This is a pretty good YA Mystery/Thriller about a young woman’s search for a sister who joined a group that may or may not be a cult.
Continue reading “The Project by Courtney Summers”
This is another great mystery/thriller by John Hart. I always look forward to his books because they are so well written, and the stories are so original, that it’s an immense pleasure to read them. This book is set in the South during the Vietnam War and follows one family as they struggle with the invisible wounds of PTSD and the growing pains of coming of age.
Continue reading “The Unwilling by John Hart”
This is a fun, entertaining mystery/romance that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Finlay is a young mother of two getting divorced from her cheating husband. She’s a struggling mystery/romance author who has writer’s block and is in danger of having to return her meager book advance. She’s in debt up to her eyeballs, her husband is fighting her for custody and she can’t catch a break. A last minute change of plans has her meeting her book agent in a Panera restaurant sitting amongst a lunchtime throng. As she discusses the latest plot of her murder mystery, she senses the woman at the table next to her listening in and eyeing her.
Continue reading “Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano”
This was the book for our January book club meeting. I hadn’t heard of the book until it was chosen, and then it seemed like I saw it everywhere. The book is a well-written peek into the life of residents in a section of a housing project in south Brooklyn. The story starts with an alcoholic, cranky elderly church deacon named Sportcoat shooting the local drug dealer in front of everyone in the middle of the project’s courtyard. From there, the book weaves the stories of the various residents from the Five Ends Baptist Church that witnessed the shooting and are affected by it, as well as the police officer assigned to investigate the shooting and a local Italian mobster.
Continue reading “Deacon King Kong by James McBride”
Meh. This an ok fantasy. It’s an easy read, but the story doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s listed as a YA Fantasy and while the story is as simplistic as a YA book, I think the inclusion of a lot of discussion about sex takes it out of that category. Perhaps if you’re talking about college-age YA, then perhaps.
Continue reading “Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley”
This is a good mystery/thriller that is a quick and easy read. Sam sustained a serious head injury in Afghanistan and is suffering from severe PTSD. He gets a job as a bar back in a club and is trying to deal with his injury and repair his failing marriage. One night Sam shelters his co-worker Melody who was beaten by her boyfriend. When the boyfriend turns up dead the next day, both Sam and Melody are suspects.
Continue reading “Deeper into the Dark (Detective Margaret Nolan #1) by P.J. Tracy”
My overall feeling about this contemporary romance book is a solid “meh”. It’s not the worst I’ve read, but I won’t remember what this book is about in a week. The writing is fine, but the two characters aren’t interesting, the romance is very clunky and the side plots kind of ridiculous.
Continue reading “No Offense (Little Bridge Island, #2) by Meg Cabot”
This is another fascinating, engrossing mystery/thriller in the Cormoran Strike book series. This time, Private Investigator Strike and his partner Robin tackle a 40 year old missing person case of a woman that is a suspected victim of a notorious serial killer.
Continue reading “Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #5) by Robert Galbraith”
I’m a sucker for a John Grisham novel, and this one delivers everything you expect from one of his books. Once again we visit Jake Brigance, who has been assigned to represent Drew Gamble, a 16 year old boy accused of killing a Sheriff’s deputy. The trial tears the town apart, and Jake and his family are thrust smack in the middle of the controversy.
Continue reading “A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) by John Grisham”
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