One Step Too Far

 Fiction by Lisa Gardner

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

A group of five young men go camping for a bachelor party weekend, and something terrible happens. They say it's an animal attack of some kind, but the specifics are unclear. One of the guys never comes home, and five years later, the remaining four are still guiltily spending a week every summer searching for him.

Enter Frankie Elgin, a woman who travels around searching for --and often finding!-- missing persons. She is determined to join the search and find the truth, whatever it is...

Although I felt I was missing some background details, (it turns out this book is number two in a series) this was a good story with a surprise ending.

 

I also read recently by this author: The Perfect Husband

How Lucky

 Fiction by Will Leitch

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Daniel likes to sit in his porch in the mornings if the weather is nice in the Georgia college town where he lives, and from that porch one morning he sees a girl get into a car. A few days later the girl's face is all over town on posters labeled MISSING! Obviously Daniel has to report what he saw, but here's the trouble: Daniel uses a wheelchair, can barely move, and can't speak. 

This was an interesting premise and I really enjoyed this story.

The Plot

 Fiction by Jean Hanff Korelitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Before Jacob Finch-Bonner turned twenty-five he had written a promising first novel. Unfortunately, after failing to write anything else, a few years later he ends up stuck teaching creative writing at a second-tier college. That's when he encounters a student called Evan Parker. Evan is an arrogant entitled jerk who insists he has the best plot for a thriller novel ever. It HAS to be a best seller, Evan says. And once Jacob hears the plot idea, he actually agrees.

Will Evan write this fabulous thriller? Will Jacob steal the plot and write it himself? Will the reader EVER find out the specifics of this fabulous plot?

This was partly a thriller and partly a novel slogging through writer's angst. I mostly enjoyed it but I didn't particularly care for the character of  Mr. Finch-Bonner, poor tortured artist.

I also read by this author: You Should Have Known

I'm Glad My Mom Died

 Nonfiction by Jeanette McCurdy

https://www.audible.com

Jeanette McCurdy was a Nickelodeon child star, but she didn't want to be. This book explores her abusive childhood with her ultimate-stage-mom mother, as it played out both in the spotlight and hidden from view. 

This was a really good memoir, and I particularly enjoyed hearing it in the author's own voice.

The Island

 Fiction by Adrian McKinty

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Heather is visiting Australia with her husband Tom and two teenaged step-kids when a series of odd (but not impossible) events lands the family trapped on a remote island with some crazy people.

Really. Isn't that an amazing premise?

This was a great thriller!

Suburban Dicks

 Fiction by Fabian Nicienza

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The title of this book is eye-catching, but also it looks like the kind of thing I don't want to be seen reading, as a respectable mom, so I'm not sure whether to label it "Great Title" or not...

This story was really good; there's a woman pregnant with her fifth child who solves a mystery with a disgraced reporter. I liked the book a lot.

The Ugly Cry

 Nonfiction by Danielle Henderson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

As kids, Danielle and her brother were left by their mom at their grandma's for the weekend... and never picked back up. So they were left to be raised by a grouchy, foul-mouthed old lady, while their mom went on to have new kids that she actually kept and took care of. Ouch.

This was a good-enough memoir; I didn't love the resolution at the end but I guess reality is what it is.

Deep Hole

 Audible Original Fiction by Don Winslow

https://www.audible.com

This was a really good but too-short story about a Rhode Island surfer and his money troubles. It didn't go where I expected it to. 

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Self Help

Self-Help

 Audible Original Fiction by Ben Winters

https://www.audible.com

Jack Diller is an affable loser who wants to be an actor but is currently a food delivery driver. When he tries listening to a new self-help audiobook called "the Killer Instinct," he doesn't expect much real help, but he hopes for something useful. What he gets is REALLY unexpected...

This was a fun and unusual story. I really liked it!

I also read recently by this author: The Quiet Boy

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Misconception

Dead by Dawn

 Fiction by Paul Doiron

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Game Warden Mike Bowditch is driving down a frozen mountain in Maine just before Christmas when he hits a trap: someone has dropped spikes on the road. In an instant his tires are blown, and he's off the pavement and plunged into the icy river below. Now he has to survive, faced not only with the cruel winter elements, but also with whoever wanted him sent into the river in the first place.

This was an exciting book and I liked it, but I kept feeling like I was missing some back story, especially when the ending came. Well, it turns out this is number TWELVE in a series. Yeah, I was missing a LOT of back story. (Can I say it again: PEOPLE! label your series books!)

Still , I did like to story and the character, so I may go back and check out book number one. (Like I should have in the first place...)

The Last House on the Street

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story centers on a place: the end of Hockley Street in Round Hill, North Carolina. In 1965 it's just a wooded area down the road from Ellie Hockley's family home, and in 2010 it's the site of a beautiful new house that architects Kayla and Jackson Carter built together. But Jackson dies before he and Kayla can ever move in. Then disturbing things begin to happen in the new house...

Is the place haunted in 2010? What happened there in 1965?

This was another great read from Diane Chamberlain!

I also read recently by this author: The Stolen Marriage

How to Invent Everything

 Nonfiction? by Ryan North

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book breaks my reading rules. To review, I only like stories about people, and I prefer fiction.  

BUT... this book has no characters and no plot. I like it anyways because it’s hilarious. 

As an aside, I couldn't decide if it was fiction or nonfiction; the information is factual but presented in a fictional way, if that makes sense. (Yeah, I realize it doesn't.) I looked at the book jacket of my library copy, and it's listed as nonfiction officially. There you go, I guess.

A Dirty Job

 Fiction by Christopher Moore

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Is Death a person? You know, like The Grim Reaper, with the scythe and the black robe and whatnot? Well, no, not literally. But what if....

In this story there are people who are Agents of Death, people unseen by anyone but the dying person, who usher the decedents into the afterworld, or whatever. And Charlie Asher, a bumbling San Francisco thrift shop owner, unexpectedly becomes an Agent of Death. Also he's a widower with a newborn. How will he navigate this new (under) world?

This was an original story with fun characters, but it got weird. (YES, weirder than that description I just gave, believe it or not!) I'm still not sure about the ending.

Enchanted Inc

 Fiction by Shanda Swenson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Katie is a small-town girl recently arrived in New York City, so when she sees strange things around her, she chalks it up to that oddball big-city vibe. Only in New York, right? 

Except it turns out that not everyone is seeing these things: girls with wings, stone gargoyles that move, and people summoning the subway with a flick of the wrist. She's actually a rare person who is immune to magic, able to see through the everyday enchantments that the rest of us miss. And this gives her a great job opportunity...

This was a fun little book that's the beginning of a series.

Concrete Rose

 Fiction by Angie Thomas

https://www.audible.com

Maverick is a seventeen-year-old black kid in the projects, with a daddy in jail and a mama who works two jobs to keep the rent paid and the lights on. He feels trapped, and the only way he can see to make things better is selling drugs for the local gang, the King Lords. After all, his dad was a King Lord, and it's a dangerous world on the street. But when he unexpectedly becomes a father, will his priorities change?

This story is a prequel to The Hate U Give, and it's just as good as that story in writing and in narration. I definitely recommend the audiobook version. It's a great look into a culture I didn't think I could understand, but this author makes it clear and relatable.