Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

 Started: 6/15/2021

Finished: 6/20/2021

Year: 2005

Pages: 273

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Despite the fact that her aunt was an expert knitter, Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair of knitting needles she like-until she strolled into House of Lambpsun. Now, in the first in a brand new series, she learns how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind her aunt's murder...

"Kelly Flynn would be the first to admit her life in Washington, D.C., is a little on the dull side. But coming back to Colorado for her beloved aunt's funeral wasn't the kind of excitement she was seeking. The police are convinced that her aunt Helen's death was the result of a burglary gone bad, but for the accountant in Kelly, things just aren't adding up. After all, why would her sensible, sixty-eight-year-old aunt borrow $20.000 just days before her death? With the help of the knitting regulars at House of Lambspun, Kelly's about to get a few lessons in cracking out a sumptuously colored scarf-and in luring a killer out of hiding..."

Opinion: A fun cozy however there are things that irk me.....Kelly was very forthcoming about all her issues about her aunt's murder and had no problem talking to strangers (to her) about her questions. How did she know that they weren't involved? Or where they?  That bothered me throughout the book but the solving of the mystery was a good one and I would recommend this.

Perish by L. C. Barlow

 Started: 6/12/2021

Finished: 6/14/2021

Year: 2020

Pages: 258

Genre: Horror

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: review for Readers Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Her name is Jack Harper. She just escaped the clutches of a cult that had held her in thrall since she was little girl.

"Now she's on a quest for justice.

"She discovers that her cult was just one cell in a global network knows as Infinitum. Armed with an array of burgeoning supernatural powers, Jack sets out to eradicate Infinitum's leadership, all while uncovering an ancient mystery that may hold the key to stopping Armageddon."

Opinion: Not as good as Pivot but definitely not as horrific-no torturing of animals. Should be interesting to read how this trilogy is summed up in the next book.

Pivot by L. C. Barlow

 Started: 6/10/2021

Finished: 6/11/2021

Year: 2019

Pages: 224

Genre: Horror

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader's View

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "His name is Cyrus. He's the leader of a mysterious cult that he holds in thrill with his dark charisma and even darker powers.

"Jack Harper is his newest convert and favored acolyte, After rescuing her from homelessness, Cyrus is teaching her all his darkest secrets-how to kill, how to steal, how to control others.

"But his greatest secret is contained in a small box that holds untold power.  Jack makes it her mission to find out what's inside the box, and in doing so sets off a supernatural bottle of wits with Cyrus. The price of failure will be her soul, while the prize for victory will be her freedom."

Opinion: If you don't like kids or animals being brutalized, then don't pick up this book. And it's more kids being brutalized than animals. It was easy to forget that the main character is a female kid because of the things that she does and witnesses. Read this for the Reader Views awards.

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan

 Started: 6/7/2021

Finished: 6/10/2021

Year: 2013

Pages: 331

Genre: Romance/Literature

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "In her comfy cottage nestled in the Derbyshire hills, Rosie Hopkins has good reason to feel a warm blush in her cheeks. With Christmas weeks away, the holiday is being ushered in with England's first glorious snowfall of the season. Her boyfriend, Stephen, is starting his new job as a teacher in the village school. Her quaint Hopkins' Sweetshop and Confectionery has been restored to its former glory, and she has a loveable mop of a new puppy named Mr. Dog. Most glorious of all, Rosie's and Stephens' relatives will finally be gathering together in Lipton for what is sure to be a merry feast.

"But when a devastating tragedy strikes at the heart of the close-knit town, plans for a cozy Christmas are suddenly in danger of melting away. It's going to take Rosie's indomitable spirit, the embrace of family and friends, and the resilient goodwill of a community to turn it all around and make this a holiday to be thankful for."

Blurb: Not a bad literature/romance novel. Despite the author stating that reading the previous book wasn't necessary, I think that I would have found it helpful. Lots of characters to keep track of who is related to who. Sweet ending.

The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

 Started: 6/6/2021

Finished: 6/6/2021

Year: 2001

Pages: 126

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: 1001 books to read before you die

Type: paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "In this spare, seductive novel, he inhabits the muted world of Lauren Hartke, an artist whose work defies the limits of the body. Lauren is living in a lonely coast in a rambling rented house, where she encounters a strange, ageless, man, a man with uncanny knowledge of her own life. Together they begin a journey into the wilderness of time-time, love, and human perception."

Opinion: Another one of the 1001 list that I wonder why....why is it on this list? It felt like this was a book assigned in English class where you need to figure out theme, etc and you are left wondering how you are going to bs your way through this essay. An average short book to say the least.

