73. Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran

listened on Audible

2019
408 pgs.
Adult (British) Romance
Finished 12/2/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.05
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary British small town

My comments: Not actually a Christmas story.  Filled with hilarious situations, but balanced out with some serious ones, too.  Set in a small, friendly British village, a very enjoyable read/listen.

Goodreads synopsis:  When Jenny inherits her estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero self-respect. Things can only get better...

Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.

Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.

Warm, wise, funny and utterly uplifting, what one thing would you change in your life before Christmas comes around?

72. Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik

listened on Libby - borrowed from Library

2022
304pgs.
Contemporary Adult Mystery (scifi?)
Finished 11/29/2022 - took ages to finish
Goodreads rating: 3.70
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary cold, cold, cold Greenland

My comments: Set in Greenland at a tiny science research station in October as the days are getting very short and 24-hour darkness is almost upon them.  Although Val has crippling anxiety, she drowns herself in pills and booze to embark on the journey there when she is asked, as an expert in languages, to come to try to figure out what an 8-year old girl is trying to say. This girl has been thawed from the ice....and speaks a language that has never been heard before. Of course, there are a lot of mysterious, unacceptable things going on, and that will include, but the end of the story, many deaths.  It was interesting to listen to the story unfold, to consider the possibilities that were suggested, and to commiserate with the protagonist's anxiety issues.  Could there really be some sort of enzyme in an eanimal (eels in this case) that could actually prologn/reactivate/regenerate life?  I would have rated this a 4, but it was very draggy in places, which made me shave off half a point.

Goodreads synopsis:  From the author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle comes a harrowing new thriller set in the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, as a brilliant linguist struggling to understand the apparent suicide of her twin brother ventures hundreds of miles north to try to communicate with a young girl who has been thawed from the ice alive.

Valerie “Val” Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of disciplines: dead Nordic languages. Despite her successful career, she leads a sheltered life and languishes in the shadow of her twin brother, Andy, an accomplished climate scientist stationed on a remote island off Greenland’s barren coast. But Andy is gone: a victim of suicide, having willfully ventured unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather. Val is inconsolable—and disbelieving. She suspects foul play.

When Wyatt, Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers a scientific impossibility­—a young girl frozen in the ice who thaws out alive, speaking a language no one understands—Val is his first call. Will she travel to the frozen North to meet this girl, and try to comprehend what she is so passionately trying to communicate? Under the auspices of helping Wyatt interpret the girl’s speech, Val musters every ounce of her courage and journeys to the Artic to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.

The moment she steps off the plane, her fear threatens to overwhelm her. The landscape is fierce, and Wyatt, brilliant but difficult, is an enigma. But the girl is special, and Val’s connection with her is profound. Only something is terribly wrong; the child is sick, maybe dying, and the key to saving her lies in discovering the truth about Wyatt’s research. Can his data be trusted? And does it have anything to do with how and why Val’s brother died? With time running out, Val embarks on an incredible frozen odyssey—led by the unlikeliest of guides—to rescue the new family she has found in the most unexpected of places.

26. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

listened on Libby/borrowed from library

narrated by Graham Halstead (great)

Unabridged audio (8:03)
2020
270 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 3/23/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.64
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Boston with soirees to NH and Rockland ME

First line/s: "The front door opened and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent's feet on the doormat."

My comments: OMG, I can't find my notes!  I do remember that I liked this book a lot, that it was impossible to put down, and I loved it from beginning to end.  The idea that a serial murderer could find his/her inspiration from murders in famous books was a fascinating plot idea.  Great narration.

Goodreads synopsis:  A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.
          Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.
          But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
          To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

157. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Book ONE of TWO

Listened on Libby/TPPL

narrated by Christie Moreau
Unabridged audio (10:45)
2020
384 pgs.
YA Mystery
Finished 12/29/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.15 - 8651 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Huge gothic mansion and estate in Texas

First line/s: "When I was a kid, my mom constantly invented games."

My comments:  I'm not sure what I expected from this, perhaps something in the line of The Westing Game, but that's not what it was.  Lots and lots of characters, (yes, like the Westing Game) made it confusing at times, a huge Gothic house that was really hard to imagine, and the girl put into a situation that, even at the end of this part of the story, was impossible to believe.  Making her the heiress and not his four brilliant grandsons....ever?  Sure.  Give me a break!  Reading the next installment will be difficult if this first one isn't reread just prior - there are so many people and bits of information that should probably be remembered in order to move forward in good faith - I hope there's a good summarization somewhere on the internet, lol!  

