When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 12/26/2023

Finished: 12/31/2023

Year: 1985

Pages: 426

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: starting the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Morton Hander practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Hander paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

"It’s psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware’s job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Meldoy’s memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl’s mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim."

Opinion: Not for the faint of hearts and there are triggers. But it's strange how a retired psychologist ends in this crazy world. I have read other books in the series and always enjoyed them so I thought that I'd start at the beginning and go through them all.

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Started: 12/18/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 365

Genre: literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: Reese's book club pick, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.

"While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .

"Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality.

"Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?"

Opinion: An interesting look at an accident (?) and its ramifications a decade later.

Murder of a Real Bad Boy by Denise Swanson

Started: 12/18/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2006

Pages: 252

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library bok

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Still recovering from breaking up with her boyfriend and alienating half the people in town, Skye Denison has sworn off men—but she hires sexy contractor Beau Hamilton to renovate the old house she inherited. After all, who can ignore his qualifications? Golden hair, bronzed chest, muscular thighs—he’s just too good to be true.

"Sure enough, he has a reputation for conning the ladies. But before the not so naïve Skye can fire the hunk, he turns up dead. Since even bad boys deserve justice, Skye has to juggle more than a passionate police chief, a cagey brother with a secret, and a possibly haunted house. She’s got a killer to catch."

Opinion: A quick read. Once the killer was revealed, it made sense. Looking forward to the next one.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Started: 12/13/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 377

Genre: Literature

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

"The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

"As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears."

Opinion: A truly remarkable story based on real events during WWII. 

Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich

Started: 12/11/2023

Finished: 12/13/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 304

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Stephanie’s beloved Grandma Mazur's new husband died on their wedding night, the only thing he left her was a beat-up old easy chair…and the keys to a life-changing fortune.

"But as Stephanie and Grandma Mazur search for Jimmy Rosolli’s treasure, they discover that they’re not the only ones on the hunt. Two dangerous enemies from the past stand in their way—along with a new adversary who’s even more formidable: Gabriela Rose, a dark-eyed beauty from Little Havana with a taste for designer clothes. She’s also a soldier of fortune, a gourmet cook, an expert in firearms and mixed martial arts—and someone who’s about to give Stephanie a real run for her money.

"Stephanie may be in over her head, but she’s got two things that Gabriela doesn’t: an unbreakable bond with her family and a stubborn streak that will never let her quit.

"She’ll need both to survive because this search for “fortune and glory” will turn into a desperate race against time with more on the line than ever before. Because even as she searches for the treasure and fights to protect her Grandma Mazur, her own deepest feelings will be tested—as Stephanie could finally be forced to choose between Joe Morelli and Ranger."

Opinion: Picked up right were the last one finished. Not a lot of information was provided about this Gabriela chick and the feelings about Morelli and Ranger are still up in the air.

We're Going Home by Cynthia Thayer

Started: 12/6/2023

Finished: 12/11/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 231

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for librarything.com

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "They were an unlikely pair: a “fast and frantic” woman and a steady, “pickin' at it” man. And even though both had been raised in cities and knew nothing about farming, Bill and Cynthia Thayer moved to Maine, started an organic farm, and made it work for more than forty years. Then a mysterious disaster strikes and Bill is found lying in the road. In We're Going Home, Cynthia relates the aftermath of the accident, interspersed with recollections of her life with her beloved “Farmer Bill,” from their first meeting to their final goodbye―and her life beyond."

Opinion: A more thorough review is posted on Librarything.com

The Bookbinder by Pip Williams

Started: 12/1/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 424

Genre: historical fiction

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.

"Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.

"Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back."

Opinion: Slow paced...too slow paced. 

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Started: 11/13/2023

Finished: 12/1/2023

Year: 1999

Pages: 379

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Temperance Brennan must draw on all her forensic skills as she investigates a series of seemingly unrelated events, beginning with horrifying deaths in a Quebec fire and some startling discoveries in distant North Carolina and ranging to the ultimate showdown in Montreal."

