Early on, I was about to throw this book if one more recent professional acquaintance or obnoxious relative touched this woman in an unwelcome intimate matter and her response was anything other than throat punch, taser, or pepper spray. It feels gross. Because the psychological thriller premise was intriguing, I tried to skip around to at least see whodunit, but the writing is so bad, I quit.

This installment in the Jack Reacher series goes back to 1990 to tell a story of one of his Army MP cases, a murder he is ordered to cover up. At the same time, his mother is dying, and he and his brother are finding their own ways of coping. Well written and poignant, it provides a lot of background and insight into Reacher's early life. Helps the reader understand why he is in some ways extremely capable and in others quite helpless.

"A person lives 60 years, does all kinds of things, knows all kinds of things, feels all kinds of things, and then it's over, like it never happened at all."
"We'll always remember her."
"No. We'll remember parts of her, the parts she chose to share, the tip of the iceberg. The rest, only she knew about. Therefore the rest already doesn't exist as of now." Dialogue between 2 brothers upon their mother's death.

#rereadtheclassics #whartonbuddyread
Found just what I needed at our local bookstore for September's Wharton read and October's classics read. Plus picked up Ethan Frome for my mother-in-law, who was just evacuated due to a wildfire near her home. 😟🔥

If you like the TV show Shadow and Bone but frankly could do without the Sun Summoner stuff and the Alina-Mal-Darkling angsty love triangle, you will love this book. All the cool characters from Kaz's gang are here, and they are attempting a heist to make them rich. Great character development and lots of tense action.

Despite the grumpy, rude, bitter protagonist, this is a suspenseful and interesting crime thriller. I plan to read more of this series.

It took me awhile to get into this, mostly because I did not like the tactic of starting it post-disaster and then going back in time to explain everything. But I kept reading, and the writing was much better about 1/5 in. It's a reimagined modern day Yale where magic and ghosts exist, and magic societies of rich, often ruthless, students and alumni hold enormous power. The Ninth House tries to keep them from abusing it. Dark, gory, scary fantasy.

Not in Litsy yet. I liked another thriller from Christine Feehan. This didn't thrill me. A nurse is playing at a high stakes televised poker match while trying to decide if she should jump into a relationship with a guy she really likes but who has a dangerous job with lots of travel. I. Don't. Care. The scenes of poker games, with details of the hands, are interminable. If you really like analyzing poker, you might like it.

Usually I can make it to the end of a mediocre crime thriller with judicious skimming, but I just couldn't with this sophomoric murder mystery. Between cheesy, clicheic lines, poor editing of the ebook so you can't tell when a new speaker has started, and a main character who is annoyingly gullible, careless with her safety, and a bad judge of character despite being described as a very intelligent psychologist, I gave up.

Like a silly, funny version of the 80s TV show Friday the 13th, with a guileless pastry chef who can sense magic objects helping a handsome magic detective guy, Diesel, find charms that curse people with various types of gluttony. They face off against Diesel's rogue cousin and his delusional Ren Faire sidekick, Sir Hatchelot. 😆 I highly recommend the audio version because the reader is spot on and hilarious with the voices and accents.

I listened to half of this silly, funny fantasy book while doing housework yesterday, and I am here to warn you that it will make you want baked goods. 😆 The main character is a pastry chef, and she is helping track down some cursed objects that cause gluttony. Low fat vegan microwave mug cake to the rescue!

Soft pick. A parish priest is murdered in 1957 Ireland and the Catholic church naturally wants to cover it up. I don't think it's a spoiler alert to say he was a child rapist because it is pretty obvious early on, plus, well, many of them are. The detective, a bit of an outcast determined to solve the crime, is likeable, and the politics are kind of interesting, but I didn't find the story terribly memorable.

I made it to 25% and there is still no hint of what the mystery is. A mediocre travel journalist with a messy personal life has her apartment robbed while she is in it, which gives her panic attacks. She is then stuck on the first voyage of a fancy cruise ship for work, full of other desperate journalists and rich boring people. The repartee is not witty. Just not enough here to hold my interest.

"They did that sort of manly half hug thing, where you're too metrosexual for a handshake and not hip enough for a fist bump." I am not sure about this book, but I like the author's funny commentary.

Highly romanticized version of ranch life set in CO. Lots of casual sexism--consensual sex initiated by a woman is "taking her virtue," blatant assumption that single working mom=bad mom, and the dangerous idea that men show they are really in love by being jealous and possessive. Martin doesn't say the murder victims deserved to be beaten and strangled to death for being cheating sluts, but clearly implies their choices lead to their murders. ?

