#1 Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke
#2 Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
#3 Bubbles in Trouble by Sarah Strohmeyer
#4 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn This was a crazy suspense filled thriller that really kept me guessing.
#5 Porch Lights by Dorthea Benton Frank One of my favorite authors. This book was about a family healing and coming together. I cried often.
#6 Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews This was a good easy read, about family conflict and secrets.
#7 Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult Two children must decide whether to turn off their fathers life support or not after an accident.
#8 Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck I didn't like this book at all! It was hard to read and took me forever to get through it.
#9 The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg Another one I didn't like.
#10 House Rules by Jodi Picoult I liked this book. It's about a boy with Asperger's who is on trial for murder.
#11 Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy This book was really good! I read it over two days.
#12 The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer This was an easy, fun read. I think I read it in about 2 days sitting at the pool.
#13 Vision Impossible by Victoria Laurie. This was a good, quick read! Although I think it's number 9 of a series, I didn't feel like I needed to read the others to understand this one.
#14 Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It was about a school shooting, so the subject matter was a little tough.
#15 The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis. This was one of those books I found while wandering through the stacks of the library. It was really good. A man's twin brother dies, he gets divorced and learns to put the pieces of his life back together.
#16 Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris Two mysteries are solved by a landscaper. This was a good by the pool read.
#17 Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson This is not my usual type of book. It's a romance about a girl who comes home to Texas to find love and deal with the death of her parents.
#18 Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight This book was GOOD! I stayed up late finishing it. A girl commits suicide and her mother must reconstruct her life to find out why.
#19 Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews This was another good find! Here is the synopsis from GoodReads (I'm going to start posting their synopsis. I'm always afraid I will give something away.): "Grace Stanton’s life as a rising media star and beloved lifestyle blogger takes a surprising turn when she catches her husband cheating and torpedoes his pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool. Grace suddenly finds herself locked out of her palatial home, checking account, and even the blog she has worked so hard to develop in her signature style. Moving in with her widowed mother, who owns and lives above a rundown beach bar called The Sandbox, is less than ideal. So is attending court-mandated weekly "divorce recovery" therapy sessions with three other women and one man for whom betrayal seems to be the only commonality. When their “divorce coach” starts to act suspiciously, they decide to start having their own Wednesday "Ladies' Night" sessions at The Sandbox, and the unanticipated bonds that develop lead the members of the group to try and find closure in ways they never imagined. Can Grace figure out a new way home and discover how strong she needs to be to get there? "
#20 Life After Life by Kate Atkinson This book was confusing! Here is the GoodReads synopsis: "On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization."
#21 Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison This was a light fun read. Exactly what I needed after Life After Life! "Every woman has a secret. The question is: How far will she go to make sure it stays secret?
Abbey Walsh never wanted anyone to find out about her shady past. After all, she’s the wife of a minister now, living an exemplary life. That is, until someone shows up from her past with blackmail in mind . . .
Tiffany Vanderslice Dreyer never dreamed that she’d find herself up to her new designer sunglasses in credit card debt from one mad moment of a shopping spree. She’s an upstanding wife and mother with the perfect marriage . . . right?
Loreen Murphy hadn’t meant to hire a male prostitute in Las Vegas. It was all just a big, stupid, and expensive misunderstanding. . . .
Abbey, Tiffany, and Loreen are each in need of thousands of dollars andfast. Tiffany’s sister, Sandra, has the perfect idea. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s legal, and it’s the secret that kept her shoe addiction alive. It’s the perfect plan. . . ."
#22 Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. This was much better than I thought it would be. "centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant--and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model. Chevalier vividly evokes the complex domestic tensions of the household, ruled over by the painter's jealous, eternally pregnant wife and his taciturn mother-in-law. At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic. Still, Girl with a Pearl Earring does contain a final delicious twist."
#23 Divergent by Veronica Roth. I really did not want to read this book. I didn't want to get sucked into another Young Adult series, but alas I did and this book was good! Here's the low down from GoodReads: "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."
