Book: Black Orchard

 Book: Black River Orchard

Author: Chuck Wendig

Pages: 640

This is my 78th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there.  Becasue in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusal trees.  And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it's nearly black.  Take a bite of one of these apples, and you will desire only to devour another.  And another.  You will become stronger.  More vital.  More yourself, you will believe.  But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing - and become darker.  This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard.  Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples - and what's the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?  Even if something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraorinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town.  But now the leaves are falling.  The days grow darker.  It's harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

This was an excellent book.  I really like Chuck Wendig's books.  He is a talented writer.  His books are toms, but I could not put this down.  I had some good solid reading time this week, so I was able to get through this one quickly.  The story is wild.  Even though you know this is going to be an off the rails sci-fi story, it starts innocently enough.  I wasn't really sure where it would take off to, but it was a crazy story.  There are a lot of interesting characters, a bit of apple history, a bit of history of Bucks County PA (which is where the author lives, and the home of my son's college Lehigh).  It has a good wrap up ending and a nice epilogue (which are always my favorite).  So good.

Stars: 5

Book: Electric State

 Book: Electric State

Author: Simon Stalehag

Pages: 144

This is my 77th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small yellow toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system.  As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems o unravel at an ever faster pace, as if somehwere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.

Stars: 4

Book: Bookshops and Bonedust

 Book: Bookshops and Bonedust

Author: Travis Baldree

Pages: 352

This is my 76th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.  Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk - so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.  What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?  Spending her hours at a belaguered bookshop in the compnay of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.  Stll, adventure isn't all that far awa.  A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

This was a great second book in this series.  It is actually a prequel to his first book, and it gives us a little more insite into Viv's past.  IT is well written with good character development.  You cheer for everyone in Viv's circle.  There is a cozy adventure and a sweet character that is made all of bones that you can't help adore.  Looking forward to reading the next one.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

 Book: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

Author: Jennifer Ryan

Pages: 384

This is my 75th read of the year

What Amazon Says:

As England becomes enmeshed in the early days of WWII and the men are away fighting, the women of Chilbury village forge an uncommon bond.  Tey defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to close the choir and instead "carry on singing", resurrecting themselves as the Chilbury Ladies' Choir.  We come to know the home-front struggles of 5 unforgettable choir members: a timid widow devastated when her only son goes to fight; the older daughter of a local scion drawn to a mysterious artist; her younger sister pining over an impossible crush; a Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia hiding a family secret; and a conniving midwife plotting to outrun her seedy past. 

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to this one because that is how it was available at my library, and that ended up being the best way.  There is a large cast of characters  - all with different narrators - that made this an enjoyable story.  It has a great cast of characters, quite the scandal, and a town pulling together while a war is going on.  All circling around a ladies' choir that wants to give the town some joy.  The ending wraps up nicely.  This was a book recommended to me by a family friend and I am glad I decided to listen to it.

Stars: 4

Book: The Nature of Fragile Things

 Book The Nature of Fragile Things

Author: Susan Meissner

Pages: 509

This is my 74th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno  Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.  Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a NY tenement that seh answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about.  San Francisco widower MArtin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly beautiful.  While Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent 5 year ld daughter, his odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.  Then one earl-spring evening, a strager at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events.  Sophie discovers hidden tiesto 2 other women.  The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep.  The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.  The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belif that love can overcome fear.  

This was a great book.  I am a big fan of Susan Messiner - "Fall of Marigolds" one of my favorite books of all time.  She is a solid writer, and she keeps you wanting to turn pages to see where the story is going.  The first half of the book was better than the second, but it finishes solidly.  I liked most of the characters (the ones you are supposed to like) and was pulling for the 3 women in this book to make it to the end.  It wasn't as good as her past reads, for me, so I dropped it a star, but overall I am glad I read it.

Stars: 4

Book: Jessica Jones Alias

 Book: Jessica Jones Alias

Author: Brian Bendis

Pages: 195

This is my 73rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Meet Jessica Jones.  Once upon a time, she was a costumed super hero - but not a very good one.  Her powers were unremarkable compared to the amazing abilities of the costumed icons that populate the Marvel Universe.  In a city of Marvels, she never found her niche.  The self-destructive would-be Avenger is now the owner and sole employee of Alias Invertigations - a small, private-investigative firm specializing in superhuman cases.  When she uncovers the potentially explosive secret of one hero's true identity, Jessica's life immediately becomes expendable  But her wit, charm and intelligence just may help her survive another day.  Thrust into the midst of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels, has JEssica burned too many bridges to turn to old friends for help?

Stars: 4

Book: Everything You Are

 Book: Everything You Are

Author: Kerry Anne King

Pages: 337

This is my 72nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

One tragic twist of fate destroyed Braden Healey's hands, his musical career, and his family.  Now, unable to play, adrift in an alcoholic daze, and with only fragmented memories of his past, Braden wants desperately toescape the darkness of the last eleven years.  When his ex-wife and son are killed in a car accident, Braden returns home, hoping to forget a relationship with his troubled 17 year old daughter, Allie.  But how can he hope to rescue her from the curse that seems to shadow his family?  Ophelia "Phee" MacPhee, granddaughter of the eccentric old man who sold Braden his cello, believes the curse is real.  She swore an oath to her dying grandfather that she would ensure Braden plays the cello as long as he lives.  But he can't play, and as the shadows deepend and Phee finds herself falling for Braden, she'll do anything to save him.  It will take a miracle of forgiveness and love to bring all 3 of them back to the healing power of music.

Stars: 2