2023 Reading

2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
Allison has completed her goal of reading 100 books in 2023!
hide
 



*************************************************
Title: Winter Solstice
Author: Rosamund Pilcher
Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins / 698  pp
Published: August 2000
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/2
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My final holiday read of the season, it's such a lovely book.  It took me a while to read because I savored every word, every moment.  The characters span decades--from teen to octogenarian and I felt a kinship with each of them.

From the publisher:
Elfrida Phipps, once of London's stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village life -- shopkeepers knowing her tastes, neighbors calling her by name -- still she finds herself lonely.

Oscar Blundell gave up his life as a musician in order to marry Gloria. They have a beautiful daughter, Francesca, and it is only because of their little girl that Oscar views his sacrificed career as worthwhile.

Carrie returns from Australia at the end of an ill-fated affair with a married man to find her mother and aunt sharing a home and squabbling endlessly. With Christmas approaching, Carrie agrees to look after her aunt's awkward and quiet teenage daughter, Lucy, so that her mother might enjoy a romantic fling in America.

Sam Howard is trying to pull his life back together after his wife has left him for another. He is without home and without roots, all he has is his job. Business takes him to northern Scotland, where he falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and set his sights on a house.

It is the strange rippling effects of a tragedy that will bring these five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan.

It is in this house, on the shortest day of the year, that the lives of five people will come together and be forever changed. Rosamunde Pilcher's long-awaited return to the page will warm the hearts of readers both old and new. Winter Solstice is a novel of love, loyalty and rebirth.

*************************************************
Title: Killers of a Certain Age
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins / 365  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/5
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If you like a mystery-thriller with a side of humor, this would be the book for you.  The four main characters are "of a certain age" which I definitely relate to.  How society underestimates us is one of the themes of the book.  I enjoyed the shifting narrative that explains the characters' backstories and their firm commitment to being assassins to folks who deserve it.

It's like the Golden Girls meets James Bond.  And I'm for it!

From the publisher:
Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that's their secret weapon.

They've spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can't just retire - it's kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman--and a killer--of a certain age.


*************************************************
Title: Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard
Author: Tom Felton
Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins / 288  pp
Published: October 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/10
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this memoir--a glimpse of the Harry Potter world.  Tom Felton had an interesting rise to fame and a rough adjustment to muggle life.  I hope his career is long.

From the publisher:
They called for a break, and Gambon magicked up a cigarette from out of his beard. He and I were often to be found outside the stage door, having 'a breath of fresh air', as we referred to it. There would be painters and plasterers and chippies and sparks, and among them all would be me and Dumbledore having a crafty cigarette.

From Borrower to wizard, Tom Felton's adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame saw him catapulted into the limelight aged just twelve when he landed the iconic role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

Speaking with candour and his own trademark humour, Tom shares his experience of growing up on screen and as part of the wizarding world for the very first time. He tells all about his big break, what filming was really like and the lasting friendships he made during ten years as part of the franchise, as well as the highs and lows of fame and the reality of navigating adult life after filming finished.

Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.


*************************************************
Title: Spare
Author: Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex
Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins / 410  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/15
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I freely admit I have a major soft spot for Prince Harry; which is precisely why I was so excited to get this memoir.  He explains how the loss of his mother has cast a shadow across his life and I can totally relate.  This is NOT a woe-is-me story.  He doesn't sugarcoat any of his missteps but he explores his learning from them and his journey for growth.  I didn't realize the nature of his military service.

From the publisher:
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.


*************************************************
Title: Finding Dorothy
Author: Elizabeth Letts
Length13 hrs and 58 mins / 351  pp
Published: February 2019
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 1/21
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This was a sweet book about the making of the movie The Wizard of Oz.  The shifting narrative perspective tells the story of Maud Baum's childhood and subsequent marriage to Frank Baum.

From the publisher:
A richly imagined novel that tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud--from the family's hardscrabble days in South Dakota to the Hollywood film set where she first meets Judy Garland.

Maud Gage Baum, widow of the author of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, met Judy Garland, the young actress playing the role of Dorothy on the set of The Wizard of Oz in 1939. At the time, Maud was seventy-eight and Judy was sixteen. In spite of their age difference, Maud immediately connected to Judy--especially when Maud heard her sing "Over the Rainbow," a song whose yearning brought to mind the tough years in South Dakota when Maud and her husband struggled to make a living--until Frank Baum's book became a national sensation.

This wonderfully evocative two-stranded story recreates Maud's youth as the rebellious daughter of a leading suffragette, and the prairie years of Maud and Frank's early days when they lived among the people--especially young Dorothy--who would inspire Frank's masterpiece. Woven into this past story is one set in 1939, describing the high-pressured days on The Wizard of Oz film set where Judy is being badgered by the director, producer, and her ambitious stage mother to lose weight, bind her breasts, and laugh, cry, and act terrified on command. As Maud had promised to protect the original Dorothy back in Aberdeen, she now takes on the job of protecting young Judy.



*************************************************
Title: Lucy By The Sea
Author: Elizabeth Strout
Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins / 291  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/25
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The style of this book is like a conversation.  As if Lucy is letting us in on her anxieties as she navigates the pandemic.  All of the disruptions and uncertainties that went along with the beginning of the Covid years are captured in this novel.  Yet it wasn't overwhelming to read and re-experience.  I love this author!

From the publisher:
A poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown--and the love, loss, despair, and hope that animate us even as the world seems to be falling apart.

With her trademark spare, crystalline prose, Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.

As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it's just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.

Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we're apart--the pain of a beloved daughter's suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.


*************************************************
Title: The Heron's Cry
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 10 hrs and 1 min382  pp
Published: September 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/25
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the second installment of the Matthew Venn "Two Rivers" series.  And it is as layered and complex as the first.  It's a police procedural filled with artists and misfits who muddy the waters for Venn and his team of investigators.  I particularly liked that DS Jen Rafferty has a leading role as we get to know her working style and glimpses of her personal life.  DC Ross May is still slyly trying to ingratiate himself with Venn, and these characters' clashing dynamic is interesting.  I hope the wait isn't long for the third installment.

From the publisher:
North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found--killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.

DI Matthew Venn returns in The Heron's Cry, in Ann Cleeves powerful next novel, proving once again that she is a master of her craft.



*************************************************
Title: Not Like The Movies
Author: Kerry Winfrey
Length8 hrs and 36 mins / 320  pp
Published: July 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 1/27
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I love romcoms (or romedies).  But the main character, Chloe Sanderson has so many challenges in her life that it was kind of bleak.  I got tired just reading about all the ways she cares for those around her and how she doesn't trust anyone to help her with those burdens.  This is too bad because quirky Chloe is really quite charming and I liked her.  But the contradictions got in my way.

From the publisher:
What happens when your life is a rom-com...but you don't even believe in true love?

Chloe Sanderson is an optimist, and not because her life is easy. As the sole caregiver for her father, who has early onset Alzheimer's, she's pretty much responsible for everything. She has no time—or interest—in getting swept up in some dazzling romance. Not like her best friend Annie, who literally wrote a rom-com that's about to premiere in theaters across America...and happens to be inspired by Chloe and Nick Velez, Chloe's cute but no-nonsense boss.

As the buzz for the movie grows, Chloe reads one too many listicles about why Nick is the perfect man, and now she can't see him as anything but Reason #2: The Scruffy-Bearded Hunk Who's Always There When You Need Him. But unlike the romance Annie has written for them, Chloe isn't so sure her own story will end in a Happily Ever After.


*************************************************
Title: We Begin At The End
Author: Chris Whitaker
Length10 hrs and 30 mins / 384  pp
Published: March 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/1
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This book will stick with me for a while.  I kept thinking about Duchess Day Radley as I looked around my classroom.  You never know what happens in the student's homes and what life is truly like.  There is so much heartbreak and loss in this story.  And I've seen it tagged as a crime novel but I would say the crime is secondary to the character study.

From the publisher:
Right. Wrong. Life is lived somewhere in between.

Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. At school the other kids make fun of her—her clothes are torn, her hair a mess. But let them throw their sticks, because she’ll throw stones. Duchess might be a badass, but she’s really just trying to survive. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin. She is the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He’s the chief of police, trying to keep Cape Haven, with its beautiful bluffs overlooking the sea, not only safe, but safe from becoming a cookie-cutter tourist destination for the rich. But he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he’s in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother as their mother slides deeper into self-destruction.

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. As soon as he steps one foot back into his childhood town, trouble arrives. It shows up on Walk’s and Duchess’s doorsteps, and they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.

Duchess and Walk—and everyone they love and whose hearts they break, who deserve so much more than life serves them—will sear your heart in this extraordinary novel.


*************************************************
Title: The Moth Catcher
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 6 min / 400  pp
Published: September 2015
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/12
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Vera Stanhope is a compelling, complex character.  I love reading this series because her process is fascinating.  The detectives on her team are equally interesting.  I was quite close to solving this one!

From the publisher:
This case was different from anything Vera had ever worked before. Two bodies, connected but not lying together. And nothing made her feel as alive as murder.

Life seems perfect in Valley Farm, a quiet community in Northumberland. Then a shocking discovery shatters the silence. The owners of a big country house have employed a house-sitter, a young ecologist named Patrick, to look after the place while they're away. But Patrick is found dead by the side of the lane into the valley - a beautiful, lonely place to die.

DI Vera Stanhope arrives on the scene, with her detectives Holly and Joe. When they look round the attic of the big house - where Patrick has a flat - she finds the body of a second man. All the two victims have in common is a fascination with moths - catching these beautiful, rare creatures.

The three couples who live in the Valley Farm development have secrets too: Annie and Sam's daughter is due to be released from prison any day; Nigel watches, silently, every day, from his window. As Vera is drawn into the claustrophobic world of this increasingly strange community, she realizes that there may be deadly secrets trapped here . . .



*************************************************
Title: Dear Henry, Love Edith
Author: Becca Kinzer
Length8 hrs and 12 mins / 373  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/14
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This sweet rom-com has a very funny meet-cute: a case of mistaken identities leads Edith to temporarily live in Henry's home but their schedules don't align so they meet through notes.  Their old-sounding names lend more to the mix-up.  Ultimately, it's a book about second chances.

From the publisher:
He thinks she’s an elderly widow. She’s convinced he’s a grumpy old man. Neither could be further from the truth.

After a short and difficult marriage, recently widowed Edith Sherman has learned her lesson. Forget love. Forget marriage. She plans to fill her thirties with adventure. As she awaits the final paperwork for a humanitarian trip to South Africa, she accepts a short-term nursing position in a small Midwestern town. 

The last thing she needs is a handsome local catching her eye. How inconvenient is that?
Henry Hobbes isn’t exactly thrilled to have Edith, who he assumes is an elderly widow, dumped on him as a houseguest for the summer. But he’d do almost anything for his niece, who is practically like a sister to him given how close they are in age. Especially since Edith will be working nights and Henry works most days. When he and Edith keep missing each other in person, they begin exchanging notes―short messages at first, then longer letters, sharing increasingly personal parts of their lives.

By the time Henry realizes his mistake―that Edith is actually the brown-eyed beauty he keeps bumping into around town―their hearts are so intertwined he hopes they never unravel. But with her departure date rapidly approaching, and Henry’s roots firmly planted at home, Edith must ultimately decide if the adventure of her dreams is the one right in front of her.


*************************************************
Title: The Bullet That Missed
Author: Richard Osman
Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins / 368  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/20
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is the third installment in the series.  The septuagenarian crew is up to its shenanigans and the addition of the large cast of secondary characters keeps the suspense up.  I liked how each character's skills were highlighted and the friendships and relationships were enhanced.

From the publisher:
It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal.

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the gang are hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart.

To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit, presenting her with a deadly mission: kill or be killed...

While Elizabeth grapples with her conscience (and a gun), the gang and their unlikely new friends (including TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels) unravel a new mystery. But can they catch the culprit and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?


*************************************************
Title: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt
Author: Anonymous
Length5 hrs and 30 mins / 240  pp
Published: July 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/24
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This is a fascinating story of creating an online community.  I completely fell in love with this book--by trying to find some joy during struggles the author brings joy to countless others. The creation story of Duchess Goldblatt reminded me of many conversations I've had. And fangirling over Lyle Lovett is just too great!  The audio narration is well-done!

From the publisher:
Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living.

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media. Fans around the world are drawn to Her Grace's voice, her wit, her life-affirming love for all humanity, and the fun and friendship of the community that's sprung up around her.

@DuchessGoldblat (81-year-old literary icon, author of An Axe to Grind) brought people together in her name: in bookstores, museums, concerts, and coffee shops, and along the way, brought real friends home—foremost among them, Lyle Lovett.

"The only way to be reliably sure that the hero gets the girl at the end of the story is to be both the hero and the girl yourself." (Duchess Goldblatt)


*************************************************
Title: We Are The Brennans
Author: Tracey Lange
Length10 hrs and 30 mins / 288  pp
Published: August 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/25
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Secrets and the lengths we go to keep them.  Guilt, shame, loyalty, and choices.  And family.  Always family.  Some of the decisions the characters made left me wanting to throttle them.  The audio was quite good.

From the publisher:
When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all―and her high school sweetheart―five years before with little explanation, and they’ve got questions.
Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets―secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes―and ultimately find a way forward, together.
*************************************************
Title: The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Length12 hrs and 56 mins / 377  pp
Published: September 2020
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 2/26
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Re-reading this for my March library book group selection.  It's a great introduction to the series--each character adds something particular to the club.  I think we'll have lots to talk about.

