What Are We Reading And Reviewing in April 2020?

Tell us what you plan to read in April. Looks like the Easter Bunny needs some reading material taken to the jail.

Carol Hunts Up Some Good Reads For April
📌 - ★

📌The Devil Colony - James Rollins - 4.5★ (Group Read from March)
📌Stone Cold - Dvid Baldacci - 4.5★ (Group Read)
📌Black Ice - Michael Connelly - 3.5★ (Group Read)
📌Playing With Fire - Tess Gerritsen - 5★ (Pick a Winner)
📌We Were Liars - E. Lockhart - 5★
📌The Dark Lake - Sarah Bailey - 3★
📌You Will Pay - Lisa Jackson - 2.5★
📌Croak - Gina Damico - 3★
📌Sub-Zero - Robert W. Walker - 3.5★
📌Black House - Stephen King & Peter Straub - 3★
📌The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell - 5★
📌The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater - 2.5★
📌Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Myers - 4★
📌The Violets of March - Sarah Jio - 2★
📌Dead Dry - Sarah Andrews - 3★
📌The Christie Curse - Victoria Abbott - 4 ★
📌Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris - 4★
📌Flat Broke With Two Goats - Jennifer McGaha - 4★
📌Sticks & Stones - Madeleine Urban - 5★
📌Divide & Conquer - Madeleine Urban - 5★
📌Stars & Stripes - Abigail Roux - 5★

Lynda and Oliver's April Reading List

🌷 These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 - Nancy E. Turner - 4 Stars - 4/1/20
🌷 Blood Oath - Christopher Farnsworth - 4 Stars - 4/2/20
🌷 The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein - 4.5 Stars - 4/3/20
🌷 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - 4.5 Stars - 4/4/20
🌷 Savor the Moment - Nora Roberts - 3 Stars - 4/5/20
🌷 The Warlord of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs - 3 Stars - 4/6/20
🌷 Scarlet - Marissa Meyer - 4 Stars - 4/7/20
🌷 Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade - Patrick Dennis - 4 Stars - 4/8/20
🌷 The Devil Colony - James Rollins - 5 Stars - 4/9/20
🌷 The Final Six - Alexandra Monir - 3 Stars - 4/10/20
🌷 The Life Below - Alexandra Monir - 3 Stars - 4/11/20
🌷 Open Season - C.J. Box - 4 Stars - 4/12/20
🌷 The Moneychangers - Arthur Hailey - 4 Stars - 4/13/20
🌷 Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs - 3.5 Stars - 4/13/20
🌷 A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab - 4 Stars - 4/14/20
🌷 True Sisters - Sandra Dallas - 4 Stars - 4/15/20
🌷 Trickster's Point - William Kent Krueger - 4 Stars - 4/16/20
🌷 Savage Run - C.J. Box - 4/5 Stars - 4/17/20
🌷 The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal - 3 Stars - 4/18/20
🌷 Still Alice - Lisa Genova - 4/19/20 - 5 Stars
🌷 Stone Cold - David Baldacci - 4/20/20 - 4.5 Stars
🌷 The Long Quiche Goodbye - Avery Aames - 3 Stars - 4/21/20
🌷 The 9th Girl - Tami Hoag - 4 Stars - 4/21/20
🌷 The Chessmen of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs - 4 Stars - 4/22/20
🌷 March - Geraldine Brooks - 4 Stars - 4/23/20
🌷 Royal Target - Traci Hunter Abramson - 3 Stars - 4/24/20
🌷 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers - 5 Stars - 4/25/20
🌷 Cress - Marissa Meyer - 4.5 Stars - 4/26/20
🌷 Flower Net - Lisa See - 3.5 Stars - 4/27/20
🌷 The Restorer - Amanda Stevens - 3.5 Stars - 4/28/20
🌷 William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back - Ian Doescher - 4 Stars - 4/29/20

Dead Dry - Sarah Andrews
Em Hansen series Book #10
3 ★

Geologist and investigator Em Hansen is helping out the Salt Lake City police on the murder of a fellow geologist. Dumped in a gravel quarry, his arms and legs removed and his face bashed in so he'll be unrecognizable, Em IDs him anyway because of a strange tattoo--a geological map of the world--she spots on his body: It's Afton McWain, a controversial figure who worked in big oil in Colorado but who now works in the field of water and droughts.

