7. Detour by Jeff Rake

listened on Audible (purchased)

320 pgs. (10:52)

2026 - published two weeks ago, brand new
Adult Science Fiction
Finished 1/27/2026
Goodreads rating: 3.86
My rating: 5
Setting: Various parts of eastern USA, outer space

My comments: So good, just the kind of science fiction that I love.  We get to know the six main characters really well, they travel together in a spacecraft for two years to leave a satellite on Tritan, one of Saturn's moons, leaving behind family, friends, loved ones, no one.....and when they return......WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT BOOK! Cliffhanger time. This one's only been out for two weeks, so the next one is not in very close sight.  Big sigh.

Goodreads synopsis:   space shuttle flight crew discovers that the Earth they’ve returned to is not the home they left behind in this emotional, mind-bending thriller from the creator of the hit Netflix series Manifest and the bestselling author of The Warehouse.

“If The Martian and The Twilight Zone had a baby, it would be Detour—a thriller that messes with your head as you scramble to piece together what’s really going on.”—Steve Netter, Best Thriller Books

Ryan Crane wasn’t looking for trouble—just a cup of coffee. But when this cop spots a gunman emerging from an unmarked van, he leaps into action and unknowingly saves John Ward, a billionaire with presidential aspirations, from an assassination attempt.

As thanks for Ryan’s quick thinking, Ward offers him the chance of a lifetime: to join a group of lucky civilians chosen to accompany three veteran astronauts on the first manned mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.

A devoted family man, Ryan is reluctant to leave on this two-year expedition, yet with the encouragement of his loving wife—and an exorbitant paycheck guaranteeing lifetime care for their disabled son—he crews up and ventures into a new frontier.

But as the ship is circling Titan, it is rocked by an unexplained series of explosions. The crew works together to get back on course, and they return to Earth as heroes.

When the fanfare dies down, Ryan and his fellow astronauts notice that things are different. Some changes are good, such as lavish upgrades to their homes, but others are more disconcerting. Before the group can connect, mysterious figures start tailing them, and their communications are scrambled.

Separated and suspicious, the crew must uncover the truth and decide how far they’re willing to go to return to their normal lives. Just when their space adventure seemingly ends, it shockingly begins.

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.

6. Head Cases by John McMahon

#1 FBI PAR Unit

listened on Audible (purchased)

352 pgs.

2025
Adult police procedural/series
Finished 2/2/25
Goodreads rating: 4.16
My rating: 4.25
Setting: The team is based in Florida, but this takes place more on the west coast

My comments: Gardner Camden is a savant autistic who has a photographic memory.  He was raised by a really savvy mother (who happened to be a psychiatrist) who's taught him how to survive in the real world.  He remembers everything she's taught him.  He is part of a special FBI unit called PAR, which is full of incredibly smart (and eccentric) people who have screwed up in the FBI. But boy, can they figure things out! This story looks like the first of a series.  The plot was terribly complicated and intense....and really good.

Goodreads synopsis:  Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying—and commercial—series debut.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?

With an enigmatic case that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and a thoroughly engaging ensemble cast, John McMahon’s Head Cases is a triumph.

2. The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

listened on Audible (purchased)

339 pgs. (10:18)

2025
Adult Historical Fiction Mystery
Finished 1/18/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.11
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Egypt, 1930s & 1978; NYC 1978

My comments: As likable as the story was, I had to suspend belief on some of the coincidences that too easily occurred in places in this story.  Spoilers ahead!  Annie and her point of view were likable and heartfelt, but also pushy and nosy, pushing the plot uncomfortably.  And since Charlotte kept her name and had a prominent position in the Egyptian antiquities community, it's very hard to believe that someone in the same business, albeit in a different country than the US, would not have realized that she was still alive.  And I truly can't believe that in the late 1970s anyone would be just allowed into any of the closed-off tombs like Charlotte and Annie were, no matter their expertise or credentials.  Lots of coincidences and incongruities, unfortunately.  Set in the mid 1930s in Egypt and in 1978 New York, it flip-flopped back-and-forth between those two time periods with the same protagonist.  Such mixed feelings I have about this book!  So much to love, so much to frown about.  3?  3/5?  4?  Eek!