From the publisher:
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB


In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?






*************************************************
Title: The Guncle
Author: Stephen Rowley
Length11 hrs and 23 mins / 326  pp
Published: May 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 2/28
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was expecting a frothy, fun, romp of a story.  What I got was so much more!  What a heartfelt story and an exploration of grief, sadness, and loss.  I laughed and I cried.  The Guncle Rules were random and hilarious--and reminded me of my classroom rules. I loved the references to musical icons from Auntie Mame to Maria von Trapp.  It's ultimately a celebration of life.

From the publisher:
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is honestly a bit out of his league.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting—even if temporary—isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.





*************************************************
Title: The Woman In The Library
Author: Sulari Gentill
Length8 hrs and 58 mins / 265  pp
Published: June 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/6
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I'll try not to spoil this head-scratcher of a thriller.  It's a story within a story with some unreliable narration tossed in to spice things up.  The premise is appealing:  four strangers are seated in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library when a woman screams--joining the four strangers together.  In the mystery component of the thriller, I figured out whodunit early on. 

The book asks exciting questions of the reader:  what is the relationship between writer and reader? What is the relationship between writer and muse?  The story within the story was written during the pandemic, yet there is no reference to the pandemic--which becomes a plot point.

The ending was weird.

From the publisher:
In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.



*************************************************
Title: The Seagull
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 16 min / 416  pp
Published: August 2017
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/10
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Another great Vera Stanhope mystery.  The web of connections kept me guessing.  And I love the detectives on Vera's team--the development of Charlie and Holly as characters add to the cast.

From the publisher:
A visit to a local prison brings Inspector DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy—former detective superintendent, now inmate, John Brace. Convicted of corruption and involved in a suspicious death, it seems that Brace has mellowed in prison. Notorious wheeler and dealer Robbie Marshall has been presumed missing, but Brace knows he's dead and points Vera in the direction of his grave.

The grave site is a shocking surprise, and the cold case takes Vera back in time—and close to home. Brace, Marshall, and a mysterious stranger known only as 'the Prof', were all close friends of her father, Hector. Hector was one of the last people to see Marshall alive before he disappeared in the mid-eighties from the faded seaside town of Whitley Bay, a wild, sleazy place. The one sophisticated establishment in the town at the time was The Seagull. Everyone involved in the case seems to be connected through the bar, including Brace's lover, the exotic waitress Mary-Frances Escuola who disappeared at the same time Marshall was killed.

To dig up the truth, Vera must overcome her prejudices and confront unwanted memories. Vera's vulnerability and her strength are on full display as she lends support to John Brace's motherless daughter, and comes to terms with the lack of a mother figure in her own life.


*************************************************
Title: The Measure
Author: Nikki Erlick
Length10 hrs and 57 mins / 368  pp
Published: June 2022
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 3/11
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Let me start by saying that speculative fiction is not my favorite genre.  This is a fascinating premise.  I would have liked it if there had been fewer narrators.  Because the way the stories overlap and weave together was a bit too cliche for my liking.  None of the characters felt fleshed out or relatable, which kept me from connecting with the overall story.  I don't know... this just didn't do it for me.

From the publisher:
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn't have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is a sweeping, ambitious, and invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.


*************************************************
Title: Frozen
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: none / 26  pp
Published: August 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/13
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This novella was just right!

From the publisher:
For once, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is managing to have a good day off. Strolling around town, she ducks into a new bookshop in a renovated chapel. But just as she does, a skeleton is discovered in the old baptismal font. Soon, a decade old mystery is revived, and Vera must uncover secrets long buried before this case once again goes cold.


*************************************************
Title: Keep Me Posted
Author: Lisa Beazley
Length10 hrs and 9 mins / 320  pp
Published: April 2016
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/13
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars


Letters between sisters that wind up on the internet--I love the premise.  I liked how the sisters reconnected through the act of writing letters.  It actually reminds me of when my Virginia sister and her family were stationed in Aviano, Italy, and I would send care packages stuffed with mixed tapes and books that I thought she would like.  And long, rambling letters.

After a while, I got tired of Cassie complaining about being a stay-at-home mom to twin sons.  I get that her need to feel alive fueled much of her decision-making, but it got repetitive.  Although, I liked the idea of the apology tour taking her to Singapore.  

It wasn't high literature but this was a quick, enjoyable chick-lit exploration of sisterhood.

From the publisher:
Two sisters share the surprising highs and cringeworthy lows of social media fame, when their most private thoughts become incredibly public in this fresh and funny debut novel.

The once-close Sunday sisters have not done a bang-up job of keeping in touch. Cassie is consumed with trying to make her life work as a Manhattan wife and mom to twin toddlers, while her bighearted sister, Sid, lives an expat's life of leisure in far-off Singapore. So Sid, who shuns social media, challenges Cassie to reconnect through old-fashioned letters.

Soon, the letters become a kind of mutual confessional that have real and soul-satisfying effects. They just might have the power to help Cassie save her marriage, and give Sid the strength to get her life back on track.

But first, one of Cassie's infamous lapses in judgment comes back to bite her, and all of the letters wind up in the one place you'd never, ever want to see them: the Internet . . .


*************************************************
Title: The Darkest Evening
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 16 min / 384  pp
Published: September 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/17
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I could feel the cold of winter and imagine the darkness.  There's a claustrophobic feeling during a blizzard--and driving in a storm can be disorienting even on the most familiar roads.  This is the setting of this installment of the Vera Stanhope series.  I think I'm starting to understand Holly.

Vera is so compelling, I wonder if I would be friends with her.  We have a lot in common.  

I figured it out.

From the publisher:
On the first snowy night of winter, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sets off for her home in the hills. Though the road is familiar, she misses a turning and soon becomes lost and disorientated. A car has skidded off the narrow road in front of her, its door left open, and she stops to help. There is no driver to be seen, so Vera assumes that the owner has gone to find help. But a cry calls her back: a toddler is strapped in the back seat.

Vera takes the child and, driving on, she arrives at a place she knows well. Brockburn is a large, grand house in the wilds of Northumberland, now a little shabby and run down. It’s also where her father, Hector, grew up. Inside, there’s a party in full swing: music, Christmas lights and laughter. Outside, unbeknownst to the revelers, a woman lies dead in the snow.

As the blizzard traps the group deep in the freezing Northumberland countryside, Brockburn begins to give up its secrets, and as Vera digs deeper into her investigation, she also begins to uncover her family’s complicated past.


*************************************************
Title: An Assassin In Utopia
Author: Susan Wels
Length7 hrs and 12 mins / 272  pp
Published: February 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/18
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book pulled together the story of the Oneida Community and its connection to the assassination of President Garfield.  So many threads of the story to keep track of, but it weaves into a rather shocking crime.

From the publisher: 
This true crime odyssey explores a forgotten, astonishing chapter of American history, leading the reader from a free-love community in upstate New York to the shocking assassination of President James Garfield.

It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden.

Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.

From 1848 to 1881, a small utopian colony in upstate New York—the Oneida Community—was known for its shocking sexual practices, from open marriage and free love to the sexual training of young boys by older women. And in 1881, a one-time member of the Oneida Community—Charles Julius Guiteau—assassinated President James Garfield in a brutal crime that shook America to its core.

An Assassin in Utopia is the first book that weaves together these explosive stories in a tale of utopian experiments, political machinations, and murder. This deeply researched narrative—by bestselling author Susan Wels—tells the true, interlocking stories of the Oneida Community and its radical founder, John Humphrey Noyes; his idol, the eccentric newspaper publisher Horace Greeley (founder of the New Yorker and the New York Tribune); and the gloomy, indecisive President James Garfield—who was assassinated after his first six months in office.

Juxtaposed to their stories is the odd tale of Garfield’s assassin, the demented Charles Julius Guiteau, who was connected to all of them in extraordinary, surprising ways.

Against a vivid backdrop of ambition, hucksterism, epidemics, and spectacle, the book’s interwoven stories fuse together in the climactic murder of President Garfield in 1881—at the same time as the Oneida Community collapsed.


*************************************************
Title: The Perfect Mother
Author: Aimee Molloy
Length9 hrs and 29 mins / 317  pp
Published: May 2018
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/19
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I know this is a twisty thriller but my more significant takeaway from this novel is the experience of being a mother, particularly a first-time mother.  The shifting narration is clever and kept me guessing--and I sort of untangled the web of plotlines.  Although I couldn't name the culprit, which leads me to my complaint: there are too many underdeveloped characters.  I didn't get a sense of who was narrating and I couldn't keep them apart.

It was an un-put-downable read!

From the publisher:
They call themselves the May Mothers—a collection of new moms who gave birth in the same month. Twice a week, with strollers in tow, they get together in Prospect Park, seeking refuge from the isolation of new motherhood; sharing the fears, joys, and anxieties of their new child-centered lives.

When the group’s members agree to meet for drinks at a hip local bar, they have in mind a casual evening of fun, a brief break from their daily routine. But on this sultry Fourth of July night during the hottest summer in Brooklyn’s history, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is abducted from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but the May Mothers insisted that everything would be fine. Now Midas is missing, the police are asking disturbing questions, and Winnie’s very private life has become fodder for a ravenous media.

Though none of the other members in the group are close to the reserved Winnie, three of them will go to increasingly risky lengths to help her find her son. And as the police bungle the investigation and the media begin to scrutinize the mothers in the days that follow, damaging secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are formed and fractured.


*************************************************
Title: The Woman On The Island
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: none / 32  pp
Published: July 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/20
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Another snack of a novella in the Vera Stanhope series.  This is more of an origin story of Vera, and I'm glad to gain more insight into this compelling character.

From the publisher:
A rare day off from policing leads DCI Vera Stanhope across the tidal causeway to Holy Island, the lure of crab sandwiches there too hard to resist.

While on the island, she is reminded of the day decades before when, as a teenager, she went with her father Hector on another day trip. The day she watched him meet with a mystery woman on the beach...

Vera already knew then that Hector kept secrets, but this time the fledging investigator was determined to find the truth of why he was meeting the woman on the island, never realizing it would mean taking her first step onto a path to becoming a detective...

In this wonderful short story, Ann Cleeves shows us the origins of Vera as a detective, and showcases the setting for her forthcoming novel, The Rising Tide.




*************************************************
Title: Carrie Soto Is Back
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins / 369  pp
Published: August 2022
Book Group:  School
Finished: 3/22
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

In my youth, I played tennis--from lessons at the rec center to a spot on the youth tennis team.  I was no hotshot but I knew my way around the court.  I had a decent serve.  My whole family loved to watch Chrissy Evert or Jimmy Connors play.  Having basic tennis knowledge helped me get drawn deeper into this book.  Because it's a love story to tennis.  Most of the tension in the story comes from the tennis court.

Ultimately, it's a book about family:  Carrie and her coach father Javier develop a bond over tennis, however, Carrie's single-mindedness on winning prevents her from learning more about the love of people than the love of the game.  Javier is a devoted father and an incredible coach.    It's also a book about strong females.  Carrie behaves much as a male athlete would, unapologetically proud of how their hard work pays off instead of coyly saying a victory was luck.  Carrie is criticized for not smiling, which you never hear as a criticism of male athletes.  

From the publisher:
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed 20 Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach. Javier - a former champion himself - has trained her since the age of two.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 U.S. Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At 37-years-old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.




*************************************************
Title: The Rising Tide
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 28 min / 384  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/23
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is a brilliant book.  I would say this could be a stand-alone because the author does such a fantastic job of introducing the characters and fleshing them out. The mystery is tight and kept me guessing.  This is the story of life-long friends who struggle with guilt, trust, and secrets. Vera Stanhope--as I say after reading every book in the series--is a complex and compelling character.  She reflects on her own relationships: with her deceased father, with her neighbors, and with her team.

I was enthralled.  I couldn't put it down.  I was stunned by the ending.  And I cannot wait to read more.

From the publisher:
Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship, and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion.

Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . .

But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . .



*************************************************
Title: The One and Only Dolly Jamieson
Author: Lisa Ireland
Length13 hrs and 41 mins / 368  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/29
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If you enjoy "Where are they now" articles, this book is for you.  A rags to riches to rags to riches tale that spans decades, heartbreaks, and showbiz.  The dual narrative is the evolution of Margie Ferguson into stage star Dolly Jamieson and her life as a has-been.  In Dolly's current situation, she befriends Jane at the local library and Jane inspires Dolly to write her memoir.  The easy affection and fast friendship were totally believable to me because I've had situational friendships that have morphed into lifelong friends.  

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.  The audio narration is quite good!

From the publisher:
The One and Only Dolly Jamieson is a compelling feel-good novel featuring a proud and gutsy heroine with a truly unbreakable spirit.

Life is full of downs and ups . . .

Dolly Jamieson is not homeless, she's merely between permanent abodes. The 78-year-old spends her days keeping warm at the local library, where she enjoys sparring with the officious head librarian and helping herself to the free morning tea. It's not so bad, really.

But it's certainly a far cry from the 1960s, when this humble girl from Geelong became an international star of the stage. As the acclaimed lead in the Broadway production of The Rose of France, all Dolly's dreams had come true.

So how, in her old age, did she end up here?

When Jane Leveson, a well-to-do newcomer to the library, shows an interest in Dolly, the pair strike up an unlikely friendship - and soon Jane is offering to help Dolly write her memoirs.

Yet Dolly can detect a deep sadness in the younger woman's eyes. Perhaps by working together to recount the glittering highs, devastating lows and tragic secrets of Dolly's life, both women can finally face their pasts and start to heal . . .




