September Wrap Up

 

📚𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽📚

September wrap up better late than never edition. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

QOTD: what’s new with you all? 

October is flying by! I just got back from a week at the beach. It was wonderful. I’m ending the month with a trip to Nashville for my niece’s wedding.

Loved

📖The Last Devil to Die- the Thursday Murder Club is back in action. A good mystery, great characters, & full of heart. This one made me cry. This has quickly become one of my favorite series. 

📖 Code of the Hills - Mick Hardin has retired from the military & is back in his hometown. When Mick’s sister, the sheriff, is shot, Mick is pressed into service to help solve two murders. Love this southern noir series. 

Really liked

🎧The River We Remember- historical fic + thriller. When the most powerful man in a small town is killed, Sheriff Brody Dern must find answers to long held secrets and lies. Beautifully written and filled with flawed characters. Thank you @simon.audio for the gifted audiobook. 

🎧 Finders Keepers - a reclusive author is killed. Money & the author’s unpublished notebooks are stolen. Years later, a boy finds the treasure trove of money & notebooks. The boy’s life & family are suddenly in danger when the killer returns years later for the notebooks. 

📖 The Music of Bees - a wonderful story of found family, grief, acceptance, and finding happiness. Just an all round wonderful feel-good story. 

🎧The Trap - Lucy’s life is turned upside down after her sisters goes missing. Author Catherine Ryan Howard really kept me guessing with different POVs and a shifting timeline. 

📖The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - a great spooky season read! 

🎧Small Town Sins- this impressive debt follows the lives of three main characters in a small hardscrabble town. 

📖 Bad Kids - three kids get mixed up in murder, lies, and extortion in this thriller set in China. 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #timeflies #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #audiobookstagram #audiobook #bibliophile #alwaysreading 

Library Outreach

 

📚 Happy Friday📚

I’m doing #libraryoutreach today! I’m repping the #library at a senior expo hosted by our local state representative. I have books, bookmarks, and info about the library and it’s resources to hand out. 

QOTD: what are your plans for the weekend? 

I’ll be watching some college football and playing some golf this weekend. 

#librarylife #libraryoutreach #outreachlibrarian #lovemylibrary #bookstagram #librarianlife #librarian #booksbooksbooks 

Holly

 

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Date: September 5, 2023

🎧𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄🎧

Happy pub day to Stephen King’s new book Holly! King first introduced Holly Gibney in Mr. Mercedes. In this new book, Holly is an experienced private investigator who searches for a young woman who’s gone missing. During the course of her investigation, Holly realizes several other previous missing persons might be connected to her new case. The case is filled with lots of twits and turns even though King tells us who the bad guys are right off the bat. But he slowly reveals their true horror. And that twist really took me by surprise! 

I dove into this one not realizing this was part of a series. No worries though. This book works as a standalone. There was enough background info on Holly and the other main characters that I never felt lost. I’ll definitely go back to read the other books in this series because I loved Holly’s character.

King’s storytelling prowess continues with this engrossing book. I always forget that he’s a great crime fiction writer because of all his horror stories. I really enjoyed Justine Lupe’s narration too. Her performance is top notch! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’re in the mood for a great thriller with a unique detective, lots of atmosphere, and truly bonkers bad guys, pick this one up today. 

Thank you @simon.audio for the #gifted ALC. 

QOTD: what are you reading this week? 

I’ll be finishing up Bad Kids which is a thriller originally from China. 

#holly #hollygibney #stephenking #simonaudio #librofm #audiobook #audiobookstagram #audiobookreview #publicationday #pubday #crimefiction #missingpersons #thrillerfiction #mysteryfiction #justinelupe

August Wrap Up

 

𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽

August is over and with it summer, although our summer-like weather isn’t over yet. This month I listened to 8 audiobooks which is probably double what I normally listen to. Thank you to the tagged publishers for the #gifted copies. 

Favorite for the month: 

🎧 Whalefall - kept me on the edge of my seat! 

Really enjoyed: 

🎧 None of This Is True 

🎧Holly 

🎧Mr. Mercedes 

🎧Symphony of Secrets

🎧Windfall

🎧The World without Us

🎧Here’s to Us

📖Counterfeit

📖The Dead Romantics

📖The Last Word

📖Fadeaway Joe

📖Zero Kill

QOTD: any plans for the weekend? 

We’ve finally got some warmer temps and sunshine back. So when I’m not watching college football tomorrow, I’ll be reading outside on the deck. 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #augustwrapup #audiobooks #audiobookstagram #bookstagram #alwaysreading #crimefiction #thrillerfiction #survivalfiction 

Fadeaway Joe

 

Author: High Lessig

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Year: 2023

📖𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄📖

Joe, an aging tough guy, is out of a job after his sketchy boss decides to go legit. Joe did his boss’s dirty work for decades, but now he’s out because Maxie has plans to open a casino. A trip to the hospital after a fight with Maxie reveals Joe has early onset Alzheimer’s. Joe vows to get revenge on Maxie for kicking him to the curb. As Joe adjusts to his new life of running a food truck and managing his dementia, he meets Paula, a young woman with her own problems. Joe and Paula team up to help each other out of their sticky situations. Paula convinces Joe not to kill Maxie but hit him where it will really hurt- his wallet. The two unlikely friends form a plan to detail Maxie’s casino plan. 

