historical detail, all delivered in Amelia Peabody's unique, wry voice, Lion in the Valley is a classic installment in Elizabeth Peters's beloved mystery-adventure series.]]>
384 Elizabeth Peters C. 4
This series is always a fun diversion that takes the reader back into the 19th century where manners-- when flaunted-- are signs of daring and adventure, and women who push the established social boundaries shock, and at the same time, inspire admiration. ]]>
4.30 1986 Lion in the Valley  (Amelia Peabody, #4)
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: C.
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/21
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves:
review:
Lion in the Valley is another romp through the desert with Peabody and Emerson; Ramses and Bastet. There's murder, the Master Criminal named Sethos, lovers on the brink of disaster, and of course, some pyramid exploration.

This series is always a fun diversion that takes the reader back into the 19th century where manners-- when flaunted-- are signs of daring and adventure, and women who push the established social boundaries shock, and at the same time, inspire admiration.
]]>
West With Giraffes 56449476 An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.

“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…”

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave.

It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.]]>
346 Lynda Rutledge 1542023351 C. 5
The story is one of delight, sorrow, scary survival moments, and a unique bonding of three human beings in the love and care for two beautiful animals.

This story is touching from start to finish and as tensely engaging as any thriller, but with heart! If you’re an animal lover, you’ll have times when you wince, but in the end, you’ll be glad you made this journey with Woody, Red, the Old Man, Boy, and Girl. ]]>
4.34 2021 West With Giraffes
author: Lynda Rutledge
name: C.
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/06
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
West With Giraffes is based on the true event of two giraffes who survive a hurricane during a trans-Atlantic crossing and land in New York. From there, they’re trucked across the U.S. to the San Diego Zoo.

The story is one of delight, sorrow, scary survival moments, and a unique bonding of three human beings in the love and care for two beautiful animals.

This story is touching from start to finish and as tensely engaging as any thriller, but with heart! If you’re an animal lover, you’ll have times when you wince, but in the end, you’ll be glad you made this journey with Woody, Red, the Old Man, Boy, and Girl.
]]>
Strange Unearthly Things 63877568 A hauntingly romantic paranormal Jane Eyre reimagining, by the author of Phantom Heart!

Eighteen-year-old Jane Reye is a psychic artist. She draws what she sees, and what she sees are spirits and the supernatural. Growing up orphaned, she's now of legal age and can no longer return to the girls' school she's called home for most of her life. Lost and alone after the death of her lifelong friend, she receives an invitation to partake in a study at the English manor Fairfax Hall: an investigation of the property that requires her specific area of expertise. Upon arrival, Jane understands this will be no ordinary study when she meets Elias Thornfield, the elusive proprietor of the estate, a boy her age, roguishly handsome, who dons a mysterious eye patch. During the study it becomes clear that something is amiss--something having to do with Elias and the spiritual activity taking place around the manor. Turning to her art to unravel the mystery, Jane is shocked to find that her talents--and her growing affection for Elias--could be the key to saving him from a horrible fate.]]>
368 Kelly Creagh 0593116089 C. 0 to-read 3.34 2023 Strange Unearthly Things
author: Kelly Creagh
name: C.
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Vanishing Hour 62115535 "Glass weaves a taut web of suspicion, murder and revenge in this chilling tale."—Liv Constantine, internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish, on Someone's Listening

From the Edgar Award–nominated author of On a Quiet Street comes a shocking thriller about secrets…and the lengths some people will go to keep them.

Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she’s thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It’s quiet, quaint and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets.

But Grace isn’t the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn’t just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago.

When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance. Because Grace knows something…something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone…]]>
285 Seraphina Nova Glass 0369736346 C. 4 3.80 2023 The Vanishing Hour
author: Seraphina Nova Glass
name: C.
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/29
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves:
review:
The twists and turns start from the beginning of The Vanishing Hour and increase right up to the end. The horror of being trapped and held prisoner, the misery of not knowing if someone you love is alive and being tortured or dead is beyond imagining, so there aren’t many places to pause while reading this book.
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Demon Copperhead 60194162 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780063251922.

"Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]>
560 Barbara Kingsolver C. 5 young-adult
Great storytelling through the eyes of an adolescent boy on his way to trouble, but with enough sense and stamina to change direction.]]>
4.46 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: C.
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/08
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: young-adult
review:
It's hard to imagine that a kid could have so much stacked against him--a young mom unable to take charge of her own life let alone that of a child, an abusive step-father, then a series of bad foster care homes. You're just about to give up--even if Demon isn't--when something good happens and turns him into the popular high school football player. There's finally hope, but the road ahead isn't smooth.

Great storytelling through the eyes of an adolescent boy on his way to trouble, but with enough sense and stamina to change direction.
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<![CDATA[Moral Disorder and Other Stories]]> 17644
The first story, "The Bad News," is set in the present, as a couple no longer young situate themselves in a larger world no longer safe. The narrative then switches time as the central character moves through childhood and adolescence in "The Art of Cooking and Serving," "The Headless Horseman," and "My Last Duchess." We follow her into young adulthood in "The Other Place" and then through a complex relationship, traced in four of the stories: "Monopoly," "Moral Disorder," "White Horse," and "The Entities." The last two stories, "The Labrador Fiasco" and "The Boys at the Lab," deal with the heartbreaking old age of parents but circle back again to childhood, to complete the cycle.

By turns funny, lyrical, incisive, tragic, earthy, shocking, and deeply personal, Moral Disorder displays Atwood's celebrated storytelling gifts and unmistakable style to their best advantage. As the New York Times has said: "The reader has the sense that Atwood has complete access to her people's emotional histories, complete understanding of their hearts and imaginations."]]>
240 Margaret Atwood 0385503849 C. 4
I love Margaret Atwood's storytelling brilliance, even though she slices close to the bone.]]>
3.63 2006 Moral Disorder and Other Stories
author: Margaret Atwood
name: C.
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves:
review:
Moral Disorder takes place over decades and circles through people's lives from childhood to old age. It explores what it means to live, love, regret, remember, and then ultimately to forget and let what has happened over time fade into nothing.

I love Margaret Atwood's storytelling brilliance, even though she slices close to the bone.
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Chasing the Ripper 23610530
In this exclusive Kindle Single, Cornwell restates her case against Sickert, unveils new evidence, clarifies his motivations, and makes him human—and, along the way, explains how such a prominent cultural figure could be a notorious killer. She also directly faces down her critics with withering skill and, in doing so, is likely to re-ignite the debate over history’s most heinous unsolved crime.

Chasing the Ripper offers a surprisingly personal and revealing look into what it has been like for Cornwell to pursue the most sensational murder case in criminal history—even as she continues to thrill her fans with a steady diet of new Scarpetta novels, including Flesh and Blood, her latest New York Times bestseller.]]>
50 Patricia Cornwell 1477879145 C. 3 fabulous-non-fiction
Cornwell’s research is fascinating and well presented, so that’s what my 3 stars reflects. ]]>
3.45 2014 Chasing the Ripper
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: C.
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/02
date added: 2023/07/02
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
According to the author, Jack the Ripper’s true identity is William Sickart, an artist who was a student of James Whistler. This is a short book, so I didn’t invest a lot of time reading it even if I wasn’t totally engaged. I admire Cornwell’s passion, and I understand her need to pursue it, but the idea of “fruitless” kept coming into my head while I read it. Perhaps I’m just not that caught up in this Who-Dun-It as a reader should be, so while this is an honest review, it is totally biased on the side of not caring.

Cornwell’s research is fascinating and well presented, so that’s what my 3 stars reflects.
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<![CDATA[The Great Plague: A People's History]]> 18668335 192 Evelyn Lord 0300173814 C. 3
While I thought the premise was a good idea, the execution came up short, and after a few chapters, the book became tedious, so I'll admit to a lot of skimming. ]]>
3.36 The Great Plague: A People's History
author: Evelyn Lord
name: C.
average rating: 3.36
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/27
date added: 2023/06/27
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction, cozy-mysteries
review:
Evelyn Lord took an interesting route to telling about The Great Plague of 1665 in England. Using journals and diaries as well as town and church records, she pieced together the human stories of what happened to the townspeople when the Black Death came. She names names, occupations, specifics about the events, but most particularly, she put faces to those who suffered and died during this pandemic.

