Vera Wong is at it again solving the suicide/murder of Xander Lin. Xander, a charismatic influencer is found dead and the police believe it’s a suicide. Vera thinks differently. Through her sleuthing skills, she solves Xanders death, dismantles a human trafficking ring, becomes an TikTok influencer and makes new friends along the way. Vera is no longer the lonely widow in her life’s story. A great read especially if you like the pushy mother type. I recommend this book.

The book grabbed me right away but took a turn I was not expecting. After I gave into the mythological switch I enjoyed the rest of the book.

A great book for succession fans , this story is about a group of siblings who have to play a high stakes game to win the family fortune.

This book is supposedly a classic, which is why I read it. I understand it is full of symbolism, sex, and gore, all meant to be disjointed and chaotic just like Patrick’s crumbling psyche. I think what bothered me was the long passages of Patrick’s ramblings that while meant to give you a clearer picture of the main character, just ended up being boring. I did like the moments where the narration style change to show his dissociation. I would have liked to see it more.

This was an adventurous undertaking for the author. It is a well researched Historical Fiction about the tunnels under Paris. Two separate stories that would have been better if presented as row books in a series. Traveling between the 1600’s and (1940’s) was a challenge. As each time period ended, the reader had to trudge through the other time period while waiting for resolution of the reviles string. Unfortunately, I do not recommend this book. It was torturous to read. However, both plots have strong value.

First in the series - I enjoyed it very much.

A hard book to review because it is very dark and twisted but I was entertained. There is a book in this universe that came out prior that I suggest reading before to understand one of the characters. It's called the Good Samaritan

I Really enjoyed this book. Good family story. Well written

Tilly Nightingale learns from Alfie Lane, the owner of Book Lane, a local independent book seller, that she has a gift from her recently deceased husband waiting at the store. Of course Tilly is not ready for the news but Alfie explains to her that the gift is actually twelve books. Deceased husband, Joe, was a less than enthusiastic reader. He stipulates in his instructions that Tilly collect one book per month from the store throughout the coming year. Each book is different and the first work is Matilda by Roald Dahl. Tilly had been named after Matilda. Tilly’s parents also named Harper, their other daughter, after author, Harper Lee. Mom and Dad seeded Tilly’s love of books and reading. The story includes not only the list of books that are from a wide variety of genres but also explains how each work spurred Tilly and her sometimes cohort, Harper, to embark on a variety of new adventures. It was an inspirational and enjoyable book for me and I am happy I found it.

The unique writing style had such great promise, and the audiobook actors were phenomenal. But the story itself fell flat. I’m definitely open to stories that end with lingering mystery, but I feel like absolutely nothing was explained at the end. It feels like the author took way too much liberty with the “let the reader come to their own conclusions” concept and just didn’t bother to come up with a full idea.