Beyond Reasonable Doubt

 

Keera and Jenna - frenemies since early childhood. Not much has changed now that they are adults.  Keera is a smart, ethical lawyer working at her father’s law firm.  For the second time, Jenna has been accused of murder.  The first time, Keera’s Dad got Jenna off.  Now it’s Keera’s turn.  Part of the problem is that Jenna is the consummate liar. She’s so good at manipulating, no one knows what to believe. 

I was not aware this is book #2 of a series.  It worked extremely well as a stand alone but is enticing enough for me to want to read book #1.  The intrigue for Keera is trying to find the truth and to give the best defense for her client, even if she personally does not like Jenna.

This was highly entertaining. I was thrilled to see it in the Read It Now section on Netgalley, as I know Mr. Dugoni is a veteran author of numerous well written books. This one did not disappoint.

Thomas & Mercer publisher via Netgalley. Publication date is October 22, 2024.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

 

This is book #5 of the Amgash series and we again get to spend time with the delightful characters from the previous books, Lucy Barton, Bob Burgess and Olive Kitteridge, along with their associated spouses and friends.  Bob agrees to defend a man accused of murder. He also is struggling to define his relationship with Lucy. Is it love or just a deepening of their friendship?  On top of this, Bob is married and Lucy is living with her ex-husband William. Amidst all of this, Lucy is developing a new friendship with Olive.

Whew - did I get that all straight?  Ha!

This is written with the author’s typical wit and insight into human relationships. There is not one character to dislike. I felt my deepest connection with the acerbic Olive Kitteridge. The times she and Lucy spend telling each other stories about what they call people with “unrecorded lives” are some of the best parts of the book.

I’ve enjoyed each book in this series.  I received a copy of this from Random House Publishing via Netgalley.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Marjorie Post was the daughter of C.W. Post, the founder of the Post Cereal Company.  The family amassed enormous wealth and the company eventually became General Foods.

Marjorie was a very smart businesswoman.  Unfortunately, her smartness did not crossover into her love life.  Forever the optimist about love, she was married and divorced four times.

At times I found it difficult to wrap my brain around her wealth.  Marjorie did a great job of spending it.  One of her redeeming qualities was her philanthropy.  

This was an interesting insight into the life of an ultra wealthy woman who worked hard at both business and enjoying life.

 

Berried at Sea
by Peg Cochran

It’s a marriage made in murder in the new Cranberry Cove Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Peg Cochran!

The long-awaited wedding of Monica and Greg is the highlight of the harvest season in Cranberry Cove, drawing friends from far and wide to help them celebrate. Among the guests are an old college friend of Monica’s and the woman’s boisterous new husband, a man with many enemies and more than a few bitter women in his past. When he turns up dead on a boat, the victim of a fatal stabbing, Monica steps in once again to unravel the mystery.

As she dredges up clues and wades through a long list of suspects, Monica’s sleuthing becomes all the more pressing when the local police are convinced that her friend did the deed. Monica will have to clear her name fast and track down the real culprit as the killer threatens to bring her sweet wedded bliss to a bitter end.

My Thoughts

Out protagonist is Monica Albertson.  When this story opens, Monica is getting ready to marry Greg.  The wedding goes off without a hitch until one of the wedding guests turns up dead the day after the ceremony.  Inquisitive Monica just can't help getting involved in trying to find out who committed the murder.

Monica is smart and comes across as a natural in asking questions and following clues.  I love that this is set in a small town on lake Michigan!  The story moved along quickly and there was never a dull moment.

This is book #4 of the Cranberry Cove Mystery series.  While it worked well as a stand alone, I think there is good cause to go back and read the other three books.  I also want to read future books in this fun cozy series.

I received this book from Beyond the Page Publishing via Netgalley.

The Family Gathering

by Robyn Carr

An exceptional storyteller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr beautifully captures the emotionally charged, complex dynamics that come with being part of any family. Readers will laugh and shed a few tears as they discover what it means to be loved, supported and accepted by the people who mean the most.

