The next book in the Maze Runner series has basically the same review as the Maze Runner. The stakes are higher, and it turns out that escaping the maze was only the beginning. I was gripped at some times, wanted to give up on the book at other times. Overall, the book was rather exciting and really had me thinking.

This is a kind of mystical story set in Amsterdam. It is number one so I assume that we are going to meet the Miniaturist in future books. The story revolves around Petronella who is from the countryside and marries a rich Dutch merchant and moves into his home in Amsterdam. As a wedding gift he gives her a model of their home and she contacts the Miniaturist whom she never actually meets, to make items to go into it. What follows is an intriguing tale of the whole family and their relationships which somehow the Miniaturist seems to mysteriously know much more about than anyone else. It is rather a sad story and has quite a twist at the end.

Fanon's book has been called the definitive work on decolonization. He had the unique experience of growing up in Martinique, serving in France during WW2, then joining Algeria in its struggle for independence. Fanon writes with great power on the psychology and the politics surrounding decolonization.

An in-depth (albeit a bit too much in parts) story of Anna who is looking for her purpose in war-torn France. She is hired by "Wild" Bill Donovan, head of the United State's OSS and eventually returns to France to help the Resistance. Factually based with a good deal of information and insight as to the lives of those sent beyond the frontline. Would recommend for anyone interested in the women of the OSS and SOE.

I'm clearly missing something with this book, because the entire time I read it all I kept thinking was "there is no way this author is an actual human being." The book takes place over the span of 11 years. In most chapters, we follow Kate and Meredith, two neighbors living in a town where a woman named Shelby has just gone missing. Meredith, a doula with two children named Delilah and Leo, has started receiving threatening text messages from an unknown number. Shortly after, her and her daughter disappear. The book centers around what was going on with Meredith prior to her disappearance, with Kate providing insight into what happened after she disappeared. Set eleven years later, there are also chapters from Leo's point of view, where we get to see what it's like to have your sister suddenly return after being gone for eleven years. There are just so many reasons why this book didn't work at all. The biggest of them all is that it is poorly written. As an example of what you can expect, this is how the author thinks someone would describe potentially seeing figures outside of a house a few weeks before the occupants went missing - "It was dark out," Cassandra says, "a moonless night. The streetlight outside has been out a month or two. My husband, Marty, called the city about it a while ago, but it still hasn't been fixed. Our tax dollars...hard at work. The only light came from whatever porch lights were left on overnight." Yeah. Because when my neighbor turns up missing and I think I may have seen some strange figures skulking about their house, I'm definitely going to be remembering that it was a moonless night. Everyone else in the book is just as poor at their job. The pathologist couldn't correctly figure out how someone died. The police openly lied about evidence and just sort of hoped no one would ever question them or figure it out. A woman running a daycare is completely unaware of the abuse happening there - and then the mother just doesn't even care?? Who finds out their kid is being abused and is just like "eh, I better send them back the next day or they'll get soft." Are there no other daycares?? The final thing I'll mention is that the ending is completely bonkers. I guess if you're going to commit murder, this is the town to do it in - apparently no one is ever around to watch people murder people and then drag their bodies into their cars.

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.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way that the author used different chapters to take us to various different parts of the world and the United States to demonstrate how the history of the slave trade in America is represented and passed on either truthfully or not quite as truthfully. It is incredibly interesting, whilst at the same time exposing some horrific facts. Unfortunately I listed to this as an audiobook and did not feel that the author Clint Smith, despite being a poet, read it with much feeling or empathy. It was a relatively quick read but definitely leads me to want to do some more exploring of the information touched on in the book.

It is June 1940. Paris is occupied by the Germans and Adolf Hitler is scheduled to visit. Kate Rees, an American sharpshooter, who learned to shoot on a farm in rural Oregon, is living in England with her Welsh husband when he and her baby daughter are killed during a German bomb attack. Kate is recruited by British intelligence and after some brief training, armed with only a rifle and a need for revenge, she parachutes into Occupied France to assassinate Hitler. She misses and runs for her life coming to the realization that the plan was a decoy, and she was set up. Extremely well-written historical thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Evelyn Valpey, aware of her painful past and unsure of her role in society and the war effort, takes on a job with the "War Office" where she takes on the enemy--Fifth Column--by adopting a character unknown to herself and her friends. A bit rambling at times and moving from 1939/40 to 1948, the story explores MI5, counter intelligence, and Evelyn's inner turmoil.

Wonderful.