Brass Ring

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, Claire Harte-Mathias is the perfect wife to her husband Jon, an accomplished man who also is paralyzed from the waist down. Claire has lived a charmed life, going from a happy childhood to an idyllic marriage seamlessly. But Claire is also repressing almost everything about herself without knowing it. 

Across the country, her estranged sister Vanessa has a very different set of memories about their childhood; to Vanessa the past a dark and dangerous place. The two girls were separated by their divorcing parents as children and haven't been in contact since. Vanessa wants to keep it that way.

This was an amazing book in my opinion. I notice that many reviewers disagree and say they hated it and hated Claire specifically. While it's true that Claire is actually kind of a terrible person, I felt that the author gave us enough insight into her personality to make her understandable. It takes great writing to create realistic characters like this. But then, I'm a real Diane Chamberlain fangirl.

I also read recently by this author: Secret Lives

Why Karen Carpenter Matters

 Nonfiction by Karen Tongsen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I got this book (along with several others about the late singer Karen Carpenter) because I'm kind of researching the Carpenters for a possible musical revue performance. I read a biography of her years ago before I started logging my books --I think it was Little Girl Blue by Randy Schmidt-- and I wanted a little refresher course. 

This book was a bit colored by the author's own take. The author herself was named after the singer, and her home country of the Philippines apparently has a special affinity for Karen Carpenter. It was a pretty good short read.

The Paris Secret

 Fiction by Karen Swan

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, set in approximately 2017, an apartment in Paris is discovered that has been sealed and unoccupied since the second world war. The place is owned by the rich Vermeil family, but they had been unaware of its existence; that is, most of them did not know about it. When the information comes to light, M. Vermeil finds out that his widowed nonagenarian mother had kept the property a secret on purpose, and indeed the old lady still wants to completely forbid entry. But why?

M. Vermeil calls on British art agent Flora Sykes to investigate the property and see what it contains, keeping to the letter of his mother's wishes by not going into the apartment himself. Flora discovers a treasure trove of artwork, including several pieces of great value. She begins to research the provenance of the art so that it can be sold, and runs up against a problem: the valuable art pieces seem to have all passed through the hand of a known and hated Nazi collaborator, a man known for stripping assets from Jewish families during the war. It's an ethical dilemma. Does this art belong to the Vermeil family at all?  

As an intellectual exercise, this plot is really interesting and gave me a lot to think about. However, as a story it was a bit lacking. The author left some loose ends but still managed some leaping coincidental plot twists, and the characters were often less than believable. I didn't love this book.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

 Fiction by Meg Elison

https://www.audible.com

After a terrible plague wipes out almost the whole human population, killing 95% of men and 99% of women, the Unnamed Midwife of this story has lost everyone and everything she knows, including her profession. 

This was an engrossing story with a unique voice. I've read other post-apocalyptic stories, and even several with the "virus-kills-almost-all-women" idea, but this one may be the best.

Or Else

 Fiction by Joe Hart

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Andy is a mystery/thriller writer who moves into a house in his old neighborhood after his wife has left him. He needs a change, and he needs to keep an eye on his father, who has just been diagnosed with dementia. What he doesn’t need is to start an affair with Rachel, a married woman who lives down the street. He does that anyway. Then he receives an anonymous note, telling him to stop seeing Rachel, “or else.”

This was a pretty good thriller with some surprises. I didn't love it. Still, it was free with Amazon prime...

I also read (free!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: The Inmate

No Ordinary Life

 Fiction by Suzanne Redfearn. 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, Faye is a mother of three who has run out of options in Yakima, Washington. Her husband Sean disappeared over six months ago, her son is in serious need of counseling, and she has no reserves left. Faye moves in with her mother in Los Angeles, and fortunes change drastically. 

This was a really good story! I loved the characters, especially Faye. Everything I’ve read by this author is great!

I also read by this author: Where Butterflies Wander

The Rules do not Apply

 Nonfiction by Ariel Levy

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At one point in this story, the author attends a small party where a new acquaintance asks, "Are you the Ariel that all the bad things happened to?" Unfortunately, she has to say yes to that question. 

Ariel begins this book at a low point: her spouse has left her, her baby died, and she has to leave her beloved home. Then she goes back in time, and she tries to explain to the reader how she started out to be "the kind of woman who is free to do as she chooses," and ended up finding out how many things that she decidedly did not choose will happen anyway.

This was a really interesting memoir, honest and touching and very readable.

The Night the Lights Went Out

 Nonfiction by Drew Magary

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author suffered an unexplained brain hemorrhage in December of 2018 and came very close to death. He tells the story of his struggle to recover in this book.

It was very interesting and quite funny in parts. I really appreciated the honesty.

I also read by this author: The Hike

Bonfire

 Fiction by Krysten Ritter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Abby Williams is an environmental lawyer in Chicago, but she is still haunted by memories of Barrens, Indiana, the small town she grew up in. There was a girl called Kaycee Mitchell, who was both Abby's best friend in elementary school and chief bully in high school; Kaycee became inexplicably ill during senior year and then disappeared just before graduation. Ten years later, Abby gets the chance to investigate a case in Barrens, and goes there with the idea of finally solving the mystery of Kaycee's illness and disappearance.

This was a pretty good mystery/ thriller, but I didn't love it.

The Clocks

 Fiction by Agatha Christie

https://www.audible.com

At the beginning of this story, discovered in the front room of a blind woman's house, we have: a shorthand typist,  several stopped clocks set to exactly 4:13, and a murdered man. The woman herself has no idea how any of those things arrived. They certainly weren't there before she went out shopping that afternoon.

This book is listed at the 34th Hercule Poirot mystery, which is an amazingly high number! However, the famed detective is not a prominent character this time; he shows up in time to solve the case, but mostly stays out of the action. (This is a good thing in my opinion; I like his solutions but he can be a tiresome character.)

I also read recently by this author: A Caribbean Mystery

Heather the Totality

 Fiction by Matthew Weiner.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a short but interesting story about an ordinary couple who produced an extraordinary daughter. Heather is loved by all, and by age fifteen is beautiful and kind, brightening the days of everyone around her. But Heather's bright light of a life is threatened by an unknown predator. Can she be saved?

This story would make a great movie. It was a bit too short, but I liked it.

Big Time

 Fiction by Ben Winters

https://www.audible.com

At the beginning of this exciting story, twenty-something-year-old Allie is kidnapped and being taken to an unknown location by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak to her. Meanwhile, Grace Burney, a middle-aged FDA bureaucrat who takes care of both her elderly mother and her teenaged child on her own, is called in to work after hours to decipher a problem for her boss. These two women's stories will intersect in an extraordinary way.

This was a really good thriller. I loved it!!

I also read by this author: The Last Policeman