Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

Started: 4/25/2024

Finished: 4/26/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 337

Genre: fiction

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten―certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

"But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist."

Opinion: Didn't care about the characters or the torturous situations that they put themselves in.

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

Started: 4/23/2024

Finished: 4/25/2024

Year: 2018

Pages: 361

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

"Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her own: she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

"Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk."

Opinion: Wish that it only focused on one mystery or had the two mysteries be tied in somehow. A good continuation of Tracy's story.

Her Every Move by Kelly Irvin

Started: 4/18/2024

Finished: 4/23/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 343

Genre: mystery/romance

Grade; B-

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When a deadly bomb goes off during a climate change debate, librarian and event coordinator Jackie Santoro becomes the prime suspect. Her motive, according to Detective Avery Wick: to avenge the suicide of her prominent father, who was accused of crimes by a city councilman attending the event.

"Though Avery has doubts about Jackie’s guilt, he can’t exonerate her even after an extremist group takes responsibility for the bombing and continues to attack San Antonio’s treasured public spaces.

"As Jackie tries to hold her shattered family together, she has no choice but to proceed with plans for the Caterina Ball, the library system’s biggest annual fundraiser. But she also fears the event provides the perfect opportunity for the bomber to strike again.

"Despite their mistrust, Jackie and Avery join forces to unmask the truth—before the death toll mounts even higher."

Opinion: A decent mystery mixed with a predictable romance. Downfall was the God talk.

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 4/17/2024

Finished: 4/18/2024

Year: 2003

Pages: 304

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "It's a summer of sizzling heat in Charlotte where Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina medical examiner, looks forward to her first vacation in years. A romantic vacation. She's almost out the door when the bones start appearing.

"A newborn's charred remains turn up in a woodstove. The mother, Tamela Banks, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared. Did she kill her infant, or is an innocent teenager also about to become a victim?

"A small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield on a sunny afternoon. Both pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition. Was it pilot error? Something more sinister? And what is the mysterious black substance covering the bodies?

"Most puzzling of all are the bones discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. What has Tempe's dog, Boyd, unearthed? The remains seem to be of animal origin, but Tempe is shocked when she gets them to her lab.

"With help from a special detective friend, Tempe must investigate a poignant and terrifying case that comes at the worst possible moment. Daughter Katy has a new boyfriend who Tempe fears may have something to hide. And important personal decisions face Tempe. Is it time for emotional commitment? Will she have the chance to find out?

"Everything must wait on the bones. What story do they tell? Why are the X rays and DNA so perplexing? Who is trying to keep Tempe from the answers? Someone is following her. Someone is following Katy. That someone must be stopped before it's too late."

Opinion: A good continuation of the series. Shows that Brennan is human and some of her cases can actually get to her.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Started: 4/10/2024

Finished: 4/17/2024

Year: 2014

Pages: 530

Genre: Literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

"In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge."

Opinion: This was a long book but didn't feel like it was 530 pages-thanks to the short chapters. Could a lot of this been edited out-yes but I didn't feel the need to chop as I have with other books.

I Disappeared Them by Preston L. Allen

Started: 4/9/2024

Finished: 4/10/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 305

Genre: thriller

Grade: C

Reason for reading: Early Reviewers giveaway on Library Thing

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "BULLIED AS CHILD FOR BEING OVERWEIGHT and an orphan, the serial killer in I Disappeared Them hides in plain sight. By day, he is an affable family man with a disarming smile, surrounded by his children and loving wife. At night he punches the clock as a hard-working pizza man. After work, he roams Miami's nighttime streets as the Periwinkle Killer, the sociopath passing judgment on the wicked according to a twisted moral code. He believes himself to be a defender of women and children. The Everglades is filling up with the corpses of his victims. He must be stopped, but there are no clues except the periwinkles he leaves at every crime scene."

