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.

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. 

Cradle Lake by Ronald Malfi

Started: 3/30/2023

Finished: 3/31/2023

Year: 2013

Pages: 361

Genre: horror

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Alan Hammerstun inherits a quaint ranch house in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, he and his wife Heather seize the opportunity to leave New York and the haunting aftermath of two miscarriages. Eager to start over in the rural North Carolina town, they hope this new beginning will be the antidote to Heather's severe depression. For a time everything seems perfect. Too perfect, in fact. The neighbors are all young, handsome, healthy, and friendly. While surveying his new property, Alan finds a dirt path through the forest designated by stone markers carved with strange symbols, which culminates in a grassy clearing. One night Alan dreams the path ends at the foot of a lake and dives in; when he awakes gritty with lake grime and improved health and strength, he wonders if it could cure Heather's depression and infertility as well. When the townspeople warn Alan of the lake's powers, he must decide if the community's secret is a nightmare or a miracle."

Opinion: Not a bad little thriller of a horror book. Perfect if you have a good imagination.

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

Started: 3/29/2023

Finished: 3/30/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 341

Genre: Romantic suspense

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can't escape.

"Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

"But when he's forced to look after his best friend's sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

"A crack.

"A melt.

"A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

"Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can't remember.

"But despite her broken past, she's never stopped seeing the beauty in the world...including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn't want.

"Her brother's best friend.

"Her neighbor.

"Her savior and her downfall.

"Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both...and everything they hold dear."

Opinion: A decent enemies to lovers story. I will be continuing on with the series.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Started: 3/27/2023

Finished: 3/29/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 348

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

"When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

"Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age."

Opinion: Not what I was initially thinking when I first heard about this book-was more thinking it would be more of a cozy but it isn't. Fun plot and interesting spy/assassin out of the ordinary things.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Started: 3/24/2023

Finished: 3/27/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 315

Genre: Mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to her southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see―confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year.

"But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night―and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden."

Opinion: Lots of potential suspects, each with their own secrets. These characters forgot that they are in their early 30's instead of 18-23ish. The mystery itself was great. Lower grade due to the personalities of the characters.

The Broken Bridge by Iris March

Started: 3/17/2023

Finished: 3/21/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 211

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Succulent-savvy sleuth, Molly Green spends her day tending her eco-friendly garden center, inherited from her beloved grandparents. She wants nothing more than to nurture her nursery and share her plant passion with the world. When a hiker goes missing on the Buckeye Trail that runs behind the garden center and a bridge on the trail is damaged, the police suspect foul play. As clues mount up, Molly fears she may know who is to blame, perhaps someone in her own family.

"To make matters worse, Molly must navigate the inconvenient appearance of a loquacious colleague, pulling her from her path to uncover the mystery of the broken bridge.
Can she discover what really happened that day on the trail? Or will the spikes and thorns surrounding this mystery take Molly out as well? Find out in the first book of the Succulent Sleuth Cozy Mystery series, The Broken Bridge."

Opinion: A thorough review is posted on Reader Views

Will Litigate for Cupcakes by Laura E. Skidmore

Started: 3/21/2023

Finished: 3/24/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 272

Genre: Literature, romance

Grade: C

Reason for reading: librarything.com early reviewers

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Reagan Crossins is about to live the life of her dreams. She just graduated from Hoffman Law School with her incredibly attractive and highly successful boyfriend, Hunter, and moved into an apartment in Manhattan with Maeve and Harper, her two best friends from college. Once she passes the New York Bar, Reagan knows that she will find an esteemed associate position in New York City to finalize the last step before a giant diamond appears on her left hand. Nothing can stand in the way of her success!

"Except when the legal market is in a slump, Reagan finds herself in one, too. If being broken up with for someone with a more glamorous life wasn’t enough, the dozens of failed interviews were the icing on the cake. With the support of her roommates and her new friend Mary, who, much to Reagan’s excitement, owns the local bakery and deemed Reagan as her official taste tester, Reagan perseveres through a multitude of hilariously devastating job interviews and a few awkward dates, which also lead her to Brooks, her new mysterious hot crush.

"When Reagan finally regains her balance with a new job and a new relationship, some unexpected medical findings rock her world once more, and she finds herself caught in a secret that might ruin everything. Reagan leans on her friends and family until she comes to the realization that only she can summon the strength inside of herself to find her own happy ending."

Opinion: A review is posted on librarything.com

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Started: 3/16/2023

Finished: 3/17/2023

Year: 2016

Pages: 367

Genre: romance

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.

"Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

"As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened."

Opinion: Lots of triggers if you've been in a DV situation. I appreciate that Lily is a strong character. I will eventually get to the sequel.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Started: 3/16/2023

Finished: DNF (my rule of thumb is to read between 50-100 pages for the book to grab my attention)

Year: 2021

Pages: 278

Genre: Literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: Oprah book club, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain…"

Opinion: Not crazy about the writing style and I can't relate to the characters. Just not something that grabbed my interest

Feel the Bern by Andrew Shaffer

Started: 3/15/2023

Finished: 3/16/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 209

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Fall is bursting out all over Vermont, and while the rest of the Congress enjoys its recess, Senator Bernie Sanders has returned to his beloved home state for a weekend of events in Eagle Creek, “America’s #1 Leaf Peeping Destination.” It’s up to intern and Eagle Creek native Crash Robertson to keep the senator on schedule—and out of trouble.

"Crash’s hopes for a quiet homecoming are dashed, however, when the lifeless body of a community banker with ties to “Big Maple” is found in Lake Champlain. While the sheriff’s department closes the case as an accident, a leaked autopsy indicates foul play…with a trail of syrup leading directly to one of the senator’s oldest friends. Bernie, taking a page from the cozy mysteries he’s addicted to, enlists Crash in a quest to uncover the killer’s true identity.

