Book: The Left Hand of Darkness

 Book: The Left Hand of Darkness

Author: Usula Le Guin

Pages: 336

This is my 170th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

On Gethen, human envoy Genly Ai has been sent to convince the planet's leaders to join the Ekumen, a loose confederation of planets who do not rule one another, but who cooperate in matters of interest to all Ekumen members.  Barriers to Ai' success include Gethenian pride, antipathy and discord between that world's rval nation-states and Ai's lack of understanding in a global culture fueled by the ambisexual nature of Gethenians.  The only native who believe sthe Ekumen can save Gethen is Estraven, a native whom Ai regards with suspicion. But when politics casts Estraven in a criminal light, Ai is dragged into a fierce powerplay and finds himself imprisoned, beaten, and left for dead.  Only by abandoning his prejudice - and learning to trust the Otherness of his savior - can he survive his ordeal.

Stars: 4 

Book: Caller Unknown

 Book: Caller Unknown

Author: Gillian McAllister

Pages: 352

This is my 169th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

There is nothing that Simone won't do for her daughter, Lucyt.  The 2 have always been close, and with Lucy about to leave home for university, they depart the UK for a vacation to Texas to spend some quality time together.  But when Simone awakens on their first morning in the desert, Lucy is gone, missing from their retnal cabin.  In her place is a cell phone, and a voice on the other line issues a shocking ransom demand.  Don't tell the police.  Come to this location.  And be prepared to do a deal.  Though Simone's husband urgest her to bring in the authorities for help, she knows she can't take any chances.  The kidnappers might kill Lucy if she tells anyone.  No mother would take that risk.  Instead, that night, she drives to the isolated meet-up.  What she finds there changes everything.  The mysterious kidnapper doesn't want money.  They want Simone to do something.  The unthinkable.  A catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, with chiling consequences that extend beyond simone and her family.  What follows is a heart-pounding jouney through the small towns and punishing desert of remote Texas, in which Simone's courage - and morality - is pushed to the brink as she discovers what it truly means to be a mother.

This book was just okay.  I have read a few other books by this author and liked them, but this one missed the mark.  Did not really care about the characters.  There was a lot of over writing (saying the same thing 3 different times in a row for page filler is something I really dislike).  The execution got repetitive.  And it did drag a bit.  The ending was okay.

Stars: 3

Book: The Beauty of the End

 Book: The Beauty Of The End

Author: Debbie Howells

Pages: 320

This is my 168th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

"I was 14 when I fell in love with a goddess".  So begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in armchair criminal psychology.  Now living an aimless life in a inherited cottage in the English Countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of the beguilling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier.  Then one day he receives a troubling phone call.  April, the woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent overdose - and the lead suspect in a brutal murder.  Deep in his bones, Noah believes that April is innocent.  Then again, he also believed they would spend the rest of their lives together.  While Noah searches for evidence that will clear April's name, a teenager named Ella begins to sift through the secrets of her own painful family history.  The same age as April was when Noah first met her, Ella harbors a revelation that could be the key to solving the murder.  As the 2 stories converage, there are shocking consequences when at last, the truth emerges.  Or so everyone believes.  

Stars: 3 

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl #6 - The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

 Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bridge

Author: Matt Dinniman

Pages: 832

This is my 167th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, have survived longer and leveld up highter than anyone ever thought they could in the galaxy's most popular reality show, but after the shocking conclusion of the 7th level, it's now anyone's game.  Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, have survived longer and leveled up higher than anyone ever thought they could in the galaxy's most popular reality show, but after the shocking conclusion of the 7th level, it's now anyone's game.  A pantheon of forgotten gods.  An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along they way.  A rapidly deteriorating AI system.  An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.  It is bedlam on the 8th floor.  The crawlers are given a new taks: Find and capture 6 monsters, each of which will be turned into a card.  The stronger, the dealier, the better.  At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, made of some of the most powerful cards available.  So it's crucial for crawlers to assemble the toughest squad possible.  But, like always, there is a catch.  There's always a catch.  If Carl and Donu want a winning hand, they'll have to capture the most lethal and terrifying moster of them all: Shi Maria.  She was once married to a now-missing god.  Her special attack is known to drive one insane.  They call her the Bedlam Bride.  But even if Carl and Donut can capture her, they know all to weel that just because someone has been captured, it doesn't mean they have been tamed.  Welcome, Crawlers.  Welcome to the 8th floor of the dungeon.

Yet another amazin installment in the Dungeon Crawler world.  Book 6 - with only 2 more to go at this point - and I am going to be so sad when I get to the end!  I love, love, love listening to this book series.  It is by far the best audiobook reader I have ever come across.  The voices are amazing.  This book - like all the others - was fast paced with humor, and incredible world building.  Amazin characters.  There is a new one in this book - Uzi Jesus.  Perfection.  I cannot get enough of this series, and I cannot wait for the next one.

Stars: 5 

Book: Raising Hare

 Book: Raising Hare

Author: Chloe Dalton

Pages: 304

This is my 166th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it.  Imagine that it lived under your roof and bounded around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention.  Imagine that, more thatn 2 yeras later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end.  For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.  In FEbruary 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare - a leveret - that had been chased by a dog.  Freating for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how difficult it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation.  Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness.  Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton's house by day.  Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, weasels, feral cats, raptors, or even people, she never treid to restrict it to the house.  Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again.  Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death. 

This was a really great book.  I found it on the shelf at the library in our booksale room and a friend said I needed to reat it.  She was right!  It was such an interesting story about how the author let this hare - and several others - completely consume her home and life.  I kept picturing what it might look like with wild rabbits running in and out all the time, but maybe it was truly more magical than messy?  I learned a lot about hares in general among the sweet story, and I am so glad I read it.

Stars: 5 

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