The Need

 Fiction by Helen Phillips

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Molly is a mother of two young children and a paleobotanist, and she's having trouble juggling both roles but still mostly managing. Then her husband has to go away for a week and she hears an intruder in the house one evening. Or is she imagining it?

The beginning of this story was good and grabbed my attention. I was sometimes not sure what was real and what was not. The plot was interesting but also very strange. I did not like the ending at all, but the whole thing was certainly thought-provoking. It would be fun to discuss in a book club.

Don't Let Her Stay

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Nicola Sanders

https://www.amazon.com

Joanne and her husband Richard are getting settled in their new house with their new baby Evie when Richard's grown daughter Chloe comes to stay. Chloe acts super sweet in front of her father, but when he is not looking she is perfectly hateful towards Joanne. Still Chloe is allowed to stay and even babysit Evie, which the reader can see is obviously a terrible idea.

This book gave me such a case of "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome" ** that I seriously had to skip the whole middle. Joanne could definitely have put her foot down and stopped the whole thing. The end was an interesting twist, but the book was mostly painful to read.

I also read recently (FREE!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: Please Don't Lie

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

(see  The Truth About the Devlins 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.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

 Fiction by Jesse Q. Sutanto

https://www.audible.com

Vera Wong is an old Chinese lady who runs a teashop and is smarter than almost everyone else. At least, according to her own opinion she is. So when she finds a dead man in her tea shop one morning, she already knows that she will be better at solving the murder case than the police.

This was a fun and lighthearted mystery. It was a little too slow for an audiobook.

I also read by this author: Dial A For Aunties

Run Time

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Adele is an Irish actress, but she's trying to make it in Los Angeles after a wrong decision burned her career back on the Emerald Isle. It's not going well in the USA, so when she gets a last minute offer for a low budget horror film back in Ireland, she decides to take it. And she wants to take it quickly, before any rumor of her previous on-set breakdown gets to the new director. But when Adele gets to the remote location, it's more remote than she'd bargained for. Plus the director is giving her a weird vibe...

This was an exciting page-turner of a thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: 56 Days

Fifty Grand

 Fiction by Adrian McKitry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This a revenge story, and those kinds of novels can be quite dark. In this book a female detective from Cuba risks everything to try to hunt down and punish her father's killer.

The characters were well-drawn and believable and the story was interesting, but it was just SO dark. And it didn't seem like anyone was satisfied at the end.

I also read recently by this author: The Chain

Misfit

Subtitled: Growing Up Awkward in the 80's
Nonfiction by Gary Gulman

+

https://www.audible.com

This was a fun memoir about a comedian reminiscing about his childhood while recovering from a a major depression.

One thing I really liked about it was how the author recounted exact details of the circumstances and set-up for great punchlines he made over twenty-five years ago. I'm glad to not be the only one who does that!

The Nickel Boys

 Fiction by Colson Whitehead

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is a fictionalized account based on a real historical place: a juvenile detention facility in Mariana Florida called a "school for boys." This was a terrible place that remained open for over a hundred years for both white and colored boys, separately housed and very badly treated. Interestingly, I read another book on this subject recently, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. That book involved the ghosts of dead boys telling the story, while this one  took a more realistic approach.

At the beginning of the story, a group of students from a Florida are digging up an archeological site on the grounds of the old school where hundreds of dead boys were apparently buried. The students are also gathering the stories of the boys who survived the place and are now old men.

This was a good story but very sad. It was well written but I can't say it was enjoyable.

I also read by this author: The Underground Railroad

Remarkably Bright Creatures

 Fiction by Shelby Van Pelt

https://www.audible.com

I tried reading this book in print several years ago and couldn't get into it, but I heard people raving about the audio version. I decided to give it a another chance with the slightly different medium.

Interestingly, I liked it much better in the audiobook version. It's a weird premise: the narrator is an octopus, and that's the reason I was hesitant at first. But actually, the octopus is only one of the narrators. There's also Nova, the woman who cleans the aquarium at night where Marcellus the octopus lives, and Cameron, a young man who comes to visit the aquarium while searching for his father.

