Book: Warm Bodies

 Book: Warm Bodies

Author: John Marrs

Pages: 107

This is my 240th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Brenda lives quietly in a picture-perfect English village.  She looks after her grandchildren, restores old furniture, and keeps herself to herself.  She's the sort of neighbour people feel comfortable judging.  And judge they do.  Because villages notice everything.  The shopping.  The visitors.  The hours kept behind closed doors.  And when the local WhatsApp group begins to turn its attention to Brenda, curiosity hardens into suspicion, and gossip becomes a sport.  As scrutiny tightens, Brends finds herself navigating busybodies, moral crusaders and a community that believes it knows best.  What they don't know is that Brenda has spent a lifetime solving problems descreetly.  Methodically.  Permanently.  And she is very good at it.  The village may come to regret not minding its own business. 

I got this short story as an Amazon free read and I enjoyed it.  I am a Marrs fan, and he did a great job writing a full, interesting story with developing characters in 100 pages.  It was a good story with a bit of a twist I didn't really see coming.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Beginning After The End

 Book: The Beginning AFter The End

Author: TurtleMe

Pages: 192

This is the my 239th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

King Grey is a remarkable ruler with a prosperous reign, and yet - opulence and success cannot bury emptiness and solitude.  His time as king, however, comes to an abrupt end, and he reincarnates as Arthur Leywin - a baby born in a world of magic and monsters.  Equipped with memories of his previous life and the desire to protect the newfound warmth surrounding him, Art begins his journey of becoming a strong warrior once again.  Sword training, mana coreformation, magic studies - Art does it all in order to be as powerful as can be.  But will it be enought to repel the dangerous forces that threaten his second chance of life?

Stars: 3 

Book: Fever Beach

 Book: Fever Beach

Author: Carl Hiassen

Pages: 384

This is my 238th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Welcome to Fever Beach, where the sun blazes, the politicis are unhinged, and the characters are as volatile as a summer storm.  Dale Figgo is a half-baked crusader with the rare distinction of being kicked out of the Proud Boys - for being too dumb.  His latest bad decision?  Picking up a hitchhiker on a rainy afternoon while running an errand.  That errand sets off a chain reaction involving Viva Morales, a clever, resilient newcomer trying to rebuild her life post-divorce.  She's renting a room in Figgo's apartment and working at the Mink Foundation - a philanthropic front with something far darker beneath the surface.  Circling them is Twilly Spree, a hothead environmentalist with too much cash and a gift for over-the-top revenge.  When dark money and twisted motives bring their worlds crashing together, Viva and Twilly become unlikely allies.  Together, the uncover a tangle of corruption and consipracy led by a plastic-surgery-loving billionaire couple and a clueless c ongressman with delusions of grandeur.  In his most outrageous and deliciously funny novel yet, Hiassen delivers a gleefully chaotic portrait of contemporary madness.

This was another great installment for a Hiassen book.  Always amusing, and a favorite author in our house, this book did not disappoint.  There are the usual enormous amount of characters, and since this book was from 2025, it has a lot of timely news to parody off of.  Hiassen is not lacking for material these days in his highly left leaning books.  If you want to read a story where they poke good fun and a bananas story about people in Florida - check this one out.

Stars: 4  

Book: Kills Well With Others

 Book: Kills Well With Others

Author Deanna Rayborn

Page: 363

This is my 237th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, May Alice, and Natalie are called back into action.  They have enjoyed their time off but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone - literally.  When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready to tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.  Someon on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European ganster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendancy to kill first and ask questions later.  This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungy plans and the aging quartet of killers is next.  Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museums momle and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move beofe they make it.  Their enemy is unlike any they've faced befre, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this misison alive.

This books is a good one.  This is a second in a series and i liked it as much as the first.  It may be weird to describe this book as cute considered it is about hired killers, but they are basically grannies.  There is good banter between the 4 women as they just casually do their jobs.  I am not sure if this will be the last in this series, but I would read another.

