Full Deck Challenge #4 - Week 1

            There were 8 "prompts" that we could choose from today, I was able to include 7 of them.  

Green, Squares, Butterfly, Numbers, (Bird), Bright Pink, Hole Punch and Red.  I had lots of birds but couldn't find a place that one seemed to fit.  I do like it.  Took awhile hunting up all the "stuff."

3. Dead of Autumn by Sherry Knowlton

listened on Audible (purchased)

286 pgs.

2014 (first audio recorded 2020)
Adult mystery
Finished 1/14/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle/Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

My comments: Pretty cool that this book takes place in Carlisle, PA - where I live!  There's much mention of streets, locales, and public lands that I know of quite well, with a few that I don't....so that was really fun.  The story was okay, though incredibly predictable, the protagonist is feisty but somewhat dull-witted at times, and there were a few ways that the reader read that didn't appeal to me 100%.  But I enjoyed it for the locale.  There are others to follow, so I'm hoping some of my problems with the story will smooth out as the stories continue.

Goodreads synopsis:  The Alexa Williams novel that started it all.

An ethereal blonde sprawled by a mountain stream.

Three young girls on a blanket in the woods.

Decades separate the discovery of these dead bodies, but the lesson they offer is the same. Evil can lurk much closer than you'd ever imagine.

Alexa Williams is a successful lawyer, volunteers weekly at a women’s clinic, and has a sexy weekend boyfriend—not to mention an endearing best friend in her giant English mastiff, Scout. But one autumn day, when Scout takes off into the Pennsylvania woods, Alexa discovers a nightmare she’d never imagined. From that fateful day, Alexa becomes entangled in a murder mystery—one that she tries to unravel by linking it to experiences and symbols in her own life.

Dewilla Noakes, a child of the Depression, has recently lost her mother. Her father, packs up the girls—and their attractive cousin, Winnie—and hits the road to look for a job on the east coast. Along the way, money becomes tighter, food becomes scarcer, and relationships become strained. Dewilla’s father fears he’s failing his daughters. Running out of options, he begins to consider the unthinkable to end the misery he’s brought upon his family …

Alexa soon finds herself amidst violence aimed at the clinic where she volunteers, brought on by pro-life extremists. In a bizarre turn of events, she’s almost raped, ambushed by religious zealots who wish to convert her, then taken by surprise as another romance enters her life. Plus, she seems to be seeing quite a lot of the local law enforcement these days.

No matter what else happens in her life, Alexa can’t shake feeling some sort of connection to the mysterious murder victim. She thinks back to the stories she heard as a child, about the Babes in the Woods, who were murdered close to where the victim’s body was found, wondering if that might be why she draws the connection. But when the murderer strikes again, Alexa must rely on her knowledge of local history and terrain in order to save her own life.

DEAD of AUTUMN ties together the struggles faced by females, young and old, past and present, and the degrees of power they embrace to combat their situations.

2. The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller

listened on Libby

368 pgs.  (10:38)

2025
Adult fantasy/horror
Finished 1/12/26
Goodread*s rating:  4.16
My rating: 4
Setting: Current day Long Island, NY with many glimpses into the past

My comments: Modern-day witches, with interesting back and forths with four generations of mother/daughters, aunt/nieces.  I listened so I didn't have the family tree right in front of me, but it was pretty easy to remember each generation.  So much related to current political tensions, particularly patriarchal billionaires.  I was disappointed with the ending, though.

Goodreads synopsis:  A witty, spectacular, and timely tale of modern-day witches waging war on the patriarchy, from fan favorite Kirsten Miller, the author of The Change and Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books.

There are places on earth where nature’s powers gather. Girls raised there are bequeathed strange gifts. A few have powers so dark that they fear to use them. Such a place is Wild Hill, on the tip of Long Is land. For centuries, the ghost of a witch murdered by colonists claimed the beautiful and fertile Wild Hill…until a young Scottish woman with strange gifts arrived. Sadie Duncan was allowed to stay.

Five generations of Sadie’s descendants called Wild Hill home, each generation more powerful than the last. Then, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, the last of the Duncans, once prophesized to be the most powerful of their kind, abandoned their ancestral home.

One of them, Brigid Laguerre moved to California and turned her dark gift into fame and fortune. Her sister, Phoebe, settled on a ranch in Texas, where women visit in secret for her tonics and cures. Phoebe’s daughter, Sybil, has become a famous chef. Seemingly powerless, Sibyl has never been told of the Duncan bloodline.

Now Brigid, Phoebe, and Sibyl have been brought to Wild Hill to discover their family legacy. The Old One, furious at the path mankind has taken, has chosen three powerful witches to turn the tide. The Duncans will fulfill their destinies—but only if they can set aside their grievances and come together as a family.

1. Nash Falls by David Baldacci

#1 of 2, follow-up to come out 4/9/2026

listened on Libby

448 pgs. (12:54)

2025
Adult Mystery/Thriller
Finished 1/3/2026  First book of the New Year!
Goodreads rating: 4.33
My rating:  4/5 (down 1/2 because of the to-be-continued ending!)
Setting: Contemporary unknown east coast city, not NYC or DC

My comments: We are left on a MAJOR cliff-hanger, which was cruelly disappointing (not knowing ahead of time), but other than that I couldn't put this book down.  I love Walter Nash....brilliant, level-headed, personable (and wealthy) family man.  But then his estranged father dies, and from the funeral on the shit hits the fan for him.  Narrators were wonderful, especially the one who read Walter Nash.  Loved, loved, loved the story and can't wait to see how it ends...in April!

Goodreads synopsis:  Walter Nash is a sensitive, intelligent and kindhearted man. He has a wife and a daughter and a very high-level position at Sybaritic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career. Despite never going on grand adventures, and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice. But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. And that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge: He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been.

And even that may not be enough.

2026 Charitable Contributions

 

of Steven Ted Graves

1952 - 2001

25 years

1/1/26   Kamala Harris PAC pd through Act Blue      24.00

2026 Reading

Published in the Current Year - 2026

1.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 (3.5)

YA

1.  

Middle Grade

1.  

Historical Fiction

1.

Fantasy/SciFi/Magical Realism

1.  The Women of Wild Hill (Miller)

Shorts

1.

eBooks

1.

Series

1. Nash Falls (#1 of 2) - David Baldacci, 2025 (4.5)

2.  Dead of Autumn (#1 Alexa Williams, Carlisle, PA) 2014 (3.5)

3.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 (3.5)

4.5 and 5 Stars

1.  Nash Falls (#1 of 2)- David Baldacci, 2025 (4.5)

Novels Read in 2026

January

1.  Nash Falls (#1 of 2) - David Baldacci, 2025 Libby (4.5) 

       #2 will be out 4/9/2026

2.  The Women of Wild Hill - Kirsten Miller, 2025 Libby (4)

3.  Dead of Autumn (#1 Alexa Williams, Carlisle, PA) 2021 on Audio, pub prev to then, Aud (3.5)

4.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 Audible (3.5)

5.  Birding with Benefits - Sarah T. Dubb, 2024 Libby (3)