Goodreads synopsis:  A Cinderella story with deadly stakes and thrilling twists, perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and Knives Out.

          Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why--or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch--and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.
          Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

156. Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost

#1 Christmas Tree Farm mystery

listened on Audible - free

narrated by Allyson Ryan

Unabridged audio (8:16)
2017

311 pgs.
Adult Cozy Mystery
Finished 12/22/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 2253 ratings
My rating: 2 (Just not a cozy mystery fan)
Setting: Contemporary small town Maine 

First line/s:   " 'I have two cups of Santa's cinnamon tea, one spicy apple cider, and a peppermint twist hot cocoa,' I said, setting the mugs on the table surrounded by rosy-cheeked women wearing matching holiday sweaters."

My comments: Deceiving title, only one murder.  There's a reason I don't read cozy mysteries. Only ready this because it's set in Maine. This was so sugary sweet, silly, and stupid.  Stereotypical everything, a Hallmark movie extraordinaire in print.  How can a whole town's worth of people fit in one living room a dozen times?  Ridiculous!

Goodreads synopsis:  When Holly White's fiance cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime--exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society Margaret Fenwick is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly's family tree farm.

          When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly's father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn't help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father, and is determined to exonerate him.The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn't watch out, she'll end up on Santa's naughty list in Twelve Slays of Christmas, Jacqueline Frost's jolly series debut. 

155. It's a Wonderful Wife by Camille Pagan

listened on Audible - free

narrated by Amy McFadden

Unabridged audio (1:56)
2020
100 pgs.
Adult Christmas novella
Finished 12/18/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.50 - 562 ratings
My rating: 4

My comments: What a horrible title, I almost didn't read it because of that!  It's quite a fun story despite the lousy title.  Perfect length, enjoyed it a lot.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this charming and heartwarming retelling of Frank Capra’s classic It’s a Wonderful Life, Camille Pagán, best-selling author of This Won’t End Well and I’m Fine and Neither Are You, introduces us to Bailey, a dutiful yet sharp-witted 30-something who finds herself on the verge of a nervous breakdown as Christmas Eve approaches. As if it wasn’t enough that Bailey’s husband has just cheated on her, the family business she’s been running since her parents died, which employs most of her small town, is about to go under. But even as she’s questioning whether her life has any meaning, Bailey bumps into a handsome stranger who claims to know her - and through a series of strange events, sheds new light on what it means to make a difference in this messy, wonderful world.

154. Christmas at Copper Mountain by Jane Porter

listened on Audible, free

narrated by Loretta Rawlins

Unabridged audio (4:00)
2013
152 pgs.
Contemporary Holiday Romance
Finished 12/17/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.95 - 2439 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Wyoming/Montana (can't remember which)

First Line/s:  "Harley Diekerhoff looked up from peeling potatoes to glance out the kitchen window."

My comments: A Hallmark movie-type novella, more or less, except with a little bit of steam near the end.  Bittersweet for sure.  

Goodreads synopsis:  Since the loss of her family in a plane crash, Harley Diekerhoff has led a quiet life and keeps to herself. Taking the temporary job at the Copper Mountain Ranch as widower Brock Sheenan’s housekeeper seems perfect for her. But her calm cocoon is invaded with the arrival of Brock’s pre-teen twins, Mack and Molly who’ve never experienced a proper Christmas and before she knows it, Harley’s determined to make their holiday perfect.
           Annoyed at first by Harley’s interference, Brock is secretly pleased she’s changed Mack and Molly’s world. It doesn’t hurt that he finds Harley incredibly attractive, fierce, smart and passionate. It’s also an added bonus that she’s not afraid to challenge him and get his blood heated! But when sparks fly and the attractions sizzles between them, Harley’s not so sure she can handle something permanent with this dark, taciturn cowboy who doesn’t know how to let her in. But Brock is determined to hold on to her and praying for a Christmas miracle…

153. Fake Date by Monica Murphy

listened - free Audible

narrated by Savannah Peachwood (can't do voices!!) and James McAdams

Unabridged audio (9:46)

2019
358 pgs.
Contemporary Romance
Finished 12/17/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.72 - 144 ratings
My rating: 1 Crappy

Setting:  Contemporary Monterey, CA (with a trip to San Francisco)

First line/s: "Sometimes I marvel at the way my job choices have sent me down."

