Run Time

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Adele is an Irish actress, but she's trying to make it in Los Angeles after a wrong decision burned her career back on the Emerald Isle. It's not going well in the USA, so when she gets a last minute offer for a low budget horror film back in Ireland, she decides to take it. And she wants to take it quickly, before any rumor of her previous on-set breakdown gets to the new director. But when Adele gets to the remote location, it's more remote than she'd bargained for. Plus the director is giving her a weird vibe...

This was an exciting page-turner of a thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: 56 Days

With My Little Eye

 Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Mirabel is a working actress who left Georgia for Hollywood almost twenty years ago and had never planned to return. However, a recent situation with an increasingly creepy stalker and a job offer for the lead in a series filming in Atlanta has changed her mind. She moves to a nice high-rise apartment in Atlanta with her twelve-year-old daughter Honor and hopes the stalker won't follow them.

The reader can probably guess that is a vain hope; if the stalker didn't come looking for Mirabel, then how could this be a book? But this is NOT a predictable thriller. It had several surprises and great characters. I highly recommend it!

I also read by this author: gods in alabama

Trust Exercise

 Fiction by Susan Choi

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1982 a group of teens begins their time learning theater at a performing arts high school — oh wait, excuse me; I meant “theatre.” Yes, the people in this book are just as pretentious as that sounds. I almost gave up reading after meeting so many unpleasant characters; however, I persevered.

After I finished reading, I went looking for reviews from others who had read it, because I was wondering what the heck had just happened at the end. I discovered that many other readers were confused, but the reviews were split between those who loved and those who hated the book. 

In my opinion it was an unnecessarily complicated story about unlikable people. But to be honest, that is often the sort of thing that wins book awards…

I’ll have to go with the reviewer Becca Hoetger who (cleverly) said, “I did not enjoy this book.”

No Ordinary Life

 Fiction by Suzanne Redfearn. 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, Faye is a mother of three who has run out of options in Yakima, Washington. Her husband Sean disappeared over six months ago, her son is in serious need of counseling, and she has no reserves left. Faye moves in with her mother in Los Angeles, and fortunes change drastically. 

This was a really good story! I loved the characters, especially Faye. Everything I’ve read by this author is great!

I also read by this author: Where Butterflies Wander

Secret Lives

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Eden Riley is a successful actress with a young daughter who has just gone through a divorce. Her ex-husband claims she is unknowable and incapable of intimacy, and while Eden does not believe that is true, she acknowledges to herself that she is much more comfortable in the artificial world of Hollywood pretending than she is within real relationships. 

She decides to try to delve into her past a bit as a possible remedy for this trouble, and announces that she will begin working on a film about her famously reclusive mother Katherine Swift. In this way she hopes to keep a semblance of professional distance from the more painful aspects of her own past, but will that actually be possible?

This was a really good book!

I also read recently by this author: Reflection

Tom Lake

 Fiction by Ann Patchett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In mid-2020 Lara's three grown daughters Emily, Maisie, and Nell have come home to the family's cherry orchard to "quarantine" and pick cherries. To pass the time Lara tells the girls a story they have always wanted to hear: how she used to date the famous actor called "The Duke," before she met their father, of course.

This was a very interesting character story. It was good but not as fabulous as some others I have read by this author.

I also read recently by this author: Bel Canto

Family Family

Fiction by Laurie Frankel

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

India Allwood is a TV actress and mother of ten year old twins who finds herself in the middle of a controversy after she makes her first movie. This happens because she accidentally speaks to a reporter and gives her actual opinion instead of sticking to “No Comment.” Then the whole thing blows up crazily and only gets worse when her daughter tries to help. 

This was a great story with wonderful characters and several surprises. 

The Art of Seeing

 Fiction by Cammie McGovern

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jemma Phillips has always defined herself in relation to her older sister Rozzie. Jemma seems to be in her sister's shadow, especially after Rozzie becomes a famous movie actress. But then Rozzie goes blind and needs Jemma's help.

This was a really good character story about the bonds between sisters. I liked it a lot.

I also read by this author: Neighborhood Watch

Find Another Dream

Nonfiction by Maysoon Zayid

https://www.audible.com

So, I have a subscription to audible.com, and this is one of their "Audible Originals" that you can only get through their website.

I really like my subscription, to be honest. If you're interested in that sort of thing, here's an explanation: I pay $14.99 and receive credit for one audiobook each month, plus I can choose two of their "originals" from a list that changes monthly. I can also purchase credits in multiples for about $11 each to get additional books. Since audiobooks normally cost at least twenty bucks each, and often more than that depending on the length, I feel like it's a good deal. I listen to several books a month.

Although I have enjoyed all the books I've picked from my subscription, the Audible Originals have been a kind of a mixed bag. Some of them are really good, and some are actually terrible. I'll review some more Originals later to show what I mean. (one of them I reviewed a while ago; see The Apartment.)

This book --YES, we are three paragraphs in and I'm just now getting to the part about this book-- was really good. It's a memoir read by the author, who is a comedienne and actress, and she is super fun to listen to! She is Palestinian-American and has cerebral palsy, and her story is about finding her way in the world of performing, despite being told many times to, "Find another dream."

It's a fun book to listen to and not super long.