Books Read in 2021
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Friday, July 8, 2022
Book Review - The House Across the Lake; Riley Sager
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Book Review - One Step Too Far; Lisa Gardner
THE FIRST THREE MEN CAME stumbling into town shortly after ten A.M., babbling of dark shapes and eerie screams and their missing buddy Scott and their other buddy Tim, who set out from their campsite before dawn to get help.
"Bear, bear, bear," the first guy moaned.
"Mountain lion!" the second guy insisted.
Third guy vomited.
Frankie Elkin is a wonderful character, she damaged yet she feels deeply and suffers guilt and remorse over things that have happened in the past. There are very specific details about wilderness survival, clothing, equipment, things needed in an emergency - all that was fascinating to someone like me who has always made it a point to stay out of the woods. I loved the dynamics between the characters, most of them have changed and suffered in some way since Tim's disappearance. Frankie is a newbie to this group and, of course, she's an outsider that needs to observe and carefully weigh what she says and does to this group of strangers. Bad things happen deep in these woods and the tension and wonder about who will survive this ordeal and whether Tim or his remains be found was always on my mind as I read. I thought this book was very good and I loved that this one had an ending that I hadn't thought about as well. Don't miss this new series.
Rating - 4.5/5 stars
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - One Step Too Far; Lisa Gardner
Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read soon. I started this book and it's quite addictive. It's Book #2 of the Frankie Elkin series which began last year with: Before She Disappeared (loved that one.)
THE FIRST THREE MEN CAME stumbling into town shortly after ten A.M., babbling of dark shapes and eerie screams and their missing buddy Scott and their other buddy Tim, who set out from their campsite before dawn to get help.
"Bear, bear, bear," the first guy moaned.
"Mountain lion!" the second guy insisted.
Third guy vomited.
What do you think - read more or pass? (Lots of details about hiking, camping and rescue and recovery.)
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Book Review - Before She Disappeared; Lisa Gardner
TITLE/AUTHOR: Before She Disappeared; Lisa Gardner
PUBLISHER: Dutton
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021
GENRE: Fiction Thriller
FORMAT: eGalley PP/LENGTH: 395 pp.
SOURCE: NetGalley
SETTING(s): Mattapan, MA
ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: One woman on a mission to find the missing people others have forgotten about.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Fifty Words for Rain; Asha Lemmie
Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read soon.
Fifty Words for Rain; Asha Lemmie
Dutton - 2020
PRELUDE
Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Summer 1948
"The first real memory Nori had was pulling up to that house. For many years afterward, she would try to stretch the boundaries of her mind further, to what came before that day. Time and time again, she'd lie on her back in the stillness of the night and try to recall. Sometimes she'd catch a glimpse in her head of a tiny apartment with lurid yellow walls. But the image would disappear as quickly as it came, leaving no sense of satisfaction in its wake. And so if you asked her, Nori would say that her life had officially begun the day she laid eyes on that imposing estate that rested serenely between the crests of two green hills. It was a stunningly beautiful place--there was no denying it--and yet, despite this beauty, Nori felt her stomach clench and her gut churn at the sight of it. Her mother rarely took her anywhere, and somehow she knew that something was waiting for her there that she would not like."
What do you think pass or read more? I loved the sound of this from the first time I read about it on Judy's Blog, Keep the Wisdom. I'm enjoying this one so far.
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Book review - In Case of Emergency; E.G. Scott
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - In Case of Emergency; E.G. Scott
"This is going to end badly.
It's chaos here. They're not listening to me. I've told them that we need to stop operating, but their talking over me, drowning me out. I know what I'm doing. I'm an integral part of this team. Hell, I'm the smartest person in the room.
Her vitals are a mess. Her breathing is shallow and labored. Her color is all off."
I started this one and it has really drawn me in. What do you think?
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Book Review - Home Before Dark; Riley Sager
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Home Before Dark; Riley Sager
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Lock Every Door; Riley Sager
FORMAT: eGalley
Desperate for cash, she learns of a job as a apartment sitter at the swanky Bartholomew in Manhattan. It's a job that pays $12,000 for a 3-month commitment. She applies and is hired but, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is as Jules quickly learns.
It isn't long before Jules begins to learn about the Bartholomew's mysterious past. Then there are the odd and very strict rules that she and the other apartment sitter's must adhere to. Jules befriends Ingrid, another sitter, and is warned by her that she must be careful because bad things that have occurred in the building. Almost immediately after warning Jules, Ingrid goes missing in the middle of the night. Jules feels compelled to investigate what happened to her and learning she wasn't the first sitter to disappear from the Bartholomew. It's a race against the clock for Jules who realizes that she must find away to leave the job before it's too late.
