The Poacher's Son

 Fiction by Paul Doiron

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Recently I read a book by this author that turned out to be number THIRTEEN in the series (see below.) This is book number one, introducing the character of game warden Mike Bowditch. I didn't really like it.

I also read by this author: Dead by Dawn

Thrown Away Child

 Nonfiction by Louise Allen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a memoir of the harrowing-childhood variety. Louise and her brother William were foster kids taken in by a woman called Barbara, who tied them to their beds at night and often starved them. Meanwhile, there was Kevin, a boy a few years older whom Barbara also looked after; Kevin had plenty to eat, was treated well, and was never punished.

Although Louise was raised by an abusive foster mother, she was apparently able to grow up to be a good foster mother herself. There are other books in the series about children she has helped; I plan to look for them. This story was both terrible and fascinating.

A Net for Small Fishes

 Fiction by Lucy Jago

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I think that both the title and the cover of this book are misleading, and not in a good-for-marketing kind of way.  This is a story from the Jacobean era of English history, centering in the court of King James VI. The cover looks like it's something mysterious and modern; the title sounds (to me) like it's something intellectual or maybe Asian? I think this marketing team should take a cue from Philippa Gregory.

You see those pretty brocaded bodices? That says "English Period Drama." That says "Royal Court Intrigue." That says "Someone Probably Gets Beheaded." And that's what this book is. 

But to be honest, it looks like even our girl Philippa's marketing team is moving away from this idea; all the current reissues of  her books are bodice-free. Oh well. 

Fire and Rain

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Valle Rosa is a California town experiencing severe drought, resulting in summer wildfires. This is a very bad thing for the interim mayor, and a very good thing for his ex-wife, the almost-washed-up reporter Carmen Perez. Carmen's news story gets even juicier when the mysterious Jeff Cabrio breezes into town, saying he can make it rain. 

This is an earlier work of Diane Chamberlain's, published in 1993, and I didn't think it was as amazing as her present work. Still, it was a very good story, although I would have preferred it not on audio.

I also read recently by this author: The Last House on the Street

Before She Disappeared

 Fiction by Lisa Gardner

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book comes before One Step Too Far, which I recently read by this author. In this story, the character of Frankie the missing-persons-finder is introduced. She's searching for a teenager in Boston who never came home after school a year ago. From the other book, I know that she finds the girl; however, the question is will she find her alive?

I liked the other story better; this one seemed to drag a bit in the middle. Still, it was interesting enough and held some surprises.

The Sword in the Stone

 Fiction by T.H. White.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the first book in the classic The Once and Future King, a set of four books published together in 1958 about the legends of King Arthur. I got a free limited version of this from audible.com, but was not able to finish the full thirty-three hours (!!!!) before the time expired. Unsurprisingly....

This is the story that the 1963 Disney animated movie was based on, and in the beginning it had the same fun lightheartedness of that film. But later on, it got kind of boring. I think this was because the author was trying to insert modern (1950's) political statements into a classic story, but I could be wrong. 

Anyways, it's a decent story, and the characters are much less one-dimensional in the book than in the Disney version.

Verity

 Fiction by Colleen Hoover

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lowen Ashleigh is a lesser-known author on the verge of bankruptcy when she's offered a ghost-writing assignment that just might get her out of the financial hole. And bonus! it comes with a place to stay after Lowen gets evicted.

The job is to finish the book series for Verity Crawford, a popular author who suffered a debilitating accident, and the client is Verity's husband Jeremy. Lowen moves into the Crawford home (where Verity lies bedridden and unable to speak), and proceeds to fall in love with Jeremy. She also discovers some terrible secrets about Verity, and starts to think maybe the other woman is not as ill as her husband thinks. The whole thing is very Mr. Rochester. I mean, it would be if Jane Eyre had a lot of graphic sex in it.... 

The plot of this book was good, but it was awfully dark and smutty. It definitely held my attention.

I also read by this author: Confess, Hopeless

Kisscut

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the sequel to Blindsighted. In this story, pediatrician Sara Linton is at the local skate rink when a conflict between teenagers turns deadly. Now it's up to police chief Jeffery Tolliver (who's also Sara's ex-husband) to unravel the reasons behind the incident, and try to keep worse things from happening.

This story was exciting but awfully dark. There were definitely surprises.

I also read recently by this author: Last Breath

The Essay

 Audible Original Fiction by Robin Yocum.

https://www.audible.com

Jimmy Lee Hickam grew up dirt-poor in the mountains of Ohio, born into a family of troublemakers and convicts. Still, he was able to leave the area and become James L. Hickam, a successful journalist in the big city.

This story begins with the adult James interviewing the poverty-stricken folks of Appalachia for a news story, and then explores his past. I really liked the story and the characters; I did wish that the author had either returned us to adult James at the end, or else begun with Jimmy Lee. The beginning of the story with the news interviews seems oddly tacked-on.

Still, a good story!

I also listened to by audible originals: The Forever

The Polygamist's Daughter

 Nonfiction by Anna LeBaron

https://www.audible.com

This memoir is from a daughter of the fifty-plus-sibling brood of Ervil LeBaron, called the "Mormon Manson" by the press for his ruthless penchant for ordering the murders of cult rivals or defectors.