*************************************************
Title: Signal Fires
Author: Dani Shapiro
Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins / 240  pp
Published: October 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 3/30
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

One of the things I liked most about this novel is the shifting timeline.  The narrative thread follows the characters through different portions of their lives and the reader sees the repercussions of their choices unfold in different scenarios.  I thought it was masterfully crafted in this book.  This is a story about secrets and family and the burden of shame.  And I want all my friends to read it so we can talk about it.

From the publisher:
An ancient majestic oak stands beneath the stars on Division Street. And under the tree sits Ben Wilf, a retired doctor, and ten-year-old Waldo Shenkman, a brilliant, lonely boy who is pointing out his favorite constellations. Waldo doesn’t realize it but he and Ben have met before. And they will again, and again. Across time and space, and shared destiny.

Division Street is full of secrets. An impulsive lie begets a secret—one which will forever haunt the Wilf family. And the Shenkmans, who move into the neighborhood many years later, bring secrets of their own.. Spanning fifty kaleidoscopic years, on a street—and in a galaxy—where stars collapse and stories collide, these two families become bound in ways they never could have imagined.

Urgent and compassionate, Signal Fires is a magical story for our times, a literary tour de force by a masterful storyteller at the height of her powers. A luminous meditation on family, memory, and the healing power of interconnectedness.



*************************************************
Title: Solo
Author: Jill Mansell
Length14 hrs and 26 mins / 480  pp
Published: January 1991
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/6
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I've read quite a few of Jill Mansell's books--this was my first audio.  The narrator was very good.  But I had a hard time keeping track of all of the characters.  I didn't feel as invested in the characters in this book, but I really think it's the format and not the story.  I'll go back to reading instead of listening.  Although, now that I'm gathering my thoughts--I didn't like the casual infidelities in the story.  Ross and Tessa were one plotline and another was Holly and Max.  Tessa and Holly are besties, and Ross and Max are brothers.  There are other secondary characters that were more interesting than these main characters.

From the publisher:
Good intentions go awry in this irresistible page-turner from international bestseller author Jill Mansell

Outspoken Tessa Duvall lives in a tiny, cozy cottage near Bath, struggling as an artist and feeling she doesn't really fit in with her posh friends. One fateful evening, she lets her best friend drag her to an elegant party, with every intention of sneaking out early. Then she encounters Ross Monahan, the high-profile hotel owner who, quite literally, charms the pants off Tessa.

She knows Ross and his wicked reputation may be nothing but a distraction, but soon, Tessa realizes that even a temporary fling can have permanent consequences... Could Ross actually be the best thing thats eve'r happened to her?

One fling follows another, and now the whole community is embroiled in a great big web of deceit, the untangling of which will charm you, amuse you, make you laugh and make you cry.



*************************************************
Title: Murder in an Irish Village
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins 334  pp
Published: February 2016
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/7
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I admit my biases:  I love cozy mysteries and I love all things Ireland.  So this series is right in my wheelhouse!  Having said that, I loved the setting--the village is small but not claustrophobic.  And I liked that the characters are immediately involved in the goings-on of the mystery.  There are very few unnecessary characters.  And there are a few twists that kept me guessing.  There's a sprinkling of Irish in the book, too, and a glossary at the beginning to help with the names.

From the publisher:
A little slice of Heaven on the Emerald Isle…
 
In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Natalie’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.
 
It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.
 
With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.


*************************************************
Title: Murder at an Irish Wedding
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length9 hrs and 54 mins / 334  pp
Published: February 2017
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/9
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This second installment was twisty!  It was challenging to keep all the characters straight as the clues and misleading events occurred.  I loved how Irish wedding traditions are throughout the story.  And I really love Siobhan O'Sullivan.

From the publisher:
The O'Sullivan clan of County Cork, Ireland, are thrilled to be catering the matrimonial affairs of a celebrity couple until a cunning killer turns an Irish wedding into an Irish wake . . .

"Any wedding is a big deal in the small village of Kilbane even more so when the bride is a famous fashion model. It s also good for business. Not only has customer traffic picked up at Naomi's Bistro, Siobhan O'Sullivan and her five siblings have a full plate catering for the three-day affair. And Siobhan's own beau, local garda Macdara Flannery, gladly steps in as best man after the groom's first choice makes a drunken arse out of himself.

Even if he hadn't been disinvited to the wedding, the original best man wouldn't have been able to show. He s been found murdered in the woods, casting a pall over the nuptials. And when a second member of the wedding party is poisoned by a champagne flute engraved with Macdara's name, the garda goes from being best man to prime suspect.

With a killer at large and a string of robberies plaguing Kilbane, Siobhan feels more than a little protective of her village. She vows to clear Macdara s name, but the suspect list is as long as the guest list. Like the bride walking down the aisle, Siobhan needs to watch her step. For as she gets closer to unveiling the truth, the murderer is planning a very chilly reception for her . . .



*************************************************
Title: The Family Game
Author: Catherine Steadman
Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins 336  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/11
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I'm so glad I come from a humble family because the Old Money folks in this book are something else!  The author was fantastic at the little details--I could almost feel the cashmere against my skin.  But the other facet of this Old Money bunch includes traditions and secrecy.  There were quite a few twists that I didn't see coming, which is always fun.  The pacing of the novel is strange--a slow build to an action-packed climax.

This would be a fun book to discuss--I need to get my friends to read it!

From the publisher:
THE RULES
1. Listen carefully
2. Do your research
3. Trust no one
4. Run for your life


Harriet Reed, a novelist on the brink of literary stardom, is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir of an extremely powerful family. And even though Edward has long tried to sever ties with them, news of the couple’s marital bliss has the Holbecks inching back into their lives.

As Harriet is drawn into their lavish world, the family seems perfectly welcoming. So when Edward’s father, Robert, hands Harriet a tape of a book he’s been working on, she is desperate to listen.

But as she presses play, it’s clear that this isn’t just a novel. It’s a confession.

A confession to a grisly crime. A murder. And, suddenly, the game is in motion.

Feeling isolated and confused, Harriet must work out if this is part of a plan to test her loyalty. Or something far darker. What is it that Robert sees in her? Why give her the power to destroy everything?

This might be a game to the Holbeck family—but losing might still prove deadly.


*************************************************
Title: Take My Hand
Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Length10 hrs and 57 mins / 359  pp
Published: April 2022
Book Group:  both
Finished: 4/15
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This novel is inspired by events that took place in the 1970s.  The author fictionalized the account to explore and question. It is a well-written, powerful, thought-provoking novel.  Book group will have a LOT to talk about.

From the publisher:
Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.

Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart.Until one day, she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten.That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.



*************************************************
Title: Someone Else's Shoes
Author: Jojo Moyes
Length12 hrs and 21 mins / 359  pp
Published: February 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/15
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is a story about an unlikely friendship.  The main characters come from different worlds, life stages, and backgrounds.  But how the innocent mix-up leads to this enduring and endearing friendship is quite a tale.

I really enjoyed this book.  There were elements of great sadness, dealing specifically with a marriage deteriorating because of mental health issues. There were elements of triumph, specifically of middle-aged women claiming their power.

The secondary characters are also excellent--in fact, I would like more of their stories! (Didja hear that Jojo Moyes!!!)

From the publisher:
A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from international sensation Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else's shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope—she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.



*************************************************
Title: Murder On Cape Cod
Author: Maddie Day
Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins 244  pp
Published: December 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/18
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

A cozy mystery about a cozy mystery book group.  What's not to like?  It was fun!  I liked Mac, the main character who's feisty and fearless.  And the secondary characters are great.  This is such a solid start to a series--I can't wait to read more.  There were a lot of possible perpetrators so the ending was satisfying.

From the publisher:
Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey. Mac can’t imagine anyone stabbing the down-on-his-luck handyman. However, the authorities seem to think Mac is a strong suspect after she was spotted arguing with Jake just hours before his death. Mac knows she didn’t do it, but she does recognize the weapon—her brother Derrick’s fishing knife.
 
Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. So to clear her name—and maybe her brother’s too—Mac will have to summon help from her Cozy Capers co-investigators and a library’s worth of detectives’ tips and tricks. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending…


*************************************************
Title: The Sunshine Sisters
Author: Jane Green
Length11 hrs and 58 mins / 448  pp
Published: June 2017
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/21
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book is just what I needed--unlikeable characters who grew on me.  The three Sunshine sisters couldn't be more different.  Each is shaped by their self-involved mother and that lack of parenting manifests differently in their personalities.  The narrative shifts focus through the different characters in pivotal moments from childhood to adulthood.  Called together by their mother, who intends to make amends as she faces a terminal illness, the estranged sisters gather at their childhood home.  The sisters revisit old hurts yet manage to create new bonds.  I really enjoyed it--the characters are well-developed.  And the author narrates it wonderfully!

From the publisher:
t was never easy, being one of Ronni Sunshine’s daughters. Publicly, she is the glamorous, successful, dramatic Hollywood actress. Privately, she is self-absorbed, angry, and a disinterested, narcissistic mother. Now in her seventies, Ronni has had strange symptoms for a while, but has refused to believe her she has ALS, a degenerative motor neuron disease. There is no cure.

Ronni’s three adult daughters – Nell, Meredith, and Lizzy – are largely estranged, both from her, and from each other. All are going through crises of their own. But Ronni is adamant that they must come home, and help her take her own life. As their mother’s illness draws them together to confront old jealousies and secret fears, they discover that blood might be thicker than water after all . . .


*************************************************
Title: A Proposal They Can't Refuse
Author: Natalie Caña
Length8 hrs and 29 mins / 336  pp
Published: May 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/22
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The premise drew me in--octogenarian bestie grandfathers meddling in the lives of their grandchildren.  Big, messy families.  A family restaurant.  Frenemies to lovers.  Yes, yes, and yes!  This was fun.  And, it's the first of a series.

From the editor:
Kamilah Vega is desperate to convince her family to update their Puerto Rican restaurant and enter it into the Fall Foodie Tour. With the gentrification of their Chicago neighborhood, it's the only way to save the place. The fly in her mofongo--her blackmailing abuelo says if she wants to change anything in his restaurant, she'll have to marry the one man she can't stand: his best friend's grandson.

Liam Kane spent a decade working to turn his family's distillery into a contender. Now he and his grandfather are on the verge of winning a national competition. Then Granda hits him with a one-two punch: he has cancer and he has his heart set on seeing Liam married before it's too late. And Granda knows just the girl...Kamilah Vega.

If they refuse, their grandfathers will sell the building that houses both their businesses. With their futures on the line, Kamilah and Liam plan to outfox the devious duo, faking an engagement until they both get what they want. But soon, they find themselves tangled up in more than either of them bargained for.


*************************************************
Title: The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Author: Eva Jurczyk
Length9 hrs and 40 mins / 336  pp
Published: January 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 4/25
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

This is an intricate tale.  A slow burn of a mystery. Liesl is a flawed protagonist.  I haven't decided if I like her.  Or the book.  It's a mystery set in a library's collection of rare books and special collections but it was too clunky, slow, and dark.  I didn't have fun reading it.  In fact, the morally ambiguous characters were not relatable.  What I did like is Liesl's attempt to step out of the shadows cast by the men in her profession.  Ultimately, it's a tale about obsession and possession.

From the publisher:
What holds more secrets in the library: the ancient books shelved in the stacks or the people who preserve them?

Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing.

Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues' pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who preserve and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.




*************************************************
Title: The Favorite Sister
Author: Jessica Knoll
Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins 375  pp
Published: May 2018
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/2
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I love trashy reality TV!  So the premise of this thriller is spot on.  I didn't like that none of the characters had redeeming qualities and I wasn't invested in the "mystery" part of the thriller.  I also didn't like the frenetic jumping around of the timeline and narrative threads.  Usually, I don't mind alternating points of view but this time it didn't work.

I did like the reality TV part of it.  The show's premise is to uplift entrepreneurial women, yet the producers pit them against each other. 

From the publisher:
When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, the producers never expect the season will end in murder…

Brett’s the fan favorite. Tattooed and only twenty-seven, the meteoric success of her spin studio—and her recent engagement to her girlfriend—has made her the object of jealousy and vitriol from her cast mates.

Kelly, Brett’s older sister and business partner, is the most recent recruit, dismissed as a hanger-on by veteran cast. The golden child growing up, she defers to Brett now—a role which requires her to protect their shocking secret.

Stephanie, the first black cast member and the oldest, is a successful bestselling author of erotic novels. There have long been whispers about her hot, non-working actor-husband and his wandering eye, but this season the focus is on the rift that has opened between her and Brett, former best friends—and resentment soon breeds contempt.

Lauren, the start-up world’s darling whose drinking has gotten out of control, is Goal Diggers’ recovery narrative—everyone loves a comeback story.

And Jen, made rich and famous through her cultishly popular vegan food line plays a holistic hippie for the cameras, but is perhaps the most ruthless of them all when the cameras are off.


*************************************************
Title: The Bookseller: The First Hugo Marston Novel
Author: Mark Pryor
Length10 hrs and 5 mins / 448  pp
Published: January 2012
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/2
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the first installment of the Hugo Marston series.  Set in Paris and featuring the bouquinistes, or booksellers of rare and used books, it's a mystery about book lovers.  Familiarity with Paris made the book enjoyable and relatable.  I am a fan of Hugo Marston!  I can't wait to read more.

