Helpless

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.amazon.com

This is the 32nd book I've read by this author. In this story, Cathy has sort-of retired from fostering to be a family support worker, spending her time trying to help an at-risk family keep their children OUT of foster care. Cathy devotes herself to single mother Janie and her three children (aged 7, 5, and 3), but it's an uphill battle.

The story was well-told, but kind of depressing. People's problems are so much bigger than social work agencies can handle.

I also read by this author: Unsafe

Big Summer

 Fiction by Jennifer Weiner

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a fun little romance that turned into a mystery. The main character is an Instagram "influencer" with a page on plus-size fashion and also one for her dog Bingo. (The dog has more followers.) The story is mostly about her love/hate relationship with her longtime friend Drue Cavanaugh, beautiful rich girl.

This was an interesting story with some surprises.

I also read by this author: Golden Hills

The Lady's Mine

 Fiction by Francine Rivers

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good-enough straight romance set in California around 1875. Kathryn Walsh leaves the sophistication of Boston to come to a small mining town. She plans to claim an inheritance from her uncle, and to get away from her controlling stepfather, but she will find true love instead.

I also read by this author: Leota's Garden

Scum of the Earth

 Audible Original Fiction by Alexander Kane

https://www.audible.com

If alien oppressors took over the Earth and forced all humans to slavery (or death), would you work for them? Or would you try to fight against them?

This is an interesting philosophical question; but for our fictional hero Ezra Barker, it's a real choice when the Merg invade the planet. And he chooses the safe route: he collaborates with the Merg and works at a nice office job instead of being killed or sent to the work camps. But deep inside, Ezra wishes he had joined the Resistance instead.

This was a really exciting adventure story with great characters. It had funny moments but wasn't necessarily as humorous as the other books I've listened to by this author. It's an imaginative and engrossing story!

I also read by this author: Dragon Heist

I also listened to from Audible Originals: The Forever Part 2

Worthy

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.amazon.com

At the beginning of this book, a widower named Aaron and his young son Buddy are heading to the local diner. They're going to have dinner, of course, but they are also going because Aaron has developed a tendresse for Virginia, who is a waitress there, and he's thinking of finally asking her out. But Aaron and Virginia's happy ending together will get derailed by what is coming next...

This was a sweet character story that didn't go the way I expected. It was a little sad.

I also read recently by this author: The Wake Up

Backseat Saints

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Ro Grandee has decided to kill her abusive husband Thom, sure that if she doesn't, then he will kill her. She saw a gypsy woman who told her, "It's him or you." But will she be able to actually do it?

This was an interesting story with several surprises.

I also read recently by this author: Between, Georgia

Beyond Reach

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is book number six in the Grant County mystery series, in which detective Lena Adams goes to the rural town of Reese, Georgia, to check on her Uncle Hank and gets accused of murder. Soon her boss, Police Chief Jeffery Tolliver, and his wife Sara Linton show up, but can they help? Or is Lena a lost cause this time?

This was an exciting story but very dark. The ending was a surprise.

I also read recently by this author: Faithless

All the Lost Things

 Fiction by Michelle Sacks

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Seven year-old Dolly is "going on an adventure" with her dad, but in the back of her mind she realizes something is wrong about this unexpected road trip. Why did Dad forget to pack any of her things? Why doesn't he let her call and talk to Mom? And where are they going anyways?

It's obvious to the reader that Dad has abducted Dolly and Mom doesn't know where they are. But the telling of the story through the child's eyes makes the book really unique. This was a really good book, although it was also sad.

The Forever Part 2

Audible Original Fiction by Craig Robertson 

https://www.audible.com

This is the sequel to The Forever, Part 1, unsurprisingly. It was a fun continuation of the first audiobooks, which was actually two novels just as this one is.

In this part of the story, immortal android space pilot John Ryan tries his hardest to save humanity from extinction. This is particularly difficult because Earth has already been destroyed and the remaining population of humans is travelling through space to a new home world.

As long as you're willing to go along with the premise behind these stories, they are great fun.

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Head On

The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side

 Fiction by Agatha Christie 

https://www.audible.com

I've been re-visiting the classic Agatha Christie stories in sequential order, listening to them on audiobook. I have read them all before; however, much of the time I can't remember what the final solution to the mystery was until I get to the end of the book. 

In this book, though, I remembered the end almost immediately for some reason. I still kept listening, of course, and it gave me the opportunity to watch for the real clues in a way that I'm not usually able to do. It's amazing how the author weaves in both important and unimportant information to both obscure and also hint at the killer's true identity. 

This was a really good mystery, as usual.

I also read by this author: Dumb Witness

Going Out

 Fiction by Scarlett Thomas

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Luke is twenty-five years old and has never been outside his house. He has some sort of disease that his mother vaguely defines as being "allergic to the sun." Staying inside has been okay for Luke, especially because he has accumulated a motley group of friends who visit him a lot. But he's been increasing obsessed with the idea of Going Out...

This was an interesting character story, but it was pretty strange, I'm not sure about the ending.

Better Luck Next Time

 Fiction by Julia Claiborne Johnson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1938 Ward was a young man with an unusual job; he was a resident "cowboy" at a divorce ranch for women in Reno, Nevada.

Wait, what?

Yes, apparently there were such things at that time; Nevada could grant a quick, no-fault divorce to state residents, and only a six-week stay inside state lines would make you a "resident!" So well-off ladies from anywhere in the USA could stay at the ranch for the requisite six weeks with witnesses to attest to their continued presence there, and then a judge could grant their divorce quite easily.  Plus there were the cowboys for entertainment...

This was a good character story. I enjoyed it!

