en-US Tue, 22 Apr 2025 18:06:35 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 74838036 When a relationship expert’s own marriage falls apart, she invites four strangers��to Italy��for a vacation of healing and second chances in this uplifting new novel from the author of�� The Messy Lives of Book People .

Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and advice expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift to Adrian, he surprises her with his own very different plan—a divorce.

Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively invites four heartbroken listeners to join her in Italy instead while live on air. From hiking the hills of Bologna to riding a gondola in Venice to sharing stories around the dining table of the little Italian hotel, Ginny and her newfound company embark on a vacation of healing.

However, when Adrian starts to rethink their relationship, Ginny must decide whether to commit to her marriage or start afresh, alone. And an unexpected stranger may hold the key to a very different future�� Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores marriage, identity and reclaiming the present moment—even if it means leaving the past behind.

Look for��Phaedra Patrick’s previous charming bestsellers!
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone
The Library of Lost and Found
The Secrets of Love Story Bridge
The Messy Lives of Book People ]]> 353 Phaedra Patrick 0369726022 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.84 2023
author: Phaedra Patrick
name: Lori
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 57667979 The first in an exciting new historical mystery series set in the home of Agatha Christie!

Colleen Cambridge's charming and inventive new historical series introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie. When a dead body is found during a house party at the home of Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan, it's up to famous author's head of household, Phyllida Bright, to investigate...

Tucked away among Devon's rolling green hills, Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright, as efficient as she is personable, manages the large household with an iron fist in her very elegant glove. In one respect, however, Mallowan Hall stands far apart from other picturesque country houses...

The manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife, Agatha Christie. Phyllida is both loyal to and protective of the crime writer, who is as much friend as employer. An aficionado of detective fiction, Phyllida has yet to find a gentleman in real life half as fascinating as Mrs. Agatha's Belgian hero, Hercule Poirot. But though accustomed to murder and its methods as frequent topics of conversation, Phyllida is unprepared for the sight of a very real, very dead body on the library floor...

A former Army nurse, Phyllida reacts with practical common sense--and a great deal of curiosity. It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses during a weekend party. Now, Phyllida not only has a houseful of demanding guests on her hands--along with a distracted, anxious staff--but hordes of reporters camping outside. When another dead body is discovered--this time, one of her housemaids--Phyllida decides to follow in M. Poirot's footsteps to determine which of the Mallowans' guests is the killer. With help from the village's handsome physician, Dr. Bhatt, Mr. Dobble, the butler, along with other household staff, Phyllida assembles the clues. Yet, she is all too aware that the killer must still be close at hand and poised to strike again. And only Phyllida's wits will prevent her own story from coming to an abrupt end...]]> 304 Colleen Cambridge 1496732464 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.16 2021
author: Colleen Cambridge
name: Lori
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 46465
The village of Manham is tight-knit, far from the beaten path. As a newcomer, Dr. Hunter is immediately a suspect. Once an expert in analyzing human remains, he reluctantly joins the police investigation—and when another woman disappears, it soon becomes personal. Because this time she is someone David knows, someone who has managed to penetrate the icy barrier around his heart. With a killer’s bizarre and twisted methods screaming out to him, with a brooding countryside beset with suspicion, David can feel the darkness gathering around him. For as the clock ticks down on a young woman’s life, David must follow a macabre trail of clues—all the way to its final, horrifying conclusion.]]> 313 Simon Beckett 0385340044 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.16 2006
author: Simon Beckett
name: Lori
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 212362486
Millie has a pretty good life. She loves her job and her little studio apartment. She’s single, but she has Bonnie, the most wonderful best friend in the world.

Her love life is a total train wreck. She’s always attracted to the wrong men. She’s in love with Stephen �� but he’s married to somebody else.

Millie always wonders what if? What if she’d met Stephen first, before he met his wife? She daydreams that somewhere, in another life, she and Stephen are together.

One day, Millie is heading to Bonnie’s lake house for the weekend. She arrives early and lets herself in through the basement door. But when she steps through it . . . something extraordinary happens.

Millie finds herself in another version of her life. Now, at last, she has a chance to capture the heart of the man of her dreams.

But what if Stephen isn’t The One after all?

What if Millie has unknowingly been in love with someone else all along . . .

The Love of Her Lives is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel for anyone who has ever believed in destiny and soulmates �� or paused to wonder what your life might look like if you'd made a different choice.]]> 295 C.J. Connolly 1835265464 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.58 2024
author: C.J. Connolly
name: Lori
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 6940381
Back home in England, Bess receives an unexpected response from the dead soldier's family, for neither Jonathan Graham�� his mother�� nor his younger brother admit to understanding what the message means.

But the Grahams are harboring a grim secret, and Bess must, somehow, get to the bottom of it. It is her sacred duty to the dead, no matter how painful, or dangerous, that obligation might be.]]> 329 Charles Todd 0061791776 Lori 0 to-read, mystery, wishlist 3.86 2009
author: Charles Todd
name: Lori
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read, mystery, wishlist
review:

]]> 61963077
Bestselling author Wendy Holden explores the astonishing backstory and young adulthood of the ultimate royal celebrity.

Britain, 1961: A bouncing blond baby is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom, and his wife Frances. Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents�� messy divorce. She struggles at school. Moving to London, she takes menial jobs as a cleaner and nanny. Her refuge throughout is romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince.

In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Nearly 30, Charles remains unmarried; the right girl needs to be found, and fast. She must be young, aristocratic and come to the royal family without any past liaisons.

The eighteen-year-old Diana Spencer is just about the only candidate. Her desperation to be loved dovetails perfectly with royal desperation for a bride. But as the ruthless Palace machine starts up, there are challenges for Diana to face, from press intrusion to a certain Mrs. Parker Bowles. Can her romantic dream survive the forces that shape her into a global icon?]]> 400 Wendy Holden 0593437314 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.91 2023
author: Wendy Holden
name: Lori
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 59039645
Is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Fleetwood must risk everything to prove her innocence. As the two women’s lives become intertwined, the Witch Trials of 1612 loom. Time is running out; both their lives are at stake. Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other.

Rich and compelling, set against the frenzy of the real Pendle Hill Witch Trials, this novel explores the rights of 17th-century women and raises the question: Was witch-hunting really women-hunting? Fleetwood Shuttleworth, Alice Grey and the other characters are actual historical figures. King James I was obsessed with asserting power over the lawless countryside (even woodland creatures, or “familiars,�� were suspected of dark magic) by capturing “witches”—in reality mostly poor and illiterate women.]]> 335 Stacey Halls Lori 0 currently-reading 3.87 2019
author: Stacey Halls
name: Lori
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 62346321 Dear Jane column has been cancelled she has no choice but to look outside of London’s rental market. That is until she’s left an idyllic country home by the black sheep of the family, long-not-so-lost Cousin Nigel.

But of course there’s a stipulation�� and not only is Maddy made chair of the committee for the annual village literary festival, she also has to put up with bestselling crime author –and romance sceptic �� Cameron Massey as her new neighbour.

When Maddy challenges Cameron to write romantic fiction, which he claims is so easy to do, sparks fly both on and off the page��

‘Sparkling romance, secrets from the past…Witty and romantic, I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages�� Alison Sherlock, bestselling author of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Witty, sharp and beautifully observed �� I feel sure Jane would approve�� Julie Caplin

Readers are LOVING What Would Jane Austen Do?:��I absolutely demolished this book! �� If you love romance you’ll love this (whether you’re an Austen aficionado or not)!�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A perfect read for a day you need a pick me up�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

‘Fans of Jane Austen, or of reading in general, will particularly enjoy this book��sure to be a favourite of many readers this year�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

‘Playful, fun, and a love letter to Jane Austen and her wise words. Glorious�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��The antidote to a bad day…If you’re a Jane Austen fan (as I am) then you will really love the well-chosen quotes that start each chapter and spotting the wisdom included within�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐

��A five out of five for me…t��� witty, observant writing lifts it above the ordinary…There are lots of subtle nods to Jane Austen's writing and if you're a Janeite, this is a lovely ode to her work�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

‘An uplifting humorous read, reminiscent of a modern day Jane Austen novel�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

��A delightful escape into the world of love, literature, and unexpected connections�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐��

‘Reading this book brightened my day and made me smile�� ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]]> 385 Linda Corbett 0008554579 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.59
author: Linda Corbett
name: Lori
average rating: 3.59
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 213794082
Seventeen-year-old Carter Simms has been chosen to compete in Wonder. He knows it’s an honor. He also knows that failure means a one-way trip to Oblivion, where he will spend the rest of his short life in a frozen wasteland. The only bright spot is his flirty best friend will be in Wonder with him, and with her, the promise his summer will be anything but predictable. So, with a measure of hope he can avoid exile, and maybe even have some fun, Carter resolves to compete in Calista’s games.

Then Carter discovers Wonder is not all it seems. There are disturbing secrets hidden behind its walls. Some of which are too terrible to believe. But Carter can’t help his self-destructive search for truth. He picks at the mysteries of the world he thought he understood. He tumbles in the rankings. And with the chill of Oblivion on his shoulders, Carter must choose—the truth or his friend—because he can’t have both.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joseph Nassise says Wonderfall is “A damn good story with enough twists and turns to keep even this jaded reader on his toes.�� It’s a story that will keep you guessing until the very last page.]]> 277 Travis Raish Lori 0 currently-reading 4.53
author: Travis Raish
name: Lori
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 61949027 512 Alison Weir 0593355075 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.23 2023
author: Alison Weir
name: Lori
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 36486799 The tragic lives of Henry VIII and his six wives are reimagined by seven acclaimed and bestselling authors in this riveting novel, perfect for fans of Wolf Hall and Netflix's The Crown .

He was King Henry VIII, a charismatic and extravagant ruler obsessed with both his power as king and with siring a male heir.

They were his queens--six ill-fated women, each bound for divorce, or beheading, or death.

Watch spellbound as each of Henry's wives attempts to survive their unpredictable king and his power-hungry court. See the sword flash as fiery Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery. Follow Jane Seymour as she rises from bullied court maiden to beloved queen, only to die after giving birth. Feel Catherine Howard's terror as old lovers resurface and whisper vicious rumors to Henry's influential advisors. Experience the heartache of mothers as they lose son after son, heir after heir.��

Told in stirring first-person accounts, Fatal Throne is at once provocative and heartbreaking, an epic tale that is also an intimate look at the royalty of the most perilous times in English history.

Who's Who:

����*����M. T. Anderson - Henry VIII
����*����Candace Fleming - Katharine of Aragon
����*����Stephanie Hemphill - Anne Boleyn
����*����Lisa Ann Sandell - Jane Seymour
����*����Jennifer Donnelly - Anna of Cleves
����*����Linda Sue Park - Catherine Howard
����*����Deborah Hopkinson - Kateryn Parr<]]> 416 Candace Fleming 1524716219 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.07 2018
author: Candace Fleming
name: Lori
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 5578416
The dramatic, legendary story of Henry VIII, his six wives, and the England they ruled—told by one of the world’s preeminent historians of the Tudor era.

Perhaps no one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were tumultuous and complicated, and made instant legends of six very different women. Henry took his first bride, Catherine of Aragon, when he was 17. Their 24-year marriage was a relatively stable prelude to what followed. Anne Boleyn, a pretty, French-educated Protestant who was the mother of Elizabeth I, was eventually beheaded. Jane Seymour served as a demure contrast to the vampish Boleyn, and gave birth to Henry’s longed-for son (Edward VI). After a brief marriage to the plain Anne of Cleves, Henry married a flirtatious teenager, Catherine Howard, who would be the second of his brides to lose her head along with the king’s favor. Finally, there was Catherine Parr, a shrewd Protestant bluestocking.