Having left the military, Dakota Jones is at a crossroads in his life. With his elder brother and youngest sister happily settled in Sullivan’s Crossing, he shows up hoping to clear his head before moving on to his next adventure. But, like every visitor to the Crossing, he’s immediately drawn to the down-to-earth people and the seemingly simple way of life.

Dakota is unprepared for how quickly things get complicated. As a newcomer, he is on everyone’s radar—especially the single women in town. While he enjoys the attention at first, he’s really only attracted to the one woman who isn’t interested. And spending quality time with his siblings is eye-opening. As he gets to know them, he also gets to know himself and what he truly wants.

When all the Jones siblings gather for a family wedding, the four adults are drawn together for the first time in a way they never were as children. As they struggle to accept each other, warts and all, the true nature and strength of their bond is tested. But all of them come to realize that your family are the people who see you for who you really are and love you anyway. And for Dakota, that truth allows him to find the home and family he’s always wanted.(Overview and book cover from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

After being absent for many years, Dakota Jones decides it is time to spend time with his siblings. He's not really sure where this will lead of if he will even want to stay around. He just knows that something is missing in his life. And so he comes to Sullivan's Crossing to be with his older brother and younger sister.

While this is the third book in the Sullivan's Crossing series, it is my first. I enjoyed spending time with Dakota and his family. Dakota is an interesting character who comes home with lots of emotional baggage. His family is not without their own personal struggles. But together, they support each other and work together.

This was a lovely story about redemption, perseverance and love. I liked all the characters, minus a few of the troublemakers. I thought this was a realistic portrayal of the difficulties that people encounter and what they do to overcome them.

I received this book from Harlequin via Netgalley

Nobody cuts deeper than family...

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she'd lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna's murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

Riveting and disquieting, After Anna is a groundbreaking domestic thriller, as well as a novel of emotional justice and legal intrigue. And New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline will keep readers on their toes until the final shocking page

My Thoughts

Maggie is married to Noah Alderman family and stepmon to his son Caleb. During her first marriage and subsequent divorce, she lost custody of her baby daughter Anna due to postpartum psychosis. Seventeen years later, she gets an unexpected phone call from Anna who wants to connect with her Mom. Eventually Anna moves in with the Alderman family. Within months, Anna is found dead and Noah is charged with her murder.

This story is told in alternating chapters. After Anna chapters are told during Noah's murder trial and give us his perspective on what happened after Anna moved in. Before Anna chapters are told from Maggie's perspective, starting with her first meeting with Anna and following how the family fell apart after her arrival.

Whew - what a story! It was interesting to see how Noah and Maggie looked at the same situations but saw them differently. Of course Maggie is so excited to have her daughter back she can't see the forest for the trees. And while Noah wants everything to go well with his new step-daughter, it doesn't take long for him to start to realize something is amiss.

This was a well crafted page turner. I liked the surprise at the end and the way the author played it out.

I received this from St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

Not That I Could Tell
by Jessica Strawser

When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal.

By Monday morning, one of them is gone.

Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce—and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her—and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions—especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.

As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors—and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else. (overview and book cover from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

Several neighbor women connect one night to sit outside and drink some wine. The next day, one of them disappears with her two children. This happens right up front and the rest of the novel is based on understanding how each of the women left behinds tries to interpret the disappearance through her own beliefs and past experiences.

After reading the overview, I thought I had a pretty good idea on how this story was going to go down. Initially, when it wasn't going my way. I was a bit put off. But in the long run, I liked the author's version much better. We get to spend time with each of the women individually and collectively as they process their own thoughts and interact with each other. I thought the story came to a very interesting conclusion. All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable read.

From St. Martin's press via Netgally.

Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She's a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, already counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police--she's a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home--Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it's too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did? (Picture and overview from Goodreads).


My Thoughts

Have you ever wondered what your worse nightmare would be like?

