R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi: Peril of the Listen

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi
September 1 - October 31 (details)
hosted by @perilreaders
#ripxvi #ripperils #ripcozy #riptradition #ripatmosphere
Peril of the Listen
~*~
Enjoying episodes from this one...

Macabre London
podcast hosted by Nikki Druce
Published: 2016 to present | Website
London’s gruesome history
~*~
* part of RIP xvi challenge (schedule)

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi: Peril of the Real

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi
September 1 - October 31 (details)
hosted by @perilreaders
#ripxvi #ripperils #ripcozy #riptradition #ripatmosphere
Peril of the Real
~*~

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
by Ruth Franklin
Biography, Writing, Horror | Published: 2017 (first 2016) | Goodreads
Shirley Jackson reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the literary genius behind such classics as The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House. In this “remarkable act of reclamation” (Neil Gaiman), Ruth Franklin envisions Jackson as “belonging to the great tradition of Hawthorne, Poe and James” (New York Times Book Review) and demonstrates how her unique contribution to the canon “so uncannily channeled women’s nightmares and contradictions that it is ‘nothing less than the secret history of American women of her era’ ” (Washington Post). Franklin investigates the “interplay between the life, the work, and the times with real skill and insight, making this fine book a real contribution not only to biography, but to mid-20th-century women’s history” (Chicago Tribune). “Wisely rescu[ing] Shirley Jackson from any semblance of obscurity” (Lena Dunham), Franklin’s invigorating portrait stands as the definitive biography of a generational avatar and an American literary genius.

~*~
* part of RIP xvi challenge (schedule)

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The Year of the Witching
by Alexis Henderson
narrated by Brianna Colette

Published: 2020
Publisher: Ace
Hardback: 368
Rating: 4
Fantasy, Horror, YA, Witches | Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
She was born breech, in the deep of night.

A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.

In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet's word is law, Immanuelle Moore's very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol, and lead a life of submission, devotion, and absolute conformity, like all the other women in the settlement.

But a mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood surrounding Bethel, where the first prophet once chased and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still lurking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the journal of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by the secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realizes the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And she starts to understand that if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her.

My two-bits:

The past, the present, relgion and women as an instrument of change drives this story.

Oh my, the witchery moment!

~*~
* Happy Halloween
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Fraterfest (here)

Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore
by Matthew J. Sullivan
narrated by Madeleine Maby

Published: 2017
Publisher: Scribner
Hardback: 328
Rating: 4
Mystery, Thriller, Audio | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
Lydia heard the distant flap of paper wings as the first book fell from its shelf.

When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind. Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs... the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.

But when Joey Molina, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s upper room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?

As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left.

My two-bits:

Interesting connections, twist and unexpected ending.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Bookshops Challenge (here)

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

My Calamity Jane
by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
narrated by Sophie Amoss

Published: 2020
Publisher: HarperTeen
Hardback: 544
Rating: 5
Historical, Western, Humor, Werewolves | Goodreads | Website
Travel destinations: Cincinnati, Ohio; Deadwood, South Dakota; Denver, Colorado

The Lady Janies series:
My Lady Jane
My Plain Jane
My Calamity Jane

First sentence(s):
Listen up, y'all. We're gonna tell you the story of Calamity Jane.

Welcome to 1876 and a rootin’-tootin’ America bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou.

JANE (a genuine hero-eene)

Calamity’s her name, and garou hunting’s her game—when she’s not starring in Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, that is. She reckons that if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one.

FRANK (*wolf whistle*)
Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler is the Wild West’s #1 bachelor. He’s also the best sharpshooter on both sides of the Mississippi, but he’s about to meet his match...

ANNIE (get your gun!)
Annie Oakley (yep, that Annie) is lookin’ for a job, not a romance, but she can’t deny there’s something about Frank she likes. Really likes. Still, she’s pretty sure that anything he can do, she can do better.

A HAIRY SITUATION
After a garou hunt goes south and Jane finds a suspicious-like bite on her arm, she turns tail for Deadwood, where there’s been talk of a garou cure. But things ain’t always what they seem—meaning the gang better hightail it after her before they’re a day late and a Jane short.

My two-bits:

Rip roarin' fun adventure tellin' in this tale. Loved this kinda historical fiction mashup up with paranormal activity.

Also, liked learning about life in a wild west traveling show like this one.