"If Crash allows the senator to go too far off-script, it will be the end of her yet-to-begin political career. But as the suspect list grows to include a tech bro set on “disrupting” the maple syrup industry, struggling small-business owners, and even Crash’s own family, she realizes there’s more on the line than her own future. If the unlikely duo can’t solve the mystery of the Maple Murderer before they strike again, Bernie’s life-long fight for justice may come to an unplanned end."

Opinion: Kinda cheesy but a fun cozy mystery with Senator Bernie Sanders...yes that Bernie Sanders...with the mittens.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Started: 3/14/2023

Finished: 3/15/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 304

Genre: Romance

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

"But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

"The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe."

Opinion: Luckily the groundhog day scenario did not stay in play for long. Very sweet love story.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Started: 3/14/2023

Finished: 3/14/2023

Year: 2014

Pages: 337

Genre: Literature

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

"Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations."

Opinion: Now I can see the movie. Based on the book, it seems that Tom Hanks is the perfect cast for Ove. A decent read.

tiny beautiful things by Cheryl Strayed

Started: 3/12/2023

Finished: 3/14/2023

Year: 2022 (this edition)

Pages: 387

Genre: essays, advice

Grade; B-

Reason for reading: Reese book club, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "For more than a decade, thousands of people have sought advice from Dear Sugar—the pseudonym of bestselling author Cheryl Strayed—first through her online column at The Rumpus, later through her hit podcast, Dear Sugars, and now through her popular Substack newsletter. Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. This tenth-anniversary edition features six new columns and a new preface by Strayed. Rich with humor, insight, compassion—and absolute honesty—this book is a balm for everything life throws our way."

Opinion: I enjoyed the book Wild and the movie based on it. I did not know much of Strayed's writing history so I wasn't aware that she was an advice columnist. Most of the advice I agreed with. Overall a heartwarming, straight to the point, book.

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

Started: 3/9/2023

Finished: 3/12/2023

Year: 2022

Pages: 309

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

"Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

"When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

"But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

"Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?"

Opinion: A pretty good mystery with some interesting twists.

No More Words by Kerry Lonsdale

Started: 3/7/2023

Finished: 3/9/2023

Year: 2021

Pages: 303

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Forced to choose between abortion or adoption, Olivia Carson’s younger sister, Lily, runs away from home. Sixteen and pregnant, she never returns. But she writes. Once a year, Lily mails a picture of her son, Josh, to Olivia until his thirteenth year. Then it’s Josh himself who arrives at Olivia’s house, alone, terrified, and in possession of a notarized declaration from Lily. It begins, “In the event I go missing…”

"Josh has difficulty talking. He can’t read or write, but he’s a prolific artist, exhibiting skill beyond his age. His drawings are as detailed as they are horrific. Olivia soon realizes Josh’s artwork tells a story. There’s more to his arrival and to Lily’s untimely disappearance than it seems. Using the drawings as a road map, Olivia traces Josh’s path back to his mom. Each drawing sheds light on Lily’s past and reveals a darkness that forces Olivia to question everything she thought she knew about her family."

Opinion: Another dysfunctional family-full of secrets and murder. Only downfall was the ending...seemed a little rushed.

The Nightmare by Lars Kepler

Started: 6/22/2022

Finished: 3/7/2023

Year: 2010

Pages: 500

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR shelf

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Police discover the lifeless body of a young woman on an abandoned yacht. The next day, a man is found hanging in his apartment. When Detectives Joona Linna and Saga Bauer uncover a surprising connection between the two deaths, they realize they are up against a brutal killer and a ruthless business tycoon who preys on his victims’ worst nightmares to achieve his sinister ends."

Opinion: Lots of action in this international police thriller. I will be continuing on with the series.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

Started: 3/4/2023

Finished: 3/6/2023

Year: 2013

Pages: 313

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Blurb (from Amazon): "New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in—not his poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men, Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail.

"It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it, she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor. 

"With bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown."

Opinion: And the antics continue....not as extreme it seems as in some of the previous books in the series...maybe because it's the wild giraffe that is involved. Even after 20 books, this series is still fun to read.

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

Started: 3/3/2023

Finished: DNF (my rule of thumb is to read between 50-100 pages to see if the story grabs me)

Year: 2022

Pages: 352

Genre: romance

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book, Reese book club pick

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Sweet like plantain, hot like pepper. They taste the best when together...

"Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.

"They’re soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won’t be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper?

"A gloriously funny and sparkling debut novel, Honey and Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees."

Opinion: Just not my cuppa....lots of slang and bullying. Definitely feels like it was written for a certain demographic which I am not a part of. 

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Started: 3/2/2023

Finished: 3/3/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 358

Genre: Romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

"They’re polar opposites.

"In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

"Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really."

Opinion: A sweet story about two authors who write from different angles. Predictable? yes? But a happy ending none the less.

Murder of a Smart Cookie by Denise Swanson

Started: 3/1/2023

Finished: 3/2/2023

Year: 2005

Pages: 260

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: booklender.com book, reading the series in order

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Yard sales can bring out the worst in people. So when Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison organizes a 100-mile yard sale, otherwise neighborly folk get downright nasty: her own mother creams a woman, and a battle of the sexes breaks out. But when her former boss is found murdered, nobody knows for sure how this cookie will crumble."

Opinion: Another fun cozy read.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Started: 2/27/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2022

Pages: 397

Genre: fiction

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "From the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom.

"These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

"Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love."

Opinion: This started off really well then just dragged. I made it to page 200 and called it quits because of how much it just dragged on.