What Lies Between Us

 Fiction by John Marrs

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Maggie and Nina share a house... and a lot of secrets. What lies between them unfolds slowly over the course of the novel and the ending is a surprise.

This book was okay but I didn't like it nearly as much as the others I've read by this author. I think it was that I found the characters kind of unpleasant. Still, that ending twist was good!

I also read by this author: Her Last Move

Pretty as a Picture

 Fiction by Elizabeth Little

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Marissa is an awkward sort of young woman who has trouble relating to people and navigating the world in general. However, she has a real talent for film editing and has had quite a bit of success collaborating with her (best) (only) friend Amy who is a film director. But now Marissa is trying to find work on her own, without Amy, and she finds herself in a bit over her head.

This was a really good story with believable and memorable characters. Also there were several surprises!

I also read by this author: Dear Daughter

A Long Way From Home

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story begins in an orphanage in an unnamed country where the British couple Elaine and Ian travel to adopt a baby. The conditions in the orphanage are terrible, and the reader can guess that the child they adopt will be emotionally scarred. The first part of the book closes when they bring little Anna home, but their problems have just begun.

Since this is a Cathy Glass nonfiction book, it's obvious that this kid will have enough problems to come into foster care at some point. Enter the second part of the story: What is really wrong with Anna? Why couldn't Elaine and Ian cope with her? Can Cathy help?

I also read recently by this author: Innocent

Borders of the Heart

 Fiction by Chris Fabry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

J.D. is living on a remote farm in Arizona, trying to escape his past and stay disconnected from people in general. Then he finds a beautiful Mexican woman in the desert, half-dead from crossing the border, and he has to decide if he wants to get involved.

This was a good-enough romantic suspense story, but not as good as most I've read by Chris Fabry. I felt like it was a little too formulaic.

I also read recently by this author: Under a Cloudless Sky

Innocent

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Molly and Kit are three years old and eighteen months old, respectively, when they are removed from their parents by Social Services and placed in Cathy Glass's care. The precipitating event is little Kit's broken arm, which the doctor suspects to be non-accidental. Also, in his short year and a half of life, Kit has visited the emergency room almost seventy times.

But a broken arm is not inconsistent with falling down the stairs, as his mother claimed had happened. Cathy isn't sure if the social workers have done the right thing in removing these children. After all, their mother seems so very devoted to them, even if their father seems overworked and a bit checked out. And both children are awfully sickly...

This was a good story with a surprising ending! 

(And, yes, this story did seem to merit all those italics in my descriptors.)

I also read recently by this author: Where Has Mummy Gone?

Jumpstart the World

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Elle's mother is helping her move into her own apartment in New York City. Her mother tells Frank, Elle's friendly next-door-neighbor, that she's a little nervous at leaving her just-turned-eighteen-year-old only child there alone with just a cat from the animal shelter as a companion. Elle doesn't say it, but this is a lie.

There IS a cat, Mother IS nervous, and Elle IS alone. But she hasn't just turned eighteen. Elle's birthday is coming up in a few days, but it's her sixteenth birthday. Mother has a new boyfriend who "doesn't do teenagers," and Elle is being moved out of the way. Plus Elle is starting a new high school where she knows no one and doesn't know how to fit in.

Frank the neighbor and his wife Molly take Elle under their wing and try to look after her, but it turns out that they have a few problems of their own. This was a lovely little story with great characters.

I also read recently by this author: The Day I Killed James

The Other Emily

 Fiction by Dean Koontz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Emily disappeared ten years ago and has been presumed dead, likely murdered by a convicted serial killer. Her fiancé David has long been torturing himself over her memory, visiting the killer in prison and trying to get the creep to admit where he'd hidden the rest of his victims’ bodies. Then David meets a woman who looks just like Emily. But she can't BE Emily... can she?

This story was a little slower-moving than I've usually seen from Dean Koontz, but it definitely had the weird twist at the end that you'd expect!

I also read recently by this author: Elsewhere