The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

 Started: 10/24/2021

Finished: 2/25/2022

Year: 2013

Pages: 513

Genre: paranormal mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "1926

"My name is Sarah Grey.

"I knew of Harry Price before I became his trusted assistant. He was notorious-London's greatest ghost hunter.

"Working alongside Harry meant leaving behind my past-and I trusted him.

"I knew of Borley Rectory, too, before I visited it with Harry-supposedly the most haunted house in England.

"I knew there was no such thing as phantoms: that I could visit Borely without fear, return unharmed.

"These are the things I thought I knew

"I now understand the true meaning of terror."

Opinion: A little long but overall an enjoyable mystery. Interesting take on ghost hunting and the extreme that sceptics will take in proving what they think is the truth.

Last Girl Standing by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush

Started: 10/15/2021

Finished: 2/21/2022

Year: 2020

Pages: 428

Genre: Suspense

Grade: C

Reason for reading: Bookreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "First they were five. Then they were four.

Whose turn will it be next?

At Bristol High they were an elite clique known as the Five Firsts: Amanda, Bailey, Carmen, Delta and Zora . . . ABCD & Z. They could have accepted their classmate, Emmy, as "E", but with her bookish disposition and her embarrassing status of scholarship student to boot, they rejected her and chose wealthy Zora instead.

At a pre-graduation party just before the end of senior year, Lance Ventura, the hottest guy in school, falls down an embankment toward the river and is barely rescued in time to save his life. One of the Five Firsts, Carman, rushes to save him, but isn't so lucky. Her sudden death causes a community to mourn and rumors of foul play to swirl, but the tragedy is ruled an accident.

Fast forward ten years and the classmates all meet again at the high school reunion. Some of them have had good fortune in their lives. Others, not so much."

Opinion: If I wanted to return to the high school cliques bullshit, I'd find another way instead of reading a book about it. I couldn't really find one character that I cared about. The murder mystery was intense but the whodunit did not make sense.

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

Started: 2/17/2022

Finished: 2/19/2022

Year: 2005

Pages: 321

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: booklender.com book, reading the series in order

Type: Mass Market Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Stephanie Plum is thinking her career as a fugitive apprehension agent has run its course. She's been shot at, spat at, cussed at, fire-bombed, mooned, and attacked by dogs. Stephanie thinks it's time for a change. So she quits. She wants something safe and normal. But the kind of trouble she had at the bail bonds office can't compare to the kind of trouble she finds herself facing now…

Stephanie is stalked by a maniac returned from the grave for the sole purpose of putting her into a burial plot of her own. He's killed before, and he'll kill again if given the chance. Caught between staying far away from the bounty hunter business and staying alive, Stephanie reexamines her life and the possibility that being a bounty hunter is the solution rather than the problem. After disturbingly brief careers at the button factory, Kan Klean Dry Cleaners, and Cluck-in-a-Bucket, Stephanie takes an office position in security, working for Ranger, the sexiest, baddest bounty hunter and businessman on two continents. Tempers and temperatures rise as competition ratchets up between the two men in her life―her on-again, off-again boyfriend, tough Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and her boss, Ranger. Can Stephanie Plum take the heat? Can you?"

Opinion: Not as funny as some of the others in the series but still a fun read. It's amazing what Stephanie gets into.

The Vanishing by Bentley Little

 Started: 2/13/2022

Finished: 2/17/2022

Year: 2007

Pages: 386

Genre: Horror

Grade: C

Reason for reading: booklender.com book

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In Beverly Hills, a wealthy CEO goes on a bloody rampage and videotapes the slaughter. He leaves behind a chilling cryptic message...“This is where it begins.”

 
Miles away, an alarmed mother receives an unsettling letter from her estranged husband, stained with bloody fingerprints.
 
And all across California, children are becoming affected by a monstrous change—and their parents, by a mounting fear.
 
Social worker Carrie Daniels and reporter Brian Howells are determined to find the link between these baffling crimes. But they shouldn’t look too deeply into the lives of the victims. It’s quite dark there. And God help them, they won’t like what they find."

Opinion: Gory for people with vivid imaginations. Decent horror. Suspenseful.

Psychopath by Keith Ablow

Started: 2/7/2022

Finished: 2/13/2022

Year: 2003

Pages: 342

Genre: suspense

Grade: B

Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Twelve bodies, twelve states. What no one know is that the 'Highway Killer' is also a gifted psychiatrist who lures his victims into a false sense of security with his miraculous ability to understand their darkest emotional secrets. he is their confessor, but he is also their executioner. When the killer writes to The New York Times, challenging fames forensic psychiatrist Frank Clevenger to heal him through an exchange of open letters on the front page, he opens his diabolical mind to the one man with the courage to cure him-or die trying..."

Opinion: A fast paced suspenseful mystery where readers know the killer but are fascinated by the public exchange and wonder how will Clevenger find the killer. Subplots were reasonable.