Stars: 4 

Book: w0rldtr33

 Book: W0rldtr33

Author: James Tynion

Pages: 136

This is my 236th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1999, Gabriel and his friends discovered the Undernet-a secret architecture to the internet.  They charted their exploration on a message board called W0rldtr33.  Then they lost control.  Someone brok into W0roldtr33- someone who welcomed the violent hold the Undernet had on them.  At great personal cost, Gabriel and the others thought they sealed the Undernet away for good.  They were wrong.  And now the whole world will know the meaning of PH34R.

I am making my way through James Tynion's graphic novels.  He writes some pretty twisted stories but I finish one of his series and search for another.  Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Night She Disappeared

 Book: The Night She Disappeared

Author: Lisa Jewell

Pages: 416

This is my 235th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend.  One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate.  Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writer's favorite place for long walks and it's on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads "Dig Here"  Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple?  And what exactly is buried in this huanted ground?

This was a pretty good book.  I like Lisa Jewell books - always trying to figure out where she is going with a story.  Keeps me guessing.  The story flowed well and I liked a lot of the characters.  This was a good start to a spooky month.

Stars: 4

Book: Hollow Bones

 Book: Hollow Bones

Author: Jodi Piccoult

Pages: 464

This is my 234th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only 2 months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home.  Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn't have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.  Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics and airplane crashes.  She and her husabnd, Jesse - a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis - have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world.  But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.  Moving between past and present, this book is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect outselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

Started out interesting but quickly became too many things.  Very political.

Stars: 2

Book: The Demon Overlord's Retirement Plan

 Book: The Demon Overlord's Retirement Plan

Author: MH Foster

Pages: 223

This is my 234th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Galornus Prime was the Demon Overlod.  He had defeated the Hero and done everything worth doing - some of it more than once.  His retirement plan was simple: get a goat, farm quietly in the small town of Lower Middleton, and avoid accidentally conquering anything.  The plan didn't include soul-crushing town halls, after-school combat lessons with children, and an undergarment-based warwith the rose-growing widow next door.  When corrupt officials and greedy merchants threaten his infuriatingly loveable neighbrs, Galornus faces a new kind of challenge: saving the village without revealing he is the monster parents invoke to make children eat their vegetables.

I wanted to like this book.  I looked it up on Amazon before I bought it because it looks cute and humerous and thought it would be a fun read.  What I should have done is read the Goodreads reviews.  Once I started to read this book, I could not quite put my finger on the choppy and clunky writing.  Found out that the author used AI to write this.  Ugh - WHY.  So lazy.

Stars: 2

Book: Becoming the Boogeyman

 Book: Becoming The Boogeyman

Author: Richard Chizmar

Pages: 464

This is my 233rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Back in the summer of 1988, a young Richard Chizmar was catapulted into the center of a living nightmare as the serial killer Joshua Gallaher - dubbed by the media as "The Boogeyman" stalked his tranquil Maryland town.  A lot has changed in the intervening years.  These days, Chizmar enjoys a certain level of celebrity and notoriety himself, being the only person that an incarcerated Josh Gallagher will speak to on or off the record.  Chizmar likes to believe that he's doing the world a public service by visiting Gallagher in prison, as there are plenty of other nameless victims out there who Gallagher might finally admit to killing and bring closure to grieving loved ones, and a dark rhythm and routine begin to take hold.  But Chizmar eventually finds there's a price to be paid for dancing with the devil, when a masked figure with all the hallmarks of Gallagher's reign of terror from 30 years ago now leaves a horrifying calling card in front of Chizmar's home, and it's clear there's a new player on the board in the ongoing game that the Boogeyman controls.  

This was a great second book in the Boogeyman trilogy.  Well written and a nice follow up ot the first book.  Now years in the future when Richard has a grown family, his relationship with the killer starts to affect him personally.  Even though this story is not based on true events in the author's home town, he does a great job mixing real people with a fictious killer.

