So Long Chester Wheeler

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lewis Madigan is having a really bad day, and his crotchety neighbor Chester Wheeler manages to make it worse with his snide comments. Chester is wheelchair bound and almost totally dependent on a caregiver, but you'd never know it from the way the old man keeps driving nurses and helpers off, to the despair of his grown daughter. But Lewis is also out of work, and when Chester's daughter offers him the job of temporarily caring for Chester, Lewis is hard-pressed to refuse.

But why is Chester so hateful? Is here a kernel of good underneath his mean-old-man bluster? This was a really good character story that gave me a lot to think about. 

I also read recently by this author: Life, Loss, and Puffins

All Stories are Love Stories

 Fiction by Elizabeth Percer

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I can explain why I couldn't get into this book, but... I just couldn't.

Recently I was asked how much of a chance I give a book before giving up, and I said, "I'll usually read at least a third unless I'm really suffering." And I wasn't suffering with this one, exactly, but after a third of the book I still wasn't interested either.

Breaking the Silence

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Laura Brandon is a woman with a nice safe marriage and a five-year-old daughter. But when her father's dying wish meets with her husband's obstinate and inexplicable disapproval, Laura has to make a choice with consequences she can't foresee.

This was a good story with great characters and only a little over-the-top contrivance in the plot.

I also read recently by this author: The Escape Artist

Dumb Witness

 Fiction by Agatha Christie

https://www.audible.com

This is a classic Hercule Poirot detective story featuring a dog.

Oh, and a murder...

I also read recently by this author: The ABC Murders

Hello Stranger

 Fiction by Katherine Center

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a fun little story about a girl who gets hit on the head and does NOT get amnesia. Instead there's a more unusual reaction that complicates the love story.... no spoilers though.

I also read recently by this author: The Rom-Commers

Indelible

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the fourth book in the Grant County series, the sequel to A Faint Cold Fear. (see below)

In this story, pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton gets embroiled in a hostage situation at the police station with her ex-husband (and maybe-current-boyfriend) Police Chief Jeffery Tolliver. As Sara tries to survive this current trouble, a series of flashbacks lets the reader learn some of her and Jeffery's history. Soon it becomes clear that the past may be as important as the present in this situation.

This was an exciting story with some surprises. I don't think it was a good as others in this series though.

I also read recently by this author: A Faint Cold Fear

Time's Mouth

 Fiction by Edan Lipinksi

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a strange book. I suppose it should have been obvious from the weird title that it would be.

The book begins with an odd monolguey introduction by Time personified, but the story is about a woman called Ursa, beginning a little after 1950. Ursa has a gift for time travel, but only in a very limited way. This gift (or curse) is a major plot point but doesn't actually influence the narrative line. Therefore it doesn't really pull the novel all the way into fantasy, in my opinion. I decided to classify it as weird historical fiction instead.

Really it's more of a character story, about Ursa and the lives she influences, for better or worse. (Mostly worse.) It was a good story with an ending I didn't expect.