This turned out to be a fun book.

56 Days

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

56 days ago, Ciara met Oliver at the Tesco and struck up a conversation. Today a dead body has been found in an apartment. In between the two events the whole of Ireland has been shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was an exciting story with several twists. I really recommend it!!

I also read recently by this author: The Trap

The Floating Feldmans

 Fiction by Elyssa Friedland

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a fun little story about an extended family taking a cruise together at the behest of the matriarch. The Feldmans love each other, but they don't always like each other, and there is more than one secret threatening to be revealed during the trip.

A Thief of Time

 Fiction by Tony Hillerman

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, apparently #8 in a series, Lieutenant Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee are looking for missing archeologist Dr. Eleanor Friedman-Bernal, and at the same time trying to solve the mystery of tribal relics being sold illegally.

This was a pretty good story, although It was a little slow. It did have a surprising ending.

I also read by this author: The Blessing Way

The Trap

Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lucy's sister Nicki has been missing for a year, but Lucy is still searching for her. In fact, Lucy has virtually put her life on hold, all of her previous plans in a limbo state as she tries increasingly dangerous things to hunt for Nicki. Then there's an unexpected development in the case, and a renewed hope that Nicki might indeed still be alive! 

When a chance presents itself for Lucy to recapture public interest in her sister's disappearance, Lucy resolves to take it, no matter what the risk. And the risk is pretty high!

This was an exciting thriller with several surprises and a twist!

I also read by this author: Distress Signal

The Chain

 Fiction by Adrian McKinty

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Thirteen-year-old Kylie is waiting for the school bus when she's abducted at gunpoint. Her mother Rachel receives a ransom call, but the kidnappers don't just want money for Kylie's return. They also want Rachel to join The Chain and kidnap another person's child...

This was a super exciting thriller with several surprises!

I also read by this author: The Island

Walter's Purple Heart

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Walter is a soldier killed on a Pacific island during World War Two; Michael is a pot farmer in the early 1980's. What could connect these two? It's definitely weird.

This was a strange story from an author I usually love. The characters were pretty good in this book, but it's not nearly as compelling as her other books.

I also read recently by this author: Pay It Forward

You Killed Me First

 Fiction by John Marrs

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was an exciting thriller but it definitely stretched the limits of believability almost to breaking, and was populated with believable but unlikeable characters. 

It begins with a woman literally trapped under the village bonfire on Guy Fawkes Day with a voice in her ear saying, "You killed me first..."

I also read recently by this author: The Family Experiment

Distress Signal

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Adam takes his girlfriend Sarah to the airport in Cork, Ireland, for a quick business trip to Barcelona. He is supposed to be working on his writing, so he isn't alarmed when he doesn't hear from her at first. But then her parents call him, worried that she isn't answering her phone Then Sarah doesn't come home as scheduled. 

Adam discovers that Sarah actually called in sick to work, and lied about the purpose of her trip. So why did she go to Barcelona? And where is she now? The police seem to think she left of her own accord, but Adam is determined to investigate. He may not survive finding the truth...

This was a great story with several surprises! I will look for more by this author.

The Interdependency Trilogy

The Collapsing Empire, The Consuming Fire, and The Last Emperox 
Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com https://www.audible.com https://www.audible.com

Thousands of years in the future, humans live all over space, not just on Earth. In the star system of this story, they live in The Interdependency and have completely lost touch with Earth altogether. The Interdependency is a network of planets and space stations joined by The Flow, which is the only method of connection between planets that are light-years apart. (Think wormholes in Star Trek. Like that.)

Okay, I understand that long sci-fi backstory is a lot, but just go with it. Because this is an amazingly good trilogy. I loved the characters so much! And the narration is also top-notch.

Definitely listen to these in order.