Opinion: A thoroughly review is posted on Librarything.com

Murder of a Wedding Belle by Denise Swanson

Started: 4/7/2024

Finished: 4/9/2024

Year: 2010

Pages: 246

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "School psychologist Skye Denison reluctantly agrees to act as maid of honor in her California cousin's over-the-top platinum-style wedding- and is also expected to assist the control-freak wedding planner. But when Skye discovers the planner dead, just one week before the big event, Skye is suddenly working double-duty.

"While overseeing every nuptial detail, she's also helping the police find out who hated the bridal consultant enough to kill her. Can Skye get her cousin to the church on time-and save herself from a killer who may actually be on the guest list?"

Opinion: A decent continuation of Skye's life...this time out of school and more family involvement.

A Haunting in the Arctic by C. J. Cooke

Started: 4/3/2024

Finished: 4/6/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 334

Genre: paranormal fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The year is 1901, and Nicky is attacked, then wakes on board the Ormen, a whaling ship embarked on what could be its last voyage. With land still weeks away, it’s just her, the freezing ocean, and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them...

"Now, over one hundred years later, the wreck of the Ormen has washed up on the forbidding, remote coast of Iceland. It’s scheduled to be destroyed, but explorer Dominique feels an inexplicable pull to document its last days, even though those who have ventured onto the wreck before her have met uncanny ends.

"Onboard the boat, Dominique will uncover a dark past riddled with lies, cruelty, and murder—and her discovery will change everything. Because she’ll soon realize she’s not alone. Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for almost a century. Something that craves revenge."

Opinion: An interesting look at a former whaling then research ship in the Arctic. Told in two different time frames and a slight unexpected twist at the end.

Shadow Prey by John Sandford

Started: 3/27/2024

Finished: 4/2/2024

Year: 1990

Pages: 342

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading, TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A slumlord butchered in Minneapolis...A rising political star executed in Manhattan...A judge slashed to death in Oklahoma City...

"Each victim has a history of bad behavior, but the only thing the killings have in common is the murder weapon—a Native American ceremonial knife—and a trail of blood that leads to an embodiment of evil known only as Shadow Love. Recruited to be the lethal hand of a terrorist campaign, Shadow Love has his own bloody agenda, one he will do anything to achieve.

"Enlisted to find him are Minneapolis police lieutenant Lucas Davenport and New York City police officer Lily Rothenburg. But despite the countrywide carnage they needn’t look far. Because Shadow Love is right behind them."

Opinion: The mystery and suspense was great...there was a lot of extra stuff that just wasn't necessary.

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Started: 3/25/2024

Finished: 3/27/2024

Year: 2002

Pages: 315

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "They are “the disappeared,” twenty-three massacre victims buried in a well in the Guatemalan village of Chupan Ya two decades ago. Leading a team of experts on a meticulous, heartbreaking dig, Tempe Brennan pieces together the violence of the past. But a fresh wave of terror begins when the horrific sounds of a fatal attack on two colleagues come in on a blood-chilling satellite call. Teaming up with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolome Galiano and Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe quickly becomes enmeshed in the cases of four privileged young women who have vanished from Guatemala City—and finds herself caught in deadly territory where power, money, greed, and science converge."

Opinion: Fits with the rest of the series despite it taking place in Guatemala.

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

Started: 3/24/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 348

Genre: biography/social science

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self―a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against?

"Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

"Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

"Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger asks: What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times."

Opinion: What am I missing? This books has been extremely popular and all I feel is that it is the author trying to make sure that she is more popular than her doppelganger and this person isn't even a true doppelganger. I get wanting and having to clear your name if someone whose morals and values are completely opposite from yours and people are dumb enough to confuse the two of you. 

Creature by David M. Carner

Started: 3/21/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2024

Pages: 431

Genre: horror/suspense

Grade: D

Reason for reading: friend of author

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the remote town of Consequence, nestled deep in the southeast side of Washington State, an ominous presence has cast its shadow over the community. Residents whisper of mysterious disappearances, strange sightings, and unexplained terror lurking within the dense woods surrounding the town.

