Trials Of Apollo Book 2 was awesome. It had some of the same characters from the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, which was great. Also I love that the chapter titles are haiku poems because Apollo is the god of poetry, and in the Percy Jackson books everyone hated his haikus.

This is another one of those books where the journey is really fun, but then the author proves that writing endings is really challenging. You can have a great idea for an atmospheric mystery, but you also need to have a great idea for how you are going to close things out, which Sarah Pearse didn't seem to have. The book follows Detective Elin Warner, who isn't really a detective anymore after a case went wrong and she decided to take some extended leave. Elin and her boyfriend, Will, have arrived at a hotel in the Swiss Alps to celebrate her brother's engagement. The hotel just happens to also be a really creepy former sanatorium, because the designer thought that would be a super cool place to build a fancy hotel. To continue with wonderful decision making skills, Elin also decides that this would be a fitting trip to accuse her brother of possibly killing their younger sibling during a childhood vacation. Because, hey, nothing says "happy engagement!" like "did you kill our brother, though? You can totally tell me if you did." There are just a few problems with this plan - first, Elin doesn't really talk to her brother anymore, so finding time to accuse him of this is a challenge. Second, his fiancée just went missing, and it may or may not be in poor taste to accuse him of anything given those circumstances. Third, there is an avalanche approaching the hotel, so they really all need to leave. And, of course, fourth, some people are starting to get murdered. After staying behind and getting trapped from the avalanche, Elin has to really deal with all her personal issues at once because she is the only cop-like person on the mountain who can investigate anything. No one can come help until the weather clears, which probably won't be for a while. There were a few issues I had with the book, two of which I found to be major issues. The first is that this was a fun crime novel, but ultimately it seems like no one could ever be punished for the murders that happened here. Elin isn't a detective in this area, as she points out again and again, and she tends to disobey the orders she is given (or just hides what she is doing because if she doesn't ask permission, she isn't doing anything wrong?) so it seems like everything she has gathered would be utterly useless. She also has a weird tendency to tell everyone around her everything she has discovered. Like, maybe they don't all need to know every piece of evidence you have gathered? You know someone around here is killing people, maybe stop telling everyone everything and you'd have better luck. The second is that the ending was just really dumb. The culprit didn't really make any sense, and it seemed like a massive overreaction for that person to be the one responsible for everything. I think it's worth it for the fun atmosphere of being trapped in the mountains with a killer, as long as you keep your expectations in line for the ending.

I loved this book a ton! I wonder what will happen in Kings Cage. The suspense!

I listened to this book on audio. I found it very hard to stay engaged in this. Perhaps already knowing the outcome diminished the story for me, the details provided went into the minutia. The author should not have done the audio - whew his accents were awful.

jack and Anna heading to Africa to solve a rittle. When they got there they saw a graffe and they saw a heared of zebra's, wildabaest's , and gazzals. Then anna got stuck in kwick sand. Next Jack and Anna followed a honey so they get honey and that was the answer to the rittle

A more somber, but beautifully executed story of Juliet Browning and her romantic relationship while studying art in Venice during the Second World War. Some heartbreak, some inspiration, woven between 1938 and 2011. Caroline Grant, the grand niece of ‘Lettie’ embarks on a trip to solve the mystery of a sketchbook. Different from Bowen’s quirky and lighthearted Georgie romps.

This was a good book for facts but didn't tell me a lot that was new

Eileen is a dark and disturbing Christmastime story about a young woman living in an unnamed New England town, sometime in the 1960s, caring for her alcoholic father while working at a prison for boys. Is Eileen an unreliable narrator or are things really about to go off the rails? Moshfegh's writing paints a vivid picture of this bleak winter, and the doomed friendship that gives Eileen a sliver of hope for her future.

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.

A bit darker than I was in the mood for, but I appreciated some of the twists. The love interest piece seemed a bit contrived, but it has served a useful plot motivator. Overall, it makes for a good, solid YA book with a believably flawed male character. The most valuable part of the book was experiencing Jess grappling with his own internal conflicts.