Daughter of the Ganges by Asha Miro

Started: 3/25/2-22

Finished: 3/25/2022

Year: 2007

Pages: 263

Genre: memoir

Grade: C

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: Trade paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Growing up in an Indian orphanage, Asha Miró; dreamed that someday she would be adopted. At the age of six, her wish finally came true, but only at the misfortune of another. A Catalan family was in the process of adopting twins when one of the children suddenly fell ill and died -- a twist of fate that led the family to adopt Asha instead. Leaving a life of poverty behind, Asha was given a second chance.

Twenty-one years later, Asha takes a heart-wrenching trip back to India to uncover her native roots. Full of unexpected encounters, this adventure informs and touches Asha beyond her expectations. She visits her old orphanage, speaks with her former caretakers, explores the land that she might not have ever left, and comes to form a more solid identity. Yet one trip is not enough. Eight years later she returns, this time visiting the small rural village where she was born. While uncovering the details behind her adoption, Asha discovers the only living member of her immediate Indian family: a sister she never knew she had."

Opinion: Not something that I normally read but this was an interesting story about an international adoptee and her search for her biological family and family history.

Cardiff, By The Sea by Joyce Carol Oates

Started: 3/25/2022

Finished: 3/25/2022

Year: 2020

Pages: 402

Genre: suspense

Grade: B

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "An academic in Pennsylvania discovers a terrifying trauma from her past after inheriting a house in Cardiff, Maine from someone she has never heard of. A pubescent girl, overcome with loneliness, befriends a feral cat that becomes her protector from the increasingly aggressive males that surround her. A brilliant but shy college sophomore is distraught to discover that she’s pregnant, and the professor who takes her under his wing may not have innocent intentions. And a woman who marries into a family shattered by tragedy finds herself haunted by her predecessor’s voice, an inexplicably befouled well, and a compulsive attraction to a garage that took two lives."

Opinion: Some interesting novellas. Each different but similar.

the hypnotist by lars kepler

Started: 3/21/2022

Finished: 3/25/2022

Year: 2009

Pages: 503

Genre: mystery/suspense

Grade: B

Reason for reading; TBR pile

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes.

It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again—ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl."

Opinion: This can be considered gory if you have a good imagination but the mystery has lots of unexpected twists. Glad that I found this at my local bookstore and that I also grabbed the other two in the series at the same time.

Roar of the Sea by Deb Vanasse

 Started: 3/19/2022

Finished: 3/21/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 201

Genre: history/wildlife preservation

Grade: B

Reason for reading: librarything.com giveaway

Type: Trade paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Over a century ago, treachery in Alaska's Bering Sea twice brought the world to the brink of war. The US seized Canadian vessels, Great Britain positioned warships to strike the US, and Americans killed Japanese pirates on US soil—all because of the northern fur seals crowded together on the tiny Pribilof Islands.

The herd's population plummeted from 4.7 million to 940,000 in the span of eight years while notorious seafarers like Alex MacLean (who inspired Jack London's The Sea-Wolf) poached indiscriminately. Enter an unlikely crusader to defend the seals: self-taught artist and naturalist Henry Wood Elliott, whose zeal and love for the animals inspired him to go against all odds and take on titans of the sea.

Winning seemed impossible, and yet Elliott managed to expose corruption and set the course for modern wildlife protections that are all the more relevant today as the world grapples with mass extinction.

Carefully written and researched, Roar of the Sea reveals the incredible hidden history of how one lone activist existing in the margins prevailed against national governments and corporate interests in the name of wildlife conservation."

Opinion: A great book with lots of indepth history how one man fought to try to keep the Northern Fur Seals alive.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Started: 3/16/2022

Finished: 3/18/2022

Year: 2001

Pages: 318

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Blurb (from Amazon): "Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots, intimate friends, and lovers"

Opinion: Too many logical things that turned me away from enjoying this. So this hostage situation last for MONTHS...not days or hours but MONTHS....and no mention of the president trying to help his VP and this is who the terrorists wanted in the first place. The ending was crap. Sure, the development of the relationships between characters and their language barriers was great to read but just the pure logic of the plot was bad.

When Harry Met Minnie by Martha Teichner

Started: 3/13/2022

Finished: 3/15/2022

Year: 2020

Pages: 245

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Blurb (from Amazon) :"There are true fairy tales. Stories that exist because impossible-to-explain coincidences change everything. Except in real life, not all of them have conventional, happily-ever-after endings. When Harry Met Minnie is that kind of fairy tale, with the vibrant, romantic New York City backdrop of its namesake, the movie When Harry Met Sally, and the bittersweet wisdom of Tuesdays with Morrie.