"Chief of Police Darin Lane, a seasoned and peaceful law enforcement officer, is determined to uncover the truth behind the mounting fear that is gripping his town. As the town’s Chief of Police, he finds himself thrust into a chilling investigation that defies rational explanation. With each passing day, the unknown creature’s malevolence intensifies, threatening the very fabric of the close-knit community he has tried to protect.

"Unbeknownst to Chief Lane, his thirteen-year-old son, Daniel, faces his own challenge on a camping trip with his friends deep within the enigmatic forest. As the mysterious events escalate, the destinies of father and son become entwined in a battle against a terrifying creature that has somehow awakened and seeks to reclaim its dominion over the land.

"Creature is a riveting tale of suspense and supernatural intrigue, where a father’s duty and his son’s courage converge to confront a mysterious evil. Will Chief Lane unravel the secrets hidden within the dark woods, or will the creature’s presence consume Consequence and its unsuspecting inhabitants? As the suspense builds, the bond between father and son is put to the ultimate test in a race against time to save their town from the shadows that threaten to engulf them all."

Opinion: The font for this paperback version is extremely small and makes it almost impossible to read. Carner is a fantastic story teller but he provides a lot of story that is not necessary to make a good book.

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

Started: 3/18/2024

Finished: 3/21/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 324

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Stephanie Plum, Trenton’s hardest working, most underappreciated bounty hunter, is offered a freelance assignment that seems simple enough. Local jeweler Martin Rabner wants her to locate his former security guard, Andy Manley (a.k.a. Nutsy), who he is convinced stole a fortune in diamonds out of his safe. Stephanie is also looking for another troubled man, Duncan Dugan, a fugitive from justice arrested for robbing the same jewelry store on the same day.

"With her boyfriend Morelli away in Miami on police business, Stephanie is taking care of Bob, Morelli’s giant orange dog who will devour anything, from Stephanie’s stray donuts to the upholstery in her car. Morelli’s absence also means the inscrutable, irresistible security expert Ranger is front and center in Stephanie’s life when things inevitably go sideways. And he seems determined to stay there.

"To complicate matters, her best friend Lula is convinced she is being stalked by a mythological demon hell-bent on relieving her of her wardrobe. An overnight stakeout with Stephanie’s mother and Grandma Mazur reveals three generations of women with nerves of steel and driving skills worthy of NASCAR champions.

"As the body count rises and witnesses start to disappear, it won’t be easy for Stephanie to keep herself clean when everyone else is playing dirty. It’s a good thing Stephanie isn’t afraid of getting a little dirty, too."

Opinion: What's another damaged car? Another firebomb? More wacky criminals to catch? This time ending with an interesting twist.

I am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett

Started: 3/17/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2009

Pages: 234

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: Levar Burton book, library

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation. Percival Everett's hilarious new novel follows Not Sidney's tumultuous life, as the social hierarchy scrambles to balance his skin color with his fabulous wealth. Maturing under the less-than watchful eye of his adopted foster father, Ted Turner, Not gets arrested in rural Georgia for driving while black, sparks a dinner table explosion at the home of his manipulative girlfriend, and sleuths a murder case in Smut Eye, Alabama, all while navigating the recurrent communication problem: 'What's your name?'' a kid would ask. 'Not Sidney,' I would say. 'Okay, then what is it?'"

Opinion: I made it halfway through before tossing it aside. Just not a character that I cared about. The writing was fine. I have too many other books to read to keep trying to read something that isn't interesting me.

Theater of the Mind by Dave Schrader

Started: 3/16/2024

Finished: 3/17/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 138

Genre: paranormal

Grade: B

Reason for reading: fan of author

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The realms of the ethereal and physical appear to be weaving themselves deeper into one another with the passing of every year. People from around the world are experiencing strange phenomena and encountering creatures of unknown origins in alarming numbers. It’s time we accepted the fact that what we consider normal and supernatural are set on a collision course and will finally reveal the proof that we are not alone, and never have been. That behind every closet door, and under every bed, in the dark of the forests and the light of day, in every town and every state of every country around the world, darkness is rising, and worlds will merge. These are just some of the stories pointing to that inevitability."