Murder of a Snake in the Grass by Denise Swanson

 Started: 6/2/2021

Finished: 6/5/2021

Year: 2003

Pages: 262

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, booksfree.com book

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial in style-with historical reenactments, bingo, a coal-tossing tournament, and a Crazy Craft race. Serving as the guest of honor is none other than the town founder's great-great-grandnephew, Gabriel Scumble. But his visit turns out to be short-lived when Skye's students Frannie and Justin find him dead with a pickax protruding from his chest.

"Meanwhile Skye's deceitful ex-fiance, Luc St. Amant, has appeared out of the blue, creating turmoil in her love life. Does the real danger lie in the chance that Luc will drive away the men in Sky's life...or in the possibility that there's a menacing connection between Luc's arrival and Gabriel Scumble's murder?"

Opinion: Another good mystery read. The back and forth of Skye's romantic interests is a little tiresome but adding in the ex fiance made it entertaining. 

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty by Denise Swanson

 Started: 5/28/21

Finished: 6/1/21

Year: 2002

Pages: 263

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, grabbed off TBR pile

Blurb (from back cover): "Sleeping Beauty is dead. Star of the school play, cheerleader, and beauty pageant queen, Lorelei Ingels was the most popular girl in school. But today, no one envies her. While the principal and the police are busy with the politics of this high-profile case, Skye Denison counsels kids and combs for clues...ever more convinced that high school is a truly dangerous place. Finagling her way around crazy school administrators, stupid rules, pushy parents, and teens whose slang needs decoding takes all of Skye's formidable ingenuity. And even ever-optimistic Skye knows that, in this case, finding the killer won't end this tale happily ever after...."

Opinion: Another fun mystery in this series. So glad that I was never involved in beauty pageants or trying to be the most popular kid in high school. High school was hard enough without that added pressure. The mystery isn't what it seemed to be. 

One Night Pregnancy by Lindsay Armstrong

 Started: 5/27/21

Finished: 5/28/21

Year: 2010

Pages: 186

Genre: Romance

Grade: D

Reason for reading: Bookcrossing.com book

Blurb (from back cover): "Rescued during a raging storm, sensible Bridget blushes scarlet when she finds herself seduced by a captivating stranger. How un-Bridget-like-she's mortified! But little does she know her rescue is ultrawealthy...and ultraexclusive!

"Until she reads the newspaper headlines...

"Bridget's mystery man is none other than the notorious Adam Beaumont, heir to the Beaumont empire. Now Bridget has to find the words-and the courage-to tell him he left a lasting impression!"

Opinion: Fluff....typical Harlequin fluff. Grammar wasn't great.

The Mammoth Book of The History of Murder by Colin Wilson

 Started: 2/7/21

Finished: 5/27/21

Pages: 639

Year: 2000 (this edition)

Genre: True Crime

Grade: B

Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile

Type: paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Following the original success of his history of homicide, The Mammoth Book of True Crime 2, expert author Colin Wilson has prepared this new, completely revised edition, bringing the chronicle of this most dreadful of crimes right up to the present.

"He examines the motives and methods, both of particular categories of murder and of individual and mysterious cases. Starting with the horrifying entertainments of Ancient Rome, and moving on through the centuries, he illuminates such infamous figures as Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Gilles de Rais, the Countess Elizabeth Bathory and the Marques de Sade, Elizabethan executions, Jacobean with hunts, the gaslit Victorian underworld of Jack the Ripper, and the gangland killings of the Jazz Age lead us up to the serial killers of the modern world, among them Fred West, Chikatilo, Milat, and Jeffrey Dahmer, gruesome cannibal killers and random 'spree' gunmen, as well as the growing phenomenon of murder with an element of the occult"

Opinion: An interesting collection of true crime stories. Some a lot of people will recognize. Some are not as well known. Interesting look at the history.

Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard

 Started: 5/20/21

Finished: 5/24/21

Year: 2018

Pages: 289

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from back cover): "Sean Suh is done with killing. After serving three years in a psychiatric prison, he's determined to stay away from temptation. But he can't resist Annabelle-beautiful, confident, incandescent Annabelle-who alone can see past the monster to the man inside. The man he's desperately trying to be.

"Then Annabelle disappears.

"Sean is sure he's been kidnapped-he witnessed her being taken firsthand-but the police are convinced that Sean himself is at the center of this crime. And he must admit, his illness has caused him to 'lose time' before. What if there's more to what happened than he's able to remember.

"Though haunted by the fear that it might be better for Annabelle if he never finds her, Sean can't bring himself to let of her without a fight. To save her, he'll have to do more than confront his own demons...He'll have to let them loose."

Opinion: An interesting read. The ending seemed rushed and a major thing was never resolved before a big twist which is frustrating. The fact that Sean's character is Korean and repeated throughout the book was not necessary. Readers can remember that significant fact about a character. The twist made it entertaining.

Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

 Started: 5/15/21

Finished: 5/20/21

Year: 2002 (this edition)

Pages: 337

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: catching up on the series. Booksfree.com book

Type: Mass Market Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "All New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to do is bring in a semi-retired bail jumper Eddie DeChooch. For an old man he's still got a knack for slipping out of sight-and raising hell. How else can Stephanie explain the bullet-riddled corpse in Eddie's garden? Who else would have a clue as to why two of Stephanie's friend suddenly vanished? For answers Stephanie has the devil to pay: her mentor, Ranger. The deal? He'll give Stephanie all the help she needs-if she gives him everything he wants...

"As if things weren't complicated enough, Stephanie's just discovered her Grandma Mazur's own unmentionable alliance with Eddie. Add a series of unnerving break-ins, not to mention the bombshell revelation leveled by Stephanie's estranged sister, and Stephanie's ready for some good news. Unfortunately, a marriage proposal from Joe Morelli, the love of her life, isn't quite cutting it. And now-murder, a randy paramour, a wily mobster, death threats, extortion and a triple kidnapping aside-Stephanie's really got the urge to run for her life..."

Opinion: Oh the antics that Stephanie gets herself into. A fun read and goes right along with the series.

More Confessions of a Trauma Junkie: My Life as a Nurse Paramedic by Sherry Lynn Jones

 Started: 5/13/21

Finished: 5/15/21

Year: 2021 (this edition)

Pages: 130

Genre: Biograpy/Autobiography-Medical

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "More Confessions shares the raw and honest feelings of emergency service professionals through true 'story behind the story' revelations. Disclosing experiences from both sides of the gurney. Sherry and other EMS, ER, paramilitary, and firefighter responders walk you along their fragile line of sanity. Using humor as a life raft during perfect storms, workers reflect upon how they endure and survive personal and professional tragedy while trying not to care too much, and what happens when they fail in that attempt. A graduate student in psychology, Sherry is a paramedic, trauma nurse, and crisis interventionist who led a national paramilitary crisis response team and continues conducting crisis management training throughout the U.S."

Opinion: As someone who has dealt with behavioral health crises in her career, I can relate to some of these stories and how humor is used in order to cope.  A more complete review will be posted on Reader Views in the near future.

Inside Our Days by Michele Merens

 Started: 5/8/21

Finished: 5/13/21

Year: 2020

Pages: 242

Genre: Fiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: review for Reader's View

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "A happily married woman abruptly flees home and family after receiving a dire health diagnosis. As Bree Durning rejects all offers of help and instead becomes preoccupied with her own blindsiding memories, even her psychologist-trained husband is tested to his limits as he struggles to ease his wife's pain."

Opinion: The ending left a lot to be desired-hence the average grade. Without the ending, it would have been a B. A complete review will be on Reader's View in the near future.

The Trouble with Kim: On Transcending Despair and Approaching Joy by Seth David Branitz

 Started: 5/2/21

Finished: 5/6/21

Year: 2020

Pages: 270

Genre: Memoir/biography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader's Views

Type: Trade Paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "THE TROUBLE WITH KIM: On Transcending Despair and Approaching Joy is a poignant collection of true stories about growing up poor in a troubled family, and struggling to heal past childhood wounds toward wholeness and manhood. A gifted storyteller, Seth David Branitz manages to move and entertain as he explores even the most difficult of themes. It's impossible not to be touched as he deftly tackles mental illness, addiction and recovery, sexual awakening, the limits of familial obligation, death, grief, emotional maturity, creative self-fulfillment, and finding love, all with great compassion and compelling attention to detail."

Opinion: an interesting way of telling one's story. A more complete review will be on Reader's Views in the near future.

The British Billionaire's Innocent Bride by Susanne James

Started: 4/22/2021

Finished: 4/25/2021

Year: 2009

Pages: 184

Genre: Romance

Grade: C

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book, TBR shelf

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "When devilishly handsome Theodore Montague meets Lily Patterson in Rome, he is quite taken by this pure English beauty. Theo's not looking for a wife, but he needs annoy for his three motherless children and Lily's the perfect candidate!

"Lily might feel completely out of her depth in Theo's glamourous world, but from the moment they're under the same roof the spark between them ignites into a passion neither of them can ignore..." 

Opinion: It's a Harlequin.....probably don't need to say more than that. Not the best, not the worst.

Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger by Soraya Chemaly

 Started: 4/17/21

Finished: 4/21/21

Year: 2018

Pages: 296

Genre: Nonfiction, Psychology

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from Amazon): "As women, we’ve been urged for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet there are so, so many legitimate reasons for us to feel angry, ranging from blatant, horrifying acts of misogyny to the subtle drip, drip drip of daily sexism that reinforces the absurdly damaging gender norms of our society.

