The Candid Life of Meena Dave

I almost always love a novel about India and Indian Americans. The Candid Life of Meena Dave is the exception though. I could not become interested in the book at all. Meena Dave has no family to speak of.  Her adoptive parents have passed away and she is on her own, moving frequently. When she is notified that she has inherited a house in Boston, she cannot place the name of the person, Neha, who left it to her. However, she travels to Boston, gets the keys to the house and plans only to stay overnight there. She is required to not sell the home for one year and then only to one of the other people who also have title to the property. While Meena is staying in the home, she discovers a connection to her past.  

While the plot premise was good, I struggled to maintain interest in the story. I found the writing to be rambling in various directions. Another fatal part of the book is that I did not like the main character Meena. She traveled the world on her whims and looked down on people with roots. She spoke to other characters with disdain. Meena just isn't a friendly person. Around page 50, I decided to go online and see what other reviewers thought about the book. I read many glowing  reviews so I went back to the beginning and started over, thinking I was missing something. I wasn't. 

I didn't finish this novel and cannot even rate it 1 star. Not my cup of tea. 

The Other Man

I had high hopes for The Other Man given it's gorgeous cover. However,  I never engaged with the story. It seemed that I was reading about Ved Mehra's day as he might write about it in a mundane way in a journal. His days were boring. The plot concerns his mother's attempts to get him married. As a 38 year old single man, Ved finally agrees to an arranged marriage with Disha Kapoor. While the wedding preparations are underway Ved meets Carlos Silva and begins an affair with him. The thrust of the novel is whether Ved has the strength tell his parents that he is gay and live openly in Bombay as a gay man.

As the plot moves on the reader learns how Ved became a closeted gay man. This is an interesting part of the plot as is his blossoming friendship with Disha. It is hard to tell which way Ved will ultimately go and it is all complicated because he is the heir to a big family business. Also, there is some sexual description but not alot.

This one left me bored. No rating.

In A Kingdom By The Sea

This historical novel is a slow moving story concerning an English wife and mother named Gabriella/Gabby.  Her 2 kids are in college and her husband Mike has worked in foreign countries their entire married life. Near their 25th anniversary, Mike asks Gabby to join him in Karachi, Pakistan where he will begin a job in the airline industry. As a book translator Gabby can work anywhere in the world and email her work to her employer. She decides to go to Karachi. I thought this was a wrong decision but I guess Gabby was trying to connect with Mike who she has only seen on summer holidays. 

When Gabby arrives in Karachi she is both shocked and amazed at the noise of the city and the cultural divide between the sexes. However, she needed a new experience in her life and Gabby quickly accepted the country as is. Her openness to the culture gains her several new female friends. Gabby finds that that she is closer to these women emotionally than she was to her friends in England. 

The story alternates between the present day Pakistan and the 1970s Cornwall where Gabby grew up with sister Dominique. Dominque holds a family secret that is revealed midway into the story. This reveal has no bearing on the main plot and the alternating plot was unnecessary. The book is about Gabby growing as a person and this childhood story has no effect on the present day story. Dominique was a fantastic character and could have been used in the plot differently. 

There isn't much action. The book is about Gabby's growth as a person. I found this appealing though. 3 out of 5 stars.

Among the Innocent

I received an advanced review copy (ARC) of this book from the Early Reviewer's Club at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. It is an Amish story but with a different twist. This suspense thriller features Leah Miller, a former Amish woman, as a police officer who is investigating a murder. 

Leah's own Amish family was murdered in their barn ten years prior. She was taken in by the local sheriff and his wife who raised her as an Englisher. Leah became a police officer because she loved her adopted father. She works in her home town, St. Ignatius, Montana, where a murder has just occurred that had similarities to the murder of her family. With a piece of paper written by the killer stating that he will be coming for Leah, it is apparent that the killer will continue to kill until he can catch Leah. As Leah and the new police chief, Dalton Cooper, work long hours struggling to fit the pieces together, they can't help but grow closer. When secrets from both of their pasts begin to surface, an unexpected connection between them is revealed. But this is only the beginning. Could it be that the former police chief framed an innocent man to keep the biggest secret of all buried? And what will it mean for Leah--and Dalton--when the full truth comes to light?