Goodreads synopsis:  From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.” Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.

70. Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik

listened on Libby

419 pgs.

2022
Adult SciFi
Finished 8/11/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 4
Setting: Far outer space, who knows when....

My comments: This is a very good sci-fi set in far outer space with lots of worm holes to go through, lol.  Humans have recently enced a war with similarly bodied extraterrestrials, though these counterparts have absurd telepathic capabilities and are very difficult to outmaneuver.  There is an element of romance throught, and I'm nout sure if I 100% liked that - the mystery and challenge seemed enough without it.

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2022)

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.

69. Funny Story by Emily Henry

listened on Libby

395 pgs.

2024
Adult romance
Finished 8/4/2024
Goodreads rating:  4.23
My rating: 4.25
Setting:  Contemporary

My comments: A definite meet cute story that was quite enjoyable and ... well, cute...

     When Daphne is jilted the night of her fiancé's bachelor party, she is pretty devastated, as you'd expect.  That he jilted her to be with his best friend, a girls he's known since childhood, particularly upset her.  And having no place to go, she ended up moving in with the also-jilted boyfriend of the so-called best friend.  And it goes on from there.  Daphne is a children's librarian and loves her job, but has a lot of hangups.  Miles, her new roommate, also has a lot of hangups.  And they seem to fit together just like two pieces of a perfect puzzle.  He's too good to be true, actually.  With a cast of bizarre characters that are a lot of fun and a narrator who is one of my favorites, I totally enjoyed listening to this book.

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Winner for Readers' Favorite Romance (2024), Winner for Readers' Favorite Audiobook (2024)

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?

64. Starling House by Alix E Harrow

listened on Libby

320 pgs.

2023
Adult Gothic mystery
Finished 7/15/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Kentucky

My comments: I didn't take notes and as I go to write this many months later, I can't remember the nitty gritty, but I do remember that this was an interesting read.

Goodreads synopsis:  A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

61. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

listened on Libby

352 pgs.

2024
Adult RomCom
Finished 7/6/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary exotic island in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean

My comments: Somewhat typical Christina Lauren, where there's a decent story, quite a bit of sex, and everything - including quite a bit into the future - is all wrapped up tidily. There are a couple of thigs that I did not like...the protagonist's pink hair didn't work for me.  The other is the insistence of Liam to not be completely honest with Anna about what had happened 11 years previously.  It seems so stupid because de seems a pretty honest person.  Watching the indulgences of the super, ultra rich vs. the poverty of people tat don't have enough money for medical assistance just truly drove me crazy.  But it sure was an entertaining story.

Goodreads synopsis:  Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

60. Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron

#15 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden

listened on Audible

304 pgs.

2024
Adult series murder mystery
Finished 7/4/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.28
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Maine woods, Jackman and US/Canada border.

My comments: This book was a bit different than his previous books which had Mike Bowditch out and about doing his investigating in different parts of Maine.  In this one he and his father-in-law are out in the woods tracking a bad guy and his young daughter.  A bit of adventure, some survival skills, pondering clues, and near-catastrophes and very close calls make this an interesting adventure.

Goodreads synopsis:  Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond. All Mark Redmond asks in return for building Josie’s dream cabin is that he be left alone to homeschool his 12-year-old daughter, Cady.

For Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch, the intensity of Redmond's secretiveness is troubling, especially in light of suspicious criminal activity being reported around the area―including rumors of an armed man offering large sums of money in exchange for the location of Redmond and Cady. Josie, though hesitant to violate the trust of her prized builder, eventually agrees to fly Mike and his father-in-law Charley Stevens to the secluded pond in an attempt to protect Redmond and Cady. But hours after landing, the trip takes a dark turn when they witness a horrific murder and are taken captive themselves.

Freeing himself, Mike is forced to set off through the impenetrable Maine forest towards Canada, alone and unarmed in pursuit of a mysterious fugitive. As he navigates a windblown landscape choked with deadfalls and blocked by swollen streams, he marvels at his enemy’s bush craft. The killer possesses skills surpassing his own, and Bowditch can't tell if he is the cat or the mouse in this dangerous game. Can Mike Bowditch stop his adversary in time to save the life of a young girl, or will he be forced to watch another innocent soul die?

