Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

  

My rating: No Rating at this time
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Space Opera
Content: Strong Language

 

Our heroes are back. Kind of.

First, the bad news: an ancient evil - you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal - is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They've just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who'd like to rearrange their favourite faces. And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who'll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri. Then there's Kal's long-lost sister, who's not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it's time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them - but time is short, and if Auri can't learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.

Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion's most unforgettable heroes - and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.

 

I'm sorry to say that I just can't finish this book right now. I loved the first book in this trilogy, but I think I've spent too long away from YA books. This has resulted in certain things about this book driving me absolutely crazy! So much focus on looks is driving me crazy. So much focus on love feelings is driving me crazy. The immaturity of the characters is driving me crazy, especially Scarlett. I could have done without the whole spiel about her boobs! Maybe I'll pick this up again at another time in the future. I don't know, but I'm not going to rate it right now. 

The Bequest (The Birch Creek Ranch Series #1) by B. E. Baker

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Women's Fiction, Romance
Content: Clean

 

Two widows, six kiddos, and a will that leaves them a massive cattle ranch, but only if they work it for a year.

Abigail and Amanda may have married brothers, but they have almost nothing else in common (and really, they never did get along very well). After their husbands both pass away within a year of one another, they have no reason to interact. Their connection drops to an awkward phone call on birthdays and an exchange of holiday cards.

Until an eccentric uncle of their husbands' leaves a massive cattle ranch to the women's minor children. . . if they work the ranch themselves. A ranch that's located near a small town on the Wasatch front that isn’t too keen on outsiders.

They're both going to turn the bequest down, clearly. It’s not like either of them could properly raise their kids or find love again in a backwater province like Birch Creek. But when things at home change dramatically—for both moms—they decide to give it a try. . . just for the summer.

What could possibly go wrong in a mere three months? (Or more importantly... what might go right?)

 

After reading Bridget's Finding Home series I was looking forward to seeing what other adult books she would come up with, and let me tell you, The Bequest did not disappoint me. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's contemporary women's fiction with romance, set mostly on a ranch. Just like her finding series, it reads very much like a Hallmark type movie, but it also has more depth to it than that.

One of my favorite things about Bridget's writing is the way she writes such nuanced characters. In the beginning, both Abigail and Amanda had things about their personalities that I disliked. There were also some things that I did like, but I wondered how I would feel about them over the course of the whole book. This is also why the book pulled me in, because as always, Bridget was able to show me different sides of these characters, and I was able to like them despite their flaws. They felt real, and if they had been perfect they wouldn't have. 

I enjoyed getting the different perspectives of both of the ladies in this book and how it showed that we don't always know what's behind the actions of others, and what life has been like for them. There was one part that I thought illustrated this really well, where Amanda thinks Abigail has given her the master bedroom for a not so good reason, but then we learn from Abigail's perspective that it wasn't that reason at all. There are so many times that we as humans make assumptions about other people that are wrong, and this made me examine the many times I may have done this. I'm trying to do better and always give the benefit of the doubt others, even though sometimes it's not easy.

I enjoyed the growth of the characters in this book and reading about how they were able to make changes to their lives and let go of some preconceived notions about each other, and also about other things as well, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I highly recommend if you enjoy women's fiction, contemporary romance, or light family drama reads.

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Miss Moriarty, I Presume? (Lady Sherlock #6) by Sherry Thomas

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, off page sex, suggestive themes

A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes's doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth.

Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty's daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte's sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte's longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte--or is it the other way around?

But the more secrets Charlotte unravels about Miss Moriarty's disappearance, the more she wonders why Moriarty has entrusted this delicate matter to her of all people. Is it merely to test Charlotte's skills as an investigator, or has the man of shadows trapped her in a nest of vipers? 

 

Have I really read 6 books in this series? For some reason it doesn't seem like it. Some of them have been more enjoyable than others, and I must admit that this one was a bit of a slow start for me, but in the end there was great payoff. Finally, there was the much anticipated face off between Charlotte Holmes and Moriarty, and while there were some tense moments with that meeting, I felt a little let down at Moriarty himself. His daughter, however, was something else entirely.

 

I think I'm a little disappointed that he was eclipsed by his daughter, but I'm not surprised, as I feel this series is all about showcasing how clever the women are. This is, after all a gender swapped version of Sherlock Holmes. And although Lord Ingram and Inspector Treadles are both clever in their own ways, no one comes close to Charlotte Holmes, except for maybe Moriarty's daughter. I just think I would have liked Charlotte to be pitted against Moriarty himself in cleverness instead of his daughter.

 

 

Don't go into this series expecting it to be realistic for the time period. Charlotte and company are much too independent to be realistic, but still fun to read about. I've been able to overlook this and enjoy the series for what it is.

