48. A Cry in the Dark by Denise Grover Swank

#1 Carly Moore

listened on Audible

narrated by Shannon McManus very well

Unabridged audio (10:48)
2019
376 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 5/8/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.45 - 1976 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary small Smoky Mountain town, Tennessee

First line/s: " 'No, no, no, no, NO!' I shouted, banging the heel of my hand on the steering wheel of my Honda."

My comments: This is a mediocre mystery that dragged in many places much longer than it needed to.  Much, or even most, of it was either eye-rolling or difficult to believe.  Repetitive and slow quite a bit.  Very decent narrator was one of the details that kept me listening.  There are two or three or maybe even four more to come in the series, 50 -50 on whether I will continue.

Goodreads synopsis:  A woman fleeing her past finds more than she bargains for in a new suspense series by New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank.

          A woman on the run with no one to trust.
          With the ink barely dry on her new identity, Cary Moore just wants to disappear…but fate has other plans.
          Broken down car, next to nothing in her bank account, Carly is stuck in a Smoky Mountain town that time has forgotten. Drum is riddled with secrets and outsiders are eyed with distrust. Still, it isn’t until she witnesses a cold-blooded murder in a darkened parking lot, that she realizes she’s escaped one nightmare, only to land in another.
          As the clock ticks down and more bodies pile up, Carly doesn’t know who to trust. If she doesn’t stop the killers, they just might stop her…permanently.

42. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

A Reese Witherspoon YA Pick

listened on Audible (didn't want to wait for library WL)

narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc -  Fantastic narrator - whether it be a male voice, a female, Native American inflections, Native American language.  Just wonderful!

Unabridged audio (14:13)
2021
496 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 4/20/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.48 - 6582 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary shores of Lake Superior, Michigan, on an island and on the mainland

First line/s: "I am a frozen statue of a girl in the woods.  Only my eyes moving, darting from the gun to their startled expression."

My comments: Fantastic narrator, and wow, fantastic story.  Definitely a mystery, definitely a story of family and relationships, great insight into indigenous American thinking both spiritual and historical, and thoughtful, teeth-clenching glimpses into the greed and ravages of methamphetamine.  Incredibly well-told story a bout a super-smart, savvy female athlete advocate for her Ojibwa people. And this Angeline Boulley's DEBUT novel!

Goodreads synopsis:  As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.
          The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.
          Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.
          Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

86. Run Away by Harlan Coben

listened to on Audible
read by Steven Webber (yes, THAT Steven Webber!)
Unabridged audio (10:20)
2019 Grand Central Publishing
385 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 9/8/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.09 - 21,689 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary NYC

First line/s:  "Simon sat on a bench in Central Park - in Strawberry Fields to be more precise - and felt his heart shatter."

My comments:  This book was one heck of a roller coaster ride!  And I'm not even sure how I feel about it as I finish, because some of the relationships just seemed a little bit off.  Simon's love for his wife, Ingrid, was pure and would never waiver, but I still don't understand exactly why.  Because she was beautiful?  That part wasn't made clear at all, he just idolized and adored her.  In a way that was the crux of the whole story, which is what's leaving me a little off.  You're just supposed to understand this without any explanation.  Oh well.  It was a great whodunnit and Harlan Coben sure can spin a tale!  I LOVED listening to Steven Weber's flawless reading.  Of course, in my mind, Simon now looks exactly like Mr. Weber.   Yum.

Goodreads synopsis:  She's addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she's made it clear that she doesn't want to be found.
          Then, quite by chance, you see her busking in New York's Central Park.
          but she's not the girl you remember. This woman is wasted, frightened and clearly in trouble.
          You don't stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home.
          She runs. 
          And you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Where criminal gangs rule, where drugs are the main currency, and murder is commonplace.
          Now it's your life on the line. And nowhere and no one is safe.

49. Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanan

read on my iPhone
2017 Knopf
320 pgs.
YA CRF/Survival
Finished  June 6, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 966 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary southern Utah desert

First line/s:  " 'Wren...'
     My name is floating around me.  Bounding on the clouds in my mind.
     'Wren, wake up Wren.....'
     Everything's cocoony.  Drifty.  The clouds are so soft."

My comments:  What a story!

I can’t decide what the best part of this book was, but I know I really enjoyed all its “layers,” the way it unfolded, how the past was revealed in bits and pieces.  And it was a truly believable story, both the bad stuff and the good stuff.  Setting and description – wonderful. Characterization – also wonderful, getting to know the protagonist and all the side characters was pitch perfect. Plot – mesmerizing.And as much as I would love to know exactly what happens next, I’m pretty sure it’s already accurately represented in my mind. There should be more books like this. And lastly, I’m really, really grateful that this book had a FEMALE protagonist.