Opinion: Cults are certainly interesting, especially when spanning over countries.

P is for Peril by Sue Grafton

Started: 11/21/2023

Finished: 11/29/2023

Year: 2001

Pages: 514

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one–a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she finds attractive is hiding a fatal secret–and now a whole lot of beauty, money, and lies are proving to be a fatal distraction from what Kinsey should have seen all along: a killer standing right before her eyes. . . ."

Opinion: Slightly different situations that Kinsey finds herself in...some are surprising because she's usually more aware.

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

Started: 11/17/2023

Finished: 11/21/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 343

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years...

"It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living with her eccentric mother and her mother's new boyfriend, she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

"So when the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. Even though Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep.

"Then Lucy goes missing.

"Now in 2018, Edie is eighty-four and still living in the same small town, when one afternoon she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen. Her family write it off as one of her many mix ups, there's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. But Edie knows she's the key to finding Lucy. 

"Time is running out and Edie must piece together the clues before Lucy is forgotten forever."

Opinion: An interesting way at looking at a decades old mystery with someone with dementia. 

Must Love Flowers by Debbie Macomber

Started: 11/9/2023

Finished: 11/13/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 321

Genre: literature, romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, synopsis looked good

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Joan Sample is not living the life she expected. Now a widow and an empty-nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With Emmie’s support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is starting to feel a little like herself again.

"Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to impatient customers before rushing to afternoon nursing classes. She lives with her alcoholic father, ducking his temperamental outbursts and struggling to pay the household bills. But her circumstances brighten when she finds a room for rent in Joan’s home. In the unexpected warmth of her new situation, Maggie finds a glimmer of hope for a better life. But will Maggie’s budding attraction to one of her favorite customers ruin the harmony she’s only recently found with Joan? Meanwhile, what is Joan to make of the mysterious landscaper who’s been revitalizing her garden—a man who seems to harbor a past loss of his own? 

"As Maggie and Joan confront difficult life choices, they draw strength from this new friendship in surprising ways—discovering in the process that “found family” is often the very best kind."

Opinion: A heartfelt look at people starting their lives over after huge losses. Touching look at relationships.

The Taste Bud Diet by Irv Brechner

Started: 11/9/2023

Finished: 11/9/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 72

Genre: dieting

Grade: C-

Reason for reading: review for Librarything.com

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Unlike any diet book you've ever read, you'll learn that more pleasurable and delicious taste = less weight. Even if you’re happy with your current weight, this book will help you enjoy food and drink more than you ever thought possible.

"Your taste buds will explode with thousands of “pleasurable taste sensations” every time you eat and drink. As many as 8,280 of them every single day! Every meal. Every snack. Every coffee break.

"Rooted in science and endorsed by experts, learning the “micro habit” of eating less and enjoying taste more is a cornerstone of successful weight loss. It’s easier said than done which is why I wrote this book based on my personal experience. I’ll show you how to make a simple and tiny change in the way you eat and drink, starting with your very next meal.

"When food lands on your taste buds, zillions of "pleasure inducing chemicals and hormones" that your body produces naturally including endorphins, serotonin and dopamine will drive your brain crazy with pleasure! Every second this happens, your brain gets this message: yummy that’s good and I’m happy!

"You will eat less, feel fuller faster, be better hydrated, improve your digestion and not feel stuffed or bloated. And lose weight if you want to.

"This book is unique because there are:

• No food restrictions.

• No meal plans

• No calorie recommendations.

• No food lists.

• No drink restrictions.

• No pills.

• No exercises.

• No recipes (well, just one, my all-time healthiest and sweetest snack ever!)"

