The Winners By: Fredrik Backman

The conclusion of the Beartown series, is just as brilliant, as the first two books.  Backman's has an extraordinary ability to create not characters, but people.  The populations of Beartown and Hed are living, breathing, feeling flawed and wonderful people, and we, the reader, have been lucky enough to visit with them. We've been moved by their tragedies, we've been amazed by their selfishness and immaturity, horrified by their lack of humanity, and awed by their humanity.  Backman is an astonishing conduit of the human condition and we are all the better for his work.

 

Torn Asunder By: Barbara Ross

 

Julia is the wedding planning, venue manager and Maid of Honor for her friend, Zoey's dream wedding. Combining the rehearsal dinner with a clambake seemed like a good idea, until a corpse crashes the party.  With the feeling of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", Julia and her boyfriend Tom, a Maine State Major Crimes Detective, must solve the murder while isolated on an island in the midst of a storm, before the wedding tomorrow.  A wonderfully plotted mystery, wrapped in a beautifully rendered tale of family and love.  A fitting and bittersweet ending to this wonderful series.

Touching My Friend's Dad By: Tia May Carter

 A salacious short story. It wasn't meh and it wasn't great...it just was.

Dirty Shorts-Volume One By: Kyle Adams

A series of short stories, created from a picture prompt in a Goodreads Group.  Some really creative scenarios in some of these stories.

Time To Upsize By: Graeme Aitken

One never knows what one is going to get with a freebie on Amazon...which is why this was a delightful surprise.  A well written story, interesting characters, and as an aged gay man, situations which are reminiscent of my youth, and a reminder as to why I am happy those days are long past!

Bear Witness: A Suspense Drama in Two Acts By: James Reach

A good premise, but it needs reworking.  The actions in the play strain credibility and in some instances timelines are completely screwed up.  As a reader and as an actor I found that the characters themselves were not fully realized and I had difficulty finding the reasons for their attitudes and actions.  I'd say this was more of a draft of a play then a completed piece.

The Second Sleep By: Robert Harris

An absolutely fascinating, and a little horrifying, post-apocalyptic look at life in rural England, where studying/exploring the past is an illegal heresy, harshly punished. Lots of unexpected twists and turns keep the reader not tenter hooks throughout!

Golden State By: Ben H. Winters

WOW-not what I was expecting at all. Full of twists and turns, this creepy dystopian look at the state (lowercase on purpose) of California, could only work int he capable hands of Mr. Winters. Very disturbing and cautionary!

Legend of the Poinsettia By: Roxanne Schroeder-Arce

A wonderful short play! Using the legend of the Poinsettia to illustrate the cultural pull and push on  young lady trying to reconcile and navigate her Mexican heritage and her new life in the US. A wonderful bilingual piece with plenty of heart!

 

Pages to Fill By: Travis Baldree

A wonderful, short introduction to Viv. Perfectly plants the seed that will grow into Baldree's Legends & Lattes!

Legends & Lattes By: Travis Baldree

I can't think of a more creative, sweet and charming story!  A joyful, heartfelt, story of personal redemption and journey to self within the genre of Fantasy, rather than the other way around. Characters that are so original, charming, fun and not what/whom you assumed they'd be.  Joyful and delightful this is a cozy, warm read!

The Watchmaker's Hand By: Jeffrey Deaver

This was my first time reading a Lincoln Rhyme mystery, although I have read some of Deaver's other works.  Filled with delicious forensic explanations and major twists and turns, this was great fun.  Rhyme and his wife and their cohorts are fascinating characters who provide plenty of snarc to provide some lightness to the tense and harrowing action. I'm going to have to start at the beginning of this series now!

Look Closer By: David Ellis

This book shouldn't have worked.  The amount of twists in the book, in the hands of a lesser author would have been too impossible for the reader to believe.  It just shouldn't have worked.  Yet Ellis has written a tense, tightly plotted story about people that the reader will feel for, hate, feel for, hate, feel for, etc...  Elias never lets the reader relax for a moment, leaving us breathless with anticipation as to what is really going on and who these characters really are.  Simply put this is an astonishingly great read! 

Every Reasonable Doubt By: Pamela Samuels Young

 

WOW!!! I'm so glad I read Pamela Samuels Young's book!  Vernetta Henderson is such a wonderful character-strong, smart, vulnerable, funny and real.  A lawyer with a conscience, this great novel follows her through the highs and lows of her career, some big cases and her marriage, all with fast paced action, lots of twists and turns, humor and a great amount of heart!