I also listened to recently from Audible Original Fiction: Constituent Service

I also read by this author: Starter Villain

The Reformatory

 Fiction by Tananarive Due

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

It's 1950 in Gracetown, Florida, and 12-year-old Robbie is living with his older sister Gloria in the old shack on their family's land. There had been a house there, but the Klan burned it down after their daddy, Robert Stevens Senior, was discovered trying to unionize the Negros at the mill. The audacity he showed really riled the white folks in town, and a bogus criminal charge was quickly found to issue a warrant for the arrest of Robert Stevens, causing him to flee the area and leave his children behind. 

Then Robbie kicks a white boy who tries to put an arm around Gloria, and all heck breaks loose. The local authorities see this incident as a perfect pretext to catch Robert Senior, arresting Robbie for assault and sentencing him to six months at the Boy's Reformatory outside of town, a true horror of a place. (The ghosts that haunt it are probably the most benign problem. It's BAD.) There the story really begins.

This was an amazing novel with great characters and an affecting storyline. Real and imagined events mix together to give the reader an exciting ride through the past, and also inspires a lot of thought for the present.

The Plea

 Fiction by Steve Cavanaugh

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the sequel to The Defense, which I read recently. In this story, con artist turned defense attorney Eddie Flynn is approached by the FBI to help them uncover a money laundering scheme. All he has to do is convince a tech billionaire accused of murder to hire him (Eddie) for his (the billionaire guy's) defense.

The problem is that Billionaire Guy already HAS a lawyer, and it's a super-duper expensive fancy one. But the FBI says Eddie has to get hired, pronto.

Oh, and if he doesn't succeed they will arrest his (Eddie's) wife.

This was an exciting story with great characters and several surprises.

A Bigfoot Homecoming

 Fiction by Kim Orendor

https://www.amazon.com

In 1956, Zeke Renik was a poor kid in Missouri when he saw Bigfoot. Nearly seventy years later, he's an old man in a Florida nursing home when he hears about a new Bigfoot sighting back home, and he wants to investigate. So he and an orderly named Nate head off on a road trip.

This is a self-published book recommended to me by a friend. I wanted to love it, but didn't. It did have a good ending.

The Defense

 Fiction by Steve Cavanaugh

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I read a novel by this author recently that I discovered was #3 in a series (see below), so I went and got this book-- it's #1.

In this story, Eddie Flynn is a New York City man who has been a con artist, an alcoholic, and a defense lawyer; however, he's not currently any of those things. Then he is contacted by the Russian mob with the news that they have kidnapped his daughter in order to force him back into defense law, and maybe into the con game as well...

This was an exciting story with lots of plot twists and several surprises.

I also read recently by this author: Thirteen

Constituent Service

 Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

This was a hysterically funny little story about an office full of aliens.

I also read recently by this author: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: The Authorities

Still Beating

 Fiction by Jennifer Hartmann

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Cora and her sister's fiancé Dean have a cute banter-y relationship that makes people think they might be into each other, but they insist they aren't. After all, he's her sister's fiancé! But then they get kidnapped together, and there's no doubt they will fall in LURVE immediately. But what about the sister?!

The author categorizes her writing style as angsty romance, and that's very accurate. So this book is definitely a straight romance with quite a bit of heterosexual S-E-X. That's not really my style in general, but it wasn't a bad novel, I guess...

The Authorities

 Audible Original Fiction by Scott Meyer

https://www.audible.com

Sinclair Rutherford is new to the Seattle police force, but he's sharp. He hopes to become a homicide detective, but for now, as a rookie, he has to settle for being needled and hazed by the current detectives. But then he gets a lucky break and is noticed by someone important... or is it so lucky after all? Time will tell.

This was a hilarious and exciting story with great characters. I highly recommend it!

I also listened to recently from Audible Originals: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

I also read recently by this author: That's Not Right

Necessary People

 Fiction by Anna Pitoniak

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Violet and Stella have been best friends since the first day of college. Stella is the "fun" friend, a free spirited rich girl that everyone likes, and Violet is the responsible one who makes sure that Stella's antics don't get them into any real trouble. It's a great partnership, but after graduation, the cracks between them begin to show. Although they still need each other in many ways, they are starting to resent it. Neither is ready to break away from the other just yet, but the reader can sense a crisis coming...

This was an exciting story with well-written, if not always likeable, characters.