The geology and water discussions were interesting... but a bit too much information that had nothing to do with the story. I find the idea that the police would even have such a person as a forensic geologist on their staff, let alone want her to get involved in solving a mystery...somewhat unbelievable. Another disturbing thing was the way the men in Em's life talked and speculated about her. This seemed to be sexual harassment and not professional on either her part or theirs. The murder was an interesting one in all it's "goriness"...hence the 3 stars. It could have easily been a 4 star, or even a 5 for some, if more time had been spent on the mystery itself.

Schedule for Group Reads in April

Friday 3rd April : The Devil Colony by James Rollins

Wednesday 15th April : Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Sunday 26th April : The Black Ice by Michael Connelly

Sub-Zero
3.5★

The world has struggled with deadly winters for decades--killer storms has taken thousands of lives. Now in the year 2020, it is in the grip of a new Ice Age, all because man had altered the weather to suit his own needs, not realizing the terrifying forces he had unleashed. Meant as a men's adventure science fiction disaster novel SPOOF, the reader must take this first novel tongue-in-cheek, and try your best not to get caught up in it so much you forget to laugh. An ice-age descends over Chicago, trapping an ensemble of characters inside the tallest tower in the city, trapping them with a murderous madman out to kill the weatherman.

Could we be engineering a new ice age? I'm not sure of the answer...although the author has created a strong argument for it...but you also have to bear in mind that this is now 2020..the year that this was suppose to happen. This book was written in 1979...and we are all still here with not a single "walking Popsicle" among us. The story was good and showed that the author had spent some time researching his subject. The only really bad thing I can say about the book was that it seemed to have come directly from his typewriter/computer...making it's way to the printer bypassing the editor/proofreader entirely. If you like a few laughs with your "end of civilization" mystery...then you will enjoy this one. Rather interesting to sit reading about the "new ice age"...41 years in this stories future.

Schedule for the Group Read of The Devil Colony by James Rollins, #7 in the Sigma Force Series.

Friday 3rd April : 1 - 7
Saturday 4th April : 8 - 15
Sunday 5th April : 16 - 22
Monday 6th April : 23 - 26
Tuesday 7th April : 27 - 35
Wednesday 8th April : 36 - 44

Croak - Gina Damico
3★

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business. She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice — or is it vengeance? — Whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

It’s a Young Adult novel but it fit a challenge so I picked it up. I was surprised how much I liked it….not loved it…but liked it. The characters were ‘different” but they were also sometimes a bit funny. The main character...Lex...was most of the time...obnoxious...but I believe that was supposed to make the reader feel empathy for all she had been through. Since I'm not 16 years old...I just wanted to slap her. I believe the best description for the book would be it was Harry Potter with reapers instead of wizards.

Dark Lake - Sarah Bailey
Gemma Woodstock series Book #1
3.5★

The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama. As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?

DS Gemma Woodstock has a connection to Rosalind..the woman found dead in the lake. She is not at all thrilled about this turn of events as that is something she is desperate to hide. Dark Lake is a mystery with an interesting case as well as an interesting investigator who quickly becomes obsessed with solving it. It takes place in a rural town in Australia where everyone knows everyone and it seems that everyone has something to hide. Gemma is beginning to find that sometimes cases can really get too close to home. The only thing I found unbelievable about the characters was Gemma's son's father and their relationship. I just couldn't see a woman this strong willed falling for such a wimp. Otherwise a really good start to the series.

Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meter
Twilight Saga Book #4
4★

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved? To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

I had read this series with my niece when it first came out. Believe me that it takes some patience for readers who are not 14 to 15 year old girls to get to the last books. I remember how excited she was about each new addition and like 98% of her age group she loved Edward. Thought I'd visit the last book again since it was IMO the best of the set. it is a good story and a good series to read for anyone that wants to expand their reading experience. There are many opinions about the series and again it seems to be relevant to the age group. I believe that the author wanted to write a love story in the first book that was about the obsession of first love with some paranormal traits within it...and it was targeted towards younger girls It seems though as the series progressed she starting writing the story to the more mature audience as the characters grew and the audience expanded. As I said it was an enjoyable read and well worth the 4 stars,

The Violets of March - Sarah Jio
2★

In her twenties, Emily Wilson was on top of the world: she had a bestselling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily's good fortune. So when her great-aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life.

