🟣 :::READING THREAD::: Week of October 29th

JUST ANOTHER MISSING PERSON (‘23 - 2 STARS / DNF BY GILLIAN MCALLISTER
DESCRIPTION : There’s a man out there. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife. It’s a secret. 
OLIVIA: 22 years old. No history of running away. Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.
Missing for one day and counting . . .
JULIA: The detective heading up the case. She knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her daughter. But Julia has no idea how close to home this case is going to get. Because her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must not find out what happened to Olivia and must frame somebody else for her murder . . .
What would you do?

REVIEW :
First 2 books by this author for me were Wrong Place Wrong Time (‘22) and The Good Sister (‘19) which I gave 4 stars to both. I must have lost track of this author and missed That Night (‘21) and How to Disappear (‘20); both look good but are not available for Kindle users; that’s probably why I never read.

pjaye gave this book 3 stars. Bridget in MD gave it 4.5 stars. Let’s see where this book takes me.

At 28% I didn’t remember this author’s writing being very choppy; is not flowing for me at all. I’m reading on. Took awhile (35~40%) to reveal a main character; maybe now I’ll enjoy it better. At 60% still boring and choppy. Just not worth finishing. 



THE MURDER LIST (‘22 - 4 STARS) BY JACKIE KABLER
DESCRIPTION : When Mary receives a blank diary as a present, she thinks nothing of it. Until she opens the diary, and sees it’s not blank after all…
Jan 1st MURDER LISA, OXFORD
Feb 1st MURDER JANE, BIRMINGHAM
1st March MURDER DAVID, CARDIFF
1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM
Is this a sick joke? But…it’s the end of January now. And a woman called Lisa was murdered in Oxford on 1st January.  Could there really be a killer out there, planning to commit a new murder each month? And is the Mary due to be killed on 1st April her?

REVIEW :
My first book by this author was The Vanishing of Class 3B (‘23 - 4 Stars). 2Pea lainey commented she read 3 others and enjoyed them all.

Like the writing just like the first book I read. Original plot that moved along at a perfect pace. Very entertaining.



HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all !  

I read The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling. She writes books under Rachel Hawkins too.
Gwyn Jones is perfectly happy with her life in Graves Glenn. She, her mom and her cousin have formed a new and powerful coven, she's running a successful witchcraft shop, Something Wicked and she's started mentoring some of the younger witches in town. As Halloween approaches, there's only one problem -Llewellyn "Wells" Penhallow.
Wells came to Graves Glenn to reestablish his family's connection to the town they founded and to make a new life for himself after years of being the dutiful son in Wales. When he opens up a shop of his own, Penhallow's just across the street from Something Wicked, he quickly learns he's gotten more than he bargained for in going up against Gwyn.
When their professional competition leads to a very personal and very hot kiss, both Wells and Gwyn are determined to stay away from each other, convinced the kiss was just a magical fluke. But when a mysterious new coven of witches comes to town and Gwyn's powers begin fading,she and Wells must work together to figure out just what these new witches want and how to restore Gwyn's magic before it is too late.

Cute story ,perfect for Halloween reading!🧙‍♀️🖤🎃👻🧡☠💚

I'm reading the latest Ken Follett book of the Kingsbridge series - The Armor of Light which is very good and so far it's 5 stars from me. I've really enjoyed this whole series but wasn't sure I would get into this book as much as I'm not as into the timeframe that it follows.

The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day
Set in the USA, modern day.
The books starts 15 years earlier when Ashley answered the door  - her husband's mistress gave her Callan, her newborn son, and said it was time for his father to care for him...and then she vanished. They've all been waiting for her to reappear some day, but now she's been found in the bottom of an old water filled quarry in her car and it becomes evident that she has been dead all this time.
The story is about the investigation and all the small town secrets that come up. 
A good mystery with a few surprises.
3 stars.

The Fall by Gilly Macmillan
This is the same book also known as 'The Manor House'
Set in the UK, Nicole & Tom win the lottery and buy their dream house, then not long after they move in Tom is found dead in the pool. There's also a parallel story involving their helpful neighbours and their mysterious housekeeper Kitty.
I really liked this one, it's told from several points of view, and the story of Tom's death evolves over time, and it has a strong finish.
mnmloveli this is much better than Just Another Missing Person.
4 stars

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. My dear friend and Goddaughter raved about this one and I worked myself slowly up the library hold list! Ironically, I listened to a Podcast about the book (Currently Reading) the day that my hold *finally* came through. This was one of those books that was so immersive that you missed it when you weren't reading which, even though there were moments where it dragged a bit, is my mark of a five-star read. Beautifully written, heart wrenching, and a fascinating peek into the Mar Thoma Christians of India. I am listening to the Oprah interviews and Book Discussion with the author now. 5/5 stars.


A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchmann. Non-fiction stashed in the downstairs bath, read a bit at a time (started in early January.) Interesting history of Europe during the 14th-century and how it was a calamitous and turbulent century. I bought this probably 30 years ago and have moved it from house to house since then, I had no idea back in the day how relevant it would be when I finally got around to reading. It gave me a lot of food for thought of how some of the turbulence lead to the Protestant Reformation. 3/5 stars.


Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon. Many years ago, we went to a Titanic exhibit which gave you a card as you entered with the name of a passenger and as you exited, you were tasked with checking to see if that passenger survived the disaster. Lawhon uses the historical record in the same way regarding the fate of her characters and it was well done. While some of the parts of the voyage itself dragged, the ending, as well as the lingering thoughts about being German in 1937 and the usage of blimps in their army was fascinating. For the strength of these items, I rounded up to 3.5/5 stars.

I read:

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner. I gave it 3.5/5 stars
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. I gave it 3/5 stars. It was enjoyable and sad.
The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The Woman in Me - it opened my eyes to stuff that Britney has gone through and was sad at the same time for her.

I’m a Lisa Jewell fan.  

Her most recent book, None of This is True was a 5-star read for me!  Her last two books before that were a disappointment as I thought they were both slow & boring, but all others are 4-star reads for me.

The Night She Disappeared ‘21 - Read ‘22 & The Invisible Girl ‘20) for me were slow & boring (3 Stars),  

All others I have read by her received 4 stars (The Girls in the Garden (‘20), I Found You (‘17 - Read ‘20), The Family Upstairs (‘19), Watching You (‘18 - Read ‘19) and Then She Was Gone (‘17 - Read ‘18).

Thanks for the recommendations! I have written a list and am going to see what they have!

I just finished reading The September House which someone on here recommended.  Totally not a book I would normally gravitate to, but it was a fun read leading up to Halloween.  I really like the "pranksters" in the book and their characteristics and mannerisms.  I would definitely read a book like this again.  


When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

You couldn't get any further because you don't have subscription or because it wasn't that great any longer?