The Warsaw Orphan

 Fiction by Kelly Rimmer

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1942, Warsaw was not a good place for any Polish citizen, but of course it was much worse for a Jewish Pole. This story follows two teens: Roman Gorka, a Jewish boy trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, and Elzbieta Rabinek, a Catholic girl living just outside the ghetto walls. Their paths are destined to cross when Elzbieta makes a decision to help her neighbor Sara, a public health nurse who uses her job to rescue Jewish children.

This was a touching and inspiring novel. I will look for more by this author.

Lessons in Chemistry

 Fiction by Bonnie Garmus

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, first and foremost. But it's 1965, she's a single mother, and she can get a much better-paying job as... a TV cooking-show host? 

This was a fun story that didn't go where I expected. The characters were enjoyable and believable.

To Paradise

 Fiction by Hanya Yanagihara

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Clocking in at just over seven hundred pages, this book was not really one novel. It had three parts set in three different times, none of which ever really connected to the other ones, except that different people had the same names. Indeed, Parts Two and Three actually had two parts in each!

This author really makes you believe in and care about her characters, and it was that which which kept me reading, although the disconnectedness of the stories was off-putting. Each part would draw me in and I'd want to keep reading and find out what happened to this particular guy named David Bingham (yeah, there were at least five different ones). Alas, each time the story would abruptly stop at a climactic point and begin again with a different person in a different time.

I don't know whether to recommend this book or not, to be honest. I actually read a few reviews and they were mostly on the positive side. But nobody mentioned the fact that the author never told you the end of anyone's story!! To me, the answer to the question "What happened?" is the most important reason to read a book. And I don't know what happened to ANY of these guys!

If this sounds like an unpleasant reading experience to you, you're not wrong. But the overall effect was thought-provoking. And, as I said, the characters were so compelling... 

I also read by this author: A Little Life

Travel by Bullet

 Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

In the world of this book, if someone kills you, you get to come back. If you die any other way (disease, accident, suicide), you stay dead. This gives rise to a strange new profession, and our protagonist Tony becomes a "dispatcher." That is, he's a guy who will kill you to save you from dying. Weird premise, huh?

This was an interesting short novel, and although it was apparently book THREE is a series, it didn't give me too much of a sense I was missing the backstory.

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Last One to Leave

Her Last Affair

 Fiction by John Searles

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a convoluted and dark story about some unpleasant people. There's Skyla, a retired nurse who is bitter over her late husband's betrayal and lamenting the loss of her career; there's Linelle, an ex-art teacher who is mourning her empty nest and feeling increasingly estranged from her husband; there's Jeremy, a tortured loser who longs for love but keeps sabotaging relationships with his violent temper; and there's Teddy, a handsome guy with a British accent and some not-inconsiderable secrets.

The plot was good, and the end was surprising, but I just didn't like any of these characters much.

Sky's Story

 Nonfiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

Six-year-old Sky and her fourteen-year-old sister Avril have grown up with parents who believe in fighting authority at all costs. Their house and yard are full of rotting junk (just to annoy the housing authority, it seems) and they never go to school. Their mother actually films the social worker trying to help, calls her a trespasser, and post the video online.

As expected, the girls end up with foster carer Louise Allen. But what happens next is a surprise!

I also read recently by this author: Jacob's Story

Joan is Okay

 Fiction by Weike Wang

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I did not love this book. I liked the character of Joan, but the story was...how can I put this?... NOTHING HAPPENED. Nothing happened in this story. 

I did like Joan enough to keep reading, in the hopes of something happening, so it's not a complete thumbs-down, I guess.

I also read by this author: Chemistry

Girl, Forgotten

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the sequel to Pieces of Her, and the story follows Andrea, the daughter, who has decided after the traumatic events on that story to become a US Marshall. Andrea's first assignment is protecting a federal judge, but she is also secretly trying to find out who killed the judge's daughter forty years ago.

This was a good story but not nearly as good as its predecessor.

I also read recently by this author: Kisscut

Cut and Run

 Fiction by Mary Burton

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Twin sisters, separated at birth, are at the center of this story. Medical examiner Faith McIntyre knows she was adopted, but her (now dead) parents had never wanted to discuss it, like a shameful secret. Macy Crow, on the other hand, didn't consider her origins a secret; as she was a pale blonde child with two dark-skinned parents, her own adoption had always been obvious. When these two women find each other and realize that they look identical, secrets will finally be revealed.

This was a good-enough story, but I think I would have liked it better in print than on audiobook. 

What Happened to the Bennetts

 Fiction by Lisa Scottoline

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jason Bennett and his family are driving home from his daughter's soccer game when an attempted car-jacking sets off a crazy chain of events that land the family in FBI custody, under witness protection. But can you really hide an entire family? And will the Bennetts be safe?

This was a real thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: Exposed

The Maid

 Fiction by Nita Prose

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Molly takes pride in her efficiency when she cleans at the Regency hotel, and tries to ignore the other employees who call her  "Roomba, the robot maid,"  because their own work standards are lacking in comparison. But when she finds a dead man in one of her suites, it's not a mess that's easily cleared up...

This was a fun story with a surprise ending!