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Librarything.com

The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto

Started: 11/8/2023

Finished: 11/9/2023

Year: 1988

Pages: 133

Genre: literature

Grade: C-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Yayoi, a 19-year-old woman from a seemingly loving middle-class family, has lately been haunted by the feeling that she has forgotten something important from her childhood. Her premonition grows stronger day by day and, as if led by it, she decides to move in with her mysterious aunt, Yukino

"No one understands her aunt's unusual lifestyle. For as long as Yayoi can remember, Yukino has lived alone in an old gloomy single-family home, quietly, almost as though asleep. When she is not working, Yukino spends all day in her pajamas, clipping her nails and trimming her split ends. She eats only when she feels like it, and she often falls asleep lying on her side in the hallway. She sometimes wakes Yayoi at 2:00 a.m to be her drinking companion, sometimes serves flan in a huge mixing bowl for dinner, and watches Friday the 13th over and over to comfort herself. A child study desk, old stuffed animals--things Yukino wants to forget--are piled up in her backyard like a graveyard of her memories."

Opinion: I think something was lost in translation. The story could have been longer and maybe some of the gaps would not have been there.

Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich

Started: 11/2/2023

Finished: 11/8/2023

Year: 2019

Pages: 305

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Grandma Mazur has decided to get married again - this time to a local gangster named Jimmy Rosolli. If Stephanie has her doubts about this marriage, she doesn't have to worry for long, because the groom drops dead of a heart attack 45 minutes after saying, 'I do.'"

"A sad day for Grandma Mazur turns into something far more dangerous when Jimmy's former "business partners" are convinced that his new widow is keeping the keys to a financial windfall all to herself. But the one thing these wise guys didn't count on was the widow's bounty hunter granddaughter, who'll do anything to save her."

Opinion: A more personalized case for Stephanie. Still some really funny moments.

The Night House by Jo Nesbo

Started: 11/1/2023

Finished: 11/2/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 245

Genre: horror

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank-called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Mirror Forest. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . ."

She’s going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There’s nothing you can do about it.

"When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence—and preserve his sanity—as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.

"Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story . . ."

Opinion: The first part was great....did not need the second or third part. Would have been a B if it did not have the additional parts.

The Book of Moods by Lauren Martin

Started: 10/30/2023

Finished: 11/1/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 254

Genre: self-help

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Five years ago, Lauren Martin was sure something was wrong with her. She had a good job in New York, an apartment in Brooklyn, a boyfriend, yet every day she wrestled with feelings of inferiority, anxiety and irritability. It wasn't until a chance encounter with a (charming, successful) stranger who revealed that she also felt these things, that Lauren set out to better understand the hold that these moods had on her, how she could change them, and began to blog about the wisdom she uncovered. It quickly exploded into an international online community of women who felt like she did: lost, depressed, moody, and desirous of change.

"Inspired by her audience to press even deeper, The Book of Moods shares Lauren's journey to infuse her life with a sense of peace and stability. With observations that will resonate and inspire, she dives into the universal triggers every woman faces -- whether it's a comment from your mother, the relentless grind at your job, days when you wish the mirror had a Valencia filter, or all of the above. Blending cutting-edge science, timeless philosophy, witty anecdotes and effective forms of self-care, Martin has written a powerful, intimate, and incredibly relatable chronicle of transformation, proving that you really can turn your worst moods into your best life."

Opinion: I like how Martin uses her own life experiences to show case how to better handle the triggers that could occur in one's life.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Started: 10/25/2023

Finished: 10/30/2023

Year: 2023

Pages 373

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Masterfully blending elements of psychological suspense and true crime, Jessica Knoll—author of the bestselling novel Luckiest Girl Alive and the writer behind the Netflix adaption starring Mila Kunis—delivers a new and exhilarating thriller in Bright Young Women. The book opens on a Saturday night in 1978, hours before a soon-to-be-infamous murderer descends upon a Florida sorority house with deadly results. The lives of those who survive, including sorority president and key witness, Pamela Schumacher, are forever changed. Across the country, Tina Cannon is convinced her missing friend was targeted by the man papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer—and that he’s struck again. Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation."

