In Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, there is a war in progress and Iris is in the middle of it. Her mom is not doing well, and her brother who joined the army is missing from the front lines. Iris writes letters to her brother to try to combat her worries. Little does she know this will take her on a life-changing adventure. This book was even better than I expected! It has a great storyline and characters I cared about. There are lots of emotions with this book as well. Do not miss this one--must read! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In Inheritance by Nora Roberts, Sonya has been going through a rough time. Her marriage plans fell apart when she had to leave her job because her soon-to-be husband, who she caught cheating on her, works at the same job. Now things are looking up though. She is left a mansion on a huge piece of land valued at $8 million. She is going to be rich! The only catch is that she has to live in the mansion for three years. There must be something strange about the house, but what? You will have to read the book to find out!
I thought this book was really good and was disappointed when I realized it is the first book in a series. Sonya is a great character with a good storyline and action. LOVED IT! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In ANNA by Matthew Blake, Anna Ogily is a budding writer. One night while asleep, she stabs to death two people! How can this be? Dr. Benedict Prince is an expert in sleep-related homicides. It will be up to him to figure all this out. This book is wild, but in a good way! It has a great storyline that kept me turning pages quickly. I tried to figure it out, but was all wrong. The last 100 pages or so will leave you breathless! This is a must read--do not miss this one! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner, an Irish woman comes to America to marry a man she has never met and knows nothing about. That is just one of the multiple storylines in this book, all of which were interesting. You will be engaged and get lost in this wonderful book. There is lots of action and plenty of twists and turns. Do not miss this one, it's a must read! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review Jan. 23, 2022:
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner is the story of a mail order bride from Ireland coming to San Francisco to marry a widower and become a mother to his 7-yr.-old daughter shortly before the great earthquake of 1906. The full story unfolds slowly, but there is enough action along the way to keep the reader interested. Sophie answers Martin Hocking's ad for a wife and mother because she is not happy living in bad conditions in New York and wants a home and a child to love. Martin wants a wife to keep up appearances and to care for his daughter when he's away on business. It is a loveless marriage purely of convenience. This book is very good! It is about family secrets, fraud, friendship and love. (5 stars)
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The Only One Left by Riley Sager, is the best book I've read this year by far! It starts out a bit slow, but boy, does it pick up! It's about Kit, a caregiver, who is hired to take care of a paralyzed person who was suspected of murder and lives in a big spooky house at the top of cliff. Kit is hired soon after the previous caregiver mysteriously left. This book has it all--mystery, suspense, action, devious characters, creepy fathers and lots of surprise twists with a great ending! This was crazy good! Loved it and highly recommend it. (Karen's review, 5 stars)
Gerard's review 10/2023:
In The Only One Left by Riley Sager, Kit becomes a caregiver for Lenora Hope. It is believed Lenora killed her parents, but no proof was found. Kit is afraid after a few days but needs the money so stays on the job. She is soon to be a lot more frightened! This book is amazing! It has lots of twists and turns with an easy storyline to follow. The characters are great too. If you think you know how it all plays out, trust me, you do not! Must read this one! (5++ stars)
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Five Survive by Holly Jackson is a teen thriller than kept my interest. Six friends head to spring break in an RV and end up in a deserted area with a shooter shooting out their tires and gas tank! He says one of them has a secret and he'll only let them go if they tell him what he wants to know. What does he want to know? He doesn't say! He just says they know who they are. They can't call for help because there is no cell service. How will they get out?
This has lots of suspense in it as the friends try to figure out ways to escape and send for help. This is a really good book because all through it, I was trying to figure out who was the one going to die (based on the title), how they would get out of this predicament and what the secret was and who had it. I agree with my husband about this one--it's a page-turner and a must read if you enjoy mysteries and thrillers. Even the ending is a shocker! (Karen's review, 5 stars)
Gerard's review 1/23/23: In Five Survive by Holly Jackson, six friends pile into an RV for a fun weekend at a camp. They get lost in the dark and go into the woods where their RV breaks down! Just when they are about to go, someone makes sure that they are not going anywhere until they give him what he wants.
