11.6.2024 - Deadly Animals

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this debut novel by Marie Tierney, with the audiobook perfectly narrated by Olivia Dowd.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Ava is not a normal teenager.  She has an obsessive interest in dead animals and how they compose.  She collects roadkill in the middle of the night and pulls them into her den, recording her findings in notebooks.  But one night, she comes across the body of her classmate, Mickey.  Worried that she might be in trouble for her nighttime activities, she makes an anonymous phone call to the police.  Detective Delahaye begins investigating, and Ava does her best to help, because more teenagers are going missing.

This is a wonderful debut and I would love to see it become a series, because the combination of Ava and the detective were wonderful!  Ava's character is amazing - having a tough home life, she is strong, intelligent, interested in everything, helpful, very respective.  While the subject matter is definitely dark, it's not overly graphic or gratuitous, though still sad and disturbing.  This story takes place in the 1980s; there was an interview between narrator and author at the end of the audiobook which explained that the author wanted the mystery to not be easily solved with modern advances in DNA.  So it's nostalgic, with a small town feel, and the alternating POV between Ava and the detective in short chapters were perfect to engage the reader with this story.  Anxious to read more from this author!

11.4.2024 - The Sunflower House

 

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful debut historical fiction novel by Adriana Allegri.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 5 stars!

Allina Strauss has a good life in her small German village.  She lives with her aunt and uncle, works at a bookshop, and spends time with friends and her fiancé, Albert.  But it’s 1939 and Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, when Allina’s family tells her that her birth mother was Jewish.  After a night she will never forget when she loses everything she held dear, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at Hochland Home.  This is a state-run baby factory and a feeder into Heinrich Himmler’s eugenics program.

 

This book once again shines light into such a dark part of human history,  I had never heard of the Lebensborn program, where women stayed in these homes for the sole purpose of having pure babies to perpetuate the Aryan population, babies that were then adopted to Nazi families.  It’s horrific to read and think about these poor babies and women, in addition to the horrors of the Holocaust itself.  But this meticulously-researched book is one that you won’t be able to put down; it’s the triumph of good people in the face of evil.  It’s also a love story, full of family secrets, but also hope for a better future.  It’s so beautifully written and hard to believe it’s a debut novel.  I was also fascinated to read the author’s notes that she started working on this book two decades ago.  Lucky for all readers that she persevered; this is a must read!

11.4.2024 - Flint Kill Creek

 

Many thanks to NetGalley and High Bridge Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of this short story collection by Joyce Carol Oates, perfectly narrated by Kelli Tager.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

This is a collection of 12 short stories, each with a degree of suspense, fear, terror.  What I liked most of all was the fact that most of these were fairly ordinary situations, which to me was the biggest creep factor.  There were medical scares, abuses, relationship issues; real situations that you could see yourself in.  Life can be scary and disturbing for sure, and some of these will put you well out of your comfort zone.  A thoughtful collection of creepy stories!

11.2.2024 - Don't Say A Thing

 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer Amazon Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC of this true crime memoir by Tamara Leitner.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Tamara Leitner is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who writes of her decades-long investigation and personal connection to a serial rapist.  In 1999, she woke to an active crime scene outside her Arizona apartment.  Her neighbors had been sexually assaulted by a man later identified as Claude Dean Hull.  Tamara suffered with guilt and fear after this near assault and became obsessed with investigating Hull and his crimes.  

The crimes in this story are appalling, as are the struggles of the justice system when is comes to sexual violence.  I'd like to hope that things have gotten better with the passing of time, but I'm not convinced this is true for the victims.  Certainly, some of the technological advances we have today would have helped in the investigation of these crimes.  I appreciated how Leitner focused so much on the victims of these crimes, letting us feel their pain and the resultant trauma.  Intermixed are chapters about the author's personal relationship, which presented a different kind of trauma.  The timeline wasn't straightforward throughout and I admit to not being able to keep everything straight in my mind while reading.

11.1.2024 - The Married Man

 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by K.L. Slater.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 4 stars!

Liv’s husband, Rich, disappeared 11 years ago, and she’s been raising their son Maddox by herself.  But there was a plan, and it looks like Rich didn’t follow it.  Maddox is now a teenager and finding out that his mom is keeping secrets, is leading him down a bad path.  Kait is married and pregnant with her first child with her husband, Daniel, but he is acting strange and she feels he’s having an affair.

 

Watching these storylines come together was fabulous, and KL Slater once again has given us a gripping thriller.  Told from these characters POV in the past and present timelines, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see how it would end up.  The plot was complex but so satisfying to see it all unfold, and the ending was perfection.

10.31.2024 - Rolling Toward Clear Skies

 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing/Amazon Publishing, and Brilliance Publishing for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book by a favorite, Catherine Ryan Hyde, with the audio wonderfully narrated by Kate Rudd.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

Maggie is a physician, divorced single mother to two teenage girls, and the founder of Doctors on Wheels with Alex, a nurse and her romantic partner as well.  When disaster strikes, they go wherever they are needed to help out free of charge.  When they get to rural Louisiana after a Category 5 hurricane, she forms a bond with two teenage girls who have lost everything and Maggie refuses to leave them behind when she returns home.  But the two girls are polar opposites to Maggie's own daughters, who are entitled, used to getting whatever they want, and not happy about these new strangers in their lives.

I can never resist the pull of a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde because, while you know you're getting a good story, there are always so many life lessons intertwined.  Here, we see how the best of intentions in parenting may cause unwanted consequences for everyone.  It's definitely a story of the difference between the have's and the have not's, and in the wake of so many natural disasters recently, will make you grateful and hopefully more aware.  It's also a cautionary tale about teenagers and social media, which always makes me feel relieved that I didn't have to navigate that when my kids were growing up.  Always a treat so don't miss it!

10.30.2024 - Holiday Hideaway

 

Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing/Amazon Original Stories for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful holiday short story by the queen, Mary Kay Andrews.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

Tilly is down on her luck.  Recently divorced and broke, she's living in one of her rental agency's properties until she can move into her new apartment.  Then the owner shows up and Tilly is forced to hide in the attic.  George is back in town to get the house ready for sale after his granduncle died.  

As you would expect from Mary Kay Andrews, this is just a sweet holiday romance that will have you rooting for the characters and laughing along with them.  You can easily read it in a sitting - don't miss it as we head into the holiday season!