23. Penelope in Retrograde by Brooke Abrams

listened on Audible

247 pgs. (7:46)
2023
Adult romance, no smut

Finished 3/23/24
Goodreads rating: 4.11
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Coronado Island, San Diego, CA (with a few flashbacks to the past)

My comments: I almost put this down after listening to the first few chapters. The protagonist seemed frenzied, over-the-top. But she/it did settle down and the storytelling became tongue-in-cheek funny, if not exaggerated and in some places, a bit ridiculous, but really fun. Penny is a romance writer, but the story is devoid of anything steamy, very clean. Great characterizations and interesting characters, including an elderly grandmother who was a hoot. The protagonist grew a lot during the story. Disliked her during the first 2/3 of the book, then she started smartening up. Enjoyable read.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this witty and heartfelt debut from author Brooke Abrams, a romance writer with a passion for astrology reluctantly travels home for Thanksgiving to make amends with her estranged family…and possibly manifest her own happily ever after. Romance writer Penelope Banks can write the perfect love story, but when it comes to family, all she’s got is a rough draft. Penny shelved the idea of fitting in with her high-achieving family years ago, but when her new business venture—a romance bookstore—is at risk of closing before its doors have opened, she’s forced to ask for help from the one place she never expected. Home. Penny’s prepared for the usual Thanksgiving her perfect sister, meddling nana, matchmaking mother, and workaholic father. The guest she didn’t anticipate? Her ex-husband, Smith. After an awkward rideshare with Smith leaves Penny questioning why the romance in her life exists only in her novels, Penny adds some fiction to reality and turns her father’s colleague into the perfect fake boyfriend. With only four days to mend damaged relationships, and her bookstore’s future at stake, all the stars must align for Penny to finally write a happily ever after for herself and her family.

4. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

listened on Audible (purchased with one credit)

2024
304 pgs.
Adult contemporary ("gothic") mystery
Finished 1/17/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.12
My rating: 5
Setting: Huge mansion in contemporary NC mountains

My comments:  A contemporary "gothic" mystery told in three voices - two of them in real time and one in letters from 2013.  This is the first modern gothic that I've read that I've actually liked.  So well done!  Twists and turns, of course, and so many questions as you read along.  One rich, greedy family vs. a couple of cunning, clever women and a super kindhearted man.  Certainly kept me interested.  Whose accounting should I trust?

Goodreads synopsis:  When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

3. My Darling Bride by Ilsa Madden-Mills

listened on Audible

2023
327 pgs.
Adult Romance with steam...
Finished 1/16/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.10
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary NYC (with the beginning in the desert just outside Tucson!)

My comments: A steamy romcom set in a bookstore.  Take one six-and-a-half-foot exceedingly handsome football star and one thoughtful, conscientious (gorgeous, of course) bookstore employee who has raised her two younger siblings since they were very young, throw in a marriage-of-convenience/fake marriage trope and a few steamy sections ... and voila!  This is an excellently plotted story with great characters and, of course, an HEA.  Very enjoyable listening to on a frigid snow day.

Goodreads synopsis:  In a sizzling romance that sparkles with wit and depth, two wounded souls meet by chance in the desert and agree to get married, and their lives will never be the same.

On a normal day, Emmaline Darling isn’t a car thief. She’s just a simple girl who runs a bookstore and adores cats. But when she’s stranded in the desert and needs to get away from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, she picks her only option: swiping the keys to a famous football player’s Lamborghini and speeding away.

Football star Graham Harlan is in chaos. First he took a hit on the field that left him with a near-death experience, and now he’s promised his brother he’ll get married to secure the family inheritance. Trouble is he isn’t even seeing anyone.

Then a mystery woman steals his car. With his usual stubbornness, he tracks her all the way to Manhattan and gives her an ultimatum: marry me or I’ll press charges.

Her choice is obvious, only neither of them expect the sparks that ignite between them.

As the end of their arrangement looms, will Graham take a chance on love or let his darling walk away forever?

84. A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

listened to audio borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
Unabridged audio (11:39)
2020 Mira Books
400 pgs.
Adult Dystopia
Finished 5/25/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.59 - 953 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting: San Francisco in the (near?) future

First line/s:  "People were too scared for music tonight.  Not that MoJo cared."