My comments: There was absolutely nothing to like about this book.  The female reader read everyone's speaking parts horribly except for the protagonist.  She added nuances to the speech that changed the peoples' personalities.  Everything was stupid, the way everyone acted and reacted, the bevy of friends, and all their "advice," and even the (nonexistent) amount of time that she spent "taking care of" her little sister, which se was always complaining about.  

Goodreads synopsis:  Working at Bliss, Sarah Harrison deals with all sorts of—interesting clientele. Yet no one sparks her interest more than Jared Gaines, the ultra-rich, ultra-sexy businessman who frequents her shop, buying delicate little “gifts” for the women in his life.

          But one day, Jared sends her a gift from Bliss. Then another—and another. So when Sarah walks into his office demanding to know why he can't stop sending her gifts, he makes her an offer she somehow can’t refuse: be his fake girlfriend for the weekend while attending his brother’s engagement party.
          Next thing Sarah knows, she’s in San Francisco, pretending to be in love with Jared. Not that it’s a hardship. Once you get the man away from the office, he’s much more relaxed. Sweet. Funny. Even…thoughtful? Oh, and sexier than ever, of course.
          Their pretend relationship feels very real, very quickly. Soon Sarah’s in over her head. Could what she and Jared share turn into something real? Or is it all actually…fake?

152. Agent 355 by Marie Benedict

listened on Audible

narrated by Emily Rankin

Unabridged audio (2:07)
2020
85 pgs. estimated
Adult Historical Fiction (American Revolution)
Finished 12/13/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.67 - 3251 ratings
My rating: 3.5

What I posted on Goodreads:  

My comments: An historical fiction based on the possibility of real facts.  Using details gleaned from many sources, it is know that there was a female spy during the revolution that helped catch Benedict Arnold before his traitorous actions were too debilitating for America. This story is the author's imagining of what could have actually happened.  Interesting, much more so after hearing the author's afterward, the details about the real possible people involved.

Goodreads synopsis:  From Marie Benedict, best-selling author of The Only Woman in the Room and Lady Clementine, comes a captivating work of historical fiction about a young female spy who may have changed the course of American History.
          The tide is turning against the colonists in the Revolutionary War, and 18-year-old Elizabeth Morris cannot sit by idly. Quietly disdainful of her Tory parents, who drag her along to society events and welcome a British soldier into their home during their occupation of New York City, Elizabeth decides to take matters into her own hands. She realizes that, as a young woman, no one around her believes that she can comprehend the profound implications of being a nation at war - she is, effectively, invisible. And she can use this invisibility to her advantage. Her unique access to British society leads her to a role with General George Washington's own network of spies: the Culper Ring.
          Based on true events, Agent 355 combines adventure, romance, and espionage to bring to life this little-known story of a hero who risked her life to fight for freedom against all odds.

151. Evil Eye - Madhuri Shekar

Listened on Audible - freebie/Audible Original
narrated by many readers
Unabridged audio (1:38)
2019
doesn't say, will count 80 pgs.
Adult CRF Epistolary US & India
Finished 12/12/20
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 4810 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Phone conversations & voicemails between a daughter of Indian background living in LA and her parents in India

What I posted on Goodreads:  same as below

My comments: Spoke theater, the whole thing is telephone conversations and voicemails between a mother, a daughter, the father, and the boyfriend.  It gets creepy.  Creepy fun.  I quite liked it.

Goodreads synopsis: Pallavi is an aspiring writer living in California. Her mother, Usha, is thousands of miles away in Delhi - and obsessed with finding her daughter a husband.

          In Madhuri Shekar’s ingenious Evil Eye, hilarious back-and-forth via phone and social media takes a shocking, supernatural twist when Pallavi meets the perfect man - leading to a climactic showdown that will leave listeners on the edges of their seats.

          (from another reader) this was a chilling and captivating story that I couldn't get enough of. Told through a series of telephone conversations and voicemails, a mother living in Delhi becomes increasingly concerned when her independent and career driven Indian -American daughter begins to be involved with a new man. Although Usha wants nothing more than her daughter, Pallvai to marry, an uneasy feeling begins to grow. Except everyone else thinks Usha is going crazy.

150. Snow Day by Julie Lipson

Audible Original, Acted with background noises
Unabridged audio (1:11)
2020
100 pgs.?
Adult CRF Holiday
Finished 12/11/20
Goodreads rating:  3.60 - 452 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: train from Florence to Paris

My comments: This was a spoken performance that took place on a Christmas Eve train ride from Florence through Italy towards Paris.  When the train encounters a blizzard it has to stop because it cannot continue, and two people whe have just met explore and get to know each other a little better.  I think there was supposed to be charisma between the two characters, but I just didn't feel it.  It was very short, so it didn't waste much of my time.

