Book: Ithaca

 Book: Ithaca

Author: Claire North

Pages: 416

This is my 154th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

17 years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca.  None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom.  Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus.  While he lived, her position was secure.  But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door.  No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus empty throne - not yet.  But as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca indo a bloody civil war.  

This was a great book.  I found it on a discount rack, and what a gem!  The writing is excellent and the story is intriguing.  Love the characters.  It is focused on the women - and told by one of the gods.  The story centers around Penelope, but heavily involes Clytemnestra - which is a favorite of mine (side note - you need to read the book Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati.  It is excellent).  This is the first book in the trilogy and I cannot wait to read the next one.  Check this one out.

Stars: 5

Book: Cell

 Book: Cell

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 384

This is my 153rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

There's a reason cell rhymes with hell.  On October 1, God is in His heaven, the stock market stands at 10,140, most of the planes are on time, and Clayton Riddell, an artist from Maine, is almost bouncing up Boylston Street in Boston.  He's just landed a comic book deal that might finally enable him to support his family by making art intsead of teaching it.  He's already picked up a small (but expensive) gift for his long-suffering wife, and he knows just what he'll get for his boy Johnny.  Why not a little treat for himself?  Clay's feeling good about the future.   That changes in a hurry.  The cause of the devastation is a phenomenon that will come to be known as The Pulse, and the delivery method is a cell phone.  Everyone's cell phone.  Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilzation's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature - and then begins to evolve. There's really no escaping this nightmare.  But for Clay, an arrow points home to Maine, and as he and his fellow regugees make their harrowing journey north they begin to see crude signs confirmingtheir direction.  A promise, perhpas.  Or a threat.

I did not realize after going through my Stephen King list that I had miss an old one.  I saw the Cell movie years ago, but don't remember much about it.  I listened to this book and it made a good audiobook.  It is an interesting story, and a good take on a zombie type trope.  Had a decent ending.

Stars: 4

Book: The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea

 Book: The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea

Author: CL Miller

Pages: 304

This is my 152nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When a painting vanishes from a maritime museum and a dead boyd is found nearby, Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole of the Lockwood Antique Hunter's Agency are called to investigate.  Following a lead that takes them aboard a glamorous antiques cruise sailing toward the Red Sea in Jordan, they quickly discover that the ship's art gallery is filled with stolen antiquities.  Each antique is also listed in Freya's late mentor's journals that detail unsolved cases.  In chasing a murderer with a stolen painting, they may have found soemthing more sinister than they could've imagined.  Their hunts soon turns deadly when they learn the enigmatic and dnagerous art trafficker named The Collector could be on board.  But on a ship full of antiques enthusiasts - plus some unexpected familiar faces - will Freya and Carole be able to discover the Collector's identity and stop his murdrous plans before the ship docks?  Or will the killer strike again?

This was a pretty good book.  It is a second in the series, and I think I liked it better than the first.  It is a bit better written, and I was more interested in the story this time around.  Looking forward to reading the 3rd.

Stars: 4

Book: Run Away

 Book: Run Away

Author: Harlan Coben

Pages: 384

This is my 151st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

She' addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend.  And she's made it clear that she doesn't want to be found.  Then, by chance, you see her playing guitar in Central Park.  But she's not the girl you remember.  This woman is living on the edge, frightened, and clearly in trouble.  You don't stop to think.  You approach her, beg her to come home.  She runs.  And you do the only thing a parent can do: follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed.  Before you know it, both your family and your life are on the line.  And in order to protect your daughter from the evils of that world, you must face them head on Age Range: Adult.  

I have read quite a few Coben books this year, and find most of them fine -if not just fluff.  But this was one of the better ones I have read.  I liked the mystery.  The characters are well developed.  There are a lot of twists in this one.  It is entertaining.  You try to put yourself in the dad's shoes to see what you would do if you were him.  After I read this book, I watched the show on Netflix and I can highly recommend that as well.

Stars: 4

Book: From a Buick 8

 Book: From a Buick 8

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 480

This is my 150th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Since 1979, the state police of Troop D in rural PA have kept a secret in the shed out behind the barracks.  Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox had answered a strange call just down the road and came back with an abandoned 1953 Buick Road Master.  Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and this one was - jut wrong.  As it turned out, the Buick 8 was worse than dangerous - and the members of Troop D decdied that it would be better if the public never found out about it.  Now, more than 20 years later, Curt's son Ned starts hanging around teh barracks and is allowed into the Troop D family.  And one day he discovers the family secet - a mystery that begins to site once more not only in the minds and hearts of these veteran troopers, but out in the shed as well, for there's more power under the hood than anyone can handle.

