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.

When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 12/26/2023

Finished: 12/31/2023

Year: 1985

Pages: 426

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: starting the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Morton Hander practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Hander paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

"It’s psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware’s job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Meldoy’s memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl’s mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim."

Opinion: Not for the faint of hearts and there are triggers. But it's strange how a retired psychologist ends in this crazy world. I have read other books in the series and always enjoyed them so I thought that I'd start at the beginning and go through them all.

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Started: 12/18/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 365

Genre: literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: Reese's book club pick, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.

"While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .

"Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality.

"Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?"

Opinion: An interesting look at an accident (?) and its ramifications a decade later.

Murder of a Real Bad Boy by Denise Swanson

Started: 12/18/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2006

Pages: 252

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library bok

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Still recovering from breaking up with her boyfriend and alienating half the people in town, Skye Denison has sworn off men—but she hires sexy contractor Beau Hamilton to renovate the old house she inherited. After all, who can ignore his qualifications? Golden hair, bronzed chest, muscular thighs—he’s just too good to be true.

"Sure enough, he has a reputation for conning the ladies. But before the not so naïve Skye can fire the hunk, he turns up dead. Since even bad boys deserve justice, Skye has to juggle more than a passionate police chief, a cagey brother with a secret, and a possibly haunted house. She’s got a killer to catch."

Opinion: A quick read. Once the killer was revealed, it made sense. Looking forward to the next one.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Started: 12/13/2023

Finished: 12/18/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 377

Genre: Literature

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

"The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

"As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears."

Opinion: A truly remarkable story based on real events during WWII. 

Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich

Started: 12/11/2023

Finished: 12/13/2023

Year: 2020

Pages: 304

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Stephanie’s beloved Grandma Mazur's new husband died on their wedding night, the only thing he left her was a beat-up old easy chair…and the keys to a life-changing fortune.

"But as Stephanie and Grandma Mazur search for Jimmy Rosolli’s treasure, they discover that they’re not the only ones on the hunt. Two dangerous enemies from the past stand in their way—along with a new adversary who’s even more formidable: Gabriela Rose, a dark-eyed beauty from Little Havana with a taste for designer clothes. She’s also a soldier of fortune, a gourmet cook, an expert in firearms and mixed martial arts—and someone who’s about to give Stephanie a real run for her money.

"Stephanie may be in over her head, but she’s got two things that Gabriela doesn’t: an unbreakable bond with her family and a stubborn streak that will never let her quit.

"She’ll need both to survive because this search for “fortune and glory” will turn into a desperate race against time with more on the line than ever before. Because even as she searches for the treasure and fights to protect her Grandma Mazur, her own deepest feelings will be tested—as Stephanie could finally be forced to choose between Joe Morelli and Ranger."

Opinion: Picked up right were the last one finished. Not a lot of information was provided about this Gabriela chick and the feelings about Morelli and Ranger are still up in the air.

We're Going Home by Cynthia Thayer

Started: 12/6/2023

Finished: 12/11/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 231

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for librarything.com

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "They were an unlikely pair: a “fast and frantic” woman and a steady, “pickin' at it” man. And even though both had been raised in cities and knew nothing about farming, Bill and Cynthia Thayer moved to Maine, started an organic farm, and made it work for more than forty years. Then a mysterious disaster strikes and Bill is found lying in the road. In We're Going Home, Cynthia relates the aftermath of the accident, interspersed with recollections of her life with her beloved “Farmer Bill,” from their first meeting to their final goodbye―and her life beyond."

Opinion: A more thorough review is posted on Librarything.com

The Bookbinder by Pip Williams

Started: 12/1/2023

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 424

Genre: historical fiction

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.

"Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.

"Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back."

Opinion: Slow paced...too slow paced. 

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Started: 11/13/2023

Finished: 12/1/2023

Year: 1999

Pages: 379

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Temperance Brennan must draw on all her forensic skills as she investigates a series of seemingly unrelated events, beginning with horrifying deaths in a Quebec fire and some startling discoveries in distant North Carolina and ranging to the ultimate showdown in Montreal."

Opinion: Cults are certainly interesting, especially when spanning over countries.

P is for Peril by Sue Grafton

Started: 11/21/2023

Finished: 11/29/2023

Year: 2001

Pages: 514

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one–a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she finds attractive is hiding a fatal secret–and now a whole lot of beauty, money, and lies are proving to be a fatal distraction from what Kinsey should have seen all along: a killer standing right before her eyes. . . ."

Opinion: Slightly different situations that Kinsey finds herself in...some are surprising because she's usually more aware.

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

Started: 11/17/2023

Finished: 11/21/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 343

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years...

"It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living with her eccentric mother and her mother's new boyfriend, she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

"So when the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. Even though Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep.

"Then Lucy goes missing.

"Now in 2018, Edie is eighty-four and still living in the same small town, when one afternoon she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen. Her family write it off as one of her many mix ups, there's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. But Edie knows she's the key to finding Lucy. 

"Time is running out and Edie must piece together the clues before Lucy is forgotten forever."

Opinion: An interesting way at looking at a decades old mystery with someone with dementia. 

Must Love Flowers by Debbie Macomber

Started: 11/9/2023

Finished: 11/13/2023

Year: 2023

Pages: 321

Genre: literature, romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, synopsis looked good

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Joan Sample is not living the life she expected. Now a widow and an empty-nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With Emmie’s support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is starting to feel a little like herself again.

"Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to impatient customers before rushing to afternoon nursing classes. She lives with her alcoholic father, ducking his temperamental outbursts and struggling to pay the household bills. But her circumstances brighten when she finds a room for rent in Joan’s home. In the unexpected warmth of her new situation, Maggie finds a glimmer of hope for a better life. But will Maggie’s budding attraction to one of her favorite customers ruin the harmony she’s only recently found with Joan? Meanwhile, what is Joan to make of the mysterious landscaper who’s been revitalizing her garden—a man who seems to harbor a past loss of his own? 

"As Maggie and Joan confront difficult life choices, they draw strength from this new friendship in surprising ways—discovering in the process that “found family” is often the very best kind."

Opinion: A heartfelt look at people starting their lives over after huge losses. Touching look at relationships.