Opinion: There are so many stories revolving around the paranormal. This is a good collection of the author and some of his listeners/fans' stories. Almost every aspect of the paranormal is touched-UFOs, ghosts, aliens, blacked eyed children. The stories are quick to read.

Silent Partner by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 3/13/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 1989

Pages: 404

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "At a party for a  controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex  encounters a face from his own past--Sharon Ransom, an  exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more  than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that he  desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The  next day she is dead, an apparent suicide. Driven by  guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of  Sharon's life--a journey that will take him through  the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich,  into the dark closets of a family's disturbing  past, and finally into the alleyways of the mind,  where childhood terrors still hold sway."

Opinion: The writing seem choppy especially for it being a continuation of a series. A lot of the explicit sexual background that Alex had with the victim was unnecessary to establish the relationship that they had. I will not be continuing on with the series.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Started: 3/12/2024

Finished: 3/12/2024

Pages: 241

Year: 2020

Genre: fiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

"Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?"

Opinion: Flamingos, booms, strange occurrences. 

The Moral Police by Janelle Perez

Started: 3/11/2024

Finished: 3/11/2024

Year: 2020

Pages: 209

Genre: biography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "After nearly seven years as a police officer in Northern California, Janelle Perez was no stranger to a courtroom. But she never imagined that she would find herself in one as a plaintiff suing her former employer, the Roseville Police Department.

"In her lawsuit, Janelle cited gender discrimination and a right to privacy when she was fired for an off-duty relationship with a coworker while separated—an assertion denied by her employer and a loss only she endured. Despite winning a ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Janelle faced defeat when the ruling was suspiciously overturned.

"In The Moral Police, Janelle shares the story of her seven-year fight for justice in the biggest betrayal of her life. Providing an insider’s look at life as a female police officer, Janelle shares what happens when you follow the rules and respect the process in a system that doesn’t respect you. No matter your gender or profession, you’ll gain valuable insight into the power of leadership and the devastation caused when it’s misused. This book will inspire you to fight for what’s right and will reveal how we can come together and do better as a society."

Opinion: Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that a situation like this happened. It is a shame that women cannot be treated as equals.

Murder of a Royal Pain by Denise Swanson

Started: 3/10/2024

Finished: 3/11/2024

Year: 2009

Pages: 248

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When school psychologist Skye Denison stumbles over the body of pushy “Promfest” chairperson Annette Paine during a Halloween fundraiser, it looks like a clear-cut case of promicide. Annette was not the only prom mom desperate to see her daughter crowned queen—and her skirt-chasing hubby is no prince either.

"Skye’s anxious to investigate, but she keeps getting sidetracked by the overeager new social worker at school, and her current beau’s emotional distance. Still, one question haunts her: Annette Paine was wearing a witch costume identical to Skye’s, so which witch was the intended victim? Will Skye realize too late that finding this killer is a matter of her own life or death?"

Opinion: A decent mystery and how one's lack of reality can affect others.

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

Started: 3/4/2024

Finished: 3/6/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 370

Genre: Fiction, leaning towards supernatural

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, fan of Koontz

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time.

"How strange―though it’s a blessing, his uncle promises. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend” named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. Spike will take care of it. He’ll find Benny’s enemies. He’ll deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation.

"In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him."

Opinion: Sometimes being too nice really is a bad thing.

Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton

Started: 2/25/2024

Finished: 3/3/2024

Year: 2002

Pages: 554

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: continuing with series, bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department, but the detectives had little to go on. The woman was young, her hands were bound with a length of wire, there were multiple stab wounds, and her throat had been slashed. After months of investigation, the murder remained unsolved...