This was a decent book.  Still working my way through all the Stephen King novels - getting close to the end now.  I listened to this one and that was a good way to absorb this novel.  It isn't particualarly scary.   This isn't his first creapy car novel.  I did like that it took place in Western PA - that is where I grew up.  It is a leisurely story, but not dull.  It lays out a story and leads to a build up with one of the main characters, but it doesn't quite tip over into horror for me.  Has a good ending.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: Atlantia

 Book: Atlantia

Author: Ally Condie

Pages: 320

This is my 149th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamed of the sand and sky above - of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia.  But in a single moment, all Rio's hopes for the future are shattered when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected choice, stranding Rio Below.  Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio's true self - and the powerful siren voice she has long silenced - she has nothing left to lose.  Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother's death, her own destiny, and the corrupted system constructed to govern the Divide between land and sea.  Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

This was an interesting book.  I really liked Condie's Matched Trilogy that I read years ago.  This one wasn't as good as that trilogy, and I find that she tried to do too many things in a 300 page book.  I think if she would have taken her time like she did with Matched, this book would have been hire rated for me.  It took along time for her to get to the "problem" and then she sped through it.  She tried to build a world and solve a mystery in a very short book.  That is hard to do.  I liked the characters - they were all fine.  The writing wasn't great - it was fine.  It started well, and I was curious enough to see where the author was taking it.  And it had a satisfying ending.  But overall - I was hoping for more.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: The Unmaking of June Farrow

 Book: The Unmaking of June Farrow

Author: Adrienne Young

Pages: 352

This is my 148th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In the small mountain town of Jasper, NC, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her.  The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm - and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line.  The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow's disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.  It's been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren't there.  Fair wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere-the signs of what June always knew was coming.  But June is determined to end the curse once and for l, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.  After her grandmother's death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother's decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions.  But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she's been searching for?  The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold.  And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to it and it made a good audiobook.  There is decent character development, a mystery, and found family.  Satisfying ending.  This is not chick flick fiction - this has supernatural and paranormal elements to it - which is hard to tell by the cover.  I was left wondering why this "curse" started.  And I wish it was more about the generational circle than about the overall mystery and love story.  There is one other fault that it just a personal one for me, but I will not share it because it would be a spoiler.  (for my blog only - I hate when books travel back in time and not forward and then the characters stays there).

Stars: 4

Book: Sprinting Through No Man's Land

 Book: Sprinting Through No Man's Land

Author: Adin Dobkin

Pages: 316

This is my 147th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On June 29, 1919, one day after the Treaty of Versailles brought about the end of World War I, nearly 70 cyclists embarked on the 13th Tour de France.  From Paris, the war-weary men rode down the western coast on a race that would trace the country's border, through seaside towns and mountains to the ghostly western front.  Traversing a cratered postwar landscape, the cyclists faced near-impossible odds and the psychological scars of war.  Most of the athletes had arrived straight from the front, where so many fellow countrymen had suffered or died.  The cyclists' perseverance and tolerance for pain would be tested in a grueling, monthlong competition.  An inspiring true story of human endurance, this book explores how the cyclists united a country that had been torn apart by unprecedeted desolation and tragedy.  It shows how devastated countrymen and women can come together to celebrate the adventure of a lifetime and discover reewed fortitude, purpose, and national identity in the streets of their towns.

This was an interesting book.  My dad is a huge Tour fan.  He and my mom actually went one year to follow the tour for several weeks on a tour of their own and watch the race.  It was interesting to read about the Tours beginnings and how it differs from today.  It was a bit dry in spots, and there is just about as much about WWI as the tour, which was a bit odd  I know what the author was trying to do, but I would have liked the book to just focus on the bikers.