Stars: 4 

Book: Something Is Killing The Children Omnibus 2

 Book: Something Is Killing The Children Omnibus 2

Author: James Tynion

Pages: 512

This is my 232nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Erica Slaughter has broken ranks with the House of Slaughter- and now she's paying the price. As she travels the backroads of America to hunt terrifying new monsters, she must also stay ahead of the deadly agents sent to eliminate her.  But the further she gets from Archer's Peak, the more her shadowed past begins to catch up with her. 

stars: 4 

Book: Edison's Alley

 Book: Edison's Alley

Author: Neal Shusterman

Pages: 256

This is my 231st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

14 year old Nick has learned that the strange antiques in his attic bedroom were left there by the eccentric Inventor Nikola Tesla.  They are pieces of Tesla's Far Range Energy Emitter, capable of transmitting "free energy" to the globe.  Some components of the contraption are still missing, but the objects themselves seem to be leading Nick and his friends to their current owners.  However, members of the Accelerati, a menacing secret society of physicist, are on the hunt too, and their brazen leader, Dr. Alan Jorgenson, will stop at nothing to foil Nick and steal the objects.  It takes a dangerous build-up of electromagnetic energy in the atmosphere to reverse everyone's fortunes - and lead Nick to his destiny.

This is a second book in the trilogy and it was a pretty good follow up.  These are yound adult books, but I still enjoyed it.  I will be anxious to see how the author wraps it up.

Stars: 4 

Book: Chasing the Boogeyman

 Book: Chasing the Boogeyman

Author: Richard Chizmar

Pages: 336

This is my 230th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town.  The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb.  But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human.  Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman - and he's playing games with them.  For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and uspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.  Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neigborhood watch is formed.  Amid preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story.  Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal acocunt of the serial killer's reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come.  A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, this book is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime.

This was a great read.  I had to actual google that this was a work of fiction because of the way it was written like true crime.  There are some true parts - Richard did go back to his hometown after college and before he got married.  And he did live in Edgewood Maryland.  There was no Boogeyman, BUT there was a guy who would break into people's houses and watch people sleep in the 1980s in that town, and that is where he got the start of his story.  There are 2 more books in this series, and I am going to read those to see where it ends up.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Address

 Book: The Address

Author: Fiona Davis

Pages: 368

This is my 229th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand NY apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddently awash in possibility - n0 mean feat for a servant in 1884.  The opportunity to move to America.  The opportunity to be the female manager of the Dakota.  And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else - and is living in the Dakota with his wife and three young children.  100 years later, Bailey Camden is desperate for new opportunities: Fresh out of rehab, the former interior designer is homeless, jobless, and penniless.  Bailey's grandfather was the ward of famed architect Theodore Camden, yet Bailey won't see a dime of the Camden family's substantial estate; instead, her "cousin" Melinda - Camden's biological great-granddaughter - will inherit almost everything.  So when Melinda offers to let Bailey oversee the renovation of her lavish Dakota apartment, Bailey jumps at the chance, despite her dislike of Melinda's vision.  The renovation will take away all the character of the apartment Theodore Camden himself lived in -and died in, after suffering multiple stab wounds by a former Dakota employee who had previously spent 7 months in an insane asylum -a madwoman named Sara Smythe.  A century apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages - for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey the nightlife's free-flowing drinks and cocaine - and take refuge in the Upper West Side's gilded fortress.  But a building with a history as rich, and often as tragic, as the Dakota's can't hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers inside could turn everything she thought she knew about Theodore Camden - and the woman who killed him - on its head.

I have read several of Fiona Davis' books and usually deliver it, but this one missed the mark for me.  I didn't really care for many of the characters, and it was easy to figure out the big secret.  I liked the story - she always uses true to life circumstances to build her historical fiction, and I do like the dual time line of her books.  This one just wasn't as good as some of her others.

Stars: 3 

Book: Hungry Heart

 Book: Hungry Heart

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Pages: 416

This is my 228th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Jennifer Weiner is many things: a bestselling author, a Twitter phenomenon, and an "unlikely feminist enforcer".  She's also a mom, a daughter, and a sister, a clumsy yogini, and a reality-TV devotee.  In this "unflinching look at her own experiences", Jennifer fashions tales of modern-day womanhood as uproariously funny and moving as the best of Nora Ephron and Tina Fey.  No subject is off-limits in these intimate and hoenst essays: sex, weight, envy, money, her mother's coming out of the closet , her estranged father's death.  From lonely adolescence to hearing her 6 year old daughter say the F word - fat - for the first time, Jen dives into the heart of female experiences, with the wit and candor that have endeared her to readers all over the world. 