"That was eighteen years ago. Now the two men who found the body are nearing the end of their careers in law enforcement—and they want one last shot at the case. Old and ill, they need someone to help with their legwork and they turn to Kinsey Millhone.

"Kinsey is intrigued by the cold case and agrees to take the job. But revisiting the past can be a dangerous business, and what begins with the pursuit of Jane Doe's real identity ends in a high-risk hunt for her killer."

Opinion: One of the better books in the series. Some things that were put into the book were not necessary.

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Started: 2/21/2024

Finished: 2/24/2024

Year: 2001

Pages: 432

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The journey begins with Temperance Brennan hearing shocking news on her car radio. An Air TransSouth flight has gone down in the mountains of western North Carolina, taking with it eighty-eight passengers and crew. As a forensic anthropologist and a member of the regional DMORT team, Tempe rushes to the scene to assist in body recovery and identification.

"As bomb theories abound, Tempe soon discovers a jarring piece of evidence that raises dangerous questions—and gets her thrown from the DMORT team. Relentless in her pursuit of its significance, Tempe uncovers a shocking, multilayered tale of deceit and depravity as she probes her way into frightening territory—where someone wants her stopped in her tracks."

Opinion: What started off as a plane crash turned into so much more.

Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry by Denise Swanson

Started: 2/19/2024

Finished: 2/20/2024

Year: 2008

Pages: 238

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continue with the series, library book

Blurb (from Amazon): "Grandma Sal's Soup-To-Nuts Cooking Challenge is coming to town, and Skye Denison is entering. And though she can't solve the mystery of the perfect mousse, murder is another story. Because a cocky contestant has been found delectably drowned in a chocolate fountain..."

Opinion: Slightly more complex than some of her other books in this series. Two mysteries were needing to be resolved and tied in at the very end.

Puzzle House by Duncan Ralson

Started: 2/18/2024

Finished: 2/19/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 181

Genre: Horror/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: local book store horror book club pick, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Six strangers.Six puzzles.Six ways to die.

"Six strangers arrive at the home of preeminent puzzle master Alexei Vasiliev for the reading of his will. Among them are the deceased's widow, who'd already begun divorce proceedings, a virologist troubled by actions in his past, and a convicted murderer on day leave.

"The choice is simple: leave with nothing, or continue in the hope of solving the six interconnecting escape rooms with this house.

"Once there, the participants soon discover Puzzle House is far deadlier than it appears, and that making their way through the rooms may be a matter of life and death. Someone is watching their every move, toying with them, turning them against each other. With their lives on the line, they are forced to wonder: Is it all a deadly game created by a gleeful sadist, or something far more sinister?"

Opinion: An escape room taken to a new level. Predictable on who "wins" but still enjoyable trying to figure out how the escapees needs to get out of the rooms.

Over the Edge by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 2/12/2024

Finished: 2/16/2024

Year: 1987

Pages: 525

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When the phone rings in the middle of the night, child psychologist Alex Delaware does not hesitate. Driving through the dream-lit San Fernando Valley, Alex rushes to Jamey Cadmus, the patient he had failed five years before—and who now calls with a bizarre cry for help. But by the time Alex reaches Canyon Oaks Psychiatric Hospital, Jamey is gone, surfacing a day later in the hands of the police, who believe Jamey is the infamous Lavender Slasher, a psychotic serial killer. Wooed by a high-powered attorney to build a defense, Alex will get a chance to do what he couldn’t five years ago. And when he peers into a family’s troubled history and Jamey’s brilliant, tormented mind, the psychologist puts himself at the heart of a high-profile case. Because Alex knows that in a realm of money, loss, and madness, something terrible pushed Jamey over the edge—or else someone is getting away with murder."

Opinion: There was just too much going on that did not need to be there for this to be a good psychological mystery.

The Coworker by Freida McFadden

Started: 2/9/2023

Finished: 2/12/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 358

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dawn Schiff is strange.

"At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m.

