Thursday, February 29, 2024

Want to Know A Secret?

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Freida McFadden


April is a young mother and a food blogger who suddenly starts receiving anonymous text messages that say, "Want to know a secret?" The first one says that her son isn't where she thinks he is. After a frantic search, April finds him at the new neighbor's house. But the text remains unexplained. Also someone is leaving malicious comments on her food blog, threatening to expose April's secrets. What could be gong on?

This was an okay story but the plot felt a little contrived. Also I thought the author took the unreliable-narrator bit a little too far; I hope that's not a spoiler.


I also read by this author: The Ex

I also read recently by Amazon Prime Kindle: The Couple Across the Street

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

The Good Father

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain


Travis and his four-year-old daughter Bella are living in his van and really hurting for money, and so he makes a desperate move. He trusts a stranger to watch Bella for him while he takes a sketchy-sounding job promising a big payout for one night's work. Will this gamble pay off? Is Bella going to be okay? And how did Travis get in this situation anyways?

All questions were answered by the end of this exciting story filled with wonderful characters.


I also read recently by this author: The Midwife's Confession

Saturday, February 24, 2024

The Midwife's Confession

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain


At the beginning of this story, a midwife called Noelle kills herself with an overdose of stockpiled medication. She leaves behind a short note for her best friends Tara and Emerson, asking them to take care of her garden, but she gives no reason for her drastic actions. Emerson in particular feels compelled to ferret out the cause, and it turns out that Noelle had secrets even her best friends didn't know about.

The book is called The Midwife's Confession, but I find it interesting that Noelle doesn't actually confess to anything. Instead, it's more like a detective story in which the secrets are slowly revealed. I think another good title would be Secret Sisters, but maybe that would give too much away.

This was a really good story with great characters.


I also read recently by this author: Secrets She Left Behind 

Thursday, February 22, 2024

House on Endless Waters

 Fiction by Emuna Elon


“Don’t ever go to Amsterdam,” Yoel Blum’s mother warned him strenuously. But as an internationally best selling author whose book was recently translated into Dutch, it seems a trip to Amsterdam is suddenly inevitable. And, after all, his mother died years ago. So Yoel and his wife board the plane and fly there from Jerusalem. 

In Amsterdam he will discover the secret that his mother never wanted him to know, a secret that goes all the way back to his infancy in the middle of a world war. And of course, being a writer, he will be compelled to write about it. 

This was a good book that gave me a lot to think about. 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Legends and Lattes

 Fiction by Travis Baldree


What happens to a D&D character after the quest is over? Where do they go if they are living “happily ever after?”

Well, in the case of an orc named Viv, it’s time to hang up her sword and….open a coffee shop!

Wait, what?

Yeah; just go with it. This is a strange story but kind of a fun one. 



Tuesday, February 20, 2024

The Couple Across the Street

 Fiction by Anita Waller


Recent widow Clare is more than willing to help her best friend and neighbor Vic when Vic reveals that her husband Rob is abusive. But when Rob turns up dead not long after Vic's departure, the police are looking closely at Vic and Clare...

This was a pretty good story but not great. I was kind of disappointed by the ending.


I also read recently by Amazon Prime Kindle: The Ex

Sunday, February 11, 2024

The Ex

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Freida McFadden 


At the beginning of this book, handsome doctor Joel breaks up with his longtime girlfriend, and she becomes The Ex. Then we meet The New Girl, Cassie, ten years younger than Joel. Joel and Cassie seem perfect for each other, but The Ex is not letting go of him so easily...

This was an exciting story with a surprise at the end.


I also read by this author: One by One

I also read recently by Amazon Prime Kindle: I Remember You

Friday, February 9, 2024

The Book of Lost Names

 Fiction by Kristin Harmel


Eva is an old woman in Florida when she sees an article about a Berlin librarian looking to reunite books stolen by the Nazis during World War Two with their rightful owners. She recognizes the book in the picture as one she herself had once held in Paris. Eva is determined to get to Berlin and see this book. But her family in America knows nothing about her past during the war...

This was a good story with some surprises.


I also read recently by this author: The Winemaker's Wife

The Boy in the Photo

 Fiction by Nicole Trope

Megan's ex-husband stole her son Daniel away from her when the boy was six years old. For many years after that, Megan searched and searched for him, her life on hold. But now she has a new husband and a new baby girl. Then she gets the call that Daniel has been found! 

Megan is overjoyed, but the brooding twelve-year old who comes home with her from the police station is nothing like the sweet boy she remembers. Can she rebuild their relationship?

This was an exciting  (although a little anxiety-producing) story with a surprise at the end.


I also read by this author: The Family Across the Street

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Acceptance: A Memoir

 Nonfiction by Emi Nietfeld


This was a really interesting memoir about a girl with seriously messed-up parents who saw an Ivy League education as her way out. 

About the title: Emi's goal is college acceptance while every psychiatrist and social worker tell her that she must accept her limitations. 

I for one am very glad she didn't listen to the nay-sayers and instead made education her goal. Still, she doesn't sugarcoat the struggles she still faces and the fallout from her past. 


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

A Deadly Influence

 Fiction by Mike Omer


When Eden Fletcher's young son is kidnapped, she calls Lt. Abby Mullen for help. Abby is a police detective and trained hostage negotiator, and she and Eden have a shared history that neither one wants to talk about. But it may turn out that their shared history is exactly what will help solve the case and bring the little boy home safely...

This was an exciting thriller with great characters. I will look for the next book in this series.


I also read recently by this author: A Killer's Mind

Monday, February 5, 2024

Some Choose Darkness

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Charlie Donlea

Rory Moore is a forensic reconstructionist; she can solve cold case murders that have baffled police detectives. She's also an antique doll restorer and a nominal partner in her father's law firm, but mostly she's a person who doesn't really like people.

Angela Miller was another such person; she suffered from acute social anxiety and could barely tolerate the presence of others, but she too had a talent for seeing patterns and was trying to solve the mystery of a serial killer in Chicago. 

This book follows both Angela in 1979 and Rory in 2019 as separate stories that the reader knows will somehow intersect. It was a good mystery with some surprises.


I also read by this author: Those Empty Eyes

Friday, February 2, 2024

The Art of Seeing

 Fiction by Cammie McGovern


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

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Those Empty Eyes

 Fiction by Charlie Donlea. 

At the beginning of this story, an intruder breaks into a home in the middle of the night and shoots a sleeping couple in their bed. Then the pair's young son is awakened and startles the killer, who shoots him as well. The house is left with only one survivor, teenaged Alexandra Quinlan, sitting in terrified shock with a shotgun in her lap as the cops swarm the place.

The authorities assume that Alexandra herself is the killer and arrest her immediately. As the poor traumatized girl is loaded into the back of a police car, news cameras are already rolling and her image is soon broadcasted everywhere. "Look at those empty eyes," a reporter says, and Alexandra's fate is sealed. Although she is eventually cleared of the crime, and indeed wins a defamation suit against the state prosecutor, the public will now never believe in Alexandra's innocence. Perhaps worse, the person who really killed her family is still at large.

This is just the beginning of an exciting story that I received from Amazon Prime's "First Reads" on Kindle. I recommend it!