This was a pretty good book.  I really enjoyed the beginning - delving into her growing up years, her family dynamics, and into when she became a writer.  I also enjoyed the chapters where she talked about how she became comfortable with who she was.  I wish she would have left off the twitter reads - felt that was a bit too long in this book, but otherwise, a solid read.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Exiles

 Book: The Exiles

Author: Christina Baker Kline

Pages: 400

This is my 227th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.  During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to 7 years transport for stealing a silver spoon.  Canny where Evangeline is guileless, HAzel - a skilled midwife and herbalist - is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in this powerful story of survival.  Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance.  By the time the MEdea arrives, many of them have been focibly reloacted, their land seized by white colonist.  one of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen's Land.

Book: The Calamity Club

 Book: The Calamity Club

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Pages: 656

This is my 226th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.  Abandoned by her mother one Cristmas Eve, 11 year old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one.  Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.  Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behing.  But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.  Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose.  When their fates - and Meg's converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives.  But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences. 

This was a great book.  I listened to it and the audiobook was wonderful.  The narrator did a terrific job.  I loved Meg's chapters the most.  The story flows well, and even though you can see where it is all leading, it s such a sweeping story that it doesn't really matter.  I knocked it a half of a star only because Birdie's sister was awful.  I wish the author would have backed it off just a bit or have Birdie actually get upset with her sister more.  

Stars: 4.5 

Book: A Forsaken Prophecy

 Book: A Forsaken Prophecy

Author: Stacey McEwan

Pages: 480

This is my 225th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

There is war in Belavere Trench.  Nina Harrow and Patrick Colson, the last to wield their magical mediums, are the key to winning that war.  Now prisoners of the ruling Artisans, they've left Patrick's Craftsman rebellion on its last legs.  Patrick might still love Nina, but her lies have gotten them here.  He will find a way out - even if it costs her dealy.  But when whispers of an ancient prophecy arise, they must form a tenuous alliance and race against their enimiest to uneart a secret linked to the very origin of magic.

Stars: 3

Book: Pumpkin Heads

 Book: Pumpkin Heads

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Pages: 224

This is my 224th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.  Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world.  They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1.  But this Halloween is different - Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch.  Their last shift together.  Their last good-bye.  Josiah's ready to spend the whole nigh feeling melancholy about it.  Deja isn't ready to let him.  She's got a plan: What if - instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut - they went out with a bang?  They could see all the shights!  Taste all the snacks!  And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he's been mooning over for 3 years.  What if their last shift was an adventure?

Stars: 4

Book: The Back Bedroom

 Book: The Back Bedroom

Author: Gregg Olsen

Pages: 134

This is my 223rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1976, in the sealed back bedroom of a home in Washington state, authorities found the decomposing body of 3 year old Davey Weilbacher, beaten to death nearly 2 months prior.  Beyond that bedroom door was self-proclaimed prophet Leon Cunningham, who convinced his sheltered cult of family and friends - including Davey's lost young mother - that the boy was possessed by the Devil.  Exorcism was the only way to save him, leading to a ritualistic campaid of abuse, control, unimaginable violence, and murder.  Gregg Olsen delivers a meticulously researched account of religious manipulation, domestic terror, and one woman's 50 year journey to finally tell the truth about what happened behind closed doors in that modest little yellow ouse in Yakima.

This book was hard to read.  I picked up this book as a free read from Prime and I normally like a good non-fiction book.  But fair warning - this is about serious abuse of a child.  I did finish it, because it is short, but it was a tough read.  The writing is just so-so as well.

Stars: 3

Book: A Discovery of Witches

 Book: A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness

Pages: 579

This is my 222nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library.  Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Mattew Clairmont.