Opinion: An interesting take on Ted Bundy

O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton

Started: 10/24/2023

Finished: 10/25/2023

Year: 1999

Pages 400

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. Last week he bought a stack. They had stuff in them--Kinsey stuff. For thirty bucks, he'll sell her the lot. Kinsey's never been one for personal possessions, but curiosity wins out and she hands over a twenty (she may be curious but she loves a bargain). What she finds amid childhood memorabilia is an old undelivered letter.

"It will force her to reexamine her beliefs about the breakup of that first marriage, about the honor of that first husband, about an old unsolved murder. It will put her life in the gravest peril. "O" Is for Outlaw: Kinsey's fifteenth adventure into the dark side of human nature."

Opinion: I'm glad that this took a more personal look at Kinsey's life and her relationship with her ex-husband. An interesting mystery.

Board to Death by CJ Connor

Started: 10/23/2023

Finished: 10/24/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 222

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Back in his hometown of Sugar House running his family’s board game shop and café, Ben Rosencrantz just can’t seem to get his life to pass go, much less collect $200. Once he was a happily married English professor in Seattle. Now he’s a divorced caregiver, looking after his ill father and a Chihuahua named Beans while still figuring out the rules of retail management. At least the town has become more LGBTQ+ friendly than when Ben was a teenager—and that flower shop owner, Ezra McCaslin, enjoys flirting with him.

"But despite his usual clientele of gamers, Ben is barely earning enough to keep the store running and stay on top of his father’s medical bills. Then a local toy and game collector named Clive offers him a winning strategy—to purchase a turn-of-the-twentieth-century edition of The Landlord’s Game, the realty and taxation game that inspired Monopoly, at a tenth of the rare edition’s true value. Suspicious of Clive’s shady, low-priced deal, Ben turns the offer down.

"Then Clive turns up dead at the front door of Ben’s and a backpack full of $100 bills appears on his doorstep. Now Ben is the #1 suspect in Clive’s death, and unless he and Ezra can prove his innocence and find the real killer, he’ll go to jail for murder—and no amount of double dice rolls will set him free . . ."

Opinion: An interesting mystery that was unfortunately predictable. I do like the characters of Ben and Ezra and am curious on what future mysteries they get involved with in the upcoming books.

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Started: 10/9/2023

Finished: 10/23/2023

Pages: 532

Year 1997

Genre: Mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: starting the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Her life is devoted to justice—even for those she never knew.

"In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Temperance detects an alarming pattern—and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her—her best friend and her own daughter—in mortal danger…"

Opinion: I think that I've read some of these out of order so I'm starting from number one. Lots of indepth knowledge about handling bones. 

The Cotton Candy Massacre by Christopher Robertson

Started: 10/8/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2022

Pages: 355

Genre: horror

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book, local bookstore book club choice

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The book you are about to read is an account of the tragedy that occurred at the reopening of Bonkin's Bonanza one day in the summer of 1989. Some came looking for fun, like Candy Barton and her best friend, Leigh.

"Others, like Rocky Rhodes and Sully Sullivan, came looking for a second chance. Instead, they would find a twisted, funfetti nightmare.

"For many of the thrill-seekers and families visiting Bonkin's Bonanza, that day would be their last. And the events that unfolded would go on to become infamously known as The Cotton Candy Massacre."

Opinion: It was written differently-kinda of a mix between a screenplay and a novel. Definitely not a bad thing. It just didn't keep my attention.

Kisses Don't Lie by Alexa Darin

Started: 10/5/2023

Finished: 10/6/2023

Year: 2023 (this edition)

Pages: 304

Genre: romance suspense

Grade: C

Reason for reading: librarything.com early reviewers giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Bailey Ventura is sure she’s met Mr. Right when she goes to Las Vegas and meets gorgeous head of casino security, Carter Davis. Charming and swoon-worthy, not to mention an Elvis tribute artist, Carter is just the kind of man Bailey can see herself growing old with. But to keep the romance going, she'll need to come up with a plan to convince Carter to go home with her.