While I thought the premise was a good idea, the execution came up short, and after a few chapters, the book became tedious, so I'll admit to a lot of skimming.
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<![CDATA[Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)]]> 18663492
CIA Assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever--in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a leak at the CIA and a price on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small, bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.

Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.

Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.]]>
246 Jana Deleon C. 5 shameless-pleasure-reads
This is a quick, fun read that is perfect for the last part of summer. I found myself looking forward to getting through another book I'm reading just so I could return to Sinful--that small town filled with quirky characters and intrigue.]]>
4.25 2012 Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)
author: Jana Deleon
name: C.
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves: shameless-pleasure-reads
review:
An assassin in hiding finds herself tangled up in a small town murder mystery and hijinks that just might blow her cover.

This is a quick, fun read that is perfect for the last part of summer. I found myself looking forward to getting through another book I'm reading just so I could return to Sinful--that small town filled with quirky characters and intrigue.
]]>
<![CDATA[Murder on the SS Rosa (Ginger Gold Mystery #1)]]> 50725025
The SS Rosa delivers a convincing array of suspects - the wife, the mistress, a jealous crew mate. To Ginger’s dismay, her name has been added to the list! With a little help from Ginger’s dog Boss, Ginger and Haley navigate the clues (those wartime operative skills come in handy.) They must solve the case and clear Ginger’s name before they dock–and oh, whatever shall she wear!]]>
168 Lee Strauss C. 4 cozy-mysteries 3.88 2017 Murder on the SS Rosa (Ginger Gold Mystery #1)
author: Lee Strauss
name: C.
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/10
date added: 2023/06/10
shelves: cozy-mysteries
review:
It took a while to get into the mystery and beyond the fashion obsession, but once I did, I enjoyed the way the characters took shape and became interesting. Who committed the murder is well hidden with a lot of red herrings to throw the reader off the scent, so that was well done. The period is one of my favorites, and that helped make the story engaging as well.
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<![CDATA[Precious Vile Things (George Elmer's Standalone Novels)]]> 57509749 173 George Elmer C. 1 no-way-jose-books 2.71 Precious Vile Things (George Elmer's Standalone Novels)
author: George Elmer
name: C.
average rating: 2.71
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2023/06/08
date added: 2023/06/08
shelves: no-way-jose-books
review:

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The People We Keep 59366199 The People we Keep is about a young songwriter longing to find a home in the world.

Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a run-down motorhome, flunking out of school, and picking up shifts at the local diner. But when April realizes she’s finally had enough—enough of her selfish, absent father and barely surviving in an unfeeling town—she decides to make a break for it. Stealing a car and with only her music to keep her company, April hits the road, determined to live life on her own terms.

She manages to scrape together a meaningful existence as she travels, encountering people and places she’s never dreamed of, and could never imagine deserving. From lifelong friendships to tragic heartbreaks, April chronicles her journey in the beautiful music she creates as she discovers that home is with the people you choose to keep.]]>
384 Allison Larkin 1982171308 C. 0 to-read 4.05 2021 The People We Keep
author: Allison Larkin
name: C.
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Bookshop Murder (Flora Steele, #1)]]> 58087134 Join Flora Steele – bookshop owner, bicycle-rider, day dreamer and amateur detective as she tackles her first case!

Sussex, 1955: When Flora Steele opens up her bookshop one morning she’s in for the surprise of her life! Because there, amongst her bookcases, is the body of a young man, with a shock of white-blond hair. But who was he? And how did he come to be there?

Determined to save her beloved bookshop’s reputation and solve the baffling mystery, Flora enlists the help of handsome and brooding Jack Carrington: crime writer, recluse and her most reliable customer.

The unlikely duo set about investigating the extraordinary case, following a lead across the sleepy village of Abbeymead to The Priory Hotel. When the hotel’s gardener dies suddenly, and they find out their victim was staying there, Flora’s suspicions are raised.

