I Remember You

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Brian Freeman

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Hallie, a writer who lives in Las Vegas, is having a very bad day. Then her day gets worse, and she dies.

Good news though! She comes back, thanks to a quick-acting doctor with a defibrillator. But there's one problem: now she has a whole bunch of memories that aren't her own, even though they feel as if they are....

This was a really good thriller. I will look for more by this author.

I also read recently (for free!) by Amazon Prime Kindle: The Child Between Us

Missing Parts

 Fiction by Lucinda Berry

https://www.audible.com

Celeste has worked hard to construct the perfect family for herself after the lost-dad trauma of her upbringing: she pays the bills with her corporate job and her husband David stays home with their four-year-old daughter Rori. But she has only been able to do it by suppressing that trauma and denying the existence of anything negative. Then a series of events causes her carefully built barriers to break and it looks like she may lose it all.

The plot of this book was good with some surprise twists (and some predictable twists too) but it was hard to believe in the characters as real people. I felt like the author just moved them around the way they were supposed to go in the story but they had no realistic internal motivations for the drastic shifts that caused each plot change.

I also read recently by this author: A Welcome Reunion

Little Monsters

 Fiction by Adrienne Brodeur.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

As Dr. Adam Gardner, PhD, approaches his seventieth birthday, he doesn’t want to think about retirement.  In fact, he’s confident he has at least one more brilliant idea in him. The idea is out there, somewhere just out of reach; he can feel it. All he has to do is go off his bipolar medication and induce a manic episode. Wait, what?

Well, obviously this is a terrible idea, as either of his adult children could have told him if he’d let them in on his plan, but Adam has never considered anyone’s opinion besides his own. And now, just as his daughter Abby is gaining recognition for her art and his son Ken is gearing up for a congressional campaign, their father’s craziness is the last thing they need. Plus there’s a secret he’s never told them that is about to come to light…

This was a really good story with interesting characters. 

I also read by this author: Wild Game

The Case of the Felonious Faire

 Audible Original Fiction by Drew Hayes

https://www.audible.com

This is the third novel in the "Five-Minute Detective" Series (see below).

In this story, Sherman Holmes and his assistant Watson check out a mystery at a pretend medieval fair. Someone is cooking the books, but who? This one was fun but not quite as good as the first and second book.

I also read by this author: The Case of the Damaged Detective and The Case of the Haunted Haunted House

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Wild Game

Everything’s Fine

 Fiction by Cecilia Rabess

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jess and Josh were (sort-of) enemies in college, but when they both start work at a New York investment firm they become (sort-of) friends. Then they become something more... But Jess is black and politically liberal, and Josh is white and politically conservative. Can they meet in the middle?

This is a straight romance with interesting characters. I enjoyed it.

The Berry Pickers

 Fiction by Amanda Peters

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Every year this Mi'kmaq native family goes down from Nova Scotia to Maine to pick berries: Ben, Charlie, Joe, Ruthie, and their mom and dad. The whole family works, kids and parents, same as always. But in 1962, five-year-old Ruthie disappears and nothing is the same ever again.

The reader knows that Ruthie has been "adopted" by a white couple and had her name changed to Norma, but the family just hopes she is still alive, knowing nothing of her whereabouts. They take it hard, especially Joe, her sibling who was closest to her in age and last to see her. Will they ever be reunited?

This book was picked by Barnes and Noble as their Discover Prize winner for 2023. I thought it was good but not great.

A Killer's Mind

 Fiction by Mike Omer

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

A serial killer is stalking Chicago, leaving his slain victims preserved in embalming fluid and posed in public. Ewwwwwww; am I right?

Now it's up to forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley and FBI agent Tatum Gray to find out who the killer is before there are any more victims! This is the beginning of series with those detectives; I think I'll look for the next one.

This was an exciting story with several surprises. It was pretty gory, though, so watch out. 

I also read by this author: Please Tell Me

You Can Trust Me

 Fiction by Wendy Heard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Summer and Leo are best friends who share a nomadic lifestyle and live by their wits. By this I mean that they are a pair of pretty girls who sleep in a van and run small cons to pay the bills.