My comments:  Well, this book was certainly apropos.  It was all about pandemic, quarantine, deaths, and all the crazy stuff that could possibly happen around it, which was a bit tough to read right in the middle of our current COVID-19 pandemic. I can't say I like this book and I'm not sure why.  The four main characters were interesting, but I couldn't relate at all.  And the seven-year-old daughter, Sunny, was totally unbelievable for me.  A seven-year-old girl, no matter how smart of savvy, would ever be able to make her way from San francisco to Seattle during absolute craziness safely and/or well.  The adults sure couldn't!  No, I can't say that I would recommend this book at all. 
     There was a quote I liked: "Memories are made to fade.  They're built with an expiration date."

Goodreads synopsis:  How do you start over after the end of the world?
          Six years after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet’s population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs.
          In postapocalyptic San Francisco, former pop star Moira has created a new identity to finally escape her past—until her domineering father launches a sweeping public search to track her down. Desperate for a fresh start herself, jaded event planner Krista navigates the world on behalf of those too traumatized to go outside, determined to help everyone move on—even if they don’t want to. Rob survived the catastrophe with his daughter, Sunny, but lost his wife. When strict government rules threaten to separate parent and child, Rob needs to prove himself worthy in the city’s eyes by connecting with people again.
          Krista, Moira, Rob and Sunny are brought together by circumstance, and their lives begin to twine together. But when reports of another outbreak throw the fragile society into panic, the friends are forced to finally face everything that came before—and everything they still stand to lose.
          Because sometimes having one person is enough to keep the world going. 

75. Inappropriate by Vi Keeland

listened to audio via Audio Escape
narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt
Unabridged audio (8:01)
2020 C, Scott Publishing
364 pgs.
Adult steamy crf
Finished 5/12/20
Goodreads rating:
My rating: 3.5

First line/s: "God, I feel like crap."

My comments: This was a good one, lots of story, emotional story ... with a little bit of depth.  Lots of the "usual" kind of stuff that comes from an Audio Escape-type book. Perfect for falling asleep....
Ireland & Grant.

Goodreads synopsis:  A new, sexy standalone novel from #1 New York Times Bestseller, Vi Keeland.
     Terminated for inappropriate behavior.
     I couldn’t believe the letter in my hands.
     Nine years. Nine damn years I’d worked my butt off for one of the largest companies in America, and I was fired with a form letter when I returned home from a week in Aruba. 
     All because of a video taken when I was on vacation with my friends—a private video made on my private time. Or so I thought…     
     Pissed off, I cracked open a bottle of wine and wrote my own letter to the gazillionaire CEO telling him what I thought of his company and its practices. 
     I didn’t think he’d actually respond.
     I certainly never thought I’d suddenly become pen pals with the rich jerk.     
     Eventually, he realized I’d been wronged and made sure I got my job back.
     Only…it wasn’t the only thing Grant Lexington wanted to do for me.
     But there was no way I was getting involved with my boss’s boss’s boss. Even if he was ridiculously gorgeous, confident, and charming.
     It would be completely wrong, inappropriate even. 
     Sort of like the video that got me into trouble to begin with.
     Two wrongs don’t make a right.
     But sometimes it’s twice as fun.

99. Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia

listened to Audio, borrowed from Bosler
narrated by Patricia Rodriguez
Unabridged audio (9:56)
2018/Atria Emily Bestler Books
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 10/13/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.60 - 3640 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Minnesota

First line/s: "By the time the boy in ward four attached me, I'd already nicknamed him "the Lost One" in my head."

My comments:  Set mostly in a mental hospital, this story is the tale of two young people and the mental legacies they receive from their parents.  As their stories begin to intermingle, my mind was in a constant state of "what would I do in this situation?"  I was quite caught up in the story. 

