My June list for #ReadYourKindle

I managed 1 from my list for May, but had a very heavy ARC month. Bit lighter load in June so aiming for 2.

@CBee

In a futuristic Chicago (Shytown), its human inhabitants have upgraded themselves with various bits of technology & cybernetic hardware. Cam Sexton traded his eyes for cyberoptics & works as a Looker - where followers subscribe to literally see through his upgraded eyes. (continued)

I was absolutely glued to the start of this book & the premise was intriguing, unfortunately it suffered from the tendency to prioritise romantic relationships over the Trials which made the middle section drag a bit. The ending almost made up for it though, I was surprised by that extra twist, & that doesn't happen often. I was 50-50 on carrying on but the ending caught my attention again, so I probably will read the next one. 3.75🌟

In a dystopian USA, children start dying from a new illness which has a high mortality rate. Those that do survive develop alarming new abilities, making the adults afraid of them. From the age of 10 all surviving children are taken into federal custody & placed into camps run by guards. The children are sorted into colours according to their abilities: green is the least dangerous, then blue, yellow, & orange, with red being the most dangerous.

England, 1942 & American & Canadian soldiers were billeted in the Surrey countryside awaiting details of their next posting. One soldier was Private August Sangret who struck up a relationship with local girl, Joan Wolfe, one that Joan thought would be leading to marriage. For weeks witnesses usually saw them together, including living in a hastily constructed 'wigwam' or tipi in the woods until one day Joan disappeared. (continued)

The fifth outing for the team of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe & civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw sees them tackle two puzzling cases. A poisoner is running amok, seemingly able to get to his victims even if they are under police protection, & for his fourth victim he uses the might of social media to get the public to vote on who he kills next. (continued)

n earlier times, life was a lot more communal than it is today, & the concept of a private life didn't really exist in a balanced way. This is an examination of the concept', those who helped shape it, & how it came into being from its initial start in the Reformation, through the 17th & 18th centuries & Sir Edward Coke (who was responsible for the saying 'An Englishman's home is his castle') through to supporters of women's rights (continued)

London, 1873 & Madeleine Brewster's marriage to Dr Lucius Everley is hastily arranged to assuage the tide of rejection & ill-feeling from their neighbours. Ever since Maddie's older sister left home under a cloud of suspicion, the Brewsters have been ostracised & Maddie's marriage is their passport back to respectability but it means Maddie moving to London far from her family to where she knows no-one. (continued)

The third case for criminologist Lincoln Rhyme & partner Amelia Sachs sees them heading to North Carolina for Rhyme's upcoming pioneering surgery. Before the surgery takes place, the two are asked to consult on a case where two young women have been abducted by a 16-year-old local boy, Garrett Hanlon, known as the Insect Boy for his fascination with bugs. (continued)

Tabbi is a privileged rich girl who is heading, under protest, to an exclusive rehab centre in Switzerland. She meets Ruby on the train there & although they don't look that much alike, there's enough of a similarity for Tabbi to hatch a plan. She decides to befriend Ruby & persuade her to swap lives for 6 weeks - Ruby gets an all expenses paid break & Tabbi gets 6 weeks of freedom, but will Ruby be gullible enough to fall for it? (continued)

Fiona & her sister Amy were always close but when Amy moves away for university they drift apart until Amy suddenly goes missing one day & hasn't been seen or heard of since. Several years later, Fiona rents a room in the same house where Amy had been living & pretends to be a new student all so she can find out what happened to Amy.

The house is shabby & in bad repair & her landlady acts oddly at times. (continued)

King Richard III was killed on 22 August 1485 at Bosworth Field, the last English king to die in battle. His remains were thought lost after the Reformation & closing down of Greyfriars Priory. His reputation has been maligned through the centuries starting with those in the Tudor era who had a lot to gain from muddying the waters. (continued)

Jodi Dillon has been friends with Zack Thrasher since second grade, meaning she was pulled into his friend group in high school almost by accident. Julian, Lucy, Paige, & of course Zack Thrasher, they're rich, sophisticated, & gorgeous - everything Jodi isn't. The group occasionally let an outsider in for a short while for kicks but it isn't long before they are iced out, rejected, 'thrashed'. (continued)

Ellena Reed's life is now in tatters: her ex-husband is in prison, her home is in foreclosure, & she is awaiting confirmation that her career as an EMT is also done. At her wits end, she reluctantly agrees to accompany stepsister, Button (aka Elizabeth), on a camping trip. The night they arrive nuclear warheads hit multiple targets in the US.

