The Need

 Fiction by Helen Phillips

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Molly is a mother of two young children and a paleobotanist, and she's having trouble juggling both roles but still mostly managing. Then her husband has to go away for a week and she hears an intruder in the house one evening. Or is she imagining it?

The beginning of this story was good and grabbed my attention. I was sometimes not sure what was real and what was not. The plot was interesting but also very strange. I did not like the ending at all, but the whole thing was certainly thought-provoking. It would be fun to discuss in a book club.

Don't Let Her Stay

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Nicola Sanders

https://www.amazon.com

Joanne and her husband Richard are getting settled in their new house with their new baby Evie when Richard's grown daughter Chloe comes to stay. Chloe acts super sweet in front of her father, but when he is not looking she is perfectly hateful towards Joanne. Still Chloe is allowed to stay and even babysit Evie, which the reader can see is obviously a terrible idea.

This book gave me such a case of "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome" ** that I seriously had to skip the whole middle. Joanne could definitely have put her foot down and stopped the whole thing. The end was an interesting twist, but the book was mostly painful to read.

I also read recently (FREE!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: Please Don't Lie

**Oh-No-I-Can't-Look Syndrome

(see  The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline)

That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

 Fiction by Jesse Q. Sutanto

https://www.audible.com

Vera Wong is an old Chinese lady who runs a teashop and is smarter than almost everyone else. At least, according to her own opinion she is. So when she finds a dead man in her tea shop one morning, she already knows that she will be better at solving the murder case than the police.

This was a fun and lighthearted mystery. It was a little too slow for an audiobook.

I also read by this author: Dial A For Aunties

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

Fifty Grand

 Fiction by Adrian McKitry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This a revenge story, and those kinds of novels can be quite dark. In this book a female detective from Cuba risks everything to try to hunt down and punish her father's killer.

The characters were well-drawn and believable and the story was interesting, but it was just SO dark. And it didn't seem like anyone was satisfied at the end.

I also read recently by this author: The Chain

Misfit

Subtitled: Growing Up Awkward in the 80's
Nonfiction by Gary Gulman

+

https://www.audible.com

This was a fun memoir about a comedian reminiscing about his childhood while recovering from a a major depression.

One thing I really liked about it was how the author recounted exact details of the circumstances and set-up for great punchlines he made over twenty-five years ago. I'm glad to not be the only one who does that!

The Nickel Boys

 Fiction by Colson Whitehead

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is a fictionalized account based on a real historical place: a juvenile detention facility in Mariana Florida called a "school for boys." This was a terrible place that remained open for over a hundred years for both white and colored boys, separately housed and very badly treated. Interestingly, I read another book on this subject recently, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. That book involved the ghosts of dead boys telling the story, while this one  took a more realistic approach.

At the beginning of the story, a group of students from a Florida are digging up an archeological site on the grounds of the old school where hundreds of dead boys were apparently buried. The students are also gathering the stories of the boys who survived the place and are now old men.

This was a good story but very sad. It was well written but I can't say it was enjoyable.

I also read by this author: The Underground Railroad