~*~
* LOL - sparks joy moment in chapter 13
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)
* part of Fraterfest (here)

Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman

Unbury Carol
by Josh Malerman
narrated by Dan John Miller

Published: 2018
Publisher: Del Rey
Hardback: 367
Rating: 5
Horror, Paranormal, Western | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
Harrows, situated at the northeast point of the Trail, savored its distance from the meat of the rabid road.

Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times . . . but her many deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days.

Only two people know of Carol’s eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and—when she lapses into another coma—plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her . . . alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol’s dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave.

And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her—summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself.

My two-bits:

Hit all the great spots for that western vibe of the good, bad, ugly and damsel in distress.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Fraterfest (here)

His Hideous Heart edited by Dahlia Adler

His Hideous Heart
edited by Dahlia Adler
narrated by contributors

Published: 2020
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Hardback: 480
Rating: 4
Short Stories, Horror, YA, Edgar Allan Poe stories re-imagined | Goodreads

Contributors:
Kendare Blake (reimagining “Metzengerstein”)
Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”)
Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”)
Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”)
Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”)
Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”)
Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”)
Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”)
Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”)
Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”)
Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”)

Edgar Allan Poe may be a hundred and fifty years beyond this world, but the themes of his beloved works have much in common with modern young adult fiction. Whether the stories are familiar to readers or discovered for the first time, readers will revel in Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales, and how they’ve been brought to life in 13 unique and unforgettable ways.

My two-bits:

Contemporary YA tweak to Edgar Allan Poe tales sure gave modern day chills.

Makes me want to go back to re-read Poe, especially the lesser known stories (to me).

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* Filipino mention in Rin Chupeco's story
* part of Fraterfest (here)

Foe by Iain Reid

Foe
by Iain Reid
narrated by Jacques Roy

Published: 2018
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Hardback: 272
Rating: 4
Horror, SciFi, Psychological Thriller | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
Two headlights. I wake to the sight of them.

In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm... very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won't have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company.

My two-bits:

This story makes you question couple relationships. What makes a good one?

How well do you know your partner? Does it matter?

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Fraterfest (here)

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
by Grady Hendrix
narrated by Bahni Turpin

Published: 2020
Publisher: Quirk Books
Hardback: 404
Rating: 5
Horror, Vampires | Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
This story ends in blood.

Zombie sighting:
You just want to give me a bunch of pills and make me a zombie.
-chapter 25

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she—and her book club—are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

My two-bits:

Loved this book club and its penchant for true crime. The interplay of reality and vampires was great food for thought.
~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of ibc book club (here)
* part of Fraterfest (here)

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

The Bookshop of Yesterdays
by Amy Meyerson
narrated by Ann Marie Gideon

Published: 2019
Publisher: Park Row
Paperback: 400
Rating: 4
Contemporary, Mystery | Goodreads | Website
Travel destination: Los Angeles, CA
First sentence(s):
The last time I saw my uncle, he bought me a dog.

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda’s twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda’s life. She doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy—and one final scavenger hunt.

When Miranda returns home to Los Angeles and to Prospero Books—now as its owner—she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her inside novels on the store’s shelves, in locked drawers of his apartment upstairs, in the name of the store itself. Miranda becomes determined to save Prospero Books and to solve Billy’s last scavenger hunt. She soon finds herself drawn into a journey where she meets people from Billy’s past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda’s mother has kept hidden—and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.

My two-bits:

Loved the tie-in with novels and scavenger hunt theme. Painful secrets eventually get revealed.

Makes me wonder if things are better off not said.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version

* part of Bookshops Challenge (here)

* part of ibc book club (here)

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

Blacktop Wasteland
by S.A. Cosby
narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Published: 2020
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Hardback: 304
Rating: 5
Mystery, Thriller, Noir | Goodreads
Travel destination: Virginia

Zombie sighting:
A few patients tethered to IV's were moving past the staff like forlorn zombies.
-chapter 33

First sentence(s):
Beauregard through the night sky looked like a painting.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.

He thought he'd left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can't-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver's seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.

Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland... or die trying.

My two-bits:

Cars, heists, bad guys, good guys...

Great wild ride with this gritty contemporary story with a noir vibe and thrilling car chase scenes.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

* part of part of Summertime time (here)

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Book of Longings
by Sue Monk Kidd
narrated by Mozhan Marnò

Published: 2020
Publisher: Viking
Hardback: 416
Rating: 4
Historical | Goodreads | Website
Travel destination: Israel, Egypt

First sentence(s):
I am Ana. I was the wife of Jesus ben Joseph of Nazareth. I called him Beloved and he, laughing, called me Little Thunder.

Raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee, Ana is rebellious and ambitious, a relentless seeker with a brilliant, curious mind and a daring spirit. She yearns for a pursuit worthy of her life, but finds no outlet for her considerable talents. Defying the expectations placed on women, she engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes secret narratives about neglected and silenced women. When she meets the eighteen-year-old Jesus, each is drawn to and enriched by the other’s spiritual and philosophical ideas. He becomes a floodgate for her intellect, but also the awakener of her heart.

Their marriage unfolds with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, James and Simon, and their mother, Mary. Here, Ana’s pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to the Roman occupation of Israel, partially led by her charismatic adopted brother, Judas. She is sustained by her indomitable aunt Yaltha, who is searching for her long-lost daughter, as well as by other women, including her friend Tabitha, who is sold into slavery after she was raped, and Phasaelis, the shrewd wife of Herod Antipas. Ana’s impetuous streak occasionally invites danger. When one such foray forces her to flee Nazareth for her safety shortly before Jesus’s public ministry begins, she makes her way with Yaltha to Alexandria, where she eventually finds refuge and purpose in unexpected surroundings.

My two-bits:

Got a sense of the state of an independent forward thinking woman's perspective in this classic story of the past.

Because of the time period one could feel the strong theme of "waiting for men" for most of this story.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of ibc book club (here)

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

The Tenant
by Katrine Engberg
narrated by Graeme Malcolm

Published: 2020
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Hardback: 368
Rating: 4
Mystery, Thriller, Denmark | Goodreads

Travel destination: Denmark

Kørner/Werner series:
The Tenant
The Butterfly - release date: January 2021

First sentence(s):
The morning light swirled up dust from the heavy drapes.

When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.

But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.

My two-bits:

The theme of parallels pasts that intertwine struck me with this mystery.

~*~


* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2020 (here)

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

The Jane Austen Society
by Natalie Jenner
narrated by Richard Armitage :-)

Published: 2020
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Historical, Romance, Jane Austen theme
Hardback: 309
Rating: 5
Goodreads | Website | Book Playlist (Spotify)

First sentence(s):
He lay back on the low stone wall, knees pulled up, and stretched out his spine against the rock.

Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society.

My two-bits:

Wonderfully weaves in Jane Austen novels themes, observations and fan geeking.

So cool to read about dudes reading Austen and adoring characters.

Loved the fun facts about things Jane and her books.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of ibc book club (here)

* part of the Goodreads Austenesque Lovers TBR Challenge 2020 (here)

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Big Summer
by Jennifer Weiner
narrated by Danielle Macdonald

Published: 2020
Publisher: Atria Books
Hardback: 368
Rating: 5
Chick-lit, Mystery | Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
By the second week of September, the outer Cape was practically deserted.

Zombie sighting:
All of these people taking bites out of what was left of her after she couldn't defend herself like a bunch of zombies eating her corpse. -chapter 20

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

My two-bits:

Interesting how this took a turn from what I was expecting. Pulls in the modern day social media influences and its effects in our lives.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* Filipino fried chicken mentioned -chapter 8

* part of Summertime time (schedule)

That Summer by Lauren Willig

That Summer
by Lauren Willig
narrated by Nicola Barber

Published: 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Hardback: 342
Rating: 4
Historical, Romance, Art, England | Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
"Someone's left me a house," said Julie. "In England."

2009: When Julia Conley hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown great-aunt, she assumes it's a joke. She hasn't been back to England since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six, an event she remembers only in her nightmares. But when she arrives at Herne Hill to sort through the house—with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy antiques dealer Nicholas—bits of memory start coming back. And then she discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an old wardrobe, and a window onto the house's shrouded history begins to open...

1849: Imogen Grantham has spent nearly a decade trapped in a loveless marriage to a much older man, Arthur. The one bright spot in her life is her step-daughter, Evie, a high-spirited sixteen year old who is the closest thing to a child Imogen hopes to have. But everything changes when three young painters come to see Arthur's collection of medieval artifacts, including Gavin Thorne, a quiet man with the unsettling ability to read Imogen better than anyone ever has. When Arthur hires Gavin to paint her portrait, none of them can guess what the hands of fate have set in motion.

My two-bits:

Story flips from the present to the past early days of the Preraphaelite period in England.

Each story and protagonist were equally appealing to follow throughout as it proceeds to reveal the mystery behind the painting found.

Loved the references to historical art and Tristan and Isolde Celtic legend.

