The Story Of Us

I haven't done a book post since July and while I did not manage to read a ton over the summer with all the travelling I am trying to make up for lost time. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus Synopsis -  On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on...

What Alice Forgot by Laine Moriarty Synopsis - Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over. Thoughts - This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. I keep on picking up the newer stuff to read and the older books just getting older. So earlier this year I let the kids pick out my next read so there is no bias. This wa...

Where the Crawdad Sings by Delia Owens Synopsis - For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world--until the unthinkable happens. Thoughts -  This was such a beautiful story. A coming of age tale of being abandoned, loneliness and survival. I really can't say much ...

I read a total of 17 books last year.. a few less than last year which is a bit disappointing. Here are the last few books I read since my last post 3rd Degree by James Patterson      Synopsis  The Women's Murder Club returns in a shockingly suspenseful thriller. Plunging into a burning town house, Detective Lindsay Boxer discovers three dead bodies...and a mysterious message at the scene. When more corpses turn up, Lindsay asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiner's office, Assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to help her find a murderer who vows to kill every three days. Even more terrifying, he has targeted one of the four friends. Which one will it be? Thoughts As the name suggests this is the third book in the Women's Murder Club series and I am enjoying them a lot. I like all the characters; all strong women. The books are all quick reads, page turners and thankfully not too predictabl...

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter Synopsis - With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop.  Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn't belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim—a woman—who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn’t found.  But the worst is yet to come. Evidence soon links Will’s troubled past to the case . . . and the consequences will tear through his life with the force of a tornado, wreaking havoc for Will and everyone around him, including his colleagues, family, friends—and even the suspects he pursues. My Thoughts - This was my sixth Karin Slaughter book, all part of the Will Trent series. I don't th...

{ This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through the links.} I read a whopping 19 books this year.. this has been my best reading year in a very long time.. maybe since I had kids.. and I finished every single one of them.. The Black Book by James Patterson  -  Being a cop runs in Billy Harney's family. The son of Chicago's Chief of Detectives whose twin sister, Patty, also followed in their father's footsteps, there's nothing Billy won't give up for the job, including his life. After a brutal shooting, Billy is left for dead alongside his tempestuous former partner and an ambitious assistant district attorney out for blood, But somehow Billy survives. He remembers nothing about the events leading up to the shootout and is charged with double murder. Desperate to clear his name, Billy retraces his steps to get to the bottom of what happened. When he discovers the existence of a little black book...