Count My Lies

 Fiction by Sophie Stava

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Sloan Caraway is a liar, and she admits it. Well, she admits it to herself at least. At the very beginning of this book she tells a nice-looking single dad at the the park that she is a nurse named Caitlin. But Sloan is wearing scrubs because she is a nail technician, not a nurse. And it turns out the dad is not exactly single...

Soon "Caitlin" is ingratiating herself with the dad AND his wife, and angling to get herself hired as a nanny. But is she going to be able to keep track of all the lies she had told when she's there long-term? And what if her fake nursing skills are really needed?

This was a really exciting thriller that kept me guessing!

Tell No Lies

Fiction by Gregg Hurwitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

 Daniel Brasher is a counselor working with ex-cons when he finds a threatening letter in his interdepartmental mailbox that reads, "Admit what you did or you will bleed for it." Fortunately, it's not addressed to him; unfortunately, it's a couple of weeks old and the person to whom it was addressed has already been murdered.

Then Daniel discovers three other similar letters meant for different people. Can he prevent more bloodshed? And what did these potential victims do, if anything, that they are being punished for? And especially, what does this whole thing have to do with Daniel himself?

All these questions are answered by the end of the story. This was an exciting story with several surprises, although some of the twists were a bit over the top.

I also read by this author: Don't Look Back

The Time Has Come

 Fiction by Will Leitch

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story follows seven different people in Athens, Georgia, until they finally converge in one place: at Lindbergh's Drugstore just before closing time. The drugstore is a family-owned business and a beloved Athens institution, and Theo Lindbergh has just begun running it after the unexpected death of his father. But it turns out that maybe his father wasn't beloved by everyone in Athens...

I really liked the characters in this novel and how everything came together at the end. However, I did not like the disconnected choppiness of the book's structure. Just when I was interested in a character, the author would switch to another one. Seven different people is actually a lot to keep track of. 

Maybe a list  would have helped. Tina is a teacher; Dorothy is a judge's widow; Karson is a community activist; Daphne is a nurse; David works at a live-music venue; Jason is a construction contractor, and Jace is his son. There! If you decide to read this book, keep my list handy.

I also read by this author: How Lucky

Statistically Speaking

 Fiction by Debbie Johnson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a fun little story about a British woman who gave up a baby as a teenager and still longs to find the child eighteen years later. 

Destructive Reasoning

 Fiction by Scott Meyer

https://www.audible.com

This is the second book in the "Authorities" series (see below), and it is as funny and interesting as the first. In this story, Detective Rutherford and the other members of the Authorities travel from their native Seattle to Los Angeles, trying to catch a killer who is targeting actors.

I also read recently by this author: The Authorities

Kill For Me, Kill For You

 Fiction by Steve Cavanagh

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, Amanda has only one goal: to kill Wallace Crone, the man who got away with murdering her daughter. But she gets caught stalking him and is slapped with a restraining order and court-ordered counseling. Then in a support group she meets another bereaved mother named Wendy, a woman who is equally obsessed with the man responsible for her daughter's death. Then Amanda gets an idea that they can help each other. Like the Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train, they decide to swap murders. But can they really go through with is?

This was a very exciting thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: The Plea

Rewind

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Social media influencer Natalie O'Connor suspects that her husband Mike is hiding something from her after she finds a charge on his credit card for Shanamore Cottages, a seaside resort in western Ireland. He claims to have never heard of the place, but Natalie is unconvinced and sets out to go there herself on the spur of the moment. 

Meanwhile, Mike has no idea where Natalie has gone and eventually files a missing persons report. That report gets the attention of a small-time internet reporter named Audrey, who runs with the story. Will Audrey find Natalie alive? Or is it already too late?

This was an exciting mystery thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: The Nothing Man

Worth Fighting For

 Fiction by Jesse Q. Sutanto

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is a modern reimagining of the Disney movie Mulan, part of something called the "Meant to Be" series. The other books are by different authors, and I may try another one because this novel was light and fun, all in all.

It was, of course. quite predictable, as we already know that Mulan and Shang have to fall in love at the end, and it contained a bit too much "I-Can't-Tell-The-Truth-Or-The-Story-Will-End-Here- Syndrome,"** but it was not bad for a straight romance.

I also read recently by this author: I'm Not Done With You Yet

**I-Can't-Tell-The -Truth-Or-The-Story-Will-End-Here Syndrome

(Most recently occurred in Left by Tamar Ossowski)

This shows up in romances quite a bit, in which a main character withholds some vital piece of information form his/her love interest for flimsy reasons, making it obvious that the author is using the device to further complicate the plot and lengthen the story.

Based on a True Story

 Nonfiction? by Norm MacDonald

https://www.audible.com

I put a question mark after the word "nonfiction" above because, although this book is labelled as a memoir, the story seems to be almost completely made up.

Norm MacDonald was indeed a comedian who was on Saturday Night Live in the nineties, and he was alive in 2016 and doing stand-up when the book was written (he has since died), but the rest of this "memoir" is quite fictitious.

Also it's not funny. At least the first half isn't. I gave up.

Milo’s Story

 Nonfiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

This is the eleventh book in Louise Allen's "Thrown Away Children Series," which I had almost given up on after the terrible ending of the last book (see below). That's the problem with nonfiction, though. Real life doesn't offer tidily happy endings.

This book was better, in that it didn't end absolutely horribly, and that it was interesting. I did really enjoy reading Milo's story. That said, I do feel like the author takes a lot of liberties with the category of nonfiction, almost veering into "based on a true story" novelization rather often. Still, that makes it more fun to read, so I shouldn't complain. More troubling is the lecture mode she slips into too often.

So I liked the book but didn't love it.

I also read recently by this author: Willow's Story

The Mystery Guest

 Fiction by Nita Prose

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

A sequel to the author's first novel The Maid, this book was enjoyable but not nearly as good as the first one. That's okay though, since the first was really excellent and sequels are hard.

In this story Molly the maid witnesses ANOTHER murder in her hotel and has to help solve it. Molly is a really likeable character and this book was fun, but I'd love to see the author write something different next time.