Stars: 3

Book: Dispatches From Grief

 Book: Dispatches From Grief

Author: Danielle Crittenden

Pages: 207

This is my 146th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On a February morning, Danielle Crittenden's world cleaved in two: the life before her daughter Miranda was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment, and the life after.  In this luminous memoir, Crittenden maps the territory of profound loss with the clarity of a foreign correspondent filing reports from a country no parent ever wishes to visit.  With unflinching honesty and unexpected grace, she chronicles not just the shattering impact of a child's death, but the strange afterlife of grief itself - the way it infiltrates grocery stores and social media, transforms old friendships and forges new ones, and ultimately reshapes the mourner as fundamentally as it has reshaped the world. Here is grief in all its terrible specificity: the police call that changes everything, the surreal task of choosing a burial dress, the well-meaning friends who offer advice about "stages" that don't exist.  But here too is love in its most distilled form - a mother's meditation on a daughter who commanded dinner tables at 12 and who transformed from a precocious girl into a sparkling young woman living her dreams in NY.  Crittenden brings a journalist's eye to the landscpae of loss, coining the perfect term for those who try to explain grief to the grieving, finding dark comedy in a hotel clerk's relentless cheerfulness.  It will speak to anyone who has loved deeply, lost profoundly, and wondered how to continue when continuation seems impossible.

This was a heartbreaking book.   It is a short book, and I read it all in one sitting.  Make sure you have your tissues as you read along with a mother's greatest fear and what happens after.

Stars: 4.5 

Book: The Man Who Died Twice

 Book: The Man Who Died Twice

Author: Richard Osman

Pages: 368

This is my 145th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim - the Thursday Murder Club - are still riding high off their recent real-life murder ase and are looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at Cooper's Chase, their post retirement village.  But they are out of luck.  An unexpected visitor - an old pal of Elizabeth's (or perhaps more than just a pal?) - arrives, desperate for her help.  He has been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men and he's seriously on the lam.  Then, as night follows day, the first body is found.  But not the last.  Elizabet, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are up against a rutless murderer who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians.  Can out 4 friends catch the killer before the killer catches them?  And if they find the diamonds, too?  Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?  You should never put anything beyond the Thursday Murder Club.

This was a pretty good book.  I had read the first one and just thought it was fine, and figured I was done with the series.  However - a reading challenge threw me into the second book, and I am glad I read it.  I did watch the show on TV, and I think that helped.  I now had people to put their the characters in the book and it made this one more enjoyable.  It is clever and fun, and I understand the TV series will continue, so hopefully we will see this one played out soon.

Stars: 4

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5: The Butcher's Masquerade

 Book: The Butcher's Masquerade

Author: Matt Dinniman

Pages: 720

This is my 144th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A lush jungle teeming with danger.  Savage dinosaurs seeking blood.  A fallen princess intent on vengeance.  A mysterious, end of floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed "The Butcher's Masquerade".  But that's not all.  Just when Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, think they've seen it all as they compete to survive in the galaxy's most popular game show, the latest dungeon level introduces a terrible new threat.  The 6th floor.  The Hunting Grounds.  As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, outside tourist are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are ready to hunt.  Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.  But her prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.  Welcome, crawlers.  Welcome to the 6th floor of the dungeon.

Another great installment in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.  These books do not get less entertaining.  They are fun, and clever, and the world building is amazing.  In the beginning I really had to take my time to try and figure out the game, but not that I understand it, the books are so enjoyable.  Characters are well developed.  Carl and Donut are so easy to like and root for.  Samantha - introduced in the last book - is even more hilarious in this installment.  If you have not tried this books, I encouage you too.  I know they are tomes, but worth it.

Stars: 5

Book: The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World

 Book: The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World

Author: Matt Kracht

Pages: 192

This is my 143rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Following in the tracks of the 1st uproarious and beloved bird book, this book ventures beyond to identify the stupidest birds around the world.  Featuring birds from all around the world, the authro identifies the dumb birds that mange to live all over the freaking place with snarky yet accurate names and humorous, anger-filled drawings.  Offering a balance of fact and wit, this uproarious profanity-laden handbook will appeal to hardcord birders and casual bird lovers (and haters) alike.  

This book was hilarious.  I read it for a reading challenge where I needed a book about birding, and this did not disappoint.  It has some general facts about the birds he describes, but he mostly sticks to what is annoying about them.  I laughed out loud for almost the whole book.  It is a very fast read and has a lot of really well drawn pictures.  My only complaint is it wasn't longer.  Fun find.