The story begins with the "NOW" with Jules on a stretcher after she's been hit by a car. The story is well-paced going back from the present to what transpired in the six days prior. There are several odd characters, I thought some felt rather flat but, I did like that it was hard to tell who could be trusted. The story slowed a little early on but, it did hold my interest and it ended with a twist I never anticipated. Overall, a pretty darn good creepy read.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Lock Every Door; Riley Sager
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Turtles All the Way Down; John Green
Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph, maybe two, of a book that I'm reading or plan to read soon.
Based on that intro, would you read more or pass? Feel free to join us by posting your own INTRO and linking below.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Fool Me Once; Harlan Coben
Friday, April 1, 2016
Find Her; Lisa Gardner
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You - 3 new titles that caught my eye
For generations the Millers have lived in Miller’s Valley. Mimi Miller tells about her life with intimacy and honesty. As Mimi eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship and the risks of passion, loyalty, and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.”
Miller’s Valley is a masterly study of family, memory, loss, and, ultimately, discovery, of finding true identity and a new vision of home. As Mimi says, “No one ever leaves the town where they grew up, even if they go.” Miller’s Valley reminds us that the place where you grew up can disappear, and the people in it too, but all will live on in your heart forever.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Week in Review and New Books
- Love in Lowercase; Francesc Miralles
- River Road; Carol Goodman
- French Leave; Anna Gavalda
- The Madwoman Upstairs; Catherine Lowell
- American Housewife: Stories; Helen Ellis
I'm in the process of rereading, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath for my book group meeting at the end of the month. It's a great read and I am enjoying it since it's been over 15 years since I last read it. I'm also reading, Eleanor by Jason Gurley and, I also finished reading a quick debut novel called, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad (no review yet).
New Book Arrivals by Mail
- Why We Came to the City; Kristopher Jansma (sent by Viking)
- Version Control; Dexter Palmer (sent by Pantheon)
- Fool Me Once; Harlen Coben - (sent by Dutton)
- Small Mercies; Eddie Joyce (sent by Penguin)
- The Life of Elves; Muriel Barbery (Europa purchase)
- Everyone Brave is Forgiven; Chris Cleave (sent by Simon & Schuster)
- Britt-Marie Was Here; Fredrik Backman (Atria - sent by Simon & Schuster)
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Coming Soon to a Book Store Near You - 3 NEW Thrillers
Winter is always a great time to cozy with an exciting thriller. Here are some new ones coming out next month from some favorite author.
Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.
Flora Dane is a survivor.
Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.
Flora Dane is reckless.
. . . or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.
A vanished child, a family in turmoil, and a fateful phone call that brings the torments of the past into the harrowing present . . . the New York Times bestselling author of Someone Is Watchingweaves these spellbinding elements into a gripping novel of psychological suspense—a must-read for fans of Laura Lippman and Mary Higgins Clark.
“I think my real name is Samantha. I think I’m your daughter.”
Caroline Shipley’s heart nearly stops when she hears those words from the voice on the other end of the phone. Instantly, she’s thrust fifteen years into the past, to a posh resort in Baja, Mexico—and the fateful night her world collapsed.
The trip is supposed to be a celebration. Caroline’s husband, Hunter, convinces her to leave their two young daughters, Michelle and Samantha, alone in their hotel suite while the couple enjoys an anniversary dinner in the restaurant downstairs. But returning afterward, Caroline and Hunter make a horrifying discovery: Two-year-old Samantha has vanished without a trace.
What follows are days, weeks, and years of anguish for Caroline. She’s tormented by media attention that has branded her a cold, incompetent mother, while she struggles to save her marriage. Caroline also has to deal with the demands of her needy elder daughter, Michelle, who is driven to cope in dangerous ways. Through it all, Caroline desperately clings to the hope that Samantha will someday be found—only to be stung again and again by cruel reality.
Plunged back into the still-raw heartbreak of her daughter’s disappearance, and the suspicions and inconsistencies surrounding a case long gone cold, Caroline doesn’t know whom or what to believe. The only thing she can be sure of is that someone is fiercely determined to hide the truth of what happened to Samantha.
The USA TODAY bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series makes her suspense debut with this sexy, heartpounding story of a young woman determined to find justice after her best friend’s death, a story pulsing with the “intense, hot, emotional” (Colleen Hoover) writing that exhilarates her legions of fans.
A woman who almost had it all . . .
On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?
A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .
Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.
Until he became her ruin.
On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Remarkable Creatures; Tracy Chevalier
Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where I share the first paragraph sometimes two from a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon. (This one is my book group pick)
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