#24 The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by D. C. Pierson This book was a little weird. It was one of those walking through the stacks of the library and it looked interesting. "A wildly original and hilarious debut novel about the typical high school experience: the homework, the awkwardness, and the mutant creatures from another galaxy. When Darren Bennett meets Eric Lederer, there's an instant connection. They share a love of drawing, the bottom rung on the cruel high school social ladder and a pathological fear of girls. Then Eric reveals a secret: He doesn’t sleep. Ever. When word leaks out about Eric's condition, he and Darren find themselves on the run. Is it the government trying to tap into Eric’s mind, or something far darker? It could be that not sleeping is only part of what Eric's capable of, and the truth is both better and worse than they could ever imagine."
#25 Four Wives by Wendy Walker An easy read after the last two were a little tense. "On the outside, it appears as though Love Welsh, Marie Passetti, Gayle Beck and Janie Kirk lead enviable lives, with marriages to handsome, successful men; bright, happy children; and homes right out of Architectural Digest. But in the wealthy suburb of Hunting Ridge, appearances mask a deeper truth: These four wives are anything but perfect. As they try to maintain a façade of bliss, behind closed doors they each face their own crises-infidelity, dissatisfaction, self-doubt. As springtime draws to an end, doors are both opened and closed and the women come face to face with the most difficult and heartbreaking challenge of their lives-to reconcile their innermost desires with the lives that each of them has chosen."
I am a quarter of the way done! I have a stack of books beside the bed. I also have a to read list that is rather long. I am going to break the post into four parts, so they don't get to long.
Abbey, Tiffany, and Loreen are each in need of thousands of dollars andfast. Tiffany’s sister, Sandra, has the perfect idea. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s legal, and it’s the secret that kept her shoe addiction alive. It’s the perfect plan. . . ."
#22 Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. This was much better than I thought it would be. "centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant--and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model. Chevalier vividly evokes the complex domestic tensions of the household, ruled over by the painter's jealous, eternally pregnant wife and his taciturn mother-in-law. At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic. Still, Girl with a Pearl Earring does contain a final delicious twist."
#23 Divergent by Veronica Roth. I really did not want to read this book. I didn't want to get sucked into another Young Adult series, but alas I did and this book was good! Here's the low down from GoodReads: "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."
#24 The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by D. C. Pierson This book was a little weird. It was one of those walking through the stacks of the library and it looked interesting. "A wildly original and hilarious debut novel about the typical high school experience: the homework, the awkwardness, and the mutant creatures from another galaxy. When Darren Bennett meets Eric Lederer, there's an instant connection. They share a love of drawing, the bottom rung on the cruel high school social ladder and a pathological fear of girls. Then Eric reveals a secret: He doesn’t sleep. Ever. When word leaks out about Eric's condition, he and Darren find themselves on the run. Is it the government trying to tap into Eric’s mind, or something far darker? It could be that not sleeping is only part of what Eric's capable of, and the truth is both better and worse than they could ever imagine."
#25 Four Wives by Wendy Walker An easy read after the last two were a little tense. "On the outside, it appears as though Love Welsh, Marie Passetti, Gayle Beck and Janie Kirk lead enviable lives, with marriages to handsome, successful men; bright, happy children; and homes right out of Architectural Digest. But in the wealthy suburb of Hunting Ridge, appearances mask a deeper truth: These four wives are anything but perfect. As they try to maintain a façade of bliss, behind closed doors they each face their own crises-infidelity, dissatisfaction, self-doubt. As springtime draws to an end, doors are both opened and closed and the women come face to face with the most difficult and heartbreaking challenge of their lives-to reconcile their innermost desires with the lives that each of them has chosen."
I am a quarter of the way done! I have a stack of books beside the bed. I also have a to read list that is rather long. I am going to break the post into four parts, so they don't get to long.
No comments:
Post a Comment