Are the two deaths connected? Is someone at the hotel responsible – the nervous cook, the money-obsessed receptionist, or the formidable manageress?

As the trail of clues takes Flora and Jack all over the village itbecomes clear there’s more than one person hiding secrets in Abbeymead…

But does Flora have what it takes to uncover the truth – or will her amateur sleuthing put her in harm’s way?]]>
256 Merryn Allingham 1800196814 C. 3 cozy-mysteries
There’s soon another mysterious death and these deaths may be connected. Then there’s the buried treasure and the hunt for clues that takes Flora into danger and turns Jack into more than just a good customer with a keen crime-solving talent.

I had a hard time buying the secret bookcase release. First, it was opened by accidentally bumping into a shelf, and then it required reaching high overhead and pulling with force. But the method of poisoning was interesting and clever.

This is an easy summer beach read, and if you like a mystery with a little danger, a hint of romance, and a happy ending, this book’s for you. ]]>
3.96 2021 The Bookshop Murder (Flora Steele, #1)
author: Merryn Allingham
name: C.
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/03
date added: 2023/06/03
shelves: cozy-mysteries
review:
Set in Sussex, England in 1955, The Bookshop Murder follows Flora Steele as she tries to save her beloved aunt’s business from financial ruin. The townspeople have stopped patronizing the shop after a dead body turned up inside. Her best customer, Jack Carrington, who is a crime writer, joins her in trying to find out who the murderer is.

There’s soon another mysterious death and these deaths may be connected. Then there’s the buried treasure and the hunt for clues that takes Flora into danger and turns Jack into more than just a good customer with a keen crime-solving talent.

I had a hard time buying the secret bookcase release. First, it was opened by accidentally bumping into a shelf, and then it required reaching high overhead and pulling with force. But the method of poisoning was interesting and clever.

This is an easy summer beach read, and if you like a mystery with a little danger, a hint of romance, and a happy ending, this book’s for you.
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<![CDATA[The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code]]> 13521382 From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA.

In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist's Thumb, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA.

There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einstein's genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more recently than any of us would feel comfortable thinking. They can even allow some people, because of the exceptional flexibility of their thumbs and fingers, to become truly singular violinists.

Kean's vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy while showing how DNA will influence our species' future.

Genes, freaks, DNA : how do living things pass down traits to their children? --
The near death of Darwin : why did geneticists try to kill natural selection? --
Them's the DNA breaks : how does nature read --
and misread --
DNA? --
The musical scores of DNA : what kinds of information does DNA store? --
DNA vindication : why did life evolve so slowly --
then explode in complexity? --
The survivors, the livers : what's our most ancient and important DNA? --
The Machiavelli microbe : how much human DNA is actually human? --
Love and atavisms : what genes make mammals mammals? --
Humanzees and other near misses : when did humans break away from monkeys, and why? --
Scarlet A's, C's, G's, and T's : why did humans almost go extinct? --
Size matters : how did humans get such grotesquely large brains? --
The art of the gene : how deep in our DNA is artistic genius? --
The past is prologue --
sometimes : what can (and can't) genes teach us about historical heroes? --
Three billion little pieces : why don't humans have more genes than other species? --
Easy come, easy go? : how come identical twins aren't identical? --
Life as we do (and don't) know it : what the heck will happen now? --
Epilogue : genomics gets personal]]>
416 Sam Kean 0316202975 C. 5 fabulous-non-fiction
The stories about the conflicts and collaborations between scientists over the years put a very human face on this area of research and helped make that research and the findings understandable to me as a lay reader.

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3.99 2012 The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code
author: Sam Kean
name: C.
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/22
date added: 2023/05/22
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
The Violinist's Thumb took a while to read because I have little in the way of a science background, but I found the book fascinating. It gave me an appreciation for the complexity of life as well as an understanding about the history of research into our genetic code.

The stories about the conflicts and collaborations between scientists over the years put a very human face on this area of research and helped make that research and the findings understandable to me as a lay reader.