The author uses the curious nature of wood violets which have bloomed on the island in an off-season to signal promise and redemption for the future. Great Aunt Bee tends and protects these flowers but actually the story is suppose to center more around the mysterious red velvet diary that Emily finds....but what it actually did was give me a list of unbelievable and seemingly impossible events. One or two would have been okay but there was t least a half dozen or more. For example...
1. Months worth of events were indicated to have occurred in three weeks time.
2. Emily meets someone...falls in love and gets engaged after three dates in three weeks...you have to bear in mind that she had just divorced the "love of your life". (her words, not mine)
3. Emily simultaneously dated two new men within that three week period and she hadn't seen one of them in ten years. (When did she find time to research her new book?)
4. The date on the letter from her grandmother was one day after her grandmother dies...and the list goes on. Name changes throughout were also confusing. I've read much better by Sarah Jio.

>11 Carol420: Oh dear!

The Devil Colony - James Rollins
Sigma Force series Book #7
4.5★

a novel of boundless imagination and meticulous research, a book that dares to answer a frightening question at the heart of America: Could the founding of the United States be based on a fundamental lie? The shocking truth lies hidden within the ruins of an impossibility, a lost colony of the Americas vanished in time and cursed into oblivion. A place known only as The Devil Colony.

The mysteries and excitement here... like the founding of America, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, the Native American peoples, the Book of Mormon, and nanotechnology are all plots that fit well into the Sigma story frame that fans of this series have come to expect and look forward to. There is a large number of side characters here that also takes some time to place them in their places and importance in the story. Overall I have to call it a very enjoyable read though it was a bit too long. On a side note I read that it took Rollins 2 years to write this novel...so...another winner in this series and a well earned 4.5 stars.

Golden in Death by J D Robb
#50 In Death series
4*

Spring is in the air, but so is murder. Lt. Eve Dallas, NYSPD, is called to the home of a prep school headmaster. She finds the headmaster's spouse dead from an unknown poison. The poison was delivered in a cheap plastic golden egg. Not long after another similar victim, the wife of a college professor, is found dead in her home. Eve and her partner Det. Peabody need to find the connection and to stop any further murders. I really enjoyed the twists and turns leading to the capture of the killer. Sex, drugs, love, affairs, power, and old grudges put Eve through her paces. A good strong 50th entry into the Zin Death series.

>13 Carol420: It was very long but loved the book.

>15 Andrew-theQM: I at least had a paperback and not a 100 pound hard copy:) I'm reading a paperback now that has 821 pages all tissue paper thin.

Playing With Fire - Tess Gerritsen
5★

When violinist Julia Ansdell picked up the Incendio Waltz in a darkened antique shop in Rome, she knew it was a strikingly unusual composition. She uncovers a heart-stoppingly dark secret that not only dates back to the horrors of the Holocaust, but also involves a dangerously powerful family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

While in Italy, Julia buys an old piece of sheet music titled Incendio by an L. Todesco, whom she’s never heard of. When she plays the composition at home in the U.S., Lily ...her 3 year old daughter...appears to go crazy...killing their cat...stabbing Julia in the leg with a shard of glass and causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. Does the music possess an evil quality? Or does the problem lie within Julia herself, as her husband, Rob, thinks? As Julia flies off to Italy to try and find out more about the piece of music...we switch time periods to 1940 to learn more about the composer. This is war-torn Italy and many dreams are not coming true for the people of this era...and such is the case for young Todescoa and the love of his life...Laura. As the two plot lines converge...people die...and Julia places herself and others in mortal danger. In fact the stakes are even higher than she ever imagined. My advise...clear your schedule and bring plenty of food with you when you start reading. You will not want to put it down.