Had a hard time getting through this one.  It started out interesting, then became a boring love story and went in 50 directions - none of them good.

Stars: 2 

Book: Scion

 Book: Scion

Author: James Islington

Pages: 240

This is my 221st read of the year

What Amazon Says:

My job, when you think about it, isn't so different from a lot of people's.  The more old-fashioned crowd do still get hung up on the "killing people" part of it, I guess, but that's a them problem: it's been perfectly legal to take out lifers for ages.  Besides, once ultrawealthy morons realised they had a way to live forever - limited resources be damned - there was only ever going to be one genuinely practical deterrent.  So, sure, I hae to deal with a ton of boring planning.  Inconvenient hours.  Some pretty awkward face-to-face interactions.  And like most of us, I'm really only clocking in to try to crawl out from beneath my debts.  But someone's got to do it.  Luckily, my genetic compatibilities make me really, really good at doing it.  Still.  This next job - I don't know.  It's something I haven't had a deal with in years.  Kind of the opposite of my regular duties.  Strange, that it got thrown my way.  I'm sure it'll all go totally fine though.

This was an interesting book.  Islington's Will of the Many book is one of my favorites.  He said he wrote this one for fun and didn't plan on publishing it, and it did feel like a side project.  It is short, and it is deep sci-fi with a humorous undertone that just slightly missed the mark.  It had some snicker worthy minutes, but for me - it just didn't quite work.  I am glad I read it though.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: The Last Chance Library

 Book: The Last Chance Library

Author: Freya Sampson

Pages: 336

This is my 220th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up.  Shy and reclusive, the 30 year old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world.  But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the plaec that holds the dearest meories of her mother.  Joining a bnad of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died.  It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand.  The kindhearted lawyer's feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won't believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way.  To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life.  For once, she's determined not to go down without a fight.  And maybe, in fighting for her cherised library, June can save herself, too.

Book was just okay.  Dragged a bit.  I did not ever really like the June character.  Predictable

Stars: 2.5 

Book: Birds of Maine

 Book: Birds of Maine

Author: Michael DeForge

Pages: 464

This is my 219th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Long after the demise of humankind, birds roam freely around a new earth complete with fruitful trees, sophisticated fungal networks, and an enviable socialist order.  The universal worm feeds all, there are no weekends, and economics is as fantastical a study as unicorn psychology.  No concept of money or welath plagues the thoughts of these free-minded birds.  Instead, there are angsty teens who form bands to show off their best bird song and other youngesters who yearn to become clothing designers even though clothes are only necessary during war.  (The truly honorable professions for most birds are historian or librarian).  These birds are free to crush on hot pelicans and live their best lives until a crash-landed human from the moon threatens to change evertyhing.  Michael DeForge's post-apocalyptic reality brings together the author's quintessential deadpan humor, surrealist imagination, and undeniable sociopolitical insight. 

Weird

Stars: 3 

Book: The Secrets We Hide

 Book: The Secrets We Hide

Author: Karin Slaughter

Pages: 416

This is my 218th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The next thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series.  Welcome to North Falls.  A small town with big secrets.  1601 Iris Drive looks like any other house on the quiet, residential street.  But rumors are rampant about the Vickery family, and what goes on behind closed doors.  When gunshots ring out, Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister, ex-federal agent Jude Archer, discover a devastating crime scene.   Allison Vickery has been murdered in her own kitchen, and her teenage daughter is bleeding upstairs, left for dead.  Everyone thinks they know what happened.  But secrets are buried everywhere in this small town.  And it's up to Emmy Clifton to uncover the truth.

This was a pretty good book.  I read the first one (We are All Guilty Here), and was glad to see the story continued.  There is great character development and the story flows nicely.  I actually didn't see the twist in this one coming.  I looked on Amazon and saw that next summer the 3rd book in this series will be out, and am looking forward to see how the author wraps it up.