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The Wishing Game 62926992
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.]]>
304 Meg Shaffer 0593598830 C. 0 to-read 4.01 2023 The Wishing Game
author: Meg Shaffer
name: C.
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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Do Not Disturb 58778536
To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

Do Not Disturb is a Hitchcock-style psychological thriller that will keep you tearing through the pages until you reach the shocking conclusion!]]>
325 Freida McFadden C. 2 no-way-jose-books
The relationship between the sisters, Quinn and Claudia, didn't support the brutal attack by the elder of the two. It seemed to come out of nowhere, so while the younger sister was shocked, so was I. And why would the elder one attack an innocent older woman at the the motel?

At first, I felt empathy for Rosalie, but then the whining got to me. There's one chapter that had me laughing when I knew I should be on the edge of my seat. I think it had to do with the overuse of the binoculars that Rosalie used to spy on her husband.

I wouldn't have finished this one, but it was an audiobook, and I was walking, so I let it run to the end. ]]>
3.93 2021 Do Not Disturb
author: Freida McFadden
name: C.
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/05/04
date added: 2023/05/04
shelves: no-way-jose-books
review:
This one didn't work for me. I couldn't believe in the characters or their motivation. While it started off with a great opening scene, it lost momentum and authenticity as the story unfolded.

The relationship between the sisters, Quinn and Claudia, didn't support the brutal attack by the elder of the two. It seemed to come out of nowhere, so while the younger sister was shocked, so was I. And why would the elder one attack an innocent older woman at the the motel?

At first, I felt empathy for Rosalie, but then the whining got to me. There's one chapter that had me laughing when I knew I should be on the edge of my seat. I think it had to do with the overuse of the binoculars that Rosalie used to spy on her husband.

I wouldn't have finished this one, but it was an audiobook, and I was walking, so I let it run to the end.
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<![CDATA[The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World]]> 10299666 At a time when women were excluded from science, a young girl made a discovery that marked the birth of paleontology and continues to feed the debate about evolution to this day.Mary Anning was only twelve years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton--of an ichthyosaur--while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct. The child of a poor family, Mary became a fossil hunter, inspiring the tongue-twister, "She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore." She attracted the attention of fossil collectors and eventually the scientific world. Once news of the fossils reached the halls of academia, it became impossible to ignore the truth. Mary's peculiar finds helped lay the groundwork for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, laid out in his On the Origin of Species. Darwin drew on Mary's fossilized creatures as irrefutable evidence that life in the past was nothing like life in the present. A story worthy of Dickens, The Fossil Hunter chronicles the life of this young girl, with dirt under her fingernails and not a shilling to buy dinner, who became a world-renowned paleontologist. Dickens himself said of "The carpenter's daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it." Here at last, Shelley Emling returns Mary Anning, of whom Stephen J. Gould remarked, is "probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology," to her deserved place in history.]]> 269 Shelley Emling C. 4 fabulous-non-fiction
It was her discoveries of prehistoric fossils that set the scientific world on the path to understanding how earth, its plants, and animals developed over eons. With her discoveries, the creationist account of our origin was called into question. The frustrating part of her story lies in the lack of recognition she received during her life except by a select few geologists who valued her knowledge and expertise.

A quick, easy read about a very interesting woman and her times.]]>
4.07 2009 The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World
author: Shelley Emling
name: C.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/25
date added: 2023/04/25
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
I was fascinated by the story of Mary Anning from Lyme Regis, England in the early and mid 1800s. This woman who was born into poverty and who was uneducated, laid the foundation for scientific investigation into the evolution of our world.

It was her discoveries of prehistoric fossils that set the scientific world on the path to understanding how earth, its plants, and animals developed over eons. With her discoveries, the creationist account of our origin was called into question. The frustrating part of her story lies in the lack of recognition she received during her life except by a select few geologists who valued her knowledge and expertise.

A quick, easy read about a very interesting woman and her times.
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Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]>
368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 C. 4 shameless-pleasure-reads
Marcellus will win your heart, and Tova will too--closely followed by Cochran. It never matters that Marcellus is an octopus and the character that finally takes charge to make the less perceptive humans recognize the truth.