Their fellow survivors are a mum & son, & a man who claims to be ex-SEAL. (continued)

Born into enslavement in Tennessee, Lucy Higgs Nichols' early life was one of constant work & living with the threat of being torn away from her family & sold to another owner. As a young woman, Lucy managed to escape at the outset of the US Civil War & joined the Indiana 23rd Regiment of the Union Army as a nurse. Lucy cared for the men for 4 years before returning with them to Indiana to make a new life for herself. (continued)

Mabel Rose Dixon is in New York to become a Ziegfeld girl, but things haven't gone to plan & she is currently reduced to picking the pockets of the wealthy. When she chooses the wrong mark, Mabel makes a deal to save her life & ends up trapped in the Grand Hotel, a luxury hotel run by demons. Mabel agrees to procure souls for the hotel owner, Frank, in exchange for being his headline act every night in the crowded theatre, (continued)

A look at the lives of J.M. Barrie & neighbours, the Llewelyn Davies family, whose five boys were instrumental in the development of the story of Peter Pan - especially Michael, their fourth son, on whom the main character was based. At first the friendships were thought to be of little concern but eventually Arthur Llewelyn Davies moved his family out of London to get away from Barrie's influence. (continued)

Lucy & her parents move to a remote town in Alaska for her mum's new job, where the local school, White Pine Secondary, runs online classes during the bad weather. Now in-person classes are due to start & Lucy is looking forward to meeting her 12 classmates, including Mara, Peter, Henry, & Josephine, in real life. They've been friendly, if a little strange at times with the questions they asked & how they dress.
(Continued)

Aphrodite is born from the sea, literally washed onto the shore. Wandering with no clue where she is or who she is, Aphrodite can sense when humans mean her harm, but she eventually meets a kind man who tends an orchard & who gives her a place to stay & food without asking anything in return. When the orchard is destroyed by giants, Aphrodite meets Ares, god of war, & they travel to Olympus together. (continued)

Rhode Island, 1846 & writer Merritt Fernsby inherits a remote estate in Narragansett Bay. When he arrives he expects the property to be rundown as it has not been inhabited for over a century, but surprisingly, it looks good enough to live in. That's extremely fortunate as once he enters the house, it won't let him leave.

Hulda Larkin is sent from BIKER (the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms) to help Merritt with the house.

1545 sees England at war with France again in the last years of King Henry VIII's life. Shardlake is summoned to see Queen Catherine Parr & asked to undertake an investigation into a case under the jurisdiction of the Court of Wards.

Shardlake & Jack Barak travel to Hoyland Priory & then Portsmouth where the English fleet is gathering, & Shardlake also tries to find out what really happened to Ellen Fettiplace who is still incarcerated in Bedlam.

This book tells the true story of 5 Munich university students, who set up an underground resistance movement against the Nazis, & their tragic fate.

This was all new to me as although I've read quite a bit about WWII, I'd never heard of the 'White Rose'. The story of their tragically short-lived efforts to establish a resistance movement against the Nazis is an important one, but I felt a bit short-changed with regards to the people themselves.

TLDR: Not a bad book per se, but the MC spoiled it for me.

This could have been a really dark, almost gothic, mystery thriller - all the ingredients were there, but it was a bit of a miss for me. I think the issue is that the main character, Alex Kelly, is difficult to like. She does all the clichéd things: drinks too much making her unreliable, rushes into situations without thinking, thinks she's the only one who can solve a cold case, (cont)

My May #ReadYourKindle book list.

I've almost finished 'Sophie Scholl & the White Rose' which was my RYK read for April.

@CBee

On Wednesday afternoon, wealthy businesswoman Ilaria Cavendish checks into a luxury London hotel as usual. Shortly afterwards, her lover discovers her dead & submerged in a bath of scalding hot water. Accident or murder? The CCTV shows that no-one went in the room or came out during the time she was killed, so if she was murdered how did they do it?