Goodreads synopsis:  From the author of the “compelling” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) and critically acclaimed Everything You Want Me to Be, a riveting and suspenseful thriller about the mysterious disappearance of a boy and his stunning return ten years later.
          There is a place in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes and untouched forests called the Boundary Waters. Ten years ago a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned.
          Search teams found their campsite ravaged by what looked like a bear. They were presumed dead until a decade later...the son appeared. Discovered while ransacking an outfitter store, he was violent and uncommunicative and sent to a psychiatric facility. Maya Stark, the assistant language therapist, is charged with making a connection with their high-profile patient. No matter how she tries, however, he refuses to answer questions about his father or the last ten years of his life
          But Maya, who was abandoned by her own mother, has secrets, too. And as she’s drawn closer to this enigmatic boy who is no longer a boy, she’ll risk everything to reunite him with his father who has disappeared from the known world.

95. The Alien's Mail-Order Bride by Ruby Dixon

read on my iPhone (have on Kindle)
2017
84 pgs.
X-rated SciFi Short Story
Finished 10/4/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.90 - 2570 ratings
My rating:  2

First line/s:  Emvor/  "If there was one person I didn't want to meet at the spaceport, it was Sanjurel."

My comments:  A short story.  One-sentence summary, lol:  Blue-skinned, horned alien falls for tiny (compared to him) wife and throws off all his preconceived prejudices before consummating his marriage with steamy sex at the end of the book.

Goodreads synopsis:  Though still carrying the scars of his past as an intergalactic soldier, Emvor doesn’t mind the quiet of his chosen life as a farmer. He doesn’t even mind that most nights are lonely on remote Cassa, but he does need help around his farm. A mail-order bride from his homeworld seems like the perfect solution. She’ll be a tall, sturdy female to help with the chores and bear his children.
          Unfortunately, the person that arrives is Nicola. She’s small, delicate…and human. She also knows nothing about farming, and she's lied and deceived her way across the galaxy to get to Cassa so she can hide from those that would capture her. She's a problem, and also the most enticing thing he's ever seen.
          Now Emvor has to decide…can he keep the woman who’s nothing like what he asked for but is everything he needs?

93. Machine City by Scott J. Holliday

#2 Det. John Barnes, Detroit Police Detective
Listened on Audible - my purchase
read by J. D. Jackson
Unabridged audio (9:21)
2018 Thomas & Mercer
300pgs.
Adult Dystopian Mystery
Finished 10/1/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.08 - 317 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Detroit

First line/s: "Former Detroit homicide detective John Barnes sat on the wooden steps that led up to his porch, his leather tool belt unbuckled and set at his side."

My comments:  I was totally boggled by this book, really didn't have much of a clue about what was going on for most of the first 7/8 of the book.  If I hadn't read the first in the series I would really have been stumped.  Then the enlightening chapter and everything (more or less) came together I would not recommend this book to anyone who has not read the first one, and not to anyone who's only going to peripherally listen or read with just half a mind to it!  Difficult to rate....

Goodreads synopsis:  In this unputdownable thriller set in the new future, a detective enters the mind of a killer to find a missing child.          
          To ex-detective John Barnes, the machine is a dangerous and abhorrent addiction. The criminal thoughts it embedded in his brain helped him stop a serial killer, but they left him dazed—with pounding, murderous impulses. Having turned in his badge to salvage what’s left of his psyche, Barnes must return to the darkness at the request of his former partner. A little girl has gone missing. So has Adrian Flaherty, the detective in the kidnapper’s shadow.         
          And only Barnes can hear the clues.
          But the trail is more dizzying and more personal than he feared. The voices are revealing a secret only Flaherty could have known. They’re also telling Barnes that he doesn’t have long to live. To find the girl, he must listen closely. Because the clock is ticking…and Barnes’s mind is going fast.

13. Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

listened to Audio - borrowed from CCLS
read by Saskia Maarleveld
unabridged audio:  15:46
2018, Viking
436 pgs.
Adult Fantasy/Historical Fiction
Finished 1/27/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 12,147 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: (see my notes)

First line/s:  "On her last night as a warmblood, Phoebe Taylor had been a good daughter."

My comments: This story was written so magically and brilliantly that I'm left quite star-struck.  Deborah Harkness has the same kind of storytelling abilities as J. K. Rowling, who frequently leaves me in awe.  Where do these stories and the way they are intertwined come from?  Such a gift!  Flipping back and forth from contemporary France to historical America, Paris, and London of 1770 through the beginning of the 19th century, we follow favorite characters from the Discovery of Witches series, particularly Marcus, Miriam, and Diana and Matthew and their toddler twins.  So much history is detailed, especially the American and French Revolutions. Yes, it was a little slow during the French Revolution, but the details of being "reborn" were a blast!   I learned a lot of American History.  And I was mesmerized.  Such wonderful storytelling!

