🟣 :::READING THREAD::: Week of September 1

Last week I finished Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman! Yikes, that was a tough one to read right before bed. It sucked me in and I finally started breathing again when I finished. I couldn’t remember who Oksana was. I know Maria trusted her and thought she was a friend. 4/5 stars

Now I'm reading Go As a River by Shelley Read which has been recommended on these threads. So far I'm liking it but I'm only 15% in.

Last week, I finished A Thousand Boy Kisses. 4 stars
This week, I'm reading Crow Talk and First Lie Wins. I'm liking both so far.

So I'm on an odd reading binge. Years ago I tried the "...in Death" series by J.D. Robb and they just did NOT click with me. I'm not sure I even finished the first book. Then I picked it up recently for a prompt in my book group from last month, "a book that takes place in New York City". And I really liked it! So much so that I got the second one, and the third... And now I'm on #6. They are totally formulaic, and the main character can be annoying (half the time I want to shake her and tell her to stop being such a hard-nosed, lol)... But I'm really enjoying them.

Since last week's reading thread I've read Immortal in Death, Rapture in Death, and Ceremony in Death. The main character is a lieutenant with the NYC police, married to a very wealthy and powerful man. She solves murders, he helps, lots of colorful characters, etc. What makes it different from any other similar books is that these are set in the year 2058. Not at all what I would call science fiction, although they do go off-planet occasionally, they have a lot of fancy technology, and a lot of different laws that we do (for example, panhandlers are licensed, prostitution has been legalized and supported, there is a paid occupation called "professional mother", and many others). 

There are A LOT of books in this series (54 I think ) so I have no doubt I'll lose interest before I can read all of them. hahaha But for now I'm having fun. 

I read Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate. Historical fiction, switching from 1909 to 1990. It was sad and heart-breaking but really good and well written. I think I gave it a rare 5 stars. ETA: TW - this book mentions child abuse/abandonment, that is horrible to think about in today's society but was probably the norm in 1909.

Since I read the Empearyan (sp?) series by Rebecca Yarros, I thought I'd try another of hers. In The Likely Event was on kindle unlimited. I liked this a lot. It was predictable, but with a surprising twist. A solid 4 stars. ETA - is set in 2021 US pull out of Afghanistan.

I read two this week.

The Family Experiment: This is sci-fi, dystopian type of book although not super trippy. Lots of twists for sure, especially at the end. 4/5 stars.

Things Don't Break on Their Own by Collins: At first, I wasn't really sure what was up. Once that comes to light, well, my jaw dropped. I will say one character is so despicable. Another comes close. This one definitely kept me reading. 4/5 stars.

Currently reading The Best Lies by David Ellis.

Lisa

I'm currently reading The Third Wife by Lisa Jewel. The story is kind of intriguing but the main character has 5 kids by two different women and it's hard to keep them all straight. Here's the synopsis:

In the early hours of a summer morning, a young woman steps into the path of an oncoming bus. A tragic accident? Or suicide?

At the center of this puzzle is Adrian Wolfe, a successful architect and grief-stricken widower, who, a year after his third wife’s death, begins to investigate the cause. As Adrian looks back on their brief but seemingly happy marriage, disturbing secrets begin to surface. The divorces from his two previous wives had been amicable, or so it seemed; his children, all five of them, were resilient as ever, or so he thought. But something, or someone, must have pushed Maya over the edge.

THE BROTHERS KENNEY (‘24 - 3 STARS) BY ADAM MITZNER
DESCRIPTION : Former track star Sean Kenney used to be on top of the world, but that was a very long time ago. Now he’s been estranged from his loved ones for the past two years—until the unthinkable calls him home. While struggling to make sense of the devastating death that has shaken the Kenney family to its core, Sean grasps at the opportunity to seek forgiveness for his past mistakes—from his family and himself—while clinging to the belief that if he can discover what really happened that day, he might somehow be redeemed. Both a family saga and a thrilling mystery, The Brothers Kenney searches for forgiveness and the meaning of home as assiduously as it does the identity of a killer.

REVIEW :

Loved The Broden Legal Series all 4 Stars : The Best Friend (‘20 Broden Legal #3), Never Goodbye (‘18 - Broden Legal #2) and Dead Certain (‘17 - Read ‘18 - Broden Legal #1).
Also enjoyed Love Betrayal Murder (‘23 - 3 Stars), A Matter of Will (‘19 - 3 Stars).

Same great writing I remember from the Broden Legal Series; right away I’m connected to this family of characters. Possible murder mystery amidst lots of family drama. Solid mystery.



WORSE CASE SCENARIO (‘24 - 3 STARS) BY TJ NEWMAN
DESCRIPTION : When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications.  The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now. In this heart-stopping thriller, ordinary people—power plant employees, firefighters, teachers, families, neighbors, and friends— are thrust into an extraordinary situation as they face the ultimate test of their lives. It will take the combined courage, ingenuity, and determination of a brave few to save not only their community and loved ones, but the fate of humanity at large.

REVIEW :

Debut book and second book by this author were both 5 Stars; (Drowning ‘23 - 5 Stars) and Falling (‘21 - 5+ Stars).

I was so looking forward to this book but was very disappointed. The writing was the same BUT there were soooo many characters and events happening at the same time it was hard to keep track who was where. Since it was a catastrophic event that starts very quicklly, there was very little back story on any characters. Kudos to the author for all the scientific info on nuclear power plants, but very hard to follow; definitely above me. I still think it would make an awesome disaster movie but reading it was a chore.



HAPPY Reading !

I read three in the past two weeks.

1) Deep Work by Cal Newport. I read his books out of order. I started with Digital Minimalism, then Slow Productivity, and finally Deep Work which was written before the other two. I'm glad I went forward and read all three books. He specifically has strategies for knowledge workers to improve their focus. I've been looking for ways to improve my attention span. (I have ADHD) These books will definitely change and improve the way I work.

2) The Plague by Albert Camus. This was one of the 100 best books to read list. I thought it was great. 5 star read for me. Amazing he wrote this in 1947 and it had such an awesome handle on what would happen during a pandemic. It was basically like a parallel novel version of what happened with Covid. Good read.

3) More Than a Woman by Caitlyn Moran. This was memoir about life in mid-late 40s. It was funny at some points and touching at others. I enjoyed it very much. 4 stars.