Hitched by Carol Higgins Clark
3*

Regan Reilly, PI, is getting married to Jack Reilly (no relation), NYPD detective. She traveled from her home in LA to her folk's place in NYC to stay until the wedding in one week. Regan, her mom Nora and Regan's best friend went over to the bridal salon for a final fitting. Upon arriving they found a shredded bloody bride's gown hanging in the salon, with the other gowns, including Regan's, missing. The owners were found tied up on their bed in a back room. Chaos ensued as the other brides found out about he robbery. Regan and Jack were determined to find the gowns and robbers. Quirky characters, kidnappings, mean dogs, bank robberies, false IDs, posses of bridesmaids, broken engagements and bumbling robbers kept Regan on her feet. This story was more disjointed and rambling than the last few novels. But, alls well that ends well. A silly light hearted read for me.

The Christie Curse - Victoria Abbott
Book Collector Mystery series Book #1
4★

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared—making headlines across the world—only to show up eleven days later at a spa under an assumed name. During those eleven days, did she have time to write a play?
Jordan Kelly needs a new job and a new place to live. She’s back in Harrison Falls, New York, living with her not so law-abiding uncles, in debt thanks to a credit card–stealing ex and pending grad school loans. Enter the perfect job, a research position that includes room and board, which will allow her to spend her days hunting down rare mysteries for an avid book collector. There’s just one problem: her employer, Vera Van Alst—the most hated citizen of Harrison Falls. Jordan’s first assignment is to track down a rumored Agatha Christie play. It seems easy enough, but Jordan soon finds out that her predecessor was killed while looking for it, and there is still someone out there willing to murder to keep the play out of Vera’s hands. Jordan’s new job is good…but is it worth her life?

I don't usually care for cozies but I really enjoyed this one. It features Jordan Kelly...a book researcher and the only one in her family without a criminal background. We meet...but don't love or admire in any way...Vera Van Alst. Vera is known to be rude and overbearing. Perhaps she has reason as an automobile accident has confined her to a wheelchair...or it could be that she is just rude, overbearing and obnoxious. The real ruler of the house is the cat...also not always lovable...but hey...it's a cat. All of the characters are well drawn and colorful. It was just plain entertaining and fun. A great start to this series and I will look for more.

We Have Lost the Coffee by Paul Mathews
3.5 ★

London, 2045. Three months into the Coffee Wars, and Britain's caffeine supplies are at critical levels. A secret Government coffee stockpile could save the day . . . but then mysteriously disappears overnight. Secret Agent Howie Pond is asked to unravel the missing-coffee mystery. And he's in desperate need of a triple espresso. Meanwhile, his journalist wife, Britt, is hunting royal fugitive Emma Windsor on the streets of the capital. Can Howie save the British Republic from caffeine-starved chaos?

The story switched back and forth between Howie and Britt. Howie was amusing as he bumbled through interviewing various quirky or uncooperative people about the missing coffee. Britt was amusing as she talked herself into and out of various situations using different identities to uncover the hiding place of Emma Windsor. I liked that this was humorous without being too silly.

We Were Liars – E. Lockheart
5★

A beautiful and distinguished family….A private island…A brilliant, damaged girl… a passionate, political boy…A group of four friends, the Liars whose friendship turns destructive…a revolution….an accident….a secret...lies upon lies…true love…the truth. Read it and if anyone asks you how it ends...just LIE.

The book is narrated by a 17 year old girl named Cadence. She was born into the Sinclair family, a wealthy family that must always appear in control of all situations. Throughout the story, Cadence is trying to recover her memory from the summer when she was 15. On that summer vacation an accident occurred that caused her to lose her memory. The story is written in a way that I found to be unique and interesting. It’s a love story… it’s a mystery…it’s a book that completely throws you off again and again. I was a little confused by Cadence throughout the story, but the twist at the end solved that and I found that I was really endeared to this young girl. It’s always nice to be surprised by a book and this one certainly did that...so 5 stars for a most enjoyable adventure.

>21 Carol420: A great review, keep seeing this - clearly need to pick it up.

>22 Andrew-theQM: Thank you. Whitney (grammerchick) recommended it.

Black House - Stephen King & Peter Straub
The Talisman series Book #2
3★

Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her Territories “Twinner” from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories, and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories. When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades ago by a madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed “the Fishman,” and Jack’s buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find him. But are these new killings merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack’s inexplicable waking dreams—if that is what they are—of robins’ eggs and red feathers? It’s almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As this cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.