I LOVED this book! The fast pacing is what makes this book so intense. The story began with an edge of your seat prologue that would not let me put the book down until I finished reading it. There is alot of action with plenty of twists that keep your heart pounding. The two main characters, Leah and Dalton, were both tough and vulnerable at the same time and they could have been the stars of the novel. However, the gripping plot carries this whodunnit to a 5 star rating. It's been awhile since I read a suspense thriller with such an intricate plot and intensity and it was very satisfying.

5 out of 5 stars.

Kingdom of Bones

Kingdom of Bones is the 16th Sigma Force thriller from James Rollins. The story began with a United Nations relief team in a small Congo village making an alarming discovery. An unknown virus is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women, and children have been reduced to a dull, catatonic state while plants and animals have grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. This phenomena is spreading from a cursed site in the jungle, known to locals as the Kingdom of Bones, and sweeping across Africa, threatening the rest of the world. What made the biosphere run amok; a natural event or did someone engineer it? Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force have kept the world safe for years. However, even these highly trained scientists do not understand what is unfolding in Africa or know how to stop it. In order to head off a global catastrophe, the Sigma Force crew must once again risk their lives to uncover the shattering secret at the heart of the African continent.

I usually love a James Rollins novel. I liked this one but I cannot say I loved it. It was highly technical concerning the biology of viruses which was way over my ability to understand. Also, the plot premise was a little too fantastical. Just because something could be possible doesn't mean that it's probable. The virus that the Sigma Force crew was investigating would mutate in the offspring of infected creatures. The DNA of the new creatures was sufficiently altered to make them more dangerous to humans but also too different from the species that they originated from. One other issue I had was why a military dog was taken along for this jungle adventure. Is it likely that a combat veteran would bring his dog on a hunt for a virus? The book just didn't seem like the traditional Sigma Force story.

3 out of 5 stars.

Fear Thy Neighbor

Fear Thy Neighbor is Fern Michaels' newest mystery and it is a fantastic read. It's hard to believe that she has written 150 novels to date. She is 89 years old and while I can't do the math, that's alot of books per year to write. She evidently has the it factor.

The story opens with a teenage Alison Marshall fighting off a man from her foster family. The scene quickly moves 11 years into the future with Alison visiting Palmetto Island for a few days while she travels south to Key West. After renting a room in a cheap hotel, the Courtesy Court, she runs across John Wilson, the owner of the local bait shop, who has been following her in her car. Later in the day, their paths cross again at Mel's Diner where John tries to sit at her table. Alison quickly eats and returns to her hotel. The owner, Betty, seems to he a nice but lonely old lady. Betty invites Alison into her unit for tea and Alison happily agrees, believing Betty to be a friendly person. When she wakes up the next day feeling groggy Alison wonders whether she was drugged. Her car keys are gone as is her gun and the kitties she rescued the day before. Planning to quickly leave the island,  Alison decides to have a fast breakfast before leaving. She can't stop thinking, though, about the island's charm and beautiful beach. Seeing an ad in the local paper for a realtor, Alison calls to see what properties are available on the island. She is shown a dilapidated beach house that she cannot resist buying. At 29, she is ready to put down roots.

Alison was a great character. Her paranoia about people, while understandable given her childhood, added to the suspense. She did not trust anyone and she overanalyzed every encounter with the human race. I would too if I came across the secondary characters in the novel. All the men were abusive and tried to get her into bed. Betty was not such a nice old lady as she presented herself to be but rather a wolf in sheep's clothing. Alison eventually met some decent new friends but she had trouble accepting them because her arrival on Palmetto Island was fraught with danger. I though it odd that she wanted to buy a house there given what happened to her when she initially arrived. Her decision to buy the house was overanalyzed as well but since Alison was cautious about everything in life it did not seem realistic. 

All in all, a fun read.  4 out of 5 stars.

The Cleopatra Cipher

The Cleopatra Cipher is book number 1 in the Adrian West Thriller series by L. D. Goffigan.  It is an archeological thriller/treasure hunt mystery set in Rome and Egypt. The next book in the series, The Excalibur Deception, will be published in July 2022.

