Pineapple Street

 Fiction by Jenny Jackson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story is about the Stocktons, a super-rich family in New York City. There are Mr. and Mrs. Stockton, Senior, plus two daughters and a son, along with two grandchildren, and they are consumed with the types of problems rich people have: Who is a good-enough suitor for youngest daughter Georgianna? Should older daughter Darley have given up her career to raise her two children? And what about son Cord and his lower- (than us) -class wife Sasha; why can't she just leave everything the way it always has been in the family home?

This is a good story with some really funny bits, but the characters really make the book. I enjoyed it a lot.

This Time Will Be Different

 Fiction by Misa Sigiura

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Seventeen-year-old CJ Katsuyama has recently discovered a love of flowers while helping her Aunt Hannah in the family flower shop. But her mother has much bigger ambitions; she wants CJ to go to business or law school and Make Something of Herself. In the meantime, Aunt Hannah has also hired a very cute boy to help in the shop as well. Also, CJ 's mother has never told her who her father is...

All of these elements are part of a normal mix for a coming-of-age story; what makes this book different is the characters. I really liked CJ and wanted her to find herself. 

There's also the added element of  CJ's Japanese heritage; the family flower shop is so much more than just a store to the Katsuyamas. The business had been stolen from CJ's great-grandparents during the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War Two and finally bought back by the family thirty years later. But now it seems they may lose it again.

This was a good story and I liked it. It did seem to have some awfully mature elements for a YA novel, so it's definitely for older teens.

The Case of the Haunted Haunted House

 Audible Original Fiction by Drew Hayes

https://www.audible.com

This book was the sequel to The Case of the Damaged Detective, and it was similar to that story.

At the beginning of the story, Sherman Holmes and his assistant Joel Watson have set up shop, calling their firm "The World's Greatest Detective Agency,"  and ensuring (it seems) that only weirdos and kooks would consult them. Or, it turns out, desperate people... A young woman called Lauren comes in with a case no one else wants to take: she works for a ghost tour that might really be haunted?

Sherman will solve the case of course, and there will be plenty of laughs along the way. This was another fun story.

The Twist of the Knife

 Fiction by Anthony Horowoitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Apparently this is number FOUR in a series of books of which I have read none. I REALLY wish they would label these things...

To be fair, I understood the plot of this story just fine without having read the previous novels. The author is pretending (at least I'm pretty sure he's pretending) to be actually narrating real events he gleans from following a murder-solving detective around. It's as if the great Mrs. Christie herself used her own name in the place of Captain Hastings and narrated Poirot's exploits as if they were true. (I mean, they can't really BE true. Right?)

Anyways, this time Mr. Horowitz himself is accused of the murder! The story was interesting and convoluted; I was surprised at the end. I didn't love the characters.

I also tread by this author: Magpie Murders

Neighborhood Watch

 Fiction by Cammie McGovern

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Betsy Treading has just served twelve years in prison for murdering her neighbor Linda Sue. But actually, she's pretty sure she didn't do it. The problem is, she confessed, and now she can't take it back. Why did she confess to something she didn't do? Even she isn't completely sure. 

Now Betsy has been partially exonerated by new evidence and released, but she feels her record will never be fully cleared until the real killer is found. Therefore she returns to the old neighborhood and begins asking questions.

This was a good story that explored some interesting ideas. The ending was a surprise.

I also read by this author: Eye Contact

Things You Save in a Fire

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book begins with fire fighter Cassie Hanwell receiving an award for bravery, presented by a city councilman who turns out to be a terrible boy from her old high school class. When he grabs her ass, she loses it... and loses her job.

Cassie is forced to relocate. She ends up at a small town firehouse full of men: twenty or so who consider her a female interloper, and one really cute rookie. But she's sworn to NEVER date a fireman...

Although I'd categorize this book as a straight romance and I usually don't like those, the writing is really good and I liked the characters a lot.

Nineteen Steps

 Fiction by Millie Bobbie Brown

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a pretty good story, based on the real-life experiences of the author's (great?)-grand-mother in London during the war. It showed some of history that I hadn't seen before, but it was a little formulaic in plot. I liked it but didn't love it.