In Rage Becomes Her, Soraya Chemaly argues that our anger is not only justified, it is also an active part of the solution. We are so often encouraged to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Approached with conscious intention, anger is a vital instrument, a radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power—one we can no longer abide."

Opinion:  It is very evident that this was heavily and thoroughly researched. Anger is looked at from many different points and how it has effected women across all boards.  Definitely insightful and enjoyable.

Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

 Started: 4/10/21

Finished: 4/15/21

Year: 2001 (this edition)

Pages: 336

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: rereading series to catch up, booklender.com

Type: Mass Market

Blurb (from back cover): "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is faced with her most daunting task yet: bring in the mysterious former Special Forces agent Carlos Manaso (aka Ranger). He's the man who taught her everything about fugitive apprehension, and Stephanie knows she will be testing her skills against the master. But if she does catch him, she's not so sure she could turn in her friend-even if he's wanted for murder...

"And if this isn't enough to keep her up at night, Grandma Mazur is crimping her sex life by moving in with her and keeping her from getting any action from her cop boyfriend, Joe Morelli. Now, with her love life messing with her head, two threatening goons on her tail, and three corpses-so far-it's getting a litter too hot for Stephanie, whose search for Ranger is bringing her dangerously close to the wrong side of the low..."

Opinion: Another fun read. The antics that Stephanie gets into is silly but makes it fun.

Die, Grandpa, Die by Dale Hudson

 Started: 4/2/21

Finished: 4/9/21

Year: 2006

Pages: 383

Genre: True Crime

Grade: B

Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "On November 28, 2001, in Chester County, South Carolina, police made a grisly discovery. Joe Pittman, 66 and his wife Joy, 62, had been brutally slain with a .410 shotgun and their house set afire with the bodies inside. Their black Nissan Pathfinder was missing. So was their 12-year-old grandson, Christopher Pittman. What had become of the boy? Was he still alive-and if so, for how long? The clock was ticking and time was running out.

"Christopher was found safe and sound in a neighboring county. But relief turned to suspicion as he told an improbable tale of a black man who'd killed his grandparents and kidnapped him. Eventually, Pittman confessed to the slayings and to fleeing in the SUV. In February 2005, he was tried as an adult. Defense lawyers claimed Pittman had been unhinged by the prescription drug Zoloft. It would be up to a jury to decide whether the boy who killed would have to face a man's punishment..."

Opinion: I have always enjoyed Hudson's books and this one is no different. The book goes into the crime and the trial thoroughly.  Did Zoloft affect Christopher so much to the point of murder? Hard to say as medication effects everyone differently. Overall a sad story about the cycle of abuse (alleged) and the possibility of medication effects that led to a horrendous murder.

Overnight Delivery by Raymond Parish

 Started: 3/27/21

Finished: 4/1/2021

Year: 2020

Pages: 339

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for Reader's View

Type: Trade paperback

Blurb (from back cover): "Small of stature but big of heart, psychotherapist Hank Anderson has a gift for helping clients face serious issues and heal life-altering traumas, but this talent intersects with darker truths, an insatiable curiousity that will soon threaten to violently shatter every aspect of Hank's life."

Opinion: A fun adventure when a psychotherapist meets the client with a threatening truth. A more complete review will be posted on Reader's View in the upcoming future.

My Adventure: An Encounter with Life by William Millard

 Started: 3/18/2021

Finished: 3/26/2021

Year: 2020

Pages: 282

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B-

Type: Trade paperback

Reason for reading: review for Reader Views

Blurb (from back cover): "Bill Millard is a commercial attorney with an international law firm in Dallas, Texas, and life could not be better.

"On top of his lucrative job, he is married with two wonderful children, lives in a nice neighborhood with great schools, and is a proud Texan. But his world comes crashing down as his health starts to decline.

"At first, it's not clear what is wrong, but then he is diagnosed with several near-fatal diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which is a progressive nervous system disease that causes a loss of muscle control.

"He loses his family, career, home, and health. After a period in a comatose state, he wakes up as a quadriplegic, suffering severe seizures. He is unable to eat, drink, swallow, speak, stand, breathe without respiratory care, or carry on life as he knew it.

"In this inspiring memoir, Millard reveals how he coped with his diagnosis and made a miraculous recovery, spending seven-plus years fighting for his life in long-term health care facilities, physical rehabilitation facilities, and other centers. Millard's story also offers a unique first-hand patient's perspective as to what it is like to live in skilled and senior healthcare facilities today, containing many observations on what he thinks makes a better facility for patients and their families."

Opinion: I wanted more about his illness but he does address why he didn't dwell on what it was or could have been. I think that this could have been helpful for others and their families that are facing similar struggles. A more complete review will be on Reader Views in the near future.