Some People

I am not sure if more people are like Maggie or not like Maggie.  I think if we have the answer to that life would be a lot easier.  This book just completely messed with my understanding of morality and how I think (or thought) people see right and wrong.  This is How I Lied was pretty terrible regardless. 

So...this is weird.

In the Bleak Midwinter is the first book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson, and Russ Van Alstyne series.    This was not a book that came highly recommended.  In fact, when my friend told me about it she said, "These characters are terrible.  They are such jerks.  They are completely incompetent at what they do."  But then she told me that she has read every one of the books in the series.  And has every intention to read any forthcoming books in the series.  
Well I had to read one, right?
I am a pastor and so is Fergusson and so I figured that might be interesting.  And I love detective fiction, so I figured that might be interesting.  
It was not interesting at all!
My friend was right!  Neither Fergusson nor Val Alstyne are good at their jobs.  They are not sympathetic characters either.  But will I read the next one?  Yes.  I have already started it.  Will I probably read the rest of the series.  Probably.  It is like not being able to look away from an accident I guess.  I actually don't know.  It is just so bizarre.
Just.  Yeah.  I can't recommend this book either, but I will say if you read it, you might get hooked.  

It Might Just Be

the time...this time of great uncertainty and worry and fear...it is hard to get sucked into a book.  Maybe had I read Eight Perfect Murders in January or this November or last December, I would feel differently.  It just didn't hold my interest as much as I had hoped. But if you have read a lot of mysteries you might really enjoy this one.  I have not read a lot of "classic" mysteries and this book very creatively refers to them, so it might be really neat if you were already familiar with the titles referred to in the book! 

Quite Good and No Off-Putting Briticisms

or Missing Molly was just that good that they didn't bother me.  Natalie Barelli wrote The Housekeeper which I read earlier this year.  I am SO looking forward to reading more from her.  It was one of those books that I had skip to the end and read backwards at one point.  I got so involved with molly, really cared about her, that I had to see how it ended!

Is It Just Me...

or are more YA thrillers and mysteries being written and published?  Maybe I was just not finding them before, but it seems like I have been luckily stumbling upon and more often.  The Cheerleaders is one such book and I recommend it.  Very well done.  Just a little too long for me, for a 5 star as compared to a 4 star.  But definitely will appeal!  She also wrote Little Monsters! 

Secrets

Two Can Keep a Secret was a really good mystery, one that I didn't see coming.  A lot of twists and turns and really believable, I think.  Good, good stuff.  After reading One of Us is Lying, this was top on my to read-list.  And it didn't disappoint.  If you like OOUIL, check it out!

Really Different

Courtney Summers has written a great book in Sadie and has told it in a unique way, as the book alternates between Sadie's POV and a podcast like Serial.  She has told it so well that the idea of book told at least in part as a podcast doesn't come across as a gimmick or cheesy.  And because of the nature of podcasts, this book was just meant for audio and so really enjoyed the listen.  I got so caught up in it that it was one of those books that I had to listen to the end and then go back just because the suspense was killing me. 

This is My Story, This is My Song

This is Our Story has more to do with this than this.  Although it is MUCH more macabre.  Again, I put 4 stars instead of 5 on a book by Ashley Elston and I just can't put my finger on why.  Probably just the length.  Because the book is written so well.  And I did buy this on audible and I will buy another!  Maybe I think that Elston is such a great writer, I just wish her editor were better.  Or she just wrote short books for losers like me!  Really good book though.  Really good.

Broken

Broken Things was a book I probably would have given five stars to if there had been two different narrators instead of one.  I had a hard time knowing who was telling their story.  Of course, maybe that is because I didn't find the story as compelling as some stories.  So I am not sure.  Not to say I won't recommend this book, because I will.  I think that Lauren Oliver is great.  It was she who really started my foray back into YA lit with Before I Fall, which I loved. 

Memories

I have talked about my old roommate, Nancy Lou before and how she would often talk about instances in her past and describe them as taking place, "in another life" saying that it was so long ago, it seemed like a wholly different life.  I get that now. 
In another life I was in the play production of Agatha Christie's Cards on the Table.  I had completely forgotten until I started listening to this, the fifteenth in the Hercule Poirot series.
I had probably forgotten not just because it took place in another life but also because my part was very, very small.  I was Mrs. Lorrimer's maid.  Yeah.  Not a big role!
In any case, this is my second Christie book and how I enjoyed it! 

