The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Started: 8/24/2022

Finished: 8/30/2022

Year: 1991

Pages: 402

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: booklender.com book, reading series from start

Blurb (from Amazon): "For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal . . . because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit. Pitted against enemies inside his own department and forced to make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, Bosch goes on the hunt for a killer whose true face will shock him."

Opinion: I've read parts of this series out of order. Figured I should start at the beginning. A good plot with enough twists and turns.

Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith

Started: 8/17/2022

Finished: 8/22/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 346

Genre: Fiction-political

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Readerviews.com

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, she retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her over-protective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention Helen's run for U.S. Congress, which puts Megan's career on hold until after the election.

Desperate to reboot her life, Megan gets her chance when an altercation at a campus rally brings her face-to-face with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jocelyn Jones, who offers her a job on her PR team. Before long, Megan is pulled into the heady world of fame and glamour her charismatic new mentor represents.

Until an anonymous tweet brings it all crashing down. To salvage Jocelyn's reputation, Megan must locate the online troll and expose the lies. But when the trail leads to blackmail, and circles back to her own mother, Megan realizes if she pulls any harder on this thread, what should have been the scoop of her career could unravel into a tabloid nightmare.

Readers who love Jodi Picoult's topical plot twists and Liane Moriarty's character-driven novels will devour this fast-paced tale of three women whose lives converge as one fights a devastating accusation, another campaigns for a contested seat in Congress, and one, the young reporter with ties to both, navigates the tricky line between secrets and lies."

Opinion: a thorough review is posted on readerviews.com

Science and Cooking by Michael Brenner, Pia Sorensen, and David Weitz

Started: 8/22/2022

Finished: 8/24/2022

Year: 2020

Pages: 274

Genre: Science, Cooking

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: Hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "The spectacular culinary creations of modern cuisine are the stuff of countless articles and social media feeds. But to a scientist they are also perfect pedagogical explorations into the basic scientific principles of cooking. In Science and Cooking, Harvard professors Michael Brenner, Pia Sörensen, and David Weitz bring the classroom to your kitchen to teach the physics and chemistry underlying every recipe.

Why do we knead bread? What determines the temperature at which we cook a steak, or the amount of time our chocolate chip cookies spend in the oven? Science and Cooking answers these questions and more through hands-on experiments and recipes from renowned chefs such as Christina Tosi, Joanne Chang, and Wylie Dufresne, all beautifully illustrated in full color. With engaging introductions from revolutionary chefs and collaborators Ferran Adria and José Andrés, Science and Cooking will change the way you approach both subjects―in your kitchen and beyond."

Opinion: Took me back to my high school chemistry classes. If you ever wondered how/why something cooks, you should check this out. I thought that it was textbooky but not in the boring way like it was back in high school

K is for Killer by Sue Grafton

Started: 8/13/2022

Finished: 8/17/2022

Year: 1994

Pages: 364

Genre: mystery

Grade:  B

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her.

"Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious: Lorna's body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered that they couldn't be certain she hadn't died of natural causes. In the way of overworked cops everywhere, the case was gradually shifted to the back burner and became another unsolved file.

"Only Lorna's mother kept it alive, consumed by the certainty that somebody out there had gotten away with murder.

"In the ten months since her daughter's death, Janice Kepler had joined a support group, trying to come to terms with her loss and her anger. It wasn't helping. And so, leaving a session one evening and noticing a light on in the offices of Millhone Investigations, she knocked on the door.

"In answering that knock, Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the netherworld of unavenged murder, where only a pact with the devil will satisfy the restless ghosts of the victims and give release to the living they have left behind."

Opinion: Ending seemed abrupt. Different type of case for Kinsey. Interesting mystery

Book of Extraordinary Tragedies by Joe Meno

Started: 8/8/2022

Finished: 8/13/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 346

Genre: Literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: librarything.com giveaway-early reviewers program

Type: ARC paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Aleksandar and Isobel are siblings and former classical music prodigies, once destined for greatness. As the only Eastern European family growing up on their block on the far southside of Chicago, the pair were inseparable until each was forced to confront the absurdity of tragedy at an early age and abandon their musical ambitions.

Now in their twenties, they find themselves encountering ridiculous jobs, unfulfilling romantic relationships, and the outrageousness of ordinary life. Doomed by fate, a family history of failure, an odd mother, an absent father, and a younger brother with a peculiar fondness for catastrophes, the two siblings have all but given up.

But when an illness forces Isobel and her three-year-old daughter to move back into the family home, Aleks becomes deeply involved in the endless challenges that surround his relatives. Once Isobel begins playing cello again, Aleks comes to see a world of possibility and wonder in the lives of his extraordinarily complicated family.

Told in Aleks’s exuberant voice, and full of as much comedy as tragedy, this entertaining novel asks, Is it ever truly possible to separate our fates from those we’ve come to love?"

