The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer (Read 10/23 to 10/25) - 5 Star

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

Grace’s daughter Penny is in Edgewood, a facility for the criminally insane, awaiting her trial for murdering her Birth Mother Rachel. But Penny isn’t just Penny, she is Eve, Ruby and Chloe too.  Who murdered Rachel, and is Penny really Disassociate Identity Disorder (DID) or as the head Edgewood doctor thinks Antisocial Personality Disorder, ie Penny is an expert liar.

This is the second DJ Palmer book I have read, and he has become a favorite author.  I love the twists and turns of his stories. The characters are all so engaging, and make you want to read about them. This was unputdownable for me.  I found myself wanting to know the next twist throughout my day, and I couldn’t wait to read more, even if it was only 5 mins while my coffee brewed.

Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders (Read 10/18 to 10/19) - 4 Star

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.A mystery, a library, a small town and a witch!  Josie is a librarian at the library of Congress, who overhears a senator making a shady deal.  When she and a co-worker whistleblow it, the co-worker disappears.  So Josie feels she needs to too.  She answers an ad for a librarian position in Wilfred, Oregon.  But not all is as ideal as it seems.  Josie finds a dead body on her first day. This was a great seasonal read, The characters in Wilfred were wonderful and colorful.  And the library itself was magical.  I’m not 100% sure I like Josie, but I don’t hate her either.  It is obvious this is meant to be a first book in the series, and I do look forward to reading more.

The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb (read10/14/20 to 10/17/20) - 3 star

I received this book as an Amazon Prime Early Reads. I was excited to read it because I had read and enjoyed two other Wendy Webb books:  The End of Temerence Dare and The Lady in the Lake, both of which had solid 3 stars from me.  Consistency is important. 

This book I was pleasantly surprised to find takes place in Wharton, the same town on Lake Superior’s shores as The Lady in the Lake.  And we got to revisit with some of the same characters, although if you haven’t read Lady in the Lake, it’s ok you will not be lost this is not a sequel.

Brynn Wilder comes to Wharton to escape an avalanche of loss in her life.  And she stays at boarding house for the summer where she meets the other long term boarders and quickly makes friends.  But there is a mystery afoot, over the winter a mysterious woman died in Room 5, and nobody knows who she was or how she got there.  Then Brynn starts dreaming of her.....

This wasn’t my favorite Wendy Webb book, it was again consistent writing. Her characters are well written and she develops the mystery well.  And the best part in my mind is that she actually resolves it in the final chapter.  However, I did not like the resolution, I felt it was a little too far out there.  If I was basing my rating on just how much I liked the story it would be a 2-star.  But her writing style and solidness of story and character development brought this book up to its 3-star rating.

Where has the year gone?

Wow we are in October already.  My last post was in June...that is craziness!

Of course I have read a ton of books between now and then, 33 to be exact.  That is far too many for a summary post.  So I’m just going to show my goodreads list...most of them in goodreads I didn’t even bother write reviews either..it’s been a tough motivation year.

The ones I did review are as follows:

Confessions on the 7:45

This was an engrossing book, the characters and story kept me guessing and staying up past my bedtime.  It was really well written and a great read.

Dark Tides

I wanted to like this book truly I did. I really liked the first one and I was excited to read this one. However the characters did not have the same resonance with me as in the first book. I hated Livia and I had trouble connecting with Sarah and Johnnie and Alys.  And I really didn’t care for the Ned storyline either.  It was well written and the story flowed, I just did not care for the characters and I read it quickly so I could get through it.

The Book of Two Ways

This was a good book right up until the end.  It was a little slow at the beginning and I felt like the chapters were long. But it worked to keep me reading later than I planned.  I missed many a bed time.  It was a solid 3 moving towards a 4. The ending or I should say lack of ending for ruined it for me. They both abruptly end with no resolution and I hated it, I almost threw my iPad against the wall I was so upset!  But luckily I was fiscally minded enough not to.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley.  I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

The-Star Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

To be fair when I first got this book, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I love Italy and the premise was great. But I wasn’t sure the sisters and the mystery was going to do it for me. Boy was I wrong this was amazing!  I was so drawn into the characters but the ones I loved and the ones I hated. I can’t say the ending was a complete surprise but it did leave me guessing up to the end.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) through NetGalley.  I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.