It's a pretty safe bet that Cassie has found hers when she wakes up one morning next to a dead man.  He was a passenger on a plane where she was a flight attendant.  There was an immediate attraction between the two and quite a bit of flirting occurred.  They hooked up after landing and LOTS of drinking took place.  For Cassie, it was blackout level drinking.  And while she was no newbie to this level of drinking and has a few one night stands under her belt, coming to in the morning to discover someone with their throat slit laying next to her is a new one.  Unfortunately, Cassie can only remember snippets of the evening.  And so begins our journey with Cassie as she tries to piece together what happened not only to save what little dignity she has left, but possibly her job and eventually her life.

When I first saw the title I remember thinking - The Flight Attendant - huh.  What kind of story could this possibly turn into?

Well, let me tell you.  This was a real page turner.  Not in a rock 'em, sock 'em roller coaster type of page turner.  But an evenly paced and suspenseful type of page turner.  The story slowly unfolds as Cassie starts discovering clues and putting things together.    For all her faults, I found Cassie to be a likeable character.  I really wanted her to redeem herself.  There are numerous interesting players in this tale, along with a few pretty good twists at the end.

This was an exciting read from one of my favorite authors.  Bravo!

I received this copy from Doubleday via Netgalley.

Dreaming In Chocolate
by Susan Bishop Crispell


A story of love, hot chocolate, and one little girl's wish for her mother that will make your heart swell.

At twenty-seven, Penelope Dalton is quickly ticking off items on a bucket list. Only the list isn’t hers. After her eight year-old daughter Ella is given just six months to live thanks to an inoperable brain tumor, Penelope is determined to fill Ella’s remaining days with as many new experiences as she can.

With an endless supply of magical gifts and recipes from the hot chocolate café Penelope runs alongside her mother in a small town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, she is able to give her daughter almost everything she wants. The one sticking point is Ella’s latest addition to her list: get a dad. And not just any dad. Ella has her sights set on Noah Gregory, her biological father and the only person Penelope knows to have proved her true love hot chocolate wrong.

Now Noah’s back in town for a few months—and as charming as ever—and the part of her that dreamed he was her fate in the first place wonders if she made the right decision to keep the truth of their daughter from him. The other, more practical part, is determined to keep him from breaking Ella’s heart too.

But as Ella’s health declines, Penelope must give in to her fate or face a future of regrets. (Overview and picture from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

Penelope owns a chocolate shop with an apothecary table.  The table produces chocolate recipes that have magical cures - to fix a broken heart, to make someone tell the truth, to make someone fall in love.  Penelope has turned cynical with regards to the table because she feels it did not make her one wish come true.  Will she get her wish in the end?
What a delightful story.  Who couldn't help but fall in love with Penelope's daughter Ella.  She firmly believes in the magic of the table and refuses to give up hope for hew Mom.  This story had fun characters and was as much about the power of believing as it was about magic.
From St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.
3.5/5.0

The Mitford Murders
Jessica Fellowes

It's 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle.

Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy - an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.

But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret . . . (0verview from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

I must admit that I initially had a hard time getting involved with this book.  But I'm sure glad I stayed with it because I really ended up liking the characters.

Louisa is just trying to escape an abusive uncle when she gets hired to work as a child nanny for the Mitford family.  While there are several children, she connects with Nancy who is closest to her age.  Together they work to solve the mysterious murder of Florence Nightingale Shore.  The girls get into a few sticky situations, but both are strong willed and pretty darn smart.  With the help of police office Guy Sullivan, they are finally able to figure out the murderer.  It was quite a surprise!

I was thrilled to see this is going to be a series.  What will Louisa get into next?

ARC from St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

The Girlfriend
Michelle Frances


A girl. A boy. His mother. And the lie she'll wish she'd never told.
The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller, based on the fall-out following an unforgiveable lie. It looks at the potentially charged relationship between girlfriend, boyfriend and his mother, which most women can identify with, and locates it in an extreme but believable setting.

Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a twenty-three year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but she hasn't had the same opportunities as Daniel. And she wants Laura's life.

Cherry comes to the family wide-eyed and wants to be welcomed with open arms, but Laura suspects she's not all that she seems.