Goodreads synopsis:  What makes for a wonderful life? On a crowded Christmas train from Milan to Paris, Amy, an American headed to meet her fiancé, and Martjin, a Finn headed anywhere but home, meet cute. But when their train gets delayed in an Italian Alps hill town due to a snow storm, they, along with a passel of fellow stranded passengers, find comfort and joy in a cozy inn, run by a wise Italian man who forces them to look at the holiday and each other in a whole new light. 

148. Nick and Noel's Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall

listened - free on Audible
narrated by Brooke Bloomingdale and Edward Thomas
Unabridged audio (10:07)
2020 Audible Originals
290 pgs. - an estimation
Adult Christmas RomCom
Finished 12/10/2020
Goodreads rating: 
My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary rural Idaho

What I posted on Goodreads:  Very cutesie story to listen to when trying to get into the holiday spirit. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Press play on happily ever after in this charming, heartfelt holiday rom-com.
         Nick Winters and Noel Carter have known each other their whole lives. After years of shared family holidays, working together on the Winters’ Christmas tree farm, and being each other's safe haven, they wouldn't dream of crossing the line from friends to something more....
          But when Nick comes home for the holidays after serving overseas and finds that his long-term girlfriend has decided to get her stocking stuffed elsewhere, Noel is there to pick him up and show him that instead of a Blue Christmas he can still have a Wonderful Christmastime without his cheating ex.
          A night on the town and an impulsive kiss later has Noel thinking that perhaps this year they’ll be rockin’ around the Christmas tree as a couple, but only if the ghost - er rather - girlfriend of Nick's Christmas past doesn’t decide to haunt their holiday....

147. Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit

listened on Audible, purchased with a credit
narrated by many readers
Unabridged audio (6:17)
2020
288 pgs.
Historical Fiction
Finished 12/8/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.55 - 1508 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: 1630 Plymouth

First line/s: "We thought ourselves a murderless colony."

What I posted on Goodreads: same as comments below

My comments: Some of this story was very frustrating because of the flipping back-an-forth timewise and narrator wise.  I enjoyed being put into the middle of the history of early colonization where the author glamorizes nothing.  Who knows what really happened during that time....white male supremacy, God is mightier than anything else, saints vs. sinner (or "hypocrites" vs. indentured servants).  This was not the history I learned, but is probably closer to the truth.  Sadly, so much hate, meanness, selfishness, pettiness. The jumping around was bothersome.  I enjoyed this book in some ways, but less in others....

Goodreads synopsis:  From the bestselling author of The Wives of Los Alamos comes the riveting story of a stranger’s arrival in the fledgling colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts―and a crime that shakes the divided community to its core.
           Ten years after the Mayflower pilgrims arrived on rocky, unfamiliar soil, Plymouth is not the land its residents had imagined. Seemingly established on a dream of religious freedom, in reality the town is led by fervent puritans who prohibit the residents from living, trading, and worshipping as they choose. By the time an unfamiliar ship, bearing new colonists, appears on the horizon one summer morning, Anglican outsiders have had enough.
          With gripping, immersive details and exquisite prose, TaraShea Nesbit reframes the story of the pilgrims in the previously unheard voices of two women of very different status and means. She evokes a vivid, ominous Plymouth, populated by famous and unknown characters alike, each with conflicting desires and questionable behavior.
           Suspenseful and beautifully wrought, Beheld is about a murder and a trial, and the motivations―personal and political―that cause people to act in unsavory ways. It is also an intimate portrait of love, motherhood, and friendship that asks: Whose stories get told over time, who gets believed―and subsequently, who gets punished?

146. The Last Flight by Julie Clark

read on Audible
narrated by Kristine Hvam and Lauren Fortgang
Unabridged audio (9:23)
2020
302 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 12/4/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.13 - 33,696 ratings

My rating: 4
Setting: mostly Berkeley, CA, contemporary

First line/s:  "Terminal 4 swarms with people, the smell of wet wool and jet fuel thick around me.  I wait for her, just inside the sliding glass doors, the frigid winter wind slamming into me whenever they open, and instead force myself to visualize a balmy Puerto Rican breeze, laced with the scent of hibiscus and sea salt."

