The Violin Conspiracy

 Fiction by Brendan Slocumb

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this book, professional violinist Ray McMillan is leaving a New York hotel after a short stay with his girlfriend. They separate in the lobby and each get into a taxi; each one is headed back to their respective states. But it isn't until Ray gets all the way back home to his apartment in North Carolina that he opens his violin case to practice. Then he discovers that instead of the violin in the case, there is a single shoe and a ransom note.

When I first read this, I though that it was his girlfriend who was kidnapped. But actually, it was his violin being held for ransom.

This makes more sense when you find out that the violin is incredibly valuable and insured for ten million dollars.

This was a really good book with a surprise ending.

Also I liked the cover art on the library copy I read better than the one above, which is apparently the paperback version.

https://www.amazon.com

Artemis

 Fiction by Andy Weir

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jasmine Bashara (Jazz to her friends)  is a young woman working a low-paying job with a slightly questionable side hustle to supplement her income. She's trying to save up for her own place, and show her conservative father that she's not the screwup he thinks she is. All this sounds very ordinary, but here's the twist:

Jazz lives in a colony on the surface of the moon.

The author does a great job of weaving the complicated exposition of a futuristic world into the story without seeming to, which is amazing, but the best part of this book is the character of Jazz. 

I also read recently by this author: Hail Mary

When We Had Wings

 Fiction by Ariel Lawhorn, Kristina McMorris, and Susan Meissner

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Penny, Lita, and Eleanor are three women who befriend each other in the Philippine islands as World War Two begins. All three are nurses; one is in the Army, one is in the Navy, and one is a Filipino native. After the Pearl Harbor attacks, the islands are captured by the Japanese, and the women become prisoners of war.

This story covers an interesting period in the Pacific theater of World War Two, a piece of history I knew little about. I enjoyed learning about this time; however, I didn't love this story. I don't know why. There was something about the three narrators written by three different authors that didn't gel for me. 

Every review I've read of this book is very positive, so I don't know why I didn't like it as much.

Heaven Adjacent

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.audible.com

This story begins with a New York Times reporter looking for a human interest piece. He finds it on a farm in the middle of nowhere. There's an apparent roadside art exhibit, and there's Roseanna Chaldecott, an ex-Manhattan lawyer who escaped the city to live alone and "in peace" in this remote place. 

But Roseanna's peace is hard to keep. She has to learn that being alone isn't all it's cracked up to be, and when you run away from problems they can often chase you down.

This was a good character story, as I'd expect from this author.

I also read by this author: My Name is Anton

The Ones We Choose

 Fiction by Julie Clark

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Paige Robson is a genetic research scientist and a single mother of eight-year-old Miles, conceived through an anonymous sperm donor. She has staunchly believed that her son has no need of a father, since she has a close extended family and plenty of love, but she discovers that Miles longs to know who his father is anyways.

This is an interesting story that weaves concrete science with the fluidity of human emotion.

I also read by this author: The Last Flight

When You Are Mine

 Fiction by Michael Robotham. 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

London police constable Philomena McCarthy has worked hard to get out of the shadow of her father, a notorious organized criminal who has managed to never actually be caught in a crime. But then she arrests a domestic abuser who turns out to be a decorated police officer. She finds out that the police force protects its own, an learns that the battered girlfriend in the case may be suspicious in other ways.

This was a suspenseful story with some surprises.

I also read recently by this author: Life or Death

A Rip Through Time

 Fiction by Kelley Armstrong 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, a Canadian police detective called Mallory is visiting Edinburgh when she almost gets murdered on 20 May 2019, next to a rip in time. This inexplicably catapults her back 150 years to the same day in 1869, into the body of a housemaid who also almost got murdered in the same spot.

Yeah, it's complicated, but just go with it.

As long as you accept the premise, this is a fun story with interesting characters. The author has a sequel scheduled for later this year as well, which I plan to read.

The Indifferent Stars Above

Subtitled: The Harrowing Story of a Donner Party Bride

Nonfiction by Daniel James Brown

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was hard to read. There was a the terrible subject of a group of settlers we know are mostly going to die on the trip, and then the author spent a lot more time on facts that on the people in the story.

Anyways, I didn't finish it. I skimmed some to try to see who lived. Sorry.

Super Powereds: Year One

 Fiction by Drew Hayes

https://www.audible.com

In a universe where superheroes are real but rare, people are divided up into three categories: Normals, Supers, and Powereds. Normals are normal people (duh); Supers are people with super abilities they can control; Powereds are people with super abilities they can't control. Super HEROES are supers who have been extensively trained and certified by the government to perform heroic deeds, and they have secret identities.

This system means Supers are special and Powereds are freaks. But science has recently learned a way to give Powereds control over their abilities, thus making them into Super Powereds (hence the title.) The government is starting with a select group of Powereds experimentally to see if they can use this technique to turn useless and possibly dangerous Powereds into superheroes. The story is about these five people, who gain control of their powers and try to train into certified heroes.

Okay, so we have in this universe training grounds for supers to become heroes; it's pretty much college on steroids. Here is year one of their four-year journey.

This is a lot of set up in my explanation, but the author does a good job incorporating all this exposition into the story and making it interesting.

This was a really good book and I will look for the Year Two book.

I also listened to by this author: ...Fred the Vampire Accountant

Wednesday's Children

 Nonfiction by Kathryn Anne Michaels

https://www.amazon.com

Kathryn Ann Michaels was a nurse and social worker in Appalachia in the seventies. This is an interesting book, although it's more of a series of separate anecdotes about things that happened, rather than one cohesive story. Therefore I'd say it's more of a set of recollections than a memoir.