Stars: 4

Book: The Night Country

 Book: The Night Country

Author: Melissa Albert

Pages: 400

This is my 217th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In this book, Alice Prosperpine dives back into a menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors of The Hazel Wood.  Follow her and Ellery Finch as they learn The Hazel Wood was just the beginning , and that worlds die not with a whimper, but a bang.  With Finch's help, Alice escaped the Hinterland and her reclusive grandmother's dark legacy.  Now she and the rest of the dregs of the fairy tale world have washed up in NYC where Alice is trying to make a new, unmagical life.  But something is stalking the Hinterland's survivors - and she suspects their deaths may have a darker purpose.  Meanwhile, in the winking out world of the Hinterland, Fince seeks his own adventure, and - if he can find it - a way back home. 

This book was fine.  It was the second book in The Hazel Wood series.  I liked the first one well enough, but this one didn't draw me in.

Stars: 3

Book: The One

 Book: The One

Author: John Marrs

Pages: 496

This is my 216th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

How far would you go to find The One?  A simple DNA test is all it takes.  Just a quick mouth swab and soon you'll be matched with your perfect partner - the one you're genetically made for.  That's the promise made by Match Your DNA.  A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate.  Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched.  But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.  Now 5 very different people have received the notification that they've been "Matched".  They're each about to meet their one true love.  But "happily ever after" isn't guaranteed for everyone.  Because even soul mates have secrets.  And some are more shocking than others.  

This was a good book.  I am a fan of John Marrs and have read many of his books, and have enjoyed all of them.  I am a fan of chapters each old by different characters, and this is something that Marrs does often and I think does well.  The story moves along at a good pace, but it is easy to keep track of all the characters and their lives and how they are affected by the DNA matches they choose to follow.  It is well written for the most part, although I did drop it a star where near the end I felt that he had one or two characters make some choices I felt were unrealistic.  However - that is just my opinion.  Glad I read this one.  

PS - there is a TV series that is based on this book, but it is completely different in just about every way except for the Match your DNA part.

Stars: 4 

Book: Deadpool 3: The Complete Collection

 Book: Deadpool 3: The Complete Collection

Author: Daniel Way

Pages: 448

This is my 215th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Deadpool heads into space to increase his intergalactic cred. Will taking on galactic assassin Macho Gomex and the immense Id the Selfish Moon cement Deadpool as the solar system's best, most ruthless mercenary?  Not as fas as his "old friends" back on Earth are concerned -Hydra Bob, Big Bertha, Taskmaster and Blind Al all want to claim a piece of his hide.  Deadpool flirts with both mortality and sanity as he takes on the incredible Hulk and is locked up in an asylum.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

 Book: The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

Author: Emma Knight

Pages: 379

This is my 214th read for they year

What Amazon Says:

Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term,Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her.  She believes she'll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father's - now a famous wrter known as Lord Lennox - lives.  When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox's centuries - old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents' secret, just as she's falling in love for the first time.  As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life.  A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, this book asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward. 

Stars: 2 

Book: End Of Days: Ruby Ridge The Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America

 Book: End of Days: Ruby Ridge - The Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America

Author: Chris Jennings

Pages: 385

This is my 213th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On August 21, 1992, shots rang out while federal agents were surveilling a cabin in Boundary County, Idaho as part of an operation to arrest Randy Weaver - a reclusive, mountain-dwelling survivalist - for failrue to appear in court on a gun charge.  When Weaver finally surrendered to the authorities 11 days later, his wife, son and dog lay dead, as did the US Marshal.  Ever since, America has been trying to make sense of what happened on Ruby Ridge.  Today, the question could not be more urgent, as the shock waves from Ruby Ridge have amplified and compounded, cracking the very foundations of our democracy.  In this book, Chris Jennigns explains the significances of this historic siege by setting the story of the Weaver family within the long history of apocalyptic Christianity in the US, illuminating the ways in which that faither has gradually transformed the nation.  The strain of doomsday Christianity that gripped the Weavers, he shows, was grounded in a particular reading of biblical prophecy that can be traced back to the 1870s and up through the 20th century rise of Christian fundamentalism to the right-wing conspiracism that now defines American society and politics.  The events at Ruby Ridge acted as an accelerant for this spreading worldview, and are essential to understanding the crisis that our national confronts today.