This was SO GOOD from the writing, to lots of action, the storyline, the believable characters, and a great ending! This went really fast because I couldn't stop turning the pages! Do not miss this one! (5++ stars)
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The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister is historical fiction at its best! It is about 12 women who come together to go on a secret rescue mission to the Arctic and the trial when not all 12 return. I thought this book was outstanding! I was into it from page 1. The writing is good and the characters were very believable. It switches between the mission and the trial with a very good ending! Do not miss this one! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough, Emma's 40th birthday is coming soon. She has been dreading this day for a long time. Why? you ask. You will have to read the book to find out! I thought this book was very good. Emma is a great character and I never knew what was going to happen next! I loved the ending too! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough left me in a fog sort of. The story line was so far out that I felt I wasted my time reading it. The whole plot is about whether Emma is crazy and paranoid or not. This book has an elaborate storyline that I felt moved too slowly. I felt sorry for Emma but didn't think much of her husband. There is some good action near the end and things do pick up so I didn't hate it. I didn't really like the ending all that much, but was okay with it and glad everything was explained. I do think it would make for an interesting book club discussion. (Karen's review, 3 stars)
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My Wife Is Missing by D. J. Palmer is about a secret past and the effect it has on Michael's marriage to Natalie. This is an intriguing story that kept my interest throughout. While on vacation in New York, when Michael gets back from picking up a pizza, he finds his wife and his two kids gone including their luggage. The only thing left behind was his son's teddy bear! He is frantic trying to find her and a detective offers his help.
I liked Michael and felt sorry for him most of the time. Natalie suffered from insomnia and suspected Michael was cheating on her. This book had a wild chase, interesting characters, and a surprise ending! It's quite a good mystery! (Karen's review, 4 stars)
Gerard's review 6/7/22:
In My Wife is Missing by D. J. Palmer, a family vacation in New York City sounds good, but for Michael and Natalie, not so much! Soon after they get to New York, while Michael is out getting pizza he comes back to find his wife and two kids gone! Did someone take them? or did they go sightseeing?
This book is so good!!! You need to think while reading it. Natalie is a great character and one of the best endings to a book ever. This is a must read! (5++ stars)
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The Red Address Book by Sophia Lundberg is about Doris, a 96-yr.-old woman. When Doris was a little girl, her father gave her an address book to write down the names of the people that came into her life. As Doris tells her story, you find out about the people who were a part of her life. Doris led quite a life including being a maid in Sweden, a model in Paris, and fleeing to Manhattan at the beginning of WWII! This book was so good that I found it hard to put down. Doris is a great character and the story is told very well! Do not miss this one! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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Imagine being in a car that you have no control of. That is what happens in The Passengers by John Marrs! This is what a few people in this novel face and they are told that the end of their ride will probably end very badly for them. The mystery is Who is doing this and why were these people chosen?
I greatly enjoyed this book and had trouble putting it down. There is plenty of good action and enough twists that I did not know what bombshell was going to drop! I enjoyed all the characters and the writing made this book fly by! This is my first "Must Read" recommendation of 2020.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review: The Passengers by John Marrs is about automated driverless cars and six hostages in cars that took over control. This is one thriller I did not care for at all. I read it because my husband enjoyed it so much and said it was a "must read" but we do not agree on this one. I did not like the writing style nor the way the story was told. It dragged along for me and I was glad when I finally finished it. I was caught by surprised at the ending, but even that wasn’t enough to make me recommend this to someone. I plowed through it, but did not enjoy it. This is one my husband and I had opposite views on. (2 stars)
Teaser from page 9: "Neither of those things matter right now," the voice replied. "The only thing you need to know at this point is that two hours and thirty minutes from now, it is highly likely that you will be dead."
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Wow! The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a shocking thriller about evil nature. At 33, Alicia Berenson killed her husband and became the silent patient who would not speak. She was put into a mental facility where none of the doctors could get her to talk, until Dr. Faber. Alicia is a painter and her husband a photographer. The story slowly unfolds and we don’t find out why Alicia killed her husband until the end. This kept my interest all the way through and I was pretty shocked by the ending. (Karen’s review, 4 stars)
Gerard's review 2/26/19: In The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, Alicia is a famous painter married to a successful husband. Why then did she tie her husband to a chair and shoot him five times? She never says another word! Can she talk after that or is she just keeping quiet? She is put in a mental hospital and is the "silent patient." Theo is a criminal psychotherapist and wants to try to reach her and get the full story. Can he do it? Believe the hype around this one! It is a NEW YORK TIMES best seller and movie rights already are in the works! This is an adult novel. The pacing of the book might seem slow, but it strings you along until the ending, then Bam! Do not pass this one up, must read. (5+ stars)
Teaser from page 35: Her face was expressionless, blank. A medicated mask. I wondered what lay beneath.