Stars: 4.5

Book: Edge of Darkness

 Book: Edge of Darkness

Author: Kyla Stone

Pages: 352

This is my 142nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Hannah Sheridan has survived years of captivity and civilzation's collapse.  No, heavily pregnant and wounded, with her faithful dog Ghost dying from a bullet wound, she must reach home - a brutal jouney through a frozen wasteland - to the family she was stolen from.  Former Delta operator Liam Coleman's mission is simple: deliver Hannah safely to Fall Creek, then settle his own debts with the past.  But with Ghost critically injured and Pike stalking them through the snow, every mile is a battle.  Every contraction a ticking clock.  In Fall Creek, Noah Sheridan fights to hodl his broken town together after horrific violence shatters their fragile peace.  He'd built a safe place for his son Milo, surviving the cold and chaos.  But as grief turns to fury and neighbors turn against each other, he faces an impossible choice: protect what remains or rish everything to save it all.  In the ashes of the old world, some build communities.  Others build empires.  And some just want to watch it all burn. 

This was another good installment in the Edge of Collapse series.  This books have good bite too them.  They are easy reads, so you can fly through them, but they also have enough intensity to them that you want to keep reading to find out what is going to happen.  There are several POVs in these books, and this one was overly so.  That might be my only negative thought - there might have been too many switches this time around.   Overall though, a sollid read.  

Stars: 4

Book: Incidents around the house

 Book: Incidents Around The House

Author: Josh Malerman

Pages: 384

This is my 141st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

To 8 year old Bela, her family is her world.  There's mommy, daddo, and Grandma Ruth.  But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: "Can I go inside your heart"?  When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.  Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder.  Only the bonds of the family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage.  The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel.  But Other Mommy needs an answer.

This book was terrible.  I did read Malerman's Bird Box series, and enjoyed those, but this one was so bad.  Story isn't really that scary, and the characters are not great.  Told from a child's perspective.  The ending is really what did it for me - dropped this from a 2 star down to a 1.  What in the world was the author thinking with the big dialogue this mother tells this little kid?  Nonsense.  

Stars: 1

Book: What The Dog Saw

 Book: What the Dog Saw

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Pages: 448

This is my 140th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

What is the difference between choking and panicking?  Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup?  What do football players teach up about how to hire teachers?  What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?  Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzlinginventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz.  Gladwell sits with Ron Popeii, the king of the American kitcen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand.  He explores intelligence tests and ethic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.  

This was a very interesting book.  I do like Malcolm Gladwell - this is my second book by him I have read just this year.  He is a good writer and the topics throughout this book give you a lot to think about.  Good insight, good research, and great writing.

Stars: 4.5 

Book: The Tainted Cup

 Book: The Tainted Cup

Author: Robert Bennett

Pages: 432

This is my 139th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In Daretana's greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead - killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body.  Even here at the Empire's brders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it's a death both terrifying and impossible.  Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brillance is matched only by her eccentricities.  Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.  At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana's brillance.  Din is at tuns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior - but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana's mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is indeed, the Empire's greatest detective.  As the 2 close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he's barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra - and wonders how long he'll be able to keep his own secrets from her piercing intellect. 

This was a great book.  When researching books for several challenge categories, this book came up again and again, so I figured I should try it.  It was a good mix of fantasy world, mystery, crazy detective, and humor.  The characters were wonderful and the story intriguing.  Lots of world building.  There are 2 more books in this series, so I will be sure to check them out.

Stars: 4.5 

Book: Metropolis

 Book: Metropolis

Author: BA Shapiro

Pages: 384

This was my 138th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Six people, six secrets, six different backgrounds.  They would never have met if not for their connection to the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, MA.  When someone falls down an elecator shaft at the facility, each of the six becomes caught up in an intensifying chain of events.  We meet Serge, an unstable but brilliant street photographer who lives in his storage unit; Marta, an undocumented immigrant finishing her dissertation and hiding from ICE; Liddy, an abused wife and mother who recreaters her children's bedroom in her unit; Jason, a former corporate lawyer now practi ing in the facility; Rose, the office manager, who takes illegal kickbacks to let renters live in the building; and Zach, an ex-drug dealer and now the building's owner, who scans Serge's photos as he searches for cluesto the accident.  But was it an accident?  A murder attempt"  Suicide? As her characters dip in and out of one another's lives trying to find answers and battling societal forces beyond their control, this book questions the myth of the American dream and builds tensions to an exhilarating climax.

This was a good book.  I loved Shapiro's other book - The Art Forger - so I was anxious to try this one.  It is well written, and I liked all the characters are you supposed to like.  Especially the lawyer.  It moves at a good pace, and there is a satisfying ending.