I previously read a memoir from another family member (see below). This man seems to have engendered no end of trauma in his life, and even after his death.

Although I didn't love the author's narration-- maybe she was too close to the subject matter--I did like the book. Memoir work is notoriously difficult, and I notice she was smart enough to enlist a cowriter. The story was both fascinating and shocking. 

I also read about the LeBaron family: The Sound Of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

Last Breath

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This short novel is a prequel to The Good Daughter, which I read a little while ago. Fifteen or so years before that story takes place, Charlotte Quinn is a young lawyer trying to make ends meet when she takes on the case of a young Girl Scout with severe family troubles.

This was a fun fast read.

I also read recently by this author: Blindsighted

The Wife Stalker

 Fiction by Liv Constantine.

https://www.audible.com

This story centers on handsome and charming lawyer Leo Drakos and the two women vying for his attention: faithful Joanna and horrible Piper. Joanna wants to keep Leo by her side, but Piper is not to be deterred by wedding rings or conventions. Caught in the middle are the children: Evie and Stelli, who only want their home life to remain the same.

This story gave me a big case of "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome."** I couldn't stand to see Joanna allowing herself to get rolled over by Piper's aggressiveness and Leo's heartlessness. But there was a big twist coming that would change all my perceptions... or just make me irritated and sorry I'd read the thing at all.

I didn't like this book. Maybe if I had been able to skim some of it, I would have felt better, but that's pretty impossible in audiobooks. I did want to know what happened at the end... but there were some dangly ends there too.

I also read recently by this author: Misconception

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

(See also Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn)

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

The Rampart Trilogy

 Fiction by M.R. Carey

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/ book2/ book3

This is a three-book series set in the post-apocalyptic future. (It's a different end-of-the-world scenario than the one Mr. Carey detailed in The Girl With All the Gifts. It seems this guy can think of many different ways for society to collapse in upon itself.)

Koli is a young man in a small place called Mythen Rood, living three hundred years after the Unfinished War killed millions and scattered the survivors. Aged almost fifteen, Koli is hoping to be chosen as a Rampart, the select group of people who both rule and defend his village by means of the few pieces of tech they command. But when the time of choosing comes, he is surprised by the outcome.

These books were absorbing to read; I liked them a lot!

I also read by this author: Fellside

State of Wonder

 Fiction by Ann Patchett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Dr. Marina Singh is a research chemist at work in her lab at a big drug company when she hears that her coworker and friend Dr. Anders Eckmann has died of a fever in the Amazon rainforest. Marina is shocked by his unexpected death, and worried by the mysterious circumstances that led to it. 

Dr. Eckmann was supposed to be visiting the Brazilian jungle to check on a field scientist called Dr. Swenson; he was only meant to discover if she was making good progress on a top-secret new fertility drug the company was funding the research for. But now it's up to Marina to complete the mission, and so she goes to Brazil to discover both what has happened to her friend and what is happening with the drug research.

I thought this was a really good story and I loved it. Some reviews I have read criticized this book for the "ridiculous" science detailed in it, but I disagree. I didn't feel like it was impossible at all to believe that amazing, unprecedented things could be discovered in the rainforest. The ending was not what I expected either.

 

I also read recently by this author: Run

The Exiles

 Fiction by Christina Baker Kline

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story is set in the mid-nineteenth-century, in England and Australia, focusing on two young women who are the titular "exiles."

In England, penniless Evangeline is falsely accused of stealing when her only crime is in trusting in a rich young man's false promises. She is sentenced to transportation and sails for Australia, pregnant and alone. Meanwhile, the British government is systematically removing the native population from Australia to make room for all these convict-colonists. Mathinna is the young daughter of a slain Aboriginal chief, forced from her island home to be "civilized" by white people. 

Both these girls, exiled through no fault of their own, have amazing stories. This book is wonderful historical fiction.

I also read recently by this author: A Piece of the World

The Forever

 Audible Original Fiction by Craig Robertson

https://www.audible.com

In the not-too-distant future, scientists discover a space phenomenon that will destroy the whole of planet earth in less than one hundred years. How will they prepare for such a thing? 

The decision is made to find a way to leave earth and relocate all the people somewhere else. John Ryan is one of those chosen to be sent out in a superfast exploratory spaceship to find a new planet that can support life as we know it. But first, he (and the other scout pilots) has to be made immortal somehow, as the journey will take at seventy years or so, and he must remain fit for duty the whole time. In the meantime, people on earth will be hard at work building giant "world-ships" out of reclaimed asteroids for the entire population of the planet (hopefully) to evacuate on.

Okay, so it's an almost-unbelievable scenario. It's SCI-FI, all right? Just go with it!

As with any story, it's the characters that make the difference, and this book has some good characters. I also enjoyed the narration and the unexpected plot twists, although it was a kind of long.

This audiobook contains parts one and two of a five-book series. (See what I mean; it was long!?)I really liked these two books; however, they were about nine hours each, so it will be while before I finish the entire series. I think I probably will keep going though...

I also listened to recently by audible originals: Deep Hole