Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

Started: 5/28/2023

Finished: 5/30/3023

Year: 2023

Pages: 299

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

"One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

"The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

"Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write."

Opinion: An indepth look at a mother doing whatever it takes to find her child. Would make an interesting movie like many of Lehane's other books.

Squid Season by Maithy Vu

Started: 5/24/2023

Finished: 5/25/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 257

Genre: literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Four troubled twentysomethings board a ship in search of a mysterious squid only to discover their captain has gone missing. As they take turns steering the vessel, these newfound companions begin to reveal their natures and unearth the events that have inextricably bound them together."

Opinion: The narration of the story was slightly challenging since it is extremely different than the norm. The dialogue is song like with rhymes. The timing was conflicted and it made it hard to figure out what was happening when.

Sandmann by Glenna Jarvis

Started: 5/11/2023

Finished: 5/16/2023

Year: 2011

Pages: 272

Genre: mystery, thriller

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Hannah Monakee is accustomed to being on the reporting side of crime. When a method killer targets her as his next victim, she struggles against a four-day timeline to figure out how a red rose, a mirror and music fit into his murderous design. Her investigation leads her deep into the mind of a madman intent on collecting the elements of his dead girlfriend's soul-elements he believes are harbored within the green eyes of three women. He's already killed two. All he needs is one more."

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Reader Views

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

Started: 5/25/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 1989

Pages: 417

Genre: Literature

Grade: D

Reason for reading: booklender.com

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In a story spanning 500,000 years, and moving through America, England, and Africa, men, women, and animals share a spiritual world and learn the intricacies of their connecting lives"

Opinion: I enjoyed the writing style but due to other things going on, I just couldn't keep track of everything. I might reorder or borrow from the library in the future.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Started: 5/22/2023

Finished: 5/24/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 385

Genre: romance

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

"They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

"Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

"Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?"

Opinion: Predictable? yes....but done with lots of depth of emotion and insight into being human. Good psychological romance.

Glory Bishop by Deborah L. King

Started: 5/2/2023

Finished: 5/10/2023

Year: 2019

Pages: 333

Genre: Literature

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Glory Bishop lives her life in pieces. At work and with her friends, she reads novels, speaks her mind, and enjoys slow dances and stolen kisses with her boyfriend, JT. But at home, Glory follows strict rules and second-guesses every step. Though she dreams of going to college and living like a normal teenage girl, her abusive mother has other ideas. When JT leaves to join the navy, Glory is left alone and heartsick. The preacher's son, Malcolm Porter, begins to shower her with lavish gifts, and her mother pushes Glory to accept his advances. Glory is torn between waiting for true love with JT or giving in to the overzealous Malcolm. When a stranger attacks Glory on the street, Malcolm steps in to rescue her, and her interest in him deepens. But the closer she gets to him, the more controlling he becomes. Glory must eventually decide whether to rely on others or to be her own savior."

Opinion: There is a thorough review posted on Reader Views.

What Mae Brings by Melissa L. Berger

Started: 5/18/2023

Finished: 5/22/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 184

Genre: mystery

Grade: D

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Mae is a shy, but not so naive young woman, hopeful in starting her new life alone. She wants to attend college for the arts, get a job, and begin an independent life in a brand new town. Renting an inexpensive guesthouse sounds like a perfect start. Until she discovers a hidden duffel bag and finds herself over-her-head in clues that grow sinister. There's a missing girl in town, Genevieve. Who is Genevieve and what happened to her? Genevieve too had lived at this guesthouse, that’s all Mae knows. The police get involved and then Mae turns up missing. This quiet town has secrets... and some secrets beg to stay buried. This rollercoaster ride never lessons as we follow Mae, Genevieve, and more, on a tale-by-tale story that intertwines and unveils a final surprising conclusion. One spark, one moment in time, one accident... can ignite a fire that spreads and cannot be controlled. “Justice, revenge, compassion, and grief, are emotions that can overtake one's soul.” Will Mae bring hope? Will she find the answers in time? Will she get justice? ...and will she survive?"

Opinion: Every character speaks with the same type of tone. If some of the chapters weren't labeled with whose point of view it was from, you almost couldn't tell. Great idea for a plot but it needed to be built up with details.

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch

Started: 5/22/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 1978

Pages: 495

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: booklender.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors-some real, some spectral-that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core."