Then Leo sets her sights on a multi-billionaire tech-genius guy who may be worth a long-term con. She goes to visit him on his private island and doesn't come back. Has she decided to part ways with Summer and live off her new boyfriend? Or is there something more sinister going on?

This was an exciting thriller with several surprises.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

 Fiction by Zora Neale Hurston

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of the school year I saw that one of the high school classes was reading this; I realized that I'd never read it and reserved it at the library. Then when I got the book I found the dialect difficult to read. I remembered another dialect-heavy book that I'd read a while ago: The Girl with the Louding Voice. That one I had listened to on audiobook and hadn't even noticed the dialect until my sister-in-law pointed it out. So I figured I'd get this one on audiobook, and YAY! It was indeed more enjoyable that way.

All of that is a long way to say: I decided to read this book in August but didn't get it done until December.

This book was first published in 1937, but didn't get much recognition and went out of print. It was reissued in 1978 after Alice Walker was able to revive interest in the author, a "Harlem Renaissance" writer like the more well-known Langston Hughes.

The story is about a woman called Janie who dares to try to live as an independent woman in the 1930's, which earns her no admiration from anyone, unfortunately. By the end of the book I had really fallen in love with Janie and wanted to see her succeed, which was honestly pretty impossible for any woman in her time, let alone a black one. Still, this was a good book to listen to.

Timber

 Fiction by Ty Hutchison.

https://www.amazon.com

Mitzi is a life coach in Bodega Bay, California, seeing clients both online and in person and helping them achieve their goals. She gets a job offer to coach Timber Darkwood, an artist and rich psychiatrist's wife who has hit a rough patch in her life and needs help getting back on track. The only problem is that Mitzi has to move into Timber's eighteen-bedroom mansion on her Eureka estate in order to take the job. Wait, what? So Mitzi has to just forego all other work and go live in a weird giant house in the middle of nowhere for several months? Unlike any rational human being, Mitzi agrees.

The story unfolds predictably from there: Timber seems just fine one minute and nutty the next, Dr. Darkwood takes Mitzi's car keys and neglects to return them, the staff acts mysteriously and seems afraid of their employer, et cetera. The reader keeps wondering why Mitzi doesn't behave like a normal adult and exit this situation. She has no reasons beyond the service of the plot to sit through this craziness.

Well, there's a reason, and it's revealed at the surprise ending, but it was stupid in my opinion. I didn't buy this plot line at all. Sorry.

I also read recently by this author: The Friend Group

The Child Between Us

 Fiction by Alison Ragsdale

https://www.amazon.com

Cassie and Isla are Scottish identical twins who haven't spoken to each other for six years. Then Cassie gets a phone call from Isla's solicitor with unexpected news: Isla has drowned and left behind a five-year-old daughter for Cassie to take care of.

This story was okay but I didn't really connect with the characters.

I also read recently (for free!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: Please Tell Me

Wild Game

Subtitled: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me.
Nonfiction by Adrienne Brodeur

https://www.audible.com

The author begins her story when at age fourteen, her mother woke her up in the middle of the night on vacation to tell her an exciting news: Mommy's having an affair!

For the next decade, the author is embroiled in her mother's romance as a confidant and co-conspirator, loving the attention she gets from Mom and hating the lies she has to tell everyone else. It takes her many more years to understand the incredible damage she's taken on, and I'm not sure she completely has worked though it even at the end of the story.

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Dragon Heist

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

 Fiction by James McBride

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I read a memoir by this author years ago (see below) that I loved, but I actually didn't know he wrote fiction until my online reading recommendations started blowing up with this book title. Now I think I've written before about this, but to me Award-Winning Books are a mixed bag of Oh-my-gosh-so-good and I-don't-get-it and This-is the-most-pretentious-piece-of-bs-I've-ever-seen. So I never know what to expect with an award-winner. (See also my comments on "Smart Person Books" in Imagine Me Gone.)

