Finished April 6 The Half of It by Juliette Fay This novel is centered on fifty-eight-year-old Helen Spencer. Helen is the mother of three adult children, Barb, Sam, and Danny, and the grandmother of one. Before the pandemic hit, Helen's mother Annabella Iannucci had come to live with her family in North Carolina, but she died a few years after the move. When Helen's husband Jim died suddenly shortly afterward, Helen learned his secrets as well.  The story starts in the present with an unexpected encounter with a man, Cal Crosby, from Helen's past. It then jumps back to Helen's girlhood ..read more

Finished March 31 The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich This novel has several timelines, with all of them related to a sacred drum created by an Ojibwe man during a difficult time in his life. The story begins with an Ojibwe woman Faye Travers, who works as an appraiser and antique dealer with her mother. As part of their business they value and clear houses as part of estate sales. When she is called to appraise and clear a home of a man in her own community, she is not surprised to find indigenous artifacts there, as his family is descended from an Indian agent who worked on the North Dakota ..read more

Finished March 31 Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert This is the first book in a series around three sisters, Chloe, Dani, and Eve. I found this story really interesting, with the main character Chloe being drawn as a more complex character. The family is a wealthy one, but Chloe has finally made the jump to living in her own apartment. Part of the reason she lived in her parents' multigenerational home was her chronic illness, fibromyalgia, which she developed after a bad bout of pneumonia. When a car out of control nearly hits her as she is out for a walk, she realizes that she has t ..read more

Post your reviews for books completed in April that meet the challenge ..read more

Finished March 30 Lone Wolf by Diana Palmer, Kate Pearce, and Rebecca Zanetti This is a collection of three short novels all with a wolf as part of the story.  The first one is Colorado Cowboy by Diana Palmer. This story has twenty-three-year-old Esther Marist is a real jam. Esther had fled her mother Terry's house in Aspen, Colorado after her mother's latest boyfriend Darrin pushed her mother down the stairs in a temper. She has her purse, but not her phone, and isn't really dressed for the winter weather. Esther is afraid to go to the police as Darrin had indicated he had contacts the ..read more

Finished March 22 The Plot is Murder by V.M. Burns This is the first book in a series set around Samantha Washington, the owner of a mystery bookstore in a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan. Samantha, a schoolteacher, has always dreamed of becoming a successful mystery writer, while her husband Leon dreamed of owning a bookstore specializing in mysteries. The mystery bookstore part of the dream is about to come true, but it is a bittersweet reality for her though, as part of the money to buy the old downtown building came from her late husband Leon's life insurance. Before he died, S ..read more

Finished March 19 The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson This is the first book in a series featuring travel writer Lily Moore. Lily has returned to New York City from her more recent life in Spain after the police contact her to tell her that her younger sister Claudia has been found dead in her apartment on the anniversary of their mother's suicide. The apartment is actually Lily's and she'd tried living there with Claudia, but couldn't handle her sister's personality on a daily basis. Lily goes to the apartment and notices things that seem strange and out of character for her sister. When she ..read more

Finished March 18 A Meal in Winter by Hubert Mingarelli, translated by Sam Taylor I came to this book through a new book subscription service I decided to try out. It's from a shop in Wales called Mr. B's and they have a long form to fill out to get a sense of what books you like, and since I teach Readers' Advisory, I found it really related to the interview aspect that's a part of RA work. So this was the first book I got in the subscription, and I'd never heard of the author before, which was great. I love discovering new authors. Because this book was somewhat dark in subject, I took my ..read more

Finished March 16 Hunting Season by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli This novel was one I picked up because I enjoyed the author's Inspector Montalbano mystery series. It is nothing like that series. It is a mystery, but also a farce, with touches of romance, and nods to several of Shakespeare's Italian plays. It also rambles a lot and I found I didn't really care about it enough to try to follow all the plot strings. There are many interwoven plots for such a short novel, but the central one has a man returning to the town of Vigata under an assumed name after being away f ..read more

Finished March 12 Jack in the Green by Diane Capri This novella continues the series Hunt for Reacher, where FBI agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar search for information on Jack Reacher. Having had little luck trying to get information from those close to Reacher, this installment has them connecting with someone who has had a run-in with Reacher during his Army days. Retired colonel Thomas Weston is back at a Florida base for a memorial service, and the FBI agents have been given a directive to ask him some questions, just before other FBI agents arrest him.  Weston was investigated fo ..read more