"So when Dawn doesn't show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell―beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running―is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything…

"It turns out Dawn wasn't just an awkward outsider―she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her wondering: who's the real victim?

"But one thing is incredibly clear: somebody hated Dawn Schiff. Enough to kill."

Opinion: Interesting twist and turns. Some of them could have been deleted from the story and it still would have been a good thriller.

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan

Started: 2/3/2024

Finished: 2/9/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 322

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, has a hobby. When she’s not tending the store, she’s hunting cryptids—creatures whose existence is rumored, but never proven to be real. It’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, but one she’ll never give up on.

"So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, police chief Jon Flanders turns to Morgan for help. A skeptic at heart, Morgan can’t turn down the opportunity to find proof of an entity whose existence she can’t definitively rule out. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the Death's Door strait to hunt for a homicidal monster in the lake—but if they’re not careful, they just might be its next victims."

Opinion: An interesting mystery that starts off as a cryptozoology paranormal case to a case of buried treasure. I'll be continuing on with the monster hunter mystery series.

In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews

Started: 1/24/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2007

Pages: 368

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: D

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Valena Walker is a master’s student headed to Antarctica to study glaciology with the venerable Dr. Emmett Vanderzee. Being on the ice is something Valena has dreamed about since she was a little girl. But when she arrives at McMurdo Station, she soon discovers that her beloved professor and mentor has been shipped out. Arrested. And charged with murder in the first degree.

"What really happened to the newspaper reporter who dared to contradict Emmett’s research? Most believed that he died from exposure. But the evidence suggests a different story on a very, very cold case. Now Valena must brave the elements and chart a course among local scientists and McMurdo military personnel to clear Emmett’s name. But there are others who will go to terrifying lengths to stand in Valena’s way as she searches for the truth through a harsh and unfamiliar land…before it’s too late."

Opinion: It is a technical book in regards to what is done on Antarctica-which normally is fine but then it got into a little bit of ridiculous of what Valena was allowed to do as never even having been on Antarctica before and gone through all of the necessary trainings.

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde by Denise Swanson

Started: 1/29/2024

Finished: 1/29/2024

Year: 2007

Pages: 237

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Blurb (from Amazon): "A health spa complete with tofu turkey and "Dress for Sexcess" lectures is the last place school psychologist Skye Denison wants to spend Thanksgiving. But when her best friend Trixie Frayne convinces her to take a complimentary weekend at the new Scumble River Spa, Skye accepts her fate and prepares to be slathered, wrapped, and roasted-until a murder ruins the good time."

Opinion: Didn't like how it began-strange flashback but ended up enjoying the overall mystery

Going Rogue by Janet Evanovich

Started: 1/23/2024

Finished: 1/24/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 324

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Monday mornings aren’t supposed to be fun, but they should be predictable. However, on this particular Monday, Stephanie Plum knows that something is amiss when she turns up for work at Vinnie’s Bail Bonds to find that longtime office manager Connie Rosolli, who is as reliable as the tides in Atlantic City, hasn’t shown up.

"Stephanie’s worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie’s abductor. He says he will only release her in exchange for a mysterious coin that a recently murdered man left as collateral for his bail. Unfortunately, this coin, which should be in the office—just like Connie—is nowhere to be found.

"The quest to discover the coin, learn its value, and save Connie will require the help of Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, her best pal Lula, her boyfriend Morelli, and hunky security expert Ranger. As they get closer to unraveling the reasons behind Connie’s kidnapping, Connie’s captor grows more threatening and soon Stephanie has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, follow her instincts, and go rogue."

Opinion: Connie is missing and Grandma Bella helps capturing fugitives....makes it interesting.

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Started: 1/19/2024

Finished: 1/23/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 298

Genre: thriller

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.

"When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

"Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life—and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant is an electrifying debut thriller by a major talent."

Opinion: Suspenseful since the beginning and lasted throughout.