DS Maeve Kerrigan is working on the case which is being run by DI Josh Derwent. (continued)

Philadelphia, 2011 & a young woman named Ellen Greenberg was found dead in the apartment she shared with her fiancée. Ellen had received over 20 stab wounds, many to the back of the neck & head, & at least one has been assessed to have been received post-mortem - and yet, her death has been judged a suicide. Examining what evidence there is, this case seems to have been either disastrously bungled or there is something darker at the root of this.

Sixteen years ago, nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall vanished from her bed one summer night & was never seen again. Her disappearance tore her family apart & now her parents have been found dead, in what seems to be a murder-suicide, but DS Maeve Kerrigan & DI Josh Derwent aren't convinced.

Meanwhile since the events of last summer when Maeve & Josh went undercover as a couple on Jellicoe Close, Josh has been keeping his distance. (Continued)

“If a pill could free you of guilt … would you take it?“

This was not the usual kind of topic that I choose to read but it turned out to be rather good. Even women who aren't parents can identify with the many demands on our time & being expected to multitask, so being a mother must be a whole other level. It's also about the fact that women are held to much higher standards in business & also (continued)

This is a fast-paced, high-octane thriller with an interesting plot & an excellent premise. The use of how 'mob mentality' makes people do things they wouldn't usually do is well-played. I really enjoyed it - right up until the author introduced a cute dog only for it to be killed a few moments later. That is one of my pet hates (no pun intended), but it's a good read up until then so I rate this one 4🌟

Joseph Griffin, notorious outlaw, has been laying low & hiding out, but when he gets the news that bounty hunters are on his trail, he packs up his two children & sets off for the remote Missouri Plaza (aka Misery Plaza). Now going by the name, William Potter, he hopes that he's run far enough for now, but when something odd is found buried on the land he is now living on, he realises that bounty hunters are not the only thing after him. (cont'd)

A look at the development of the English judicial system on the topic of murder, & the cases that contributed to changing aspects of the law. From well-known cases to more obscure crimes, each one helped either set a precedent or provided the need for updating current case law.

Given the subject, I wondered if it was going to be quite dry to read, but I needn't have worried. It was a really interesting read from start to finish. (continued)

This is of course loosely (very loosely) based on the missing colonists of Roanoke who disappeared between 1587 & 1590 leaving behind the word 'Croatoan' carved on a tree. Although theories have abounded ever since, there has been little solid evidence of what happened to them so the scope for imagining their fate is quite wide.

This one started off quite well before descending into chaos which left me feeling 'What the heck did I just read?'.

A collection of short stories, inspired by the music of the alternative era, from contributors including Josh Malerman, Meg Gardiner & Paul Tremblay.

I like the music of the era (Depeche Mode, Garbage, New Order, The Smiths etc), these short stories based on the music - not so much. Whatever the authors were aiming for with this collection, I just did not 'get' it, however, other reviewers really enjoyed them so don't let me put you off.

Returning from an army tour in Iraq, Nate Hankes feels adrift & so decides to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. At almost 2,190 miles long, it would take between 5-7 months & involve meeting with unpredictable weather & challenging terrain. Nate is joined by his brother, Ben, & initially this seems a mistake as Ben is not 'all in' initially. As the miles tick by though, the brothers make friends with other 'thru-hikers', (continued)

This was rather entertaining. I love anything in abandoned resorts/theme parks so the setting was a plus. Yes, there was some of the usual YA stuff: two characters not communicating & assuming what the other was thinking, an historic misunderstanding to start off the animosity, & the almost ubiquitous love triangle, but it all worked here. (continued)

The prevailing stories around the sinking of the 'Titanic' revolve around social class, gender, & origin. The overall image is one of upper-class British & American men stoically awaiting death whilst dressed in their finest evening suits & waving farewell to their wives. This book examines first-hand accounts from survivors to show it was more nuanced than that. (continued)

The author grew up considering his great-grandfather a fascinating figure. Siegfried Merzbacher was a German-Jewish chemist who invented radioactive toothpaste & took his family & fled Germany out of the reach of the Nazis in the late 1930s.

