🟣 :::READING THREAD::: Week of September 10th

Yesterday I finished The Vanishing OF Class 3B by Jackie Kabler which was recommended by mnmloveli who gave it 4 stars. I liked it but thought parts of it dragged with the same stuff over and over. Especially the parts with the police. The premise was interesting and I was engaged in finding out what *secret* one or more of the parents had. Wasn’t thrilled with the ending. Seemed too abrupt. 3.5/5 stars

I have just started reading The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros.

I was visiting with my kids and grandkids last week so I didn't get much reading done, other than on the plane ride back and forth. I had my Kobo with me so I just randomly picked something I had downloaded ages ago - Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt. It was the perfect read for the plane and I will look for more of the Andy Carpenter series.

From Goodreads:
"Whether dueling with new forensics or the local old boys' network, irreverent defense attorney Andy Carpenter always leaves them awed with his biting wit and winning fourth-quarter game plan. But Andy prefers the company of his best friend, Tara, to the people he encounters in the courtroom. Tara, a golden retriever, is clearly smarter than half the lawyers who clog the courts of Passaic County. However, just as it seems Andy has everything figured out, his dad, New Jersey's legendary ex-D.A., drops dead in front of him at a game in Yankee Stadium. The shocks pile on as he discovers his dad left him with two unexpected legacies: a fortune of $22 million that Andy never knew existed... and a murder case with enough racial tinder to burn down City Hall. Struggling to serve justice and bring honor to his father, Andy must dig up some explosive political skeletons - and an astonishing family secret that can close his case (and his mouth) for good."

Two books from last week………..



HAPPINESS FALLS (‘23 - 3 STARS) BY ANGIE KIM
DESCRIPTION : “We didn’t call the police right away.” Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing. Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, and human connection, Happiness Falls is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. With all the powerful storytelling she brought to her award-winning debut, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim turns the missing-person story into something wholly original, creating an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another.

REVIEW :
Debut book by this author was Miracle Creek (‘19 - 5 Stars).

I forgot how descriptive and almost lyrical this author’s writing is. Her words slow me down and take me to another place. Also didn’t remember how long her sentences are! At 25% confused over quotients vs differences / happiness theories, but I’m trying to just push on. These sections of the dad’s happiness research became very tedious and continued thru about 45-50%; almost lost me. The author’s intellect is definitely over my head, especially concerning Angelman Syndrome. At times felt like I was reading a college text book but then the mystery plot would seep-in and keep me reading. Tough read for me.



THE COWORKER (‘23 - 3 STARS) BY FREIDA MCFADDEN
DESCRIPTION : Two women. An office filled with secrets. One terrible crime that can't be taken back. Dawn Schiff is strange. At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m. So when Dawn doesn't show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell―beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running―is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything. It turns out Dawn wasn't just an awkward outsider―she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her wondering: who's the real victim?  But one thing is incredibly clear: somebody hated Dawn Schiff. Enough to kill.

REVIEW :
New author for me in late 2022 and I’ve read 7 books so far: One by One (‘20 - Read ‘23 - 4 Stars), The Perfect Son (‘19 - Read ‘23 - 4 Stars), Ward D (‘23 - 5 Stars), The Housemaid’s Secret (‘23 - 5 Stars), The Inmate (‘22 - 3 Stars) and The Housemaid (‘22 - 5 Stars) and Never Lie (‘22 - 4 Stars).

Quick read to 70% with nothing much happening. At this point the book took-off with big reveals and twists. I didn’t like the ending at all. Disappointing read that barely got 3 stars.



REMEMBER : “Reading can take you places you have never been before” - Dr. Seuss 

Read “The Five-Star Weekend” by Elin Hilderbrand. It’s her latest summer beach read which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Currently halfway through “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang. About a young woman writer who ends up with her Asian best-selling writer friend’s latest manuscript and passes it off as her own. It caught my attention quickly, but I just realized that I don’t like any of the main characters so I may DNF this one. We’ll see….

I read She Started It. I did not like it at all. Surprised myself by even finishing it. She Started It is a hot, twisty summer debut thriller about a group of young women whose Caribbean bachelorette party takes a sinister turn. It’s Lord of the Flies meets And Then There Were None...but with Instagram and too much prosecco.

I also read Happy Place I liked this one, even if you know how it will end. Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

That's part of the fun of this book though, there's a lot of satire and we aren't meant to like the main characters, they are all despicable in their own way.
It's fun/funny to have them all admit to the things that most people keep hidden.

Very true!  But I guess I should have been a bit stronger in my statement:  I really dislike most of the characters in this one and don’t think I want to spend any more time with them. 

I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt I listened to this on Audible and it was narrated by Marin Ireland & Michael Urie. Michael Urie does an amazing job narrating Marcellus the octopus! I gave it 5 stars on GR.

I read The Art Thief by Michael Finley. It’s a true story about a young unemployed man living in his mother’s attic in the 1990s who, with his girlfriend’s help, become the world’s most prolific art thief. He walked into art museums all over Europe and walked out with the pieces that caught his eye.

It’s a fast read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I was in the middle of reading the book, we visited the NC Art Museum. It’s a wonderful museum, but I couldn’t stop thinking “I wonder if I could get away w/ stealing that piece.” 🤣🤣🤣

I hardly ever read anymore so I'm not normally posting in these threads but I went to the beach last week and wanted a book to read on vacation.  Some books, over the past few years, I've started to read and just never worked up interest to continue.

My daughter loaned me her book "A Husbands Secret" by Liane Moriarty.  I truly enjoyed it and have learned thy are planning to make it into a movie starring Blake Lively.  Very excited about that!


At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read…



My darling Cecilia,

If you’re reading this, then I’ve died…



Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not only the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. And then imagine that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive…



Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. But that letter is about to change everything—and not just for her. There are other women who barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they, too, are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Add me to the None of This is True list this week. I liked it; didn't love it, but thought it was good.