From the publisher:
Max, an elderly Paris bookstall owner, is abducted at gunpoint. His friend Hugo Marston, head of security at the U.S. embassy, looks on helplessly, powerless to do anything to stop the kidnapper. Marston launches a search, enlisting the help of semiretired CIA agent Tom Green. Their investigation reveals that Max was a Holocaust survivor and later became a Nazi hunter. Is his disappearance somehow tied to his grim history, or even to the mysterious old books he sold? On the streets of Paris, tensions are rising as rival drug gangs engage in violent turf wars. Before long, other booksellers start to disappear, their bodies found floating in the Seine. Though the police are not interested in his opinion, Marston is convinced the hostilities have something to do with the murders of these bouquinistes. Then he himself becomes a target of the unknown assassins. With Tom by his side, Marston finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together, connecting the past with the present and leading the two men, quite literally, to the enemy's lair. Just as the killer intended.



*************************************************
Title: Ms. Demeanor
Author: Elinor Lipman
Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins 352  pp
Published: December 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/4
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I liked a lot about this book--its premise is amusing and the characters are funny and smart.  It's definitely not high literature but it's a fun and sassy read. Jane Morgan is an up-and-coming lawyer who suddenly finds herself in home confinement for six months. Her identical twin sister, Jackleen, is overbearing but loveable and tries to help Jane fill her days, spurring Jane to dabble in TikTok cooking fame.  The plot zings along with some rather outrageous turns, but it's good fun and well-written.

From the publisher:
Jane Morgan is a prominent and accomplished lawyer—that is she was, until her nosey neighbor got involved. After being spotted in the throes of some midnight passion on her Midtown building’s rooftop, Jane loses everything: her career, her social life, and the freedom to leave her apartment. To make matters worse, the elderly neighbor who reported her and who she has come to loathe winds up dead from an apparent poisoning—and in a last act of vengeance leaves behind a note implicating Jane as suspect number one.

With the help of her twin sister, Jackleen, a reticent felon named Perry, and a budding TikTok career, Jane just may be able to clear her name, restart her career, and find love—if she can ever leave the house again!



*************************************************
Title: Romantic Comedy
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins 300  pp
Published: April 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/6
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is not a typical romance novel.  It explores the romance of romance, the romance of loving yourself, and the romance of being loved.  Set in the world of television sketch comedy (the world of Saturday Night Live) it's a skewering look at sexism in the workplace.  And the insecurity that comes with celebrity.

I really liked the protagonist Sally.  She's feisty yet vulnerable. And the object of her affection Noah is nuanced.  There are a lot of tropes in this story, but they work.  My favorite part was the epistolary section, part 2.

From the publisher:
A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamily handsome pop star flips the script on all her assumptions. Romantic Comedy is a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from New York Times–bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld.

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.


*************************************************
Title: Murder in an Irish Churchyard
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length9 hrs and 57 mins / 304  pp
Published: February 2018
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/9
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is such a quirky, fun series. I missed all of Siobhan's siblings having featuring roles, though.  They were minor characters.  And usually, the community is a bigger part.  But, regardless of what was missing this time, the chemistry between Siobhan and Macdara is there and they play off each other beautifully.

From the publisher:
The village of Kilbane in County Cork, Ireland, has a new garda--and her first case is a grave matter indeed . . . It's official! Siobhán is now Garda O'Sullivan, and her five siblings couldn't be prouder. While brother James runs Naomi's Bistro, Siobhán is doing her part to keep the village safe. Of course, Kilbane is pretty quiet compared to a place like Dublin, where Macdara Flannery has gone to be a detective sergeant. Then one night the local priest summons Siobhán to the church cemetery. There's a dead man in the graveyard--aboveground. He lies shot on a blanket of freshly fallen snow, hand stretched out toward a nearby headstone. He's a stranger, but the priest has heard talk of an American tourist in town, searching for his Irish ancestor. A detective sergeant is dispatched from Dublin to assist with the case, and as fate would have it, it's Macdara. After his parting, things are awkward between them, but they have to work together. They learn the victim was from Dublin--Dublin, Ohio, that is. And when his family members are located and told of his murder, the plot thickens. Siobhán begins to dig for a motive among the gnarled roots of the family tree. But as long-buried secrets are unearthed, she and Macdara will need to stay two steps ahead of the killer or end up with more than one foot in the grave.


*************************************************
Title: Florence Adler Swims Forever
Author: Rachel Beanland
Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins 319  pp
Published: July 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/13
My Rating: 1 out of 5 stars


Upon reflection, would not recommend this book.  Although it's a fictional account of actual events and people, there wasn't a single character that I liked.  I didn't root for them and I didn't connect with them.  I almost put the book down as a DNF (did not finish) but I was traveling and figured I'd just stick it out.

I realize it's set in the 1930s and society was very, very different.  I just didn't connect with the premise or appreciate the motivation of the characters.







*************************************************
Title: Ask Again, Yes
Author: Mary Beth Keane
Length12 hrs and 42 mins / 390  pp
Published: May 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/16
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This character-driven novel explores the power of forgiveness and the power of marriage and the power of mental health.  The narrative shifted perspectives and glimpses of how events changed the different narrators.  The Gleeson and Stanhope families are loosely tied by work, then more closely tied by location, and even more tightly tied by an act of violence--shaking both families.  

My complaint about the book is that it is slow.  It's beautifully written and the ending is powerful and moving.

From the publisher:
A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next 40 years. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while haunted by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.



*************************************************
Title: Then She Found Me
Author: Elinor Lipman
Length8 hrs and 58 mins / 307  pp
Published: April 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/20
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The two main characters couldn't be more different--April Epner and Bernice Graverman--are compelling characters.  There's a lot of dialog, which made me think it's written to be a script.

From the publisher:
April Epner teaches high school Latin, wears flannel jumpers, and is used to having her evenings free. Bernice Graverman brandishes designer labels, favors toad-sized earrings, and hosts her own tacky TV talk Bernice G!

But behind the glitz and glam, Bernice has followed the life of the daughter she gave up for adoption thirty-six years ago. Now that she's got her act together, she's aiming to be a mom like she always knew she could. And she's hurtling straight for April's quiet little life....



*************************************************
Title: Trespasses
Author: Louise Kennedy
Length8 hrs and 59 mins / 304  pp
Published: April 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/22
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

What a beautifully written debut novel about Northern Ireland's Troubles.  What if a different choice was made? Each decision leads to a consequence--and each consequence teeters on life or death.  The reality of life in Belfast is jarring in its brutality and harshness and yet there are moments of humanity and love.  In a Biblical context, the word "trespass" has been translated to mean missing the mark, falling short, or sin, iniquity, or transgression.  This kept running through the back of my mind...

From the publisher:
Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and a dangerous passion.

Amid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast. By day she teaches at a parochial school; at night she fills in at her family's pub. There she meets Michael Agnew, a barrister who's made a name for himself defending IRA members. Against her better judgment - Michael is not only Protestant but older, and married - Cushla lets herself get drawn in by him and his sophisticated world, and an affair ignites. Then the father of a student is savagely beaten, setting in motion a chain reaction that will threaten everything, and everyone, Cushla most wants to protect.

As tender as it is unflinching, Trespasses is a heart-pounding, heart-rending drama of thwarted love and irreconcilable loyalties, in a place what you come from seems to count more than what you do, or whom you cherish.



*************************************************
Title: Murder in an Irish Pub
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length9 hrs and 33 mins / 336  pp
Published: February 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/25
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This fourth installment of the series is a locked-room mystery that doesn't disappoint!  Red herrings, ne're-do-wells, and other exciting characters keep the action moving.  Siobhan and Macdara's relationship is loving and fun--and they unravel the mystery together.  My only complaint is that Siobhan's siblings need to be featured more.  

From the publisher:
When competing card sharps stir up Siobhán O'Sullivan's quiet Irish village, a poker tournament turns into a game of Hangman . . .

Naomi's Bistro, managed by the many siblings of the lively O'Sullivan brood, is the place to go for a cuppa tea in Kilbane. For a pint or a game of darts, it's the pub you want. But when Dublin card sharp Eamon Foley is found swinging from the rafters of Rory Mack's pub, it's time for the garda to take matters into their own hands. Macdara Flannery would lay odds it's a simple suicide, but Siobhán suspects foul play. With conflicting theories abounding, tensions are running high between Siobhán and Macdara. Soon it's up to Siobhán to call a killer's bluff, but if she doesn't play her cards right, she may be the next one taken out of the game . . .


*************************************************
Title: Finlay Donovan Jumps The Gun
Author: Elle Cosimano
Length: 8 hrs and 38 min / 304  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/26
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This third installment of the series is quite a crazy caper.  Lots of action and humor.  

From the publisher:
Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she's a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they had "borrowed" in the process of saving the life of Finlay's ex-husband, the Russian mob did her a favor and bought the car for her. And now Finlay owes them.

Mob boss Feliks is still running the show from behind bars, and he has a task for Finlay: find and identify a contract killer before the cops do. The problem is, the killer might be an officer themself.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has just been tasked with starting up a citizen's police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay's looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with a tempting detective), Finlay and Vero use their time in police academy to sleuth out the real contract killer to free themselves from the mob's clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero's past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.



*************************************************
Title: A House Full Of Windsor
Author: Kristin Contino
Length8 hrs and 58 mins / 292  pp
Published: July 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/28
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Although this book has a rather light-hearted feel, it handles the psychology behind hoarding and how the secret and shame ripple through a family.  Told in the dual narrative of Sarah and her mother, Debbie, the timeline shifts from 1980 London to present-day Philadelphia.  The main characters are flawed but believable.  Secondary characters--well, not quite as likable.

From the publisher:
Spanning from 1980s London and the royal wedding of a century to a present-day reality TV show, A HOUSE FULL OF WINDSOR explores how one woman's messy past shapes her family's future.

Sarah Percy's career depends on New Yorkers taking her household advice as gospel. "Sarah Says" used to be the most popular segment on the city's top morning show, but ratings are down and it looks like Sarah might not have a tip for everything, after all... especially when her mother gets involved.

Debbie Windsor, Sarah's mother, is a shopaholic and compulsive hoarder, a secret Sarah has worked tirelessly to hide her entire life. Debbie was always fascinated by royalty, but when her real-life love story started to parallel Princess Diana's, she turned to collecting royal souvenirs to fill the void. Leaving her husband's native England and relocating the family to her hometown in Pennsylvania doesn't help the situation, and two decades later the house is a royal mess. Debbie's safety is on the line, but she brushes off any attempts her family makes to help.

When Sarah's brother gets a job on Stuff, a TV show about compulsive hoarding, he nominates their mother for an episode and promises his famous sister's participation. Backed into a corner, Sarah and Debbie agree, but everyone has something at stake whether the episode does or doesn't go off without a hitch. With both family and romantic relationships on the line--including the connection between Sarah and the show's sexy host, and Debbie's budding romance with a local shopkeeper --long-buried secrets and resentment must come to the surface for the family to move on.


*************************************************
Title: River of Teeth
Author: Sarah Gailey
Length4 hrs and 1 min / 178  pp
Published: May 2017
Book Group:  no
Finished: 5/29
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Knowing it's out of my usual genre, a friend recommended this to me, I'm so glad I read it.  What a mind-boggling alternate reality.  It is atmospheric and richly described.  The characters are flawed ne're do wells but are lovable. Like any Western, there's plenty of action and violence.  This is the first book I've read with a non-binary main character, in fact, most of the characters shatter gender norms.

From the publisher:
In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true.

Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.

This was a terrible plan.

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.



*************************************************
Title: I Have Some Questions For You
Author: Rebecca Makkai
Length: 14 hrs and 4 min / 448  pp
Published: February 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 6/4
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I don't know what genre this book is--it's listed as a mystery, thriller, literary fiction, and a few other categories but it isn't any of those.  It's a very long book.  It didn't need to be that long.  

The main character is at a crossroads in her life.  She has the opportunity to do some guest teaching of mini-courses at the private school she attended and as she walks down memory lane, she remembers each student.  And each teacher.  And each class.  And each conversation she had.  And each...  I found it to be a bit of a slog.

Ultimately, this is a book about collective memory.  And how we cope with trauma.  It was well-written but I didn't particularly like or care about Bodie, the main character, so I wasn't engaged in the story.

From the publisher:
A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia's death and the conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn't as much of an outsider at Granby as she'd thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.


*************************************************
Title: Murder in an Irish Cottage
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length9 hrs and 26 mins / 338  pp
Published: February 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 6/9
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This entry in the series is set in a more remote village in County Cork.  My only complaint is that the suspect list is very long.  Having said that, I didn't figure out who did it.  I love the relationship between Siobhán and Mcdara.

From the publisher:
In a remote—and superstitious—village in County Cork, Ireland, Garda Siobhán O'Sullivan must solve a murder where the prime suspects are fairies . . .
 
Family is everything to Siobhán: her five siblings; her dear departed mother for whom the family business, Naomi's Bistro, is named; and now her fiancé, Macdara Flannery. So precious is her engagement that Siobhán wants to keep it just between the two of them for a little longer.
 
But Macdara is her family, which is why when his cousin Susan frantically calls for his help, Siobhán is at his side as the two garda rush from Kilbane to the rural village where Susan and her mother have recently moved. Unfortunately, tragedy awaits them. They find Susan, who is blind, outside the cottage, in a state. Inside, Aunt Ellen lies on her bed in a fancy red dress, no longer breathing. A pillow on the floor and a nearby teacup suggest the mode of death to their trained eyes: the woman has been poisoned and smothered. Someone wanted to make sure she was dead. But who?
 