I LOVED this book!  From the first pages I was captivated by this story. Cleopatra's burial place and her treasures are sought by two opposing groups. One is from academia and the other is from a crime syndicate called the Daughters of Cleopatra. Both groups are present at a Languages and Antiquity Conference in Rome. Sebastian Rossi has given a lecture on the various languages of Ptolemac Egypt. While always a popular lecture, the recent finding of Cleopatra's treasures one week prior to the conference made his lecture a must to hear. Sebastian's friend Adrian West is also in attendance at the conference and soon after Sebastian's lecture has ended, she receives a call from her former FBI partner Nick Harper. Nick tells her that Sebastian has been abducted. The hunt is on to not only locate him but to find out why he was abducted.

The writing was tight and suspenseful and the characters were fully developed. The protagonist of the series is Adrian West. She is a great character but I believe that without Sebastian as a counterpart, I am not sure how well she can carry the series. I definitely liked Sebastian better. I was not able to tell if he will be an ongoing character in the series. Nonetheless, we will find out in 2 months when the second book in the series is published.

I preferred the Rome setting. Fortunately the setting didn't move to Egypt until the midway point in the story. We read more about the Italian landscape and food than the same in Egypt. The Egyptian part of the plot centered on action more than setting description. 

This is a hugely entertaining novel!  5 out of 5 stars.

Nine Lives

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke, until very, nad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor, and they’re located all over the country. So why are they all on the list, and who sent it? FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next.

Nine lives is a suspense thriller set in the modern era. Each chapter covers one of the nine characters on consecutive days. It's a clever whodunnit with a surprise ending. I was bewildered by the high body count though. Usually in a mystery I see, at the most, two people killed but here there are more. In the end it all makes sense. Don't be surprised if the plot sounds familiar. Nine Lives is based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, her most well known mystery. The author used alot of narrative for Nine Lives but it was cut back as the story unfolded and for a good reason. The pacing automatically picked up after each character died because less narrative was needed.  The investigation of the deaths was not a big part of the novel. It more or less was character driven.

I enjoyed this mystery and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Cartographers

I did not know what to expect when I started reading this novel. Peng Shepherd is a new author for me but I was impressed with this story from the first chapter. It is a suspense thriller about art, science and history, a combination that I enjoy reading. 

The publisher's summary:

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence . . . because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps. The Cartographers is an ode to art and science, history and magic—a spectacularly imaginative, modern story about an ancient craft and places still undiscovered.

Reading this book was an amazing experience. I had that warm feeling you get when you finish a satisfying novel. Author Peng Shepherd dreamed up a creative plot and executed the writing skillfully. There is also plenty of of character development as well as information on creating maps. 

Seven college buddies travel to New York State after obtaining their Ph.D's in cartography. Their plans are something only the young can dream up: to create the most perfect atlas composed of maps of fantasy lands, such as you would find for the Chronicles of Narnia. The work begins well but as time passes the group dynamics fall apart. Two couples cheat on each other while an odd man out is doing research that he keeps secret from the group. Trust begins to dissipate and the group separates after a tragedy, with most of them staying in New York. All but one has their dream job. Daniel Young heads the map room at the New York Public Library. He and his daughter Nell carry the story. His classmates found similarly fantastic jobs but to summarize the rest of the story would give out spoilers. 

These seven characters communicated with each other as only childhood friends can. Their dialogue was realistic and the author primarily used it to advance the story. There was very little narrative. The exuberance the characters had for their studies made me remember my own college days and, frankly, I haven't been that idealistic since then. Real life always interrupts those feelings. These characters experienced highs and lows on a scale most of us have never experienced. While the story refers to the lows, it is the highs that caught my interest. They were working on a huge discovery for cartography and this is what excited me about the book.

The Cartographers is simply magnificent. 5 out of 5 stars.

Peach Blossom Spring

Peach Blossom Spring is a poignant family saga that begins in China in the 1930s. It is Melissa Fu's debut novel and I am impressed with her ability to write such a beautiful story. The novel is about Dao Meilin and her son Dao Renshu. Meilin's husband Xiaowen is killed during a battle with the invading Japanese army but she remains with her in-law's family for support. She relies heavily on her husband's brother Longwei and his wife Wenling, who resents Meilin's presence. As the Japanese continue their advance through China the Dao family is displaced over and over again in their effort to survive. It is always hard to summarize these sagas so let's go with the publisher's summary:

It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four year old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge. Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story? Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?