In this brilliant new work, one of the world’s most respected historians weaves startling new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama and political intrigue that attended Henry’s six marriages. With a keen eye for both the personal and the global stage, David Starkey masterfully recaptures the Tudor era—and the wives of Henry VIII—as only he can.]]> 898 David Starkey 0061842168 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.10 1999
author: David Starkey
name: Lori
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 33854762 The Bundy Secrets: Hidden Files of America's Worst Serial Killer is a unique, never-before-published look at the investigations undertaken to stop the depredations of America’s most infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy. Presented here in an easy-to-follow chronology are the raw, unedited and most fascinating official case files as they appeared to the detectives from the Pacific Northwest to the Rocky Mountains to Florida.

Book three in Sullivan’s Bundy Trilogy (The Bundy Murders, The Trail of Ted Bundy), The Bundy Secrets completes Sullivan’s opus by presenting readers with a 'just the facts' rendition of the formerly classified files of the manhunt, as well as contemporary interviews, gathered by Sullivan from dozens of sources along Bundy’s trail of terror. A must-have for true crime students of Ted Bundy.]]> 255 Kevin M. Sullivan Lori 0 currently-reading 3.68
author: Kevin M. Sullivan
name: Lori
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 203608552 A woman must learn to take life by the throat after a night out leads to irrevocable changes in this juicy, thrilling novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such Sharp Teeth and Black Sheep.

Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life.

Her husband surprises her with a birthday weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi.

Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.

The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.]]> 304 Rachel Harrison 0593642546 Lori 1

Unfortunately, fellow readers, So Thirsty is also a waste of time. Be forewarned. **Spoilers are ahead. **

I'm sorry to say this. Really, I am. I enjoy a good vampire book as much as the next person. Heck, I enjoyed the Twilight series way back when it was first published and everyone was reading it. So when I heard that Rachel Harrison, an author I was unfamiliar with, had written a book described as "bloody" and "seductive" in which two women -- not teens but women -- who were on a girls' birthday weekend get turned into vampires, I was on board.

So Thirsty started off fine. It had promise. Our heroine, Sloane, is fine, if maybe just a bit whiny. But she is married to an ass, so I'll give her a pass on that. I won't, however, give her a pass on her constant obsession with wrinkles and aging and Botox, given that she's turning 36 and she's not a model or actor or anything in which turning 36 is supposed to be seen as some death sentence. Where the book really starts going off the rails, however, is in the character of Sloane's best friend, Naomi. I have never disliked -- heck, hated -- a character so much in all my reading life. Naomi is presented as some wild, free spirit but in reality, she's an immature, selfish jerk. She is supposed to be the same age as Sloane but presents more as a whiny, spoiled teenager. I understand the whole opposites attract concept but no amount of explanation could convince me that in the real world Sloane and Naomi would ever be friends, much less besties.

So Naomi supposedly organizes this girls' birthday weekend for Sloane, with help from Sloane's husband. From the get-go, however, it's less about Sloane's birthday and more about how Naomi needs to break free and run wild (I guess) because of her stressful (I guess) and unsatisfying (I guess) relationship with her musician boyfriend and her PR job (I guess) for the band. Because she's so free spirited and fun (i.e., selfish and irresponsible), Naomi meets a guy who invites her to a house party and of course she accepts. (Clearly Naomi does not watch Dateline or 48 Hours). Sloane would much rather have a more chill and relaxed birthday celebration but because she's codependent on Naomi and about as assertive as a mouse, she gives in and goes to this party thrown by strangers in a house and town both are unfamiliar with. What could go wrong?

Turns out that the party is being thrown by a group of vampires. Fortunately, these vampires are not blood thirsty and looking to snack on Sloane and Naomi. Nope, they're just looking to party with drugs and group sex. Naomi is in (of course she is) and it's one more domino in a chain of bad decisions that Sloane basically enables. Before you know it, a "bad" vampire has been freed from the basement, noshes on Naomi and Sloane makes the rash and emotional decision to have both of them turned into vampires so that neither of them die. Once again, what could go wrong?

This is bad enough but maybe Ms. Harrison could have saved it with more realistic (yeah, I know, vampire book) realizations from Sloane and Naomi about their new existence. Nope. Naomi immediately is perfectly fine with being a member of the undead. Her only issue is that her appetite for life, as Sloane puts it (really, for drugs and sex) has now turned into an appetite for blood. Despite this, and despite warnings from the friendly neighborhood vampires about how the thirst for blood is particularly strong and bad in new vampires, Sloane and Naomi decide to leave the vampire nest, hit the road for a cabin Naomi's family has and essentially wait it out.

The rest of the book is the equivalent of a vampire Thelma & Louise on the road with a few bodies left behind because Sloane leaves Naomi unattended (clearly being turned into a vampire did not help with her insight). Neither Sloane nor Naomi seem to have any feelings whatsoever about killing and frankly, don't seem to take anything seriously. Honestly, I was wishing that Sam and Dean Winchester would show up and gank both of them. Too bad that did not happen and I had to endure more pages of their constant whining about being thirsty and how the thirst couldn't be controlled.

It's hard to imagine that a vampire book could be incredibly boring but here it is, literary proof. I wanted to DNF this book very badly but at the same time, I forced myself to go on because I kept hearing people say wonderful things about the author and the book. There had to be something, right?

No, friends, there is not. I took the bullet on this one so you don't have to. So Thirsty is not just an incredibly dull book (nothing seductive about it) but it's an insult to female friendships. Sloane and Naomi's relationship wasn't so much empowering and loyal as it was toxic and dependent. I finished the book feeling annoyed, angry and overall disgusted.

I had put Ms. Harrison's The Return on my wish list before picking this book up. Once I finished So Thirsty, I immediately removed The Return. I found this book so tedious, so boring, and so off-putting that I've decided Ms. Harrison's writing style is not for me in general.

Do yourself a favor and give this book a pass. There are plenty of other vampire/supernatural/paranormal/female friendship books out there that do the subject(s) justice.

]]> 3.49 2024
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Lori
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
"Speculating about alternate fates is a waste of time." - from So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison.


Unfortunately, fellow readers, So Thirsty is also a waste of time. Be forewarned. **Spoilers are ahead. **

I'm sorry to say this. Really, I am. I enjoy a good vampire book as much as the next person. Heck, I enjoyed the Twilight series way back when it was first published and everyone was reading it. So when I heard that Rachel Harrison, an author I was unfamiliar with, had written a book described as "bloody" and "seductive" in which two women -- not teens but women -- who were on a girls' birthday weekend get turned into vampires, I was on board.

So Thirsty started off fine. It had promise. Our heroine, Sloane, is fine, if maybe just a bit whiny. But she is married to an ass, so I'll give her a pass on that. I won't, however, give her a pass on her constant obsession with wrinkles and aging and Botox, given that she's turning 36 and she's not a model or actor or anything in which turning 36 is supposed to be seen as some death sentence. Where the book really starts going off the rails, however, is in the character of Sloane's best friend, Naomi. I have never disliked -- heck, hated -- a character so much in all my reading life. Naomi is presented as some wild, free spirit but in reality, she's an immature, selfish jerk. She is supposed to be the same age as Sloane but presents more as a whiny, spoiled teenager. I understand the whole opposites attract concept but no amount of explanation could convince me that in the real world Sloane and Naomi would ever be friends, much less besties.

So Naomi supposedly organizes this girls' birthday weekend for Sloane, with help from Sloane's husband. From the get-go, however, it's less about Sloane's birthday and more about how Naomi needs to break free and run wild (I guess) because of her stressful (I guess) and unsatisfying (I guess) relationship with her musician boyfriend and her PR job (I guess) for the band. Because she's so free spirited and fun (i.e., selfish and irresponsible), Naomi meets a guy who invites her to a house party and of course she accepts. (Clearly Naomi does not watch Dateline or 48 Hours). Sloane would much rather have a more chill and relaxed birthday celebration but because she's codependent on Naomi and about as assertive as a mouse, she gives in and goes to this party thrown by strangers in a house and town both are unfamiliar with. What could go wrong?

Turns out that the party is being thrown by a group of vampires. Fortunately, these vampires are not blood thirsty and looking to snack on Sloane and Naomi. Nope, they're just looking to party with drugs and group sex. Naomi is in (of course she is) and it's one more domino in a chain of bad decisions that Sloane basically enables. Before you know it, a "bad" vampire has been freed from the basement, noshes on Naomi and Sloane makes the rash and emotional decision to have both of them turned into vampires so that neither of them die. Once again, what could go wrong?

This is bad enough but maybe Ms. Harrison could have saved it with more realistic (yeah, I know, vampire book) realizations from Sloane and Naomi about their new existence. Nope. Naomi immediately is perfectly fine with being a member of the undead. Her only issue is that her appetite for life, as Sloane puts it (really, for drugs and sex) has now turned into an appetite for blood. Despite this, and despite warnings from the friendly neighborhood vampires about how the thirst for blood is particularly strong and bad in new vampires, Sloane and Naomi decide to leave the vampire nest, hit the road for a cabin Naomi's family has and essentially wait it out.

The rest of the book is the equivalent of a vampire Thelma & Louise on the road with a few bodies left behind because Sloane leaves Naomi unattended (clearly being turned into a vampire did not help with her insight). Neither Sloane nor Naomi seem to have any feelings whatsoever about killing and frankly, don't seem to take anything seriously. Honestly, I was wishing that Sam and Dean Winchester would show up and gank both of them. Too bad that did not happen and I had to endure more pages of their constant whining about being thirsty and how the thirst couldn't be controlled.

It's hard to imagine that a vampire book could be incredibly boring but here it is, literary proof. I wanted to DNF this book very badly but at the same time, I forced myself to go on because I kept hearing people say wonderful things about the author and the book. There had to be something, right?

No, friends, there is not. I took the bullet on this one so you don't have to. So Thirsty is not just an incredibly dull book (nothing seductive about it) but it's an insult to female friendships. Sloane and Naomi's relationship wasn't so much empowering and loyal as it was toxic and dependent. I finished the book feeling annoyed, angry and overall disgusted.

I had put Ms. Harrison's The Return on my wish list before picking this book up. Once I finished So Thirsty, I immediately removed The Return. I found this book so tedious, so boring, and so off-putting that I've decided Ms. Harrison's writing style is not for me in general.

Do yourself a favor and give this book a pass. There are plenty of other vampire/supernatural/paranormal/female friendship books out there that do the subject(s) justice.


]]> 212020753 This year, their families can deck the bloody halls themselves...

Old friends Shelley, Lena and Pearl have reached their limit with the festive preparation that has always fallen to them, and five days before Christmas, they’ve booked a mini break�� without their families. Up until Christmas Eve, they’ll be sipping prosecco in the Highlands while their kids wrap bacon around 100 chipolatas and their partners brave the supermarkets.