There’s a special camaraderie among early-morning dog walkers. Gathering at dog runs in the park, or strolling through the farmer's market at Union Square before the bustling crowd appears, fellow pet owners become familiar–as do the personalities of their beloved animals. In this special space and time, a chance encounter with an old acquaintance changed Martha Teichner’s world. As fate would have it, her friend knew someone who was dying of cancer, from exposure to toxins after 9/11, and desperate to find a home for her dog, Harry. He was a Bull Terrier―the same breed as Martha’s dear Minnie. Would Martha consider giving Harry a safe, loving new home?

In short order, boy dog meets girl dog, the fairy tale part of this story. But there is so much more to this book. After Martha agrees to meet Harry and his owner Carol, what begins as a transaction involving a dog becomes a deep and meaningful friendship between two women with complicated lives and a love of Bull Terriers in common. Through the heartbreak and grief of Carol’s illness, the bond that develops changed Martha’s life, Carol’s life, Minnie’s life, Harry’s life. As it changed Carol’s death as well.

In this rich and touching narrative, Martha considers the ways our stories are shaped by the people we meet, and the profound love we can find by opening our hearts to unexpected encounters."

Opinion: This is a very touching memoir about the strength of love between people and dogs and each other. Highly recommend

Victim Eleven by Tom Chorneau

Started: 3/1/22

Finished: 3/4/22

Year: 2021

Pages: 339

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Cole’s house had been on the market for only a couple of weeks before the arrest. He’d never heard of the guy—a seventy-two-year-old retiree living in another part of Sacramento County—but the cops said he was the Golden State Killer, who was suspected of committing at least fifty rapes and more than a dozen murders back in the 1970s.

The mailman said one of the attacks took place inside Cole's house.

So Cole, an investigative reporter by trade, set out to confirm that the crime actually took place, and who committed the murder. Along the way, he found something even more compelling. All this time, the cops had been sitting on evidence that the Golden State Killer had an accomplice."

Opinion: review will be on Reader Views

Third Degree by Greg Iles

Started: 11/18/2021

Finished: 3/9/2022

Year: 2007

Pages: 464

Genre: Mystery/suspense

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the span of twenty-four hours, everything Laurel Shields believes about her life and her marriage to a prominent doctor will be shattered—if she survives a terrifying ordeal. The day begins with the jarring discovery that, soon after ending an affair, Laurel is pregnant. But when she returns home to find her husband ashen, unkempt, and on the brink of violence, a nightmare quickly unfolds. In the heart of an idyllic Mississippi town, behind the walls of her perfect house, Laurel is locked in a volatile standoff with a husband she barely recognizes. Confronted by evidence of her betrayal, she must tread a deadly path between truth and deception while a ring of armed police prepares a dangerous rescue. But Laurel’s only hope lies with her former lover, a man whom fate has granted the power to save both Laurel and her children—if she can protect his identity long enough..."

Opinion: Hard to believe that this takes place in a day....a lot of suspenseful action. A lot of wtf moments. Great read.

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

Started: 3/4/2022

Finished: 3/7/2022

Year: 2007

Pages: 330

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

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

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "MISTAKE #1

Dickie Orr. Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her arch-nemesis Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping to never see either one of them again.

MISTAKE #2
Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carlos Manoso (a.k.a. Ranger). Ranger needs her to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing somets hing shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out, he's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turn out Ranger's favors always come with a price...

MISTAKE #3

Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office.Now Dickie has disappeared and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can she stay one step ahead in this new, dangerous game? Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, NJ is also keeping Stephanie on her toes―and he may know more than lets on about her…It's a cat-and-mouse game for Stephanie Plum, where the ultimate prize might be her life."

Opinion: It's amazing what Stephanie gets herself into. And the back and forth between Ranger and Morelli gets more heated.

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

Started: 2/25/2022

Finished: 2/28/2022

Year: 2006

Pages: 322

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

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

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "New Jersey's premier troublemaker, Stephanie Plum is once again struggling with her tangled love life, her chaotic family and her gift for destroying every car she drives. Not to mention her attempts to bring in the always bizarre and sometimes dangerous bail jumpers of Trenton. But now the smart and sassy bounty hunter finds a crazed female stalker on her tail who dresses in black, carries a 9mm Glock, has a bad attitude and a mysterious connection to the deliciously dangerous Carlos Manoso...aka Ranger."

Opinion: More more of a mystery than humor which I liked. Getting tired of the Morelli/Ranger/Stephanie triangle but that's probably more that I'm reading them almost back to back.