I've always considered Stephen King as the ultimate "Master of Horror". Team the Master up with Peter Straub ...another noteworthy horror writer and you should have a winner..right? Unfortunately Black House just falls short. The killer is perverse,but not frightening at all. Actually he is more comical than ominous, and his thoughts read more like mischievous adolescent rage than visions in a psychotic mind. The fact that he is not in complete control of the evil occurring throughout the county also diminishes his character’s powers as evil. Overall The plot is predictable and the characters have neither the fear-factor of the clown from It, nor the sheer evil presence of Tak from Desperation. Even the dead cat from Pet Sematary had more punch. I expected more from these two authors. Worth 3 stars but no more IMO.

Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris
4★

Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscape of his childhood, to which he longs to return. A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide the key to an old mystery. As the unusual properties of the strange brew take effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet. There, a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

What a charming fairy tale for grown-ups! It comes complete with elements of fantasies... a house in the French countryside...potions and healers with the power to transform...love everlasting even if often is not entirely convincing. There were only a couple of things that were slightly annoying but not overwhelming. The narrator was a bottle of wine...you don't have to go back and reread that...it was indeed a bottle of blackberry wine...and the end of the book is a little unbelievable. The recluse harbors a dark secret which comes out of the blue. Overall it was certainly an intriguing way to present he story.

Schedule for Group Read of Stone Cold by David Baldacci, book 3 in the Camel Club series.

Wed 15th April : 1 - 16
Thurs 16th April : 17 - 33
Fri 17th April : 34 - 50
Sat 18th April : 51 - 65
Sun 19th April : 66 - 81
Mon 20th April : 82 - 99

The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell
5★

Be careful who you let in. Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them. Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

Lisa Jewell has been a favorite author of mine since I first read "The Girl In The Garden" and "Then She Was Gone"... both excellent works...but I believe she may have out-done herself with "The Family Upstairs". It will kept you guessing throughout the story. Every time you think that you have established a connection or figured out an identity...guess again. I also loved the concept of the creepy house where people died and all of its surrounding mystery. There is plenty of suspense and atmosphere with characters that you can both love and hate... sometimes at the same time. Overall it reads as part psychological thriller...part domestic drama, with a side of horror thrown in. If creepy houses...mysterious deaths... and dark family secrets pique your curiosity, then this one is a must-read for you.

>27 Carol420: Love Lisa Jewell books.

>28 Andrew-theQM: You'll like this one if you haven't read it already.

>29 Carol420: I think this is one of the few I haven’t read.

The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater
Raven Cycle series Book #1
2.5★

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her. His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

The story has some interesting moments and there really is nothing wrong with it...except that I am not 13 years old and I really didn't get the point of most of it. I knew it was YA when I picked it up...but that didn't matter at the time. I have read and really liked many books marked YA...Harry Potter in point. I truly believe that Stiefvater is capable of writing and telling a story. It's just that this is not a story that will appeal to very many adults.

The Killing Forest by Sara Blaedel
2.5 ★

Following an extended leave, Louise Rick returns to work at the Special Search Agency, an elite unit of the National Police Department. She's assigned a case involving a fifteen-year-old who vanished a week earlier. When Louise realizes that the missing teenager is the son of a butcher from Hvalsoe, she seizes the opportunity to combine the search for the teen with her personal investigation of her boyfriend's long-ago death. As she moves through the small town's cramped network of deadly connections, Louise unearths toxic truths left unspoken and dangerous secrets.

The storyline was interesting but I think the characters needed more development. I never grew to care about any of them and didn’t get drawn into the story. This was translated and perhaps it lost something in the translation.

Just finished No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez, now on to finishing No Exit by Taylor Adams

>33 ColinMichaelFelix: Did you get this in the Early Reviewers? I received a copy also in November. I've received 6 books from this since September 2019. Free books...what's not to love?

You Will Pay - Lisa Jackson
2.5★

Deadly secrets of a long-ago summer stir to life once more. It starts as a prank—a way to blow off steam after a long summer at Camp Horseshoe. Among the teen counselors, tensions and hormones are running high. No wonder the others agree when Jo-Beth Chancellor suggests they scare Monica O’Neal a little . . . or a lot. Monica has it coming, and no one will really get hurt. What could go wrong? Everything.

