Mettier, Alaska is a small town where all 205 residents live in a single high rise. And the people who live there relish their isolation as most of them have secrets to guard. Student Amy finds body parts on the beach bringing detective Cara to town looking for answers to her own personal tragedy while mentally challenged Lonnie grapples w things she's seen but doesn't understand. This was a good start to a new series & the narration was superb.

PI Henry Kimball is hired by a former student, Joan, from his 1 traumatic year of teaching to prove her husband is cheating. Kimball remembers that he was always unnerved by Joan, so when he finds the husband & mistress dead from a murder/suicide while he's following them, he wonders if there's more to it. What follows is a twisty, entertaining page turner, with several POVs & two timelines & managing to include the fascinating Lily Kintner from⬇️

I'm not completely sure how I feel about this. On the one hand I found it interesting on an entertainment level. But on the other hand, the book seems to be more about the author than about the various "cults" she examines & there didn't seem to be much scholarship about the language used. She relied heavily on comparisons and personal anecdotes where she regularly congratulates herself on being above being taken in by any inclusive language. ⬇️

#CurrentRead
Weekend mornings are the best πŸ’›

This book has two storylines: in one, 3 couples with a lot of history vacation at a secluded cabin while a storm bears down & someone stalks them; the other is the story of Henry, a gentle soul we meet when he's 14 & his mother is murdered. I had my doubts that these stories would come together but they did. A soft pick.
Pros: Henry, a locked room mystery, vivid descriptions, Detective West, the emphasis on relationships & what makes a family. ⬇️

My #botm arrived and the cover is soooo pretty! 🀩

Tea, lemon wafers, and a fresh library book. Sunday mornings make me happy. 😊

This was a weird, implausible story peopled by unsympathetic characters. I think the strangeness is what kept me reading but I kind of wish I hadn't bothered.

As i listened to this the action playing out in my head looked more like a madcap comedy (starring Maureen O'Hara and Jack Lemmon perhaps πŸ€”) than a murder mystery. It was entertaining- once the listener absorbs the attitudes that haven't aged well- but there is no gravitas to the death that begins the story and little sense to the reveal of the villain at the end. Again, entertaining, but not nearly as good as The Franchise Affair.

Jade, a successful biographer, is recently married to Wells & living her best life writing a biography of his famous grandmother. Sylvie, Wells' first wife, incapacitated after an accident, lives in the guest house. Jade starts to interact w Sylvie & begins to suspect that her accident was really an attack. But by whom? And how to prove it? This turned out to be a book about women helping women & I liked that adjectives of it. A soft pick. ⬇️

I've listened to a couple Josephine Tey books this week and very much enjoyed them.
In TFA, the charactors are colorful, the plot is entertaining, the descriptions are vivid, and the narration was very well done. It's a product of its time, esp when it comes to everyone knowing and accepting their place in the class system, but the gentle pace of life was charming. It's 'an Inspector Grant' book but Grant is scarcely in it which I found odd.

I have scarcely read at all these past 6 or so days. Every evening I find something else to do (hello, 5 hours of candy crush last night) and I finally realized I have NO interest in this book. I released it back to the library and I feel like a weight has been lifted. Here's hoping the next book I start actually makes me want to read. 🀞🏻

One winter solstice a little girl disappears from her home, two years later on the winter solstice a little girl reappears in the village. Is it the same girl? Three families claim her- does she belong to any of them? This story is as much about the river as the people who live upon it and as such it meanders its way through the lives and backgrounds of a lot of characters. ⬇️

This made me laugh πŸ˜ƒ

I feel a little let down. I didn't guess who was committing the crimes but I guessed the truth about Daisy almost immediately and kept waiting for *more* but it never came. I was a little bored. I would have quite liked to see how things played out once the authorities got involved though.

This second chance romance was cute and sweet. Last holiday season this author gave us Oz and Rachel's story so now it's Adam and Sara's turn which I thoroughly enjoyed! I'll be hoping for Tamara's or Elliot's (or both!) story later this year.
(This isn't in the database so I tagged the first in the series.)

Daisy's Nana's menus do not sound good to me. 😝

So much truth. Reading nourishes my soul.

This was entertaining and kept me turning pages despite spotting a couple of the biggest reveals early on. Four friends go away for a girl's weekend and immediately their perfect lives start to unravel after one of them dies the first night. Secrets are uncovered as the remaining friends make and break alliances as they wonder who they can trust. Despite enjoying the ride I would have preferred a different ending.

This starts strong: Natalie has always been visited by (a hallucination?) she calls Grandmother who tells her stories to prepare her for her future. Now Natalie is graduating high school and Grandmother visits one last time to tell her she has three months to save "him" and she needs to find Alice Chan to help her. But then it starts getting messy. Natalie meets a boy who lives in an alternate timeline and they fall in instalove as Natalie ⬇️

The year has just begun but I'm pretty sure when I look back this will be on my best of 2023 list. There are many brilliant characters both real & imagined: Jarret, Theo, Jess, the painter Thomas Scott, the gallerest Martha Jackson, Richard Ten Broeck, and of course, The Horse: Lexington. The story covers the history of horse racing (& the unacknowledged enslaved grooms, trainers, & jockeys who cared for the horses), the importance of racing ⬇️

This was a lot longer than it needed to be, and the framing story, where the author tells us about writing the book and waxes eloquent about his late publisher, felt unnecessary and even jarring. The "main" story- about who was killed in room 622 and why- was interesting but too involved. I was half entertained and half bored. The last third was quite interesting as we finally started getting answers but it took too long to get there.