It’s exactly what they need�� until they’re snowed in. Facing the prospect of Christmas 500 miles from home, each woman is forced to confront her real reasons for needing to escape: the fiancé with the obnoxious family; the son’s new girlfriend who is taking over their home; the family who take their mother for granted all year round��

Will the friends make it home before Christmas day? And if they do, can they really go back to their old lives?]]> 287 Fiona Gibson 1836172184 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.92
author: Fiona Gibson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 213570828 ��
1613: ��King James �� sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots - has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumours rise the prince was poisoned.
��
Andrew Logan’s heard the rumours, but he’s paid them little heed. As one of the King’s Messengers he has enough secrets to guard, including his own. In these perilous times, when the merest suggestion of witchcraft can see someone tortured and hanged, men like Andrew must hide well the fact they were born with the Sight.
��
He’ll need all his gifts, though, when the king sends Andrew north to find and arrest Sir David Murray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and bring him a prisoner to London to stand trial before the dreaded Star Chamber.
��
A story of treachery, betrayal and love��
��

Praise for The Vanished

‘Fascinating and immersive�� I love a novel that deals with the many ways in which people keep their secrets’�� DIANA GABALDON

‘A hugely engrossing book and a complete world created’�� IAN RANKIN

‘The Vanished Days is an absolute tour de force of historical storytelling, tender and dramatic, gripping and authentic. Kearsley manages effortlessly to balance the epic sweep of the drama with telling moments of gentle characterization, all delivered in pitch-perfect style. I thoroughly enjoyed a perfect escape in these dark days’�� JANE JOHNSON , author of The Salt Road and The Tenth Gift
��
‘An engrossing and deeply romantic novel of Scotland’s Jacobite rebellion’�� RACHEL HORE

‘This novel tells of a tender love story set amid the Jacobite rebellion. For readers unfamiliar with the twists and turns of this period of Scottish history, author Kearsley provides a helpful map, along with rich details of the protagonists. Courage in this era lies not in acts of heroic daring, but in steadfast pursuit of truth and justice. Perfect for fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlande r�� WOMAN & HOME
��
��]]> 352 Susanna Kearsley 149268905X Lori 0 to-read 4.16 2024
author: Susanna Kearsley
name: Lori
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> 216247547 A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a marriage proposal planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two).

Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…t��� Fourth.

Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal�� retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?

As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.�� Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it's clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.]]> 343 Molly Harper 059381732X Lori 0 to-read 3.87 2025
author: Molly Harper
name: Lori
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35065019
Don’t try to tell me that you’ve never checked that weird mole on your thigh on WebMD. Or how to fold meringue on Epicurious. And, there’s no way that I’m the only one who clears her search history after looking up how to give a great bl�� (Um, that last one’s not important.)"

When newspaper reporter Avery Fowler discovers her husband is having an affair, the online help site HowTo.com is where she turns to navigate this challenging stage of her life.

If the Internet is Avery’s information god, then HowTo.com is her Holy Grail. Its live chat option is like having a virtual life coach for the low, low price of $14.95 a month:

Add into the mix a new boss whose managerial style calls to mind the Wicked Bitch Witch of the West—or the Anti-Christ—and the poor girl needs all the help she can get! The stakes rise and hilarity ensues as our heroine struggles to take control of her personal life and topple her boss after she learns Victoria’s guilty secret.

With Clementine (virtually) in tow, our heroine tackles such tricky situations as dating after divorce, sex once nothing points north anymore, and how to cover attempted murder scenes (despite a paralyzing fear of blood) as the new and improved Avery Fowler 2.0.]]> 258 Jennifer Ammoscato 0993869017 Lori 0 to-read 3.96 2015
author: Jennifer Ammoscato
name: Lori
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10261683 323 Suzannah Dunn 0062078879 Lori 0 historical-fiction 3.29 2010
author: Suzannah Dunn
name: Lori
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: historical-fiction
review:

]]> 10189925 The true story of a teenage killer and the silence of a small New England town. For twenty years Daniel Paquette's murder in New Hampshire went unsolved. It remained a secret between two high school friends until Eric Windhurst's arrest in 2005. What was revealed was a crime born of adolescent passion between Eric and Daniel's stepdaughter, Melanie- redefining the meaning of loyalty, justice, and revenge.]]> 304 Kevin Flynn 1101187476 Lori 0 to-read 3.92 2010
author: Kevin Flynn
name: Lori
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8452957 308 Pat Brown 1401396127 Lori 0 to-read 3.18 2010
author: Pat Brown
name: Lori
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10766772
The Lantern is a modern gothic novel, inspired by a crumbling hamlet in Provence. When I began writing, it was going to be an homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, with its young heroine who finds her man becomes more mysterious to her the longer she is with him.

Along the way it became a novel about perfume and blindness and the past life of houses, and also about books, reading and the imagination.

And while the story was all in my mind, the beauty of the Luberon region that provides the backdrop was just there to be captured in words…]]> 348 Deborah Lawrenson 0062049712 Lori 0 3.47 2011
author: Deborah Lawrenson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read, books-that-disappointed-me, did-not-finish
review:

]]> 203091607
Set in various locations, from Brussels to London, Egypt, and France, each story showcases Christie's intricate plotlines, sophisticated characters, and talent for unveiling the most unexpected resolutions, creating a compelling all-in-one armchair read. Full of suspense and intrigue, the selections include "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat," "The Adventure of the Western Star," "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge," "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," and other must-reads for mystery lovers and Agatha Christie enthusiasts.]]> 176 Agatha Christie 0486852644 Lori 0 to-read 3.82 1924
author: Agatha Christie
name: Lori
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8250401
In this biography, the author uncovers startling new facts and argues that MGM knew the real story of Bern's death--that an estranged, mentally ill common-law wife murdered him. MGM understood that the earlier spouse rendered Bern's marriage to Harlow, its fastest-rising star, ambiguous if not bigamous, so the studio staged a suicide and embarked on a very public tarnishing of his memory. Included are 93 rare photos, many lost for decades, along with three appendices examining the handwriting on an alleged suicide note and Bern's will and estate.]]> 396 E.J. Fleming 0786452749 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.58 2008
author: E.J. Fleming
name: Lori
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 64130231 So, you want to start a subscription box? But you don’t know where to start? Look no further!

It’s not hard to have a six-figure subscription box and this book will lead you through exactly how to launch, grow and scale your subscription box to bring you in recurring revenue month after month.

The subscription box industry is booming and there is no better time to get your subscription box out there, serving your clients and making you money.

In this book serial entrepreneur and owner of three subscription box businesses, Lauren Prentice reveals her subscription box secrets. How to research and prove your concept, grow an audience, and have a successful pre-launch so there’s no need for lots of start-up cash, launching, growing, managing churn and increasing lifetime value.

This book is an all-in-one blueprint for launching, scaling and growing your subscription box.

]]> 150 Lauren Prentice Lori 0 currently-reading 3.50
author: Lauren Prentice
name: Lori
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 15765147 The minute I saw the letter, I knew it was hers. There was no mistaking it: the salutation, the tiny, precise handwriting, the date, the content itself, all confirmed its ancient status and authorship��

Samantha McDonough cannot believe her eyes--or her luck. Tucked in an uncut page of a two-hundred-year old poetry book is a letter she believes was written by Jane Austen, mentioning with regret a manuscript that "went missing at Greenbriar in Devonshire."

Could there really be an undiscovered Jane Austen novel waiting to be found? Could anyone resist the temptation to go looking for it?

Making her way to the beautiful, centuries-old Greenbriar estate, Samantha finds it no easy task to sell its owner, the handsome yet uncompromising Anthony Whitaker, on her wild idea of searching for a lost Austen work--until she mentions its possible million dollar value.

After discovering the unattributed manuscript, Samantha and Anthony are immediately absorbed in the story of Rebecca Stanhope, daughter of a small town rector, who is about to encounter some bittersweet truths about life and love. As they continue to read the newly discovered tale from the past, a new one unfolds in the present--a story that just might change both of their lives forever.]]> 422 Syrie James 0425253368 Lori 0 to-read 3.83 2007
author: Syrie James
name: Lori
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36112959 1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?]]> 264 Alice Feeney 1250144833 Lori 0 to-read 3.87 2017
author: Alice Feeney
name: Lori
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56125279
If you have a great idea for a box, that’s fabulous! It’s the beginning of an exciting time in your life! Next, you need a solid plan for how you’re going to launch, grow, and scale your business. This book is your starting point and will guide you through the steps you’ll need to carve out your subscription box business idea. By the time you reach the end, you will have mapped out your sub box business concept and will have clarity on whether this idea is one you plan to pursue.

Subscription Box Basics is your 30-day plan to get your subscription box idea off the ground. If you complete one chapter every other day (which is feasible, even with a busy schedule), you will be on track to have clarity by this time next month. You will have learned the basics of the subscription box industry, laid out a solid foundation of your business idea, and will be clear on your next steps.]]> 188 Julie Ball 1948604957 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.50
author: Julie Ball
name: Lori
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 35020420 A novel that reimagines the story behind Charles Dickens' Christmas classic Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in. Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens�� deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.]]> 282 Samantha Silva Lori 0 currently-reading 3.99 2017
author: Samantha Silva
name: Lori
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 203578777 Life is never, ever dull in Agatha Raisin's sleepy Cotswolds village!
Agatha Raisin's private detective agency is working flat out on a series of burglaries which take a violent turn when a friend of Agatha's is murdered during a raid on his antiques shop. Although determined to nail the villains, Agatha still makes time to help Sir Charles Fraith prepare to stage a massive, hugely glamorous event in the grounds of his ancestral home, Barfield House.

When Agatha begins to receive death threats and narrowly avoids being abducted by kidnappers, she takes advantage of a previously arranged trip to Majorca to lie low for a while. There she meets her partner, former police officer John Glass, who is now working as a dance instructor on a cruise liner. Their relationship founders over John's apparent closeness to his stage dance partner, Louise. Putting her love life on hold, Agatha heads home, having worked out who has been threatening her life.

Can Agatha track down the would-be killer, nail her friend's murderers and rescue her romance with John? Everything comes to a climax at the Barfield Extravaganza when on top of everything else, Agatha also manages to solve a 400-year-old Cotswold murder mystery!]]> 256 M.C. Beaton 1250898706 Lori 0 to-read 3.73
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 195945866 Can love bloom again under the heat of the Spanish sun?

Ten years ago, while travelling before starting a cookery apprenticeship, Alice fell head over heels for the food, the sun and the gorgeous Andy Hall…Family tragedy sent her back to London, but now, finally, she’s been given the chance to return. Only to find herself working alongside none other than Andy, the only man to ever break her heart.

The decade apart has changed them both, though he still has his frustratingly good looks—and is Alice imagining it or does the spark that always existed between them still burn just as brightly? Not ready to risk getting hurt again, she focuses on exploring the culinary delights of the city, and begins to remember a life she once dreamed of��

As Alice rediscovers a world of possibilities under the hot Spanish sun, could there be a second chance for Andy and the love they used to share? Perhaps the vibrant flavours of Barcelona might just be the ingredients for everlasting love?]]> 360 Jane Crittenden 1662509162 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.55 2024
author: Jane Crittenden
name: Lori
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 195790620
A visit to the local village fete for a spot of fun and relaxation turns into a nightmare for Agatha Raisin when she discovers the body of the local landowner in the woods―with an arrow in his chest and trousers round his ankles.

Agatha’s old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes, declares the death a tragic accident, believing the victim has been hit by a stray arrow from an archery demonstration. Agatha is convinced of foul play, however, and is shocked when Wilkes eventually agrees...with her as his prime murder suspect.

Determined to clear her name and find the real killer, Agatha launches her own investigation, quickly becoming involved with a family at war, an unscrupulous gangster―and a killer who is determined to make her the next victim...]]> 272 M.C. Beaton 1250898668 Lori 0 to-read 3.88 2023
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23851043
For three years, her disappearance remained a mystery, inspiring one of the most intensive missing-persons searches in history. All to no avail. Because the only man who knew what happened to Denise wasn't talking. He wasn't through with her yet.

On July 3, 1994, in an affluent suburb of Prescott, Arizona, a padlocked truck parked in the driveway of 37-year-old John Famalaro provoked suspicion. When authorities finally pried open its doors, they found the nude, handcuffed corpse of Denise Huber stuffed into a freezer--preserved forever in the throes of death.

