After Long Silence

Nonfiction by Helen Fremont

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Helen was born in the US in 1958 to Polish immigrants. She and her older sister Lara were raised Catholic and strongly discouraged from asking their parents about the past, the war, or the old country. Only as adults were the sisters able to discover the family's true history: their parents were Jews, and they were the only survivors of their respective families (except for an aunt in Italy.)

The story explores what happened to the family during tehwar, and why they felt it was necessary to keep up the deception so long.

This was a very good memoir. It gives you a lot to think about.

Safe With Me

Fiction by K. L. Slater

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Anna has been extremely reclusive since the tragedy thirteen years ago. But one day she happens to see the one woman who caused it all. As far as Anna can tell, the woman has suffered no ill effects from what happened so long ago. In fact, she seems to be continuing to harm others and get away with it! Anna vows to stop her at all costs. 

This was a pretty good book. It definitely had a surprising ending. 

What Hurts the Most

Fiction by Willow Rose

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I got this book free on Kindle from Amazon Prime when I was stranded at the car repair shop with nothing to read. It definitely made the over two hours I spent sitting there in the poorly air-conditioned waiting room less horrible. 

The story is about a young woman called Mary Mills  who has been avoiding her Florida hometown for many years, since something terrible happened there when she was a teenager. But when her dad asks her to come back and help her younger brother Blake, she agrees. She finds a murder mystery and bunch of her old high school friends, and Mary discovers that sometimes the past won’t be avoided. 

The Dutch House

Fiction by Ann Patchett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Danny Conroy loves his childhood home, called the Dutch House because it had originally been built by Dutch people who emigrated to America. This is the story of that house and Danny’s family, and the way a house can be so important. 

This was a great book! The audiobook read by Tom Hanks was recommended to me by several sources and they were right!! Let Tom read this one to you. 

I also read by this author: The Magician's Assistant

Pines

Fiction by Blake Crouch

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Secret Service agent Ethan Blake wakes up in the small town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, with no ID, no money, and no memory of having gotten there. All he knows for sure is that he’s severely injured, but for some reason he doesn’t want to go to the hospital. He soon learns that his instinctive aversion to the place was correct, and that there’s something wrong with the whole town, not just the hospital. 

This was a really exciting thriller with an ending I did not expect. 

I also read recently by this author: Snowbound

Blind Hope

Subtitled: An Unwanted Dog and the Woman She Rescued

Nonfiction by Kim Meeder

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The idea behind this book was nice; it’s about a young woman called Laurie who adopted a dog with special needs and found purpose in life. I did not really like the way it was written, however. I can’t explain it, except that the author didn’t really make it interesting to read. I think she was more interested in imparting life lessons than telling a good story. Which is fine, except that I prefer stories to lessons. 

In an Instant

Fiction by Suzanne Redfearn

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning if this story there are the Millers and the Golds, a pair of families whose mothers are longtime best friends. Finn Miller and her siblings even call Mr. and Mrs. Gold “Uncle Bob” and “Aunt Karen.” And there is also Maureen Kaminski, Finn’s best friend who is just like a sister to her.  All of these people who feel like a family go on a weekend ski trip together, and something happens that shows them who is really part of the family and who is an outsider. 

This was an exciting thriller but it was also very thought-provoking. I very much recommend it.