Stars: 4 

Book: The Other Man

 Book: The Other Man

Author: Farhad Dadyburjor

Pages: 299

This is my 137th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Heir to his father's Mumbai business empire, Ved Mehra has money, looks, and status.  He is also living as a closeted gay man.  Thirty-eight, lonely, still reeling from a breakup, and under pressure from his exasperated mother, Ved agreed to an arranged marriage.  He regrettably now faces a doomed future with the perfectly lovely Disha Kapoor.  Then Ved's world is turned upside down when he meets Carlos Silva, an American on a business trip in India.  As preparations for his wedding get into full swing,Ved finds himself drawn into a relationship he could never have imagined - and ready to take a bold step.  Ved is ready to embrace who he is and declare his true feelings regardless of family expectatios and staunch traditions.  But with his engagement party just days away, and with so much at risk, Ved will have to fight for what he wants - if it's not too late to get it.  

This book was fine.  Amazon free reads.

Stars: 3 

Book: The Ending Writes Itself

 Book: The Ending Writes Itself

Author: Evelyn Clarke

Pages: 352

This is my 136th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Six authors.  One private island.  72 hours to write the ending that will change their lives.  Arthur Fletch, one of the world's bestselling novelists, is a reclusiv genius known for his iconic protagnoists and fiendish twists.  When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead - and his last book is unfinished.  Desperate to publich the novel, Fletch's agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book.  To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter - fora mind-boggling sum - they will alos help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers.  The catch: the writers have just 72 hours to finish Fletch's magnum opus.  It's the perfect plot.  All it needs is a killer ending.

This book was fine.  I was hoping for a more exciting story, but I just could not get invested in it.  These writers are given 72 hours to write and most of the book is about them doing anything but.  And of course getting murdered.  The story and the characters did not really grab me.  It get get better toward the end once some things were revealed and it had a decent epilogue.  I have read better locked room mysteries.

Stars: 3

Book: Reaper Man

 Book: Reaper Man

Author: Terry Pratchett

Pages: 336

This is my 137th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

They say there are only two things you can count on: death and taxes.  But that was before Death started pondering the existential.  Now Death is facing his own demise, fired by the Auditores of REality for developing a personality.  Sentenced to live like everyone else, the entity formerly known as the Grim Reaper takes a new name and becomes a farmhand.  He's an expert with a scythe, after all.  Frolicking in greener pastures, Death is having the time of his life.  For humanity though, Death's loss leads to chaos, the kind that always arises when an important public service is cut.  But what happens if Death doesn't come for you? What do you do when your time is supposed to be up?  The undead can't be left wandering about like lost souls - there's no telling what might happen.  Particularly when they discover that life really is only for the living.

This book was all kinds of fun.  I listened to it and the narrators were great.  I have read a few Prachett books and I enjoy his books that mix comedy with good story.  This book had me laughing out loud a few times along the way.  Characters are great and the Grim Reaper becomes basically human.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 4.5 

Book: Read Between The Lies

 Book: Read Between The Lies

Author: Jesse Sutanto

Pages: 287

This is my 135th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Fern's dream of becoming a published author is finally coming true.  After years of rejection, her debut novel has sold, and she's ready to join the supportive online comunity of fellow debuts.  But when she discovers her high school buyy, Haven, has landed a majorbook deal and will be debuting alongside her, old wounds reopen.  As the pandemic forces everyone online, tensions escalate in their writing community.  While Have seems to succeed effortlessly, Fern watches her own career crumble.  Yet beneath their polished personas lies a darker truth about their shared past - one involving a lost friend, Dani, and secrets neither wants revealed.  Fern isn't the same person Haven bullied all those years ago.  She's learned that the best revenge stories aren't written - they're lived.  And she's been plotting this one for years.  What begins as online rivalry escalates into dangerous obsession.  Because neither woman is telling the whole truth about what really happened to Danie - or about who's the real victim in this story.

This book was terrible.  It was an Amazon free read, and fit a reading challeng category, but it was not well written.  The characters were awful.  The written was not good.  The author just seemed to be writing a book about something she was hoping to obtain - a big book deal.  Even the connection between the bully and the main character story was blah.  Such childish behavior for someone who is almost 30 years old.  

