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.