Devout believers in Irish folklore, the villagers insist the cottage is cursed—built on a fairy path. It turns out Ellen Delaney was not the first to die mysteriously in this cottage. Although the townsfolk blame malevolent fairies, Siobhán and Macdara must follow the path of a murderer all too human—but just as evil . . .



*************************************************
Title: Dirty Laundry
Author: Disha Bose
Length: 8 hrs and 39 min / 304  pp
Published: April 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 6/10
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I am impressed this is a debut novel.  I liked the complex interactions between the three narrators.  Each narrator is distinct in voice and perspective.  Secrets and betrayals cast each of the narrators and their husbands in a dubious light--who is the killer and why?

From the publisher:
A twisty, domestic suspense debut about a clique of mothers that shatters when one of their own is murdered, bringing chaos to their curated lives.

She was the perfect wife, with the perfect life. You would kill to have it…

Ciara Dunphy has it all—a loving husband, well-behaved children, and a beautiful home. Her circle of friends in their small Irish village go to her for tips about mothering, style, and influencer success—a picture-perfect life is easy money on Instagram. But behind the filters, reality is less polished.

Enter Mishti Guha: Ciara’s best friend. Ciara welcomed Mishti into her inner circle for being... unlike the other mothers in the group. But, discontent in a marriage arranged for her through her parents back in Calcutta, Mishti now raises her young daughter in a country that is too cold, among the children of her new friends who look nothing like her. She just wants what Ciara has—the ease with which she moves through the world—and in that sense, Mishti might be exactly like the other mothers.

And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle, born, bred, and the butt of jokes in their village. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though unsurprisingly ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. When Lauren finds an unlikely ally in Mishti, she decides that her days of ridicule are over.

Then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death, so if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry.

In this dazzling debut novel, Disha Bose revolutionizes age-old ideas of love and deceit. What ensues is the delicious unspooling of a group of women desperate to preserve themselves.




*************************************************
Title: Verity
Author: Colleen Hoover
Length8 hrs and 10 mins / 333  pp
Published: December 2018
Book Group:  School
Finished: 6/13
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I had a re-read for my school book group.  I'm linking to the original post.   Should make for a v-e-r-y interesting discussion as most of the group are rather conservative in their views.

This is categorized as a thriller and a romantic suspense book. There were some twisty parts that I suspected but didn't fully guess. It was a good summer read--quick, with an ending that has me wondering what the truth was. Dark and disturbing and creepy, and cliched and campy.

From the publisher:
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.



*************************************************
Title: The Sweet Spot
Author: Amy Poeppel
Length: 13 hrs and 12 min / 397  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 6/16
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This was just the comedy of errors I needed.  Something that kept my attention, was light, and full of humor.  I loved how all the characters pulled together.  It's got love, hate, and friendship.  At one point, I wondered what else could happen but then things kept happening and it got more convoluted and funny.

From the publisher:
In the heart of Greenwich Village, three women form an accidental sorority when a baby—belonging to exactly none of them—lands on their collective doorstep.

Lauren and her family—lucky bastards—have been granted the use of a spectacular brownstone, teeming with history and dizzyingly unattractive 70s wallpaper. Adding to the home’s bohemian, grungy splendor is the bar occupying the basement, a (mostly) beloved dive called The Sweet Spot. Within days of moving in, Lauren discovers that she has already made an enemy in the neighborhood by inadvertently sparking the divorce of a couple she has never actually met.

Melinda’s husband of thirty years has dumped her for a young celebrity entrepreneur named Felicity, and, to Melinda’s horror, the lovebirds are soon to become parents. In her incandescent rage, Melinda wreaks havoc wherever she can, including in Felicity’s Soho boutique, where she has a fit of epic proportions, which happens to be caught on film.​

Olivia—the industrious twenty-something behind the counter, who has big dreams and bigger debt—gets caught in the crossfire. In an effort to diffuse Melinda’s temper, Olivia has a tantrum of her own and gets unceremoniously canned, thanks to TikTok.

When Melinda’s ex follows his lover across the country, leaving their squalling baby behind, the three women rise to the occasion in order to forgive, to forget, to Ferberize, and to track down the wayward parents. But can their little village find a way toward the happily ever afters they all desire? Welcome to The Sweet Spot. 





*************************************************
Title: Pineapple Street
Author: Jenny Jackson
Length8 hrs and 32 mins / 321  pp
Published: March 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 6/19
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This is a much-hyped book.  But I don't get the hype.  It's the story of a 1% family, the wealthiest of the wealthy who are discovering that maybe their uber wealth isn't as desirable as it once was.  The narrative shifts between the pretentious voices of the Stockton family: Darley, the eldest daughter who has given up her career in finance to be a mother; Georgiana, the youngest of the family who is an oblivious brat; and Sasha, the interloper who married Cord--Darley and Georgiana's brother.  Remarkably, they are unaware of their elitism and snobbery.  I didn't connect with any of the characters.

This book didn't work for me.  It is a light, summery read but there isn't really anything going on.  I didn't feel like it was a commentary on elitism, it seemed like a glimpse into it.  

From the publisher:
Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, carefully guarded, old-money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and inheritance for motherhood, sacrificing more of herself than she ever intended. Sasha, middle-class and from New England, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider, wondering how she might ever understand their WASP-y ways. Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can’t (and really shouldn’t) have and must confront the kind of person she wants to be.

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart escapist novel that sparkles with wit. It’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots and everything in between, and the insanity of first love.


*************************************************
Title: The Covenant of Water
Author: Abraham Verghese
Length31 hrs and 16 mins / 736  pp
Published: May 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/7
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The book spans 1900-1977 and follows three generations. Masterful storytelling. The length of the saga is daunting—700+ pages clocking in at over 31 hours. The narrative thread is not always linear, there are chapters that tell the happenings of a time from multiple characters’ experiences. It would make an excellent book club selection with themes of loyalty, honor, family bonds, class, and so many more. 

I think it could have been more satisfying if it was shorter or there were fewer subplots. There were moments I didn’t think I could continue, it was so minutely detailed. 

From the publisher:
She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning. Mother and daughter lie on the mat, their wer cheeks glued together. “The saddest day of a girl’s life is the day of her wedding,” her mother says. “After that, God willing, it gets better.”  And so begins the sweeping novel. 




*************************************************
Title: Killers of the Flower Moon
Author: David Grann
Length9 hrs and 4 mins / 338  pp
Published: April 2017
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/15
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A compelling look at a string of the most gruesome murders in history.  Yet it's history I hadn't heard--because it was against Indigenous people.  I liked that the three sections of the book had different perspectives.  I was prompted to read this because there is a movie and since I didn't know anything at all about the events, I thought I would read it and learn.  I recommend the audio version--excellent narration.

From the publisher:
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.



*************************************************
Title: The Wife, The Maid, And The Mistress
Author: Ariel Lawhon
Length: 12 hrs and 1 min 322  pp
Published: January 2014
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/16
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is historical fiction done right!  It kept me guessing, although I suspected.  I can imagine how sensational the headlines would be.  I liked that the titular characters came to life--that they were flawed, sympathetic, and unlikable in their own way.  It's a fascinating look at ambition, corruption, conspiracy, hate, and love.  Although it's not linear-- pay attention to dates!--it reads like a diary, which kept me interested.

From the publisher:
 A tantalizing reimagining of a scandalous mystery that rocked the nation in 1930—Justice Joseph Crater's infamous disappearance—as seen through the eyes of the three women who knew him best.

They say behind every great man, there's a woman. In this case, there are three. Stella Crater, the judge's wife, is the picture of propriety draped in long pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi, a leggy showgirl with Broadway aspirations, thinks moonlighting in the judge's bed is the quickest way off the chorus line. Maria Simon, the dutiful maid, has the judge to thank for her husband's recent promotion to detective in the NYPD. Meanwhile, Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the city's most notorious gangster, Owney "The Killer" Madden.

On a sultry summer night, as rumors circulate about the judge's involvement in wide-scale political corruption, the Honorable Joseph Crater steps into a cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he?

After 39 years of necessary duplicity, Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal what she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey, the site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judge's favorite watering hole back in the day, Stella orders two whiskeys on the rocks—one for her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the ice cubes in the lowball glass, Stella begins to tell a tale—of greed, lust, and deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of their prescribed roles, it becomes clear that each knows more than she has initially let on.

With a layered intensity and prose as effervescent as the bubbly that flows every night, The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress is a wickedly entertaining historical mystery that will transport readers to a bygone era with tipsy spins through subterranean jazz clubs and backstage dressing rooms. But beneath the Art Deco skyline and amid the intoxicating smell of smoke and whiskey, the question of why Judge Crater disappeared lingers seductively until a twist in the very last pages.



*************************************************
Title: Hello Beautiful
Author: Ann Napolitano
Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins 390  pp
Published: March 2023
Book Group:  School
Finished: 7/21
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It's interesting that I read this book about sisters on the heels of my Virginia trip.  So the heady emotions from fabulous sister time frames my reading of this book.  

I liked how each of the sisters is an individual dependent on the sum of them.  I found the dynamics to be relatable, for instance--at different times I'm closer to different sisters which is what happens in the book.  The mythology of childhood is also relatable.  My only complaint is that it was a bit long which felt repetitive to me.

From the publisher:
Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighborhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it's as if the world has lit up around him.

With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family's dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William's past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.

Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?




*************************************************
Title: Mad Honey
Author: Jodi Picoult with Jennifer Finney Boylan
Length15 hrs and 12 mins / 464  pp
Published: October 2022
Book Group:  Both
Finished: 7/23
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

What a gripping story!  The characters are real and compelling.  It's a story about first love, family love, mystery, and new beginnings.  There are two major narrative threads that construct the action's timeline.  There are a couple of complex plot twists that I won't allude to as I hate spoilers.

From the publisher:
Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life - living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher - was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely....

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

'MAD HONEY' is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.


*************************************************
Title: Holy Chow
Author: David Rosenfelt
Length6 hrs and 27 mins / 304  pp
Published: July 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/24
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 Last year I binged on this series and needed a little break.  This book is just the refresher I needed!  Andy and his faithful sidekicks are in rare form.  I savored the humor, the dogs, and the story.

From the publisher:
Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter’s calling has always been running the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization places hundreds of dogs in new homes every year. It’s added up to so many dogs and new owners that Andy can’t even do the math. But there’s one dog—and one owner—Andy will always remember.

About a year ago, Rachel Morehouse came to the foundation looking for a companion. In her sixties and recently widowed, Rachel wanted a senior dog that also needed someone. Andy took a liking to her, Rachel took a liking to Lion, an older Chow Chow, and the rest is history.

That is, until Rachel calls Andy begging for a favor: If Rachel dies, will Andy take care of Lion if her stepson cannot? Andy agrees, no questions asked, and promptly forgets about it... until he receives a call from Rachel’s estate to attend her will reading. Which is where he meets Rachel’s stepson, Tony, who is promptly arrested for his stepmother’s murder. And he wants Andy to prove his innocence.

Andy has continued to learn more about the woman he so greatly admired and the businesses she ran, and holy chow, was this woman impressive. The person who killed her deserves to be held accountable, and if Tony is to be believed, they’re still out there. And that possibility is too much for Andy to remain on the sidelines.


*************************************************
Title: The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Author: Patti Calahan Henry
Length12 hrs and 24 mins / 355  pp
Published: May 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/26
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An engaging story of lost love, lost family, and finding yourself.  With the dual narrative threads taking place in WWII England and 1960s London, the action is the quest to find out how Flora's story came to life.  Operation Pied Piper sets the wheels in motion--Hazel and Flora are sent from a London suburb to the countryside.  Hazel's storytelling distracts and enchants Flora; storytelling is at the heart of this story.

From the publisher:
1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.

But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.

Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel’s future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?



*************************************************
Title: Braiding Sweetgrass
Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Length16 hrs and 44 mins / 409  pp
Published: October 2013
Book Group:  no
Finished: 7/26
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I need to figure out where to start--this book is thought-provoking, meditative, and lyrical.  Written by a botanist who's a poet, I want to start it again to truly savor the storytelling.  I learned more than I expected about the natural world, plants, science, the history of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and my relationship with the natural world.  The thread through all the stories is fostering a reciprocal relationship with the natural world.  Honoring life around us by owning and possessing less.  Gratitude, sharing, and giving thanks are all natural and practical practices. The author is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and ancestral experiences are woven through the stories.  It's a personal recounting of racism and Indigenous traditions.  I am inspired to learn more, especially about the local Mi'kmaq nation.

From the publisher:
Called the work of "a mesmerizing storyteller with deep compassion and memorable prose" ("Publishers Weekly") and the book that, "anyone interested in natural history, botany, protecting nature, or Native American culture will love," by "Library Journal," "Braiding Sweetgrass" is poised to be a classic of nature writing. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces indigenous teachings that consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take "us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices.


*************************************************
Title: Killers of a Certain Age
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins / 365  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 7/31
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Linking to my original review.  This time I listened to it and loved the two voice actors! 
















*************************************************
Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Length16 hrs and 7 mins / 419  pp
Published: May 2015
Book Group:  no
Finished: 8/13
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

This is a really popular book.  And fantasy is not my favorite genre.  Having said that--it's almost a retelling of Beauty & The Beast. Although I never really figured out why the main human character, Feyre, is a big deal.  Even though she is a teenager, and it's a relatively young reading story, it's not for younger readers. I would recommend it to sophisticated upper-high school readers.  There's a lot of language and sex.

Oh, I don't know.  It was ok, just not my favorite.  