What I posted on Goodreads:  A story of two women switching places, one abused, one running for her life because of bad choices.  Certainly kept my interest!  Set mostly in Berkeley, California.  Great readers.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two women. Two Flights. One last chance to disappear.

          Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.
          A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets ― Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
           The Last Flight is the story of two women―both alone, both scared―and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.

141. The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

Audio

2013

304 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 11/13/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.85
My rating: 3.9
Setting: contemporary Texas

My comments: Don't like the title of this, it was misleading.  There were so many things I enjoyed about this story and just a few things that I didn't.  The protagonist went from an almost-whiny, afraid of everything kind of woman to a much braver, smarter one a little bit too rapidly.  She went from immediately wanting to scrub her hands after meeting O'Connor to never mentioning the original grumpy feeling for him again.  The big secret that her aunt and mother had kept from her, including the history of the "haunted house" wasn't such a big secret if she had had any kind of sense at all.  The frustration of having your child bullied over and over again and the helpless feeling that goes along with it were very real and written quite well.  And...I'm still not sure about Sunshine, the tabloid bimbo who is now a goth weirdo, close friend, confidant and coworker....I think Ms. Center wanted to create as many quirky characters as she possibly could.  It WAS good reading.  Not quite a 4.

Goodreads synopsis:  "Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for -- Dear Lord! -- two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who, after the sudden death of her husband, Danny, went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape, a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.

Life on Aunt Jean's goat farm is both more wonderful and more mysterious than Libby could have imagined. Beyond the animals and the strenuous work, there is quiet, deep, country quiet. But there is also a shaggy, gruff (though purportedly handsome, under all that hair) farm manager with a tragic home life, a formerly famous feed-store clerk who claims she can contact Danny "on the other side," and the eccentric aunt Libby never really knew but who turns out to be exactly what she's been looking for. And despite everything she's lost, Libby soon realizes how much more she's found. Libby hasn't just traded one kind of crazy for another; she may actually have found the place to bring her little family, and herself, back to life.

135. When She Was Good by Michael Robotham

#2 Cyrus Haven
borrowed from Library and listened on Libby
narrated by Joe Jameson
Unabridged audio (11:25)
2020
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 10/28/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.33 - 4181 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Nottingham/Manchester, England

First line/s: "Late spring.  Morning cold.  A small wooden boat emerges from the mist, sliding forward with each pull of the oars."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Part two in a 2-part mystery, finished quite satisfactorily.  Great narration, wonderful mystery.

My comments: Part two, finishing a story begun in a prior book (Good Girl, Bad Girl) quite satisfactorily.  I enjoyed the way it flip-flops between the two man characters, a forensic psychiatrist and an 18-year-old girl who has been abused and/or on the run for most of her remembered life.  The setting of Nottingham/Manchester, England and the perfectly accented and accentuated male reader enhanced my reading experience.  Plot, setting, characterization, and narration worked perfectly together in this excellent mystery.

Goodreads synopsis:  Criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in this new thriller from author Michael Robotham. Who is Evie, the girl with no past, running from? She was discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Her ability to tell when someone is lying helped Cyrus crack an impenetrable case in Good Girl, Bad Girl. Now, the closer Cyrus gets to uncovering answers about Evie’s dark history, the more he exposes Evie to danger, giving her no choice but to run. Ultimately, both will have to decide if some secrets are better left buried and some monsters should never be named...

134. We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

read on my iPhone/Kindle/Book/Audible
narrated by Marisa Blake
Unabridged audio (9:31)
2020
326 pgs.
Adult/YA CRF 
Finished 10/15/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.56 - 1060 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary migration from Guatemala to US

First line/s: "When you live in a place like this you're always planning your escape."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Horrifying story of three young people (12, 14, and 16) who make the arduous, perilous journey from their barrio in Guatemala to the U.S.

