The Deep Deep Snow

 Fiction by Brian Freeman

https://www.amazon.com

Shelby Lake is a deputy in a small Midwestern town and her father is the sheriff. Nothing much usually happens there, so when ten-year-old Jeremiah is missing one summer afternoon, everyone figures he'll turn up. But he just doesn't...

It's winter, and ten years later, when a small clue to Jeremiah's whereabouts is found, far out in the snow-buried woods. What really happened to him?

This was a good story with great characters. 

I also read by this author: I Remember You

The Rule of One

Fiction by Ashley and Leslie Saunders

https://www.audible.com

In the dystopian world of this novel, every American couple may have only one child, and every citizen is microchipped and carefully monitored by the government. In the state of Texas, Darren Goodwin is head of the Family Planning Division, overseeing compliance with the "rule of one." But no one would guess that Darren himself is in defiance of that rule; he has identical twin daughters masquerading as a single girl.

Mira and Ava Goodwin are almost eighteen, and they have been pretending to be only one person their entire lives. But what happens if they get caught? (You know they will. Where else could the story go?)

This was an exciting story to begin with, and I liked the characters. The novel suffered, however, from some annoying plot contrivances that I found hard to swallow. Most notably, near the end, the author(s) had the main characters behave in ridiculously uncharacteristic ways that made everything complicated, for no reason except to rev up the suspense. ( I can't explain specifically without spoilers but it's basically I-Can-No-Longer-Suspend-My-Disbelief-Syndrome++) 

Anyways, I did want to know what happened at the end, so I kept listening. I think I would have liked this story better in a regular book so I could skip the parts I found over-the-top unbelievable.

++I-Can-No-Longer-Suspend-My-Disbelief-Syndrome: 

(See Dangerous Habits by Susan Hunter)

This is when the plot twists push the boundaries of believability too far, (such as a long-lost-identical twin showing up at the last minute to take the blame when it had never before been mentioned that the person has a twin) or too often (such as three or four coincidences lining up to reveal the final twist.) You just want to yell out, "Oh, Bulls***!"

Relative Justice

 Fiction by Robert Whitlow

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story is about a small family law firm that gets involved in a potentially big patent lawsuit. 

I characterized it as as a "legal thriller" but it's much more slow-paced than an actual thriller novel. Still, it was a good story and I really liked the characters.

I also read by this author: A Time to Stand

How to Walk Away

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Margaret Jacobson is pretty sure that her boyfriend Chip is going to propose to her, and she knows she'll say yes. Not only that, she's just finished business school and landed her dream job--well, not officially, but they've said it's as good as hers. She's on top of the world, figuratively speaking.

Well, if the story is beginning this way, we know there's a fall coming, don't we? And Margaret has a literal fall, in the form of a airplane crash. Will she lose everything?

This book was good, in a mostly-no-surprises way The characters were great! I like this author's style.

I also read recently by this author: The Things You Save in a Fire

The Winemaker's Wife

 Fiction by Kristin Harmel

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1940 Ines and Celine are young wives in the Champagne region of France, where their husbands work together growing grapes and bottling the famous sparkling wine. But the area has just recovered from the devastation of the Great War, and now the Germans are advancing in the direction of France once again...

In 2019 Liv is blindsided by her husband's sudden demand for a divorce, and she is left nearly penniless. Then her French grandmother comes to whisk her away to Paris. Can Liv start over in France? And what will she learn about the history of her family while she's there?

This story is told in both times. It is similar to another story I read by this author (see below) and is better and more believable than that one. Still, I'd say it was good but not great.

I also read by this author: The Sweetness of Forgetting

Romantic Comedy

 Fiction by Curtis Sittenfeld

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Remember in 2018 when Ariana Grande started dating Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson and then they got engaged and then they broke up? And the whole thing was all in practically the same month? Well, apparently it inspired this book.

Curtis Sittenfeld looked at that situation and noted that we can often see a super-hot GIRL start going out with a funny-but-not-attractive GUY, but you never see the roles reversed. Would a super-hot MALE guest on SNL suddenly fall in love with a regular-looking FEMALE writer or cast member? Sure! Well, in fiction, anyways...

This is a really good straight romance with a lot of humor and good characters.

I also read by this author: American Wife

Girlfriend on Mars

 Fiction by Deborah Willis

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I can't decide whether to categorize this novel as "futuristic" or "contemporary." Basically it's something that really could happen now, but I think it's set in the future. I labeled it both ways, because it's kind of futuristically contemporary.

Okay, maybe that's not important.

Here's the idea: There's a bazillionaire who wants to colonize Mars, so he's funding a mission to send two humans there to live FOREVER. Seriously, they can't come back; the mission is to dump them there with (ostensibly) all the supplies they need to survive. They are supposed make a colony and set things up all nice, and then they send back reports of how fabulous it all is on the Red Planet so the next group of colonists can come join them. You know, in the future. Whenever that's feasible.

So how to get someone to want to volunteer for this quasi-suicide mission? Well, you make it a competition of course! And hey, let's offset some of the cost and monetize the whole thing by making it a reality show! It's going to be called... wait for it... Mars Now!

Enter our protagonist Amber Kivinen, a 32-year-old Canadian who (allegedly) sells home-grown cannabis with her boyfriend Kevin. She might look like a loser on paper, but she's got enough charm and ambition to go all the way! Maybe. At least she's one of the 24 international finalists.

This story follows Amber and Kevin, as she tries to win a ridiculous TV popularity contest in front of billions of people on the Mars Now! show, and he sits at home on the couch growing (and smoking) weed.

This story was both hysterically funny and super sad. I really loved it!