When tragedy strikes, an unforgiveable lie is told. It is an act of desperation, but the fall-out will change their lives forever(overview from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

In this story, it's Laura, Daniel's Mom versus Cherry, Daniel's new girlfriend. Laura and Daniel have a very close relationship. When Cherry first shows up, Laura is excited. But something seems off about Cherry and Laura can't quite figure out why. Cherry was raised on the poorer side of town and has reinvented herself to try and fit in with the rich crowd. Does she love Daniel for himself or for the lifestyle his money allows her to live?

Oh my! This was an exciting read. The power to be the top women in Daniel's life swings like a pendulum between Laura and Cherry. First Cherry seems to hold all the cards, then Laura. Back and forth, back and forth. (Poor Daniel). The questions is - who wins out in the end?

I was very impressed by this first novel from Ms. Frances. I loved the twists and turns as Laura and Cherry try to one up each other. The suspense goes right down to the last page. Bravo!

ARC from Kensington Books via Netgalley.

New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins welcomes you home in a funny, emotionally charged must-read novel about the complications of life, love and family.
One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.
Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.
With a tough islander mother who’s always been distant and a wild-child sister in jail, unable to raise her daughter — a withdrawn teen as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was — Nora has her work cut out for her if she’s going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family.
But as some relationships crumble around her, others unexpectedly strengthen. Balancing loss and opportunity, a dark event from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.

My Thoughts:

This is my first Kristan Higgins read and I absolutely loved it! It's funny and heart-warming. I connected with the main character immediately. She was determined to heal herself both physically and emotionally. I'm always pleased when I find an author who is new to me that I enjoyed this much.

ARC from Harlequin via Netgalley

The Passenger

Lisa Lutz

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

 

Tonya Dubois finds her husband Frank dead after apparently falling down the stairs. Instead of calling the police, she packs her bags and takes off. So begins our journey with this mysterious women. Just who is she and what is she really running from?

What’s it like to spend life on the run? To always be looking over your shoulder, never knowing who to trust? To change identities at the drop of the hat for fear you’ve been found? As we run with Tonya, we get to find out what all this is like. We also get to read email exchanges between her and someone from the past. From these emails, we know something happened that caused her to go on the lam several years ago, but don’t find out what happened until the very end. As Tonya runs, she encounters both people who want to help her and those who don’t.

I thought this was a fast paced mystery. I liked Tonya and my heart would pound each time she had to change her identity and make a fast escape. I actually thought the author found a unique way to end her story and liked the twist at the very end.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster, via Netgally, for allowing me to read this very entertaining novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

Nowhere Girl

Susan Strecker

The day Savannah was killed she was fifteen minutes late to meet me." So begins bookseller favorite Susan Strecker's second novel of twin sisters and the murder that left one twin behind.

Savannah was the popular bad girl skipping school and moving quickly from one boyfriend to the next, so when she didn't meet Cady as promised, Cady wasn't surprised and the truth was Cady was already a bit mad at her. When Cady suddenly becomes short of breath she realizes Savannah is in trouble, but within minutes Savannah is gone.

Years later Cady, now a bestselling author of suspense, spends her time interviewing killers, hoping each interview will help her understand what happened to her sister. Despite Savannah's death, the bond Savannah and Cady share has never been broken. Savannah still comes to Cady, but the clues her sister sends don't add up until a chance encounter while researching her latest novel provides a missing piece of the puzzle.(from Netgalley)　

My Thoughts

Cady and Savannah are identical twins. Savannah dies when they are young teenagers. Everyone thinks she was murdered. Savannah’s murder was never solved. Fast forward several years, and Cady has become a writer of murder mysteries. When a local police office reopens the investigation on Savannah’s death, the end result is something no one ever expected. What really happened to Savannah?

I know I’m reading a good book when my nose is glued to the pages and I hang up my “do not disturb” sign. This was one of them! From the very first page, I was sucked into the story. I really liked the characters. The author did a great job of weaving the past with the present. There were several characters that I thought might have been responsible for Savannah’s death, so I was surprised by the ending.