Stars: 1 

Book: Quicksilver

 Book: Quicksilver

Author: Callie Hart

Pages: 624

This is my 134th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Do not touch the sword.  Do not turn the key.  Do not open the gate.  24 year old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets.  No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.  In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.  But a secret is like a knot.  Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.  When Saeris comes face to face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow.  The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legent, of nightmares - but it turns out they're real, and Aseris has landed right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.  The first of her kind to treat the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over 1000 years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfiser, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own.  He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him - or her.  Death has a name.  It is Kingfist of the Ajun Gate.  His past is murky.  His attitude stinks.  And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.  Be careful of the deals you make, dear child.  The devil is in the details.

This book was not for me.  I read it for a reading challenge where there was a category that was proving especially difficult to fill with my usual books.  My 23 year old daughter recommended this one, and I went into it with an open mind, but this is YA and I am just past it.  Which I know I keep saying.  I need to mean it.  This was a lot like Iron Flame - enemies to lovers, dragons, magic, speaking through their minds - not enough originality.  At least it wasn't in a school - so bravo.  Too much sex in my opinion.  These romantasy books are all the rage amount various age groups right now, and I do love a good fantasy novel.  But this was almost too vulgar in spots.

Stars: 3

Book: Transcendent Kingdom

 Book: Transcendent Kingdom

Author: Yaa Gyasi

Pages: 288

This is my 133rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Gifty is a 6th year PhD Candidate in neuroscience at the Standford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction.  Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after an ankle injury left him hooked on OxyContin.  Her suicidal mother is living in her bed.  Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.  But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evengelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive.  This is a portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grif - a novel about faith, science, religion, love.

This was an interesting book.  I really liked her book, Homegoing, and glad I found this one.  It has a lot of relgious aspects to it - where a scientist is incorporating her religion into her everyday life and trying to find the balance.  The story was a bit all over the place, but the underlying theme was a good one.  It is a very sad read.

Stars: 4

Book: How To Stop Time

 Book: How To Stop Time

Author: Matt Haig

Pages: 336

This is my 132nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher.  And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him.  But Tom has a dangerout secret.  He may look like an ordinary 41 year old but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries.  Tom has lived history - performing with Shakespeare, exporing the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald.  Now he just wants an ordinary life.  Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protect people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love.  As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to erail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him.  Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.  It tells a love story across the ages - and for the ages - about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live.  

This was a pretty good book.  I like Matt Haig's books and this one did not disappoint.  I liked the main character and the idea of someone who could live for about 1000 years and what that would look like.  It was a neat idea that they aged one year old every 15 years and that started around age 11 (which was a good idea on Haig's part because I don't think anyone would want to do the baby stage for 15 years).  There are a lot of good characters, and the story moves along at a good pace, and it has a good ending.

Stars: 4

Book: The Charm Bracelet

 Book: The Charm Bracelet

Author: Viola Shipman

Pages: 304

This is my 131st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Through an heirloom charm bracelet, three women will rediscover the importance of family and a passion for living as each charm changes their lives.  On her birthday each year, Lolly's mother gave her a charm, along with the advice that there is nothing more important than keeping family memories alive, and so Lolly's charm bracelet would be a constant reminder of that love.  Now seventy and starting to forgte things, Lolly knows time is running out to reconnect with a daughter and granddaughter whose lives have becoem too busy for Lolly or her family stories.  But when Arden, Lolly's daughter, receives an unexpected phone call about her mother, she and granddaughter Lauren rush home.  Over the course of their visit, Lolly reveals the story behind each charm on her bracelet, and one by one the family stories help Lolly, Arden, and Lauren reconnect in a way that brings each woman closer to finding joy, love, and faither.  

This book was overly syrupy sweet.   I have read of few of Shipman's book, but the first one was truly the only one I really liked (the Recipe Book).  It was okay for a small amount, but after about 1/3 of this book when it didn't let up - the sappiness - I was over it.  It was a good idea, just not well executed in my opinion.

Stars: 2.5

Book: Pike Island

 Book: Pike Island

Author: Tony Wirt

Pages: 269

This is my 130th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin.  Right?  Andrew Harrison "Harry" Leonard is destined for politics.  Getting his start on the Rochester City Council, he quickly rose to become the youngest representative in Congress.  Now the up-and-comer from Minnesota is on the brink of something big.  If all goes well, he'll be in perfect position to aim for the presidency.  Then a postcard arrives, blank except for the name on the address: Andy Leonard.  Harry hasn't used that name since high school.  Krista Walsh, Harry's chief of staff, recognizes his old moniker, and when he dodges qustions about it, she wonders what he's trying to hide.  She soon discovers the lake pictures on the postcard holds secrets too.  Krista's investigation into Harry's past uncovers the truth of what happened one fateful teenage summer.  But as distrubing details come to light, how far will Krista go to keep Harry's career-and her own - headed to the top?