Sounds from the description that it's another good one by this author...however I think Lisa Jackson must have been on vacation and this was written by a ghost writer. The first part of this book was like watching paint dry. No action to speak of...and no suspense. Each new character reviews the story from the viewpoint of the main character in the chapter. Same thing over an over. There were red herrings galore and off center plot lines that went absolutely nowhere. The premise was good but it just failed to carry through. Never had a Lisa Jackson book quiet like this one.

Sticks & Stones - Madeleine Urban
Cut & Run Series Book #2
5★

Six months after nearly losing their lives to a serial killer in New York City, FBI Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett are suffering through something almost as frightening: the monotony of desk duty. When they're ordered to take a vacation for the good of everyone's sanity, Ty bites the bullet and takes Zane home with him to West Virginia, hoping the peace and quiet of the mountains will give them the chance to explore the explosive attraction they've so far been unable to reconcile with their professional partnership. Ty and Zane, along with Ty's father and brother, head up into the Appalachian mountains for a nice, relaxing hike deep into the woods... where no one will hear them scream. They find themselves facing danger from all directions: unpredictable weather, the unrelenting mountains, wild animals, fellow hikers with nothing to lose, and the most terrifying challenge of all. Each other.

I started this series some time ago and had actually read this book but it had been so long ago that wanted to reconnect with the characters. And what characters they are! The tough... hard working,...chance taking...FBI agents with hearts as big as Zane's native Texas. What a pair! Along with being those FBI Special Agents..they are also two partners that want to be more than working partners. A trip to Ty Grady's home in West Virginia allows the reader to meet the family that shaped Ty into the reliable...willing to die for his country and those that he loves man that he is in both his professional and personal life. The series is not going to be for everyone but you just can't help falling in love with these two. The biggest question in this episode of their lives is can they survive the "vacation from Hell" and can they survive one another?

Flat Broke With Two Goats - Jennifer McGaha
4★

When life gets your goat, bring in the herd! Jennifer McGaha never expected to own a goat named Merle. Or to be setting Merle up on dates and naming his doeling Merlene. She didn't expect to be buying organic yogurt for her chickens. She never thought she would be pulling camouflage carpet off her ceiling or rescuing opossums from her barn and calling it "date night." Most importantly, Jennifer never thought she would only have $4.57 in her bank account. When Jennifer discovered that she and her husband owed back taxes―a lot of back taxes―her world changed. Now desperate to save money, they foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a one-hundred-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. Soon enough, Jennifer's life began to more closely resemble her Appalachian ancestors than her upper-middle-class upbringing. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land. Told with bold wit, unflinching honesty, and a firm foot in the traditions of Appalachia, Flat Broke with Two Goats blends stories of homesteading with the journey of two people rediscovering the true meaning of home.

It wasn't that the couple wanted to raise goats or that they wanted to live in the woods of North Carolina...it was the six figure tax debt on their suburban home that they were buying from a friend that that lead then to the cabin in the North Carolina woods. Her upbeat and sometimes funny memoir follows the couple and their two dogs into a situation that was less than ideal. The house wasn't ever going to be featured in Better Homes & Gardens. It was filled with the pungent odor of mold..., had green camouflage carpet “on the ceiling,”...a barely functioning bathroom...which she thanked the Housing Gods was at least indoors...countless mice... and a constant influx of snakes attracted by those countless mice. To make matter worse...if that was even possible...her husband had outright lied to her about their financial situation...so she achieved some happiness with the purchase of a few goats and chickens. She learned how to make goat cheese...breed the goats, with only a few misadventures along the way. The narrative often rambles...and there is a long section about her life with her abusive first husband. She glosses over some of the deeper problems that she and her husband created for themselves. There are recipes in the book if anyone is longing for a bowl of Crock-Pot goat milk soap, which involves “9.56 ounces 100 percent pure lye” and some unspecified “protective gear.” It's sad...it thought provoking...its sometimes funny. It diffidently made this reader glad to only be reading about it and not in any way experiencing it.

