.JPG)
August ended with reading 9 books. There were a couple that I didn't care for that much - "Ellie and the Harpmaker" and "The Maid". The rest were either average or just above. I didn't find that 5 star book, but "Fox Creek" - the latest Cork O'Connor book - came close.
My book club book was "The Maid". My 12 Books in 12 Months Challenge book was "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking". I also read one that had been recommended to me by a friend, Cindy, quite a while ago - "Cora Jean" and one that I had on my shelf and picked up when I saw my great niece, Allisa, was reading it. I always welcome any recommendations. It may take me a while, but I will probably pick it up at some point.
Hazel Prior
⭐⭐
This story is set in England where Ellie and her husband live. One day while Ellie is walking in the countryside, she happens upon a barn where Dan is inside making beautiful Celtic Harps. Dan lives a relatively solitaire life and is socially awkward - probably on the spectrum. He sees Ellie is sad and he wants to make her feel better, so he gives her a harp. This sets them on a path together of friendship, and more.
There is a lot I did not like about this book. I didn't like Ellie. She came across as self absorbed. I think she was probably in a mid life crises of sorts. I never got a good grasp on most of the secondary characters. I don't know if they were basically good people who just messed up or if they were just really messed up people who occasionally were good. I also generally do not like a book where a married person falls in love with someone else. There were hints of a bad marriage but there were also hints of a good marriage. It was just like the secondary characters - which is it?!
The writing flowed and it made it an easy read. Dan was an interesting character that I liked. In fact that is one reason I didn't like the book - Dan deserves better than Ellie.
Riley Sager
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Emma Davis is returning to the scene of the crime 15 years after it occurred. Back then Emma was a young camper in a cabin with older girls - all who disappeared one night. The last she saw of them, Vivian was closing the cabin door and signaling for Emma to be quiet. Emma is now a rising star in the art world where unbeknown to the viewers she always includes her 3 lost cabin mates.
Francesca Harris-White is a socialite and owner of the camp - Camp Nightingale - and she has decided it is time to reopen it. She contacts Emma and asks her to come for the summer as an art teacher. Emma finds herself staying in the same cabin as she did 15 years prior, this time with her being the eldest. She finds herself getting closer to her 3 young cabinmates and then - it happens again. All 3 of them go missing. Emma sets about to uncover secrets and find out what really happened both 15 years ago and in the present time.
Overall this is an interesting thriller, The pace was good and the characters were well developed - especially Emma. In fact because of the character development, I had a good idea about what had happened - both times. I did have more than one theory, but leaned towards what actually had happened, Riley Sager though isn't finished there. He has a final twist at the end that surprised me and that I liked.
Amanda Eyre Ward
⭐⭐⭐
Set in Austin, this story revolves around 3 women and their families. Whitney, Annette and Liza's friendship has lasted for many years and through many stages of life. They live in the greenbelt neighborhood of Ziker Park - a safe place to raise their 3 boys. The boys are all working as lifeguards for the summer that has just begun and all is good, Until one night when the boys are riding their bikes home after a late night swim in their favorite swimming hole, they discover a body. That's when secrets of the boys begin to surface and the moms have to decide how to best protect their sons.
I sunk into this book and enjoyed it most of the way through. It was headed to a solid 4 star, possibly 5 star book but then....the ending! It wasn't the ending - it was the way the ending was written. It felt like there was a page limit that had been reached so things had to be wrapped up. In other words it was abrupt. I can also see how some people may have a hard time with the "big reveal" but after spending time with the families, I could accept it. A book not as well written as far as character development would have made me roll my eyes.
With this book I have read all of Amanda Eyre Ward's novels. They have been 4 star reads for me until the last two books she has written. Both of those for different reasons were average, 3 star books. Still not bad and I will dive in to her next book knowing that at the least I will get that.
Lawrence Gulley
⭐⭐⭐
Cora Jean has had a rough life. The daughter of an alcoholic prostitute who never knew her father and was basically a slave that was sold to the man who became her husband. This novel is set in the South and is told by Cora Jean as she is writing her story at the request of her childhood best friend's son. The story starts in the 1960's and goes to modern day.
This was another book that was ok, but not spectacular. What kept it back for me were a few things. First off, I kept having a hard time with the time period. I kept having to remind myself of the time frame because in my mind it seemed as if it should have been earlier in time - maybe the 1940s as the latest. The writing was another issue with me. It was just too immature. I also felt as if the characters were not believable as real people. There were too many extreme characters. But at the same time, I couldn't help but continue reading to see what happens.
This book was recommended to me a few years back by Cindy Cole. I love getting recommendations from my friends, so y'all please keep them coming.
Debbie Morris
⭐⭐⭐⭐
In 1980 Debbie Morris (Cuevas at the time) was with her boyfriend sitting in his car at the river in Madisonville Louisiana. It was late at night and the 16 year old was violating her curfew when the unthinkable happened. Her boyfriend and her were kidnapped and even though it was only a little over a day that she was held captive, I'm sure to her it felt it would never end. Her boyfriend was left in Alabama after being shot. She didn't know it at the time, but he survived, partially because of her being alert and remembering things such as where they had been when they left him. What Debbie went through would be hard for anyone to process and handle. Add to that the age of 16. Due to her help, her captors were caught and one, Robert Willie, became one of the inspirations for "Dead Man Walking". It wasn't so easy for Debbie when it came to beliefs about the death penalty. She had been through horrible things, but through the years and through her faith, she discovered that forgiveness was the only way she was going to have any kind of peace.