What I mostly enjoyed about this book is the fact that we get answers to some long awaited questions, and also progress on the relationship front, although Charlotte's preoccupation with wanting to bed Lord Ingram was a bit overdone, especially when she was seeing suggestive gestures in the way his hand touched a throw cushion. Overall, I thought the mystery was woven really well, and it kept me guessing about some things for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Dead Cry Justice (A Gilded Age Mystery #6) by Rosemary Simpson

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, Child trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Prostitution 

 

Heiress-turned-sleuth Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter step out of the elite society of Gilded Age New York as they venture into the city’s crime ridden streets and most dangerous neighborhoods to search for two missing children . . .

THE DEAD CRY JUSTICE

May 1890: As NYU Law School finally agrees to admit female law students, Judge MacKenzie’s daughter Prudence weighs her choices carefully. Chief among her concerns is how her decision would affect the Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law agency and her professional and personal relationship with the partner who is currently recuperating from a near fatal shooting.

But an even more pressing issue presents itself in the form of a street urchin, whose act of petty theft inadvertently leads Prudence to a badly beaten girl he is protecting. Fearing for the girl’s life, Prudence rushes her to the Friends Refuge for the Sick Poor, run by the compassionate Charity Sloan. When the boy and girl slip out of their care and run away, Prudence suspects they are fleeing a dangerous predator and is desperate to find them.

Aided by the photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis and the famous journalist Nellie Bly, Prudence and Geoffrey scour the tenements and brothels of Five Points. Their only clue is a mysterious doll with an odd resemblance to the missing girl. But as the destitute orphans they encounter whisper the nickname of the killer who stalks them—Il diavolo—Prudence and Geoffrey must race against time to find the missing children before their merciless enemies do . . .

 

I really enjoyed this latest book in The Gilded Age Mystery Series. This series has been up and down for me, but I thought the plot line for this one was pretty good. There were some things that were hard to read about with the child trafficking, but nothing was described in too much detail. I really felt heartsick for those children as I was reading, and I liked that the author was able to invoke that much emotion from me.

Prudence once again did some reckless things that irritated me, this is mainly due to the fact that she takes some chances that I think she shouldn't take, by not letting anyone know what she is going to do. I get why she thinks she has to hide it, but it's still stupid of her. Also, she makes a really dumb mistake at one point that puts her in real danger, and it was so irritating. I want to think of her as a smart woman, and she supposedly is, but then she goes and makes this blunder and it ruins any credibility she has, and it just makes her seem silly, and then the men in her life seem justified for not wanting her to put herself in any sort of danger.

I was hoping for more relationship progress than what was actually in the book, but at least the series seems to be headed in that direction. There are also some random odd POV changes, like that of the dog and cat, and I still don't think the animals in this series behave like real animals would behave, but overall I liked this book and I do want to continue to read more of this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

A Song of Flight (Warrior Bards #3) by Juliet Marillier

  

 My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

After a violent encounter with masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, Prince Aolu of Dalriada disappears without a trace, and his companion Galen is seriously injured.

Liobhan and the Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's abduction. For Liobhan this mission is personal, as Galen is her beloved brother.

While she and her team investigate, Liobhan's younger brother Brocc is in serious trouble. Brocc's secret attempt to communicate with the Crow Folk triggers a shocking incident, and sends him on a path which endangers the one he loves above all else.

What brought the Crow Folk to Erin? And who plots to use them in an unscrupulous bid for power? As Liobhan and Brocc seek the truth, it becomes clear the two missions are connected - and an extraordinary mystery unfolds.

 

I've enjoyed this trilogy right from the beginning, and this book was no exception. I ended up loving the characters so much. I think Marillier does an excellent job with her characters, from the humans down to the little fae creatures that inhabit her books. I especially enjoyed getting to see Blackthorn and Grim from her previous series again. I really liked how both series dealt with the individual struggles each of the characters had. I felt like Blackthorn and Grim had an overall message of redemption and forgiveness, and this series seemed to have an overarching theme of being true to oneself, and I enjoyed that very much. 

I liked Brocc's story the most in this book. He remained stalwart through all the trials and disappointments he went through and I felt for him. I admired his devotion to doing what he felt was right, and the love and care he had for his daughter was heartwarming. The thing with Eirne was incredibly sad to me, although not really surprising considering what happened in the last book. I struggled to understand her character, as she felt distant to me, but I'm wondering if that wasn't the point.

Liobhan and Dau were still my favorite characters of the series and I liked the way the author showed how they struggled to be apart while on their separate missions. I also thought their story-line ended perfectly in the book. The resolution with the crowfolk was also nicely done. It was nice to be able to come to understand them and what was happening with them.

This was a good conclusion to the trilogy. I think everything was wrapped up nicely, although there is definitely more room to expand on this world if the author chooses. I'm looking forward to whatever she writes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with and ARC of this book.