When I finished this novel I went back in the story searching for each reference to Peach Blossom Spring. Henry first learned of this fable from his mother while he was a youth. After Henry moves to America he hears the story again, but with a different ending. He wonders why his mother changed the ending. In the last chapter of the book he figures it out. Without being a spoiler I can say it refers to wherever your home is located. The location can be a specific place or state of mind. The way the author ended the story gives us a much bigger idea of what a Peach Blossom Spring is but I won't elaborate here. However, please note that I wanted to immediately re-read the novel after I finished reading it. There has never been a novel that has had this effect on me. Perhaps I am searching for my own Peach Blossom Spring.

The Chinese setting descriptions were spot on. The reader definitely feels the effects of war on all the Chinese cities and villages that Meilin and Renshu walked through on their way to safety. Whenever they found sanctuary, they soon had to move on because of the bombs that the Japanese planes dropped. No place was safe. Eventually Meilin and Renshu moved to Taiwan with their Dao relatives to escape the Japanese and the fledgling Chinese Communist Party. We get a glimpse that Longwei is working with Taiwan's KMT Party but this fact is never specifically stated. Longwei's actions show how the KMT spies operated in mainland China. The problems of emigrating to other countries is also shown. Many Chinese had to lie about their family background in order to get access to boats that would take them to a new place. The lies would always be a problem for the countries in which they relocated.

All the characters seemed flawed. However, each character had to make a decision on how to best handle the circumstances of war. Is this a flaw? Maybe not. When you are in a lose-lose situation, whatever you decide to do looks suspicious. The Dao family did not have positive options available and they used whatever power their family had in order to survive. Instead of saying that they were flawed it may be best to state that the characters were realistic for the era in which they lived, including Henry in America. The current Chinese government does threaten Chinese Americans with harming their relatives who are still in China in order to get concessions. Henry was afraid that he would hurt his mother if he associated with other Chinese in the U. S. 

I LOVED this novel! I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Bitter Roots

Bitter Roots is the 12th wine country cozy mystery featuring Lucie Montgomery as the owner of Virginia's Montgomery Estate Vineyard. Lucie is an unusual heroine because she is disabled from a mobility impairment. However, it doesn't prevent her from managing her business. 

The story opens with Lucie planning her upcoming wedding. She and her winemaker, Quinn Santori, will be married in a ceremony that overlooks her vineyard. However, with all of her Cab Franc vines dying, the scenery will actually be ugly, brown and rotting vines. Lucie and other nearby vineyard owners had purchased vines three years ago from a local nursery, Landau Garden and Nursery. All of the neighboring vines have rotted too. Lucie and Quinn meet with Landau's representatives, Eve Kerr and Richard Brightman, but Landau refuses to refund their $250,000 investment in the diseased vines. Accusations fly between them and an ugly standoff between the supplier and the growers could escalate into litigation. When Eve Kerr, a stunning blonde who works at the nursery, is found dead a few days later, everyone wonders if someone in the winemaking community went too far. What especially troubles Lucie is why Eve secretly arranged to meet Quinn on the day she was murdered and whether Lucie's soon-to-be husband knows something he's not telling her.

I love that the first sentence has a quote from Julia Child: "Julia Child once said that every woman should have a blowtorch in the kitchen." I have always loved this quote and can even remember which TV episode she said it on. The first page contains narrative that gives the reader the entire background of the series. New readers will have no problem following the story. 

This is Crosby's best novel to date. It is also her most sophisticated plot for the series and she wrote it with alot of suspense. At first, I thought that the mystery to be solved dealt with the diseased vines. The author wrote into the story plenty of dialogue about the biology of diseases that vines can have. I enjoyed learning about this aspect of growing grapes. The mystery that dominates, though, is who murdered Eve Kerr. I was not expecting a murder at the halfway point as the mystery about the vines predominated the first part of the story. It could have been enough to carry the novel. However, it did not seem offputting to have a murder this late in the story. Crosby joined all three elements-the vines, the murder and the wedding-into a spectacular ending. We even get a lesson on dereche storms as one hits Virginia in the book. These storms travel horizontally and must travel a minimum of two hundred fifty miles to be considered a dereche.