Inside Famalaro's home were Denise's personal belongings along with neatly arranged "trophies" of other female prey. But it was the revelations at Famalaro's trial that would truly stagger the imagination, laying bare the terrifying details of Denise's final hours, and exposing the dark past of a merciless killer consumed by perversity and unfathomable evil.]]> 471 Don Lasseter 0786037946 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.16 1998
author: Don Lasseter
name: Lori
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 195790554 Everyone knows that Addie Fullbright can’t keep a secret. Yet, twelve years ago, as her best friend lay dying, she entrusted Addie with the biggest secret of all. One so shattering that Addie felt she had to leave her hometown of Starlight, Alabama, to keep from revealing a devastating truth to someone she cares for deeply. Now she’s living a lonely life, keeping everyone at a distance, not only to protect the secret but also her heart from the pain of losing someone else. But when her beloved aunt, the woman who helped raise her, gets a shocking diagnosis and asks her to come back to Starlight to help run the family bakery, Addie knows it’s finally time to go home again.

Tessa Jane Wingrove-Fullbright feels like she’s failing. She’s always been able to see the lighter side of life but lately darkness has descended. Her world is suddenly in shambles after a painful breakup, her favorite aunt’s unexpected health troubles, and because crushing expectations from the Wingrove side of her family are forcing her to keep secrets and make painful choices. When she’s called back to Starlight to help her aunt, she’s barely holding herself together and fears she’ll never find her way back to who she used to be.

Under the bright side of the stars, Addie and Tessa Jane come to see that magic can be found in trusting yourself, that falling apart is simply a chance to rise up again, stronger than ever, and that the heart usually knows the best path through the darkness.]]> 320 Heather Webber 1250867290 Lori 0 to-read 4.05 2024
author: Heather Webber
name: Lori
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61163869
As if a near-death experience at the hands of an old coffeemaker wasn’t embarrassing enough, I woke up to find I could talk to animals. Or rather one animal in particular.

His full name is Octavius Maxwell Ricardo Edmund Frederick Fulton, but since that’s way too long for anyone to remember, I’ve taken to calling him Octo-Cat. He talks so fast he can be difficult to understand, but seems to be telling me that his late owner didn’t die of natural causes like everyone believes.

Well, now it looks like I no longer have a choice, apparently my life calling is to serve as Blueberry Bay’s first ever pet whisperer P.I while maintaining my façade as a paralegal at the offices of Fulton, Thompson & Associates.

I just have one question: How did Dr. Doolittle make this gig look so easy?]]> 236 Molly Fitz Lori 0 currently-reading 4.26 2019
author: Molly Fitz
name: Lori
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 199116301
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.]]> 255 Peter Swanson 0063205033 Lori 0 to-read 3.58 2024
author: Peter Swanson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 7125342 A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 402 Lev Grossman 0452296293 Lori 0 to-read 3.50 2009
author: Lev Grossman
name: Lori
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 196018873 In the latest thrilling entry in the bestselling Under Suspicion series by Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran investigates the unsolved murder of a beloved couple celebrating the college graduations of their successful twin sons.

The two identical brothers seemed perfect in every way—handsome, intelligent, popular—until a shocking summer night when one brother killed his parents in cold blood while the other brother had an iron-clad alibi. But which twin was where during the murders? And is it possible the two of them planned the perfect crime together?

Years later, the twins are long estranged, each of them claiming to be convinced that the other is responsible for the death of their parents. Married now with children of their own, they may finally be ready to clear one name at the expense of the other and turn to Laurie Moran and her team to reinvestigate their parents�� murder. But as the Under Suspicion crew gets closer to the truth, the danger that was assumed to be left in the past finds its way into the present.

Featuring chilling suspense, a cast of characters whom loyal readers have come to love, and a final jaw-dropping twist, It Had to Be You is not to be missed.]]> 255 Mary Higgins Clark 1982132574 Lori 0 to-read 3.95 2024
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: Lori
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 194020321
While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.]]> 256 Jeneva Rose Lori 0 to-read 3.77 2024
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Lori
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127280429 SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.]]> 359 Sally Hepworth 125028452X Lori 0 to-read 3.98 2024
author: Sally Hepworth
name: Lori
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 194803808
The sisters suspect Lulu's death is the result of foul play, but the LAPD—known for being corrupt to the core—doesn't seem motivated to investigate. Even worse, there are signs that point to the possibility of a police cover-up, and powerful forces in the city want to frame the killing as evidence that Chinatown is a den of iniquity and crime, even more reason it should be demolished to make room for the construction of a new railway depot, Union Station.

Worried that neither the police nor the papers will treat a Chinese girl fairly—no matter how famous and wealthy—the sisters set out to solve their friend’s murder themselves, and maybe save their neighborhood in the bargain. But with Lulu’s killer still on the loose, the girls�� investigation just might put them square in the crosshairs of a coldblooded murderer.]]> 390 Stacey Lee 059353204X Lori 0 to-read 3.75 2024
author: Stacey Lee
name: Lori
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40391914 290 Julie Wassmer 1472116496 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.14 2015
author: Julie Wassmer
name: Lori
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 54197718
A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation.

She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven.

Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought.

Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.

And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them?

But as more time passes, one thing becomes clear:

Only one of them will return home alive.]]> 295 Freida McFadden Lori 0 currently-reading 3.87 2020
author: Freida McFadden
name: Lori
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 86534091 A charming Regency murder mystery featuring Jane Austen as an amateur detective! For fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Elizabeth Bailey and Ashley Gardner.

Can Jane use her observational skills to solve a horrific murder��?

1795, Hampshire, England

Jane Austen and her family are delighted to be attending Lord Wentworth’s ball. The event has been at the centre of village gossip after it was announced Wentworth was holding a ball to celebrate the return of his brother, who went missing in India many years earlier and had been declared dead.

At the ball an old friend, Emma Roscoe, bumps into Jane and tells her she saw something she shouldn’t have. She asks Jane to meet her at ten o’clock in the library to discuss it.

Delayed by dancing with the charming Mr Tom Lefroy, Jane is late to meet to her friend.

But when she arrives, she finds the body of Emma Roscoe lying on the floor with a dagger sticking out of her chest.

Distraught and feeling horribly guilty, Jane is determined to help with the investigation into Emma’s murder.

Was it a coincidence that the murder happened on the night of Lord Wentworth’s brother being reintroduced to society? What did Emma see that was worth killing her over?

And could more people be in danger?

With the help of her sister Cassandra, Jane must use her wit and intelligence to get to the heart of the mystery.

Death of a Lady is the first book in the Jane Austen Investigation series: thrilling Regency-era murder mysteries with a tenacious literary heroine working as a female sleuth.

]]> 290 Laura Martin 1800559364 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.16 2023
author: Laura Martin
name: Lori
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 30659017 371 Beverly Lowry 1101947993 Lori 0 currently-reading 3.48 2016
author: Beverly Lowry
name: Lori
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 62314568 275 William Rawlings 0881468436 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.42
author: William Rawlings
name: Lori
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 51197260 Two women. Two Flights. One last chance to disappear.

Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.

A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets �� Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.

The Last Flight is the story of two women �� both alone, both scared �� and one agonizing decision that will change the��trajectory of both of their lives.]]> 352 Julie Clark 1728215730 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.26 2020
author: Julie Clark
name: Lori
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 199670021
America is looking for real solutions that are bold and can be supported by even the most ardent Conservatives and Progressives. Without a long-term plan to address the social safety net (retirement, healthcare, and education), immigration, climate defenses, taxation, inflation, and the federal budget, we will continue to devolve into separate Americas.

The current proposals by both political parties are incrementally making these problems worse putting future generations at risk. Rather, The American Unity Plan is a fully integrated, bold solution that can be supported by the American people. It is a uniquely American roadmap for long-term success incorporating ideas from across the political spectrum.]]> 350 Alan Nager 1647047064 Lori 0 currently-reading 4.50
author: Alan Nager
name: Lori
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 75665898
In Beverly Hills, a wealthy CEO goes on a bloody rampage and videotapes the slaughter. He leaves behind a chilling cryptic message...�� This is where it begins. ��
��
Miles away, an alarmed mother receives an unsettling letter from her estranged husband, stained with bloody fingerprints.
��
And all across California, children are becoming affected by a monstrous change—and their parents, by a mounting fear.
��
Social worker Carrie Daniels and reporter Brian Howells are determined to find the link between these baffling crimes. But they shouldn’t look too deeply into the lives of the victims. It’s quite dark there. And God help them, they won’t like what they find.]]> 400 Bentley Little 0593550285 Lori 0 to-read 3.21 2007
author: Bentley Little
name: Lori
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 83814905 An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family's Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village's grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.]]> 96 Peter Swanson 0063297450 Lori 0 to-read 3.58 2023
author: Peter Swanson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61884939
When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing—a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama—is the perfect chance to start a new life. A normal life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town.

On the surface, Maggie Mae Brightwell is a bundle of energy as she runs Magpie’s, Driftwood’s coffee and curiosity shop, where there’s magic to be found in pairing the old with the new. But lurking under her cheerful exterior is a painful truth—keeping busy is the best way to distract herself from the lingering loss of her mama and her worries about her aging father. No one knows better than she does that you can’t pour from an empty cup, but holding on to the past is the only thing keeping the hope alive that her mama will return home one day.

Ava and Maggie soon find they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both haunted—not by spirits, but by regret. Both must learn to let go of the past to move on—because sometimes the waves of change bring you to the place where you most belong.]]> 320 Heather Webber 1250867266 Lori 0 to-read 3.89 2023
author: Heather Webber
name: Lori
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 137178324
THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTOR by Kristina McMorris
Jenna Matthews has made a career of decluttering other people’s lives. After a childhood marked by her mother’s hoarding, it feels satisfying to sort and evaluate possessions. Some items, however, defy simple categories—like the shoebox of WWII memorabilia she finds in an elderly client’s home. Nestled alongside a Bronze Star is a photograph of a blushing army nurse and an adoring young serviceman. Estelle Porter, the box’s owner, becomes curiously tightlipped at Jenna’s discovery. Even Estelle’s grandson, Reece, knows nothing about this secret in her past. But as Jenna delves deeper, she pieces together Estelle’s heartrending story—one that paves new, unexpected paths for many.
��
GIFTED by T. Greenwood
Christmas Eve in New York City is a portrait in holiday cheer. Yet Alex, a young ballerina who’s just been ousted from her ballet company, is contemplating a bittersweet homecoming—until she crosses paths with a stranger. At eighty, Simone’s memory is rapidly failing, but something has led her back to the place where she began her career as a professional violinist. Different as they may be, both women understand the nature of ambition and self-doubt, joy, and regret. And in a moment of grace, in a place where journeys begin, each will be reminded of what matters most . . .]]> 240 Kristina McMorris 1496744233 Lori 0 to-read 3.81
author: Kristina McMorris
name: Lori
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43620021 318 Simone St. James 0451235681 Lori 0 to-read 3.88 2012
author: Simone St. James
name: Lori
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 136276905
Peeling back layer upon layer of the mystery surrounding her origins, Keira has finally learned that the strange masked men work for Artec, an organization profiting off spectral energy produced by hundreds of chained, tormented souls. Their goal is to spread their macabre cemeteries across the world, using the agony of the dead to extend their power and reach―and only Keira and her loyal group of friends can stop them. But there are still mysteries to uncover in Keira's foggy memories, and as she prepares to fight for the souls of the tormented dead, what she doesn't know about her own past may come back to haunt her.]]> 299 Darcy Coates 1728239249 Lori 0 to-read 4.25 2024
author: Darcy Coates
name: Lori
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8517939
At the trial, Laprea makes a last-minute reversal, lying on the witness stand to free her boy-friend. Shortly after he is freed, Anna is horrified to hear that Laprea’s body has been found in a trash heap. Hastily assigned to prosecute the murder case alongside intimidating chief homicide prosecutor Jack Bailey, Anna’s heart sinks when she learns that her own boyfriend, public defender Nick Wagner, is representing the accused.