"Luck is on Bailey's side when she wins a sexy red Thunderbird convertible! And when Carter agrees to accompany her on the drive home, she thinks he, too, is interested in a relationship. But all is not as it seems. Carter has an ulterior motive. He’s looking to get a million-dollar diamond out of Las Vegas, which means Bailey's romantic road-trip could end in heartbreak."

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Librarything.com

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Started: 10/2/2023

Finished: 10/5/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 433

Genre: horror/paranormal

Grade: B

Reason for reading: looked interested, fan of the paranormal world

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts.

"Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen—and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong."

Opinion: Imagine one of those ghost hunting/paranormal television shows that just goes horribly wrong. Pretty imaginative.

100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings

Started: 9/30/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 275

Genre: travel satire

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ever wonder which circles of Dante’s Inferno have the nicest accommodations? Where’s the best place to grab a bite to eat in the ancient Egyptian underworld? How does one dress like a local in the heavenly palace of Hinduism’s Lord Vishnu, or avoid the flesh-eating river serpents in the Klingon afterlife? What hidden treasures can be found off the beaten path in Hades, Valhalla, or NBC’s The Good Place? Find answers to all those questions and more about the world(s) to come in this eternally entertaining book from Ken Jennings.

"100 Places to See After You Die is written in the style of iconic bestselling travel guides—but instead of recommending must-see destinations in Mexico, Thailand, or Rome, Jennings outlines journeys through the afterlife, as dreamed up over 5,000 years of human history by our greatest prophets, poets, mystics, artists, and TV showrunners. This comprehensive index of 100 different afterlife destinations was meticulously researched from sources ranging from the Epic of Gilgamesh to modern-day pop songs, video games, and Simpsons episodes. Get ready for whatever post-mortal destiny awaits you, whether it’s an astral plane, a Hieronymus Bosch hellscape, or the baseball diamond from Field of Dreams.

"Fascinating, funny, and irreverent, this light-hearted memento mori will help you create your very own bucket list—for after you’ve kicked the bucket."

Opinion: Wasn't sure what I was expecting when I got this. Definitely insightful on different ideas of where you go when you die.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Started: 9/27/2023

Finished: 9/29/2023

Year: 2017

Pages: 356

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, looked interesting

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ten years after her teenage daughter disappears, a woman crosses paths with a charming single father whose young child feels eerily familiar. The unanswered questions she's tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Did Ellie really run away from home, as the police suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?"

Opinion: Interesting character development-sad that this could also be possible. 

Valiant Women by Lena Andrews

Started: 9/25/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 295

Genre: Military History

Grade: C

Reason for reading: sounded interesting, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Valiant Women is the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. These incredible women served in every service branch, in every combat theater, and in nearly two-thirds of the available military occupations at the time.

"They were pilots, codebreakers, ordnance experts, gunnery instructors, metalsmiths, chemists, translators, parachute riggers, truck drivers, radarmen, pigeon trainers, and much more. They were directly involved in some of the most important moments of the war, from the D-Day landings to the peace negotiations in Paris. These women—who hailed from every race, creed, and walk of life—died for their country and received the nation’s highest honors. Their work, both individually and in total, was at the heart of the Allied strategy that won World War II.

"Yet, until now, their stories have been relegated to the dusty shelves of military archives or a passing mention in the local paper. Often the women themselves kept their stories private, even from their own families.

"Now, military analyst Lena Andrews corrects the record with the definitive and comprehensive historical account of American servicewomen during World War II, based on new archival research, firsthand interviews with surviving veterans, and a deep professional understanding of military history and strategy."

Opinion: Well written but heavy. My mind didn't want to stay focused on the women for WWII and how important they were during the war.