From the publisher:
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.



*************************************************
Title: Looking for Jane
Author: Heather Marshall
Length11 hrs and 16 mins / 400  pp
Published: March 2022
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 8/20
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is a timely novel.  The three narrative threads explore motherhood from different perspectives--being forced to give up a baby, the availability of abortion, and infertility struggles.  I don't think it will challenge your position on the issue of abortion, but it does put a story and a face on the issue.  

It's a well-written and researched debut novel.  My book group will have a LOT to discuss.

From the publisher:
A debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane.

1971: As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen” women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption—a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite harrowing police raids and the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had.

1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, twenty-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates “Jane” and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.




*************************************************
Title: Flop Dead Gorgeous
Author: David Rosenfelt
Length6 hrs and 43 mins / 3272  pp
Published: July 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 8/21
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Andy's snark is on point!  He and his team defend Jenny Nichols, Andy's high school sweetheart.  There wasn't the body count that typical books in this series have, which I really liked--because come on, how many deaths can one small city have?  It kept me guessing until the end.

From the publisher:
Dog rescue organization the Tara Foundation’s phones are ringing off the hook, and retired lawyer Andy Carpenter is irritated at his newfound popularity. He should be thrilled to find forever homes for so many dogs in need. But these calls are from fans wanting to adopt from the same place famous actress Jenny Nichols—and Andy’s high school girlfriend—got her dog, Mamie. The Miniature French Poodle is now an LA starlight in her own right.

Andy doesn’t hold it against his friend. In fact, he and Laurie have dinner with Jenny while she's in New York filming her next big hit. But after their goodbyes there's a plot twist none of them see coming in the form of Jenny's one phone call. Her co-star is dead, she’s been arrested for the murder, and Mamie's on her own. First, Jenny needs Andy to collect Mamie. Second, she needs him to prove her innocence.

While Mamie becomes reacquainted with Tara, Andy’s golden retriever, Andy digs into the lives of the rich and famous.


*************************************************
Title: Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
Author: Spencer Quinn
Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins 304  pp
Published: July 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 8/22
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

As I understand it, this is the first in a new series.  And it's going to be a very fun series!  Mrs. Plansky is the spunky old woman I want to be!

From the publisher:
Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit.

One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges—after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you” for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she's counting.

By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta's life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim.

In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back—and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.




*************************************************
Title: Murder at an Irish Christmas
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins / 306 pp
Published: October 2020
Book Group:  no
Finished: 8/24
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I love Siobhan.  She's got a gift for making people squirm. And the web of lies and secrets that the suspects are entangled in keeps Siobhan and her siblings busy.  My only complaint is that a few plot points weren't resolved--but that's minor.


The O'Sullivan clan of County Cork, Ireland, are back to investigate another case of murder--this time at Christmas!


Garda Siobhan O'Sullivan's holiday plans hit a sour note when murder rearranges the yuletide carols into unexpected eulogies...

This December in Kilbane, if you're planning to warm up with a cuppa tea at Naomi's Bistro, you may have a bit of a wait--the entire O'Sullivan brood has gone off to West Cork to spend the holidays with brother James's fiancee Elise's family, including her grandfather, the famous orchestral conductor Enda Elliot. Siobhan is so happy for James and Elise but also quietly disappointed that she must put her own wedding to fellow garda Macdara Flannery on hold. Mac will have to join them later, so he can spend part of the holidays with his mam.

When the O'Sullivans learn everyone will choose a name from a hat to buy a music-related Christmas gift for someone else at the gathering, it seems like their greatest concern--until the cantankerous conductor is discovered crushed under a ninety-pound harp in a local concert hall.

With the extended family--including Enda's much-younger new wife Leah, a virtuoso violinist--suspected in his murder, it's up to Siobhan to ensure the guilty party faces the music. But as a snowstorm strands both families in a lavish farmhouse on a cliff, Siobhan had better pick up the tempo--before the killer orchestrates another untimely demise... 




*************************************************
Title: Long Bright River
Author: Liz Moore
Length13 hrs and 19 mins / 482  pp
Published: January 2020
Book Group:  School
Finished: 8/26
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I liked that the two narrative threads add complexity to the story with "then" explaining the chaotic childhood and adolescence and "now" exploring the vastly different lives the sisters have created.  The contentious issues at the heart of the novel (opioid and heroin addictions, police corruption) are thought-provoking but not preachy.  I liked the flawed characters.  As engrossing as it is, I thought it was a bit long.  Having said that, it's gritty and dark and twisty, and it's going to stay with me. 

From the publisher:
Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then, one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.




*************************************************
Title: Raven Black
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins 384  pp
Published: January 2006
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/2
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the first installment of a new-to-me series.  I can't wait to read more!  Inspector Jimmy Perez is a quiet, perceptive, and observant man.

The isolated Shetland Islands are atmospheric.  Living in a remote setting, the community knows everything about everybody--kind of claustrophobic in a neighborly way.

I didn't figure it out.

From the publisher:
Inspector Jimmy Perez, is a very private and perceptive man whose bailiwick is a remote hamlet in the Shetland Islands. It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when detective Jimmy Perez and his colleagues from the mainland insist on opening out the investigation, a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbors nervously lock their doors while a killer lives on in their midst.





*************************************************
Title: Murder in an Irish Bookshop
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length9 hrs and 4 mins / 258 pp
Published: February 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/3
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the seventh installment of the series.  I really enjoy the main character's story arc--she's grown from a bumbling amateur sleuth to training new officers.  And I like how the small village of Kilbane is growing and adding new businesses with characters and charm.

I figured it out, but I still enjoyed it!

From the publisher:
Between training the new town garda and trying to set a wedding date with her fiancé, Macdara Flannery, Siobhán O’Sullivan is feeling a bit overwhelmed. She’s looking forward to visiting the new bookshop and curling up with an exciting novel—only to discover the shelves contain nothing but Literature with a capital L. The owner not only refuses to stock romances, mysteries, and science fiction, but won’t even let customers enter his store unless they can quote James Joyce or Sean Hennessey.

Despite the owner deliberately limiting his clientele, he’s hosting a reading and autographing event featuring up and coming Irish writers who will be taking up residency in Kilbane for a month. Among them is indie author Deirdre Walsh, who spends more time complaining about the unfairness of the publishing industry and megastar bestsellers instead of her own creative works, causing a heated debate among the writers. She seems to have a particular distaste for the novels of Nessa Lamb.

Then Deirdre’s body is found the next day in the back of the store—with pages torn from Nessa’s books stuffed in her mouth. Now, Siobhán must uncover which of Kilbane’s literary guests took Deirdre’s criticisms so personally they’d engage in foul play . . .


*************************************************
Title: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
Author: Kate Beaton
Length: none 430  pp
Published: September 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/3
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This compelling story is my first graphic novel.  I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it.  I will seek out this author across many genres and styles.

From the publisher:
Celebrated cartoonist Kate Beaton vividly presents the untold story of Canada.

Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. After university, Beaton heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the homeland they love so much. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, what the journey will actually cost Beaton will be far more than she anticipates.

Arriving in Fort McMurray, Beaton finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world’s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan, isolated worksite for higher pay. She encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. Her wounds may never heal.

Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full-length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.


*************************************************
Title: The Marlow Murder Club
Author: Robert Thorogood
Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins / 340  pp
Published: January 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/4
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the first installment of a promising new cozy series.  The main character is Judith Potts, a seventy-seven-year-old crossword puzzle writer who's fiercely independent, savvy, and eccentric.  She is joined by Becks Starling, a homemaker and minister's wife with all the stereotypes that entails, and Suzie Harris, a rough-around-the-edges dog walker.  The three Club members are assisting Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik in solving the string of murders in the sleepy town of Marlow.  I enjoyed the characters very much.  And the mystery was engaging from the very first chapter.

It's hard not to compare it with The Thursday Murder Club since they have similar storylines.  

From the publisher:
To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.

Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…



*************************************************
Title: No Two Persons
Author: Erica Bauermeister
Length8 hrs and 54 mins / 314 pp
Published: May 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/7
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This is a book about a book.  I love the premise that no two people experience a book the same way.  We follow a different character in each chapter--and they are linked by the shared experience of reading the book, Theo, written in the first section.  No two characters experience Theo the same way although it profoundly affects each.  Any of the vignettes could have been an entire book that I would have enjoyed.  I was fascinated by the collection of people: a publishing assistant, an actor, an artist, a free diver, a bookstore employee, an abandoned town caretaker, a homeless teenager, a coordinator, and a publishing agent.

The story of Theo is never revealed nor do we learn why the book has such a profound effect on each reader.

I loved it.

From the publisher:
One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.


*************************************************
Title: Sign Here
Author: Claudia Lux
Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins / 412  pp
Published: October 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/13
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This debut novel has a great premise: Peyote Trip (not his earth name) is a contract negotiator in Hell.  For eons he gets people to sign away their afterlives in order to grant their wish.  But Pey has plans for himself as he maneuvers his new coworker, Calamity, so he can fulfill his plan.  The other narrative thread is the earthly Harrison family, grappling with secrets and a decades-old tragedy.  

There are some funny, creative moments--particularly in Hell.  Where Hell is funny and quirky, Earth comes off as too earnest and poignant.  The book needs to decide what it is.

From the publisher: 
A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul.

Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.

When the Harrisons retreat to the family lake house for the summer, with their daughter Mickey’s precocious new friend, Ruth, in tow, the opportunity Pey has waited a millennium for might finally be in his grasp. And with the help of his charismatic coworker Calamity, he sets a plan in motion.
But things aren’t always as they seem, on Earth or in Hell. And as old secrets and new dangers scrape away at the Harrisons’ shiny surface, revealing the darkness beneath, everyone must face the consequences of their choices.
*************************************************
Title: The Invisible Hour
Author: Alice Hoffman
Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins / 240  pp
Published: August 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/21
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is a love letter to books.  And you've got to suspend belief since there is magical realism and time travel as part of the plot.  But I was engrossed and enjoyed the storytelling.  I loved the found family and the mighty women.  The theme of personal choices or limits on personal choices is certainly timely.  And the locations were rich--almost like characters.

From the publisher:
One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”

This is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.
*************************************************
Title: Murder on an Irish Farm
Author: Carlene O'Connor
Length10 hrs and 18 mins / 336 pp
Published: February 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 9/25
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While I liked the mystery, even though there is a plot knot to untangle, I think I like the characters even more.  Siobhán O’Sullivan is such a well-developed character, I just love her quirks.  And the O'Sullivan six are a hoot.

From the publisher:
If only her mother could be here! The entire O'Sullivan brood--not to mention the regulars from Naomi's Bistro--have gathered at St. Mary's Church for the wedding of Siobhán and Macdara. It's not every day you see two garda marrying each other. Only Siobhán's brother James is missing. They can't start without him.

But when James finally comes racing in, he's covered in dirt and babbling he's found a human skeleton in the old slurry pit at the farmhouse. What farmhouse? Macdara sheepishly admits he was saving it as a wedding surprise: he purchased an abandoned dairy farm. Duty calls, so the engaged garda decide to put the wedding on hold to investigate.

James leads them to a skeleton clothed in rags that resemble a tattered tuxedo. As an elderly neighbor approaches, she cries out that these must be the remains of her one true love who never showed up on their wedding day, fifty years ago. The garda have a cold case on their hands, which heats up the following day when a fresh corpse appears on top of the bridegroom's bones. With a killer at large, they need to watch their backs--or the nearly wedded couple may be parted by death before they've even taken their vows...



*************************************************
Title: The Woman In White
Author: Wilkie Collins
Length: 24 hrs and 31 mins / 672  pp
Published: November 1859
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 10/3
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This classic Victorian story is considered the first detective novel.  Interestingly, I didn't think it read like a Victorian-era story.  It's a complex suspenseful story that revolves around identity, madness, and legal procedures.  

Walter Hartright, a young art teacher is hired as a drawing teacher at Limmeridge House where he meets and falls in love with Laura Fairlie, the niece of the estate's owner.  Laura is already engaged to marry Sir Percival Glyde.  After Laura and Percival are married, it becomes clear that he is controlling and not the nicest husband.  One day, Laura disappears.  Hartright and Laura's cousin, Marian Halcombe set out to find her.  They discover that Percival and his mysterious friend Count Fosco are plotting to have Laura declared insane and committed to an asylum so they can claim her fortune.  

My only complaint is that because it was published as a series of installments it is particularly long.  However, the Audible exclusive recording by Billy Howle was exceptional.



*************************************************
Title: Mother-Daughter Murder Night
Author: Nina Simon
Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins / 352  pp
Published: September 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished:10/8
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is a blend of cozy mystery, strong women, and dysfunctional family.  And it works for me.  I wonder if it's going to be a series?

From the publisher:
Nothing brings an estranged family together like a murder next door.

A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.

Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.

With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.



*************************************************
Title: Wicked Autumn
Author: G.M. Malliet
Length8 hrs and 9 mins / 320  pp
Published: January 2011
Book Group:  no
Finished: 10/8
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This new-to-me cozy series has an unusual protagonist: a former MI5 agent turned Anglican priest.  It is written with kind of a formal style which gives it a timelessness--so that references to Hugh Grant or social media almost seem out of place.  But in the end, that lends to the cheekyness of the book.  This first of the series spent a lot of time world-building, and I'm hoping that more books in the series will be faster-paced without needing that detail.  There are several fun secondary characters but I really want more Max Tudor!

