Tuesday, October 31, 2023

2023 Reading Dumps

20.  Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelly Van Pelt, 2022 Libby (5) 360 pgs. (6981 p.)  3/10 GR

21.  The Art of Loving Libby Green - 2021 Kindle (4) 251 pgs, (7232 p.)  (3/10)

22.  Exiles - Jane Harper (#3 Aaron Falk) 2022 Libby (4) 356 p. (7588 pgs.) 3/25

25.  Secret Shopper, Kindle (2.5) 4/14

27.  Momentous Events in the Life of  Cactus (#2 Aven Green) - Dusti Bowling, 2019 Libby (3.5) 310 pgs. 4/22

28. The Dark Room - Lisa Gray, 2022 Aud (3) 285 pgs. 4/24 gr

29.  The House at the End of the World - Dean Koontz, 2022 Audible (4) 4/29 GR

30.  The Lonely Hearts Book Club - Lucy Gilmore, 2023 Libby (4) 352 pgs. 5/2 GR

31.  It's One of Us - J. T.Ellison, 2023 Libby, 400 pgs. (4.5)5/5 GR

32.  Community Board - Tara Conklin, 2023 Libby (5) 5/9 GR

33.  Unlikely Animals - Annie Hartnett, 2022 Libby (5) 5/14 GR

34.  Simon Sort of Says - Erin Bow, 2023 Aud (5) 5/15 GR

35.  Someone Is Always Watching - Kelley Armstrong, 2023 Libby (4) 5/20 GR

36.  Deep - Melanie Bokstad Horev, 2023 Kindle (1.5) 5/24 GR

37.  The Karma Map - Nisha Sharma - 2023 Audible (3) 5/25 GR

39.  Shelter - Christie Matheson 2021 Book (4.5) 192 pgs. 5/28 GR

40.  Warrior Girl Unearthed - Angeline Boulley,  2023 Audible (4.5) 400 pgs. 5/29 gr

41.  Happy Place - Emily Henry, 2023 Libby (3.5) 400 pgs. 5/30 gr

Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling listened to 68% of 304 pgs. = 207 pgs. gr

42.  The Night Hawks (#13 Ruth Galloway)  - Elly Griffiths, 2021 Aud (4) 322 pgs. 6/3 gr

43.  The Next New Syrian Girl - Ream Shukairy, 2023 Aud (3.75) 416 pgs. 6/9 gr

44.  Beyond Reason (#1 Reese Link, ME cop) - Molly Black, 2023 Kindle (3) 201 pgs.  6/16  gr

45.  The Locked Room (#14 Ruth Galloway) Elly Griffiths, 2022 Audible (4.25) 368 pgs. 6/17 gr

46.  Hallowed Ground (#13.5 Kate Burkholder) Linda Castillo, 2023 Kindle (4) 75 pgs. 6/23 gr

47.  Close to Home (#5 Tracy Crosswhite) Robert Dugoni, 2017 Audible (4) 362 pgs. 6/24 gr

48.  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2017 Libby (5) 389 pgs. 6/25 gr

49.  The Echo of Old Books - Barbara Davis, 2023 Audible (5) 431 pgs. 6/27  gr

50.  Snakebit: A Mike Bowditch Short Story (#13.5) - Paul Doiron, 2023 (4) 99 pgs. 7/1 gr
     Usually these short stories by Paul Doiron are based on Mike's mentor/friend who's been a game warden for years and years.  This one was different, it was totally Mike's point of view and a short mystery about a very strange family who rasied snakes, and really loved rattlesnakes.  All of a sudden they're being found in the wild in Maine ... and biting.  A quick read, pretty decent.  4
     2023 read & pub, Maine, Mystery, Series, Short Story