I also read by this author: Be Frank With Me

Marilyn’s Story

 Nonfiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

Twelve-year-old Marilyn comes to foster carer Louise looking uncannily like the American film star she was named for. It's a little disturbing when a child so young looks like an adult woman in red lipstick, but it gets worse. Louise asks for help from the state but gets more trouble instead.

This was an interesting story but also kind of upsetting.

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

Gap Creek

Fiction by Robert Morgan

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author states in the afterword of this book that he has been telling the story of his maternal grandparents in their first year of marriage around 1900. The book follows Julie and Hank, aged seventeen and eighteen respectively, as they try to start their married life in a little house in Gap Creek, South Carolina. 

It’s a really wonderful story with great characters. The hardships that the couple, especially Julie, faces, are so big as to seem almost insurmountable. It’s amazing to think of the things our ancestors had to overcome. 

Waiting for the Moon

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1882, an unknown young woman tries to kill herself just off the coast of Maine. She doesn’t succeed; instead she ends up at a mental institution nearby, one with only a few forgotten patients and run by Ian Carrick, a lonely doctor who needs his own healing. It’s obvious to the reader that Ian and the amnesiac woman he names Serena will fall in love, but many contrived plot devices will stand in their way. 

This is a romance novel is one of Kristin Hannah’s early writings, and it is not nearly as good as her later works. I didn’t really like it. 

Infinite

 Fiction by Brian Freeman

https://www.amazon.com

Dylan and his wife Karly are in the midst of an argument and driving through a storm when a tragic car crash occurs. Karly drowns and Dylan is left bereft, wracked with the guilt of being unable to save her. But when he meets a psychiatrist named Eve and hears of her “Many Worlds” theory, he begins to hope that there may be a way to somehow save Karly after all. 

This was an okay thriller but I didn’t love it. 

I also read recently by this author: Thief River Falls

Love You More

 Fiction by Lisa Gardner

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, detective D. D. Warren has to solve a mystery involving Tessa Leoni, a woman who has apparently shot and killed her abusive husband after a severe beating. But she is more concerned about her nine year old daughter, who is inexplicably missing from the house.

But the picture doesn’t add up: Did Tessa’s husband actually beat her? And where is her little daughter?

This was a pretty good mystery story. 

Between, Georgia

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Nonny is from Between, Georgia, a small town where her birth family and her adopted family both live in an uneasy truce that could erupt into a full scale war at any time. Meanwhile she is trying to make a life in nearby Athens, and wavering about finalizing her divorce from Johnno, her charming but unfaithful estranged husband.  But a crisis will call Nonny back to Between, and she will have to finally make some hard decisions. 

This was a really good story with great characters. 

I also read recently by this author: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Sparkle's Story

 Non fiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

Sparkle is eleven years old and has been caring for her two younger siblings, and shielding them as best she can from their irresponsible parents, for years. When she is removed from her home, Sparkle is separated from the younger two kids and sent to foster carer Louise Allen. There Sparkle begins to try to confront her identity issues in some unhealthy ways and brings in a world of trouble for Louise and her family. It complicates things greatly when Sparkle begins identifying as pangender, and Louise is required to navigate a world she's never experienced.

This was an interesting story with some things to think about. It was complicated somewhat by a lot of interior monologue from Louise, which may have been important to understanding her reactions as a foster carer but also got a little boring.

I also read recently by this author: Max and Mia's Story

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book should be called The Drowned Girl, in my opinion. That’s what the girl is called when her ghost comes to Laurel in the middle of the night at the beginning of this story. She seems to be calling to Laurel to save her, but it’s too late. The girl didn’t stop swimming; she simply drowned in Laurel’s backyard pool. 

The rest of the story is about trying to unravel the mystery of what really happened that night. 

This was a really good story with great characters and a surprise ending. 

I also read recently by this author: The Almost Sisters

The Bodyguard

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a romance about a bodyguard and a celebrity who are destined to fall in love. But the twist is: SHE’S the bodyguard and he’s the celebrity!

This was a fun little story with good characters.

I also read recently by this author: What You Wish For

The Wake Up

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Aiden Delacorte has been a cattle rancher all of his adult life. It’s a rough job for a tough man, and he’s always done it well. But one day his toughness inexplicably disappears and he become sensitive to the pain and fear of the animals he works with. It’s called The Wake Up, and it turns his life upside down. 

This was a really good book with a lot to think about.

I also read recently by this author: So Long Chester Wheeler

The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma

 Fiction by Ratika Kapur

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a strange little story set in India. Renuka Sharma is a married lady who lives with her teenaged son and her elderly in-laws in a small city apartment while her husband works overseas to try to earn money for a better life. But when Renuka gets lonely she doesn't want to admit it. Instead she begins a weird sort-of relationship with a younger man that the reader can tell will not end well.

Faithless

 Fiction b y Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is book number five in the Grant County series (see below). In this novel, county coroner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffery Tolliver investigate the case of a girl buried alive. Ugh.

It's a pretty dark story but it does hold surprises, along with a bit of a cliffhanger that means there's at least one more book in the series...

I also read by this author in this series: Indelible, A Faint Cold Fear, Kisscut, and Blindsighted

What You Wish For

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Samantha is a librarian at a private elementary school in Galveston, Texas, where she moved several years ago from a school in California. Since she's been in Texas, Samantha has begun to flourish in way she never has before, and she feels like life is good. She only vaguely remembers Duncan, the man she nursed an overwhelming crush for, and the reason she fled California. And maybe she might wish to see him again. But then, Duncan comes to her school in Texas....

This was a fun little straight romance.

I also read recently by this author: Hello Stranger