A good book club read.]]>
4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: C.
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/20
date added: 2023/04/20
shelves: shameless-pleasure-reads
review:
If you want a sweet, poignant, feel good story, then Remarkably Bright Creatures is for you.

Marcellus will win your heart, and Tova will too--closely followed by Cochran. It never matters that Marcellus is an octopus and the character that finally takes charge to make the less perceptive humans recognize the truth.

A good book club read.
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Alexander the Great 7841459 Alexander was born into the royal family of Macedonia, the kingdom that would soon rule over Greece. Tutored as a boy by Aristotle, Alexander had an inquisitive mind that would serve him well when he faced formidable obstacles during his military campaigns. Shortly after taking command of the army, he launched an invasion of the Persian empire, and continued his conquests as far south as the deserts of Egypt and as far east as the mountains of present-day Pakistan and the plains of India. Alexander spent nearly all his adult life away from his homeland, and he and his men helped spread the Greek language throughout western Asia, where it would become the lingua franca of the ancient world. Within a short time after Alexander’s death in Baghdad, his empire began to fracture. Best known among his successors are the Ptolemies of Egypt, whose empire lasted until Cleopatra.

In his lively and authoritative biography of Alexander, classical scholar and historian Philip Freeman describes Alexander’s astonishing achievements and provides insight into the mercurial character of the great conqueror. Alexander could be petty and magnanimous, cruel and merciful, impulsive and farsighted. Above all, he was ferociously, intensely competitive and could not tolerate losing—which he rarely did. As Freeman explains, without Alexander, the influence of Greece on the ancient world would surely not have been as great as it was, even if his motivation was not to spread Greek culture for beneficial purposes but instead to unify his empire. Only a handful of people have influenced history as Alexander did, which is why he continues to fascinate us.

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391 Philip Freeman 1416592806 C. 4 fabulous-non-fiction
The most interesting part of Alexander's life is the uncertainty about who he was. At times he was a farsighted leader with a goal of connecting diverse cultures. At others, he was a hot-tempered, megalomaniac given to excessive drinking. One thing history agrees on is that he was one of the most brilliant military strategists who ever lived.

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4.29 2010 Alexander the Great
author: Philip Freeman
name: C.
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/19
date added: 2023/04/19
shelves: fabulous-non-fiction
review:
Written for the lay reader, Alexander the Great is an easily digested biography of a man who lived in the ancient past, but who left a lasting legacy of change that has affected the world.

The most interesting part of Alexander's life is the uncertainty about who he was. At times he was a farsighted leader with a goal of connecting diverse cultures. At others, he was a hot-tempered, megalomaniac given to excessive drinking. One thing history agrees on is that he was one of the most brilliant military strategists who ever lived.


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Wrong Place Wrong Time 59947696
It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up… it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.]]>
416 Gillian McAllister 0063252341 C. 5
While this was a story told in reverse, it was intriguing from the beginning, and I had to keep reading to find out how it would come back to the present time as well as how these character would be changed at the end.]]>
3.94 2022 Wrong Place Wrong Time
author: Gillian McAllister
name: C.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/15
date added: 2023/04/17
shelves: books-that-knocked-my-socks-off
review:
This book had everything I enjoy in a novel. It was twisty and unpredictable--I only guessed Cleo's identity a few pages before the reveal, and I never did know who Ryan was until the author told me. The plotting was unique, so I had to pay attention to all the clues the author gave. The end was unexpected and satisfying.

While this was a story told in reverse, it was intriguing from the beginning, and I had to keep reading to find out how it would come back to the present time as well as how these character would be changed at the end.
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Lessons in Chemistry 58065033 390 Bonnie Garmus C. 0 to-read 4.23 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: C.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)]]> 17675462 “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.]]>
409 Maggie Stiefvater 0545424925 C. 3
Blue is the psychic's daughter who isn’t herself a psychic, but she increases the power of the supernatural as well as the abilities of other psychics. When she encounters Gansey, a rich Aglionby boy, it’s along the Corpse Road and it’s his spirit. This is the first time Blue sees a spirit. The question is why, and for a very long time it seems that the question will never be answered.