~*~


* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Summertime time (schedule)

The Burning Island by Hester Young

The Burning Island
by Hester Young
narrated by January LaVoy

Published: 2019
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Hardback: 416
Rating: 5
Mystery, Paranormal | Goodreads | Website
Island: Hawaii

Charlie Cates series:
The Gates of Evangeline
The Shimmering Road
The Burning island

First sentence(s):
In the dream, I wear his eyes like a pair of sunglasses.

Journalist Charlie Cates has always believed in facts, in what can be proved--her career depends on it. Which is why she has never truly accepted the supernatural visions that guide her to children in danger. After her work on a high-profile missing-child case brings unwanted fame, she reluctantly flees to the lush Big Island of Hawaii with her best friend, Rae. Determined to avoid her disturbing visions, Charlie begins writing what seems to be a harmless interview of a prominent volcanologist, Victor Nakagawa. But her hopes for a peaceful vacation are soon dashed by haunting dreams of a local girl who went missing six weeks earlier.

In the small and sleepy town of Kalo Valley, Charlie and Rae come to realize that even paradise has its ugly secrets, and the Nakagawa family is no exception. In order to find the missing teenager and stop a dangerous predator from striking again, Charlie is forced to embrace the gift she has always tried to conceal. Meanwhile, someone is watching her every move, and the closer Charlie gets to the truth, the more distant her chances of ever leaving the island alive.

My two-bits:

It was refreshing for me to read this mystery where the sleuth is a journalist with "special skills" and not a detective.

This story pulls you into the island, island folklore, island living and locals.

Teen drama and weird family dynamics swirl to a satisfying ending.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* Mr. Darcy mentioned in Chapter 7.


* part of Summertime time ( schedule )

Camino Island by John Grisham

Camino Island
by John Grisham
narrated by January LaVoy

Published: 2017
Publisher: Doubleday
Genre: Mystery
Hardback: 290
Rating: 4
Goodreads | Website
Island: off the coast of Florida

series:
Camino Island
Camino Winds

First sentence(s):
The imposter borrowed the name of Neville Manchin, an actual professor of American literature at Portland State and soon-to-be doctoral student at Stanford.

A gang of thieves stage a daring heist from a secure vault deep below Princeton University’s Firestone Library. Their loot is priceless, but Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.

Bruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts.

Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer’s block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous offer of money convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable’s circle of literary friends, ideally getting close enough to him to learn his secrets.

My two-bits:

Ensemble cast of characters with (community drama) contribute to this story that gets into the world of rare books.

Enjoyed the insight on bookstores and the use of a bookstore as a kind of character.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Summertime time ( schedule )

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List
by Lucy Foley
narrated by Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens, Rich Keeble

Published: 2020
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 320
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Island: off the coast of Ireland

First sentence(s):
The lights go out.

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom a rising television star. The bride
a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine in a remote location. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

My two-bits:

Multiple points of view of unreliable and unlikable characters in a wedding celebration setting make this an intrigueing read.

There is a tinge of Irish folklore and hints of a haunted isle that create a creepy vibe.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Reese's Book Club 2020 (here)

* part of Summertime time ( schedule )

The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton

The Summer House
by Lauren K. Denton
narrated by Devon Oday

Published: 2020
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Women's Fiction, Romance
Hardback: 352
Rating: 4
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
The morning Worth left, something pulled Lily from her sleep, through at first glance nothing seemed out of place.

Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated, but a flyer at the grocery store for a hair stylist position in a local retirement community provides a refuge while she contemplates her next steps.

Rose Carrigan built the small retirement village of Safe Harbor years ago—just before her husband ran off with his assistant. Now she runs a tight ship, making sure the residents follow her strict rules. Rose keeps everyone at arm’s length, including her own family. But when Lily shows up asking for a job and a place to live, Rose’s cold exterior begins to thaw.

Lily and Rose form an unlikely friendship, and Lily’s salon soon becomes the place where residents share town gossip, as well as a few secrets. Lily soon finds herself drawn to Rose’s nephew, Rawlins—a single dad and shrimper who’s had some practice at starting over—and one of the residents may be carrying a torch for Rose as well.

Neither Lily nor Rose is where she expected to be, but the summer makes them both wonder if there’s more to life and love than what they’ve experienced so far.

My two-bits:

Fell in step with this summer southern story set in a retirement community with a small town comforting feel of its own. Liked the various characters and their growth and friendships.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Summertime time (schedule)