5 out of 5 stars.

Threads of Hope

Threads of Hope is the 3rd book in the Plain Patterns trilogy by Leslie Gould. The story opens with Tally Smucker enjoying a quiet life of reading and quilting. She can concentrate on her hobbies because of her decision never to marry. However, she has to deal with grief over her mother's catastrophic illness as well as the physical demands of being her caregiver. When a former Plain friend, Danielle, exhibits the symptoms of PTSD from her service in the army, Tally invites her to join a group of quilters at a fabric shop called Plain Patterns. Jane Berger owns the store and Jane likes to tell true stories from yesteryear while the ladies sew. During these quilting get togethers, Tally and Danielle learn about the plight of a WWI soldier and the girl he left behind, Jane's ancestor Kate Landis. Kate was an Amish woman who had to deal with her boyfriend Amos leaving the Amish community to fight in WWI. There is also the 1918 flu pandemic that is raging at the time. The couple's story resonates with both Tally and Danielle but for different reasons.

I am a quilter so I loved the quilt shop setting for this trilogy. Also, there are several parallels to the present time. We are two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and we are dealing with the Ukraine War, which could spill into WWIII. The author gives us some insight on how these issues were dealt with in the past but, of course, she did not know at the time she wrote the novel that history would repeat itself. Danielle's treatment for PTSD is also featured and it is educational for the reader. 

When quilters gather together they tend to solve all the problems in the world by discussing them and coming up with their own solutions, always better than what the politicians decide. I certainly felt this camaraderie among the Plain Patterns group and remember conversations that I have had in the past with fellow quilters. Quilting is also a way to mull over personal problems when you are sewing by yourself. Art and crafts are an outlet for me on dealing with personal issues. This book reinforced this effect as the characters also discussed the problems of the day.

Threads of Hope is the best book in the trilogy. It has more mystery elements than the other two books which made it a fast read.  4 out of 5 stars.

Girl in Ice

Girl in Ice is Erica Ferencik's third novel. I am not sure how to categorize it. Environmental thriller is the closest description but this is not an end of the world horror story. The story is about a girl who is found frozen in the ice in a deep crevice in Greenland and the climate scientists who are trying to communicate with her. Valerie Chesterfield is a linguist who loves the dead Nordic languages. She languishes in the shadow of her twin brother, Andy, an accomplished climate scientist who was stationed on a remote island off Greenland’s coast. Andy has recently committed suicide. He ventured into unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather wearing nothing but boxer shorts. Valerie suspects foul play though. She knows her brother loved life and would not have killed himself.

When Wyatt, Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers the girl, he immediately calls Val. Despite her agoraphobia Val journeys to Greenland to solve the mystery of the girl's language as well as her brother’s death. However, the moment she steps off the plane, her fears almost overwhelm her. She medicates herself with pills and alcohol. The landscape is tough and Wyatt, brilliant but difficult, is an enigma. The girl, Sigrid, is intriguing, and Valerie has a special connection with her. A few weeks after she thaws out, Wyatt believes that Sigrid may be ill. Valerie thinks that the answer to healing Sigrid lies in discovering the truth about Wyatt’s research. She does not know whether his data can be trusted and wonders if it has anything to do with her brother's death. 

Whew! This was a riveting read. I was hooked from the first page with its foreshadowing narrative: "There would be no bursting into tears at school. Grief was for after hours, for the nightly bottle of merlot, for my dark apartment, for waking on the couch at dawn, the blue light of the TV caressing my aching flesh." I couldn't put the book down until I  finished reading it. Not only did each chapter end with suspense to keep me reading, but practically every page did also. 

I enjoyed reading about the Greenland setting. It is an integral setting where the physical landscape, climate, weather and culture become part of the story. In addition, it's harsh landscape matched Valerie's emotions. Both were frozen. While the characters were careful when they went outside, I couldn't help but see the beauty in the snowy scenes they were navigating. Snow is always beautiful when you don't have to go outside yourself! It was fascinating to learn about the three languages that are spoken in the island: West Greenlandic, East Greenlandic and the Thule Greenlandic called Inuktun. Val was an expert in these languages. She stated in the novel "A language is far more than a means of communication. It is the very condition of humanity."  Her problem in communicating with Sigrid was that Sigrid did not speak any of these languages. She spoke a few words from each language but Val could not determine what Sigrid was trying to tell her. 