Opinion: The characters are sad and I didn't really care what happened to them but they were well developed. Each was chaotic in their own sense. 

The Ultimate Betrayal by Kat Martin

Started: 8/3/2022

Finished: 8/8/2022

Year: 2020

Pages: 346

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Grade: C

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Blurb (from Amazon): "To prove her father’s innocence, she’ll have to turn a killer’s sights on herself

When journalist Jessie Kegan’s father is accused of espionage and treason, Jessie has no doubt the man she looked up to her entire life is innocent. Worse yet, before Colonel Kegan can stand trial, he’s found dead of a heart attack…but Jessie knows it was murder. Forcing down her grief, she’s determined to use her investigative skills and resources to clear her father’s name. But going after the truth means Jessie soon finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer who wants that truth to stay buried with her father.

Protecting Jessie Kegan is a job bodyguard Brandon Garrett can’t refuse. Jessie isn’t just a client at Maximum Security—she’s the sister of his best friend, Danny, killed in Afghanistan. With dangerous forces gunning for Jessie from every angle, keeping her safe will mean keeping her close and Bran finds their mutual attraction growing, though being Danny’s sister puts Jessie out of bounds.

With their backs against the wall, Jessie and Bran will have to risk everything to expose her father’s killer—before his legacy dies with his daughter."

Opinion: The sexual relationship was kicked off way too soon for it to be a realistic long lasting loving relationship. Other than that, this was a fun read

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

Started: 8/1/2022

Finished: 8/3/2022

Year: 2010

Pages: 326

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: booklender.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a "lucky" bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn't specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck. . . .

"BAD LUCK:

"Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.

"GOOD LUCK:

"Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.

"BAD LUCK:

"Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie's messing up Mooner's vibe, running up pay-per-view porn charges in Ranger's apartment, and making Stephanie question genetics.

"GOOD LUCK:

Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, Mooner's Hobbit-Con charity event, and Uncle Pip's lucky bottle, they just might raise enough money to save the business, and Vinnie, from ruin.

"BAD LUCK:

"Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.

"GOOD LUCK:

"The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous security expert, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip's lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky---the only question is . . . with whom?"

Opinion: Next one if the series is going to be interesting since the bail bonds office kinda burned down. More silly antics. A fun read.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Started: 7/28/2022

Finished: 7/31/2022

Year: 2003

Pages: 196

Genre: Literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: off the TBR pile

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: 'Why was I here?'"

Opinion: It's a decent way to remind people that sometimes the small things really do matter and that one should always forgive themselves, especially for things that they can't control.

Miranda Writes by Gail Ward Olmsted

Started: 7/8/2022

Finished: 7/13/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 236

Genre: fiction

Grade: C-

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A disgraced attorney seeking redemption. A single mother desperate to regain custody of her son. Two women willing to risk it all to put a sexual predator behind bars.

"Former Assistant District Attorney Miranda Quinn is on the brink of a career comeback when she gets a phone call. It's a witness who disappeared three years earlier, resulting in a violent criminal going free. Miranda got fired as a result, but the witness has re-surfaced with a shocking story to tell; one that implicates Miranda and her ex, defense attorney Adam Baxter. And now, there's a new victim.

"Miranda's legal advice blog-turned-podcast Miranda Writes is about to become a daytime TV show, but the negative press could destroy her credibility. Will the network stand behind her?

"When it comes to the law, Miranda has all the answers, but the questions are getting harder and the stakes are getting higher. The dangerous web of lies and cover-ups she exposes leaves her questioning just how much she is willing to risk. She has the right to remain silent, but needs to speak up... doesn't she?

"Miranda Writes is a story of how far we'll go to protect those we love and the power of second chances."

Opinion: a thorough review is on Reader Views

Emotional Magnetism by Sandy Gerber

Started: 7/13/2022

Finished: 7/16/2022

Year: 2022

Pages: 184

Genre: Self Help/relationships

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Have you ever felt unheard or misunderstood? Maybe your partner just doesn’t seem to get why some things are important to you. Or perhaps your boss is seemingly oblivious to half the things you’ve pointed out in the past week. You’re not alone.

In this life-changing book, communications expert Sandy Gerber reveals how, by understanding the Four Emotional Magnets that motivate people to listen and act, she transformed her relationships—and how you can do the same.

Gerber’s highly relatable stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and Emotional Magnets quiz, helps you to:

• Identify what blocks your communication NOW.

• Discover what you emotionally NEED to be happy.

• Learn HOW to create greater engagement with your words.

• Understand WHY the people in your life make the choices they do.
• 
  

As you’ll quickly discover, when you know how to communicate what you need to be happy and respond to the Emotional Magnets of the people around you, you’ll magnetize your relationships. Not only will you be heard and understood, but you’ll understand what people want—and how to deliver it."

Opinion: Thorough review is posted on Reader Views