Goodreads synopsis:  From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches, a novel about what it takes to become a vampire. 
          On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus's deeply held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood.
          Fast-forward to contemporary Paris, where Phoebe Taylor—the young employee at Sotheby's whom Marcus has fallen for—is about to embark on her own journey to immortality. Though the modernized version of the process at first seems uncomplicated, the couple discovers that the challenges facing a human who wishes to be a vampire are no less formidable than they were in the eighteenth century. The shadows that Marcus believed he'd escaped centuries ago may return to haunt them both—forever.
          A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities not just for change but for revolution, Time's Convert channels the supernatural world-building and slow-burning romance that made the All Souls Trilogy instant bestsellers to illuminate a new and vital moment in history, and a love affair that will bridge centuries.

2. Theory of Bastards by Audrey Schulman

read on my iPhone
2018 Europa Editions
416 pgs.
Adult dystopia
Finished 1/3/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.11 - 775 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Somewhere in the midwest, 40 to 50 years in the future.

First line/s: "When Frankie's vehicle pulled in, she saw a whole group of them waiting for her, exactly what she hated. Dressed up, milling around, eager supplicants.  Ten or eleven researcher in all, probably every PhD at the Foundation."

My comments:  Most misleading cover of all time!!! Much of this book was written more like non-fiction than fiction, even omitting quotation marks for any spoken word. The story was primarily about the watching of and research about a group of 14 bonobos (a type of ape, a very smart type) who lived together in a research facility a few years in the future. When an unknown catastrophe changes the world, Frankie and Stotts have to work together and use their wits To save the bonobos  – and themselves. I truly can’t believe how much I enjoyed this book, it’s not the sort of book I would usually go for.

Goodreads synopsis:  “Stage four. Surgery. Recovering.” While those are the simple words that once described Dr. Francine Burk’s situation, the reality is much more complex. Her new reality is bacon rinds for breakfast and feeling unduly thrilled by her increasing ability to walk across a room without assistance. And it’s being offered a placement at a prestigious research institute where she can put to good use her recent award money. With the Foundation’s advanced technological resources and a group of fascinating primates, Francine can begin to verify her subversive scientific discovery, which has challenged the foundations of history—her Theory of Bastards.
          Frankie finds that the bonobos she’s studying are as complex as the humans she’s working alongside. Their personalities are strong and distinct, and reigning over it all is Mama, the commanding matriarchal leader of the group. Frankie comes to know the bonobos and to further develop her groundbreaking theory with the help of her research partner, a man with a complicated past and perhaps a place in her future. And then something changes everything, and the lines that divide them—between subject and scientist, between colleague and companion—begin to blur. 
          With deft skill and heartbreaking honesty, Audrey Schulman delves into the very nature of her characters. Her newest novel explores the nuances of communication, the implications of unquestioned technological advancement, and the enduring power of love in a way that is essential and urgent in today’s world. This thrilling literary novel will resonate, long after the final page is turned..

98. The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

Listened on Audible
2018, Park Row
368 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 12/8/18
Goodreads rating:  3.63 - 1119 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary LA, CA

First line/s:  "The last time I saw my uncle, he bought me a dog."

My comments:  Although I had a pretty good idea of where this was all leading, it was fun following the path of crumbs.  Good story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of reading.
          Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy's bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda's twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda's life. She doesn't hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy--and one final scavenger hunt.
          When Miranda returns home to Los Angeles and to Prospero Books--now as its owner--she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her inside novels on the store's shelves, in locked drawers of his apartment upstairs, in the name of the store itself. Miranda becomes determined to save Prospero Books and to solve Billy's last scavenger hunt. She soon finds herself drawn into a journey where she meets people from Billy's past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda's mother has kept hidden--and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.
          Bighearted and trenchantly observant, The Bookshop of Yesterdaysis a lyrical story of family, love and the healing power of community. It's a love letter to reading and bookstores, and a testament to how our histories shape who we become.