51.  Chain of Thorns (#3 The Last Hours) Cassandra Clare, 2023 Aud (3) 778 pgs. 7/16 gr

52.  A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers, 2016 Chirp (4) 365 pgs.7/26 gr

53.  Dead Man's Wake #14 Mike Bowditch - Paul Doiron, 2023 Aud (4.5) 320 pgs. 7/31 gr

54,  All Systems Red - Martha Wells, 2017 Chirp (4) 144 pgs. 7/31 gr

55.  An Heir to Thorns and Steel (#1 Blood Ladders Trilogy) M.C.A. Hogarth. 2015 Aud (3.5) 8/4 gr

56.  Land of Broken Promises - Jane Kuo , 2023 Book (4) 240 pgs. 8/6 gr

57.  The Last Remains (#15 Ruth Galloway) Elly Griffiths, 2023 Aud (4.5) 361 pgs. 8/7  gr

58.  An Evil Heart (15 Kate Burkholder) Linda Castillo, 2023 Libby (4) 8/27
 
59.  The Final Equinox (#2 Cray & Blackwood) Andrew Mayne, 2022 Kindle Unl, (3) 9/3

Wall of Shame
60.  Jack (#1 Vegas Kings) Mckenna James, 2021
     Vegas Kings, #1.  Young owner of the biggest and most famous casiono/hotel on the Vegas strip, even referred as "Mr. Las Vegas" by somebody....just so ludicrous!  Falling quickly for any ordinary, very young woman who seems sassy and strong (but sometimes in stupid ways).  Very steamy.  Both  parts, Wli and Jack are narrated by the same female reader with a bit of a voice change for the male.

61.  Synnr's Saint - Kate Rudolph (#1 of 5) 2020
      Alien warrior romance.  Book one of five.  Humans are being used as test subjects by a cruel subsection of aliens.  Their nicer counterparts, who live on the moon of the planet, rescue them.  This is the story of a human and a ZIDIR: Emily and Oz.  And, yep, very steamy.

62.  The Stopover - T. L. Swan, 2019
     #1 in a series.  Jamison Miles is the CEO of the largest media corporation in the word and is based in New York.  He meets Emily on a flight from London to New York and during an unplanned stopover in Boston because of bad weather....hook up.  This is a long story without lots of ups and downs, very steamy in places but with a pretty decent storyline that kept me totally entertained.  Gotta admit, I liked it quite a bit.

63.  Someone Else's Shoes - Jojo Moyes, 2023 Libby (4) 9/15/23
     Set in contemporary London, two women inadvertently switch shoes by taking the wrong bags in a gym, starting a series of events that are aggravating, annoying, frustrating, joyful, and in some cases very, very funny.  The personalities of both women change through the story; both are quite frustrating throughout the first half of the book - one being the worst unbelievable snob you're ever encountered and the other being a timid, downtrodden mess.  Through discovering how valuable real friendship can be, the multi-epilogues wrap everything up nicely for a very feel-good ending.  A little lengthy, however.  But fun.

64.  Lone Women - Victor LaValle, 2023 Libby (4) 285 pgs. 9/17 gr
     Set in 1913 Montana, the protagonist is a 31-year-old black woman who has traveled alone from her family's farm in southern California with a secret.  The first half of the book moved along pretty quickly, the second half slowed down a bit.  I'm still not sure (SPOILER ALERT) what Adelaide's sister, Elizabeth, was supposed to "be."  Or where she came from.  The racism, violence, cruelty that was seen in many of the characters was, unfortunately, believable...but I'm still uncertain about Elizabeth.....  Interesting, though.  

65.  Nearly Mine (#1 Grace Ford, FBI) - Molly Black, 2023 Kindle (3) 216 pgs. gr

66.  The Scenic Route - Christina Baker Kline, 2023 KindUnl (3) 43 pgs. gr
     Kindle Unlimited.  A short story about a woman who screws up, loses custody of her 11-year-old son, and hits the road in a van.  Not really flushed out very much since it's a short story but it's really about people's perceptions of how others are thinking and feeling....which, in this case, is all wrong.

