Book: Eleven Numbers

 Book: Eleven Numbers

Author: Lee Child

Pages: 50

This is the 28th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics - in short, a nobody from nowhere.  So why is the White House calling?  Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he's the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough.  Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever.  All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it.  But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the oddes against him suddently look a lot steeper.

This book was fine.  Believe it or not, I have not read any Lee Child books - my husband has read all of them.  This came up as a free short read on Amazon, so I thought I would give it a go.  The characters were fine and the story moved along just fine.  Have I said the word fine enough in this review yet?  There was a lot of math.  Not particularly exciting.  Not sure this would make me want to try his Reacher stories (which this was not).

Stars: 3 

Book: Bad Date A Short Story

 Book: Bad Date: A Short story

Author: Ellery Lloyd

Pages: 58

This is my 27th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Fay Roper is a divorced single mom and a globally famous actress.  She's also unlucky in love.  Maybe becasue the last thing Fay wants in a man is yet another superfan.  But somehow, every time she ahs a boyfriend who isn't a stalker, he abruptly disappears from her life.  With the help of her best friend and right-hand woman, Poppy, Fay decides to change the game and join an exclusive net dating app uder a false identity.  A subscriber named Oliver takes the bait.  But Oliver likes to play games too.  And only one of them can win.

This book was just okay.  It was a free read from Amazon and is a short story, and I don't think I could get into it well enough in these 58 pages.  The characters were just so so, as was the story.  

Stars: 3 

Book: 84 Charing Cross Road

 Book: 84 Charring Cross Road

Author: Helen Hanff

Pages: 112

This is my 26th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in NYC, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road.  Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a sharming, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books.  Discover the relationship that has touched the hearts of thousands of readers around the world, and was the basis for a film.

This was a great little book.  A read it in a few hours because it is just letters, but what fun.  She was quick witted and generous and the bookshop sweet and caring.  The things she sent them over the years - especially as London struggled after the war (this was written in the late 40s) was remarkable.  All because this became her favorite books shop - 1000s of miles away - and in some way her favorite people.  Good little read.

Stars: 4.5

Book: Under Her Care

 Book: Under Her Care

Author: Lucinda Berry

Pages: 275

This is my 25th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On a humid summer day in Alabama, a mayor's wife turns up brutally murdered under a railroad bridge.  Standing next to her body is 14 year old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevive Hill.  The locals are quick to level their verdict on young Mason: he did it.  The town detective calls in local autism expert Casey Walker to consult on the case.  At first, CAsey tries to keep an open mind.  But the more time she spends with genevieve, the more her unease grows, and she suspects that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son.  Casey's misgivings surrounding Genevieve's story only intensify when she meets Savannah, Genevieve's 19 year old daughter.  Savannah, as it turns out, has some disturbing secrets of her own.  But as Casey dives ever deeper into the Hill family dynamic, her search for the truth leads to another shocking murder - one that shatters her understanding of the human condition in ways she never imagined.

This wasn't a good book.  It was one of my monthly free reads from Amazon, and it fit a reading challenge category, so I read it.  I was hoping it would be a good mystery, but it wasn't well written and I didn't like any of the characters.  It started to redeem itself a bit in the middle, but then fell completely apart at the end.  The ending was really terrible - just.....ended.  No resolution.  Skip

Stars: 2