3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the second half of this book compared to the first. The writing does feel a bit juvenile at points, but I think it was intentional to really have us understand the characters and what the author was attempting to convey about them. Would be a good beach read.

I expected this book to be a light beach read but it was actually more complex. I enjoyed the writing and how each chapter was from a different characters point of view. I also liked the way the timeline was organized and how it all came together in the end.

I really enjoyed this short, but intense, book! Summerwater presents a slice of life of several families vacationing at a remote Scottish lake: a variety of retirees and families, and a group that is labeled "foreign" by the others. The weather is terrible (even for Scotland!) and nerves are frayed. The chapters alternate point of view between the different characters and although it seems nothing much is happening, there is a sense of foreboding that propels you onward. I'd also recommend "Ghost Wall" by Moss, another slim, unsettling story.

Book Eleven in the Maggie Hope series. Maggie sets out to 1943 Hollywood where she agrees to help her previous beau, John Sterling, solve the mystery of Gloria Hutton's death. It is here she encounters American Nazism, the Zoot Suit Riots, Segregation, and the glittery stars of Hollywood. There is also a great, highly anticipated (at least by this reader) foreshadowing of a storyline for Book 12! Love this series!!

Great book if you are interested in historical fiction in the World War II era. I felt very connected to the characters throughout the stories and felt like I was walking in their shoes. I liked the parallel between the present day and past. Quick read!

This historical fiction sheds a light on the lengths that folks will go to make a life for themselves in spite of society. At the turn of the 20th century, Belle da Costa Greene was able to hide her African American heritage by “passing for white” and went on to work for JP Morgan to curate the art and manuscript collection for the Pierpont Morgan Library.

I listened to this audiobook narrated by multiple times jeopardy winner, Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek. Given that Alex Trebek was actually dying during the period he narrated it, the book was surprisingly upbeat. It was divided into chapters relating to Mr. Trebek's ideas, philosophies and some funny stories about his life story. I enjoyed it very much although it was sad to know that he has since passed away.

Although I read to the end, I disliked this book very much, and I'm surprised it has so many great reviews. The writing is stiff and cliched and the characters are the same. The narrator Anna is a missing persons detective with a troubled past that’s revealed bit by bit through flashbacks as she works on multiple cases in an "unofficial" capacity while on leave from her job. It's clear that we're expected to see Anna as compelling and sympathetic, but I found her to be unlikable and her backstory was so dragged out that it became boring. The plot jumps from one case to another without a coherent connection and there are so many characters and events jammed into the past and present scenes that it's easy to lose track of things. I was also put off by the way the author weaves the real life case of Polly Klaas into the story - this feels sensationalistic and inappropriate, and it does nothing to make the fictional part of the story seem more real.

This book is a great read whether you're familiar with Alan Cummings or not. In addition to his other skills as an actor and performer, Cummings is an excellent writer and an even better storyteller. I highly recommend the audiobook, read by Cummings himself, as the best way to take in this sad, funny, honest and very engrossing memoir.

Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.