The author did a great job creating her characters. Val's emotional state matched the landscape of the novel. The agoraphobia that she suffered from was shown, not told. We saw Val medicating herself in order to be able to leave her home and later, leave the the comfort of her workspace in Greenland. Wyatt Speeks was the perfect villain. The climate scientist was impatient with others and this caused Val to be wary of him. She was not sure whether she could trust him or any of his decisions. Wyatt's assistant, Jeanne, was equally as emotionally frozen as Val. Her conversations were always cryptic but she suffered the loss of family members too. Jeanne was the cook and mechanic at the station. I thought it was odd that someone who wasn't a scientist was working at the station. The two other scientists working at the Greenland station were married to each other. Polar marine scientists Nora and Rajeev Chandra-Revard were way too lovey-dovey and their passion for each other was a little sickening. However, they did provide a break from the three other dark personalities.

I loved Girl in Ice and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Sugarcreek Surprise

The Sugarcreek Surprise is Wanda Brunstetter's newest novel. It is the second novel in her Creektown Discoveries series and was published earlier this month. The story concerns 25 year old Lisa Miller who became an orphan when she was seven after her family was killed in an auto accident. Lisa's grandparents decide to take her to their home in Sugarcreek, Ohio and raise her themselves. Lisa, however, has trouble making friends and has never opened up to her grandparents about her loss.  She is afraid that if she ever loves anyone again, that they will die and leave her alone in the world. 

When Paul Herschberger moves into her community, Lisa has already been teaching for 7 years. She has no plans to ever marry and have children of her own. Paul is also heartbroken. His longtime girlfriend in Indiana was also dating his best friend. Paul expected to marry the girl but broke things off with her after catching her with his buddy.  Paul decides to move to Ohio and work with his uncle as a carpenter. Soon he meets Lisa and is attracted to her.  Paul thinks that he met Lisa sometime in the past but cannot remember where they could have ever met. He tries to get her to go out with him but Lisa refuses all of his advances. Eventually they become friends over their mutual love of antiques and books. The question for the reader is whether these two hurt souls can ever overcome their handicaps and become a couple.

Romance is not usually the kind of book I read.  However, these Amish romance stories get to me every time. There is something about how these stories are told that attract me. There is a mystery to them and reading them is similar to reading a mystery novel because you want to know how the characters overcome whatever personal problem that they have. The Sugarcreek Surprise was no different. I was captivated from the first page until the ending. The religious aspect of the story is also intriguing for me. It is always fascinating to see how other people deal with their problems. We all have problems and the Amish are no different from the rest of us. Having a faith tradition of my own, I enjoy reading how the characters resolve their conflicts by using their faith. The answer is always the same, regardless of your faith tradition: will you allow God to change you so that you can overcome negative circumstances? 

This novel is appropriate for all ages and women in particular will enjoy it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Opus Dictum

The Opus Dictum is the 2nd Vatican Secret Archives Thriller by Gary McAvoy. He previously wrote the Magdalen Chronicles trilogy but all of the characters in the Magdalen Chronicles are also in the Vatican Secret Archives series. McAvoy stated on his website that the Vatican series is a sequel to the Magdalen series and recommends that readers start his books with his first, The Madgalen Deception. If I had known this, I would have started reading his books in order.  However, I just discovered him as an author in January 2022 when I read The Vivaldi Cipher. In April 2022 McAvoy will have his 6th book published called The Petrus Prophecy. He is a promising new author and likes to write religious thrillers. 

The publisher's summary:

In 1982, Roberto Calvi, known as “God’s Banker,” was discovered hanging under London’s Blackfriars Bridge. What wasn’t found was the briefcase he was known to have had with him the night before, reportedly stuffed with incriminating documents, a special key, and a computer disk filled with codes, which together unlock a piece of the Vatican's troubled past.

When the briefcase mysteriously reappears in the Vatican Secret Archives, Father Michael Dominic and his team—Hana, Marco, Karl, Lukas, the feisty young nun Sister Teri, and Dominic’s new assistant, Ian—are up against two powerful and enigmatic organizations, Opus Deus and the ultra-secret, outlawed Masonic Lodge P2, who savagely fight for control of the briefcase and its contents. Their goal? To carry out one of the most dangerous conspiracies the Church has ever faced—all happening during an unexpected conclave to elect a new pope.

