Book: The Bookshop Below

 Book: The Bookshop Below

Author: Georgia Summers

Pages: 384

This is my 165th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron's bookshop is where you go.  For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it's a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.  For Cassandra Fairfax, it's a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop.  Since then, she's used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical reading to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.  Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances.  And if Cassandra knows anything, it's this: the bookshop must always have an owner.  But she's not the only one interested.  There's Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrattably handsome bookseller she can't seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows, and of course, Chiron's murderer, who is still on the loose.  As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behing, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely.

Stars: 3

Book: This Story Might Save Your Life

 Book: This Story Might Save Your Life

Author: Tiffany Crum

Pages: 368

This is my 164th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Best friends Benny and Joy like to say they've been saving each other's lives since the moment they met.  Until the day Joy disappears and Benny is suspected of murder.  Benny Abbot and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world.  Each week, they delight listeners with a different "against all odds" survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life affirming humor in near-death experiences.  Since their first episode on Joy's experience with severe narcolepsy, they've been the best friends everyone wants to befriend - and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy's husband, Xander, they've built a lucrative empire.  The problem is, their next survival story may be their own.  When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander's one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house.  The one clue shedding light on the couple's disappearance is the incomplete, preveiously unseen first draft of Joy' memoir.  Benny is desperate to find them, even when the police soon zero in on him as their prime supsect.  Millions of devoted listeners think they know the "real" Benny and Joy.  But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xaner being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world - and from each other.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: The Light We Lost

 Book: The Light We Lost

Author: Jill Santopolo

Pages: 368

This is my 163rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story - their story - at the very beginning.  Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever.  Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter.  When they meet again a year later, it seems fated - perhaps they'll find life's meaning in each other.  But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York.  What follows is a 13 year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and ultimately, of love.  Was it fate that brought them together?  Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and GAbe continents apart, but never out of each other's hearts.

This book was just okay.  The writing, for the most part, was pretty good.  Which is why I torn with my "okay review".  There were some bits where I felt like the author was doing page filler, but for the most part - writing is good.  However - the content I did not enjoy.  The story of Lucy and Gabe with her poor husband on the side was borderline ridiculous.  This was supposed to be a love story, but it did not feel that way to me.  I will not be reading the second one.

Stars: 3

Book: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

 Book: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Author: Hank Green

Pages: 352

This is my 162nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The Carls just appeared.  Roaming through NYC at 3 am, 23 year old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture.  Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship - like a 10 foot tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor - April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube.  The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life.  News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - from Beijing to Buenos Aires - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.  Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her sefety, and her own identity.  And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

This was a pretty decent book.  I liked all the characters, and was pulled in to the story right from the beginning.  It is a fascinating story, but there were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way which dropped it a star for me.  Overall - great character development and interesting story.  What bothered me was these are young people, and the thing with the Carl's got very big very fast and yet the strangeness of them got the government's attention very late.  That didn't make sense - that the government wouldn't at all try to control something that just appeared?  These days a weather balloon gets shot out of he air and makes national news.  Otherwise - a solid read, and I plan on reading the sequel.

Stars: 4

Book: Run

 Book: Run

Author: Blake Crouch

Pages: 336

This is my 161st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

No time to think.  No time to ask why.  Only time to run.  5 days ago, the epidemic of rage began.  4 days ago, the rash of senseless murders swept the nation.  3 days ago, the president addressed the country and begged for peace - even as the murders increased tenfold.  2 days ago, the killers began to mobilize.  1 day ago, the power went out.  And tonight, the killers are reading the names of those to be killed over the Emergency Broadcast System.  Jack  Colclough is listening over the battery-powered radio on his kitchen table in Alburquerque, and he just heard his name.  People are coming to his house to kill him, his wife, his daughter, and his son.  He has no idea what's happening, or why, but the time for questions is long past.  His only chance is to run.  

This was an okay book.  I do like Blake Crouch's books, and when looking around, I realized I missed this older one of his.  It wasn't as good as his more recent books, but I am glad I read it.  It is fast paced, and a good survival story, but weak in the science fiction side of things.  Ending was just okay.

Stars: 3

Book: The Alienist

 Book: The Alienist

Author: Caleb Carr

Pages: 512

This is my 160th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The year is 1896.  The city is New York.  Newspaper reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned by his friend Dr. Laszlo Kreizler - a psychologist, or "alienist" - to view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy abandoned on the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge.  From there the 2 embark on a revolutionary effort in criminology: creating a psychological profile of the perpetrator based on the details of his crimes.  Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who will kill again before their hunt is over. 

Stars:4 

Book: House of Odysseus

 Book: House of Odysseus

Author: Claire North

Pages: 432

This is my 159th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On the isle of Ithaca, queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power.  Many years ago, her husband Odysseus sailed to war with Troy and never came home.  In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - a peace that is shattered by the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.  Orestes' hands are stained with his mother's blood.  Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands.  Now, wracked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.  But a king cannot be seen to be weak, and Elektra has brought him to Ithaca to keep him safe from the ambitious men of Mycenae.  Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the furies circle him.  His uncle Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes' throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.  Trapped between 2 mad kinds, Penelope fights to keep her home from being crushed by a war that stretches from Mycenae and Sparta to the summit of Mount Olympus itself.  Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus' wife.  And watching over them all is he goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.  Each woman has a secret.  And their secrets will shape the world. 

This is the second book in the Ithaca series, and I liked it almost as much as the first.  It was well written and the story flowed nicely.  Aphrodite as the narrator is great.  Unsung heroine Penelope reigns supreme.  And Helena makes an appearance in this book.  Glad I found these gemes of Mythology retelling.

Stars: 4