Cork O'Connor series, books 1-4 by William Kent Krueger: Iron Lake (Cork O'Connor #1), Boundary Waters (Cork O'Connor #2), Purgatory Ridge (Cork O'Connor #3), Blood Hollow (Cork O'Connor #4)

I started reading this series a little while ago with a mystery buddy read group on Goodreads and so far I like it a lot. The first book, although a little rocky at times for me really held my attention. I wasn't crazy about how Cork's wife was portrayed and wondered why the author chose to make her so unlikable when he intended to keep her around for the rest of the series. She does some incredibly stupid things in the first book, so she's had to grow on me as a character in subsequent books. It's been a slow process, and so far I like her sister, Rose much better. 

I think the set up for the mysteries in these books is really good, but sometimes the execution of the stories haven't been as good as they could have been. I like Cork's mix of the Native American and Irish ancestry, and the Native American lore and culture that's included. It reminds me slightly of Longmire, the TV show. I have no idea how much that show actually resembles the books since I haven't read them yet, but I like the Native American elements in that show.

Overall I'm liking this series and it's gotten better as I've read on. Here are my ratings for the first 4 books in the series:

 

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, some descriptions of sex acts, off page sex

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork is having difficulty dealing with the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, getting by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt.

Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.

 

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language

 

The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh -- a country-western singer at the height of her fame -- has disappeared. Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire Cork O'Connor to find his daughter, and Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on her trail as well -- men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.

As the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town's snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork's team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death -- violent and sudden -- stalks them.

 

 

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language

 

Not far from the small town of Aurora (population 3,752) lies an ancient two-hundred-acre expanse of great white pines, sacred to the Anishinaabe and known to them as Minishoomisag (Our Grandfathers).

Wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstrom does not have a reputation as a sensitive environmentalist, and some members of the Anishinaabe tribe are concerned about the proximity of the trees to his lumber mill. So when an explosion at the mill results in the death of a night watchman, it's obvious whom suspicion will fall upon.

Cork O'Connor, in the throes of straightening out his life and repairing his marriage, is asked by his successor as sheriff to help with the investigation. His sense of community obliges him to accept, but Cork has distinctly mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe himself. For another, his lawyer wife, Jo, represents the tribe.

Meanwhile, in a secluded house that overlooks the lakeside home of the Lindstrom family, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick also seem to be harboring some resentment of their own against the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that harmony, both at home and in the town, will be on the back burner for some time.

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, off page sex

When the corpse of a beautiful high school student is discovered on a hillside four months after her disappearance on New Year's Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, local bad boy Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn's self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O'Connor, Aurora's former sheriff, isn't about to hang the crime on the kid, whom O'Connor is convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn's name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some he knows all too well -- small-town bigotry and bureaucracy foremost among them. What Cork isn't prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment hailing from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that's when the miracles start happening....

 

 

 

 

September 2021 Book Club: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

  

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Strong language

 

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

                                                  ***

 

"Another day, another staff meeting. Who would have thought saving the world could be so boring?"

 Who would have thought a book about it could be so boring? 

I admit I went into this book knowing that I would probably have mixed feelings about it. I had already read The Martian and liked certain things about it and disliked others. It's hard sci-fi and that's not really my thing. Sorry but I prefer space adventure to scientific research.

Structurally this book was a lot like The Martian, with the exception of the dual timelines. Things pretty much happen in the same kind of order in both books, and Ryland Grace felt exactly like Mark Watney, only with no family and friends. The exact same things I disliked about The Martian were here, only in spades. I thought The Martian was tedious in parts and didn't have enough adventure at times, but at least Mark Watney went out and explored the planet. The main character in this book does almost nothing but sit in a lab on a space ship. I mean sure, he's doing stuff, stuff to save the world, but not exciting stuff.

There is so much scientific research and experimentation in this book. It's interesting to a point, but this whole book is full of it. It was like sitting in a physics class and trying not to fall asleep. I was ready for something exciting to happen, and it took far too long for anything remotely exciting to happen. Even then it was only mildly exciting. I was at least 60 percent into this before it stopped boring me to death with the science and actually did something. For me, there is just not enough character, plot and story in this book to make up for all the scientific textbook-like facts. I would much rather read about the results of the science than the science itself, and I would rather read about the people and what makes them who they are.

Ok, so those are my complaints, but I do think it's a well researched book. I can see why certain personality types or people with certain interests would like it, and I still liked things about it, despite the parts I found boring. I enjoyed the bits of humor that were sprinkled throughout, and the banter between characters, so amidst the boredom I would occasionally smile or laugh. That was the only thing that kept me going. I also started to enjoy the book more when Rocky was introduced. He was interesting and I liked the friendship that developed between him and Ryland. These are the only reasons I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2.

I would only recommend this if you like hard sci-fi with lots and lots...and lots of scientific research and experimentation, and maybe also are a math and science geek. 

As with most of our book clubs, one of the best parts is coming up with the refreshments that fit the theme of the book. 

Here are some photos of what we came up with this time:

 

Jello with round candies in it: Astrophage being consumed by Taumoeba

 

Hamburger patties shaped like men: meburgers

Chocolate candy that looks like rocks.

 

Burritos

Hummus: To represent the paste that was in the food paste tubes.