I usually despise conartist characters, but Charlie was compelled to become one and then manipulated into also becoming a thief as a child, plus she is a very relatable badass, so she gets a pass. This fantasy envisions an Earth where magic exists and people's shadows can become sentient. Charlie is trying to live the straight life as a bartender, but gets sucked back into her past life when a job to bring home a miscreant to his GF goes bad.

"I discovered that my house actually had its site, in such a withdrawn, but forever new and unprofaned, part of the universe." I visited the tiny cabin and property (more remote than Thoreau's, actually) I once lived in last weekend, and this passage resonated with me. @AllDebooks #naturalitsy #rereadtheclassics

#rereadtheclassics @AllDebooks #naturalitsy
I love this so much. #eattherich

I am enjoying the discussion of how the more luxurious the house, the more burdensome it is. People toil through a lifetime deep in debt to have a nice house, and nowadays a lot of other things, they don't really need. And the maintenance, represented by his tossing out a couple of pieces of lime because they required dusting, sucks more of our lives than it is worth. #rereadtheclassics #naturalitsy @AllDebooks

I haven't been on here much because someone I loved died and it's hard to do all the things. But here is one of my favorite poems, which I am really feeling today. It's not in Facts about the Moon. I don't know if it is in any of her books. But it is brilliant in its brevity and universal human truth.

Second novel in the Archer series. Good murder mystery set in a CA coastal town with some serious corruption problems. Archer goes to work for an experienced PI, travelling with a feisty, smart showgirl friend he meets on the way. I love how this series describes everyday life in late 1940s USA. It makes me realize what an embarrassment of riches most of us have in the U.S. compared to what our grandparents had.

Chapter 33. Ayesha opts for a depressing, existential Shakespeare quote at the mosque's youth summit. 🤦 Khalid chases her to her car and congratulates her on her fortunate engagement to him, the rich guy who will help her be more religious and quit her job to write amateur poems. Wow. Way to read your audiences, people! #pemberlittens

Chapter 35. 🤣🤣🤣 Is Idris anyone else's favorite character? He steals the scene every time he walks onstage. I have no doubt he will be the head of a giant tech company someday. #pemberlittens

Chapter 30. I love how the best Farzana can do toward a smile is an upturned grimace. She is so mean. Tarek is clearly up to no good, but I sympathize with his opinion of Farzana. #pemberlittens

This is a good murder mystery that keeps you guessing, with a strong female protagonist. A detective investigates a series of murders of prostitutes. As she tries to work through a mess of politics to solve the case, she becomes involved with one of the main suspects, which is problematic for several reasons. Set slightly in the future but nothing too crazy except cars that can fly to get around traffic.

This book is a somewhat realistic thriller about what might happen in the not-too-distant future when gene-hacking tools are a few levels more advanced. Agent Ramsay works for a federal agency that goes after unauthorized genetic work and is infected with a massive gene upgrade. He has to run to avoid becoming a science experiment and try to stop the potentially catastrophic genetic virus developed by his own family before it's unleashed.

Ch 14. Jalaluddin shows us the flip side of having a traditional extended family when Ayesha confronts Hafsa. It is wonderful that Hafsa's dad gave Ayesha's mom a house and gives his children everything they could want, but now we've got a 27 year old woman covering for her irresponsible teen cousin and afraid to stop because her generous aunt and uncle might not see her as saintly anymore if they find out. And Hafsa is an entitled little sh!t.

Chapter 13. Why not? How about because it is hard to imagine a more uncomfortable feeling than heart-pounding, electric (sexual, let's call it what it is) attraction at first sight while your mom and teenage brother eagerly watch? I guess that is sort of what happened with Jane and her nosy mom when Bingley first met her, but then they danced together away from prying, immediate vicinity supervision. #pemberlittens

Chapters 11-12. So Tarek straight up tells the small mosque that they are bumping their already scheduled conference because a bigger fish came along. Anyone else started to think this guy is a little slimy and a bit too shiny? Also, Ayesha is an idiot to cover for Hafsa again! #pemberlittens

The premise sounds interesting. Guy meets girl, she moves, they keep in contact, and he rips off her traumatic story to write a novel. But the story is about a meet-cute that goes on forever, and I just can't wait that long for the more sinister stuff.

Oops, just realized I never posted a review after the #pemberlittens read. The prose is clever and often subtly funny, but I really had to slog through the first 2/3 of this book before I cared about ANYBODY, so it doesn't get a pick. Plus the misogyny, and I don't mean the times, I mean how Eliot describes women. The character development of Dori is my favorite part even though I despised her at first.