Monsterland: Shamons, Sasquatch, Synchronicity and High Strangeness by Ronny Le Blanc

Started: 9/25/2023

Finished: 9/26/2023

Year: 2019

Pages: 159

Genre: paranormal

Grade: B

Reason for reading: fan of Le Blanc's

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Author Ronny Le Blanc stars in EXPEDITION BIGFOOT and PARANORMAL CAUGHT ON CAMERA on Discovery and Travel Channel. Ronny's first book, MONSTERLAND: ENCOUNTERS WITH UFOS, BIGFOOT AND ORANGE ORBS catapulted him into the world of the paranormal. His second book takes readers down the trail of the invisible worlds. We can only see 1% of the visual spectrum with our own eyes. What lies hidden within the 99%? Sasquatch, otherwise known as Bigfoot, is considered by many Native American tribes to dwell within two worlds. These beings have one foot in the physical realm and one foot in the spiritual. Shamans have been known to have the ability to visit the spirit world. What can we learn from these spirit science masters about consciousness, sasquatch, these invisible worlds and our own reality?"

Opinion: This book, the second, has more personal stories of paranormal activity, in particular Bigfoot and UFOs. Some pretty interesting stories and theories of what is behind it all. 

Murder at an Irish Bakery by Carlene O'Connor

Started: 9/21/2023

Finished: 9/25/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 307

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: sounded interesting, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In Kilbane, opinions are plentiful and rarely in alignment. But there’s one thing everyone does agree on—the bakery in the old flour mill, just outside town, is the best in County Cork, well worth the short drive and the long lines. No wonder they’re about to be featured on a reality baking show.

"All six contestants in the show are coming to Kilbane to participate, and the town is simmering with excitement. Aside from munching on free samples, the locals—including Siobhan—get a chance to appear in the opening shots. As for the competitors themselves, not all are as sweet as their confections. There are shenanigans on the first day of filming that put everyone on edge, but that’s nothing compared to day two, when the first round ends and the top contestant is found face-down in her signature pie.

"The producers decide to continue filming while Siobhan and her husband, Garda Macdara Flannery, sift through the suspects. Was this a case of rivalry turned lethal, or are their other motives hidden in the mix? And can they uncover the truth before another baker is eliminated—permanently . . ."

Opinion: Just enough suspects. Just enough plot twists. Interesting mystery.

Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich

Started: 9/19/2023

Finished: 9/21/2023

Year: 2018

Pages: 306

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continue with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "There's nothing like a good deli, and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World-famous for its pastrami, cole slaw, and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, and the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum."

Opinion: Another fun read. Mystery was another decent one and the ending is definitely a cliff hanger.

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen

Started: 9/15/2023

Finished: 9/18/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 274

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: Reese's book club, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Money can’t buy happiness… but it can buy a decent fake.

"Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home—she’s built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava’s world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn’t been used in years, and her toddler’s tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

"Enter Winnie Fang, Ava’s enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business—someone who’d never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences."

Opinion: Eh. Not a subject matter that I care about (fashion) and the "friendship" was annoying. I did like how it was written-basically Ava telling her story to a detective.

(Need) Blind Ambition by Kevin T. Myers

Started: 9/11/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 274

Genre: fiction

Grade: D

Reason for reading: Early Reviewers giveaway on Librarything.com

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The desire for relevance—and to save his marriage—is ultimately what pushed Peter Cook to leave his beloved Alaska for the prestigious Parker College. Lured by the chance to work with his childhood political idol turned college president, Peter moves his family to Portland, Oregon to help promote his hero’s fundraising initiative that would eliminate financial status from the college’s admissions process. 

"Peter arrives on campus as the Great Recession looms, the stock market is trending toward disaster, and the opioid crisis has breached the walls of the privileged college. He quickly learns the reality of Parker College strays far from its professed idealistic mission after discovering a plot to cover-up felonious drug activity in return for a seven-figure payday to the Need Blind Campaign. 

"While plumbing the depths of his conscience for the conviction to do the right thing, Peter’s untreated childhood trauma resurfaces, threatening to cloud his perception when it needs to be at its sharpest. Peter must stabilize his mental health while also trying to parse competing versions of “the truth” as law enforcement investigates the criminal conspiracy.

