Cold and Rainy Fall Days....

I've been home sick for two days with some kind of virus, and have felt so bad I didn't even want to read. That never happens! I feel a bit better today, and am a bit behind in my book reviews; so here goes:

What I Recently Read

I finally finished Daniel Silva's latest Gabriel Allon book, The Other Woman, and 4 different formats were used to read this one! I listed to the e-Audiobook on my phone in the car with the Cloud Library app, read some on my Ipad through the Amazon WhisperSinc app for Kindle, listened to the audibook in CD Format and finally finished up the print copy I received from my friends at Library Love Fest (HarperCollins Library Marketing Division).  It was a great book, with a head-scratching plot hole at the end that I happily overlooked. (I overlook a lot of things from favorite authors - I'm just so happy they keep writing)! And I've recently learned on Twitter that the next title in the series will be out next summer! Something to look forward to. I am fan-girling so much that this author follows me on Twitter!

I also finished The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager, author of Final Girls (which I also now want to read). I started this book a while back and put it down to read something else; but not because it wasn't good. It's just so hard not to start new books I'm excited about! At a summer camp for wealthy adolescents, three girls go missing, never to be seen again. One of the campers was greatly affected by this tragedy. When she is asked, 10 years later, to come back for one summer and help open up the camp again, she agrees, hoping to get some closure. But there are a number of lies by all parties involved that will come to light in this great thriller, and it's one that surprised me a number of times! Highly recommended.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is probably the most unique and complex novel I've read this year. A number of people are gathered for a house party somewhere in England, in some unknown era, and one of the characters will be murdered at 11pm. Every night. And unless the main character, who wakes up in a different guest's body every day for 8 days, can solve the murder, the time loop will never end. Can you imagine keeping all the details of a story like that straight? It takes some focus and concentration, but readers who hang in there will be richly rewarded. And kudos to this author who, except for a few plot holes, manages to bring this whole story to a satisfactory and surprising end!

What I'm Reading Now

When I was sick as a dog on Monday night, and nothing sounded good to read, I picked up Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan that was lingering on my prodigious book shelf! It's about an unemployed tech/marketing millennial who takes a job as the night clerk at a 24 hour book store and discovers a number of mysterious goings-on that are related to some strange books in the store. It's a delight for book lovers, for sure!

I'm a big fan of Australian author Jane Harper whose debut, The Dry, was a break-out hit last year, followed up by Force of Nature, a loosely connected sequel that was also excellent. This next novel, being published in February, 2019, is the story of three brothers who own neighboring properties in the Australian Outback. And when it says "neighboring," it means that it takes several hours to get from one property to the next. When one of the brothers is found dead at the border of two of the properties, the remaining siblings must delve into some hidden secrets to discover what happened. It hasn't "grabbed" me like The Dry did, but it's good and I will keep reading!

I love, loved Sally Thorne's debut, The Hating Game, a humorous contemporary romance with a big heart, so I was very excited to see that her second novel will be published in January.  Library Love Fest sent me a print ARC (thank you, thank you!!), and I am enjoying it. This author does an excellent job of characterization, dialogue and keeping up the tension between the characters. I don't like it as much as I did The Hating Game, but it's still an enjoyable "escape" read and sometimes that's just what you need.

What I'm Reading Next

Choices, choices! 

I'm finishing up all my reading for the TLA Lariat List Committee (55 books were nominated, and I had to read them all)! I will have a lot of extra time to read after December, and I can't wait! Laura Bickle has a great contemporary dark fantasy series known both as "Dark Alchemy" and "Wildlands." The next book in in the series is Phoenix Falling, published in February, 2019, and I may dive into that. This series has a great coyote sidekick named "Sig," whose next shenanigans I'd love to read about. But I have lots of books to choose from, just the way I like it!!

Happy Reading!!