Goodreads synopsis: 3:47 a.m. That's when they come for Wren Clemens. She's hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who've gone so far off the rails, their parents don't know what to do with them any more. This is wilderness therapy camp. 
          The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter, and blaming everyone but herself. But angry can't put up a tent. And bitter won't start a fire. Wren's going to have to admit she needs help if she's going to survive.
          In her most incisive and insightful book yet, beloved author Wendelin Van Draanen's offers a remarkable portrait of a girl who too a wrong turn and got lost--but who may be able to find her way back again in the vast, harsh desert. 

MOVIE - Moonlight

R (1:50)

Limited release 10/21/16

Viewed 11/29/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  91
Critic's Consensus:   Moonlightuses one man's story to offer a remarkable and brilliantly crafted look at lives too rarely seen in cinema.

Cag: 4.5 - for the most part, I liked this movie a whole lot

Directed by Barry Jenkins (who also wrote it)

Plan B Entertainment

My comments:  I loved parts one and two.  A lot. But part three threw me off a bit.  The physical change in the main character is too extreme.  He was intensely skinny in the first two parts, and even though he'd bulked up incredibly, he didn't have the leanness that I felt he still would have had.  So it was hard to relate to him as the same character.  And this third part went at what seemed to me like a slower pace.  The story, as a whole, was so sad and so well told - my heart breaks for kids who are brought up in drug-addicted households and poverty, and for kids who have to deal with intense bullying, mentally and physically.  Our world.....or at least some parts of it.  Horrible.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man's struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

28. Hard Light - Elizabeth Hand

#3 Cass Neary, Photographer
read the actual book
2016, Minotaur Books
355 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 5/16/16
Goodreads rating: 4.17
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary England - half London, half the moors

First line/s:  "A stolen passport will only get you so far.  In my case, that was through Customs and Immigration at Heathrow, where I stood in the line for EU travelers, praying I wouldn't have to fake a Swedish accent as an impassive official ran a check on my documentation."

My comments:  I read the second book in this series because Ms. Hand is a Maine author, one of my go-to choices.  Then I read the first, which is set in Maine (yay!).  When I saw this , the third in the series, on the shelf at the library, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.
          I really enjoyed this book.  A lot.  Couldn't wait to finish it.  Maybe I'm not quite as shocked about Cass Neary's failings and downfalls (klepto, druggie, alkie), a bit enamored with her deep-down humanity and amount of knowledge of the world and its history, and in agreement with some of her "who cares" attitude about people and situations.
     This was a great story - half taking place in a cold, wintery contemporary London and the other half taking place out on the stormy English moors.  Good mystery, great characterization, a really interesting delve into the underground music and film-making life of the 60s and how poorly it's all aged.   More Cass Neary will be appreciated.  She's really grown on me.

Goodreads synopsis:

63. The Impossible Knife of Memory - Laurie Halse Anderson

2014, Viking Books for Young Readers
391 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 11/9/15
Goodreads rating:  3.93
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary New York State - somewhere between Albany and Poughkeepsie, which are both mentioned more than once.

First line/s:  "It started in detention.  No surprise there, right?"

My comments:  I read this book in one afternoon/evening/late night.  It was hard to put down. It's about PTSD and its effect on a family.  It's powerful and is a wonderful blend of good characterization and excellent plot.  There are two things that keep me from giving this a 5 - and I don't want to dwell on them, only mention them, because this book is really good.  The hard-to-get-to-know, leave-me-alone protagonist becomes instant best friends with Gracie, a girl she knew, but doesnt' remember, when she way little.  Excellent.  However, there is never any mention of any other friends that Gracie might have.  None.  She's not the type of young lady that would be friendless.  What happened to them?  This didn't work for me.  And then there's the ending, or at least the wrapping-it-up part.  Too quickly told, and not quite totally believable to me.  I love happy endings, but I need to feel they could really happen in the way they're told.  Oh well. I will definitely be recommending this book.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads Summary:  For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.
        Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

37. Maya's Notebook - Isabel Allende

translated from Spanish by Anne McLean

read by Maria Cabezas

12 unabridged cds (14.5 hrs.)

2013, Harper Audio

387 pgs.