This was a pretty good read.  It was one of my Kindle free reads I am trying to work through.  It was an interesting enough murder mystery, characters were pretty good, and I was curious to see where it was going.  The ending was just okay.

Stars: 3.5

Book: It's Not Her

 Book: It's Not Her

Author: Mary Kubica

Pages: 352

This is my 129th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A scream shatters the silence - Courtney Gray's peaceful vacation turns into a nightmare when she discovers her brother and sister-in-law dead in their lakeside cottage.  Her niece Reese is missing.  Her nephew Wyatt is asleep upstairs - unharmed.  A town full of secrets - as police swarm the uiet resort, dark truths about Courtney's family - and the town itself - begin to surface.  Is REese a victim or the Killer?  A truth no one saw coming - with everyone hiding something, Courntey races to uncover the terrible mystery.  But the closer she gets, the harder it is to know who - or what - to trust.

I have 2 words to describe this book: Verbal diarrhea.  So much nonsense mixed in with the actual story that I had a hard time caring.  Hated all the characters.  The twist was a bit surprising, but by the time we got to the killers, I didn't care any more.

Stars: 2 

Book: Talking to Strangers

 Book: Talking to Strangers

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Pages: 416

This is my 128th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation?  Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise?  Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn't true?  Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging, and controversial excusion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news.  He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Know, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State, and the death of Sandra Bland - throwing our understanding of thsee and other stories into doubt.  Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know.  And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.  

This was a great book.  I read it for a reading challenge, but I am glad I found this one.  It was well written, well researched, and gives you a lot to think about.  There are a lot of tough cases in this book that will make you cringe - especially as you hear from victims.  There are also a lot of case studies that had interesting results.  Very very good read.

Stars: 5

Book: Antimatter Blues

 Book: Antimatter Blues

Author: Edward Ashton

Pages: 298

This is my 127th read for the year

What Amazon Says: 

Summer has come to Niflheim.  The lichens are growing, the 6-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive - that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander MArshall believes that the colony's creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who'se keeping them from using it.  Mickey's just another colonist now.  Intead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches.  It's not a bad life.  It's not going to last.  It may be sunny now, but winter is coming.  The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back.  It Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he'll be giving up the only thing that's kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony.  Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they're not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return.  Once again, Mickey finds the fate of 2 species resting in his hands.  If something goes wrong this time, though, he won't be coming back.

This was a decent book.  It is a second in a series (and last I believe), and there was also a movie based on the 1st book (even though the movie changed a bit).  This is an easy read with several likable characters.  There is a bit of humor (especially from our main character Mickey).  Has a decent ending.

Stars: 4

Book: The Line

 Book: The Line

Author: Tim Weaver

Pages: 43

This is my 126th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A career-mkaing rumo about a Hollywood icon could save a struggling journalist - or destroy her - in this twisting and atmospheric short story.  LA, 1985.  Journalist Hallie Pitney is fighting to keep her head about water selling minor stories to gossip magazines.  She still dreams of her byline on something better - something that could finally launch her career.  Then a whisper reachers her: a legendary movie star may be hiding a devastating secret.  For Hallie, this could be the story that changes everything.  But a dark choice lurks behind Hollywood's shuttered gates: the story of a lifetime - or everthing she stands for.

This was an interesting novella.  I got it free through Amazon First reads, and I continue to widdle those down in my Kindle.  It had good potential, but of the books I have in this series (this is part of a 6 book series - all different stories and different authors) it wasn't a favorite.  Ending was just okay.

