Book Girls' Guide - Read Around the USA

 January, 2023:  

• Books Set in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont
• I chose Massachusetts and read Things You Save in a Fire  by Katherine Center

February, 2023:  

• Books Set in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming
• I chose Wyoming and read The Fire and the Ore by Olivia Hawker

March, 2023

• Books Set in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee
• I've chosen The Indigo Girl, which I have on Chirp

April, 2023

• Books Set in the U.S. Territories
• I chose Guam and found Secret Shopper by Tanya Taimanglo on Kindle

23. Thank You For Listening - Julia Whelan

listened on Libby

2022
432 pgs. (12:13)
Adult Romance
Finished 3/26/23
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary LA, Las Vegas, Venice (Italy)

My comments: This was read by the author, and is about an audiobook reader - and the industry.  Julia Whelan is an INCREDIBLE narrator.  She can flawlessly switch between characters, making male characters sound like REAL male characters, and all the characters in a book have their own particular, recognizable voice.  Quite amazing!  The story was FUN.  You absolutely had no surprises, but the humor - much of it laugh-out-loud - and the clever, quick conversation is top notch.  However, it went on and on too much, it could have been cut down by a couple of hours at least.  I got a little bored listening at the end, every single mentioned side story was wrapped up so completely that unneeded details were included.  I really did love this, and want to read (listen to!!!) her previous novel.

Goodreads synopsis:  For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.

On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.

As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.

From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.

22. Exiles by Jane Harper

#3 Aaron Falk/Australia

listened on Libby
356 pgs.

2022
Adult mystery
Finished 3/25/23
Goodreads rating: 4.05
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Australia

My comments:      Grew on me more and more as the story progressed.  At first it just seemed to jump all over the place (it actually did this throughout the story), but once I got used to it, it was easier to follow along a little more easily.  A complicated story that kept you wondering all the time - which I like.  Definitely a good mystery.  Happily every after...no more Aaron Falk to come.  Ever. 

Empty Bowls 2023

I finally got to go and had a wonderful time!  The Sentinel took photos, and I'm in three of them.

Link to the article.

Sandy and I have happily decided that this will be an annual outing.

21. The Art of Loving Libby Green by Bellebird James

read on Kindle
252 pgs.

2021
YA CRF
Finished 3/10/23
Goodreads rating: 4.08
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary New Zealand

My comments: A real tough look at homelessness.  Dylan is homeless, trying to watch out for his absurdly alcoholic father and finish his senior year at high school.  He is an incredible graffiti artist whose only dream is to go to SOFA, the prestigious art school right in his community.  But living in a tent beside an abandoned public toilet and riding his bike are all he has to hang on to.  His father abandons him for days, even week on end and he has to take care of his little elderly dog, Bear.  He has no money, so he steals his food and his father makes him steal booze and cigarettes.  It's really sad, quite heartbreaking.  He's got a crush on Libby Green, but he keeps to himself until one day they sit beside each other in art class.  There's the typical obnoxious boyfriend, blah, blah, blah, but I very much enjoyed it, on the whole and as sad as it was.

20. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

listened on Libby/borrowed from the library

2022
360 pgs.
Adult Magical Realism
Finished 3/10/23
Goodreads rating: 4.41
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary coastal Washington state

My comments: Okay, I loved this book.  It was different and interesting and although you knew exactly what was coming and how it would end, it was the route that it took to get there that was so fascinating.  A cantankerous 70-year-old woman, an elderly octopus living out his life in captivity, and a 30-year-old young man abandoned by his mother and raised by his aunt are the three main characters.  All unique and wonderful.  Michael Uri read the character of Marcellus, the octopus, perfectly, oh so perfectly!  Sure, a lot of sadness, but brilliantly done ... a perfect title for this story!  Five star setting: small town on the ocean just north of Seattle, WA.  Genre: magical realism?  To be able to hear the thoughts of an octopus would make it that, I think, the rest is definitely realistic fiction.

Goodreads synopsis:  Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

March Bingo

Note:  Bombed out in March!

 It's March 4th and I totally forgot about this until today.  Bummmer....not that I ever achieve anything!

1 - March BkGirls US Challenge - The Indigo Girl, South Carolina-have on Chirp

2 - March BkGirls W. Europe Challenge - Africa - The Lioness (Chris Bohjalian) checked out fr TPPL (also Black Dove, White Raven, a YA HF by Elizabeth Wein about Ethiopia sounds really good) (as well as Unbowed, Wangari Matthai's autobiography)

3 - Whatever I'm reading on Kindle - The Art of Loving Libby Green

4 - Waiting on Audible 

5 - Waiting on Audible

6 - Waiting on Chirp

7 - Wait Listed at the Library - Remarkably Bright Creatures

8 - Wait Listed at the Library Thank You For Listening

9 - Wait Listed at the Library

10 - any Newbery Award

11 - any recent 4-8 title

12 - YA

13 - 2023 title - Murder at Haven's Rock

14 - a memoir

15 - a "real" book

16 - Kindle Unlimited/Audio

17 - Kindle Unlimited/Audio

18 - short story

19 - 

20 - 

READY TO READ next

Birnam Wood - out 3/23, just purchased with Audible credits

Fall from Grace - Time Weaver, #5 in a series...I read #4 and LOVED it.  Missing persons.

Geraldine Verne's Red Suitcase - 70 year old protagonist for BookGirls YearLong Challenge (KUnl Audio)

The Last Runaway - Tracy Chevalier

Parting the Veil (Bookbug) Kunl Audio - Louisiana to England Mystery/Thriller

Rachel's Story - dystopian!! Kindle only

The Dark Room - Lisa Gray Standalone

The Midnight Children - Dan Gemeinhart

The House at the End of the World  - Dean Koontz, 2023 KUnl Audio

Close to Home - Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite #5 KUnlAudio

Signal Moon (Kate Quinn) short story

Knitlandia

The Unknown Beloved (Harmon) 1923

The Singing Trees (ME)

The Victory Garden (Rhys Bowen)

The Lying Club (Annie Ward) Thriller

Dark Objects (Simon Toyne)

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper

Final Equinox - Andrew Mayne (#2 Jessica Blackwood & Theo Cray)

in Chirp:

The Girl in the Painting - Tea Cooper

Caught - Harlan Coben

The Indigo Girl - Natasha Boyd - March choice for BookGirls

for April:  The Secret Shopper (Kindle) set some in Guam, funny, partially set in CA