The Memory Watcher by Minka Kent

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
Content: Strong Language including several F bombs, Moderately descriptive sex scenes, Sexual innuendo and crude language, Drug use

 

When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence. 
 
From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace's every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination spirals into an addictive obsession met with a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning. 
 
Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace's life under false pretenses. And it's only then that Autumn discovers pictures lie, the perfect family doesn't exist, and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.

 

A couple of years ago I read The Watcher Girl by Minka Kent and enjoyed it. Then I found out that it was sort of a sequel to this book, The Memory Watcher. Even though both books are standalone stories, I wished I had known that so that I could have read them in the right order. Now, two years later I've finally gotten around to reading this after it was chosen as my "pick it for me" book for November. 

This book was very engrossing and I had so much empathy for Grace as a child. I just wanted to give her a hug. I also wanted to slap some sense into the adults in her life. This book isn't really about Grace so much as the adults around her, but her character really stood out to me, partly because she's the main character in The Watcher Girl as an adult. I had forgotten a lot of what happened in The Watcher Girl so, because of that there was a twist that I wasn't expecting in this book. I was glad that I had forgotten so much because it enhanced my reading experience of this book.

I found the main character in this book very interesting, even though from the beginning we know she has an unhealthy obsession and that she's off mentally, I also felt sorry for her at times. One thing I really liked about this book were the layered characters. No one is what they seem, they have good and bad sides to them, and I found most of them both sympathetic and deplorable at the same time. I thought the author did a good job of showing how the people in the story had different perspectives on what was happening, and how that wasn't necessarily the whole story. I do want to add that this book had a lot more sex in it than the other books I've read by this author. I don't really remember any at all in her other books, but it wasn't really done in a sexy way, it was uncomfortable and at times seedy.

After I finished this book I decided to go back and read The Watcher Girl again because I had forgotten so much about it. When I read it the first time I didn't find Grace all that likable, but on my second read I felt like I understood her and liked her a lot more. 

On a side note, I really liked the author's forward that she included in this book about how she came to write this story in the first place.

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Plus a special announcement.

 

  

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays

 

 

 

 

The Headmistress of Rosemere (Whispers On The Moors Book 2) by Sarah E. Ladd

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Clean Romance, Historical Romance
Content: Clean

 

Patience Creighton has devoted her life to running her father’s boarding school. But when the enigmatic master of the estate appears at her door, battered and unconscious, the young headmistress suddenly finds her livelihood—and her heart—in the hands of one dangerously handsome gentleman.

This is the second book I've read in this trilogy of companion books, and I don't really remember anything about the first one The Heiress of Winterwood, except that I gave it 3 stars. It's been a few years. These are standalones with the moors being the only thing all three books have in common, so it really didn't matter. I wanted to give this author another chance after thinking the first book was just ok, but unfortunately this book was also a 3 star read. I'm probably making it sound like 3 stars is bad. It's really not, it means I liked the book, but didn't love it. I was just hoping I would find this one a bit more memorable.

The story started off interesting when William was attacked, and then was found and cared for by the stable hand and Patience at Rosemere. However, this part was unexpectedly brief. I also enjoyed the way this book ended, but there were some bumps in the road getting there that really annoyed me. One was the former love interest and how presumptuous he was. The other was Patience not speaking up more about how she was never going to take him back. Also, at times the book was rather slow and boring, but it finally picked up again at some point.

One big part of this story was that Patience thought it was her dream to teach in the girls' school at Rosemere, which her father started and was the headmaster of before his death,. Rosemere had been her home her whole life, and she hardly ever left it. It's mentioned to her later that she's possibly just been living her father's dream and not her own. She does eventually realize this is true, and that she needs to live her own dream and not her father's. I do wish that the author had delved into what Patience's dream was. She loved the girls at the school, even if she didn't want to spend the rest of her life running it, and she of course had the dream of getting married and having her own family, but I wanted more insight into what she wanted to do with her life besides that.

There were several characters in this book that had to learn to accept change in their lives. I liked the message this book gave about change and how it's important to embrace change in our lives, even when it's unexpected. Sometimes with that change comes something even better.

After the Party by Georgina Lees

   

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
Content: Strong language

 

He should have chosen me.
I never should have chosen him.