This was an interesting book.  I didn't know much about this story since I was high school age when it happened.  I also didn't realize that this attact snowballed into David Karesh in Waco, which then lead to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing.  The book also goes into a deeper dive into Christian Fundamentalism and how it is affrecting our society and politics today.  Good read.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Bonesetter's Daughter

 Book: The Bonesetter's Daughter

Author: Amy Tan

Pages: 400

This is my 212th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Ruth Youngand her widowed mother have always had a difficult relationship.  But when she discovers writings that vividly describe her mother's tumultuous life growing up in China, Ruth discovers a side of LuLing that she never knew existed.  Transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart, Ruth learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie; of a cave where dragon bones are mined; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World; and of the curse that LuLing believes se released through betrayal.  Within the calligraphied pages awaits the truth about a mother's heart, secrets she cannot tell her daughter, yet hopes she will never forget.

This book was fine.  I read The Joy Luck Club a few years ago, and also thought it was fine, but wanted to try another Amy Tan book.  I found that it drug a bit and did not really find Ruth likable.  The back and forth timelines started to wear on me.  It was an interesting enough story - it just felt like 2 different stories that did not mesh well in the end.

Stars: 3

Book: Between The Strokes of Night

 Book: Between The Strokes of Night

Author: Charles Sheffield

Pages: 352

This is my 211th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

By leaving their home planet after the final nuclear war, a group of young people live to see the spectacular series of scientific advances and human tribulations of the near and far future.

This was an interesting book.  I read it for a book challenge where two authors were reltaed, but in that challenge I found 2 interesting books that I would not have read otherwise.  (his wife was Nancy Kress and the book I read was Beggars in Spain).  Sheffield was a physicist, and it shows in this book.  It was entertaining and well written, but you did have to pay attention.  Glad I read both their books.

Stars: 4 

Book: Separation of Church and Hate

 Book: Separation of Church and Hate

Author: John Fugelsang

Pages: 304

This is the 210th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

For more than 2 centuries, the US Constitution has given us the right to a society where church and state exist independently.  But Christianity has been hijacked by far-right groups and politicians who seek to impose their narrow views on government, often to justify oppressive and unequal policies.  The extremists who weaponize the Bible for early power aren't actually on the side of Jesus - and historically they never have been.  How do we fight back against those acting - literally - in bad faither?  In this informative, perspective-shifting book, Fugelsan takes readers through common fundamentalist arguments on abortion, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and more - exposing their hypocrisy and inaccuracy through scripture, common sense, and deeply inappropriate humor.  It offers practical tips on how to debate your loved one, coworker, or neighbor on the issues that divide us using that Bible they claim to follow.  But Fugelsang's message is about more than just taking down hypocrites.  It's about fighting for the love, mercy, and service that are supposed to make up the heart of Christianity.  It's a rallying cry for compassion and clarity for anyone of any faith who's sick of religion being used as a cloaknig device for hate.

This was a pretty good book.  I felt it was well researched and I even learned a bit.  No one who actually needs to hear these words would read this book, but I am glad I did.  Good book to remind people to stop hiding behind religion to be mean to your fellow man and those you do not agree with.  He does say over and over in the book that it is important to listen.  Something we all need to do more of.

Stars: 4

Book: My Life in Orange

 Book: My Life In Orange

Author: Tim Guest

Pages: 320

This is my 209th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

At the age of 6, Tim Guest was taken by his mother to a commune modeled on the teachings of the notorious Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.  The Bhagwan preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern mysticism, chaotic therapy, and sexual freedom, and enjoyed inhaling laughing gas, preaching from a dentist's chair, and collecting Rolls Royces.  Tim and his mother were given Sanskrit names, dressed entirely in orange, and encouraged to surrender thermselves into their new family.  While his mother worked tirelessly for the cause, Tim-or Yogesh, as he was not called - lived a life of well meaning but woefully misguided neglact in various communes in England, Oregon, India and Germany.  In 1985 the movement collapsed amid allegations of mass poisonings, attempted murder, and tax evasion, and Yogest was once again Time.  In this extraordinary memoir, Tim Guess chronicles the heartbreaking experience of being left alone on earth while his mother hunted heaven.