From Rome, Italy, to Geneva, Switzerland, join Dominic and friends as they fend off plotters, kidnappers, and blackmailers who have threaded their way into Vatican politics for decades, in a conspiracy known as The Opus Dictum.

I enjoyed this book immensely. When the Dictum was first mentioned at the midway point, I remembered what the story was supposed to be about. I have to question why it took so long to introduce the main thrust of the plot. Aside from this, the story was still entertaining and kept me reading until the quiet hours of the night. 

The characters were fully developed and interesting. The villains provided all the suspense a good thriller needs. With several characters being villains, it was hard to know which one was going to be the main one but having several ratcheted up the suspense a notch. 

The scientific methods used to decode documents was fascinating. I had never heard of steganography before. With steganography you can hide messages in digital images that the human eye cannot see. There are several other scientific tools used by the characters in the story. It gave authenticity to their pursuit of either good or evil.

A great read! 5 out of 5 stars.

The New Girl

Ruth Heald is one of my newest favorite authors.  I read her The Wedding and I Know Your Secret, both of which were fantastic psychological thrillers. When I saw an ad for her newest book, I couldn't wait to get it. Heald now has a respectable six novels to her credit. She only writes the psychological thriller genre and is superb with this type of writing. Heald studied Economics at Oxford University and then worked in a mix of sectors from nuclear decommissioning to management consulting. She worked at the BBC for nine years before leaving to write full time. Heald stated on her website that she is fascinated by psychology and finding out what drives people to violence, destruction and revenge.

Sophie Williams has moved from Dorset to London in order to escape her past. She thought that she could keep her past a secret by moving with no possessions other than a few clothes. She soon lands her dream job in advertising and it comes with a bonus. Sophie is offered the use of an apartment that her new employer owns for free. She is attracted her boss James and he feels the same about her. With James by her side, Sophie begins to feel safe again, more secure than she has felt in years. However, Sophie begins to hear odd noises at night and has a feeling that she is being watched. James convinces her that she is imagining things but when a new dress appears in her closet, Sophie wears it to work the next day. She is stunned when the atmosphere becomes chilled. 

Wow! This was a page turning mystery with many twists and turns. I found my heart beating fast everytime something happened to Sophie. I thought she was pretty gullible and knew she would be in danger because of her poor decisions. She should have known that all of the gifts that her new employer gave her were for a reason, a reason not good for her. I think most women would have had their antenna up and swirling furiously. I began dreading each new chapter because I knew she would find a simple reason to excuse all the bad things that were happening and ignore the obvious. The author did a great job of writing suspense into each chapter. The suspense was so high that I was scared for Sophie. It's been a long, long time since I cared this much for a character. However, I have had similar experiences with men and recognized every trap that she fell into. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Hotel Portofino

I had high hopes for Hotel Portofino. The beautiful cover attracted me to pick it up but that old adage, don't judge a book by it's cover, seems appropriate. I just didn't care for the story. The plot premise was good, which was another reason why I borrowed it from my local library. The story revolves around a British family who opens an upper class hotel on the Italian Rivera during the 1920s. After only being open a few weeks, owner Bella Ainsworth is struggling to deal with a pile of problems. Her high society clientele are demanding and Bella is targeted by a corrupt politician. When her marriage falls apart Bella doesn't think she can handle any more adversity but it keeps on coming.

I had difficulty becoming interested in the book from its opening pages. I thought that once I knew who all of the characters were that it would get better. It didn't. Other reviewers have said that the story is similar to Downton Abbey and I think Hotel Portofino might make a great movie like Downton because it is high on atmosphere. However, it falls short as a novel. There was not much action and even that beautiful setting couldn't keep me interested.

Unfortunately, this one a little dull. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Perfect Home

This is Kevin Lynch's second book. The Perfect Home is a psychological thriller set somewhere in the UK. The place is not mentioned but since the author uses the anglicized spelling of words, it must be in either England or Ireland. The author lives in Dublin so Ireland is a good guess. 