However, when Dunthorne read Merzbacher's autobiography (a hefty tome that no-one else in the family had tackled before then) a very different story emerged, (continued)

Abigail is hosting a birthday party for her brother, Benjamin & has invited his circle of close friends. She arrives at the Airbnb to set up the food & drink & also hide the clues for the period murder mystery game they'll be playing later. The party passes without a hitch but the next morning, Benjamin fails to appear for breakfast. His bedroom door is locked & he isn't answering their knocks so they break the door open - Benjamin is dead.

This retelling of 'Romeo & Juliet' had a great deal of promise & it looked like an intriguing read. Unfortunately it didn't quite work. Most of the characters were quite flat including Romeo, whose whole personality was his being in love with Juliet.

Runajo & Juliet were by far the more interesting storyline but even there I don't think the full potential was utilised. (continued)

Two parallel cases in this one but neither of them really mattered (to me anyway). I managed to narrow down the Jellicoe Close case to 2 suspects fairly early on, but let's face it - I'm here for Kerrwent!

Now, I'm not usually one for reading romance but Jane Casey has me in a chokehold with the smouldering attraction between Josh Derwent & Maeve Kerrigan. (continued)

My list for April's #ReadYourKindle

Read 1 from March's list & it turned out to be quite a good read.

@CBee

After a slow start, this one grew on me & I really enjoyed reading it. The MC starts off as someone whom the reader is unsure about whether they can trust her version of events, but as time goes on, the reasons for her anxiety & actions become clear.

It was well thought out & the historic plotline dovetailed nicely with the present-day one. I worked out some of the conclusion but not the full picture of what was actually going on. (continued)

Republished in honour of what would have been Sinatra's 100th birthday in 2015, this is a personal tribute to 'Ol Blue Eyes' himself. Although it obviously centres around the man & his career, it also covers Italian immigration into America & Sinatra's first brush with prejudice, the rise & fall of Prohibition (& by extension the Mob), & the Second World War. (continued)

The story of two real-life yet little-known women who ruled territories in the Merovingian empire in the Early Middle Ages. Brunhild & Fredegund married brothers who were the rulers of their own slice of the empire & whilst Brunhild was a princess who married into power, Fredegund schemed her way from palace slave to queen, & after the deaths of their husbands, both women took control. (Continued)

Police officer Sergeant Chandler Jenkins is manning the rural station in Wilbrook, Western Australia on edge of 100s of miles of unexplored wilderness. It's the usual kind of day until a dishevelled & injured man stumbles into the station. His name is Gabriel & he was abducted whilst hitch-hiking by a man named Heath. Heath had driven Gabriel to a remote cabin before telling Gabriel that he was to be victim no. 55, but Gabriel managed to escape.

A standalone (but also linked to the author's 'Maeve Kerrigan' series) this book gives the reader an update on the life of Rob Langton. Previously a police detective colleague (& lover) of Maeve's, Rob abruptly left without warning, leaving Maeve to pick up the pieces.

Rob is currently undercover as Mark Howell & has infiltrated a notorious crime family by saving the life of patriarch Geraint Carter. (continued)

Memoir from the author about 2 years in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. It was a quick read so I finished it but was left feeling a bit nonplussed. I don't feel that I got any insight about the author at all, & I agree with another reviewer who says it all just feels rather empty. Most readers seemed to really like this one but whatever they saw, I just didn't connect with it. 2.5⭐

Nancy Luo's former BF, Jamie Ruan, queen of Sinclair Prep, goes missing & is then found dead. Word quickly spreads that their friend group (Nancy, Krystal, Akil, & Alexander) are considered the prime suspects in Jamie's death thanks to anonymous social media messages by someone calling themselves 'the Proctor'.

'The Proctor' somehow knows the group's darkest secrets & threatens to tell all unless the guilty party admits they killed Jamie.

Anyone else having issues with Litsy?

The app is fine but the PC version won't load review page & I keep getting 'Bad Gateway' message.

I've tried logging out & logging back in but no joy!

There have been eight King Henrys of England & this book examines their lives in detail. Up until Henry VII, a monarch's reign seems to have been one long battle. Kings were forever having to swing themselves up into the saddle & fight some 'Johnny-come-lately' who thought they could do a better job at ruling England. It must have been tiresome & I'm surprised anyone wanted to take on the responsibility in the early centuries. (continued)