Torn between bringing the killer to justice and saving her personal life, Anna makes a series of choices that jeopardizes her career, her relationships, and her very life as she uncovers the shocking truth behind the murder.]]> 279 Allison Leotta 1439193843 Lori 4 legal-thrillers
I love legal thrillers. Call it a perk or a side effect from my day job, take your pick. My fondness for this genre, as well as my own professional background, leads me to be very demanding (and somewhat snobbish) of these types of books. I want realism without being dry, I want an exciting plot without being overly fictionalized and I want to be lost in the story. Ms. Leotta delivers mightily, with Law of Attraction bearing strong literary resemblance to John Grisham, Cody McFadyen and Joseph Finder (huge props from this reader) and yet firmly standing on her own as well.

I was drawn into Anna's story from page one. The comparisons between the fictional Anna and Ms. Leotta herself are many, leaving me to believe that since I particularly liked Anna I would like Ms. Leotta as well. Anna is a strong heroine, without being overbearing, and with her flaws, leading her to make decisions that put her in jeopardy without being contrived or with Anna coming off as dimwitted. Rather, Anna is a well-rounded and very likable character that you not only want to root for, you do.

The supporting characters in Law of Attraction are just as well written and fully formed, from defense attorney hottie Nick to serious fellow prosecutor Jack to victim Laprea and her abusive boyfriend D'Marco. Rarely are the victims well fleshed out but Ms. Leotta makes Laprea more than just a body and that only improves the book. Furthermore, Law of Attraction, despite the subject matter, isn't crawling with a cast of characters. Ms. Leotta keeps the roster relatively short and tight, leaving the reader an easy path to follow and the benefit of knowing the characters thoroughly.

Ms. Leotta's background as a prosecutor and her knowledge of law shows clearly throughout Law of Attraction. I found the writing to be riveting, the dialogue realistic and with incredibly descriptive detail. I not only couldn't put this book down, I didn't want to. Law of Attraction is a page turner that will keep you up until the wee hours, fighting off sleep in order to finish it (and then leaving you disappointed that you have turned the final page). The ending left me hopeful that perhaps future books about this particular cast of characters will follow.

Law of Attraction is a masterful debut novel that left me surprised, shocked, entertained and, most importantly of all, very satisfied. I would not hesitate to recommend it to fellow readers and will be looking forward to future works by the talented Allison Leotta.

]]> 3.71 2010
author: Allison Leotta
name: Lori
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/25
shelves: legal-thrillers
review:
Law of Attraction is federal prosecutor Allison Leotta's first novel and boy, am I glad I had the opportunity to read it.

I love legal thrillers. Call it a perk or a side effect from my day job, take your pick. My fondness for this genre, as well as my own professional background, leads me to be very demanding (and somewhat snobbish) of these types of books. I want realism without being dry, I want an exciting plot without being overly fictionalized and I want to be lost in the story. Ms. Leotta delivers mightily, with Law of Attraction bearing strong literary resemblance to John Grisham, Cody McFadyen and Joseph Finder (huge props from this reader) and yet firmly standing on her own as well.

I was drawn into Anna's story from page one. The comparisons between the fictional Anna and Ms. Leotta herself are many, leaving me to believe that since I particularly liked Anna I would like Ms. Leotta as well. Anna is a strong heroine, without being overbearing, and with her flaws, leading her to make decisions that put her in jeopardy without being contrived or with Anna coming off as dimwitted. Rather, Anna is a well-rounded and very likable character that you not only want to root for, you do.

The supporting characters in Law of Attraction are just as well written and fully formed, from defense attorney hottie Nick to serious fellow prosecutor Jack to victim Laprea and her abusive boyfriend D'Marco. Rarely are the victims well fleshed out but Ms. Leotta makes Laprea more than just a body and that only improves the book. Furthermore, Law of Attraction, despite the subject matter, isn't crawling with a cast of characters. Ms. Leotta keeps the roster relatively short and tight, leaving the reader an easy path to follow and the benefit of knowing the characters thoroughly.

Ms. Leotta's background as a prosecutor and her knowledge of law shows clearly throughout Law of Attraction. I found the writing to be riveting, the dialogue realistic and with incredibly descriptive detail. I not only couldn't put this book down, I didn't want to. Law of Attraction is a page turner that will keep you up until the wee hours, fighting off sleep in order to finish it (and then leaving you disappointed that you have turned the final page). The ending left me hopeful that perhaps future books about this particular cast of characters will follow.

Law of Attraction is a masterful debut novel that left me surprised, shocked, entertained and, most importantly of all, very satisfied. I would not hesitate to recommend it to fellow readers and will be looking forward to future works by the talented Allison Leotta.


]]> 62894822
Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished―including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.

Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he―or anyone else―has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles.

But an even greater threat is the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.

From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John―and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.]]> 382 Dean Koontz 1662500467 Lori 0 to-read 3.69 2023
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62923490 A modern-day Lazarus is humanity’s last hope in a breathtaking novel about the absolute powers of good and evil by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished—including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.

Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he—or anyone else—has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most vicious street gangs in Los Angeles.

But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.

From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John—and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.]]> 390 Dean Koontz 1662500475 Lori 0 to-read 4.12 2023
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61884847 Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin—the star of her own hit T.V. series—is back on the case again in Devil's Delight.

Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing…nothing at all.

The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha’s hectic life swirls along at dizzying pace, her private detective agency as busy as ever and her private affairs in turmoil, with old loves to contend with and a new suitor on the scene.

But when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer, she finds herself in deadly peril, as the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion…]]> 288 M.C. Beaton 1250816181 Lori 0 to-read 3.88 2022
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 65213849 Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin—the star of her own hit T.V. series—is back on the case again in Dead on Target.

A visit to the local village fete for a spot of fun and relaxation turns into a nightmare for Agatha Raisin when she discovers the body of the local landowner in the woods—with an arrow in his chest and his trousers round his ankles.

At first her old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes, declares the death a tragic accident, believing the victim has been hit by a stray arrow from an archery demonstration. Agatha is convinced the man was murdered and is shocked when Wilkes eventually agrees...particularly as he considers her to be his prime suspect.

Determined to clear her name and find the real killer, Agatha launches her own investigation, quickly becoming involved with a family at war, an unscrupulous gangster—and a murderer who is determined to make her the next victim...]]> 256 M.C. Beaton 1250898641 Lori 0 to-read 3.79 2023
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62292411 From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that lead a detective to an impossible moral choice.

22-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day…and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.

Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get.

Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife: it’s a secret. Her worst one. And her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia - and must frame somebody else for her murder.

If you find her, you will lose everything. What would you do?

This clever and endlessly surprising thriller is laced with a smart look at family and motherhood, and cements Gillian McAllister as a major talent in the world of suspense and a master of creating ethical dilemmas that show just how murky the distinction between right and wrong can be.]]> 377 Gillian McAllister 0063252392 Lori 0 to-read 3.59 2023
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Lori
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61980335 Agatha Christie's most famous characters--including Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple--solve even the most devilish of conundrums as the sun beats down in this all-new summer themed collection from the Queen of Mystery.

Summertime--as the temperature rises, so does the potential for evil. From Cornwall to the French Riviera, whether against a background of Delphic temples or English country houses, Agatha Christie's most famous characters solve complicated puzzles as the stakes heat up. Pull up a deckchair and enjoy plot twists and red herrings galore from the bestselling fiction writer of all time.

Includes the stories:

The Blood-Stained Pavement
The Double Clue
A Death on the Nile
Harlequin's Lane
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
Jane in Search of a Job
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
The Idol House of Astarte
The Rajah's Emerald
The Oracle at Delphi
The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger
The Incredible Theft]]> 255 Agatha Christie 0063310953 Lori 0 to-read 3.78 2021
author: Agatha Christie
name: Lori
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61884913 New York Times bestseller Allison Brennan’s latest standalone is an unputdownable race to the dramatic finish.

After five years in hiding from their murderous father, the day Kristin and Ryan McIntyre have been dreading has arrived: Boyd McIntyre, head of a Los Angeles crime family, has at last tracked his kids to a small Montana town and is minutes away from kidnapping them. They barely escape in a small plane, but gunfire hits the fuel line. The pilot, a man who has been raising them as his own, manages to crash land in the middle of the Montana wilderness. The siblings hike deep into the woods, searching desperately for safety—unaware of the severity of the approaching storm.

Boyd’s sister Ruby left Los Angeles for the Army years ago, cutting off contact in order to help keep her niece and nephew safe and free from the horrors of the McIntyre clan. So when she gets an emergency call that the plane has gone down with the kids inside, she drops everything to try save them.

As the storm builds, Ruby isn’t the only person looking for them. Boyd has hired an expert tracker to find and bring them home. And rancher Nick Lorenzo, who knows these mountains better than anyone and doesn’t understand why the kids are running, is on their trail too.

But there is a greater threat to Kristen and Ryan out there. More volatile than the incoming blizzard, more dangerous than the family they ran from or the natural predators they could encounter. Who finds them first could determine if they live or die. . .]]> 357 Allison Brennan 1250164427 Lori 0 to-read 3.85 2023
author: Allison Brennan
name: Lori
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32077564 ASIN moved from less recent edition

A preacher is found brutally murdered in a Tennessee motel room.

A beautiful, mysterious young girl is accused.

In this Mystery Readers International finalist for "Best Debut Mystery," criminal defense lawyer Joe Dillard has become jaded over the years as he's tried to balance his career against his conscience. Savvy but cynical, Dillard wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can't resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent. His drug-addicted sister has just been released from prison and his mother is succumbing to Alzheimer's, but Dillard's commitment to the case never wavers despite the personal troubles and professional demands that threaten to destroy him.

"Pratt's richly developed characters are vivid and believable, especially the strong Southern women who fight their male-dominated culture from behind a facade of vulnerability in this brilliantly executed debut." -- Publisher's Weekly.

"It’s Scott Turow and Grisham... The opening chapter is maybe the most compelling I’ve read in a decade.�� �� Ken Bruen.

Smart and sophisticated, with a plot twist that will leave you shaking your head in wonder, "An Innocent Client" -- the first in the acclaimed Joe Dillard series -- will also leave you wanting more.]]> 375 Scott Pratt Lori 0 to-read 4.32 2008
author: Scott Pratt
name: Lori
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60709683 Soon no one on Earth will have a place to hide in this novel about fears known and unknown by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.

In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortresslike stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting.

The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. And now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone—or something—they refuse to identify. Although an air of menace hangs over these men, an infinitely greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm.

Katie soon finds herself in an epic and terrifying battle with a mysterious enemy. But Katie’s not alone after all: a brave young girl appears out of the violent squall. As Katie and her companion struggle across a dark and eerie landscape, against them is an omnipresent terror that could bring about the end of the world.]]> 409 Dean Koontz 1662500440 Lori 0 to-read 3.73 2023
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61273724
Faith Eden’s brief foray into motherhood is marked by tragedy. Distraught that her baby was ripped away from her, she is determined to get little Paula back from the wealthy family who adopted her. Her brother, Trevor, is also anxious to get the baby back and will do anything necessary to do so. But when the dark truth comes to light, this twisted family will stop at nothing to keep outsiders out and secrets in—no matter the cost.]]> 304 V.C. Andrews 1982156414 Lori 0 to-read 3.28 2023
author: V.C. Andrews
name: Lori
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58438656 The legacy of the “Queen of Suspense�� continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark’s iconic novel Where Are The Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.

Of the fifty-six bestsellers the “Queen of Suspense�� Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect—but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.

Now, more than four decades since readers first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa’s new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with—or worse.

Just like the original, Where Are the Children Now? keeps readers guessing and holding their breath until the very last page.]]> 275 Mary Higgins Clark 198218941X Lori 0 to-read 4.05 2023
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: Lori
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60321415 400 V.C. Andrews 1982156368 Lori 0 to-read 3.09 2022
author: V.C. Andrews
name: Lori
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59808244 Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin—the star of her own hit T.V. series—is back on the case again in Devil's Delight.

Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing…nothing at all.

The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha’s hectic life swirls along at dizzying pace, her private detective agency as busy as ever and her private affairs in turmoil, with old loves to contend with and a new suitor on the scene.

But when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer, she finds herself in deadly peril, as the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion…]]> 256 M.C. Beaton 1250816165 Lori 0 to-read 3.66 2022
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61362539
Botanist Jerica Toussaint needs cash �� a lot of it �� to keep her home up to code and her herbal healing business alive. June’s financial offer is oh-so-tempting, as is the director himself. But the house has a secret Jerica’s guarded her entire life. Can she, in good conscience, rent it to a man who may expose it?

Convincing Jerica to trust him with her home �� and her secret �� is no easy feat and after a time Will realizes he needs to convince her to trust him with one more thing: her heart.]]> 328 Peggy Jaeger Lori 0 to-read 3.50 2022
author: Peggy Jaeger
name: Lori
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58955775
As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas—by phone, through her TV, in her dreams: I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten.

She isn’t the only one drawn to the Montana farmstead. People from all walks of life have converged at the remote ranch. They are haunted, on the run, obsessed, and seeking answers to the same omniscient danger Joanna came to confront. All the while, on the outskirts of Rustling Willows, a madman lurks with a vision to save the future. Mass murder is the only way to see his frightening manifesto come to pass.

Through a bizarre twist of seemingly coincidental circumstances, a band of strangers now find themselves under Montana’s big dark sky. Their lives entwined, they face an encroaching horror. Unless they can defeat this threat, it will spell the end for humanity]]> 390 Dean Koontz Lori 0 to-read 4.05 2022
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55479343
It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered. Anyone could be to blame. Even a demon.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.]]> 494 Stuart Turton 1728234298 Lori 0 to-read 3.86 2020
author: Stuart Turton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59807954 An enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go.

Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.

Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey's new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island's famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.
Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn't yet been written.]]> 290 Sarah Addison Allen 1250019869 Lori 0 to-read 4.00 2022
author: Sarah Addison Allen
name: Lori
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60119146 A sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan’s Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. That ability sustains her even now as the Second World War rages in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she’s the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay.

Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn’t foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one’s past.

Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight—on the battlefields and within ourselves—and the courage found in unexpected places.]]> 496 Kristina McMorris 1728249767 Lori 0 to-read 3.98 2022
author: Kristina McMorris
name: Lori
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1569343


Opinions were skewed, arguments over the jury's decision were heated. O.J. Simpson became the butt of hundreds of jokes, while the families of the victims were left to mourn their own and seek civil remedies for tragic losses.



As the frenzy died down, the media armies moved on to other stories, and people moved on with their lives—each with their own opinion of what really happened. Although the case is over, and O.J. walked away a free man, the question still remains—Who killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman?



Stunned by the brutality of the murders, and at the same time fascinated by how the case was being investigated, veteran detective Bill Dear launched his own investigation into the facts. Dear, within weeks of the murders, climbing over the fence at Bundy, sitting at the front door of Nicole's condo and recreating in his mind that dark night of Sunday, June 12, 1994, was convinced that O.J. Simpson could not have committed the murders but may have been at the crime scene soon after they occurred. If this is true, O.J. has known all along the identity of the killer.



Once Dear established in his own mind that O.J. was innocent, he focused his attention on six possible suspects. After carefully investigating the facts and not assuming what he had been told, read or shown concerning the alibis of each of the six, Bill Dear was more determined than ever to find the truth. His grueling, six-year search finally narrowed to one major suspect. The facts speak for themselves.



Learn for whom and why O.J. may have been willing to stand trial in the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman...as you walk step by step beside Bill Dear on this compelling journey.



Bill Dear has uncovered startling new evidence that is certain to change everyone's perception of O.J.'s guilt. This evidence has never been made public.


]]> 343 William C. Dear 0970205805 Lori 4 I found "Guilty" an interesting, and even quick, read. I went into the book convinced that the right man was tried for the crimes and basically got away with them. I don't know that Mr. Dear changed my mind totally, but it did make me realize that there were a lot of twists and turns in this case that weren't previously mentioned.
A nice literary effort, and definitely a worthy job of research. Give it a try. ]]> 4.37 2012
author: William C. Dear
name: Lori
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/04/22
shelves:
review:
Most everyone knows the details of the Simpson case and all the "major" books written about it. This one easily got lost in the shuffle. William Dear spent years researching the crimes, the victims and the suspect (Simpson) and his family. His book is well written, clear and concise. He offers up a new suspect, one never previously discussed before. His supporting evidence is good and it will definitely give you food for thought and pause about what you think you know about the Simpson case.
I found "Guilty" an interesting, and even quick, read. I went into the book convinced that the right man was tried for the crimes and basically got away with them. I don't know that Mr. Dear changed my mind totally, but it did make me realize that there were a lot of twists and turns in this case that weren't previously mentioned.
A nice literary effort, and definitely a worthy job of research. Give it a try.
]]> 59004033
Jane Austen spends her days writing and matchmaking in the small countryside village of Steventon, until a ball at Godmersham Park propels her into a new world where she yearns for a romance of her own. But whether her heart will settle on a young lawyer, a clever Reverend, a wealthy childhood friend, or a mysterious stranger is anyone's guess.

The novel, A Jane Austen Daydream, created in the style of Austen herself, ponders the question faced by many devoted followers over the years - did she ever find love?

Weaving fact with fiction, the book re-imagines her life, using her own stories to fill in the gaps left by history and showing that all of us - to a greater or lesser degree - are head over heels for Jane.]]> 428 Scott D. Southard 1913844196 Lori 0 to-read 3.40 2012
author: Scott D. Southard
name: Lori
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55572193
The unfinished fictions collected here are the novels and other writing that Jane Austen did not publish. The protagonist of the earliest story is Lady Susan, a sexual predator and a brilliant and manipulative sociopath. The Watsons, a tale of riches to rags, is set in a village deep in mud and misery where the Watson sisters waste away, day after dull day, waiting for the suitors who never appear. Sanditon, the novel interrupted by the author's death, is a topical satire on the niche marketing campaign waged by investors in the latest seaside resort, the fictional Sanditon, situated on England's over-supplied south coast. If The Watsons shares the disturbed life of a Chekhov short story, Sanditon's cast of eccentrics anticipates the zany world of Dickens. Experimental and sharp-elbowed, all three probe new areas of invention and push out beyond what we expect to find in a novel by Jane Austen.

This edition collects together all Austen's unpublished adult fiction, poetry, and related writings, written in her late teens, in her late twenties, and in the year she died, aged forty-one. They contribute more than a dash of discomfort to our modern image of the romantic novelist and reveal Jane Austen's development as a writer.
]]> 368 Jane Austen 0198835892 Lori 0 to-read 3.70 1817
author: Jane Austen
name: Lori
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1817
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58340966
Hamish's new constable, Dorothy McIver, may be the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Completely bewitched by her sparkling blue eyes, Hamish spends the summer traveling with her up and down Sutherland until finally, he can take it no longer. He gets down on one knee beside the Land Rover and begs her to marry him—and to his amazement and delight, she says yes.

But just as the town of Lochdubh gets ready to celebrate, Hamish finds himself with a new murder on his hands.��If he doesn't find the killer fast, Hamish's dream wedding could become a nightmare.��]]> 240 M.C. Beaton 1538746700 Lori 0 to-read 3.67 2022
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57677782
After a harrowing escape from Russian agents on his last mission, Charles Jenkins thinks he’s finally done with the spy game. But then the final two of the seven sisters—American assets who have been deep undercover in Russia for decades—cut off all communication with their handlers. Are they in hiding after detecting surveillance? Or have they turned and become double agents? It’s Jenkins’s duty to find out, but he’s been added to a Russian kill list. It will require all of Jenkins’s knowledge of spycraft—and an array of disguises—to return to the country undetected.

But plans go awry his first night in Moscow when Jenkins gets involved in an altercation that ends in the death of the son of one of Russia’s most powerful organized crime leaders. Pursued by mafia henchmen, Russian agents, and a particularly dogged Moscow police detective, Jenkins is determined to track down the final two sisters and get them to America—or die trying. As various forces close in, Jenkins fears this time he might’ve pushed his luck too far.]]> 400 Robert Dugoni 1542029910 Lori 0 to-read 4.29 2022
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Lori
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59005391
A beautiful, mysterious young girl is accused.

In this Mystery Readers International finalist for "Best Debut Mystery," criminal defense lawyer Joe Dillard has become jaded over the years as he's tried to balance his career against his conscience. Savvy but cynical, Dillard wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can't resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent. His drug-addicted sister has just been released from prison and his mother is succumbing to Alzheimer's, but Dillard's commitment to the case never wavers despite the personal troubles and professional demands that threaten to destroy him.

"Pratt's richly developed characters are vivid and believable, especially the strong Southern women who fight their male-dominated culture from behind a facade of vulnerability in this brilliantly executed debut." -- Publisher's Weekly.

"It’s Scott Turow and Grisham... The opening chapter is maybe the most compelling I’ve read in a decade.�� �� Ken Bruen.

Smart and sophisticated, with a plot twist that will leave you shaking your head in wonder, "An Innocent Client" -- the first in the acclaimed Joe Dillard series -- will also leave you wanting more.]]> 393 Scott Pratt 1944083103 Lori 0 to-read 4.10 2008
author: Scott Pratt
name: Lori
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58385688
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062980076 Lori 0 to-read 3.52 2022
author: Peter Swanson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57698624 From the Queen of Mystery—this all-new collection of stories about love gone horribly wrong will get your heart racing.

Love can propel us to our greatest heights . . . and darkest depths. In this new collection of Agatha Christie short stories, witness the dark side of love—crimes of passion, games of the heart, and deadly affairs. This pulse-pounding compendium features beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, master of charades Parker Pyne, the enigmatic Harley Quin, and the adventurous Tommy and Tuppence, all on the ready to solve a tantalizing mystery.

In “The Face of Helen,�� a night at the Royal Opera could reach a deadly crescendo for a woman caught in a dicey love triangle; “Finessing the King�� delivers a curious ad in the personals that could mask sinister intentions; who’s in danger of getting stung in “Wasp’s Nest�� depends on rounding up suspects and solving a murder—before it even happens; and more tales that make for essential reading that Christie fans old and new will simply love to death.]]> 263 Agatha Christie 0063142341 Lori 0 to-read 3.79 2022
author: Agatha Christie
name: Lori
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56268978 New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin--the star of her own hit T.V. series--is back on the case again in Down the Hatch.

Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green--with the body of an old man lying at their feet.

The man, who the coroner determines died by poisoning, was known as the Admiral, a gardener notorious for his heavy drinking, and Chief Inspector Wilkes writes the death off as an accident caused by the consumption of weedkiller stored in a rum bottle. Agatha is not convinced that anyone would mistake weedkiller for rum but carries on with her work at Raisin Investigations, until she receives an anonymous tip that the Admiral's death was no accident.

Local gossip points to the Swinburns themselves as the killers, spurred by a feud at the club where they, as well as the Admiral, were members. Distraught at this accusation, they turn to Agatha to clear their name, and she takes the case--despite the warnings of Chief Inspector Wilkes.

Agatha encounters one suspicious character after another, becoming further enmeshed in the Admiral's own dark and shady past. And when she's run off the road, narrowly escaping with her life, and then another attack occurs, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the case closed--and will stop at nothing to prevent Agatha from solving it.]]> 240 M.C. Beaton 1250816130 Lori 0 to-read 3.66 2021
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Lori
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9722450 322 Louise Penny Lori 0 to-read 4.23 2008
author: Louise Penny
name: Lori
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56898195 Following the events of The Umbrella Lady, young Saffron Faith Anders searches for family and love in this spine-tingling gothic fairy tale from the New York Times bestselling author of the Flowers in the Attic series and Landry series—now popular Lifetime movies.

