Here's my reading list for this month. I've got 7 planned reads, maybe 8 if we do the Pick it for Me this month. Plus, I'm also planning to read 3 or 4 Hercule Poirot short stories this month for the monthly reading challenge. I'm looking forward to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and A Rip Through Time the most. I had both of these on my reading list before they got made into buddy reads.
Reading with the Mystery Book Club-
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham #1) by Benjamin Stevenson
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some
of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I'm not trying to
be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad,
and some just unfortunate.
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.
Who was it?
Let's get started.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
My brother
My stepsister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me
The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter,
Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced
that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised
when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is
ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.
He
arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded,
very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed
to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech
billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on
reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s
difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have
time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to
the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is
marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.
An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.
Reading at Fantasy Buddy Reads-
Pretender (Foreigner #8) by C.J. Cherryh
The eighth novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences…Exhausted
from a two-year rescue mission in space, the crew of the starship
Phoenix return home to find civil war has broken out, the powerful
Western Association has been overthrown, and Tabini-aiji, its forceful
leader, is missing. In a desperate move, paidhi Bren Cameron and
Tabini's grandmother Ilisidi, the aiji-dowager, along with with Cajeiri,
Tabini's eight-year-old heir, make planetfall and succeed in reaching
the mainland. The brilliant and forceful Ilisidi seeks refuge at the
estate of an old ally, and Tabini-aiji arrives at the door.As word of
Tabini's whereabouts circulates, clans allied with Tabini descend upon
the estate, providing a huge civilian presence that everyone involved
hopes will deter impending attacks by the usurpers. But as more and more
supporting clans arrive, Bren finds himself increasingly isolated, and
it becomes clear that both his extremely important report of alien
contact in space, and even his life, rest on the shoulders of only two
Ilisidi and Cajeiri.Can one elderly ateva and and eight-year-old
boy—himself a prime target for assassination—protect Bren, a lone human
involved in a civil war that most atevi believe he caused?The
long-running Foreigner series can also be enjoyed by more casual genre
readers in sub-trilogy installments. Pretender is the 8th Foreigner
novel, and the 2nd book in the third subtrilogy.
Age of the King (The Echoes Saga #6) by Philip C. Quaintrell
The scales have tipped. The battle for Namdhor,
the north, and the entire realm of man was a sure victory for the orcs.
But they lost.
Now, under the rule of a would-be-king, the armies
of man fuel the war when they should be bolstering their defences. Only
a few understand that time is against them, yet these few must fight
alone if the dawn is to rise over Illian once more.
The heroes of
the realm have banded together, but they cannot fight side by side.
There is only one way they can win, seen by the oldest dragon and
preserved inside the broken mind of a ranger.
From the shadows,
The Crow muddies the waters, making it all the harder to see the path to
victory. In the depths of The Bastion, where even time is his slave,
the ancient necromancer has finished his work. The king is almost ready…
A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time #1) by Kelley Armstrong
A modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.
May 20, 2019:
Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying
grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in
distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses
consciousness.
May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell
had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a
lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly
one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same
spot.
When Mallory wakes up in Catriona's body in 1869, she must
put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a
housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers
that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has
just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man,
similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the
murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it's too
late.
Dragons of Summer Flame (Dragonlance: The New Generation #2) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Summer has come to Krynn, a summer unlike any
before. The sun sears the world with relentless light and heat, and even
the darkness of night brings little relief from the strange and
oppressive day. Those who commune regularly with their gods are uneasy,
for every day their deities become more distant, more difficult to
reach. As the tension on Ansalon builds, estranged cousins Palin Majere
and Steel Brightblade are thrown together by a bizarre twist of fate.
Each one fights a battle within himself, but when they meet a mysterious
young woman who claims to be the daughter of infamous mage Raistlin
Majere, everything changes. It soon becomes evident that more than their
own lives are at stake. The fate of all Krynn hangs in the balance.
Reading with my book club-
Summer with the Leprechauns by Tanis Helliwell
An astonishing true story about one woman’s journey to Ireland where she lived in a cottage with leprechauns.
These
seldom-seen beings taught her about the evolution of elementals—the
race to which leprechauns, faeries, elves, trolls belong. They explained
the importance of humans and elementals working together for the
betterment of both of their races and the Earth. Far more than a faery
tale, this book is a classic that has been published in eight languages.
Now
the author has re-edited her book so that the reader can hear the
leprechaun’s voice in all his mischievous wisdom. You also learn about
body elementals that keep you alive from lifetime to lifetime and about
the beings in the center of the Earth who are helping our planet. And
all this with a great sense of humor as Helliwell captures life in a
remote Irish village with an insight into the people that is infectious.
An
Irish Jewel, this is a good humored, true account of Tanis’ summer in a
cottage in Ireland where the resident leprechaun taught her about the
evolution of elementals (fairies, elves, leprechauns).
Hercule Poirot Short Stories-
The Affair at the Victory Ball by Agatha Christie
In Agatha Christie’s “The Affair at the Victory
Ball,” Poirot is enlisted by Chief Inspector Japp to assist in the
investigation of a murder at a costumed Ball. Six attendees form a
circle of suspicion when a young aristocrat and his fiancée are found
dead. Poirot then makes an interesting discovery about the costumes worn
by the six friends. This short story originally appeared in the March
7, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan by Agatha Christie
In Agatha Christie’s “The Jewel Robbery at the
Grand Metropolitan,” Poirot and Hastings are called on to solve the case
of Mrs. Opalsen’s missing set of pearls, apparently stolen during a
stay at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel. The two suspects are Mrs.
Opalsen’s maid and the hotel chambermaid, but both blame the other. Who
is the real thief? This short story originally appeared in the March 14,
1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.
The King of Clubs by Agatha Christie
In Agatha Christie’s “The King of Clubs,” Poirot
investigates the possible double murder of a famous dancer and theater
impresario. Could the words of a fortune teller and a playing card
provide a solution to the mystery? This short story originally appeared
in the March 21, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.
