A multigenerational love story about a grandmother and granddaughter and the lives they shared and the secrets that were kept. When the grandmother dies, her granddaughter travels for the first time to her grandmother’s native land of Cuba. There she learns about Cuba’s past, Cuba’s current state, and family secrets. Great read. Is book #1 in the series!

On one hand, I thought Project Hail Mary was completely unrealistic - the plot is beyond far-fetched, the supporting characters are flat and underdeveloped and the narrator sometimes sounds like an immature teenage boy. But I gave it 4 stars because I really liked this book. It was different and the story caught my attention. There's a LOT of science, much of which I confess I didn't follow, but overall it adds to the feel of the story. For me, this book was a surprise success.

I could not put this book down. I loved how this book went back and forth from 1700's to our time period today. I saw how the author was trying to connect the past and present. I wish I could re-read this book again, a must read for historical fiction fans!

I loved this book!

Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della's own protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to kill herself, and Della's world turns so far upside down, it feels like it's shaking her by the ankles. Maybe she's been quiet about the wrong things. Maybe it's time to be loud. In Fighting Words, you truly feel for the characters and have your eyes opened to the untold stories of so many.

I didn't know much about Brandi Carlile, but I've seen her mentioned a lot lately in music-related news so I decided to find out more. I learned that Carlile has led an interesting life, much of which in more recent years is indeed larger than life as she's become an international celebrity. Carlile herself narrates the audiobook, which I think makes up for the fact that her prose is sometimes clunky and unpolished. She seems warm and genuine and very real, and I enjoyed hearing her tell her story. And while the written version includes song lyrics between chapters, the audiobook features Carlile singing these lyrics, after each chapter and in a big section at the end.

Jack and Anna were trying to solve a rittle so they went to the artic tunra. For some reason they went with there pj's on and they were realy cold. Then a seal hunter showed up and gave them warm cloths. Then they folled a polar bear with a polar bear mask's on and that was the answer to the rittle.

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.

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.

This was a quick read. I listened to the the audio version on Overdrive. Peter gives you some different ways to tackle downsizing to get by emotional attachment to items in your own house or in someone else house. I like that he touched on the importance of not taking in things from family members just because they're downsizing doesn't mean they should give it to you.