I really like Ms. Strecker’s writing style, so I was pleased to see this was her second novel. I’m looking forward to checking out her first book. I’m fairly certain I’ve found a new author to add to my favorites list.

My thanks to Thomas Dunne Press/St. Martin’s Press, via Netgalley, for allowing e to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Murder of Mary Russell

Laurie R. King

Laurie R. King's bestselling Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes series weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense. Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literature's most beloved teams. But does this adventure end it all?

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond.

And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple's longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell's faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson's son.

What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson.

Or rather to Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street.

The key to Russell's sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson's past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper's secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away.

There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.

And nothing will ever be the same.(from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

 

Clara Hudson, Sherlock Holmes housekeeper, comes home to discover blood on the carpet and Mary Russell missing! Is Mary dead or alive?

In this installment of the wonderful Mary Russell series, we learn all about Clara Hudson’s past - from her childhood up until the time she meets Sherlock Homes. We finally find out about her elusive past and the secret she and Sherlock have been keeping for many many years.

I think these stories are smart and very entertaining. I love the thought process that everyone involved goes through as they try to solve the puzzle of Mary’s disappearance and the aftermath. The characters are intelligent and observant and the author has a delightful ability of keeping the reader interested from beginning to end. Another great mystery!

My thanks to Random House - Ballantine/Bantam, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this is exchange for an unbiased review.

Evicted

Matthew Desmond

From Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America

In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stick up after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind.

The fate of these families is in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former school teacher turned inner-city entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs the worst trailer park in the fourth poorest city in the country. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but as Sherrena puts it, “Love don't pay the bills.” She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas.

Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending over half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America's vast inequality—and to people's determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.

Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation, while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible. (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

To be honest, I’m not sure what attracted me to this book. As a middle class, middle-aged white female, I have never been touched by poverty and I have no intention of ever becoming a landlord. This book first caught my eye when it was reviewed in our local paper and I have seen it mentioned a few times in articles regarding poverty.

My initial intent was to read this book in snippets. For some reason, I thought it might be something that was not going to hold my attention. I could not have been more wrong. From the very first chapter, I found this book hard to put down.

Mr. Desmond has a unique ability to intertwine statistics with personal stories, with the result being this very readable book. I got caught up in the age old battle between tenant and landlord, the games that are played as one tries to outwit the other. It would be hard to cast blame on either tenant or landlord as each side seems to be working the system to best fit their needs. The author did a great job presenting the facts and explaining the how the system works.

This was eye-opening and there were many times that I found myself saying “wow” and shaking my head. No one was more surprised than me at how much I learned from this book.

My thanks to Crown Publishing, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Five Days Left

Julie Lawson Timmer

Mara Nichols is a successful lawyer, devoted wife, and adoptive mother who has received a life-shattering diagnosis. Scott Coffman, a middle school teacher, has been fostering an eight-year-old boy while the boy’s mother serves a jail sentence. Scott and Mara both have five days left until they must say good-bye to the ones they love the most.

Through their stories, Julie Lawson Timmer explores the individual limits of human endurance and the power of relationships, and shows that sometimes loving someone means holding on, and sometimes it means letting go (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

What a remarkable story about about two families who both have only five days left to deal with an unimaginable situation. Mara Nichols has Huntington’s disease and in five days time, is going to kill herself so her family does not have to become her caretaker. Scott Coffman and his wife Laurie have been foster parents to Curtis. Curtis’s Mom is getting out of jail, and the Coffman’s have five days left to spend with him.

This is the story of how these two families spend these five days. The only connection between the two is a support chat room. While their issues are different, both families are dealing with something that most people around them will never encounter, and therefore, never understand.

While the main focus is on Mara and Scott, we do get to see how the situations they are in impacts their whole family. I found this to be both gut wrenching and uplifting. A powerful story about love and family.

A very impressive debut from an author I will surely follow.

My thanks to Putnam Group - Penguin, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Try Not To Breathe

Holly Seddon

Some secrets never die. They're just locked away.

Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson. Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for fifteen years, forgotten by the world. Who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralyzed, reliving the past.

Soon Alex's routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter's story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived, but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from uncovering the unspeakable truth, Alex realizes she's not just chasing a story—she's seeking salvation.

Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.(from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

Alex Dale is a freelance journalist. She has a drinking problem, her marriage has failed and she is desperately trying one more time to get it together. She decides to write a health care related article on people who are in a vegetative state. She hears that there is ground breaking research in the possibility of being able to communicate with some of the patients. She encounters Amy Stevenson, a young woman who had been assaulted fifteen years earlier. The attack left her with serious injuries and she appears to be non-cognizant. For some reason, Alex forms a bond with Amy and decides to try to solve the mystery of who attacked her, something the police were never able to do. Where will her research take her?

I was surprised to see that this was a debut novel. It was very well written. It starts out slowly as we get to know the main characters. The pace starts to pick up as Alex slowly put the pieces together of what happened to Amy fifteen years ago. I found the book hard to put down, had great suspense and interesting characters.

Bravo Ms. Seddon!

 

My thanks to Balantine Books, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Woman in Blue
Elly Griffiths

Forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway returns in a new thrilling mystery from the best-selling Elly Griffiths.
The murder of women priests in the shrine town of Walsingham sucks Dr Ruth Galloway into an unholy investigation.
When Ruth's friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, in a white gown and blue cloak, in the graveyard next to the cottage he is house-sitting, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all; visions come with the job. But when the body of a woman in a blue dressing-gown is found dead the next day in a nearby ditch, it is clear Cathbad's vision was all too human, and that a horrible crime has been committed. DCI Nelson and his team are called in for the murder investigation, and soon establish that the dead woman was a recovering addict being treated at a nearby private hospital.
Ruth, a devout atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend, Hilary Smithson, asks to meet her in the village, and Ruth is amazed to discover that her friend is now a priest. Hilary has been receiving vitriolic anonymous letters targeting women priests - letters containing references to local archaeology and a striking phrase about a woman 'clad in blue, weeping for the world'.
Then another woman is murdered - a priest.
As Walsingham prepares for its annual Easter re-enactment of the Crucifixion, the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again... (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

I say this every time I review a book in this series.  I just adore Ruth Galloway.  A single Mom, she is smart, dedicated and has the dry English wit that I find so very funny.
In this latest series installment, it’s Ruth’s friend Cathbad who finds a murdered women.  While Ruth is involved in solving the mystery of who killed her, this time we get to spend quite a bit of time with Nelson,  the father of Ruth’s daughter.  Ruth and Nelson are still trying to figure out exactly what their relationship means and how to make it work as they go about their daily business.
I think all the books in this series are smart and entertaining.  This one kept up the momentum!  I also picked up a new saying - Jesus wept (you’ll have to read the book to understand that one.)
My thanks to Quercus Books, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

The Quality of Silence

Rosamund Lupton

On 24th November Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby arrived in Alaska.

Within hours they were driving alone across a frozen wilderness

Where nothing grows

Where no one lives

Where tears freeze

And night will last for another 54 days.

They are looking for Ruby's father.

Travelling deeper into a silent land.

They still cannot find him.

And someone is watching them in the dark. (from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby travel from England to Alaska to meet up with Ruby’s father. When they land, they are told that David is dead, killed in a fire that wiped out an entire village. But both Yasmin and Ruby refuse to believe this and set out on their own to find him. They encounter numerous obstacles, not the least of which is the person who wants to stop them.

I like the way Ms. Lupton tells this story. Told in alternating voices of Yasmin and Ruby, these two overcome many hurdles in their obsessive push to find David. The suspense starts slowly but really picks up in the last quarter of the book.

This reminded me of an action film where sometimes you feel what the hero accomplishes is not always plausible, but don’t really care because the story is so good. The author gives us strong, likeable female characters who persevere when other might quit. I have read all of her books and look forward to reading more.

My thanks to Crown Publishing for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.