Stone Cold - David Baldacci
Camel Club series Book #3
4.5★

Oliver Stone, the leader of the mysterious group that calls itself the Camel Club, is both feared and respected. Keeping a vigilant watch over our leaders in Washington D.C., the club has won over some allies, but it has also made some formidable enemies. Annabelle Conroy, an honorary member of the Camel Club, is the greatest con artist of her generation. As an old, powerful mark hunts her down and the Camel Club tries to protect her, a new opponent suddenly arises. One by one, men from Stone's shadowy past turn up dead. Behind this slaughter stands one man: Harry Finn. To almost all who know him, he's a loving father and husband who uses his skills to keep America safe. But Finn is also an unstoppable killer who now sets his lethal bull's-eye on Oliver Stone. And with Harry Finn, Stone may well have met his match.

This is a series that is certainly without a doubt is "character driven". These three unlikely super heroes led by Oliver Stone...who has huge secrets of his own...reach out...attach themselves, and grow on you with every addition of this series. This episode of the Camel Club concludes some things that desperately needed to be concluded and at least one that defiantly didn't...came out of the blue...and will change the atmosphere of the remaining two books. I'm upset with David Baldacci over his choice here...but then I'm not an influence for his choices. I'll read the next two books and hope that he comes up with something redeeming.

>34 Carol420: No I got it the way I get all my books, I bought it. I was in the book store and it kind of spoke to me. Which is also how I always choose books.

Fish & Chips - Madeleine Urban
Cut & Run Series Book #3
5★

These two agents...Ty and Zane... are intoxicating and addictive. I believe that of the of the 2 books that I have read, this is the most light hearted of them and a bit more comical. Not that being stuck in the middle of the ocean on a fancy cruise ship with people trying to kill you can be considered light hearted in any way. The guys are becoming more comfortable with one another...they play off of one another but underneath they are both terrified that they will do something to upset the balance of their delicate new relationship. There is a slight mystery and an antique racket going on for them to investigate...but in the end they just want to explore the next twist in their new situation. It's a good series...a fast read...but not for everyone.

So I've finished the NOs(Bad Deed & Exit) and so it's on to finishing Tear it Down by Nick Petrie and Obsession in Death by J D Robb and starting The Nowhere Man by Gregg Hurwitz and Memory Man by David Baldacci

Divide & Conquer - Madeleine Urban
Cut & Run series Book #4
5★

Baltimore, Maryland, is a city in alarming distress. Rising violence is fanning the flames of public outrage, and all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are catching blame. Thus the FBI's latest ideas to improve public relations: a municipal softball league and workshops for community leaders. But the new commitments just mean more time Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have to spend apart when they're happily exploring how to be more than by-the-book partners. Then the latest spate of crime explodes in their faces-literally-throwing the city, the Bureau, and Ty and Zane's volatile partnership both in and out of the office into chaos. They're hip-deep in trouble, trying to track down bombers and bank robbers in the dark with very few clues, and the only way to reach the light at the end of the tunnel together requires Ty and Zane to close their eyes.

The first book I read in this series...Sticks & Stones was loaned to me when I ran out of reading material a few weeks ago. My good friend loaned me the copy and said "Don't judge a book totally by the subject matter." I knew what he was referring to as he and his long-time partner had just gotten back together after a rough patch in their lives. He said he totally related to the character of Zane Grady. I totally believed him. Frankly I never expected to love these two characters..or for that matter the series thus far, as much as I have. It was a shot in the dark of something different. It isn't all sex as I suspected it would be... although there is plenty of that...but I was surprised how well the crime parts of it are written...how easy the story comes together and how much sense it all makes. He keeps feeding me books...I keep visiting with Ty and Zane. We are all happy campers....except that now I have to read out of order while he tracks down book #3. sigh

The day for the Group Read crept up on me, the schedule is be.ow. Apologies not posting it sooner.

The Black Ice by Michael Connelly, Book 2 in the Harry Bosch Universe.

