A Stranger In The House by Shari Lapena

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thrillers, Women's Domestic Life Fiction
Format - Audio-book
Length - 8 hours 52 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.

There's a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.

The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.

Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won't stop asking questions.

Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.

*My Review* 

How well do you know your friends? Karen is pretty sure she has built herself the perfect life, but isn't it always the perfect lives that have the biggest secrets? Karen finds herself in the hospital. She can't remember what happened, but is that the truth or just what she's telling everyone to hide something. Though it's easy to figure out the story so that there's no real suspense, I wasn't quite sure how it would end.

House of Ashes: A Haunted Bluffs Mystery by Loretta Marion

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Amateur Sleuths, Ghosts, Mysteries, Thrillers
Format - Harcover
Length - 326 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Thirty-seven-year-old painter Cassandra Mitchell is fourth-generation to live in the majestic Battersea Bluffs, a brooding Queen Anne home originally built by her great-grandparents, Percy and Celeste Mitchell, and still standing despite tragedies that have swept the generations. Local lore has it that there was a curse placed on the family and the house is haunted, though opinions are divided on whether it's by malicious or benevolent spirits. Cassie believes the latter—but now she stands to lose her beloved home to mounting debt and the machinations of her dream-weaving ex-husband.

Salvation seems to arrive when a nomadic young couple wanders onto the property with the promise of companionship and much-needed help—until they vanish without a trace, leaving behind no clue to their identities. Cassie is devastated, but determined to discover what's happened to the young couple...even as digging into their disappearance starts to uncover family secrets of her own. Despite warnings from her childhood friend, now the local Chief of Police—as well as an FBI agent who pushes the boundaries of professionalism—Cassie can't help following the trail of clues (and eerie signals from the old house itself) to unravel the mystery. But can she do so before her family's dark curse destroys everything in its path?

*My Review* 

Another book that I couldn't put down. There was so much mystery going on. Is the house haunted, who are the strangers, what happened to them and what will happen with Cassie? I was lost in this book and read it every chance I got. I felt compassion for the characters, anger and hope. I did get a little lost in the middle of the story as there were quite a few characters being introduced and trying to keep their stories straight. Other than that, it was amazing.
I can't go into much detail as I don't want to give anything away. I was shocked when I learned the truth and I want you to be as well. I can say that if you enjoy a good mystery, then you'll want to grab this book.
I can't wait until I can get my hands on a copy of its sequel - Storm of Secrets.

Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance by Bill McKibben

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘
Genre - Political Fiction, Satire, Humorous American Literature
Format - Harcover
Length - 240 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

As the host of Radio Free Vermont--"underground, underpowered, and underfoot"--seventy-two-year-old Vern Barclay is currently broadcasting from an "undisclosed and double-secret location." With the help of a young computer prodigy named Perry Alterson, Vern uses his radio show to advocate for a simple yet radical idea: an independent Vermont, one where the state secedes from the United States and operates under a free local economy. But for now, he and his radio show must remain untraceable, because in addition to being a lifelong Vermonter and concerned citizen, Vern Barclay is also a fugitive from the law.

In Radio Free Vermont, Bill McKibben entertains and expands upon an idea that's become more popular than ever--seceding from the United States. Along with Vern and Perry, McKibben imagines an eccentric group of activists who carry out their own version of guerilla warfare, which includes dismissing local middle school children early in honor of 'Ethan Allen Day' and hijacking a Coors Light truck and replacing the stock with local brew. Witty, biting, and terrifyingly timely, Radio Free Vermont is Bill McKibben's fictional response to the burgeoning resistance movement.

*My Review* 

This was a fun book and is also another one that I am having a hard time thinking of a way to explain my review on it. Vern uses the power of radio to suggest the state of Vermont break away from the United States. He provides reasons and also promotes Vermont businesses. You'd think that the state would appreciate his trying to have everyone come together, instead he is considered a fugitive.
I think my favorite part is how he helps one of his friends get a new home built for free.
It's a quick read and I think you'll enjoy it if you like rebellion and humor.

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The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy: A Novel by Jacopo della Quercia

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘
Genre - Steampunk, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction Adventures
Format - Paperback
Length - 400 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

This historical thriller is an equal-parts cocktail of action, adventure, science-fiction and comedy. The book follows a globe-trotting President Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln in a race to solve a mystery stretching back to the Civil War and the Lincoln assassination. Based on true events, readers will find themselves swept into a vast conspiracy spanning four continents and three oceans during the turn of the century. Fascinating technologies will be harnessed, dark secrets revealed, true villains exposed, and some of the most famous figures in history will take the stage. With surprises lurking around every corner, and a vast cast of characters to root for, Jacopo della Quercia's The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy is a heart-pounding adventure that only history could have made possible.

*My Review* 

This book was chosen for my book group for February. I thought a book with presidents for presidents month. It was also cool because the author is a member of the book group.
Unfortunately, even after finishing the entire book, I am not sure what it was that I read. The first chapter started off pretty good, but from there I was lost. There were many references to actual events and newspaper articles, but some of them seemed like they did nothing but fill pages. I kept reading hoping that eventually I would figure it all out. I read to the end. I am still confused.

Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined by Stephanie Meyer (Twilight Saga #1.75)

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Teen, Young Adult, Ghost Stories, Contemporary Fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves
Format - Hardback

*Amazon Blurb*

There are two sides to every story....

You know Bella and Edward, now get to know Beau and Edythe.

When Beaufort Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic.

What Beau doesn't realize is the closer he gets to her, the more he is putting himself and those around him at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back....

With a foreword and afterword by Stephenie Meyer, this compelling reimagining of the iconic love story is a must-read for Twilight fans everywhere.

*My Review* 

This book was a recommendation from one of my library patrons. I wasn't even aware that it existed. I am also guilty of not read the Twilight Series, but only watching the movies (which I loved).
I think it would've been easier to read it if I hadn't watched the movies because I kept picturing the characters as they were in the movie. It was hard to try and stop.
The book stays quite true to the movie with the exception of all the genders being swapped until it gets towards the end. I am glad the author changed it like she did because it was wondering the whole time if I would be left hanging to expect a sequel that wouldn't come or if maybe she was planning to write more.

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #4)

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Young Adult, Time Travel, Fiction
Format - Hardcover
Length - 496 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back where his story began, in Florida. Except now Miss Peregrine, Emma, and their peculiar friends are with him, and doing their best to blend in. But carefree days of beach visits and normalling lessons are soon interrupted by a discovery—a subterranean bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe.

Clues to Abe’s double-life as a peculiar operative start to emerge, secrets long hidden in plain sight. And Jacob begins to learn about the dangerous legacy he has inherited—truths that were part of him long before he walked into Miss Peregrine’s time loop.

Now, the stakes are higher than ever as Jacob and his friends are thrust into the untamed landscape of American peculiardom—a world with few ymbrynes, or rules—that none of them understand. New wonders, and dangers, await in this brilliant next chapter for Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children. Their story is again illustrated by haunting vintage photographs, now with the striking addition of full-color images interspersed throughout for this all-new, multi-era American adventure.

*My Review* 

I have enjoyed this entire series. I love how each book picks up exactly where the last one left off. It's like you simply went to a new chapter and not a new book.
Once again Jacob and his friends are off on another adventure. They find out exactly what Abe was doing in his normal life and Jacob wants to follow along in his grandfather's footsteps. But can he do the job Abe was doing without any training and just some of his friends by his side? This time they don't even have the help of Miss Peregrine.