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

Started: 2/3/2022

Finished: 2/6/2022

Year: 2004

Pages: 319

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: booklender.com book, reading series in order

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Swing off the Jersey Turnpike and you'll be in bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's neighborhood. You'll know it because all hell will be breaking loose. Not that she attracts trouble-it just seems to follow her. In Ten Big Ones it explodes at a deli, and when Stephanie pegs a robber as a member of a vicious Trenton gang, they peg her as dead. Vice cop Joe Morelli fears she's in way too deep-even with the help of crime-solving cross-dressing bus driver, Sweet Sally, and Stephanie's friend Lula riding shotgun as backup. With a notorious killer on her tail, Stephanie figures the best hideout is Ranger's secret lair..."

Opinion: Not as good as the last one. Kinda filler but did learn more about Ranger.

I'm Supposed to Make a Difference by Kevin Vought

Started: 1/27/2022

Finished: 1/30/2022

Year: 2021

Pages: 172

Genre: Memoir

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Blurb (from Amazon): "This is what happens when true crime hits close to home.

Kevin’s mother was emotionally abusive and resented him, though she did her best to protect him and his brother from their father — a man who could be quite violent who may have inherited his own father’s evil, sadistic, pedophilic traits.

In the summer of 1980 Kevin found himself in the “care” of his paternal grandfather, on the same day the man abducted an 11-year-old girl with the sole intention of raping her.

Kevin tried to stop him, and nearly died for getting in the way.

And she wasn’t the only little girl.

I’m Supposed to Make a Difference describes how Kevin fought a grueling, decades-long battle against long-buried memories to overcome suicidal feelings, depression, and self-loathing to develop five principles for moving forward and normalizing trauma: be steadfast; be goal-oriented; find good people; accept help; and focus your anger.

Today, Kevin’s largely conquered his demons—and shares the strategies he used to heal and transform.

I’m Supposed to Make a Difference is a riveting, emotional and inspirational read for survivors of childhood trauma and those who appreciate the transformative power of the human experience."

Opinion: my review will be on Reader Views website

The Fixer's Mess by Orr Agam

 Started: 1/25/2022

Finished: 1/26/2022

Year: 2021

Pages: 108

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Blurb (from Amazon): "Max Cedar is the personal lawyer, aka "fixer," for the bombastic and crude hotel mogul Duncan Thomas of San Francisco. Since working for Duncan, he has become estranged from his family in New York and lately is convinced he is on the verge of having a stroke. When Duncan orders Max to "fix" a newspaper story about an alleged affair between Duncan and a stripper named London, things begin to unravel. Max gets caught up in a murder scheme and is forced to go on the run. As he tries to get himself out from under this mess, he must take on Duncan's close circle of creepy employees, family, and disturbing secrets. Now Max must use his skills and unethical tactics as Duncan's fixer to maneuver himself out of prison while remaining in one piece. Will Max be able to fix his very own mess?"

Opinion: full review will be up on Reader Views in the near future.

What the Hell are They Thinking? Edited by Daniel Ravner

 Started: 1/20/2022

Finished: 1/22/2022

Year: 2021

Pages: 380

Genre: social science

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Review for Reader Views

Blurb (from Amazon): "

How well are you keeping up with the hottest topics in our world today?

Should we legalize marijuana?
Are the Kardashians good or bad for feminism?
Is happiness a choice?
Is Federer the best tennis player of all time?
Should we raise taxes on the rich?
Are vaccines safe for kids?
Is there life after death?

What the Hell are They Thinking features 100 hotly debated topics that govern your life and covers politics and government, economics, popular culture, sports, health, religion, and more!

Constructed using a unique psychological writing methodology designed to open minds by reducing media biases, echo chambers, and filter bubbles, What the Hell are They Thinking offers a uniquely approachable and user-friendly way for busy, yet open-minded individuals to get a more complete understanding of what’s being discussed in our world today."

Opinion: review will be on Reader Views in the near future.

In Search of the Far Side by Gary Larson

Started: 2/3/2022

Finished: 2/3/2022

Year: 1984

Pages: 108

Genre: comic

Grade: B

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb: collection of some of Gary Larson's Far Side comics

Opinion: I was always a fan of reading these in the newspaper so when I had the opportunity to grab this book out of a book box, I couldn't pass it up. Some are dated.....some most definitely are not. Always fun.

To The Nines by Janet Evanovich

Started: 1/31/2022

Finished: 2/2/2022

Year: 2003

Pages: 320

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: booklender.com book/rereading/reading the series in order

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Stephanie Plum's got rent to pay, people shooting at her, and psychos wanting her dead every day of the week (much to the dismay of her mother, her family, the men in her life, the guy who slices meat at the deli...oh, the list goes on). An ordinary person would cave under the pressure.

But hey, she's from Jersey.

Stephanie Plum may not be the best bounty hunter in beautiful downtown Trenton, but she's pretty darn good at turning bad situations her way...and she always gets her man. In
To The Nines, her cousin Vinnie (who's also her boss) has posted bail on Samuel Singh, an immigrant who becomes an illegal alien by violating his Visa and extending his stay in the United States. When the elusive Mr. Singh goes missing, Stephanie is on the case. But what she uncovers is far more sinister than anyone imagines and leads to a group of killers who give new meaning to the word hunter...

In a race against time that takes her from the Jersey Turnpike to the Vegas strip, Stephanie Plum is on the chase of her life."

Opinion: This was a fun read. Laugh out loud moments. Decent mystery plot.