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That Good Night--Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour by Sunita Puri is a true story. Sunita works in Palliative care. This is where people are who are in bad shape health wise. She tells the stories of some of her patients. She also details the lessons that she learned from her mom, who was a doctor and life lessons from her dad.
WOW! This book is very good! I hated to see it end! I got lost in this book many times. The stories she tells of her patients are really good! These touched my heart. The part that deals with her parents was good too! This is my book of the month so far--a must read!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review (we differ on this one): That Good Night by Sunita Puri is about Sunita’s journey to becoming a doctor on a Palliative care team. As I understand it, Palliative care deals with getting families to realize what their dying loved ones want concerning end of life care. Sunita shares different patient scenarios and conversations with their families concerning their care as well as snippets of her personal life. This book is thought provoking and sad. I read it because my husband said how good it was, but I would not recommend it. I found it tedious to get through and although I enjoyed hearing about the different patients, it just moved very slowly for me. I look forward to getting back to fiction! (3 stars)
Teaser from page4 33: I pursed my lips tightly. I was a fledgling intern, a neophyte doctor. How could I possibly tell him how long he had to live?
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In Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh, Anna does not think that the police reports of her parents' suicide is right! The more people tell her to drop it, the more resolve she has to find out what really happened. I thought this book was awesome! It has great pacing and great character development, plus lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing. Part 1 was so good but part 2 was even better! Part 3 adds the finishing touch! Do not miss this one!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Here's Karen's review: Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh is one crazy read! Anna, a young single mother, discovers that her parents’ suicides were not suicides after all! What really happened? Were they killed or was there an accident? When the truth comes out, it is a shock to say the least! Not only that, but Anna wonders if she can even trust her live-in boyfriend, Mark. Murray, a retired detective is the one who finally solves the mystery. The main lesson in this story is not to marry just because a baby is involved. This book is sad and addresses several issues such as alcoholism, deceit, marrying without love, domestic violence, mental illness and grief. The main plot is mind boggling and captivating. This book has a few surprises and both mystery and suspense that mounts as it progresses. It’s a good read that will keep you guessing and draws you in. (Karen’s review, 4 stars)
Karen's Teaser from page 17: I have to stop Anna going to the police. I have to stop her finding out the truth about what happened, before she gets hurt.
Gerard's Teaser from page 15: I recoil as if I've been punched. Is this some kind of sick joke?
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The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden is the follow up to The Bear and the Nighingale. Vasya is on her own now. She craves adventure but everything changes after she takes down some bandits! She disguises herself as a boy and is treated like a hero. The Grand Prince likes her, but before she can move on, Moscow is in trouble. Can Vasya come to the rescue?
Teaser from page 45: Had he stumbled onto a wood-sprite, he could not have been more astonished. The rider was staring at him, openmouthed.
This book is even better than the first one! There is tons of action and the writing is so good. I really enjoyed how Solovey, her horse, had a big role in this book! The ending was amazing and I couldn't put it down! Now I have to wait until August for Book 3. I reviewed both the first book and this one in this video because I loved them so much!
(Gerard's review 1-19-18, 5++ stars)
Karen's review 1-19-18: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden is the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale. Vasya and her horse, Solovey, have quite the adventure and is reunited with Sasha, her brother who became a monk, and her older sister, Olya. The Frost King, Morozko, continues to help Vasya. I liked this book better than the first because the horse was in it a lot and I really liked the horse! It seemed to move along faster and there were not a lot of new names to learn. I felt sorry for Vasya because it seemed like everyone was against her in spite of her doing great things. I liked how she connected with her niece and rescued the three girls who were kidnapped from their village. It was cool how she battled with the men and won another horse by winning a horse race. I thought she was stupid though for agreeing to another horse race against Kasyan, but of course, that led to a whole other chain of events to make the book interesting. I think that was the only time where I thought she acted out of character by allowing herself to be distracted. (4 stars)
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In The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Vasya is the youngest child of a large family in Russia. Her mom died soon after she was born. She loves the forest and she loves the animals. But the forest contains spirits that are evil! Vasya will have to use the special gifts that she inherited from her mother to keep her family safe at all costs!