This was a really really good novel with a weird-sounding title. The book begins with the discovery of some old bones under the street in 1972, and then steps back in time for the story of Moshe and Chona Ludlow's corner store (the one with the weird name) on Chicken Hill, a neighborhood of Jews and "coloreds" in the 1930's.

It's a beautiful character story, and the answer to the identity of the bones is almost peripheral. (Still I would have been super mad if the  mystery hadn't been revealed. It was, fortunately!)

I also read by this author: The Color of Water

The Friend Group

 Fiction by Ty Huntington 

https://www.amazon.com

At the beginning of this book Emily is an American new mother who tragically loses her baby, and maybe her mind for a while. Five years later, she and her husband Jake are moving to Thailand to start over, and hopefully try again for another baby.

But Emily gets involved in a new group of female friends, a glamorous trio who can introduce her to fun parties and exciting times IF she plays by their rules. But what are their rules? And what if she breaks one?

This was a good (but not great) thriller. Although it slipped a bit into over-the-top unbelievable, especially at the end, it was still a fun read.

A Child Called Hope

 Nonfiction by Mia Marconi

https://www.amazon.com

This was a short read about the author's first few experiences in foster care. She gives some interesting background about herself and why she began fostering, and then tells the story of her first two charges. The eponymous Hope is the second child.

I liked the story but I didn't love it. I'm not sure if I will read more by this author.

The Future

 Fiction by Naomi Alderman.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I went into this book completely cold, (not having read any synopses or reviews, and not having ever read anything by this author before) which was a risk for me. This time is was a good bet; the book was great!

In this not-too-distant future world, there are three people who control a huge portion of not only the world's money, but also the world's thoughts. Through each person's individual online platform, which are both rivals of each other and somehow bound together by mutual interest, everyone in the world views everyone and everything else in the world. Everyone's personal social media feed is controlled by at least one of these online giants, and each of those companies is controlled by a single person. 

In this story the media platforms are given fictional names, but it's obvious that the Big Three are some form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, or whatever. The goal of each one is to captivate their audience as much as possible and keep them scrolling online longer and longer, and that goal is accomplished by making sure the most inflammatory and polarizing content is highlighted specifically for each user. (This definitely sounds familiar; am I right?)

The result of these money-grubbing tactics is that the whole world seems to be going down in flames. There's even an incredibly popular online forum called Name the Day that's all about surviving the coming apocalypse. (Wait, is this contemporary nonfiction? Not yet, we hope.) 

And in the face of the world's imminent destruction, the strategy of the Big Three is to make plans for the bunkers they will personally hide in when it all goes to heck.

Wow, huh?

The story actually begins with the three multi-billionaires getting The Text: "It's happening. Your loved ones and staff have been alerted. Quietly and calmly pack your stuff and board your private jet for your trip to your personally prepared survival bunker." Then it goes back in time a bit to let the reader know how we got here, and then....

What comes next? You'll have to read it, but let me say: Mind. Blown. What a great story!

Dragon Heist

 Audible Original Fiction by Alexander C. Kane

https://www.audible.com/

I love this author. I was overjoyed to discover a new book by him.

In this story, like all of the ones I have read by Mr. Kane, the world is just the regular old real world, EXCEPT... one weirdo twist. In this one, it's that dragons exist. Like, it's still the regular USA, and the protagonist lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, But there are dragons... 

I also read by this author: Dade County Death Cruise

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Stuck in Magic

Please Tell Me

 Fiction by Mike Omer

https://www.amazon.com

This story opens with a little girl called Kathy walking barefoot and alone in the cold dark hours of the morning. She is clearly escaping from something terrible, but what?

As the story progresses we learn that Kathy has been missing for more than a year. He mother is in the depths of despair but trying to hope, and everyone in her small town believes she is dead. What happens when this little girl finally, miraculously, comes home? And what about her abductor, still at large?

This was a great thriller!