My First Agatha Christie

Yes, I am not a fan of off-putting Briticisms.  Yes, I had tried to read this very Agatha Christie book when I was a kid, but I really needed a read and had nothing else and so I read Hallowe'en Party, the thirty-ninth Hercule Poirot book.  And it was SO funny!  Now I know someone died.  But it was funny.  It reminded me a lot of Columbo, which I loved, too.  I do want to read more and was glad that I read this in October!  Tis the season and all!  Loved it!I had seen a middle schooler reading it and asked her about it and other AC books and she just said she really liked them so I thought, well, maybe I am mature enough now! 

Mr. Ripely Meets Social Media

Social Creature has been called "The Talented Mr. Ripley for a digital age."  Genuine Fraud was another Mr. Ripley reboot and I have to say I liked that one so much better.  Read GF for sure.  Although I did like this book.  But if you want to read a TTMR reboot and only want to read one, GF is a lot better.  For me this just went on a little too long. 

I worry

that the language used in Tyler Johnson Was Here will keep some schools from purchasing this book.  And this book needs to be purchased and it needs to be read.  I have read critics of the book say that it is racist.  I have heard that term "reverse racism" applied to the book.  And wow, how uneducated those people are.  How truly uninformed.
There are also those who say that the characters act like children.
Um....
well...
yeah...
because they are.
And then there was even someone who said there was too much use of Tupac.  REALLY?  Okay.
So I guess all of the books that fawn all over Jane Austen or Shakespeare or The Beatles or Harry Freakin Potter.  That's okay?
Um...yeah...
This was an excellent book and realistic and horrifying.  And it needs to be read.

While

I didn't love or even really like like like Heather, The Totality I am glad that I didn't read the goodreads reviews.  I don't generally let them impact my decision to read a book, but these were so bad.  And the book wasn't THAT bad.  I mean I think that one has to look at the bigger picture and think about it, you know?  I mean as I think about the characters a little.  It is written by Matthew Weiner who is one of the guys behind Mad Men and The Sopranos.  I can see this being a movie so that makes total sense!

So glad

That I found this podcast, which introduced me to Monday's Not Coming, which led me to take another try with Allegedly, which was a great, suspenseful book.  It will be great to see what Tiffany D. Jackson writes next! 

Good Stuff

Terror's Echo:  Transgressions Novellas 7,8 and 10 was an excellent collection of stories.  I mean, think about it, Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) was the editor?  And one of the stories was a Keller story from Block???  Even though I had read the Keller story a long, long time ago, it was just as good the second time around and how I wish he would write another.
I don't think I had read any John Farris before, but this one was good, good, good.  I am always mixed about Stephen King, of course, but the story in here was excellent.  A great, great, great collection. 

People Like Us

People Like Us by Dominick Dunne is a book that I always wanted to read but never have.  And I still haven't.  People Like Us by Dana Mele is the book that I read!  I saw it on the shelf at the library and bought it after reading the reviews.  I am glad I did, but I know I only gave it four stars, just because I think it was a little too long for me.  But I can really recommend it.  I just wasn't SUPER wow'd by it.  But it is really good. 

Good Me, Bad Me was very good.  Very good and I would recommend it, for sure.  I sucked me right in and all along the way.  It is creepy and awful and real and horrifying.  The only reason I didn't give it five stars was that I was not surprised by the ending at all. But it was still really, really good. 

Returned this one

I really don't like to return books on audible, even though they say it is okay.  But man, A Line in the Dark just was...wow, for me...bad.  Not to say that others won't like it, but wow, it was just not for me. 

Relationships are Complicated

especially when someone has been in an abusive one.  When I am Through with You was really good.  It made me think a lot.  I am not sure if the narrator is a reliable one.  It left me with a lot of questions.  I gave it 4 stars, really would have given it 4.5 if I could have, but maybe 4.9 would be better.  I am not sure.  It did make me feel very uncomfortable.  And I think that I wrongly take it down from 5 for that. It was just pretty creepy....