63. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

listened on Libby

357 pgs.

2022
Genre/Level
Finished 7/14/24
Goodreads rating: 3.99
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

My comments: For me, I think, it's hard to enjoy a story when you don't like or understand the protagonist.  To do really brave things without consequences for the final outcome, then refuse to do simple things that would be quite easy ... well, I don't get it.  Not too many surprises although it seemed to take forever for the final eents that pull the entire story together.  It was aggravating for me to hear Chloe go on and on and on and around and around in circles.  What a twit.  

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2022), Nominee for Best Debut Novel (2022)

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.

113. How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper

listened on Audible

2018

200 estimated pgs. 6 hrs+ audible only)
Adult Fant/Romance
Finished 12/14/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.94
My rating: 2
Setting: supposedly contemporary Louisiana bayou town

My comments: Absolutely ridiculous story, why do I waste my time with such trite trash?  An anthropologist goes to Louisiana bayou town to discover how all the shape-shifters there get along with each other so well.  Of course, as soon as she arrives, murders begin to happen.  The story skips around a lot and develops weirdly.  I'm not a big fan of the southern accents that were used, either, though I'm sure they depicted what people who live there might sound like. Just not good.

Goodreads synopsis:  Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south.

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots.

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be.... 

74. The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

listened to audio borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, Bahni Turpin, Lisa Flanagan, Dominic Hoffman
Unabridged audio (15:16)
2020 Ballantine Books
388 pgs.
HistFiction told in two voices during two time periods
Finished 5/8/2020
Goodreads rating:   4.26 - 9918 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Louisiana, 1875 & 1987

First line/s: "A single ladybug lands featherlight on the teacher's finger, clings there, a living gemstone."

My comments:  Another book that has wowed me.  Based on the actual "book of lost friends," which were advertisements in the late 19th century posted by freed slaves looking for lost family members.  Told in two voices during two times periods, 1875 and 1987, and set in rural Louisiana, Hattie and Benny tell their tales.  Hattie is a freed slave, sharecropping on the same land where her family was enslaved, who ends up going on an adventurous journey trying to save the two daughters of the manor; half-sisters; one a miserable spoiled brat and the other a half Creole from New Orleans who was, of course, despised by her sister and her sister's mother.  Benny is a still wet-behind-the-ears brand new teacher who's landed a job in the "poor" school in the same town/locale as Hattie had lived.  A bibliophile, she has no books for her students, respect from her students, and no support from anyone local except the heir of the manor, who wants nothing to do with it or his uncles who run the town.  Benny, with the help of some of the town's African-American elders, gets the kids interested in their history, researching, learning, and starting to care about their roots.  Each chapter begins with an actual advertisement from the book of lost friends. I give it a 4.5 only because I think it start out a it slowly and didn't grab me 'til a bit of the way in.

Goodreads synopsis:  A new novel inspired by historical events: a story of three young women on a journey in search of family amidst the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who rediscovers their story and its connection to her own students' lives.
          Lisa Wingate brings to life stories from actual "Lost Friends" advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold off.
          Louisiana, 1875 In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie, Lavinia's former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
           Louisiana, 1987 For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt--until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything. 

29. 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

listened to Audible - TPPL eAudio
narrated by Sophie Amoss
Unabridged audio (7:51)
2019 Disney-Hyperion
336 pgs.
YA CRF Romance
Finished 2/11/20
Goodreads rating: 4.06 - 5417 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:  Contemporary Shreveport, LA

First line/s:  " 'Are you sure you won't come with us?' Mom hangs out or the passenger window and wraps me in a fierce hug for the tenth time in the last ten minutes."

My comments:  A cute, predictable story about being a senior in high school with the whole world ahead of you.  There were touches of seriousness with the premature birth of her niece and the possibility of serious illness for her sister, but it was on of those that everything turns out just  great in the end.  A little too much of a huge, meddling family, a couple of pretty loud guffaws, and some serious eye-rolling in places lead to a perfectly acceptable read.

Goodreads synopsis:  Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Cue devastation.m
          Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.
          When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she's started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.
          This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever... or is it?

21. Outcast by Adrienne Kress

read on my iPhone
2013 Diversion Books
322 pgs.
YA Contemporary Dystopia
Finished 3/2/18
Goodreads rating:  3.61 - 2012 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

First line/s:   "They com out of the sky and take you.  Everyone knows that."

My comments:  I like fantasy, but I've never much been into fantasy about angels and all their relations...and I didn't realize how deeply it would go into all of that until the last quarter or so of the book. But I enjoyed the rest of the book, and even shed a tear at the end, which I don't usually do. Another reviewer mentioned they thought the book moved slowly, but it didn't at all for me. I really enjoyed the protagonist/heroine, too. Recommended.

Goodreads synopsis: After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.
          Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is. 
          He thinks it’s 1956.
          Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

38. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series Book #1
for: ADULTS
Ace Books/Paper, 2001
292 pgs.
Rating: i n t e r e s t i n g

I've heard lots of people enjoy the HBO series Trueblood, which is based on this Sookie Stackhouse series. So when I stumbled across this first installment, I decided to give it a look-see. So what do I say about it?

It was a quick read. It held my interest. There were some very....steamy.....parts. It has an interesting take on our contemporary world, making vampires recognized, and even legalized. It gives the reader a look into smalltown southern (Lousiana) America.

Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress with a "disability" that keeps her separated from much of the world. Separated by choice. She's pretty, but because of her strange....gift... most people think her dim-witted, and she has no boyfriend. She feels she'll never be able to have one. Sookie's strange ability is to read other people's minds. She spends much of her time - and energy - trying to block people's thoughts from bombarding her, confusing her, as a mish mash of other people's tidbits swirling around in your head might indeed be a bit disconcerting.

And then Bill, a good-looking loner vampire walks into the bar one evening. Her world changes. Her employer, cutie-boy Sam, who has his own mysteries, starts to notice her. Her brother, Jason, the town's handsome womanizer, keeps getting in trouble. Her grandmother, with whom she lives, would really like to see her find a boyfriend. And the tiny town's somewhat quiet life is interrupted by a series of murders of young, "loose", women. There are vampires galore - good ones, bad ones, iconic ones. Just plain fun.

I haven't read a book with good "steamy" parts in years. This certainly is not great writing, but it certainly IS entertaining. A perfect book for me to read on this last day of school. Chill. Swim. Have a marguerita. Curl up and read. Welcome, summer! No I can rent the first few episodes of Trueblood and see what's goin' on.