Blood Test by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 1/16/2024

Finished: 1/19/2024

Year: 1986

Pages: 308

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It is a case unlike any psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware has ever encountered. Five-year-old Woody Swope is ill, but his parents refuse to agree to the one treatment that could save him. Alex sets out to convince Mr. and Mrs. Swope—only to find that the parents have left the hospital and taken their son with them. Worse, the sleazy motel where the Swopes were staying is empty—except for an ominous blood stain. They have vanished into the sordid shadows of the city.

"Now Alex and his friend, homicide detective Milo Sturgis, have no choice but to push the law to the breaking point. They are forced to enter an amoral underworld where drugs, dreams, and sex are all for sale and fantasies are fulfilled at any price—even at the cost of a young boy’s life."

Opinion: A different take on a cult case. Medical and psychology mixed well together.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Started: 1/15/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 383

Genre: literature

Grade: D-

Reason for reading: Oprah Book club book, library

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.

"But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?"

Opinion: Was not interesting to me and took too long for William's past to resurface-then the way it was done...blah.

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Started: 1/11/2024

Finished: 1/15/2024

Year: 1999

Pages: 368

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is fatally shot on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home, and parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. These shocking deaths propel Tempe Brennan from north to south, and deep into a shattering investigation inside the bizarre culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs—where one misstep could bring disaster for herself or someone she loves."

Opinion: An interesting twist involving her nephew and places of residence.

Empire of Ice and Storm by Buddy Levy

Started: 1/8/2024

Finished: 1/11/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 384

Genre: Nonfiction, expedition

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame.Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in around her. As the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again.Twenty-two men and an Inuit woman with two small daughters now stood on a mile-square ice floe, their ship and their original leader gone. Under Bartlett’s leadership they built make-shift shelters, surviving the freezing darkness of Polar night. Captain Bartlett now made a difficult and courageous decision. He would take one of the young Inuit hunters and attempt a 1000-mile journey to save the shipwrecked survivors. It was their only hope.

"Set against the backdrop of the Titanic disaster and World War I, filled with heroism, tragedy, and scientific discovery, Buddy Levy's Empire of Ice and Stone tells the story of two men and two distinctively different brands of leadership―one selfless, one self-serving―and how they would forever be bound by one of the most audacious and disastrous expeditions in polar history, considered the last great voyage of the Heroic Age of Discovery."

Opinion: I cannot even begin to imagine what these people went through.

Game On by Janet Evanovich

Started: 1/3/2024

Finished: 1/8/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 286

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Stephanie Plum is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of footsteps in her apartment, she wishes she didn’t keep her gun in the cookie jar in her kitchen. And when she finds out the intruder is fellow apprehension agent Diesel, six feet of hard muscle and bad attitude who she hasn’t seen in more than two years, she still thinks the gun might come in handy.

"Turns out Diesel and Stephanie are on the trail of the same fugitive: Oswald Wednesday, an international computer hacker as brilliant as he is ruthless. Stephanie may not be the most technologically savvy sleuth, but she more than makes up for that with her dogged determination, her understanding of human nature, and her willingness to do just about anything to bring a fugitive to justice. Unsure if Diesel is her partner or her competition in this case, she’ll need to watch her back every step of the way as she sets the stage to draw Wednesday out from behind his computer and into the real world."

Opinion: Not as good as some of the previous books in the series. Not as funny moments but still a decent read.

The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb

Started: 12/31/2023

Finished: 1/3/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 286

Genre: horror/paranormal

Grade: C

Reason for reading: book club pick for local bookstore horror book club

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "She’s restoring the old family home on the hill. And unearthing something evil.

"In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter…

"As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins.

"What evil has been locked away for so many years? The ominous brushstrokes, scratching at the door, and moving shadows begin to pull Tess further and further into the darkness in this blood-chilling novel of suspense by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Keepers of Metsan Valo."

Opinion: So I wouldn't classify this as horror. Paranormal most definitely but not really all that horrific. There was a lot of parts that were in such detail that were not needed for the main story.