I also read recently (for free!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: Portals

A Welcome Reunion

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Lucinda Berry

https://www.amazon.com

This short story is a sequel to A Perfect Child by this same author.

It's got a similar "Bad Seed" vibe, except the terrible child from the first book is all grown up and ready to terrorize again. It was pretty good.

I also read by this author: The Best of Friends

I also read recently ((for free!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: The Child Between Us

Now is Not the Time to Panic

Fiction by Kevin Wilson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Frankie Budge is an adult now; she’s a mother and wife and a professional writer. Still she can’t forget something that happened to her --or, more accurately, something she did-- as a teenager twenty years ago, a sort of cultural phenomenon that the whole country has heard about but that no one knows she started. 

That explanation doesn’t really make sense but you have to read the book to understand it.

This was a strange story but I really liked it. 

I also read recently by this author: Perfect Little World

The Long Fall

 Fiction by Walter Moseley

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the first book in the Leonid McGill detective series. Leonid is a private investigator who has worked for criminals in the past but now wants to go straight. The crooks won’t leave him alone though. Also he doesn’t much like his wife but also doesn’t want to divorce her and be with his girlfriend. He does like his three kids but genetic testing has revealed that only one of them is actually his.

I didn’t really like Mr. McGill and I didn’t really like any of the cases he worked on in this book. I did read it all the way through, but …. Meh. 

Stuck in Magic

 Audible Original Fiction by Christopher Nuttall

https://www.audible.com

Elliot Richardson is a soldier in the modern USA, and then he somehow falls into another dimension or something and ends up in a world of magic. It’s not explained how or why this happens because that’s not the important part. 

The important part is the idea the author is exploring: what would really happen to a regular modern person if they actually went back in time or into another world or whatever. And the answer is: that would actually be a really tough situation that the person might not even survive. 

This is a common plot device in books—the going to another world thing— and I usually enjoy these stories a lot. But seriously, if you think about it, how could you possibly navigate a completely different world? Would you even understand the language? How would you get food and shelter? Wouldn’t people there (at best) avoid you or (at worst) kill you?

So this was an interesting story. It had some repetitive elements I didn’t love but in general it was a good book, and the narration was great. 

I also listened to recently by audible originals: The Case of the Haunted Haunted House

The Sweetness of Forgetting

 Fiction by Kristin Harmel

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Hope is the mother of a teenaged daughter trying to keep her family’s bakery afloat after a messy divorce. On top of that, her beloved grandmother Maime is slipping away with Alzheimer’s disease. But Maime has a secret she’s held onto since her childhood in wartime Paris, and it’s up to Hope to find out what it is. 

This was a nice story but the plot was a little contrived, especially compared to the other book I’ve read by this author (see below). But it’s one of her early efforts, so I can definitely see how she improved as a writer. It was still worth reading. 

I also read recently by this author: The Forest of Vanishing Stars

The Truth About Things That Suck

 Nonfiction by Mindy Anderson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was recommended to me by a friend who has had way more than her share of adversity. The author of the book has also been unfairly dealt a big helping of trouble: held all of her life by a crippling and progressively worsening disease that keeps her in a wheelchair and dependent on other people for some of the smallest tasks most of us take for granted. But she makes a great case for how attitude really is everything, keeping a positive outlook while still being realistic about how much life can suck.

Here’s an excerpt: When paralyzed by fear and in a situation that felt insurmountable:

“I did the only thing I could: I took the next step. Every. Single. Time… Minute by minute and day by day, I did what came next. I tried not to think about what came after that. I just focused on the task before me.”

Wow. This is great advice type book and I can see why the author is a successful motivational speaker. It was not as much of a story as I usually like, but still a good book.

The Lindbergh Nanny

 Fiction by Mariah Fredricks

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In the 1930's Charles Lindbergh and his wife were like American royalty, and Betty Gow felt she was lucky to get a position as a nanny to their baby son Charlie. But when the baby was kidnapped she, along with all of the household, fell under a cloud of suspicion.

This was a good book based on the true story of the woman who looked after little Charlie Lindbergh for most of his short life.