Two women decide to investigate together the disappearance of their missing sisters. The sisters were taken in different incidents separated by only a few weeks. Both cases were reported as runaways. Nicole Monroe and Jenna Conner don’t believe that their sisters ran away, and are determined to investigate together to determine what really happened. A little bit of a different concept. I like my mysteries so it was a good read for me. This is one of those that some of the incidents seem a bit preposterous, but keep the plot going.

Imagine being a teenage girl in the late 1960’s, unwed and pregnant. Your family sends you to a home for wayward girls where you are given a different name for anonymity and lied to by the doctor, nurse and governess of the home. Fern, Rose, Zinnia and Holly meet at this home for wayward girls and become caught up with a charismatic librarian who gives Fern a book about witchcraft. The girls pledge their loyalty to the coven and become witches. As their babies are born and the realization of returning to their “normal” lives near, will the girls escape their pledge to the coven? Can the girls just leave the coven and live a normal life? Will they stay in touch? Read and find out.

This was such a wonderful book, taking place in Paris during WWII and then in 1980s the US. A stolen bracelet, a jewel thief, the mystery of a murder, secrets of the past. And an amazing ending.

5 stars are not enough for the latest novel by master story teller Stephen King. Holly is back, Barbara is back and Jerome is back but you don't need to know who the are, but if you are a King fan you do. Be prepared to NOT want to stop reading Never Flinch with plot twists and don't try to figure it out. Great way to start my Summer Reading

My first impression as I started Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman was this is a farce and I am being fooled. It was light silly reading. While I was never quite sure of the ending, I found it contrived. I found the novel not intriguing. Since I didn't have anything else to read, I figured might as well read Murder Takes A Vacation to the end.

Paddy Swan is a well known and charismatic chef who’s life is tragically ended one night when he is pushed off a train platform. His grieving widow, Nina, receives a lighter in the mail with a note from a man named Nick Radcliffe claiming that he used to work with Paddy and he thought she would like to have this memento. They exchange a few emails and start dating. Asche, Nina and paddy’s daughter, suspects something is off with Nick’s back story and investigates his past. Is Nick who he says he is? Can Asche prevent Nina from making a huge mistake? Do the women in Nick’s past come back to haunt him? Read and find out. I enjoyed this book with all of its twists and turns.

The author’s style is difficult to read. The storyline is interesting.

I only picked this book because it met the challenge and the description sounded promising. I was wrong. The (biggest) twist was predictable from about the 5th chapter. When I first figured it out I was not sure if the author thought their readers were morons and would not see it, or if it was meant to be the biggest red herring ever (it wasn’t). Even for a mystery/thriller there was excessive and pointless death. If I could provide better advice, it would be to skip the epilogue. It was totally unnecessary and added plot lines at the bitter end that contribute nothing to the overall story, and actively takes away from it simultaneously. That is after seeing that the book was already 100 pages too long.

Part of a series, this was book 4. Light summer read

Read this book!!! Penn is an author who is a stay-at-home dad; Rosie is emergency room doctor who eventually changes her preferred specialty to accommodate her youngest child. The couple has 5 sons, but at 3 years old the youngest tells them that when he grows up, he wants to be a girl. This book does an incredible job of showing what it’s like when a member of the family was born with the wrong genitalia. The author tells how different family members and community members react, and the impact this has on the child, the parents, the siblings, the grandmother, and friends. It’s also a novel about parenthood in general. I did not want to put this book down. It's insightful, heartfelt, full of quotes that I highlighted, and a must read.