44. Game of Nines - a short story by James Paterson

listened on Audible

?  pgs. - only on audio

2025
Adult Mystery
Finished 9/25
Goodreads rating:  3.75
My rating: 3.75

My comments: 

Goodreads synopsis:  “I have just committed the perfect murder. You have one week to catch me, or I will vanish...and strike again, nine years from today.”

FBI agent Sarah Cole is stunned to receive an invitation to the “Game of Nines,” the most secretive and longest-running murder puzzle in history.

Thrust into a mystery that has confounded law enforcement for decades, she proves to be an unexpectedly formidable "player"—and might finally end the deadly game once and for all.

From James Patterson, the world’s bestselling author, and starring Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool), Game of Nines is a pulse-pounding murder mystery full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

49. Live and Let Grow by Penny Reid

listened on Audible/AudOriginal

narrated by Joe Arden and Fiona Fischer

Unabridged audio (1:33)
2021
75 pgs. - Novella
Adult CRF Novella
Finished 5/8/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.96 - 193 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting: Contemporary America

My comments: If this protagonist doesn't have Aspberger's I'll eat my hat.  Gorgeous girl doesn't dare tell her gorgeous hunk of a best friend that she loves him, while for years he's felt the same way and didn't tell her for fear of how she'd react.   So one evening, after FIFTEEN years, they fall into each other's arms immediately getting it on with him asking her to marry him, then and there.  Oh, ad of course there's the selfish sister that keeps talking easily-impressionable Alice to questions herself.  Okey-dokey.  Cut and stupd and either too much for not enough, I'm not sure.

Goodreads synopsis: 

          ‘Live And Let Grow’ is a 14k word (short) contemporary romance of long-suffering unrequited love and can be read as a standalone.

 Alice is in love with her best friend. Now all she needs to do is tell him.

          Best buds Milo Manganiello and Alice Hooper have been the one constant in each other’s lives for over fifteen years. The charismatic and compassionate physics professor was there when Alice got married, and he was there ten years later when she got divorced. Likewise, the candid and kind computer science professor has always been there for Milo. She babysits his apartment and plethora of houseplants when he’s traveling and they share breakfast together every day he’s in town. Alice wasn’t always in love with Milo, but the feeling has grown, and when Milo returns from his latest globe-trotting adventure, Alice decides it’s time to spill the seeds.     

          Does Alice have the grit to confess? And will feelings take root? Or is hers a love destined never to bloom?

40. A Chance Inheritance by Carolyn Brown

listened on Audible Original

narrated by Brittany Pressley

Unabridged audio (1:51)
2021
100 pgs. (guessing, only on audio)
Adult romance - clean, if I remember correctly...
Finished 4/16/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.50 - 317 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Pleasant River fishing area, Texas

My comments: A very sweet story about three female cousins and the recently deceased grandmother they all adored.  She had left them equal shares in her baitshop/general store on Pleasant River in Texas.  This story tells about how they gather together after Lizzie's death and decided, together, how to go on while grievine her death together.  There was a fourth major character, a love interest for the eldest cousing named CHRIS ADAMS!!!!

Goodreads synopsis:  What do a runaway bride, a free spirit, and a corporate exec have in common? Besides all being down on their luck, Lainie, Jodi, and Becky are Lizzie Cornell's granddaughters. Upon inheriting their grandmother's home and family bait shop, the three cousins return to Catfish, Texas, grieving Lizzie's passing and hoping to find the fresh start they all need.
          Turns out cohabitating together and running the Catfish Fisherman's Hut isn't at all like the idyllic summers they spent as children on the banks of the Red River. The days are long and hot, the tourists demanding and rude. And then there's Chris, a local river guide who seems to have eyes only for Becky.
          But Lizzie's death has set in motion a chain of events that will cause a new generation of Cornell women to come together. And thanks to this chance inheritance, some local fishermen, and the love of their Granny Lizzie, the Cornell cousins discover that sometimes an ending is really the beginning of a brand-new happily ever after.

31. The Set Up by Falguni Kothari

listened on Audible Original

narrated by Soneela Nankani and Vikas Adam

Unabridged audio (1:54)
2021
100 pgs. (?)
Adult short story/novella romance
Finished 4/3/2021
Goodreads rating:  3.64 - 646 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary I-forget-where America

What I posted on Goodreads:  Very cute, a good breather in between heavier tomes...

My comments: A very cute story about an Indian grandfather who begs his overworked new-doctor granddaughter to go on three different blind dates, just to please him, with guys he's chosen.  All three dates are actually with the same guy.  Although she is extremely negative about any kind of possibility and will only attempt the first date to please her grandfather, the meeting/s are clever and cte, though not particularly unexpected.  Lots of fun.  Great Indian accents for the older Indian characters.

Goodreads synopsis:  A perfect disaster - or a perfect match? Find out in this heartfelt rom-com novella....

          "Just three dates. That's all I'm asking. One boy shares your sense of humor. Another has similar interests and ideals. The third boy has a helpful heart like yours."
          When Aditi Gupta comes home late from work as a pediatric resident one night and her grandfather offers this pitch, she reluctantly agrees. She's far too busy with med school to be dating, and besides, she dreams of a love for the ages, like her parents, not an arranged marriage. And yet she finds herself agreeing to three dates because she loves her grandfather. All she has to do is make herself utterly ineligible and problem solved!
          And sure enough her first date with the disgustingly handsome and intriguing Krishna Lal goes exactly as planned: not well! But then the second date comes around and Aditi finds that there is more at stake than just three bad dates. Suddenly, her heart is on the line, and maybe her grandfather's, too.

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....