This was an interesting book.  Always interested in reading about cults and what draws people in.  He and his mother left the cult when he was 11, but Tim's life continued to be a struggle.  He died in his 30s of a drug overdose.  I read this book because it was part of the Rory Gilmore challenge, but glad I decided to finally tackle it.

Stars: 4

Book: Nickel and Dimed On Not Getting By in America

 Book: Nickel and Dimed On Not Getting By in America

Author: Barbara Ehrenreich

Pages: 256

This is my 208th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages.  In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them.  She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job - and job - can be the ticket to a better life.  But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered.  Moving from Florida to Main to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaningwoman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk.  She lived in trailer parks and crimbling residential motels.  Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled", that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort.  She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least 2 if you intend to live indoors.  This book reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity - a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival.  Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom.

This was an interesting book.  It is part of the Rory Gilmore reading challenge, so that is what drew me to it.  It was published in 2001, but of course it is still relevant today.  While the minimum wage and sort of crept up a bit, the cost of living has skyrocketed, so I can imagine how much more a squeeze living day to day would be for a large part of Americans.  The author left her comfortable living to spend some time with people who were trying to get by on minimum wage and who were forced to take even 3 jobs just to keep a roof over their heads.  And not even then was it sometimes possible.  It was eye opening and a good read and I encourage you to check it out.

Stars: 4

Book: Tell Me Where She's Buried

 Book: Tell Me Where She's Buried

Author: Patrick Logan

Pages: 311

This is my 207th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

11 years ago, LA was terrorized by The Sandman, a serial killer who claimed at least 12 women's lives.  Young FBI agent Constantine "Con" Striker stopped him, but not before enduring a devastating personal loss - his twin sister, Valerie, was one of the victimes.  Or so he believes.  Even after a decade on death row and confessing to 12 murders, The Sandman denies knowing Valerie Striker.  Desperate for closure, Con demands the killer reveal where his sister's remains are buried.  But The Sandman refuses to talk.  Con's obsession with finding his sister has cost him nearly everthing he loves: his marriage is in tatters, his career is on the brink, and he's burned through partners faster than he changes his clothes.  Now, rookie agent Alex Frost joins Con on a new case; stopping the piracy of Hollywood films before their release.  As they investigate, they uncover a web of darkness an complexity far beyond simple theft - and more deadly.  When they discover a connection bewteen the pirated films and Valerie's disappearance, Con believes he's opn the brink of finally finding out the truth.  But the stakes have never been higher.  Con's relentless pursuit of answers risks not only his sanity but also Alex's life.  And as the pieces come together, it soon becomes apparent that he may soon be searching for his partner's body in addition to his sister's soon becomes apparent that he may soon be searching for his partner’s body in addition to his sister’s.

Poorly written and just not that entertaining.  Did not care about the characters.

Stars: 2

Book: Tessa and Scott

 Book: Tessa and Scott

Author: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir

Pages: 224

This is my 206th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the most decorated figure skaters in the history of the sport, and are widely celebrated by peers and fans alike for their superior athleticism, one-of-a-kind partnership, and generosity of spirit.  In these pages, they share their incredible story with the world.  Veteran sports columnist Steve Milton draws from hours of conversations with Tessa and Scott as they take us from their first meeting in 1995 to their impressive debut and rapid rise on the international scene; from the highs and lows of competitive skating to the profound impact of Tessa's injury and subsequent recovery; and from their unprecedented Olympic achievements in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochit in 2014, through to their exhilarating triumph in Pyeongchang in 2017, when their performance capture hearts the world over and catapulted them into unparalleled international acclaim.

This book was entertaining enough. I enjoyed learning about their journey through the skating worl and the pictures.  A bit too much technical stuff, but overall an interesting read.

Stars: 3.5