Lizzie has been in love with her colleague Dean for three years but he’s never given her a second glance.

When a job offer in London promises to launch her art career she finally feels ready to upend her life in pursuit of her dream … until the night of the office Christmas party when Dean confesses his love for someone else – Rebecca, one of Lizzie’s closest friends.

A few days later, the police show up on her doorstep.

Rebecca is missing.

After reading The Girl Upstairs, I really wanted to try another book by this author. As I said in my review for that book, I liked the way the author was able to write characters that, in the beginning weren't very likable, but then grew into likable characters that I understood. While that book had a main character who was reclusive, this one had a main character who was obsessed with a coworker. I liked that this author writes these types of flawed characters, but in this case it didn't work for me, and the main reason it didn't work for me was because there was no growth. I just wanted Lizzie to realize some things about herself and make a change, but Lizzie was never strong enough to really be her own person, and that was sad. 

I also felt like this book was more predictable. I figured out what had happened and why well before the end, and speaking of the end, that was a terrible ending! I disliked who she ended up with in the end, and I didn't like that certain things were swept under the rug. Despite disliking this book, I'll probably still read the other book on my to-read list by this author.

The Reformer (Power of the Matchmaker #12) by Jaima Fixsen

  

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Historical romance
Content: Some sexual innuendo

 

Love at first sight...
Mary Buchanan is a quiet dreamer, fetching pills for her aunt, and soothing her father's monumental temper—which only gets worse when a radical journalist takes the house next door. Clearly, Mr. Samuel Brown will be nothing but trouble.
But when Mary meets him, locked out of her home and caught in the rain, she instantly falls for the handsome reformer. Together, they could have the happily ever after they’ve both longed for… if she can just get him to realize it.
Mary Buchanan isn’t keeping quiet anymore.

 

DNF at 44%. I've read other books by this author and liked them, but I couldn't get into this one. I didn't care for any of the characters and there was no chemistry between the possible love interests. I was expecting a more mature main character, but this one was 17 and this felt very YA in some ways, with the main character obsessing over an older man. It was also a little off-putting the way the older man first encounters her and all that happened after he rescued her from standing out in the rain. Add in his grumpy best friend, who I suspect will become another love interest later on, and her overbearing, over protective father, and I just didn't enjoy reading this very much at all. Maybe it would have improved if I had stuck with it a little longer, but from the beginning, this book just felt off to me, and I have many other books I could be spending my time on. 

 

This is part of a companion series by different authors, of standalone romance novels with a matchmaker that is the one continuous thread. I haven't read the other books in the series but I do have a couple of the others on my to-read list. I'm hoping those are better than this one.

 

December 2023 Book Club: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Our book club pick for December was one of my all time favorites. I've been doing a reread of this whole series along with the Alpha and Omega series in chronological order with my husband and we're enjoying it so much. I've never actually written much of a review for this book, just left a few comments on Goodreads each time I've read it. I'll put those down below. 

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

Mercedes Thompson, aka Mercy, is a talented Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy's next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy's connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water...

Update December 1, 2023: Reading a third time. This time for book club.

Update September 3, 2022: I read this for a second time and it still gets 4 stars from me. It was nice to reread this and be reminded of several things I had forgotten. I listened to it this time on a road trip with my husband and he enjoyed it too.

Original comments April 8, 2011:
This was a really good read. I'm happy to now include another urban fantasy series to my must read book list. In my opinion it's right up there with the Dresden Files and The Kate Daniels series. 

 

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We had lots of good food at our book club meeting. My daughter and I made some wolf themed sugar cookies for the occasion. My husband insisted we also make ones that looked like Scooby snacks, so we made the bone shaped ones too. If you've read the book then you'll know what the Scooby-doo reference is about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, every year for Christmas our book club has a white elephant gift exchange. This year I had to post about the funny gift my husband got, and also give some back story on it. It started out three years ago with this one Barbie in the picture below. 😄

My friend Risa brought this one and the person that got it brought it back the next year along with this Ken doll. 😆

 

 

Then this year it was brought back again along with a third item. 😂

My husband ended up with it this year, and now we have to think of something to add to it for next year! Any ideas? Let me know!