I just couldn't get into this one. A woman's husband is murdered and she discovers he was involved with videos of women being tortured and murdered. She and her sister, the other main character, are not very likeable, and the scenes seem too drawn out and slow. It is also pretty predictable (I checked at over halfway to confirm) Maybe if I were reading it instead of listening, I could have skimmed some and made it farther, but I bailed at 20%.

Finished in the nick of time! Suspenseful murder mystery. MC is an Army vet trying to get into finance in NYC. He gets roped into helping with an undercover investigation of the firm he works for, and people he knows keep getting murdered. I was totally wrong about who the killer was! Good voice artists.

Chapter 59. I am really getting tired of Eliot's snide sexist remarks about women. I get that Rosamond is kind of a shallow jerk who gets all her self-worth from the admiration of men, but here, as elsewhere, she makes sweeping statements about women's inferior minds. Anyone else noticing this? Am I overreacting? #pemberlittens

Chapter 56. Caleb Garth never learns. Now he is going to hire the lazy privileged guy who already defaulted on debt guaranteed by Caleb to make a man of him. Anyone else think this sounds like a very bad business idea? #pemberlittens

Dorothea's husband wakes her in the middle of the night . . .to read him a book. Like a CHILD. I hate all the husbands in this book. #pemberlittens

I am new to downloading audio books to my phone as I always thought it sounded like a headache, but now that I am on board am loving how you can listen while cooking, in this case vegan omelette and waffle with veg bacon. I am noticing a pattern to a lot of Coben's stories--woman does dumb illegal thing, doesn't tell her partner, and either disappears to later reappear and cause problems or stays but the secret later causes problems.

About 1/3 boring, 1/3 frustrating, and 1/3 funny. I only got through it because I could do other things while listening, and the male reader is very good at putting the right amount of contempt and arrogance into Stephen's voice. Privileged Lucy goes off to college and in short order becomes anorexic and hopelessly obsessed with Stephen, a cheesy d'bag that some women find charming. Stephen has minimal, atypical attachments and emotions to the ⬇️

Chapter 36. I am so looking forward to this idiot Lydgate having his silly, sexist illusions of his perfect wife shattered. The idea of Rosamond as existing only to support and please him--yuck. 🤮 #pemberlittens

Chapter 34. I still don't like any of the characters, but at least Mrs. Cadwallader provides a little comic relief. #pemberlittens

First glass of wine after Dry January, enjoying this wonderful 1990s movie version of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. So many good lines but the above is one of my favorites.

Chapter 16. So Lydgate, new doctor in town, is kindly invited to a dinner party by the Vincys, and he decides to insult another guest, Chichely, by stating that lawyer coroners are incompetent at their jobs, then doubles down and insults post-morten medical examiners, too? Does anyone else think that is a little rude and not the best way to ingratiate yourself in a new town, LOL?

Listened on audio on a road trip, and it kept me alert! Police officer Nap Dumas never got over the mysterious death of his twin brother and the disappearance of his high school girlfriend. He begins investigating 15 years later when a crime scene with his old girlfriend's prints pops up. It's a good mystery, although I wasn't crazy about how they had the voice actor do intense scenes.

I read this in two days while recovering from a cold on the couch. It is a cute rom-com with lots of laughs about a private security agent who heads up a job protecting a movie star while he is in town. Highly recommend for a quick read.

Just started this book, but it is already making me laugh out loud. Forget "It's not you, it's me." This girl's boyfriend just straight up tells her the problem is her: she is a workaholic, not fun, and a bad kisser. ?

I read this entire book and still have no idea why it is called Her Deadly Secrets. It's a pretty good murder mystery, and the main characters, a PI and the private security guy who is hired to protect her after her colleague is murdered while they are working on a case, are likeable.

Best book I have read all year. Haunting mystery about detectives investigating the murder of a young girl, which may or may not be related to the disappearance of two children in the same area 20 years ago. This novel is elevated from genre fiction by fresh, arresting imagery and descriptions and depth of the characters. It follows the development, and later gut wrenching dissolution, of the friendship between detectives Rob and Cassie. ⬇️

#jolabokaflodswap @MaleficentBookDragon @julieclair
Wow! I am so excited to read this scary sounding book and binge on chocolate! Might have to share with my coworkers. Thank you, Julie! The wrapping paper was beautiful, too.

This author has such a way with words. I love the description of a little kid who has an adult face as "bansai adult" with a voice like a heavy smoker. So funny! Loving the descriptive language in this book.

Kalter Kartoffelsalat! Very simple recipe where you soak the already cooked potatoes and raw onions in boiling water from cooking the potatoes for a couple of hours to make it creamy. Tagged book is not this cookbook as it isn't in the database. #foodandlit #germany