Fiction by Brian Freeman
Dylan and his wife Karly are in the midst of an argument and driving through a storm when a tragic car crash occurs. Karly drowns and Dylan is left bereft, wracked with the guilt of being unable to save her. But when he meets a psychiatrist named Eve and hears of her “Many Worlds” theory, he begins to hope that there may be a way to somehow save Karly after all.
This was an okay thriller but I didn’t love it.
I also read recently by this author: Thief River Falls
Fiction by Lisa Gardner
In this story, detective D. D. Warren has to solve a mystery involving Tessa Leoni, a woman who has apparently shot and killed her abusive husband after a severe beating. But she is more concerned about her nine year old daughter, who is inexplicably missing from the house.
But the picture doesn’t add up: Did Tessa’s husband actually beat her? And where is her little daughter?
This was a pretty good mystery story.
Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson
Nonny is from Between, Georgia, a small town where her birth family and her adopted family both live in an uneasy truce that could erupt into a full scale war at any time. Meanwhile she is trying to make a life in nearby Athens, and wavering about finalizing her divorce from Johnno, her charming but unfaithful estranged husband. But a crisis will call Nonny back to Between, and she will have to finally make some hard decisions.
This was a really good story with great characters.
Non fiction by Louise Allen
Fiction by Joshilyn Jackson
Fiction by Katherine Center
This is a romance about a bodyguard and a celebrity who are destined to fall in love. But the twist is: SHE’S the bodyguard and he’s the celebrity!
This was a fun little story with good characters.
Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Fiction by Ratika Kapur
This was a strange little story set in India. Renuka Sharma is a married lady who lives with her teenaged son and her elderly in-laws in a small city apartment while her husband works overseas to try to earn money for a better life. But when Renuka gets lonely she doesn't want to admit it. Instead she begins a weird sort-of relationship with a younger man that the reader can tell will not end well.
Fiction b y Karin Slaughter
This is book number five in the Grant County series (see below). In this novel, county coroner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffery Tolliver investigate the case of a girl buried alive. Ugh.
It's a pretty dark story but it does hold surprises, along with a bit of a cliffhanger that means there's at least one more book in the series...
Fiction by Katherine Center
Samantha is a librarian at a private elementary school in Galveston, Texas, where she moved several years ago from a school in California. Since she's been in Texas, Samantha has begun to flourish in way she never has before, and she feels like life is good. She only vaguely remembers Duncan, the man she nursed an overwhelming crush for, and the reason she fled California. And maybe she might wish to see him again. But then, Duncan comes to her school in Texas....
This was a fun little straight romance.
Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi
This book is a sequel to Lock In, which I just listened to. Both are listed as "only from Audible," which I think qualifies them as Audible Originals; however, I know that at least the first book is also available in print, and at my local library. So that's why I didn't list that one as an "original," although may be I should have?
Anyways, this book is set in the same future universe as Lock In, and also features FBI Agent Chris Shane. In this story, Agent Shane and his partner Agent Vann are faced with an athlete who inexplicably drops dead while competing in the exciting new sport Hilketa, played in robot bodies and involving... decapitation? (Just go with it; it will make sense inside the story framework.)
This was as interesting and original as the first story, and the ending is a surprise.
Fiction by John Scalzi
In the future world of this novel, there are a significant number of people who have been left completely debilitated by a (lab-engineered?) worldwide virus that has swept the planet. Initially the virus, called Haden's Syndrome, kills some people, but most recover. Then the strangeness begins: of those who recover, some catch a second, more dangerous stage with meningitis-like symptoms, and some progress to a third stage that leaves them completely paralyzed. These people (now called just "Hadens") are considered "locked-in," because their brains are still alive and active, and their automatic body systems function, but no voluntary part of their bodies will work. They cannot move or communicate. Medical science (relying heavily on governmental subsidies) finds a few solutions to help these people, but it's technology that truly manages to unlock the Hadens population. So begins a world where people can move around in robot bodies and navigate a special version of the internet with their minds.
Okay that's just the back story.
The book is actually a murder mystery, starring newly minted FBI agent Chris Shane, who is a Haden using a robot body (called a "threep") and investigating Haden-related crimes in the Washington D.C area.
This was an amazing innovative and interesting book. I highly recommend it.
Fiction by Ayobami Adebeyo
This story, set in Nigeria during the end of the twentieth century, gave me and interesting glimpse into as culture I'm completely unfamiliar with.
At its heart, it's simply the story of Yejide and Akin, a married couple navigating though the crippling despair of infertility until the strain breaks them apart. But the cultural aspects of the strongly patriarchal, polygamous traditions in Nigeria, along with the political unrest of the time make everything worse for Yejide, and for Akin too, as it turns out.