Teaser from page 15: "I have only a little of her gift," Marina went on, ignoring her old nurse. Dunya knew her lady well enough to hear the regret. "But my daughter will have more."
This book is based on a Russian folklore. I LOVED this book! I was engaged from page 1! Vasya is a great character and I was always anxious to get back into this book. The good news is I have book 2 in this series and the 3rd one comes out this year! I highly recommend this one as a "must read."
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a whimsical story incorporating Russian folklore. Vasilisa is a girl who does not want to be told what to do and has a special gift to see the demons others do now. There are several different types of demons, who live in the forest, in the river and some in households. Vasilisa lives in the wilderness with her father, stepmother, brother and half-sister after her mother died and her older sister and brother married. When Father Konstantine arrives, he scares people with his preaching except for Vasilisa. Will she be able to keep her family safe? This book has a lot of Russian names that were confusing to me at the beginning, but that petered out as the book progressed. The plot in this story is like a fairy tale so doesn’t make much sense; however, there were parts I liked very much. I liked the house demon, the stable demon, the horses talking to Vasilisa, and the time at the invisible cabin with Morozko. The demon creatures in this book are not all evil and the house demon reminded me a bit of Dobby, the house elf in the Harry Potter series. This is an entertaining read. (3 stars)
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In Scythe by Neal Shusterman, there is no war, no disease, and nobody goes hungry in the world. The only problem is overpopulation! That is where being a scythe comes into play. You fix that problem. Citra and Rowan are both picked to try to be a scythe, but do not want any part of it! However, to decline is not in their best interest.
This book was way better than I thought it would be. Citra and Rowan are both really good. The story flows well and the twists and turns are well done to say the least! Do not miss this one--it's a must read! I look forward to book 2.
(Gerard's review 10/30/17, 5++ stars)
Teaser from page 29: But a perfect world needs no improvement. Like most everything else we do, education, from grade school through the highest of universities, is just a way to keep us busy.
We both also liked Unwind by this author too and also recommend that one.
(Karen's review, 5 stars: LOVED THIS BOOK! SO GLAD I READ IT!) Scythe by Neal Shusterman is about a utopia future where humanity has overcome disease, aging, crime, and natural death. Government has been replaced with the Thunderhead that makes sure everyone in the world has what they need. It watches everything that happens and stores people's memories. (Anyway, guess we'll find out more about the Thunderhead in book two.) People can still get hurt, but what normally would kill someone like falling 12 stories from a window now makes them "deadish." They can be taken to a revival center where they get good as new in just 2-3 days and get delicious ice cream when they wake up. Since there is a problem of overpopulation, a special group called Scythes do the service of "gleaning" people on a random basis. Gleaning is just a nice word for legalized killing. The Scythdom have their own set of laws they must follow. When Citra and Rowan are chosen by Scythe Faraday to become his apprentices on the road to becoming a scythe, both reluctantly accept for different reasons. Scythes have power not only to take life, but also to grant immunity from being gleaned to people and Scythe's families have immunity as long as the Scythe lives. I was very intrigued by this book. It is well written and very thought provoking with several twists tossed in that really shocked me! I loved this book so much, I think I will actually re-read it just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Citra and Rowan come from very different backgrounds but are both smart, moral and find themselves in difficult situations. I also liked all the humor, some of which made me actually laugh out loud, and really cool things in this book like being able to "turn the corner" and go back to being any age you want, having years named after animals, and having healing nanites so wounds can heal themselves. I highly recommend this to older teens or adults who like thought provoking books about the future. This is one of my top 2 favorites of the year, the other being Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst.
SPOILER ALERT - STOP HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T YET READ THIS BOOK. IF YOU HAVE, I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE QUESTIONS:
(1) Exactly how did Scythe Faraday fake his own death and how did Scythe Curie know about it?
(2) Why did Citra's fingers turn really cold when Scythe Faraday let her try on his ring, but when Scythe Goddard gave his ring to Rowan to take over giving immunity to the loved ones of those they gleaned, nothing happened. Nor did anything happen when Rowan put it on after decapitating Scythe Goddard (which I really liked by the way). I thought it was funny he put it in the dirty water bowl at the monastery.