After escaping the trauma of the Umbrella Lady’s home, thirteen-year-old Saffron Faith Anders is determined to find the father who abandoned her all those years ago. But when she finds him in a nearby town, Saffron is shocked to discover that he has married a woman he clearly had been involved with before her mother’s death. Worse, her father insists Saffron pretend to be his niece so he can continue to con his new wife’s family. Desperate for her father’s love, she goes along with the farce, but it soon becomes clear that perhaps it is better to face the world alone than trapped in a toxic and potentially dangerous family.]]> 291 V.C. Andrews 1982156252 Lori 0 to-read 3.67 2021
author: V.C. Andrews
name: Lori
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55033561 Bestselling author Caitlin Rother explores the mysterious death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanging from a second-story balcony of her multimillionaire boyfriend's San Diego mansion in 2011. She was naked and gagged, with her ankles tied and hands bound behind her. On the door to her bedroom investigators found a hand-written message: "SHE SAVED HIM, CAN YOU SAVE HER." The death was deemed a suicide, but Rother reveals there's more to the story...

"I got a girl, hung herself in the guest house."

The call came on the morning of July 13, 2011, from the historic Spreckels Mansion, a lavish beachfront property in Coronado, California, owned by pharmaceutical tycoon and multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai. When authorities arrived, they found the naked body of Jonah's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, gagged, her ankles tied and her wrists bound behind her. Jonah's brother, Adam, claimed to have found Rebecca hanging by a rope from the second-floor balcony. On a bedroom door in black paint were the cryptic words: SHE SAVED HIM CAN YOU SAVE HER.

Was this scrawled message a suicide note or a killer's taunt? Rebecca's death came two days after Jonah's six-year-old son, Max, took a devastating fall while in Rebecca's care. Authorities deemed Rebecca's death a suicide resulting from her guilt. But who would stage either a suicide or a murder in such a bizarre, elaborate way?

Award-winning investigative journalist Caitlin Rother weaves stunning new details into a personal yet objective examination of the sensational case. She explores its many layers-including the civil suit in which a jury found Adam Shacknai responsible for Rebecca's death, and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department bombshell decision to reconfirm its original findings. As compelling as it is troubling, this controversial real-life mystery is a classic American tragedy that evokes the same haunting fascination as the JonBenet Ramsey and O.J. Simpson cases.]]> 402 Caitlin Rother 0806540907 Lori 4 nonfiction, true-crime
So starts the investigation into the death of Rebecca Zahau, a beautiful young woman who was the live-in girlfriend of the wealthy and older Jonah Shacknai. According to friends and family, Rebecca was not the type to commit suicide, much less by hanging. She, like the crime scene, seemed to be a bundle of contradictions, from a smart, ambitious professional to an estranged wife with a tale of kidnapping in between the reconciliations with her husband. What made Rebecca's case so newsworthy was not only the unusual way in which she died, be it suicide or homicide, and the location - a historic beachfront mansion built in 1908 by one of San Diego's most powerful men in the affluent resort city of Coronado - but that the six-year-old son of Rebecca's boyfriend suffered a fatal fall in the same home only two days before Rebecca's death.

How could this lovely home be the scene of two deadly incidents within two days? Were the deaths of Max and Rebecca related? Did the authorities do their jobs in both cases or did they close the investigations too quickly?

As a true crime aficionado who has studied abnormal psychology and read more books in the genres than your average reader, the cases of Max Shacknai or Rebecca Zahau are two of the strangest that I have ever come across. I have an additional "connection" to this case, besides just being a "fan" of true crime. I lived in San Diego at the time Max and Rebecca died and my former husband and I not only spent a good amount of time in Coronado but we also got married there. Despite the miles of newsreel on this case, and gallons of ink spilled, I still knew very little about the cases.

Investigative journalist and author of more than a dozen books, Caitlin Rother was present from the start, when news broke that Rebecca Zahau had been found hanging from the balcony of the Spreckles/Shacknai mansion. As an enthusiast of Ms. Rother's books (see my reviews for Lost Girls, I'll Take Care of You, Poisoned Love, and Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter), she does not disappoint with her newest offering. Her stellar investigative skills allow her to go deep into Death on Ocean Boulevard, laying bare the backgrounds of Rebecca, her family, Jonah Shacknai, his brother Adam and Jonah's former wife, and Max's mother, Dina. Through Ms. Rother, we, the readers, get a first-row seat at the trial where we hear the full length of evidence, both for and against the suicide theory, as well as the inexplicable areas in which there was a lack of investigation and/or answers.

I found Death on Ocean Boulevard akin to diving down a rabbit hole of questions and definitely at least a mystery or two. Ms. Rother spent nine years researching this bizarre and uncommon case, which is evident in her strong and solid writing, which is more in the style of narrative nonfiction than that of gratuitous violence. Additionally for Ms. Rother, Rebecca Zahau's official cause of death has a more personal link for her and her late husband's suicide, with the pain and unanswered questions it brings.

Although Death on Ocean Boulevard is brimming with more facts than has ever been publicly shared before, the book itself is not swallowed up by it and proves to be a worthwhile read. While others have given their take on the Zahau/Shacknai cases, Ms. Rother's Death on Ocean Boulevard does the events justice and is the definitive source of the sad and sordid tale.

I would not hesitate to recommend Death on Ocean Boulevard to anyone wanting to know about this tragic case and/or anyone who needs confirmation as to why Caitlin Rother remains one of my favorite true crime authors.

Death on Ocean Boulevard is available for sale at most booksellers, as well as Audible if you prefer audiobooks.

For more information on Caitlin Rother, please visit her website.

FTC Disclosure: The review copy of this book was provided to me by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. The provision of this book did not affect the outcome of my review. I was neither paid nor compensated for this review.

(Originally published at Psychotic State Book Reviews.) ]]> 3.66 2021
author: Caitlin Rother
name: Lori
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/04/28
shelves: nonfiction, true-crime
review:
"I got a girl. Hung herself in the guest house."

So starts the investigation into the death of Rebecca Zahau, a beautiful young woman who was the live-in girlfriend of the wealthy and older Jonah Shacknai. According to friends and family, Rebecca was not the type to commit suicide, much less by hanging. She, like the crime scene, seemed to be a bundle of contradictions, from a smart, ambitious professional to an estranged wife with a tale of kidnapping in between the reconciliations with her husband. What made Rebecca's case so newsworthy was not only the unusual way in which she died, be it suicide or homicide, and the location - a historic beachfront mansion built in 1908 by one of San Diego's most powerful men in the affluent resort city of Coronado - but that the six-year-old son of Rebecca's boyfriend suffered a fatal fall in the same home only two days before Rebecca's death.

How could this lovely home be the scene of two deadly incidents within two days? Were the deaths of Max and Rebecca related? Did the authorities do their jobs in both cases or did they close the investigations too quickly?

As a true crime aficionado who has studied abnormal psychology and read more books in the genres than your average reader, the cases of Max Shacknai or Rebecca Zahau are two of the strangest that I have ever come across. I have an additional "connection" to this case, besides just being a "fan" of true crime. I lived in San Diego at the time Max and Rebecca died and my former husband and I not only spent a good amount of time in Coronado but we also got married there. Despite the miles of newsreel on this case, and gallons of ink spilled, I still knew very little about the cases.

Investigative journalist and author of more than a dozen books, Caitlin Rother was present from the start, when news broke that Rebecca Zahau had been found hanging from the balcony of the Spreckles/Shacknai mansion. As an enthusiast of Ms. Rother's books (see my reviews for Lost Girls, I'll Take Care of You, Poisoned Love, and Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter), she does not disappoint with her newest offering. Her stellar investigative skills allow her to go deep into Death on Ocean Boulevard, laying bare the backgrounds of Rebecca, her family, Jonah Shacknai, his brother Adam and Jonah's former wife, and Max's mother, Dina. Through Ms. Rother, we, the readers, get a first-row seat at the trial where we hear the full length of evidence, both for and against the suicide theory, as well as the inexplicable areas in which there was a lack of investigation and/or answers.

I found Death on Ocean Boulevard akin to diving down a rabbit hole of questions and definitely at least a mystery or two. Ms. Rother spent nine years researching this bizarre and uncommon case, which is evident in her strong and solid writing, which is more in the style of narrative nonfiction than that of gratuitous violence. Additionally for Ms. Rother, Rebecca Zahau's official cause of death has a more personal link for her and her late husband's suicide, with the pain and unanswered questions it brings.

Although Death on Ocean Boulevard is brimming with more facts than has ever been publicly shared before, the book itself is not swallowed up by it and proves to be a worthwhile read. While others have given their take on the Zahau/Shacknai cases, Ms. Rother's Death on Ocean Boulevard does the events justice and is the definitive source of the sad and sordid tale.

I would not hesitate to recommend Death on Ocean Boulevard to anyone wanting to know about this tragic case and/or anyone who needs confirmation as to why Caitlin Rother remains one of my favorite true crime authors.

Death on Ocean Boulevard is available for sale at most booksellers, as well as Audible if you prefer audiobooks.

For more information on Caitlin Rother, please visit her website.

FTC Disclosure: The review copy of this book was provided to me by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. The provision of this book did not affect the outcome of my review. I was neither paid nor compensated for this review.

(Originally published at Psychotic State Book Reviews.)
]]> 53702797 An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

What family secrets are behind two disappearances? Seattle detective Tracy Crosswhite is determined to uncover the truth in the latest installment of New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s heart-stopping series.

Returning from an extended leave in her hometown of Cedar Grove, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself reassigned to the Seattle PD’s cold case unit. As the protective mother of an infant daughter, Tracy is immediately drawn to her first the abduction of a five-year-old girl whose parents, embattled in a poisonous divorce, were once prime suspects.

While reconstructing the days leading up to the girl’s disappearance, Tracy is brought into an active investigation with former partner Kinsington Rowe. A young woman has vanished on an isolated jogging trail in North Seattle. Divided between two critical cases, Tracy has little to go on except the treacherous deceptions behind a broken marriage—and now, the secrets hiding behind the closed doors of a deceptively quiet middle-class neighborhood.

To find two missing persons, Tracy will have to follow more than clues, which are both long cold and unsettlingly fresh. Given her own traumatic past, Tracy must also follow her instincts—to whatever dark and dangerous places they may lead.]]> 394 Robert Dugoni 1542008360 Lori 0 to-read 4.53 2021
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Lori
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> 54968296 WINNER OF THE 2009 MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER


England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is "a darkly brilliant reimagining of life under Henry VIII. . . . Magnificent." (The Boston Globe).]]> 604 Hilary Mantel 1250806712 Lori 0 to-read 3.90 2009
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Lori
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55619129 Number one New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz takes readers on a twisting journey of lost love, impossible second chances, and terrifying promises.

A decade ago, Emily Carlino vanished after her car broke down on a California highway. She was presumed to be one of serial killer Ronny Lee Jessup’s victims whose remains were never found.

Writer David Thorne still hasn’t recovered from losing the love of his life, or from the guilt of not being there to save her. Since then, he’s sought closure any way he can. He even visits regularly with Jessup in prison, desperate for answers about Emily’s final hours so he may finally lay her body to rest. Then David meets Maddison Sutton, beguiling, playful, and keenly aware of all David has lost. But what really takes his breath away is that everything about Maddison, down to her kisses, is just like Emily. As the fantastic becomes credible, David’s obsession grows, Maddison’s mysterious past deepens—and terror escalates.