My comments: What a horrifying story!  Three young people (12, 14, 16) make the arduous journey from their barrio in Guatemala to the United States.  Their dreams are huge but reality is more than harsh.  One loses their life, the other two come very close.   Fleeing horrors like we can't imagine into different horrors that are just as fatal and terrifying.  It shows, with what I am sure is harsh accuracy, what happens to children that are caught on the border and detained in cages.  This was an extremely difficult book to read.  After living in southern Arizona for so many years, I can feel the heat of the desert and now that if I still lived there I would get up in the morning and go find an agency where I could physically actually do something to help the plight of these incredibly brave people. A hard book to get through and finish.  What a story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of desperation, escape, and survival across the U.S.-Mexico border.
          Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña have no false illusions about the town they've grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Though their families--both biological and found--create a warm community for them, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the three teens know they have no choice but to run: for the border, for the hope of freedom, and for their very lives.
          Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico with their eyes on the U.S. border, they follow the route of La Bestia, a system of trains that promise the hope of freedom--if they are lucky enough to survive the harrowing journey. With nothing but the bags on their backs and the desperation that courses through their very veins, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña know that there's no turning back, dangerous though the road ahead might be.
          In this powerful story inspired by real--and current--events, the plight at our southern border is brought to painful, poignant life. 

Picture Poetry Book: Dictionary for a Better World by Irene Latham & Charles Waters

Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z

Illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini

2020, Carolrhoda Books

120 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.68 - 213 ratings

Goodreads blurb:  How can we make the world a better place? This resource for middle-grade readers is organized as a dictionary; each entry presents a word related to creating a better world, such as ally, empathy, or respect. For each word, there is a poem, a quote, a personal anecdote from the authors, and a "try it" prompt for an activity.

EMPATHY

Ears open

Mouth closed

Paying

Attention

To the other person

Helping them know

Yes, they matter.

                Charles Waters

                 an acrostic poem

COURAGE

Sometimes

courage can be

getting up to face life's

stormy world when you'd rather hide

in bed.

                  Charles Waters

                   a cinquain

KINDNESS

Kindness boards a bus.

Kindness stands

so you can sit.

Kindness unwraps

a sandwich

and gives you the bigger half.

                    Irene Latham

                    a cherita (a three-stanza poem that tells a story.  The first stanza has one line and sets the scene, the second stanza has two lines, and the third stanza has three lines.)

VOICE

a poem for two voices

I like to shout                I like to whisper

loud, proud,                   tender,

strong words                  remember-me words.

                 words have power

words can split a city     words can rain down,

with the speed                 bringing spring bouquets

of an earthquake              to a barren desert

133. Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

listened to library borrow on Libby
narrated by Richard Armitage
Unabridged audio (9:55)
2020
309 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished  10/10/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.80 - 16,129 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Post WWII Hampshire, England

First line/s: "He lay back on the low stone wall, knees pulled up, and stretched out his spine against the rock."

What I posted on Goodreads:  A lovely historical fiction set in a tiny village in Hampshire, England, in the winter of 1946, where eight people, all lovers of Jane Austen novels, come together to form a society to preserve the little village where she wrote her last three books.  Full of bittersweet joy and sadness, it was entertaining and delightful to follow the actions and thought of these eight people who had great insight into the mind of Jane Austen and her many characters.

Goodreads synopsis:  Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.    
          One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society. 

132. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker

listened on Audible
narrated by Jackie Zebrowski
Unabridged audio (19:12)
2019
493 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 10/2/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.26 - 16,304 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: 1876 Wyoming prairie

First line/s:  "I was leading the cows to the milking shed when my pa shot Mr. Webber."

What I posted on Goodreads:  3.5 Yes, beautiful, descriptive writing, but too much of it.  The story could have been told without 18 hours of listening to much of the same thing over and over.  Good story all in all, but I couldn't WAIT to finally get to then end....

Goodreads synopsis:  From the bestselling author of The Ragged Edge of Night comes a powerful and poetic novel of survival and sacrifice on the American frontier.

Wyoming, 1876. For as long as they have lived on the frontier, the Bemis and Webber families have relied on each other. With no other settlers for miles, it is a matter of survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with their neighbor, he doesn’t think of survival. In one impulsive moment, a man is dead, Ernest is off to prison, and the women left behind are divided by rage and remorse.

Losing her husband to Cora’s indiscretion is another hardship for stoic Nettie Mae. But as a brutal Wyoming winter bears down, Cora and Nettie Mae have no choice but to come together as one family - to share the duties of working the land and raising their children. There’s Nettie Mae’s son, Clyde - no longer a boy, but not yet a man - who must navigate the road to adulthood without a father to guide him, and Cora’s daughter, Beulah, who is as wild and untamable as her prairie home.

Bound by the uncommon threads in their lives and the challenges that lie ahead, Cora and Nettie Mae begin to forge an unexpected sisterhood. But when a love blossoms between Clyde and Beulah, bonds are once again tested, and these two resilient women must finally decide whether they can learn to trust each other - or else risk losing everything they hold dear.