From the publisher:
Having spent almost three years in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip, Max Tudor is well acclimated to his post as vicar at the church of St. Edwold’s.  This quaint town seems to be the perfect new home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past serving in the British counter-intelligence agency, the MI5. Now he has found a measure of peace among urban escapees and yoga practitioners, artists and New Agers. But this serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women’s Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max’s training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play. 

Max has ministered to the community long enough to be familiar with alliances and animosities among the residents, but this tragedy confounds him.   It is impossible to believe anyone in his lovely hamlet capable of the crime, and yet given the victim, he must acknowledge that almost everyone in town had probably fantasized about the poor woman’s death.  As Max becomes more intricately involved, the investigation stirs up memories he’d rather not revisit; the demons from his past which led him to Nether Monkslip and the reason why he is so heavily invested in keeping it from harm.   




*************************************************
Title: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Author:  Jesmyn Ward
Length8 hrs and 22 mins / 285  pp
Published: September 2017
Book Group:  Library
Finished: 10/10
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I almost DNF this book.  It's beautifully written with detailed descriptions and well-drawn locations.  But it's dark and gritty.  I didn't relate to the characters.  And I'm not a fan of character studies.  If the voice actors weren't such wonderful narrators, I wouldn't have finished.  Plus, it's for my library book group so I gave it more of a chance than otherwise I would have.

From the publisher:
In Jesmyn Ward’s first novel since her National Book Award–winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. Drawing on Morrison and Faulkner, The Odyssey and the Old Testament, Ward gives us an epochal story, a journey through Mississippi’s past and present that is both an intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. Ward is a major American writer, multiply awarded and universally lauded, and in Sing, Unburied, Sing she is at the height of her powers.

Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.

Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power, and limitations, of the bonds of family. Rich with Ward’s distinctive, musical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an essential contribution to American literature.


*************************************************
Title: White Nights
Author: Ann Cleeves
Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins 392  pp
Published: January 2008
Book Group:  no
Finished: 10/20
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This second installment of the Shetland series is categorized as a thriller but I found it more mystery than thriller. This time, the Shetland Islands' "simmer dim" drives the atmosphere and the characters.  I admit I looked up the location of the Shetland Islands to orient myself.  This story finds Jimmy Perez exploring secrets in a small town--generations have lived there and know everybody and there really aren't any secrets.  As Jimmy develops a relationship with Fran, we see the insecurities and complications of mature love.  Jimmy's superior from Inverness, Roy Taylor is fleshed out in this book.  Roy's competitive nature and rivalry with Jimmy add a dimension to their working dynamic. I'm glad there are more books in this series.  

From the publisher:
It’s midsummer in the Shetland Islands, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws an elaborate party to launch an exhibition of her work at The Herring House, a gallery on the beach.

The party ends in farce when one the guests, a mysterious Englishman, bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he’s come from. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter, and Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that the man has been murdered. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bella’s musician nephew, is murdered, too.

But the detective’s relationship with Fran Hunter may have clouded his judgment, for this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.


*************************************************
Title: A Fatal Winter
Author: G.M. Malliet
Length12 hrs and 34 mins / 364  pp
Published: October 2012
Book Group:  no
Finished: 10/21
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This second installment of the series has the same traditional vibe as the first--a nod to Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers and the Golden Age of Detectives; so contemporary references are cheeky fun.  Max Tudor finds himself embroiled in a dysfunctional family holiday gathering.  The dysfunctional family members are so unpleasant and self-centered that I thought they all committed the murder.  The reveal was entertaining and surprising.  

Beyond the mystery, though, I love the character of Max Tudor!  His complete change of career path offers lots of possibilities for future stories.  I am excited to read more!

From the publisher:
In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.



*************************************************
Title: A Letter To Three Witches
Author: Elizabeth Bass
Length9 hrs and 17 mins / 288  pp
Published: January 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 10/27
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I didn't realize there's a whole genre of paranormal fantasy rom-coms.  This is my first foray into the genre and it was fluffy fun.  Suspending belief is necessary but the payoff is worth it.  There are magical mishaps as the characters attempt to break a family curse.  I can't say there was any real depth or connection to the characters but it was a fun holiday read.

From the publisher:
Bewitched meets Practical Magic in this sparkling and quirky rom-com with an enchanted twist. When romance problems cause their powers to go berserk, a trio of witches whose family was banned from practicing magic risk getting in serious trouble with the Grand Council. Can they get their magic—and their love lives—in order before it’s too late?

Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting…

Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with him at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research.

Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes?



*************************************************
Title: The Woman In Me
Author: Britney Spears
Length5 hrs and 31 mins / 288  pp
Published: October 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 10/28
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was riveted to this book.  I simply cannot fathom what Britney Spears has been through.  Although I would not categorize myself as a fan, I appreciate her catchy pop songs and influence on dance.  Ultimately, this book is shocking and heartbreaking and as she lays bare her experiences, especially the conservatorship years.  I walked away feeling like she was still trying to be a nice girl, to be the good girl.

As a history teacher, I reflect on how women historically have been locked away as hysterical when they challenge authority.  And I wondered how different her life could have been if she'd been born in a northern state.

The audiobook is very well narrated by Michelle Williams--with an introduction by Britney Spears explaining why she doesn't narrate.

From the publisher:
The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

With the release of her memoir, Spears finally weighs in on her own life, and she sets the record straight about everything from her days of early fame to life under conservatorship control, and all the ups and downs in between. Fans everywhere have been waiting for Britney’s take, and finally, at long last, it is here. The emotion in Britney’s voice is palpable as she reads the introduction herself, telling listeners that writing her story has been so "exciting and heart-wrenching" that she decided against narrating the entire work.


*************************************************
Title: Not The Witch You Wed
Author: April Asher
Length: 12 hrs and 15 min / 352  pp
Published: February 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/6
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is a paranormal romantic comedy and it's a blast!  The world-building didn't slow down the action although it created an atmosphere that seemed real.  The story follows Violet, the oldest triplet who's just discovering her magic powers.  I loved the family relationships--the sisters and their grandmother are so sweet.  And their mother is such a fun character.  I almost think my favorite parts of the book took place at the children's center.  The kids were a riot!

This is the first of the series and I will definitely read more.

From the publisher:
A fake relationship between a magic-less witch and a wolf shifter turns to more in the start of a bewitching new paranormal rom-com series.

Magic-less witch Violet Maxwell wants nothing to do with alpha wolf shifter Lincoln Thorne―the man who broke her fragile, teenage heart. But when the two of them are forced by arcane Supernatural Laws to find mates, Violet and Lincoln agree to fake-date their way to a fake-mating in order to conjure themselves some time.

The joke’s on them. When old feelings make a reappearance―along with Violet’s magic―they both realize there’s nothing fake about their feelings. But there are old secrets and looming threats that could snatch away their happily ever after, again. One thing’s for magic doesn’t make dating and love any easier.



*************************************************
Title: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Author: James McBride
Length12 hrs and 21 mins / 385  pp
Published: August 2023
Book Group: School
Finished: 11/11
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

James McBride is one of my favorite storytellers.  I love how he weaves narrative threads together in unexpected ways.  And I love interconnected stories that bring multiple communities together.  This book is complex dealing with contemporary issues in historical settings (it feels weird to call the 1970s historical).  The book opens in 1972 when developers discover a skeleton and a mezuzah at the bottom of a well.  As the police question the one elderly Jewish resident of the Chicken Hill neighborhood in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Hurricane Agnes hits the northeast and washes away the crime scene.  That transports us back to how the skeleton got into the well.  McBride tells that story from the mid-1920s on through different characters' overlapping experiences.  

I highly recommend the audio--the narrator is amazing!

From the publisher:
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

    As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.


*************************************************
Title: 'Twas the Bite Before Christmas
Author: David Rosenfelt
Length6 hrs and 33 mins / 304  pp
Published: October 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/12
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is one of my favorites in the Andy Carpenter series.  I loved Tara and all the dogs.  I loved the courtroom action, cleverly witty dialog, and the fact that it wasn't multiple bodies piling up.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough Christmas in this book.  I need more holly jolly!

From the publisher:
In National Bestseller David Rosenfelt’s ‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas, all through the Carpenter house, five dogs are stirring, and not even Andy can get out of working this latest case at his door.

Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter is at the Tara Foundation’s annual Christmas party. The dog rescue organization has always been his true calling, and this is one holiday tradition he can get behind because every dog that’s come through the rescue—and their families—are invited to celebrate.

This year’s party is no exception. But before the stockings can be hung by the chimney with care, homicide detectives ruin the evening. Derek Moore, one of the foundation’s best foster volunteers, is arrested for murder.

Andy discovers Derek—whose real name is Bobby—is in the witness protection program after giving evidence against his former gang. The police believe Bobby murdered a member. But Bobby swears to Andy he didn’t do this. He’s built a new life, a new business, has two new dogs after being a double foster-failure.

There isn’t much Andy likes about this case, but he likes Bobby. If he’s innocent, Andy wants to help. Before Andy can settle down for his long winter’s nap, he has a client’s name to clear, a murderer to catch, and two new dogs to look after: a golden and a Dalmatian. Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, will have to adjust to not being the only golden at the house while Andy gets to the bottom of this one…



*************************************************
Title: None Of This Is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Length10 hrs and 20 mins / 384  pp
Published: July 2023
Book Group: no
Finished: 11/16
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book is dark and weird.  I liked the podcast and true-crime documentary structure.  And I liked the unreliable narrator--questioning which of the main characters is reliable. I liked the premise of how Josie and Alix met while celebrating their 45th birthdays.

There are some uncomfortably disturbing themes, especially dealing with teens or children.  

From the publisher:
Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?


*************************************************
Title: A House With Good Bones
Author: T. Kinfisher
Length6 hrs and 53 mins / 247  pp
Published: March 2023
Book Group: no
Finished: 11/18
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is classified as Southern Gothic Horror.  It was amusing and quirky.  I listened to it and loved the narrator's tone, although I didn't like her male voices, but that's just a small thing.

The protagonist, Sam, is quirky and funny, relatable, and someone I would like to be friends with.  And her relationship with her mom is so fun.  But there is an impending dread throughout the story.  I don't want to spoil anything...

From the publisher:
"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.


*************************************************
Title: The Last Party
Author: Clare Mackintosh
Length13 hrs and 17 mins / 432  pp
Published: November 2022
Book Group: no
Finished: 11/20
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

There's a lot going on in this first installment of a series.  Almost too much.  The introduction to the two main detective characters was modern--not a meet-cute but a New Year's drunken hook-up, complete with fake names and phone numbers.  So when the detectives are thrown together on the case it's awkward but sets a tone.  The story unfolds with multiple narrative threads telling the story of the murder victim's last few days, especially how he antagonizes every single person he comes in contact with, creating quite a cast of suspects.  The end reveal made sense and I didn't see it coming.  I think I'll try another from the series.

From the publisher:
At midnight, one of them is dead.
By morning, all of them are suspects.


It's a party to end all parties, but not everyone is here to celebrate.

On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors.

But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year’s Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, friends and family—and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.

With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead…but who finally killed him.

In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning.


*************************************************
Title: The Celebrants
Author: Stephen Rowley
Length9 hrs and 43 mins / 366  pp
Published: May 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/24
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This book is called The Big Chill for our times.  I loved The Big Chill.  I liked this book but didn't love it.  All of the characters are obliviously entitled.  And I don't know if they're a product of our times or if it's the author's fault.  But they are removed from reality insomuch as they can drop everything at a phone call to jet away for a gathering, based on a teenage pact they made.  The premise is great.  But the flat characters got to me.  Maybe it's because I can't jet away for a gathering on a moment's notice.  There is a lot of wit and clever dialog.  And poignant moments.  As I said, I liked it but didn't love it.

From the publisher:
A decades-old pact offers a group of college friends the chance to throw each other “living funerals,” in the next poignant and humorous novel by the bestselling author of The Guncle.

The night after one of their own is tragically taken away from them, a group of seven college friends form a pact: a promise to reunite every few years to throw each other "living funerals," constant reminders that life is worth living, if not for them then for their late friend.

Now, twenty-eight years into the hard-worn lines of adulthood, their "funerals" only remind them of all the opportunities they missed. But when one member of the old gang receives an unexpected diagnosis, the pact takes on new meaning, and each friend is forced to confront old secrets, and weigh their now-middle-age lives against the idealistic dreams of their youth.

A deeply honest tribute to selfhood and the people who keep us going, The Celebrants, coupled with Steven Rowley's signature humor and heart, is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth, and all the beautiful ways in which friendship can transcend our deepest losses.


*************************************************
Title: An Unwanted Guest
Author: Shari Lapena
Length8 hrs and 27 mins / 352  pp
Published: August 2018
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/25
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I picked this up after reading The Gal's review, and my interest was piqued.  I love a locked door mystery and this didn't disappoint!  So many suspectable characters--everybody has a secret!  The setting and claustrophobic atmosphere of the book worked and you could feel the nerves of the guests fraying as they are cut off from the outside world, from electricity and heat, and begin turning on each other.  There were a few slow parts but overall the story worked.

I was not fond of the audio narrator.

From the publisher:
A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away

It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing--maybe even romantic--weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.

So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity--and all contact with the outside world--the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.

Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead--it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.

Within the snowed-in paradise, something--or someone--is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm--and one another.