Instead, the friendship of four Aglionby friends becomes the center of the story along with Blue's attraction to Gansey and her potential romance with Adam (one of those boys). Then there’s the quest that Gansey has dedicated himself to. It’s this quest that leads the reader into the complex world of murder, ghosts, and magical talking trees.

There are other threads that take the reader in and out of the mystical experience, including an abusive father and far too meek a mother.

I’m not sure I’m willing to commit more time to the series because while this was well-written, it didn’t keep me engaged the way I want a story to do. Gansey never became more than an Aglionby boy with charisma and Blue only had flashes of a girl with grit. There were surprises--Noah being the biggest.
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4.05 2012 The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: C.
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/11
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves:
review:
This was a bumpy read for me. At first, I kept putting it down because of the pace, but because I’ve enjoyed other books by Stiefvater, I stuck with it.

Blue is the psychic's daughter who isn’t herself a psychic, but she increases the power of the supernatural as well as the abilities of other psychics. When she encounters Gansey, a rich Aglionby boy, it’s along the Corpse Road and it’s his spirit. This is the first time Blue sees a spirit. The question is why, and for a very long time it seems that the question will never be answered.

Instead, the friendship of four Aglionby friends becomes the center of the story along with Blue's attraction to Gansey and her potential romance with Adam (one of those boys). Then there’s the quest that Gansey has dedicated himself to. It’s this quest that leads the reader into the complex world of murder, ghosts, and magical talking trees.

There are other threads that take the reader in and out of the mystical experience, including an abusive father and far too meek a mother.

I’m not sure I’m willing to commit more time to the series because while this was well-written, it didn’t keep me engaged the way I want a story to do. Gansey never became more than an Aglionby boy with charisma and Blue only had flashes of a girl with grit. There were surprises--Noah being the biggest.

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You Won't Believe Me 62692686
An old lady appears in her room to feed her twice a day. Granny doesn't talk, but Willow can hear thumping from somewhere beyond her door. It's not Granny's shuffling steps. It's too loud to be Granny's cat. Is it someone? Something?

Then Granny's cat dies in Willow's room. And Granny follows a few days later. Willow will do anything to survive. But freeing herself from her bed is only the beginning... Because there is someone else in the house. Who is this mysterious teen who calls himself Elijah? And is he the reason she's hostage or the key to her escape?]]>
368 Cyn Balog 1728265568 C. 0 to-read 3.53 2023 You Won't Believe Me
author: Cyn Balog
name: C.
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Children of Blood and Bone: The Orisha Legacy (Legacy of Orisha)]]> 43332963 Don't miss the book Entertainment Weekly calls "a phenomenon." Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her #1 New York Times bestselling West African-inspired young adult fantasy debut.

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Z�lie Adebola remembers when the soil of Or�sha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Z�lie's Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Z�lie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Z�lie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Z�lie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Or�sha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Z�lie herself as she struggles to control her powers--and her growing feelings for an enemy.

Praise for Children of Blood and Bone

"Perfect for fans of the expansive fantasy worlds of Leigh Bardugo, Daniel Josďż˝ Older, and Sabaa Tahir." --Booklist, starred review

"This book, with its movie deal already made, will be the next big thing. It is the perfect book follow-up to the movie, Black Panther, too. . . . Children of Blood and Bone is perfect for fans of Nnedi Okorafor, Nancy Farmer, and Angie Thomas." --VOYA, starred review]]>
873 Tomi Adeyemi 1432864092 C. 4 4.17 2018 Children of Blood and Bone: The Orisha Legacy (Legacy of Orisha)
author: Tomi Adeyemi
name: C.
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/30
date added: 2023/03/30
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over]]> 75377113
"...Anyone who has had to begin again, to strike out on her own, make a new life and new friends, will relate to this debut novel…" Marilyn Simon Rothstein, author of Crazy to Leave You

“A warm, engaging novel about love, friendship, and starting over, with a protagonist you will root for from the very first page!" Barbara Josselsohn, author of The Lilac House and The Cranberry Inn.