(3) I thought the ending was fantastic and was so happy it didn't end with a cliffhanger as to which one was chosen or stop before knowing if the winner gleaned the loser. What did you think about the ending?
In Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker, one night Cass and Emma disappear. Three years pass and Cass shows up at home, but Emma does not. Cass tells her story about the three years she has been gone, but to psychologist Dr. Abby Winter, it does not seem to add up.
I thought this book was really good! It is told by Abby and Cass. The pacing of the story is so well done that I did not know how it would turn out until the very end. LOVED IT! Add this to your TBR list. You will be glad you did.
(Gerard's review 5++ stars)
Karen read it too, 8-29-17: Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker is about a dysfunctional family and lots of despicable behavior! It is full of creepy sick characters, fantastic storytelling manipulation and injustice. When Cass returns home without her sister after both being missing for three months, everyone is all ears about what happened to her, where she was, where and what happened to her sister, Emma. The FBI reopens the case in their search for Emma and the reader gets the back story in bits and pieces as told by Cass and the forensic psychologist, Dr. Winter, who is an expert on narcissistic personality disorder based on her own experience. This is one crazy mystery that moved a bit slow for my taste, but has an interesting ending. This book centers around the mother who has narcissistic personality disorder and whether the cycle can be broken. As mysteries go, I have to give it 4 stars because I really could not figure out where Emma was; however, I cannot say I liked this one. This left a bad taste in my mouth due to the injustice and all the wickedness and evil in this book. It’s definitely written in a unique manner which is really what makes it a good read!
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In 27 Days by Alison Gervais, Hadley Jamison has it all. Her parents are very well off so she lacks for nothing. She is pretty with lots of friends and lives in a real nice apartment. When she finds out a classmate of hers has died, someone she hardly knows, she wishes she could have done something. Sometimes wishes come true, but it comes with a cost. In this case, the cost is plenty!
I was into this book from page 1! The characters are believable and the story line kept me turning pages. What more do you want out of a book? I LOVED It! Do not miss this one!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review, 8/11/17: I liked In 27 Days by Alison Gervais too. This is about two high school students in a prep school who come from very different backgrounds but develop a friendship through very unusual circumstances. When Hadley goes back in time 27 days to try to prevent Archer from committing suicide, both their lives change for the better!
I liked this book and would recommend it to teens. It promotes the value of life and shows how just by making time for others can make a huge difference in their lives. The only thing I didn't get about this book was the paranormal characters, Death and Havoc. That's why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I almost finished this book in a day.
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Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult is a contemporary fiction about racism that is absolutely very thought provoking and educational. It is about Ruth, a black nurse, who is charged with murder and negligence because the newborn, the son of white supremacist parents, that she was watching over dies. Ruth is a widow with a son who is a high school honor-student.
There are so many good scenes in this book! It started a little slow for me with all the baby deliveries at the beginning, but that just was a small part and soon moved along. That was just to show what a good nurse Ruth was and that she really loved her job.
This is such a remarkable story that helped me look at blacks in a whole different light. I never realized before reading this how it really is to be black. I would love to hear a black person's views about this book! I really did not enjoy the chapters about Turk and Brit, the parents of the baby who died because they were horrible people! I really liked the chapters about Ruth's public defender, Kennedy and the chapters about Ruth. In typical Picoult style, chapters are written from different characters' points of view. I felt the characters were well developed and the plot had an unexpected twist that shocked me! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone--must read. It has lots of great lines and the author used the experiences of some real people that she interviewed to get a feel for what it's really like to be black in the United States. I loved the surprise ending! Must Read!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
My husband and I both loved this one, here's his review:
In Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, Ruth Jefferson is a delivery nurse in a small hospital. She has been one for 20 years and is very good at it. One night a newborn baby is having serious problems and Ruth is left alone with the baby. The baby is white, and Ruth is black, with orders not to touch this baby. When the baby dies, the parents blame Ruth! Did she do something to the baby or did she try to save it?
WOW! This book is GOOD! This story is true to life and the characters are well developed. The trial part alone is worth reading for sure but I enjoyed the whole book! A must Read!!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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Shared this with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop - the prompt was share a book review. I was pleased to see she is reading many of the books we have recommended and loved!
