The Travelling Cat Chronicles

 Fiction by Hiro Arikawa

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a different sort of story: it was written in Japanese and from the point of view of a cat. (Obviously I read the version that had been translated into English.)

The cat is called Nana. He was a stray but got adopted by a man called Satoru. After several years together, Nana and Satoru go on a journey around Japan together to visit old friends. Satoru says he is looking for a new home for the cat, but it appears to the reader that he may have another goal.

This was a sweet story and a quick read.

Mummy's Little Helper

 Nonfiction by Casey Watson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Since I've been reading so many Cathy Glass books recently (see Daddy's Little Princess), my computer has started suggesting similar stories by other authors. Apparently this "British Foster Carer Stories" thing is a whole genre. So I decided to give some other authors a try.

This story reads very similarly to Cathy Glass; foster mother Casey takes in a nine-year-old called Abby who has been taking care of her mother Sarah, who suffers from MS. When Sarah is hospitalized because her disease has worsened, Abby has to go into foster care. Casey's goal is to help Abby become a child again rather than the carer she's been forced to be.

I liked this book a bit less than the ones I've read by Cathy Glass; this author seemed to be imposing too much of her own ideas of how a child "should" be raised. Casey seemed very down on Sarah and thought that Abby had been done a disservice in having to help so much. 

I felt like it was okay for Abby to be responsible and try to care for her mother, because she loved her mum and wanted to do it. Still, I realize that the situation had become untenable and Sarah needed more help that a child would give, and the story does end well.

Oona Out Of Order

 Fiction by Margarita Montimore

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

When Oona Lockhart turns 19 on January 1, 1982, she discovers that she is a time traveler. How or why it happens is never explained, but from that time on she must live her life one year at a time, but not consecutively. So, she jumps from 1982 to 2015 to 1991 to 2004 and so forth. Each time she is still herself, but at a different age and with no memories except what she has carried from the last jump.

Yeah, it's weird, but if you can just go with the premise it's a fun story!

Phantom Limb

 Fiction by Lucinda Berry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story centers on Emily and Elizabeth, identical twins who suffered horrible abuse as children and are still troubled as young adults. They are strongly linked to each other and find it very difficult to bond with anyone else. When Elizabeth finally gets a boyfriend, she is afraid to tell her sister, but things will get really bad when the truth comes out. 

This was an interesting thriller with several surprises. 

I also read by this author: The Perfect Child

Seconds Away

 Fiction by Harlan Coben

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the sequel to Shelter, which I read recently. 

In this story, young Mickey Bolitar must help save his friend Rachel from danger. Also he wants to make the varsity basketball team.

This description sounds lame, but it's a really good book! I'm looking forward to the next story in the series.

Daddy's Little Princess

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this book, foster mother Cathy Glass takes care of a seven-year-old girl called Beth who is being raised by a single father; he's just been hospitalized. From the suggestive title I expected her to uncover incestual abuse; however, the reality was a little different...

This was another absorbing read from this author!

I also read recently by this author: Saving Danny

In Another Time

 Fiction by Jillian Cantor

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Hannah is a passionate, beautiful violinist and Max is a bookshop owner who falls for her the first time he hears her play. But this is happening in 1931 in Germany, and Hannah is Jewish; the reader knows from the beginning that there will be trouble for these young lovers.

But there is another complication in the story: Max's bookshop holds a secret that somehow involves time travel... Wait, is this historical fiction or science fiction? 

This was a good story with a few surprises.