It’s time for widow Molly Stevenson to stand on her own two feet. With blind dates, a needy ghost, and her small-town bookstore in trouble, she’s going to need all her inner strength to prevent another unhappy ending.

Forty-something Molly can’t bear to remove her wedding band. Still grieving the death of her beloved husband, the last thing she needs is her sleazy landlord raising the rent to drive her bookshop out of business. And she doesn’t need a new man, either, no matter what her friends say.

Now, this mild-mannered indie bookstore owner must find the inner strength to turn the page to a brand-new chapter.

So she’s relieved when the ghost of her husband arrives claiming he’s there to help. But is he? Seems he has some issues of his own.

With a little nudge from beyond the grave, the mild-mannered bibliophile hatches a plan to revitalize her boutique and keep the doors open. But with everyone, including her spectral spouse, insisting she start dating again, Molly isn’t sure what’s worse—the dates she meets online or the love of her life trying to find her a new man—who’s not quite as good as him.

How will Molly find the courage to fight for herself?]]>
329 Gabi Coatsworth 1639887547 C. 4 shameless-pleasure-reads ]]> 4.12 2023 A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over
author: Gabi Coatsworth
name: C.
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/30
date added: 2023/03/30
shelves: shameless-pleasure-reads
review:
A heart-warming story about losing your life partner and learning how to live on your own. This is a great book for a cozy read by the fire or in a beach chair. It’s light and very human. You really understand Molly and want her to find the happiness she deserves again.

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The Guest List 52656911
The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]>
319 Lucy Foley C. 3
The alternating pov's with new information that reveals who the characters are and their past secrets is interesting and will keep you reading. I had a problem with the ending--I have a specific issue, but that would be a "spoiler." I also needed a couple of loose ends tied up. However, I did read to the end. ]]>
3.81 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: C.
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves:
review:
This a story about a wedding gone terribly wrong. The setting is a remote island with a history of atrocities and hauntings. The characters who come together for this event have connections from private school days. It's not clear what some of these connections are until the end, but none of them are positive.

The alternating pov's with new information that reveals who the characters are and their past secrets is interesting and will keep you reading. I had a problem with the ending--I have a specific issue, but that would be a "spoiler." I also needed a couple of loose ends tied up. However, I did read to the end.
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<![CDATA[Secrets of Willow House (Sandy Cove, #1)]]> 43522511 Maeve McKenna is on the verge of a breakdown. Having worked herself into the ground as a sought-after interior designer in London, she’s in desperate need of a vacation.

Philomena Duffy is a little lonely. After losing her husband, their crumbling mansion, Willow House, feels awfully empty.

With the rugged shores of Ireland calling, Maeve visits her aunt Philomena in Sandy Cove, where she once, as a teenager, kissed a wild, mysterious boy – a kiss she has never been able to forget. The beautiful night’s sky is dotted with stars as far as the eye can see, and Maeve is worlds away from her chaotic life in the city.

As Maeve throws herself into restoring Willow House to its former glory, a deep friendship with Philomena begins to blossom. Surrounded by the faded walls and peeling carpets of the old mansion, together they stumble across a secret that turns their family upside down.

All the while, she can’t stop thinking about the enigmatic boy from her past, and that magical kiss… Is he still in Sandy Cove?

Just as she’s beginning to feel at home, reality calls. Part of Maeve can’t bear to leave Willow House and its rocky beach. Does she have the courage to leave the security of her old life behind, and put down new roots in Sandy Cove, or is that just a daydream?

Fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Debbie Macomber and Mary Alice Monroe will fall head over heels for this stunning read.

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308 Susanne O'Leary 1786818523 C. 4 4.26 Secrets of Willow House (Sandy Cove, #1)
author: Susanne O'Leary
name: C.
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/13
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves:
review:

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The Jackal's Head 32142 336 Elizabeth Peters 0380731177 C. 3 3.77 1968 The Jackal's Head
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: C.
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/04
date added: 2023/03/04
shelves:
review:

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