Stars: 3

Book: Monsters In The Archives

 Book: Monsters In The Archives

Author: Caroline Bicks

Pages: 304

This is my 125th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

After Caroline Bicks was named the University of Maine's inaugural Stephen E King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendar writer's creative process - most of them never before studied or published.  The year she spent exploring Kig's early drafts and hand-written revisions was guided by one question millions of King's entralled and terrified readers (including her) have asked themselves: What makes Stephen King's writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we've closed the book?  Bicks focuses on 5 of his most iconic early works - The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, 'Salem's Lot, and Night Shift - to reveal how he crafted his language, story lines, and characters to cast his enduring literary spells.  While tracking King's margin notes and editorial changes, she discovered scenes and alternatve endigns that never made it to print but tha tKing is allowing her to publish now.  The book also includes interviews Bicks had with King along the way that reveal new insights into his writing process and personal history.  This book chronicles what Bicks found when she set out to unearth how King crafted some of his scariest, most iconic moments.  But it's also a story about a grown-up English professor facing her childhood fears and getting to know the man whose monsters helped unleashed them.

This was a pretty good book.  It is brand new and I was excited to see what Stephen King shared with the author during the year she spent with him.  I didn't know he had basically a locked vault on his property that contains all of his manuscripts, notes, etc.  How cool would it be to see that, and then get to talk to him about it?  I am a Stephen King superfan - made it my mission to read all of his books - and this would be one of the best things to get to see inside his mind as he fought to a finished product.  This book had excerpts of those trials, and also interviews that the author had with Stephen King about his process and why he wrote certain characters the way he did.  Good insight.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Meg

 Book: The Meg

Author: Steve Alten

Pages: 288

This is my 124th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On a top-secret dive into the Pacific Ocean's deepest canyon, Jonas Taylor found himself face to face with the largest and most ferocious predator in the history of the animal kingdom.  The sole survivor of the mission, Taylor is haunted by what he's sure he saw but still can't prove exists - Carcharodon megalodon, the massive mother of the great white shark.  The average prehistoric Meg weighs in at twenty tons and could tear apart a Tyrannosaurus rex in seconds.  Written off as a crackpot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Taylor refuses to forget the depths that nearly cost him his life.  With a PhD in paleontology under his belt, Taylor spends years theorizing, lectuing, and writing about the possibility that Meg still feeds at the deepest levels of the sea.  But it takes an old friend in need to get him to return to the water, and a hotshot female submarine pilot to dare him back into a high tech minature sub.  Diving deeper than he ever has before, Taylor will face terror like he's never imagined, and what he finds could turn the tides bloody red until the end of time.

This was an interesting novel.  Characters were pretty good, and I liked the flow of the story.  There were some pretty scary parts - trying to imagine a fish this size.  A lot of Jaws vibes.  Glad I listened to this one.

Stars: 4

Book: Daisy Miller

 Book: Daisy Miller

Author: Henry James

Pages: 102

This is my 123rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

This is a classic novella about a young America girl's journey of self-discovery during her travels in Europe.  The story follows Daisy, a vibrant and free-spirited American girl, as she falls in love with a young Italian man and navigates the expectations of American and European societies.  As she straddles the line between the 2 cultures, Daisy must decide what she truly desires, and whether she will choose freedom or convention.

Weird book.  Read strictly for the Rory Gilmore Challenge.

Stars: 3

Book: The Christie Affair

 Book: The Christie AFfair

Author: Nina De Gramont

Pages: 400

This is my 122nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for 11 days?  What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage?  How deeply can a person crave revenge?  In 1925, Miss Nan O'Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husabnd, Archie.  In every way, he became a part of their life - first, both Christies.  Then, just Archie.  Soon, Nan became Archie's mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him.  Nan's plot didn't begin the day she met Archie and Agatha.  It begane decades before, in Ireland, when Nan was a young girl.  She and the man she loved were a star-crossed couple who were destined to be togehter - until the Great War, a pandemic, and shameful secrets tore them apart.  Then acts of unspeakable cruelty kept them separated.  What drives someone to murder?  What will someone do in the name of love?  What kind of crime can someone never forgive?

This was a pretty good book.  I liked being able to look up Agatha Christie, Archie Christie and Nan's actual lives to see where she stuck to the truth and where the author took liberties.  This book was told from Nan's perspective, and I could find very little about her online.  Archibald's Wikipedia page is 2 lines long and no where it mentioned that he was married to anyone except Agatha.  However he was married to Nan and they had a kid and they stayed married until she died in the 1950s.  Anyway - there were some other parts of the book where she veered from the truth, but I won't go into them since it would give away the plot of this book too much.  The characters are well developed and you end up liking just about everyone.  It had a good ending and I am glad it lead me to looking more into the lives of these people.

Stars: 4