Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

Started: 4/26/2023

Finished: 4/28/2023

Year: 2015

Pages: 326

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.

"To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.

"Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret."

Opinion: Another fun mystery with things continuing to be blown up and strange mysteries that Stephanie gets herself involved with.

Reunion by Darin Miller

Started: 4/10/2023

Finished: 4/13/2023

Year: 2021

Pages: 351

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "An invitation to his high school reunion prompts Dwayne Morrow to return to his small-town roots to reconnect with friends he hasn’t seen in fifteen years. Before the festivities can even begin, his best friend is found murdered in his car, and the local police show little interest in pursuing the case. A mother’s plea pulls Dwayne into a tangled web of dangerous secrets and shady characters. Old friends and new acquaintances ensure that Dwayne’s life will never be the same again."

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Reader Views

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose

Started: 4/24/2023

Finished: 4/25/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 289

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "She was the perfect wife, with the perfect life. You would kill to have it.

"Ciara Dunphy has it all—a loving husband, well-behaved children, and a beautiful home. Her circle of friends in their small Irish village go to her for tips about mothering, style, and influencer success—a picture-perfect life is easy money on Instagram. But behind the filters, reality is less polished.

"Enter Mishti Guha: Ciara’s best friend. Ciara welcomed Mishti into her inner circle for being . . . unlike the other mothers in the group. Discontent in a marriage arranged for her by her parents back in Calcutta, Mishti now raises her young daughter in a country that is too cold, among children who look nothing like her. She wants what Ciara has—the ease with which she moves through the world—and, in that sense, Mishti might be exactly like the other mothers.

"And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle: born, bred, and the butt of jokes in their village. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. When Lauren finds an unlikely ally in Mishti, she decides that her days of ridicule are over.

"Then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death, so if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry."

Opinion: A book where the victim got what she deserved. Lots of suspects...lots of motives. Pretty good debut book.

Unf#ck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper, PHD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN

Started: 4/21/2023

Finished: 4/24/2023

Year: 2017

Pages: 176

Genre: self-help

Grade: B

Reason for reading: friend and I discussed it

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Our brains do their best to help us out, but every so often they can be real assholes―having melt downs, getting addicted to things, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. Your brain knows it’s not good to do these things, but it can’t help it sometimes―especially if it’s obsessing about trauma it can’t overcome. That’s where this life-changing book comes in.

"With humor, patience, science, and lots of good-ole swearing, Dr. Faith explains what’s going on in your skull, and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life, and to deal effectively with old, or newly acquired, traumas (particularly post-traumatic stress disorder)."

Opinion: Not everyone will appreciate her approach but it is structured around retraining your brain when faced with any sort of trauma or "negative" emotion. It seems like a good supplement to talk therapy and a good starting point if you're looking for a new way to deal with your emotions.

Dexter is Dead by Jeff Lindsay

Started: 4/21/2023

Finished: 4/21/2023

Year: 2015

Pages: 286

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: finish the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dexter Morgan has burned the candle at both ends for many years. Blood spatter analyst . . . husband . . . father . . . serial killer. And now, for the first time, his world has truly collapsed. Dexter is arrested on charges of murder. He has lost everything—including his wife, his kids, and the loyalty of his sister. Now completely alone, Dexter faces a murder charge (for a crime . . . ironically . . . he did not actually commit). His only chance for freedom lies with his brother, Brian, who has a dark plan to prove Dexter's innocence. But the stakes are deadly, and the epic showdown that lies in Dexter's path may lead, once and for all, to his demise."

Opinion: Is this how I wanted it to end? No. Do I think that Lindsay gave credit to Dexter's character? Yes. Loved the TV series. Loved the book series.

Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer

Started: 4/19/2023

Finished: 4/21/2023

Year: 2018

Pages: 301

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama team up in this high-stakes thriller that combines a mystery worthy of Watson and Holmes with the laugh-out-loud bromantic chemistry of Lethal Weapon’s Murtaugh and Riggs.

"Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” re-teams with the only man he’s ever fully trusted: the 44th president of the United States. Together they’ll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America’s opioid epidemic.