Is she Emily? Or an irresistible dead ringer? Either way, the ultimate question is the same: What game is she playing? Whatever the risk in finding out, David’s willing to take it for this precious second chance. It’s been ten years since he’s felt this inspired, this hopeful, this much in love…and he’s afraid.]]> 352 Dean Koontz 1542019966 Lori 0 to-read 3.77 2021
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 37656071 Written over 120 years ago, the first two novels feature a kid, whose name was Baron Trump, who resides in 5th avenue, New York, in a tower with his name, with his Master Don.
A third novel is about a president who surprisingly wins an election...

The Baron Trump novels recount the adventures of the German boy Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp, who goes by "Baron Trump", as he discovers weird underground civilizations, offends the natives, flees from his entanglements with local women, and repeats this pattern until arriving back home at Castle Trump.
Chris Riotta noted in Newsweek that Baron Trump's adventures begin in Russia, and also mentioned another book of Ingersoll's, The Last President, in which the president's home city of New York is riven by protests against a rigged presidential election.
Jaime Fuller wrote in Politico that Baron Trump is "precocious, restless, and prone to get in trouble", often mentions his massive brain, and has a personalized insult for most people he meets.
These novels, and some of its phrases and situations, really make people wonder if there are authors who have a window to the future, true prophets like Verne and his "From Earth to the Moon", Poe with his Arthur Gordon Pim (a story that occurred with names and last names 50 years later); and Robertson in Futility or the Wreck of the Titan, a novel about the wreck of the Titanic, with locations, names and descriptions, written 20 years! before the actual events.]]> 384 Ingersoll Lockwood Lori 0 to-read 3.26
author: Ingersoll Lockwood
name: Lori
average rating: 3.26
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6692900 Listening Length: 7 hours 11 minutes

Ingersoll Lockwood invented the fictional character Baron Trump in 1890 for a two-part sci-fi/fantasy series about a privileged boy who undertakes a sequence of fantastic voyages. The style of the Baron Trump series - a mix of fantasy and young-reader-oriented science fiction - anticipated and may have influenced L. Frank Baum's Oz series. The second in that series, Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey, describes Baron's trip to the earth's interior via an opening in the Russian Arctic. During the journey, Baron and his dog Bulger encounter many lost races, including the Transparent Folk and the Rattlebrains. The unusual prescience of Ingersoll's narrative has given rise to a conspiracy theory that U.S. President Donald Trump has had access to a time machine.]]> 268 Ingersoll Lockwood Lori 0 to-read 3.28 1893
author: Ingersoll Lockwood
name: Lori
average rating: 3.28
book published: 1893
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53288447
Quinn and Costa find themselves scouring the desolate landscape, which keeps revealing clues to something much darker—greed, child trafficking and more death. As the body count adds up, it’s clear they have stumbled onto much more than they bargained for. Now they must figure out who is at the heart of this mayhem and stop them before more innocent lives are lost.]]> 425 Allison Brennan 0778331466 Lori 0 to-read 3.90 2021
author: Allison Brennan
name: Lori
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54304235 A young girl who has lost her father finds herself at the mercy of a mysterious woman who is not quite what she seems.

Left on a train platform in an unfamiliar village, little Saffron Faith Anders is certain her father will return shortly, just like he promised. She holds out hope even as the hours pass and the station grows dark. When a strange old woman with a large umbrella approaches and inquiries about her situation, Saffron doesn’t immediately trust the imposing do-gooder, but with the chances of her father returning growing ever slimmer, she agrees to rest at the old woman’s house.

Her stay was supposed to be for a few minutes, hours at most, but soon, Saffron soon realizes she has been confined to a house of dark secrets and is now at the mercy of the enigmatic Umbrella Lady. One minute grandmotherly and the next wickedly cruel, she shears Saffron’s hair, burns all the clothes she had in her suitcase, and pretends that the photo of a young girl hanging on her bedroom wall is no one in particular. When strange letters arrive from Saffron’s father, claiming that he will send for her shortly, hope returns to her young heart. But Saffron soon discovers that those who claim to love you will often hurt you the most....]]> 304 V.C. Andrews 1982114479 Lori 0 to-read 3.50 2021
author: V.C. Andrews
name: Lori
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 576709 463 Jerry Bledsoe 0451403444 Lori 4 3.81 1991
author: Jerry Bledsoe
name: Lori
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/10/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 50892230 In the latest thrilling collaboration from #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense�� Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran must solve the kidnapping of her fiancée’s nephew—just days before her wedding.

Television producer Laurie Moran and her fiancée, Alex Buckley, the former host of her investigative television show, are just days away from their mid-summer wedding, when things take a dark turn. Alex’s seven-year-old nephew, Johnny, vanishes from the beach. A search party begins and witnesses recall Johnny playing in the water and collecting shells behind the beach shack, but no one remembers seeing him after the morning. As the sun sets, Johnny’s skim board washes up to shore, and everyone realizes that he could be anywhere, even under water.

A ticking clock, a sinister stalker, and fresh romance combine in this exhilarating follow up to the bestselling You Don’t Own Me—another riveting page-turner from the “Queen of Suspense�� Mary Higgins Clark and her dazzling partner-in-crime Alafair Burke.]]> 319 Mary Higgins Clark 198213254X Lori 0 to-read 3.94 2020
author: Mary Higgins Clark
name: Lori
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54236119 Eight Perfect Murders.

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.

Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it.

Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss�� including her perfect new husband.]]> 308 Peter Swanson 0062980033 Lori 0 to-read 3.50 2021
author: Peter Swanson
name: Lori
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53776857 The fate of the world is in the hands of a father and daughter in an epic novel of wonder and terror by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Since his wife, Michelle, left seven years ago, Jeffy Coltrane has worked to maintain a normal life for himself and his eleven-year-old daughter, Amity, in Suavidad Beach. It’s a quiet life, until a local eccentric known as Spooky Ed shows up on their doorstep.

Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object—something he calls “the key to everything”—and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away?

Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again.]]> 365 Dean Koontz 1542019869 Lori 0 to-read 4.31 2020
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52737437
Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object—something he calls “the key to everything”—and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away?

Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again.]]> 364 Dean Koontz 1542019850 Lori 0 to-read 3.85 2020
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lori
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32673427
And Senator Robbins is not the only one who wants the laptop back... Suddenly, Tanner is a hunted man. On the run, terrified for the safety of his family �� he is in desperate need of a plan �� but who can he trust?]]> 373 Joseph Finder 110198578X Lori 4 action-intrigue, thrillers
Joseph Finder has been a published author for a number of years and I have read other books of his, also to my delight and satisfaction. He tends to take normal, benign situations and turn them on their heads and he certainly does this with The Switch. Michael Tanner is your average, ordinary businessman who's rushing through the security at LAX to catch a flight. In his haste, he picks up a laptop that's not his and doesn't realize it until he's in the air, on the way home. This would normally be a simple inconvenience but unfortunately for Tanner, he's picked up the laptop of a U.S. senator who has some highly confidential documents on it.

This is a brilliant hook by Mr. Finder as we've all scrambled to collect our belongings in airport security and it's an entirely plausible scenario that the item you think is yours is not -- and the worst case scenario is that you could pick up something that might endanger not only you but everyone around you.

From the moment Tanner realizes that he is holding a ticking time bomb, and the senator realizes that she does not have her highly sensitive laptop, The Switch explodes in thrills, action and intrigue, as Tanner literally runs for his life to stay ahead of the government, the senator, the senator's right-hand man and whoever else may be watching. The plot overall is fairly simple -- and that's not meant derogatorily. Mr. Finder manages to weave an intricate tale from a straightforward notion that will keep the reader guessing what will happen next, as well as get you thinking about exactly what does Big Brother know?

The Switch keeps the number of characters, relevant and otherwise, fairly limited, the tension tight, and the adrenaline pumping. If I were to point out any weakness it would be that the senator herself is a relatively supporting character but that is the most minor of criticisms.

I found The Switch to be an enjoyable, highly satisfactory rollercoaster ride of a book and would not hesitate to recommend it, nor anything else by Mr. Finder, who is an excellent go-to author for exciting, entertaining fare.

]]> 3.64 2017
author: Joseph Finder
name: Lori
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/08/25
shelves: action-intrigue, thrillers
review:
Don't you just love when you find a book that keeps you so engrossed you stay up much later than you should because you simply must finish the book? The Switch was that book for me. Now just to be transparent, I didn't finish the book in a day or so - real life got in the way. Had I been able to sit down unencumbered, as I eventually did, I would have read the book straightaway. For the record, I devoured the second half of the book in one sitting and into the wee hours.

Joseph Finder has been a published author for a number of years and I have read other books of his, also to my delight and satisfaction. He tends to take normal, benign situations and turn them on their heads and he certainly does this with The Switch. Michael Tanner is your average, ordinary businessman who's rushing through the security at LAX to catch a flight. In his haste, he picks up a laptop that's not his and doesn't realize it until he's in the air, on the way home. This would normally be a simple inconvenience but unfortunately for Tanner, he's picked up the laptop of a U.S. senator who has some highly confidential documents on it.

This is a brilliant hook by Mr. Finder as we've all scrambled to collect our belongings in airport security and it's an entirely plausible scenario that the item you think is yours is not -- and the worst case scenario is that you could pick up something that might endanger not only you but everyone around you.

From the moment Tanner realizes that he is holding a ticking time bomb, and the senator realizes that she does not have her highly sensitive laptop, The Switch explodes in thrills, action and intrigue, as Tanner literally runs for his life to stay ahead of the government, the senator, the senator's right-hand man and whoever else may be watching. The plot overall is fairly simple -- and that's not meant derogatorily. Mr. Finder manages to weave an intricate tale from a straightforward notion that will keep the reader guessing what will happen next, as well as get you thinking about exactly what does Big Brother know?

The Switch keeps the number of characters, relevant and otherwise, fairly limited, the tension tight, and the adrenaline pumping. If I were to point out any weakness it would be that the senator herself is a relatively supporting character but that is the most minor of criticisms.

I found The Switch to be an enjoyable, highly satisfactory rollercoaster ride of a book and would not hesitate to recommend it, nor anything else by Mr. Finder, who is an excellent go-to author for exciting, entertaining fare.


]]> 44434238
An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

An American operative in Russia is on the run for his life in a thriller of heart-stopping betrayal and international intrigue by the New York Times bestselling author of The Eighth Sister.

Betrayed by his own country and tried for treason, former spy Charles Jenkins survived an undercover Russian operation gone wrong. Exonerated, bitter, and safe, the retired family man is through with duplicitous spy games. Then he learns of a woman isolated in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison.

If it’s Paulina Ponomayova, the agent who sacrificed her life to save his, Jenkins can’t leave her behind. But there’s no guarantee it’s her. Or proof Paulina is still alive. To find out, Jenkins must return to Russia. Next move: blackmail Viktor Federov, a former Russian officer with his own ax to grind, into helping him infiltrate Lefortovo. The enemy who once pursued Jenkins across three continents is now the only man Jenkins can trust.

Every step of the way—from Moscow to Scandinavia to the open ocean—they’re hunted by a brutal Russian agent on a killer quest of his own. Out of loyalty to Paulina—dead or alive—Jenkins is putting everyone’s life on the line for a new mission that could be his last.]]> 405 Robert Dugoni 1542014255 Lori 0 to-read 4.44 2020
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Lori
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52379330 In MEG: Generations, Steve Alten New York Times bestselling author continues his terrifying series.

DUBAI: An impossibility is being taken to the Middle East. The transport vessel Tonga is carrying a liopleurodon to the City of Gold. But while investors gawk at the prehistoric creature, any even more dangerous creature is beginning to stir.

The megalodon shark that Jonas Taylor worked so hard to capture is coming out of it’s drug-induced stupor and refuses to be contained. Now both ancient creatures, older than mankind itself, are loose in the waters of the Arabian Sea, and the region will never be the same.]]> 384 Steve Alten 1250621526 Lori 0 to-read 3.76 2018
author: Steve Alten
name: Lori
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>