Adult CRF

Finished 9/5/2013

Goodreads Rating: 3.83

My Rating: Loved it (4) 

TPPL Audio Book

Setting: Contemporary Chile and, for the most part, Berkley, CA, 

1^st sentence/s: "A week ago my grandmother gave me a dry-eyed hug at the San Francisco Airport and told me again that if I valued my life at all I should not get in touch with anyone I knew until we could be sure my enemies were no longer looking for me."

Introductory words/a poem by Mary Oliver from The Summer Day:  

"Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

My Goodreads Review: While I found the story quite unbelievable, I found the writing (or the translation of the original Spanish), the voice of the audio reader, and the voice of the protagonist completely mesmerizing.  The first person account switches back and forth between the present on a remote Chilean island and the past couple of years in San Francisco, an Oregon rehab facility and the darkest of dark bowels of Las Vegas.  Some of that part was quite upsetting to listen to.  But darkness and ubelievability did not deter me from enjoying the beautiful words and storytelling of Isabel Allende. This is the first of her books I've ever read, and I'm not sure why that is!

Goodreads Summary: Isabel Allende’s latest novel, set in the present day (a new departure for the author), tells the story of a 19-year-old American girl who finds refuge on a remote island off the coast of Chile after falling into a life of drugs, crime, and prostitution. There, in the company of a torture survivor, a lame dog, and other unforgettable characters, Maya Vidal writes her story, which includes pursuit by a gang of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol. In the process, she unveils a terrible family secret, comes to understand the meaning of love and loyalty, and initiates the greatest adventure of her life: the journey into her own soul.

31. Available Dark – Elizabeth Hand

Thomas Dunne/ Minotaur Books, 2012

246 pgs.

for: adults

Rating:  Mixed feelings, but I liked it….quite a bit, after much thought

Setting:  NYC for a short time, then Finland for a bit, the rest in Iceland in winter…probably December, when there’s almost no daylight, just gray light for a few hours or total darkness.

First line/s:  There had been more trouble, as usual.  In November I’d headed north to an island off the coast of Maine, hoping to score an interview that might jump-start the cold wreckage of my career as a photographer, dead for more than thirty years.  Instead, I got sucked into some seriously bad shit.  The upshot was that I was now back in the city, almost dead broke, with winter coming down and even fewer prospects than when I’d left weeks earlier.  I dealt with this the way I usually did:  I bought a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, cranked my stereo, and got hammered.”

OSS:  Photographer Cass Neary, user of Jack Daniels and meth and uppers and downers and anything she can get her hands on, goes to Finland to authenticate a series of unbelievable photos; then gets pulled into a series of murders all revolving around Viking mythology and Black Metal music

I figured out that the references to Maine, her bad experiences there, and some other references that she had to stay low, were references to the first book about Cass/Cassandra Neary called Generation Loss.  Because of the island off the coast of Maine setting (! ! !) I do plan to find it and read it this summer.

This was really quite fascinating, incredibly dark, and thought-provoking.  Because I spent 24 hours in Iceland (in August, when the sun hardly went down), I’ve always wondered about winter there. Cheap flights in winter, horribly expensive ones in summer. Well, this is a view that I would never, ever see or think about as an average tourist.  The current punk scene, I guess you’d call it.  But Cass – and all her acquaintance’s fascination with death and its mythologies, is a pretty dark trip for someone who thrives on sunshine…..(me)……  This is one of those books that teach you, make you think outside the box, helps you make connections you might never have made, ever.  And, ultimately, I liked it.

67. Shine - Lauren Myracle

Amulet Books/Abrams, 2011
HC $16.95 (Lib)
For:  YA
360 pgs.
Rating:  4

First line/s:  Patrick's house was a ghost.  Dust coated the windows, the petunias in the flower boxes bowed their heads, and spiderwebs clotted the eaves of the porch.  Once I would have marveled at the webs -- how delicate they were, how intricate --  but today I saw ghastly silk ropes.  Nooses for sawflies and katydids and anything guileless enough to be ensnared

Setting:  Contemporary Appalachia, Black Creek, NC near Asheville.
OSS:  16-year-old Cat comes back to life after pulling her head into her shell for the past three years when her gay best friend, Patrick, is brutalized and left for dead.

Cat ells her story and discovers Patrick's in bits and pieces.  Slowly events of the last three years and events of the last week are illuminated as she unrolls the mystery of Patrick's almost-killing.  It's great to see her spirit come alive again.  It's also true that not everything is ever exactly as it seems.

And big message:  meth is deadly.  And the way it can establish itself in a community - especially one in extreme poverty - is examined in this story.

Lots of good stuff to think about.  It went fast.  Good story and good storytelling.