Secret Lives

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Eden Riley is a successful actress with a young daughter who has just gone through a divorce. Her ex-husband claims she is unknowable and incapable of intimacy, and while Eden does not believe that is true, she acknowledges to herself that she is much more comfortable in the artificial world of Hollywood pretending than she is within real relationships. 

She decides to try to delve into her past a bit as a possible remedy for this trouble, and announces that she will begin working on a film about her famously reclusive mother Katherine Swift. In this way she hopes to keep a semblance of professional distance from the more painful aspects of her own past, but will that actually be possible?

This was a really good book!

I also read recently by this author: Reflection

Everything Sad is Untrue

 Fiction by Daniel Nayeri

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The cover of this book asserts that it is a true story, even though it's classified officially as a young adult novel. This is because it's a memoir that cannot be independently verified, I think, because it is indeed the true story of the author's childhood history.

Daniel was born in Iran, and he was named Khosrou and his family was wealthy. But when he was about five, his mother converted to Christianity and had to flee the country with him and his sister, leaving behind everything in order to live in poverty in Oklahoma instead. In this book, 12-year-old Daniel is trying to explain his origins to a class full of kids who don't know the different between Iran and Iraq, and think that his lunches smell weird.

It's an amazing story. I don't know why it is called "Everything Sad is Untrue," though. I would pick a different title.

Reflection

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, Rachel Huber returns to Reflection, Pennsylvania, to care for her aging grandmother; however, the little town is not much inclined to welcome her back. Over twenty years ago, a tragic accident had claimed ten young lives, and many townspeople think Rachel was to blame. Can she uncover the truth about what really happened?

This was good story with great characters. I did feel like the twists were a little over the top, although it was a very enjoyable book.

I also read by this author: Breaking the Silence

Becoming Chloe

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jordan is living on the streets when he meets a damaged girl who doesn't like her real name, so she decides to be called Chloe. He works hard to take care of her, but soon learns that just changing Chloe's name doesn't change all the bad things that have happened to her. Desperate to save her, Jordan embarks on a quest to show Chloe the good and beautiful things of the world, and eventually learns how to see them for himself.

After several books I didn't like, I went to this author I always enjoy, and she did not disappoint. Great characters and a good story!

I also read recently by this author: Electric God

When She was Me

 Fiction by Marlee Bush

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Identical twins Cassie and Lenora live in the woods, far from civilization, and try to forget their traumatic past. But then Sarah buys the campground cabin they rent, and she, along with some weekend visitors somehow bring back bad memories, for both Cassie the protector, and Lenora the damaged girl.

When tragedy strikes, is it one of the twins who is responsible? And what really happened in their troubled past?

I didn't really like this book; it was hard to care about the characters. And when the "surprise" ending finally came, it seemed too far-fetched. I did finish it, though...

The Truth About the Devlins

 Fiction by Lisa Scottoline

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

TJ Devlin is the black sheep of the successful Devlin family, who all work together at the family law firm. When TJ's brother John asks him for help, TJ is glad to do it, and also maybe a little glad to not be the one screwing up this time. But John's in more trouble than he has let on, and he may end up casting TJ as the screwup once again.

This book had a new annoying plot device that seems to be a combination of two I've already identified. (See below.) I think I'll call it "My-Guy-Can't-Catch-a-Break-Syndrome." 

It's where the protagonist falls into the trap of his enemy (whom he doesn't know is an enemy), gets blamed for everything that the enemy set him up to take the fall for, and then everyone refuses to believe in his innocence. The reader sees the trap coming ("Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome"*) and all other characters are staunchly against the protagonist, who is sure he is right ("Hell-Bent-Syndrome."**) 

The story comes out all right at the end but it's kind of an unpleasant ride.

I also read and liked much better by this author: What Happened to the Bennetts

**Hell-Bent Syndrome

(See Come Home by Lisa Scottoline)

This is where the protagonist spends the majority of the book Hell-Bent on solving/getting to the root of whatever the problem of the story is (to the exclusion of everything else in his/her life), while EVERYONE else tells him/her to STOP IT. Many times this path involves the main character getting (or coming perilously close to being) fired, evicted, divorced, disowned, and/or bankrupted, all in pursuit of the elusive TRUTH that he/she is SURE is about to be found.

In real life, this would land our friend the protagonist straight in the looney bin. Think about it: When EVERYONE else's version of reality is the polar opposite of yours, that is called, "You're crazy, dude." (In layman's terms.) But not in the world of the Thriller Novel.

In the Thriller Novel, the sufferer of Hell-Bent syndrome is inexplicably and against all odds proven right in the end, and gets to say "I told you so!" to all the nay-sayers in his/her life who thought he/she was nuts. And then he/she magically recovers everything lost during the downward-spiral portion of the story, like the proverbial country song played backwards. ("You get your wife back, your truck back, your job back...")

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

(see After Anna 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.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

 Fiction by Cherie Jones

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lala's grandmother Wilma tried to raise her right and keep her out of trouble. Still, sometimes young girls go looking for trouble, and Lala found it at not-quite-eighteen when she got pregnant and married bad-boy Adan. So Wilma washed her hands of the girl, and never acknowledged that some of the things she should have protected Lala from were in her own house. Things don't get better for Lala or her baby, either...

This book is set in Barbados, and I loved how truthful the depiction of that island seemed. I also liked most of the characters, but I didn't like how none of the nice ones could seem to catch a break. It was a really bleak story.

Duma Key

 Fiction by Stephen King

https://www.audible.com

Edgar Freemantle loses his right arm in a freak accident that also leaves him with a major head injury. On top of that, his wife of over 25 years decides to divorce him. Edgar wants to end it all, but settles for a change of location, renting a beach house on isolated Duma Key, a Florida island.

Once Edgar is on the island, however, strange things begin to happen, Did Edgar choose to go to Duma, or did Duma choose him?

This was an interesting and kind of frightening story. I loved the characters.

I also read recently by this author: End of Watch

That’s Not Right

 Fiction by Scott Meyer

https://www.audible.com

Youtube-style videographer Amber has always been a fan of late-night talk radio host Jack Owens. So when she gets a chance to take Jack's show "That's Not Right" to internet video, she's all for it. It's a great idea, she thinks. But it turns out Jack Owens doesn't agree.

This was a funny little set of stories that tied together well. I enjoyed it.

I also listened to by this author: Spell or High Water

After Death

 Fiction by Dean Koontz 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Michael Mace dies at the beginning of this story, but he doesn't stay dead.

This is not a zombie book, however. Michael comes back as Something Else, but he's also still Michael. 

It's a pretty interesting story, and in classic Koontz style you never have to wonder who the good guys and bad guys are. It's quite clear; if Michael were wearing a literal halo (and the bad guys forked tails) it would not be more plain.

This story has good characters and an interesting plot.

I also read recently by this author: The Bad Weather Friend

The Surgeon

 Fiction by Tess Gerristen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is listed a the first in the Rizzoli and Isles series, and I suppose it is; however, it actually just features detective Jane Rizzoli before she teams up with the other woman. 

This story is about a serial killer called "The Surgeon" who kills women and then removes their wombs. Ewww....

It's a pretty good mystery, but there's a bit more ick (and also more boring parts) than I like. I've read a few by this author and some I like better than others.

I also read by this author: Playing with Fire