The story opens with June Sweeney gardening in her back yard. She loves her home, which she retained in her divorce from Nick. It is where she raised her two kids who are now college age. June has filled every room with family photographs and trinkets. She especially loves the garden and works on it every day. June likes the neighbors in her cul-de-sac and the feelings are mutual. The neighborhood is peaceful. She has the perfect home . . . until Steve Murray moves in next door.

Steve keeps 3 or 4 cars parked in his driveway and plays music loudly all day and night while he repairs them. June meets with her neighbor Fred almost every day to discuss their mutual complaints about Steve. When June brings her complaints to son Sam and daughter Cathy, they do not side with her. They believe Steve is an OK guy. He is just trying to recover from a setback. June begins to feel all alone in her misery thinking that it can't get worse. It does. Strange things are happening in her house late at night and even more disturbing, June’s cheating ex-husband suddenly seems to always be at her house. It’s almost as if he’s stalking her. Then Fred is murdered. What is happening to June's perfect home?

I love finding new authors who can write these tension filled thrillers. Kindle seems to bring many of them to my attention and I am thrilled (pun intended) to discover Kevin Lynch. He had my complete attention from the first page and I couldn't put the book down until I read it in one sitting. The pace is fast as each page moves the plot forward. There is no wasted dialogue or setting descriptions other than this perfect cul-de-sac, referred to in the book as "the estate." I am not sure what that is but in my mind I picture a cul-de-sac.

June is presented as a June Cleaver on steroids. With the eerie atmosphere of the novel, I can see her as a character in the movie Psycho. The story felt like it could have been written by Alfred Hitchcock and would have made a great episode of the Twilight Zone. 

I am rating this a 5 out of 5 stars. It is a must read for all.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls tells the story of the 1936 US women's olympic athletics team, a timely historical fiction novel given we have just watched the Beijing Olympics last month. The story actually begins with the 1928 women's athletics team and continues on to the 1932 team before getting to the main storyline. The athletes featured in the book are from real life. Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Babe Dickrickson are the best known. I was surprised that several of these women were from the Chicago south suburbs. I grew up there and loved seeing news articles from a local high school. What surprised me was that the school was integrated. 

Half of the book covers the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. The last half deals with the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Louise Stokes was black and not welcome in the Third Reich but none of the others really were either. Because these Americans were expected to win gold, their German hosts did their best to tire them with activities. Their rooms were also rather cold. Helen had a meeting with Hitler that terrified her. She wrote in her diary that he groped her in front of a group of people and wanted to see her privately. Her coach led her to safety. I was astonished that the host country's leaders would behave in this manner. However, haven't we all recently read how the Chinese government publicly excoriated American athletes of Chinese descent? The athletes were told that they should have competed for China. Nathan Chen was told by government leaders to leave China after his gold medal skate. He refused.

The novel covers many races that these ladies participated in over an eight year time span. While there is alot of political drama, Fast Girls is basically a sports story. 

5 out of 5 stars.

A Catered St. Patrick's Day

I selected this book for the Calendar of Crime Challenge. It is a culinary cozy mystery that was published in 2012. I have not read any book in the series before and had no expectations, either good or bad, for the book. Unfortunately, I didn't like it much.

The story opens on St. Patrick's Day with sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons making pies for a customer of their bakery, A Little Taste of Heaven. After receiving a call from their brother Brandon, they leave the shop and meet him at the bar where he works, RJ's. When they arrive Brandon shows them the dead body of Mike Sweeney, a local business owner. He found the body when he came into work that morning. The boss shows up shortly thereafter and calls the police but continues to plan on opening the bar for his best business day of the year. Bernie and Libby promise their brother that they will look into the death. 

It initially was difficult to figure out the relationships between the characters. The story assumes that you know the backstory from earlier novels in the series. Also, the dialogue between the sisters was so mundane I didn't know why it was part of the story. Another problem that I had was that there was no catering job that the sisters were involved with. The title assumes that a catered event is part of the plot. The only part of the novel about the March holiday is that the murder took place on St. Patrick's Day. No clues involved the holiday. I wonder whether the author wrote a generic story and later gave it a holiday title. 

Alot of things didn't add up about this novel. Since this is the first Isis Crawford book I have read I won't be reading her in the future. 2 out of 5 stars.