One Night Pregnancy by Lindsay Armstrong

 Started: 5/27/21

Finished: 5/28/21

Year: 2010

Pages: 186

Genre: Romance

Grade: D

Reason for reading: Bookcrossing.com book

Blurb (from back cover): "Rescued during a raging storm, sensible Bridget blushes scarlet when she finds herself seduced by a captivating stranger. How un-Bridget-like-she's mortified! But little does she know her rescue is ultrawealthy...and ultraexclusive!

"Until she reads the newspaper headlines...

"Bridget's mystery man is none other than the notorious Adam Beaumont, heir to the Beaumont empire. Now Bridget has to find the words-and the courage-to tell him he left a lasting impression!"

Opinion: Fluff....typical Harlequin fluff. Grammar wasn't great.

The Mammoth Book of The History of Murder by Colin Wilson

 Started: 2/7/21

Finished: 5/27/21

Pages: 639

Year: 2000 (this edition)

Genre: True Crime

Grade: B

Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile

Type: paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Following the original success of his history of homicide, The Mammoth Book of True Crime 2, expert author Colin Wilson has prepared this new, completely revised edition, bringing the chronicle of this most dreadful of crimes right up to the present.

"He examines the motives and methods, both of particular categories of murder and of individual and mysterious cases. Starting with the horrifying entertainments of Ancient Rome, and moving on through the centuries, he illuminates such infamous figures as Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Gilles de Rais, the Countess Elizabeth Bathory and the Marques de Sade, Elizabethan executions, Jacobean with hunts, the gaslit Victorian underworld of Jack the Ripper, and the gangland killings of the Jazz Age lead us up to the serial killers of the modern world, among them Fred West, Chikatilo, Milat, and Jeffrey Dahmer, gruesome cannibal killers and random 'spree' gunmen, as well as the growing phenomenon of murder with an element of the occult"

Opinion: An interesting collection of true crime stories. Some a lot of people will recognize. Some are not as well known. Interesting look at the history.

Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard

 Started: 5/20/21

Finished: 5/24/21

Year: 2018

Pages: 289

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from back cover): "Sean Suh is done with killing. After serving three years in a psychiatric prison, he's determined to stay away from temptation. But he can't resist Annabelle-beautiful, confident, incandescent Annabelle-who alone can see past the monster to the man inside. The man he's desperately trying to be.

"Then Annabelle disappears.

"Sean is sure he's been kidnapped-he witnessed her being taken firsthand-but the police are convinced that Sean himself is at the center of this crime. And he must admit, his illness has caused him to 'lose time' before. What if there's more to what happened than he's able to remember.

"Though haunted by the fear that it might be better for Annabelle if he never finds her, Sean can't bring himself to let of her without a fight. To save her, he'll have to do more than confront his own demons...He'll have to let them loose."

Opinion: An interesting read. The ending seemed rushed and a major thing was never resolved before a big twist which is frustrating. The fact that Sean's character is Korean and repeated throughout the book was not necessary. Readers can remember that significant fact about a character. The twist made it entertaining.

Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

 Started: 5/15/21

Finished: 5/20/21

Year: 2002 (this edition)

Pages: 337

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: catching up on the series. Booksfree.com book

Type: Mass Market Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "All New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to do is bring in a semi-retired bail jumper Eddie DeChooch. For an old man he's still got a knack for slipping out of sight-and raising hell. How else can Stephanie explain the bullet-riddled corpse in Eddie's garden? Who else would have a clue as to why two of Stephanie's friend suddenly vanished? For answers Stephanie has the devil to pay: her mentor, Ranger. The deal? He'll give Stephanie all the help she needs-if she gives him everything he wants...

"As if things weren't complicated enough, Stephanie's just discovered her Grandma Mazur's own unmentionable alliance with Eddie. Add a series of unnerving break-ins, not to mention the bombshell revelation leveled by Stephanie's estranged sister, and Stephanie's ready for some good news. Unfortunately, a marriage proposal from Joe Morelli, the love of her life, isn't quite cutting it. And now-murder, a randy paramour, a wily mobster, death threats, extortion and a triple kidnapping aside-Stephanie's really got the urge to run for her life..."

Opinion: Oh the antics that Stephanie gets herself into. A fun read and goes right along with the series.

More Confessions of a Trauma Junkie: My Life as a Nurse Paramedic by Sherry Lynn Jones

 Started: 5/13/21

Finished: 5/15/21

Year: 2021 (this edition)

Pages: 130

Genre: Biograpy/Autobiography-Medical

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "More Confessions shares the raw and honest feelings of emergency service professionals through true 'story behind the story' revelations. Disclosing experiences from both sides of the gurney. Sherry and other EMS, ER, paramilitary, and firefighter responders walk you along their fragile line of sanity. Using humor as a life raft during perfect storms, workers reflect upon how they endure and survive personal and professional tragedy while trying not to care too much, and what happens when they fail in that attempt. A graduate student in psychology, Sherry is a paramedic, trauma nurse, and crisis interventionist who led a national paramilitary crisis response team and continues conducting crisis management training throughout the U.S."

Opinion: As someone who has dealt with behavioral health crises in her career, I can relate to some of these stories and how humor is used in order to cope.  A more complete review will be posted on Reader Views in the near future.

Inside Our Days by Michele Merens

 Started: 5/8/21

Finished: 5/13/21

Year: 2020

Pages: 242

Genre: Fiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader's View

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "A happily married woman abruptly flees home and family after receiving a dire health diagnosis. As Bree Durning rejects all offers of help and instead becomes preoccupied with her own blindsiding memories, even her psychologist-trained husband is tested to his limits as he struggles to ease his wife's pain."

Opinion: The ending left a lot to be desired-hence the average grade. Without the ending, it would have been a B. A complete review will be on Reader's View in the near future.

The Trouble with Kim: On Transcending Despair and Approaching Joy by Seth David Branitz

 Started: 5/2/21

Finished: 5/6/21

Year: 2020

Pages: 270

Genre: Memoir/biography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader's Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "THE TROUBLE WITH KIM: On Transcending Despair and Approaching Joy is a poignant collection of true stories about growing up poor in a troubled family, and struggling to heal past childhood wounds toward wholeness and manhood. A gifted storyteller, Seth David Branitz manages to move and entertain as he explores even the most difficult of themes. It's impossible not to be touched as he deftly tackles mental illness, addiction and recovery, sexual awakening, the limits of familial obligation, death, grief, emotional maturity, creative self-fulfillment, and finding love, all with great compassion and compelling attention to detail."

Opinion: an interesting way of telling one's story. A more complete review will be on Reader's Views in the near future.