Book: The Vanishing Type

 Book: The Vanishing Type

Author: Ellery Adams

Pages: 304

This is my 177th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

While January snow falls outside in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, Nora Pennington is encouraging customers to cozy up indoors with a good book.  Even though the shop and her bibliotherapy sessions keep Nora busy during the day, her nights are a little too quiet - until Deputy Andrews pulls Nora into the sci-fi section and asks her to help him plan a wedding proposal.  His bride-to-be, Hester, loves Little Women, and Nora sets to work arranging a special screening at the town's new movie theater.  But right before the deputy pops the question, Nora makes an unsettling discovery - someone has mutilated all her store's copies of The Scarlet Letter, slicing angrily into the pages wherever Hester Prynne's name is mentioned.  The coincidence disturbs Nora, who's one of the few in Miracle Springs who knows that HEster gave up a baby for adoption many years ago.  Her family heaped shame on her, and Hester still feels so gilty that she hasn't even told her future husband.  But when a dead man is found on a hiking trail just outside town, carrying a rare book, the members of the Secret Book and Scone Society unearth a connection to Hester's past.  Someone is intent on bringing the past to light, and it's not just Hester's relationship at stake, but he life.

I liked this book.  I read the first one in this series (The Secret Book and Scone Society) and really enjoyed it.  I was told by a friend you can read these out of order, and you can.  This one was available at the library, so I grabbed it to fit a challenge prompt and I really liked it.  There is good character developement, and a good mystery.  It moves at a good pace while throwing in what cozy mystery writers love: sweet background scenery.  The author pulled the main story together well while developing side stories along the way.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Teacher

 Book: The Teacher

Author: Frieda McFadden

Pages: 514

This is my 176th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Eve has a good life.  She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school.  All is as it should be.  Except - last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center.  But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye.  Addie can't be trusted.  She lies.  She hurts people.  She destroys lives.  At least, that's what everyone says.  But nobody knows the real Addie.  Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her.  And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.  

I have read a few McFadden books, and they have all been fine.  But this one was not my cup of tea.  I did not like the plot from almost the start, and I didn't like any of the characters.  

Stars: 3

Book: Truly, Madly, Guilty

 Book: Truly, Madly, Guilty

Author: Liane Moriarty

Pages: 432

This is my 175th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit busy, life: they have 2 little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime.  If there's anything they can count on, it's each other.  Clementine and Erika are each other's oldest friends.  A single look between them can convey an entire conversation.  But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last-minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don't hesitat.  Having Tiffany and Vid's larger-than-life personalitities there will be a welcome respite.  2 months later, it won't stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can't stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn't gone?

I usually like Moriarty's books, but this one was a bit of a miss for me.  I liked some of the chracters - Vid especially - but most fell flat.  And my goodness, the keeping the reader in the dark for almost the entire book and then spending just a short while on the resolution - ridiculous.  And while was was a bit of a tragedy, it was not worth the hype that was going on in this book.  Just silly

Stars: 2 

Book: The Last Murder At The End of the World

 Book: The Last Murder At The End of the World

Author: Stuart Turton

Pages: 368

This is my 174th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Solve the murder to save what's left of the world.  Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.  On the island: it is idyllic.  One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony.  The vilagers are content to fish, farm, and feast, to ovey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.  Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death.  And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the onlything that was keeping the fog at bay.  If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island-and everyone on it.  But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer-and they don't even know it.  And the clock is ticking.

Good read.  I love apocolytic fiction, and this one did not disappoint.  I did not see the twist coming.  There were great characters - but I would say the down side was there were so many of them.  The story moved along pretty well, however at points it felt that they were just stringing out the story to add more pages.  Overall, I enjoyed the story enough and the idea they came up with that it outpaced the challenges.

Stars: 3.5

Book: The Lies I Tell

 Book: The Lies I Tell

Author: Julie Clark

Pages: 320

This is my 173rd book of the year

What Amazon Says:

Meg Williams, Maggie Littleton, Melody Wilde.  Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job.  She's a con artist who erases herself to become whoever you need her to be - a college student.  A life coach.  A real estate agent.  Nothing about her is real.  She slides alongside you and tells you exactly what you need to hear, and by the time she's done, you've likely lost everything.  Kat Robers has been waiting 10 years for the woman who upended her life to return.  And now that she has, Kat is determined to be the one to expose her.  But as the 2 women grow closer, Kat's long-held assumptions begin to crumble, leaving Kat to wonder who Meg's true target is.

This was a pretty good book.  I picked it up at a used book store on a whim, and it was a good find.  It moves along nicely and has good character development.  I wasn't sure where the story was going for the longest time.  I liked the two main characters and the ending wrapped the whole story up nicely and with a bit of a twist.

Stars: 4

Book: Replaceable You

 Book: Replaceable You

Author: Mary Roach

Pages: 288

This is my 172nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The boyd is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer.  For centuries, medicine has reached for what's available - sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products.  Today we're attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers.  How are we doing?  Are we there yet?  This book explores the remarkable advances and difficul questions prompted by the human body's failings.  When and how does a person decide they's be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb?  Can a donated heart be made to beat forever?  Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina?  Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit.  Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a "superclea" xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell "hair nursery" in the San Diego tech hub.  She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and osteomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs.  She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue done, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International.

Fantastic book.  Mary Roach is the best of both world in the non-fiction space.  Funny and informative.  She is smart, and the information is well researched.  

Stars: 5

Book: Needful Things

 Book: Needful Things

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 816

This is my 171st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The town of Castle Rock, Maine has seen its fair share of oddities over the years, but nothing is as peculiar as the little curio shop that's just opened for business here.  Its mysterious proprietor, Leland Gaunt, seems to have something for everyone out on display at Needful Things.  Interesting items that run the gamut from worthless to priceless.  Nothing has a price tag in this place, buteverything is certainly for sale.  The heart's desire for any resident of Castle Rock can easily be found among the curiosities - in exchange for a little money and - at the specific request of Leland Gaunt - a whole lot of menace against their fellow neighbors.  Everyone in town seems willing to make a deal at Needful Things, but the devil is in the details.  And no one takes heed of the little sign hanging on the wall:  Caveat emtor.  In other words, let the buer beware.

Stars: 4.5