70.  Black Sheep - Rachel Harrison - 2023 Libby (3.5) 289 pgs. 10/2
     Well, this was nothing like I expected!  It was supposed to be a horror story, and perhaps if it had been a movie it would've been a little horrific, but I was not horrified or freaked out by anything.. It was fun and interesting, though, and entirely unexpected in many ways.  I was never 100% enthralled by the protagonist, but I think that added to some the the mysteriousness of the story,  It's hard to talk about without giving the biggest plot twist away, and I'm glad I didn't know anything ahead of time.
     Horror, thriller, mystery, cults, 2023 read & pub

71.  The Coppersmith Farmhouse - Devney Perry, 2017 Chirp (3) 352 pgs. 10/5
     Started this as an aid to get to sleep at night, and got into the story.  Lots of steam, lots of it.  But lots of story, too.  A handsome.  A pretty nurse who is a single mother to a precocious four-year-old.  Insta-love.  Drug problems in town.  HEA of course.  3
          romance, Montana, single mother, 2023 Read

72.  Don't Forget to Write - Sara Goodman Confino, 2023 Audible & Kindle (3.5) 334 pgs.10/9
     Set in the early 60's, mainly in Avalon, New Jersey, a just-out-of-high-school Jewish daughter has been sent to her great aunt, a matchmaker, because of a supposed indiscretion.  At a time when all Jewish parents want their daughters to marry and raise families, this is not her path.  She wants to be a writer.  Interesting story, though some of it was so far-fetched it was eye-rolling.  However, the love that developed between the girl and her great-aunt was pretty cool.  3.5
     Jewish, 2023 pub & read, 1960s, Jersey shore

73.  The Unknown Beloved - Amy Harmon, 2022 Audible & Kindle (3) 413 pgs. 10/23
     Nothing special.  HEA.  Set in 1930s Cleveland.  Elliot Ness sidekick meets a beautiful young woman who, when she touches someone's clothes, reads their feelings, thoughts, information.  In many places it just went on and on and on....  Read while I had covid.  (3)
     Fantasy, Hist fict, myst, 2023 read, 2022 pub

74.  The Curiosity - Stephen P Kiernan, 2013 Chirp (3) 434 pgs. 10/23
     A scientific team in Boston brings a man who died in the early 20th century back to life from a fozen brick of ice near the North Pole.  The story skips around between four or five points of view.  I listened as I was falling asleep each night, so I had to keep rewinding to get the parts I issed.  That's not the greatest way to read a book, but it kept my interest for a bit.  

75.  The Mist -  Ragnar Jonasson - 2020 Chirp (3.5) 10/26
     #3 Hidden Iceland.  Set in eastern Iceland during a horrific Christmas of 1987.  A dark story, depressing, but mesmerizing as well.  Good storytelling fr the most part.  I always love the setting if Iceland, and this time of year with three very dim hours of daylight fascinate me - how do people do it? Definitely don't need to read firt two books in series.
Mystery - crime thriller - iceland - 2023 Read, 2017 - translated-

76.   Can;t remember

77.  Silence for the Dead - Simone St. James, 2014 Audible (2.5) 11/22 gr

78.  The Spy Coast - Tess Gerritsen, 2023 Audible & Kindle (4) 11/25 gr

79.  An Unexpected Boyfriend for Christmas - 2021 Chirp (2) 11/26 gr

December
80.  On a Night Like This - Liz Maverick, 2023 Audible (2.5) 12/5 gr

81.  Holly - Stephen King -  2023 Libby (5) 12/5 gr

82.  The Bones at Point No Point (#1 Thomas Austin) - D. D. Black - 2022 Audible (3.5)12/10 gr

83.  Meet Me at Christmas - Jenny Hale, 2023 KindleUnl (3) 226 p. 12/16 gr

84.  Butcher and Blackbird - Brynne Weaver, 2023 Audible (3) 12/18 gr

85.  Ginny Off the Map - Caroline Hickey, 2023 Audible (4) 320 pgs.  12/29 gr