Yes! This is exactly right!

My holiday reading wasn't the best last year but this was a bright spot. There's an interesting mystery, a creepy ex, a couple of charming MCs, danger galore, a second chance romance, and a satisfying ending. #12BooksOf2022 #December @Andrew65

My very favorite read of November was The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman but I've already mentioned him once in my wrap up so here's my second fave of the month. This was heartbreaking and very well written. #12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65

I've been with Litsy for 6 fun years! πŸ™†β€β™€οΈ

I loved getting to know Vivien, Grace, and Evie in October. Their stories were powerful and beautifully written. #12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65

These four badass ladies were the highlight of my September. I sure hope Raybourn writes more along these lines. #12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65

Here's what I'll be reading for #BookSpin #DoubleSpin in January 2023 😊 @TheAromaofBooks

This family hooked me and didn't let go for 384 pages. Loved every minute of this. πŸ„β€β™€οΈπŸ„β€β™‚οΈπŸ„β€β™‚οΈπŸ„β€β™€οΈ #12BooksOf2022 #August @andrew65

Happy New Year! Here's my January #BookSpin #DoubleSpin list @TheAromaofBooks

This is potentially my favorite book of the year. Tova, Cameron, and Marcellus are wonderful characters and their intertwining storylines kept me hooked. πŸ™ #12BooksOf2022 #July @Andrew65

Every time I read one of these "isolated friend weekends + snowed in + secrets revealed = murder" I wonder if it's really possible for everyone in a group to be completely messed up. ? This was entertaining but I probably won't remember it in a few weeks.
ETA: it really annoys me when a book's title is hijacked by a description/ "glowing review." Anyone else?

This is truly a story for book lovers. Plus I was charmed by both Nora and Charlie and their little North Carolina town. #12BooksOf2022 #June @Andrew65

I loved this book. You think you know the story you're getting but slowly you come to understand that what you thought was happening wasn't at all what was happening. #12BooksOf2022 #May @Andrew65

I'm sick and forgot to post my April book yesterday. This family/surrogacy drama explores questions of identity, both individual and family, and I still find myself thinking about it sometimes. #12BooksOf2022 #april @Andrew65

I absolutely love this series and Osman has become an auto buy author for me #12BooksOf2022 #March @Andrew65

Most of the holiday books I read this year didn't quite do it for me. Quite a few, like this one, were what I'm starting to think of as #kitchensink books- there was just too much going on. Bea is dealing with: a family both dismissive & demanding; an undermining coworker; a COMPLETELY ridiculous and unacceptable interview for a new job; missing her ex; getting reacquainted with a childhood friend/ possible romantic partner; the potential loss ↕️

I couldn't put this one down #12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65 #February

This was the first book I read this year and it has remained one of my favorites #12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65 #January

Fact πŸ˜–

I know little of Princess Margaret from other sources so I don't know how accurate this portrayal is but it has me convinced that she was a thoroughly unlikable woman. It's weird because this isn't even her story- it's about her fictional lady in waiting, Vera, who I didn't entirely like either. The book was entertaining but I feel like I wasted my time on it.

I really enjoyed this second chance romance. This Christmas mystery has a small town setting, mysterious break-ins, an abusive ex, a vindictive chief of police, and two charming MCs trying to solve multiple mysteries while pining for each other after 16 years apart.

I always like getting Goodreads end of year wrap up 😊

Greta & Truman swap homes for the holidays & both find adventure, love, & lives that fit better than the ones they left. I liked the first 2/3 of this book then started felt like there was too much focus on Greta's story when I wanted more of Truman/Ash. That may be because I didn't much like her love interest, Carys. Ultimately I liked it but a lot of the boundary setting was heavy handed. I want more sweetness & fluff in my holiday romances. ☺️

This was a beautiful but painful read. We alternate between Shekiba and Rahima who live in Kabul 100 years apart. Their stories are richly detailed but heartbreaking- over and over and over. Both women are treated terribly by nearly everyone around them but this is nothing unusual, as the book makes clear. Neither of them have any power and the only real hope either of them feels comes at the end of the book. I could have stood a little less ⬇️

This kept me engaged, and I liked the Roz the MC, but it was a lot darker and more angst-ridden than I expected.

This falls between a pick & so-so for me. It's supposed to be "wickedly funny" but didn't tickle my funny bone. Kitty was likeable & I was anxious for her to continue to "get away with it" but it was pretty far fetched which kept taking me out of the story. The murder of the wrong person was hard to swallow so I'm glad it messed her up so badly. The reveal of the stalker took me completely by surprise & I liked the way Kitty dealt with them.

My grandbaby and I- and even Jacob The Plushie- all loved this cute book. The story is sweet and the illustrations are vibrant. πŸ§¦πŸ¦–
(This title isn't in the database so I tagged another book by one of the authors)

I'm so ready for holiday- themed reading! #BookSpin #DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks