🟣 :::READING THREAD::: Week of June 23

A TALENT FOR MURDER (HENRY KIMBALL BK #3 - ‘24 - 267 PGS - 4 STARS) BY PETER SWANSON
DESCRIPTION : A newlywed librarian begins to suspect the man she married might be a murderer.
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women. Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence?

REVIEW :

Very consistent author with the exception of his last book, a Christmas Novella - The Christmas Guest (‘23 - 2 Stars) which was only 100 pages and boring, to me! 5 previous books by this author for me were all 4or5 stars; The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball Bk 2 - ‘23 - 4 Stars), Nine Lives (‘22 - 4 Stars), Every Vow You Break (‘21 - 4 Stars), Before She Knew Him (‘19 - 5 Stars) and The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball Book #1 - ‘15 - Read ‘18 - 4 Stars).

A little short at 267 pages but still love this authors eerie writing. I can feel the tension building even in the first 15%. Twisty plot that I enjoyed; especially the ending.



THE SHADOW HOUSE (‘22 - READ ‘24 - 3 STARS) BY ANNA DOWNES
DESCRIPTION : Alex, a single mother-of-two, is determined to make a fresh start for her and her children. In an effort to escape her troubled past, she seeks refuge in a rural community. Pine Ridge is idyllic; the surrounding forests are beautiful and the locals welcoming. Mostly. But Alex finds that she may have disturbed barely hidden secrets in her new home. As a chain of bizarre events is set off, events eerily familiar to those who have lived there for years, Alex realizes that she and her family might be in greater danger than ever before.  

REVIEW :

First book by this author was The Safe Place (‘20 - Read ‘22 - 4 Stars).

Up to 20% it was a little slow but picked up at this point. The eerie rumors of a witch and the cult-like atmosphere of the town really worked well together. I enjoyed the two angles the book came from. The suspense kept building. Solid mystery. I would definitely read another.



HAPPY READING TO ALL !  

I read two books this week and enjoyed them both:

The Next Mrs. Parrish: A Novel by Liv Constantine. It's a sequel to "The Last Mrs. Parish" which I just re-read in anticipation of this book:

Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way. Hard work and immaculate planning turned her from invisible wallflower to prominent socialite, though there have been bumps along the way. Less than a year after her husband Jackson’s tax-evasion scandal, Amber reigns supreme over the Bishops Harbor community. But with Jackson being released from prison, Amber’s free time—and money—is vanishing.

Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson, swearing she would never go back. But when one of her daughters runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer for their daughters’ sake. Jackson swears he’s a changed man, but Daphne knows all too well that he can’t be trusted.

When a ghost from Amber’s past emerges looking for revenge, these three figures find unlikely allies in one another. But who is playing who? When all is said and done, they’ll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game.

With shocking turns and entertaining characters, The Next Mrs. Parrish will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about duplicity and betrayal.

And I also read: Dead in the Water by Simon McCleve. He writes police procedurals set in Wales and this is book 5 of the series. I really recommend him as an author and his books are usually free on Kindle Unlimited.

So far the only book I've finished since the previous reading thread is From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout. After I finished "Fourth Wing" and "Iron Flame" (which were SO GOOD) I asked in a FB group about what I could read that might fill the void of being done with the dragon books, several people suggested ACOTAR, and "Blood and Ash". um... no. I'm on book two of the ACOTAR series and struggling to get into it, mostly because the main character is annoying me...she needs to ditch the controlling guy and go for the more wild new guy. I won't say anything else because it would be a spoiler. lol. 

But this "Blood and Ash" book? nope and nope. One-star. The author could have written a book half the length of this 500+-page one if she'd just done some basic editing. And, there was one of those very basic grammatical errors in the book -- "She gave it to him and I". {shudder} Twice in fact! Where was her editor? Anyway, this is a series and I certainly will not be reading any more.  

I finished Just for the Summer by Abby Jiminez. I didn't love it as much as previous books by her but still enjoyable. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

This past week, I read:

Day One by Abigail Dean. This is fiction loosely based on Sandy Hook (if you read it, the motives are different but a lot of the details will seem familiar). Partly because a key witness offers false details to the police, a shadow industry of conspiracy theorists develops to suggest that the event never happened and the people killed never existed. This was OK, not particularly good -- the writing is decent, and I liked some of the characters, but if you're going to borrow that heavy of a story, you need to give me more of a reason to be dealing with the disturbing details.

A Game of Lies by Claire Mackintosh. The setup is fun -- a bunch of people think they're signing up for an outdoor survival reality show but turn out to have signed up to have their darkest secrets revealed. The detective (Ffion) assigned when a person goes missing is a regular in the author's books, and I enjoy her a lot. The plot itself here kind of fizzled, but it was fun enough.

The Blue by Lucy Clarke. This is a flash back/flash forward book about a girl and her best friend who run off when the girl discovers that her father has deeply betrayed her; they join a sailing crew in the Phillipines and are having the time of their lives when something (you find out later what) goes wrong. The flash-forward is the girl living in New Zealand and waiting to find out what has happened to the rest of the ship's crew after the sailboat sinks, although you find out quickly that she left the crew (again, you find out later why) months ago. I liked the premise, but didn't think there was much to the mystery.

I just finished The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I liked it, even though dragons and such are not my usual genre. And talk about a cliff hanger! I signed up for the next one, Iron Flame, just to see what that was all about.

One of my favorite reads last year!

The One Hundred Years Of Lenni and Margot is one of my favorite books! Marianne is releasing her second book in December called Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love and I can't wait to read it!

I just finished a second book for this week, The House of Eve by Sadiqa Johnson. It takes place in the early 50s among the black population of Washington, DC. Mostly, since it alternates chapters between two main characters. The main tension in the book is between the upper class black people and those who came from the wrong side of the tracks ("the wrong side" as defined by the upper class). And of course one of the main characters marries someone from the other side of her tracks.

It was a quick read, not great but thought-provoking. The ending was a bit too neat for me. lol

You might like to read Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent then:

"Agnes has been condemned, convicted of murder, a maid dehumanized into a monster. All she wants is for someone to listen, so that they might understand what happened that Spring night in 1828. She is taken to the Icelandic farm at Kornsá to stay with the family there while she awaits the day of her execution. Angry and disgusted that they must house a murderess, the family keeps Agnes at arm’s length and under watchful eye. That is, until, the Assistant Reverend Totí arrives to prepare Agnes for her journey to God. As they sit in their badstofa by the fire, the family and the reverend finally begin to listen. They could never expect what Agnes would have to say, or that they would come to care for this woman whom they had once feared. Burial Rites follows the tale of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman ever to be executed in Iceland, and how she came to that chopping block all those years ago. Elegantly written, this heart-rending tale of a misunderstood woman unfolds, dragging you into Agnes’ world one word at a time."

It was an amazing book.

I will definately be looking into this book.  Thank you!

Not yet, but it's on my hold list. After I finished The House of Eve I went to the library's website to see what else this author has written, and put The Yellow Wife on hold. 

Thanks!  It's on Kindle Unlimited now. Just got it.