"Need Blind Ambition asks: how far will a college stray to protect its reputation?"

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on librarything.com

Fear Street: The Beginning by R. L. Stine

Started: 9/10/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 1989

Pages: 552

Genre: mystery, horror

Grade: D

Reason for reading: local bookstore horror bookclub pick

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Welcome to Fear Street…

\"Where strange things happen, people go missing, and nightmares come true.

"This is where it all began. When Fear Street became legend, forever linked with danger, and curses, and things that go bump in the night. Go back to how it all started—to the moment when Corey Brooks falls for perfect, incredible Anna, only to learn that she’s gone missing...on Fear Street.

"Venture into the terrifying Fear Street woods where Meg Dalton’s best friend Evan died under mysterious circumstances, and discover why only Meg can uncover the truth behind his death. Follow Della to Fear Island and learn about the terrifying threats that force Della to confront her past—and the incident that occurred on the island between her and a dangerous stranger.

"Return to Fear Street with Mark and Cara Burroughs who come home to find that their parents have disappeared, plunging them into a nightmare of chaos that neither of them could have ever predicted. The only thing they know for sure is that though Fear Street may be a mystery, not everyone escapes such an evil place alive.

"Only danger awaits those brave enough to travel down Fear Street. You’re not afraid…are you?"

Opinion: This also falls under the young adult category and I just can't seem to get into those. It definitely wasn't a bad collection of stories but eh...just wasn't feeling it.

The Confidante by Christopher C. Gorman

Started: 9/1/2023

Finished: 9/5/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 313

Genre: history, biography

Grade A

Reason for reading: sounded interesting, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s special envoy to Europe in World War II she went where the president couldn’t go. She was among the first Allied women to enter a liberated concentration camp, and stood in the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat, days after its capture. She guided the direction of the G.I. Bill of Rights and the Manhattan Project. Though Anna Rosenberg emerged from modest immigrant beginnings, equipped with only a high school education, she was the real power behind national policies critical to America winning the war and prospering afterward. Astonishingly, her story remains largely forgotten.

"With a disarming mix of charm and Tammany-hewn toughness, Rosenberg began her career in public relations in 1920s Manhattan. She became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt, who recommended Anna to her husband, who was then running for Governor of New York. As FDR’s unofficial adviser, Rosenberg soon wielded enormous influence—no less potent for being subtle. Roosevelt dubbed her “my Mrs. Fix-It.” Her extraordinary career continued after his death.

"By 1950, she was tapped to become the assistant secretary of defense—the highest position ever held by a woman in the US military—prompting Senator Joe McCarthy to wage an unsuccessful smear campaign against her. In 1962, she organized John F. Kennedy’s infamous birthday gala, sitting beside him while Marilyn Monroe sang. Until the end of her life, Rosenberg fought tirelessly for causes from racial integration to women’s equality to national health care."

Opinion: A remarkable history about a woman that most people probably never have heard of and she did so much for ALL Americans despite not even being born in America.

Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich

Started: 8/31/2023

Finished: 8/31/2023

Year: 2017

Pages: 275

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won’t let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie’s main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a stun gun—whether that’s for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen.

"Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it’s just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church Stephanie knows that she’s the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.

"If all that’s not enough, Diesel’s back in town. The 6-foot-tall, blonde-haired hunk is a man who accepts no limits—that includes locked doors, closed windows and underwear. Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli isn’t pleased at this unexpected arrival nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie.

"As usual Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter is stuck in the middle with more questions than answers. What’s the deal with Grandma Mazur’s latest online paramour? Who is behind the startling epidemic of mutilated corpses? And is the enigmatic Diesel’s sudden appearance a coincidence or the cause of recent deadly events?"

Opinion: More silly antics, another car destroyed-really creative way this time though. Just another fun mystery.