I really liked the premise of this thriller. It’s not often a thriller deals with an aging bad guy- especially one dealing with Alzheimer’s. Joe is a tough guy with a heart of gold. He realizes Paula is in danger and lends a hand. 

I thought this was an entertaining and engaging thriller and I liked the characters. Joe’s nosey neighbor Donna even jumps in to help with their plan and to help Joe manage his illness. Paula’s storyline is a little messy and dragged out, but overall the story moves along at a good pace. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a good choice for readers looking for a different kind of revenge thriller.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the digital review copy. Fadeaway Joe is out today! 

North of Nowhere

 

Author: Allison Brennan

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Year: 2023

❄️𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄❄️

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the digital arc. 

For five years, the former enforcer for the head of a Los Angeles crime family has lived in hiding in Montana with the children of Boyd, his former boss. Tony took the two kids and fled after  children’s mother was murdered. For five years, Tony has raised them as his own while trying to keep the kids safe and hidden from father and cruel grandmother. Their luck runs out when Boyd and his henchmen finally track them down. Tony and the kids escape into the Montana wilderness as Boyd closes in. As a blizzard moves in, the danger ratchets up. 

This was an entertaining, but messy mix of crime fiction and wilderness survival story. I say messy because there were so many tangents to the story. Crime boss Boyd’s estranged sister literally parachutes into the Montana forest to help find the kids. An LA police detective with his own agenda turns up on the scene. It was a lot of work keeping track of all the characters and threads to this story. 

I thought there was a little too much telling and not enough showing with this story. We hear how terrible the grandmother is, but it’s quite awhile into the book before we see any examples of her cruelty. I thought the sense of urgency to find the kids during the blizzard was mitigated by how much time all the adults in the woods spent standing around talking. I had trouble overlooking the fact that Tony never changed his last name and even registered the kids in school with his last name. 🤦‍♀️ And if you don’t want anyone to find you, maybe don’t send the kids to school on picture day? I thought the story ran a smidge too long and could have been tightened up to keep the story moving. I liked it and this it could be a good choice for readers who enjoy survival/adventure or who want an escape into the Montana wilderness. North of Nowhere is available today. 

QOTD: what’s for dinner tonight? I think we’re have steak and corn on the cob. And I think by hubby is doing the cooking. 😀

#northofnowhere #minotaurbooks #netgalley #crimefiction #survivalfiction #adventurefiction #thrillerbooks #familydrama #montana #bookstagram #newbook

Whalefall

 

Author: Daniel Kraus

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Publication date: August 8, 2023

🐋 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 🐋

Wow! I was on the edge of my seat listening to this book. I couldn’t put it down. Thank you @simon.audio for the #gifted copy.

Jay Gardiner often had a rocky relationship with his father, who was a legendary diver. Jay, grieving and guilt ridden after his father’s suicide, thinks the only way to heal his family is by finding and recovering his father’s bones from the ocean. He makes a dangerous solo dive off the coast of Monastery Beach. And then everything goes horribly wrong. He encounters an elusive giant squid. Jay marvels at the sight, until an enormous sperm whale, hunting the giant squid, appears. Jay gets caught by one of the squid’s tentacles and dragged into whale’s mouth as it feeds on the squid. Jay’s swallowed by the behemoth.  From there it’s a race against time until his Jay’s air runs out. 

I’d characterize this book as a thriller/survival story with a very literary feel to it. Author Daniel Kraus’s writing is deep and powerful. His characters are layered and complex-especially Jay’s father. Kraus must have done a ton of research for this book. He doesn’t overwhelm readers with the technical aspects of diving or the biology of sea creatures, but the information he provides is essential to the story. I thought it also fit perfectly into Jay’s and his dad’s personalities. I also really enjoyed Kirby Heybourne’s narration. I know this one will be one of my top ten books this year. 

Whalefall is out on Tuesday, August 8. You don’t want to miss this one! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

QOTD: Let’s do predictive text! I scuba diving and saw_______. 

I went scuba diving and saw a couple of people with their feet in the air. 😀 

#whalefall #danielkraus #simonaudio #kirbyheybourne #audiobook #audiobookreview #audiobookstagram #audiobooksofinstagram #publishingsoon #thrillerfiction #survivalfiction #familydrama #fatersonrelationship #pacificocean #scubadiving #spermwhale #giantsquid