Pineapple Street

 Fiction by Jenny Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story is about the Stocktons, a super-rich family in New York City. There are Mr. and Mrs. Stockton, Senior, plus two daughters and a son, along with two grandchildren, and they are consumed with the types of problems rich people have: Who is a good-enough suitor for youngest daughter Georgianna? Should older daughter Darley have given up her career to raise her two children? And what about son Cord and his lower- (than us) -class wife Sasha; why can't she just leave everything the way it always has been in the family home?

This is a good story with some really funny bits, but the characters really make the book. I enjoyed it a lot.

This Time Will Be Different

 Fiction by Misa Sigiura

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Seventeen-year-old CJ Katsuyama has recently discovered a love of flowers while helping her Aunt Hannah in the family flower shop. But her mother has much bigger ambitions; she wants CJ to go to business or law school and Make Something of Herself. In the meantime, Aunt Hannah has also hired a very cute boy to help in the shop as well. Also, CJ 's mother has never told her who her father is...

All of these elements are part of a normal mix for a coming-of-age story; what makes this book different is the characters. I really liked CJ and wanted her to find herself. 

There's also the added element of  CJ's Japanese heritage; the family flower shop is so much more than just a store to the Katsuyamas. The business had been stolen from CJ's great-grandparents during the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War Two and finally bought back by the family thirty years later. But now it seems they may lose it again.

This was a good story and I liked it. It did seem to have some awfully mature elements for a YA novel, so it's definitely for older teens.

The Case of the Haunted Haunted House

 Audible Original Fiction by Drew Hayes

https://www.audible.com

This book was the sequel to The Case of the Damaged Detective, and it was similar to that story.

At the beginning of the story, Sherman Holmes and his assistant Joel Watson have set up shop, calling their firm "The World's Greatest Detective Agency,"  and ensuring (it seems) that only weirdos and kooks would consult them. Or, it turns out, desperate people... A young woman called Lauren comes in with a case no one else wants to take: she works for a ghost tour that might really be haunted?

Sherman will solve the case of course, and there will be plenty of laughs along the way. This was another fun story.

The Twist of the Knife

 Fiction by Anthony Horowoitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Apparently this is number FOUR in a series of books of which I have read none. I REALLY wish they would label these things...

To be fair, I understood the plot of this story just fine without having read the previous novels. The author is pretending (at least I'm pretty sure he's pretending) to be actually narrating real events he gleans from following a murder-solving detective around. It's as if the great Mrs. Christie herself used her own name in the place of Captain Hastings and narrated Poirot's exploits as if they were true. (I mean, they can't really BE true. Right?)

Anyways, this time Mr. Horowitz himself is accused of the murder! The story was interesting and convoluted; I was surprised at the end. I didn't love the characters.

I also tread by this author: Magpie Murders

Neighborhood Watch

 Fiction by Cammie McGovern

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Betsy Treading has just served twelve years in prison for murdering her neighbor Linda Sue. But actually, she's pretty sure she didn't do it. The problem is, she confessed, and now she can't take it back. Why did she confess to something she didn't do? Even she isn't completely sure. 

Now Betsy has been partially exonerated by new evidence and released, but she feels her record will never be fully cleared until the real killer is found. Therefore she returns to the old neighborhood and begins asking questions.

This was a good story that explored some interesting ideas. The ending was a surprise.

I also read by this author: Eye Contact

Things You Save in a Fire

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book begins with fire fighter Cassie Hanwell receiving an award for bravery, presented by a city councilman who turns out to be a terrible boy from her old high school class. When he grabs her ass, she loses it... and loses her job.

Cassie is forced to relocate. She ends up at a small town firehouse full of men: twenty or so who consider her a female interloper, and one really cute rookie. But she's sworn to NEVER date a fireman...

Although I'd categorize this book as a straight romance and I usually don't like those, the writing is really good and I liked the characters a lot.

Nineteen Steps

 Fiction by Millie Bobbie Brown

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a pretty good story, based on the real-life experiences of the author's (great?)-grand-mother in London during the war. It showed some of history that I hadn't seen before, but it was a little formulaic in plot. I liked it but didn't love it.

Drunk Mom

 Nonfiction by Jowita Bydlowska.

https://www.audible.com

This story is, exactly as the title suggests, about a new mother struggling with alcoholism. Jowita (pronounced yo-VEE-tuh) had been sober for years when she unexpectedly fell pregnant in her mid-thirties and fell off the wagon. She managed to (mostly) not drink while she was pregnant, white-knuckling her way through because she was too proud to go back to AA and admit a relapse, but once her son Frankie was born she really went off the deep end.

The story follows the usual structure of an addiction memoir: the person is okay at first, and then not okay, and then REALLY not okay, until they finally relent and go to rehab. You don't read an addiction story for the plot twists. (Although there is some surprise in the shock value of how VERY not okay things can get.) What makes this type of memoir readable or not is the individual voice of the teller, which is an unquantifiable and ambiguous thing.

I really liked Jowita, even though she was very selfish and deceitful, and really she kind of was a terrible person. I can't explain why I still wanted to hear her story. Not everyone agrees with me; opinions are sharply divided. Sample reviews on audible.com are titled: "Terrible," "Just can't get through it," "Riveting," and "Awe-Inspiring."

Her descriptions are VERY detailed, and sometimes almost poetic. If I were a person with an alcohol problem, I might feel triggered by passages that seem like they should be called "A Love Song To Booze." So I'm pretty sure this book is not for everyone. Still, I really liked it.

Fostered

 Nonfiction by Tori Hope Peterson

https://www.amazon.com

This is the story of a girl with a hard growing-up life, first in a difficult home and then in a series of foster homes. She tells the truth as she sees it and credits God with her childhood survival and ongoing transformation as an adult. Now she works to help other kids like herself and hopes to help fix the things that are broken in the foster-care system.

This was a really good story that was hard to read at times. It's crazy to me to realize that this girl is the age of my own oldest daughter, but their two lives have been so very different. I'm so thankful that Tori was rescued and overcame the odds, but my heart breaks for the many that did not.

Someone Else’s Shoes

 Fiction by JoJo Moyes

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story takes the old advice to "walk a mile in some one else's shoes" literally.

Downtrodden working mom Sam Kemp is in a hurry at the gym locker room and accidentally picks up the wrong gym bag. Instead of her regular low-heeled sensible black pumps, she's left with a pair of six-inch red crocodile Christian Louboutins, belonging to pampered trophy wife Nisha Cantor. But can a single pair of shoes change a person's life? Maybe!

This was a fun and interesting read. I loved it!

I also read by this author: Giver of Stars

The Pale Horse

 Fiction by Agatha Christie

https://www.audible.com

Father Gorman is called from the local Catholic church to hear the last confession of a dying woman and leaves her house troubled and preoccupied. He doesn't even hear the person who sneaks up behind him on the way home and bludgeons him to death.

Meanwhile, Mark Easterbrook has been hearing of The Pale Horse, a mysterious place where they claim to be able to get rid of anyone you might want out of the way, without ever even going near them. It's like magic, they say; available for a price, of course.

What do these two things have in common? And is it really possible that someone can be killed by magic?

This is a classic Agatha Christie story with an ending you won't suspect, and NO detective either.

I also read recently by this author: Miss Marple: the Complete Short Stories