"Part noir thriller and part bromance, Hope Never Dies is essentially the first published work of Obama/Biden fiction—and a cathartic read for anyone distressed by the current state of affairs."

Opinion: A fun mystery read with enough twists. Kinda fun to imagine if Obama and Biden did act like this after they left the White House. There is another book following this one and I will be reading it.

Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire

Started: 4/18/2023

Finished: 4/19/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 240

Genre: memoir

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd (est. 1761) to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram).

"A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff, whose mere glance may cause the computer to burst into flames. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives―where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.

"By turns unhinged and earnest, Once Upon a Tome is the colorful story of life in one of the world’s oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment."

Opinion: Some interesting stories about working in a rare book bookshop. Would imagine that most others could relate.

How I'll Kill You by Ren DeStefano

Started: 4/14/2023

Finished: 4/18/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 335

Genre: thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Make him want you.

"Make him love you.

"Make him dead.

"Sissy has an...interesting family. Always the careful one, always the cautious one, she has handled the cleanup while her serial killer sisters have carved a path of carnage across the U.S. Now, as they arrive in the Arizona heat, Sissy must step up and embrace the family pastime of making a man fall in love and then murdering him. Her first target? A young widower named Edison—and their mutual attraction is instant. While their relationship progresses, and most couples would be thinking about picking out china patterns and moving in together, Sissy’s family is reminding her to think about picking out burial sites and moving on. 

"Then something happens that Sissy never anticipated: She begins to feel protective of Edison, and before she can help it, she’s fallen in love. But the clock is ticking, and her sisters are growing restless. It becomes clear that the gravesite she chooses will hide a body no matter what happens; but if she betrays her family, will it be hers?"

Opinion: Definitely an interesting concept but with a slightly predictable ending. How far will you really go for family?

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Started: 4/13/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 432

Genre: Fiction/thriller

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Blurb (from Amazon): "Birnam Wood is on the move . . .

"A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last.

"But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place: he has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker, or so he tells Birnam’s founder, Mira, when he catches her on the property. He’s intrigued by Mira, and by Birnam Wood; although they’re poles apart politically, it seems Lemoine and the group might have enemies in common. But can Birnam trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust one another?"

Opinion: Blah blah blah, who's POV is it now with no chapters? blah blah blah. I was hoping for so much more. 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Started: 4/7/2023

Finished: 4/10/2023

Year: 2018

Pages: 458

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Blurb (from Amazon): "The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man's race to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

"Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense."

Opinion: Definitely has an Agatha Christie vibe to it but it did seem to drag a little at the end for me. A fun unexpected mystery. A mix of Groundhog Day and Agatha Christie.

Close to Home by Robert Dugoni

Started: 4/5/2023

Finished: 4/7/2023

Year: 2017

Pages: 362

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "While investigating the hit-and-run death of a young boy, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite makes a startling discovery: the suspect is an active-duty serviceman at a local naval base. After a key piece of case evidence goes missing, he is cleared of charges in a military court. But Tracy knows she can’t turn her back on this kind of injustice.

"When she uncovers the driver’s ties to a rash of recent heroin overdoses in the city, she realizes that this isn’t just a case of the military protecting its own. It runs much deeper than that, and the accused wasn’t acting alone. For Tracy, it’s all hitting very close to home.

"As Tracy moves closer to uncovering the truth behind this insidious conspiracy, she’s putting herself in harm’s way. And the only people she can rely on to make it out alive might be those she can no longer trust."

Opinion: Interesting way of making two police cases that would seem to have nothing to do with each other be relevant. Decent mystery. I will be continuing with the series.

The Angel Maker by Alex North

Started: 4/3/2023

Finished: 4/5/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 319

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hard cover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.

"Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

"Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future."

Opinion: It was hard to keep track of what was going on. Each chapter jumped to a different scenario and it could have been past or present. Other than that, it was a good mystery thriller.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Started: 3/31/2023

Finished: 4/3/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 288

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

"In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place."

Opinion: I can see why this has received the hype that it has gotten but since I do not believe in regrets (they are lessons from which we learn from and help create the person that we are) I could not really relate to that part of it. Sure, it would definitely be interesting to see what if something happened if other choices were made...but not from a regrets perspective.