This is a well written book about a horrible true life incident. As a young girl Debbie had a strong faith. After her abduction she really struggled and found her faith wavering and her life unraveling. She found her way back to God and the healing process truly began.
One thing that Debbie talks about in this book is Helen Prejean's work, book and stance on the death penalty. The became friends with Helen Prejean and got a few answers from her about Robert Willie. Debbie, at least when she wrote this book, could see both sides of the death penalty. It did give her some sort of relief to know she didn't have to worry about any harm being done by Willie again, but at the same time she is unsure if that is really the answer. Overall this is a good book to read even after all the years that have passed.
This was part of my 12 Books in 12 Months Challenge. Thank you Becca Doyle for the recommendation.
Nita Prose
⭐
Molly the Maid loves her job in a high class boutique hotel. Life is a little hard for her. Her grandmother, who was her rock, recently passed away, her love life is unsettled and Molly struggles with social skills and how to read others. Her refuge is at the hotel where she can dive into doing what she loves, cleaning. Plus that is where all of her social interaction takes place. Things are turned upside down though when a wealthy man, Charles Black, is found dead in his bed. Molly becomes a suspect due to her decreased social skills. How will Molly prove her innocence without anyone to help her?
I am an outlier when it comes to this book. I did not like it. Molly was so unbelievable to me because of the inconsistencies about her. As a reader you are left guessing if she is on the spectrum or not. Her character at times appears as if she is but other times not. And the parts that put her on the spectrum are stereotypical, as were things about other characters. The story was predictable and I found it slow at times. The twists were not that twisty. There were several plot holes too. I was also bothered by not being able to determine the location of the hotel. I think it was Canada based on the author being from there, but I had to look that up. And lastly - I don't like to clean and I got tired of reading about someone else doing it.
After giving my view, I have to acknowledge that the majority of people who have read this book really liked it. It was a Good Morning America Book Club pick, had won awards and a bestseller. I finished this book only because it was the book for my Book Club. I think I was the only one who disliked it this much. So, if you like cozy mysteries and cleaning, give it a try.
Lucy Foley
⭐⭐⭐
Kate Darling is on a mission to find out the truth about her mother's birth parents. Her mother, June, was adopted as a young child by Evie. June had been abandoned at an orphanage and when Evie first met her, she feel in love with the child. June became a world class ballerina. Her daughter, Kate, is a photographer and they had a good life, June preceded Evie in death, and Kate's grandmother fell ill and died also. Evie left Kate a portrait of a woman who bears a resemblance to June. Kate sets out on a journey to find this woman, who she discovers is the birth mother of her mother. This search takes her to Corsica and she discovers the story from many years ago of June's heritage.
This book was another average read to me. I liked the descriptive writing, but otherwise it was slow at times. I never got sucked in totally. It is a predictable story and because of that, I was not invested in finding out what the story was. I felt as if I already knew it. I'm not sure this is the type book that would ever draw me in completely. It is a nice romance and covers a love lost, separation, family secrets, grief, family relationships and love found. I'm just not easily wowed by this type book.
Kathleen Kent
⭐⭐⭐
Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused tried and hanged during the Salem witch hunts. Her daughter, Sarah, while often butting heads with her mom, is a lot like her. Outspoken, bright, willful and challenging the world around them. This story is about the things about Martha that made her a target and how Sarah viewed and lived through it. It is told from Sarah's perspective.
This is a book that if I had read earlier I think I would have enjoyed more. It has been sitting on my shelf for a while. While it sat on my shelf, I read other stories about the time of the trials - including Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian. Because of reading those books, there wasn't a lot of discovery in this one. However, it is well written and is an interesting view of the horrible things that happened in the late 1600's. It will make you think about how easily mob mentality can take over and also the horrible way some people will seek revenge.
Thanks to my great-niece, Allisa, for jogging my memory about this book when I saw on Goodreads that she was reading it.
William Kent Krueger
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cork finds himself on the trail of killers who are after Henry Meloux, the Ojibwe healer/Cork's mentor, Rainey, Cork's wife and Dolores Morriseau, a stranger who came to Henry for his wisdom. Henry is guiding Rainey and Dolores through the wilderness as they try to evade the killers. All the while they do not know what these men want or why they are after Dorothy. Cork is not only trying to rescue his friends and family, but he is trying to figure out who these men are. Battling the unknown, the weather. the men and his own self doubt, Cork continues on. As always, he has help and together the team does their best to bring everyone home alive and to solve the mystery.
Ahhhh, Cork! It was so nice to have you back in my life after 8 months. This is another good story that is well written. The atmosphere, the characters, the plot, and the way Mr. Krueger tells a story is always worth the read. This one is set up a little different physically from the others in this series in that it has sections telling different people's part of the story. I found the "breaks" a little distracting. I also felt as if there was just a little less depth to this story than the other books. But it still was better than most of the books out there and it truly bordered on a 5 Star for me.
If you haven't met Cork, you can still read this book as a stand alone and get a good story. For me personally, I'm glad I've read them all. The only drawback is now I have to wait a year until the next.
Comments