Opinion: Just couldn't get into it. Gave it my usual 50-100 page test and I just did not care about Charles or his life.

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

Started: 5/17/2023

Finished: 5/18/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 367

Genre: romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Under One Roof

"An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell—a detestable big-oil lawyer who won’t leave the thermostat alone.
 
"Stuck with You
"A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry—and love—to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.
 
"Below Zero
"A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival."

Opinion: These are novellas put together so each one the romance is fast. What I like a lot is that all of the females are intelligent and well educated, which is not always done in romance novels.

Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

Started: 5/11/2023

Finished: 5/11/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 210

Genre: horror

Grade B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Out of work for months, Lussi Meyer is desperate to work anywhere in publishing. Prestigious Blackwood-Patterson isn’t the perfect fit, but a bizarre set of circumstances leads to her hire and a firm mandate: Lussi must find the next horror superstar to compete with Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub. It’s the ’80s, after all, and horror is the hottest genre.

"But as soon as she arrives, Lussi finds herself the target of her co-workers' mean-spirited pranks. The hazing reaches its peak during the company’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange, when Lussi receives a demonic-looking object that she recognizes but doesn't understand. Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie, and Lussi suspects that her gift is involved. With the help of her former author, the flamboyant Fabien Nightingale, Lussi must track down her anonymous Secret Santa and figure out the true meaning of the cursed object in her possession before it destroys the company—and her soul."

Opinion: Not as horrific as it could be but that's what makes it good-it does not push the limits. 

Down a Bad Road by Regina Buttner

Started: 5/11/2023

Finished: 5/11/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 287

Genre: mystery/fiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Library Thing

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Jealousy can be deadly.

"Longtime bachelor Ron Burley has a rule against messing around with married women in his rural upstate New York town, but sassy, lovely Lavender has convinced him to break it. Their steamy affair sets someone off, but it isn't Lavender's clueless husband-it's Marta, Burley's clingy childhood friend and ex-lover.

"Marta knows Burley is on the verge of going broke, so she secretly tries to lure him with a lucrative job offer and some enticing fringe benefits. Although he's sorely tempted, Burley's afraid to trust Marta due to the sketchy circumstances surrounding their bitter breakup years ago; but this might be his only chance to get back at her for what she did.

"Suspicious of her boyfriend's romantic history, Lavender visits a psychic for a tarot card reading in a creepy cabin in the Adirondack woods. Watch your back, the psychic warns her. Burley and Marta aren't the innocent people they're pretending to be. Someone's out for revenge, and this love triangle could turn deadly."

Opinion: A more thorough review is posted on Library Thing

Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer

Started: 5/10/2023

Finished: 5/11/2023

Year: 2019

Pages: 285

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Following a long but successful book tour, Joe Biden has one more stop before he can return home: Chicago. His old pal Barack Obama has invited him to meet a wealthy benefactor whose endorsement could turn the tide for Joe if he decides to run for president.

"The two friends barely have time to catch up before another mystery lands in their laps: Obama’s prized Blackberry is stolen. When their number-one suspect winds up full of lead on the South Side, the police are content to write it off as just another gangland shooting. But Joe and Obama smell a rat...

"Set against the backdrop of a raucous city on St. Patrick’s Day, Joe and Obama race to find the shooter, only to uncover a vast conspiracy that goes deeper than the waters of Lake Michigan—which is exactly where they’ll spend the rest of their retirement if they’re not careful."

Opinion: Another fun political read. Can only imagine if these political mysteries ever happened.

The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz

Started: 4/28/2023

Finished: 5/2/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 381

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: fan of the author, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas―by phone, through her TV, in her dreams: I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten.

"She isn’t the only one drawn to the Montana farmstead. People from all walks of life have converged at the remote ranch. They are haunted, on the run, obsessed, and seeking answers to the same omniscient danger Joanna came to confront. All the while, on the outskirts of Rustling Willows, a madman lurks with a vision to save the future. Mass murder is the only way to see his frightening manifesto come to pass.

"Through a bizarre twist of seemingly coincidental circumstances, a band of strangers now find themselves under Montana’s big dark sky. Their lives entwined, they face an encroaching horror. Unless they can defeat this threat, it will spell the end for humanity."

Opinion: Lots of people, almost hard to keep track of who was who and what their role was. I've read better Koontz and I've read worse.