*************************************************
Title: The Couple Next Door
Author: Shari Lapena
Length8 hrs and 40 mins / 308  pp
Published: August 2016
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/26
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars


After reading a locked-door mystery by this author yesterday, I looked up the author's domestic thrillers and this was available at the library so I read it today.  It's convoluted, twisty, utterly unbelievable and unput-downable!  I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.  What a twisty thrill.  The characters are unlikeable but that's part of the fun.  All I wanted was for baby Cora to be safe.

From the publisher:
How well do you know the couple next door? Or your husband? Or even—yourself?  

People are capable of almost anything. . . 

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . . 

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco  soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. 

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of  deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.


*************************************************
Title: Death Comes To Marlow
Author: Robert Thorogood
Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins / 359  pp
Published: January 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 11/29
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This second in the series didn't disappoint!  Judith, Suzie, and Becks are back in action--and we get a better sense of each character's backstory.  What an eccentric trio.

The mystery is a classic locked room.  I suspected the guilty party but couldn't work out the how of it.  There are some surprising twists.  The family of the victim, Sir Peter, was annoying.  Caricatures instead of characters.

I can't wait for more!

From the publisher:
It’s been an enjoyable and murder-free time for Judith, Suzie and Becks – AKA the Marlow Murder Club – since the events of last year. The most exciting thing on the horizon is the upcoming wedding of Marlow grandee, Sir Peter Bailey, to his nurse, Jenny Page. Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding, and Judith and Co. are looking forward to a bit of free champagne.

But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be crushed to death in his study.

The study was locked from the inside, so the police don’t consider the death suspicious. But Judith disagrees. As far as she's concerned, Peter was murdered! And it’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find the killer before he or she strikes again…


*************************************************
Title: The Christmas Invitation
Author: Trisha Ashely
Length14 hrs and 31 mins / 308  pp
Published: October 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/1
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I liked that the main character was not a damsel in distress.  Both she and her love interest were understandably flawed people.  It was a fun story.

From the publisher:
Recovering after an illness Meg is far from in the Christmas mood, in fact she’s hardly aware it’s approaching at all. They didn’t celebrate it where she grew up and she’s never gone in for the tinsel, baubles and mistletoe of it all. But when the opportunity arises to spend the run up to Christmas in the snowy countryside, rather than dreary London, she can’t say she isn’t curious… although she’ll definitely leave before they bring out the turkey.

Tasked with painting two portraits in not very much time, Meg sets to work. Although it doesn’t take long for the magic in the air to begin to make her wonder just a little curious about what a proper family Christmas might be like.

But just as she’s beginning to settle in she spots a familiar face. Lex… more like a missile than a blast from the past. Despite the wonderful festive cheer, Meg suddenly wants nothing more than to get as far away from Lex and their past secrets as she can. But she can’t leave until she’s finished the portraits and discovered what really is so magical about Christmas…



*************************************************
Title: The Book of Charlie
Author: David von Drehle
Length7 hrs and 0 mins / 194  pp
Published: May 2023
Book Group:  School
Finished: 12/2
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I thought this would be Charlie's story and I was looking forward to the wit and wisdom of someone who experienced over a century of life; however, it was a social history according to the author with the life of Charlie as the backdrop.  I wanted more of Charlie's experiences in his own words rather than a recounting of episodes.

From the publisher:
When a veteran Washington journalist moved to Kansas, he met a new neighbor who was more than a century old. Little did he know that he was beginning a long friendship—and a profound lesson in the meaning of life. Charlie White was no ordinary neighbor. Born before radio, Charlie lived long enough to use a smartphone. When a shocking tragedy interrupted his idyllic boyhood, Charlie mastered survival strategies that reflect thousands of years of human wisdom. Thus armored, Charlie’s sense of adventure carried him on an epic journey across the continent, and later found him swinging across bandstands of the Jazz Age, racing aboard ambulances through Depression-era gangster wars, improvising techniques for early open-heart surgery, and cruising the Amazon as a guest of Peru’s president.

David Von Drehle came to understand that Charlie’s resilience and willingness to grow made this remarkable neighbor a master in the art of thriving through times of dramatic change. As a gift to his children, he set out to tell Charlie’s secrets. The Book of Charlie is a gospel of grit—the inspiring story of one man’s journey through a century of upheaval. The history that unfolds through Charlie’s story reminds you that the United States has always been a divided nation, a questing nation, an inventive nation—a nation of Charlies in the rollercoaster pursuit of a good and meaningful life.




*************************************************
Title: Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse
Author: Maddie Day
Length3 hrs and 4 mins / 114  pp
Published: June 2021
Book Group:  No
Finished: 12/3
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

A quick, fun, cozy mystery set in a country restaurant.  I might have to start this series.

From the publisher:
When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan's country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie's hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder...






*************************************************
Title: The Secret World of Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus
Author: K. C. McKinnon
Length: none 64  pp
Published: January 2014
Book Group:  No
Finished: 12/3
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This imagining of the secret world of Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus was written by a local author.  It is charming, delightful, and poignant.  I especially liked the palpable love between the Mr. & Mrs. and the enduring friendship with the elves.

I read this for a holiday book event at my library.  I've still got a smile on my face.

From the publisher:
They are Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, and they belong to Christmas. They have existed in the lives of most of us since we were children. Are they just figments of our imaginations? Or has our conjuring them up for so many holiday seasons given them the power to become real? What is life like at the North Pole? How do they survive in a land of so much ice and darkness? What does it take to prepare for that big night each December, the one we know as Christmas Eve? Are the elves similar to the ones we see in books and on Christmas cards? Who takes care of the reindeer, and do they really have names? In this small book about love, endurance, and the power of belief, K. C. McKinnon takes us into a world where Santa Claus, his wife, Milly, and even his elves are more like us than we realized. After reading THE SECRET WORLD OF MR. & MRS. SANTA CLAUS, everything you thought you knew about Christmas will change.




*************************************************
Title: All Is Calm
AuthorShannon Butler (Editor)
Length: none / 160 p
Published: October  2019
Book Group: Library
Finished: 12/6
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This was a re-read for my library book group's December gathering.  It was a lively meeting with everyone sharing family stories in the vein of this delightful book's stories, poems, essays, and histories.  

From the publisher:
Since Maine’s earliest days, stories have been written about the joys of Christmas in the state. In times of hardship and in times of wealth, Maine and her people have always put the value of Christmas in time shared with family and friends, connections with the natural world, rich traditions and warm woodstoves. This heartwarming and diverse collection of essays, stories, and poetry from the mid-1800s through the Great Depression through today shows that while Christmas trends may change, the warmth, gratitude, and humility of the Maine spirit is evergreen.



*************************************************
Title: One More Christmas at the Castle
Author: Trisha Ashley
Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins / 532  pp
Published: October 2021
Book Group:  No
Finished: 12/7
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

It's a good thing there's a list of characters.  There are a lot of different arrivals at the castle.  And the castle is as much a character as any person.  The main character, Dido, senses the special atmosphere of the castle and its winter garden.  I enjoyed the rapport between Dido and her best friend and business partner, Henry.  They are well-developed characters.  My only complaint is that it's a bit long--or rather, slow.

From the publisher:
Elderly widow Sabine knows this will be her last Christmas in her beloved home, Mitras Castle. Determined to make it just like the ones she remembers from her childhood, she employs Dido Jones of Heavenly Houseparties to help with the big day.

Dido is enchanted by the castle as soon as she steps through the imposing front door. And as Christmas day approaches, her feeling of connection to the old house runs deeper than she first thought.

But when the snow begins to fall and Sabine's family arrive at the house - including Dido's teenage crush Xan - tensions rise around the castle's future and long-buried mysteries begin to unravel...

As past secrets come to light, can this still be a magical Christmas to remember?



*************************************************
Title: A Wish For Winter
Author: Viola Shipman
Length12 hrs and 02 mins / 416  pp
Published: November 2022
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/10
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This is just the kind of Christmas read I love.  Plus it's a bookstore-owning main character.  It's a story about friendship, family, and love--although it's not a traditional romance story.  

From the publisher:
Despite losing her parents in a tragic accident just before her fourteenth Christmas, Susan Norcross has had it better than most, with loving grandparents to raise her and a gang of quirky, devoted friends to support her. Now a successful bookstore owner in a tight-knit Michigan lakeside community, Susan is facing down forty—the same age as her mother when she died—and she can’t help but see everything she hasn’t achieved, including finding a love match of her own. To add to the pressure, everyone in her small town believes it’s Susan’s destiny to meet and marry a man dressed as Santa, just like her mother and grandmother before her. So it seems cosmically unfair that the man she makes an instant connection with at an annual Santa Run is lost in the crowd before she can get his name.

What follows is Susan and her friends’ hilarious and heartwarming search for the mystery Santa—covering twelve months of social media snafus, authors behaving badly and dating fails—as well as a poignant look at family, friendship and what defines a well-lived and well-loved life.



*************************************************
Title: The Christmas Bookshop
Author: Jenny Colgan
Length11 hrs and 23 mins / 310  pp
Published: October 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/17
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I liked this story about sisters, family, and finding yourself.  Plus the bookstore setting was quirky.  I wanted to shake Carmen a few times, but she was a loveable mess.

From the publisher:
When the department store she works in closes for good, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. She doesn’t want to move in with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life.

Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want Carmen there either. Her sister has always been sarcastic and difficult. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, so welcoming Carmen might still have some benefits for everyone.

At Sofia’s behest, Carmen is thrown into the daily workings of old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the streets of the old dark city. Can she use her design skills to revamp the store and bring it back to popularity in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic? Can she choose between bad boy literary rock star Blair and quiet Quaker student Oke? And will she heal the rift with the most important people of all: her family?



*************************************************
Title: The Book Club Hotel
Author: Sarah Morgan
Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins / 385  pp
Published: September 2023
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/20
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 A book about friendship and book clubs set at Christmastime in Vermont!  I think my favorite character was Anna--I loved her relationship with her husband.  Claudia the broken-hearted chef was a close second.  Erica annoyed me.  Oh, and Hattie--I want to be friends with her!

I enjoyed this book and will revisit it.

From the publisher:
With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the winter destination. As the holidays approach, the inn is fully booked with guests looking for their dream vacation. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through the festive season.

But when Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends who seem to have it all—check in for a girlfriends’ book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs. In the span of a week over the most enchanting time of the year, can these four women come together to improve each other’s lives and make this the start of a whole new chapter?



*************************************************
Title: A Season for Second Chances
Author: Jenny Bayliss
Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins / 448  pp
Published: October 2021
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/23
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I liked the main character and the quirky friends she makes.  And the community's dedication to tradition and celebrating was fun.  It's really a coming-of-middle-age story.

From the publisher:
A charmingly quirky seaside town offers a recently separated restauranteur a fresh start and possibly a new lease on love in A Season for Second Chances, by the author of The Twelve Dates of Christmas.

Annie Sharpe's spark for life has fizzled out. Her kids are grown up, her restaurant is doing just fine on its own, and her twenty-six-year marriage has come to an unceremonious end. Untethered for the first time in her adult life, she finds a winter guardian position in a historic seaside home and decides to leave her city life behind for a brand-new beginning.

When she arrives in Willow Bay, Annie is enamored by the charming house, the invigorating sea breeze, and the town's rich seasonal traditions. Not to mention, her neighbors receive her with open arms--that is, all except the surly nephew of the homeowner, whose grand plans for the property are at odds with her residency. As Christmas approaches, tensions and tides rise in Willow Bay, and Annie's future seems less and less certain. But with a little can-do spirit and holiday magic, the most difficult time of her life will become...a season for second chances.


*************************************************
Title: Christmas Cliche
Author: Tara Sivec
Length5 hrs and 41 mins / 252  pp
Published: November 2019
Book Group:  no
Finished: 12/24
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An aptly named story that included all the Christmas cliches!  But it worked!  This is a fun, feel-good book that was a quick read.  I loved the premise, that Allie is a down-to-earth sister of twin celebutant reality stars.  And her bestie was adorably out of touch.  Family is a big part of this rom-com and again, all the cliches worked.

From the publisher:
‘Twas the week before Christmas
and all through L.A.,
Allie Parker’s famous twin sisters
were driving her cray.
She fled to the mountains
with a hostage in tow,
hoping to sleep through the holidays,
which were a shit-show.
A crash in a blizzard,
and a hot mountain man,
definitely wasn’t part
of her evacuation plan.
Santas, and stockings,
and creepy nutcrackers too,
everywhere she looks,
it’s a crazy Christmas zoo.
But there are hugs, and smiles,
and a beautiful view,
kisses and laughter,
and no time to be blue.
Maybe this family,
with their hot mountain man,
will make this a Christmas
Allie can actually stand.


*************************************************
Title: Tom Lake
Author: Ann Patchett
Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins / 309  pp
Published: August 2023
Book Group:  Both
Finished: 12/29
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is the story of discovering our parents are humans.  It's set during the height of the pandemic but tells the story of the past and hopes for the future.  Lara, the main character is a mother to three adult daughters, home to help on the family's cherry farm because of the pandemic.  They coax Lara into regaling them with her youthful brush with fame as an aspiring actress.  

Lara relays some parts of her story and withholds other parts--to preserve the image of herself or others around her.  Some parts of her story don't need to be told to her daughters.  

Because of my own family's involvement in community theater, I could relate to the excitement and bonds that are a result of mounting a production.

This is masterful storytelling.  I hung on every word, on every sentence.  Meryl Streep's narration is wonderful.  I think I will try to read it as well, I suspect it will be a very different experience to read it.

From the publisher:
This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor.
This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn't famous at all.
It's about falling so wildly in love with him – the way one will at twenty-four – that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight.
There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end.


It's spring and Lara's three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they've always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.