Sunday 26th April : Chapter 1 - 7
Monday 27th April : Chapter 8 - 14
Tuesday 28th April : Chapter 15 - 19
Wednesday 29th April : Chapter 20 - 26
Thursday 30th April : Chapter 27 - 34

Framed by S. L. McInnis
4 ★

Beth Montgomery seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful house in the hills above Los Angeles, a handsome, ambitious husband, and plans of starting a family. So it doesn’t occur to her to worry when the news breaks of a quadruple homicide across town, a botched drug deal that leaves an undercover officer among the dead. Beth certainly would never think to tie the murders to the sudden reappearance in her life of wild, sexy Cassie Ogilvy, the estranged best friend she hasn’t seen since they were college roommates.

This story had interesting characters that kept me turning the pages. Wild Cassie had no regard for her friend or the husband, she just wanted a place to hide after being involved in the botched drug deal. I kept wanting to tell Beth to get rid of her. Well, Cassie was not the only one with a secret and there were a couple of twists and surprises. I was quite drawn into the story and I smiled at the ending, despite everything I knew.

Stars & Stripes - Abigail Roux
Cut & Run series Book #6
5★

Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have managed the impossible: a few months of peace and quiet. After nearly a year of personal and professional turmoil, they're living together conflict-free, work is going smoothly, and they're both happy, healthy, and home every night before dark. But anyone who knows them knows that can’t possibly last. When an emergency call from home upsets the balance of their carefully arranged world, Ty and Zane must juggle family drama with a perplexing crime to save a helpless victim before time runs out. From the mountains of West Virginia to a remote Texas horse ranch harboring more than just livestock and childhood memories, Ty and Zane must face their fears—and their families—to overcome an unlikely enemy and bring peace back into their newly shared world.

Just when you think you have just read the best one in the series along comes another one that changes your mind completely. This one allows us to see more of Zane & Ty's families as the two leave Ty's family in the West Virginia mountains to go to Texas to help Zane's family when Zane's father is shot. We also see the two guys searching their hearts thinking about more of a life together and what it would mean for both of them both personally and professionally. The series is touching, romantic...and sometimes down right comical with the wit that can only be Ty and Zane. Looking forward to the next one.

The Black Ice - Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch series Book #2
3.5★

Narcotics officer Cal Moore's orders were to look into the city's latest drug killing. Instead, he ends up in a motel room with a fatal bullet wound to the head and a suicide note stuffed in his back pocket. Working the case, LAPD detective Harry Bosch is reminded of the primal police rule he learned long ago: Don't look for the facts, but the glue that holds them together. Soon Harry's making some very dangerous connections, starting with a dead cop and leading to a bloody string of murders that wind from Hollywood Boulevard to the back alleys south of the border. Now this battle-scarred veteran will find himself in the center of a complex and deadly game-one in which he may be the next and likeliest victim.

The crime... if it even is one...is a puzzle that Harry Bosch intends to find the answer to...even it leads him to the police in Mexico, where it seems that he has worn out his welcome before he even arrives. The Mexican Police are not laying out the welcoming mat but they do content that it might be in their best interest to help him. The question that he carries with him is ..did narcotics officer Calexico Moore commit suicide? You'll have to read the book if you want the answer. I've read most of these books years ago but Harry Bosch is always a guy that is a real delight to re-visit anytime.

>44 gaylebutz: I'm looking forward to reading this novel

The Black Ice by Michael Connelly
3.5 ★
The corpse in the hotel room appears to be that of a missing LAPD narcotics officer. Rumours abound that he had crossed selling a new drug called Black Ice from Mexico and the LAPD brass are quick to declare his death a suicide. But Harry Bosch isn't so sure. His own investigation takes him over the border to Mexico and into a dangerous labyrinth of shifting identities and deadly corruption.

Although not a page turner, this was a solid and somewhat complicated police procedural that kept me interested throughout. I enjoyed trying to figure out whether Moore, the fellow cop Bosch was investigating, was a good cop or not and what his past had to do with it. Although Bosch can be heavy-handed and reckless at times, I still like him and his musings about his cases, about people, about life.

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
3 ★
When enemies from his time in prison put a bounty on his head and target his family, Nate McClusky takes his eleven-year-old daughter Polly from in front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of capture, or death.

There were many wild, surprising and sometimes humorous things that happened in this story that kept my attention all the way through. But I didn’t enjoy the gangs and drugs. I also didn’t like that the ex-con father got his young daughter involved in dangerous and violent situations…. yet it kept my attention. Overall, a mixed bag for me.