Books I Read in March and Share Your Shelf #12

 Marilyn, Jennifer, Tanya, and I are so happy to be hosting this monthly link up (that goes live on the first Thursday of every month) dedicated solely to books and book reviews. Through this link up I've gotten lots of great ideas on what books to read next!

I read another dozen good books this month and manage to cross quite a few more off of my 52 books challenge! 

 

 

1. Passions in Death by J.D. Robb (#59)-- In this novel Eve Dallas and her team are investigating the death of a bride that died at her bachelorette party. The circle of suspects is small and it seems like the bride trusted the wrong person to "help" her. Another fabulous In Death book. 

2. Memory Man by David Baldacci-- Amos Decker lost everything the night he came home to find his brother in law, wife, and child murdered in his own home. Now he's been hired as a consultant by the force after a school shooting that seems to be tied in some way to the murders of Decker's family. With an eidetic memory and synesthesia from an old football injury that completely changed his life, Decker tends to find things left undiscovered in most cases and his old boss really wants his help in figuring out who is behind all these murders. I really enjoyed the story line but I listened to this on audio book and the quality was just not great so I found the changing tones a bit off putting at first. The plot was great though!

3. Bonded in Death by J. D. Robb (#60)-- Oh I just loved that in this novel we learned more about Summerset's past. When an Italian man is found gassed in the back of a limo with Eve's card tucked between his fingers she is pulled into an investigation that dates back to the Urban wars and both her victim's and Summerset's role in it as part of The Twelve. I enjoyed this one so much! 

4. Meet Me in the Penalty Box by Cali Melle-- Harper has a brand new job taking photos for a professional hockey team but she's surprised when the rookie star player is the very same man she made out with at a club before starting her new job. Both Harper and Nico are attracted to one another but rules of her job make him completely off limits. They decide to throw caution to the wind and date "in secret"... though why the couples in these types of stories do such a bad job dating in secret annoys me I still thought this was a really cute story (but definitely rated R).

5. Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo (Book #8)-- In this book Kate Burkholder has to go undercover in an Amish community in New York to find out what is behind the rumors of child abuse and the death of one young Amish girl. Of course we knew going in that something was going to be "off" about this community and most likely its leader but it was a good one that kept me turning pages!

6. The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (Book #3)-- While it's a bit odd to be reading a Christmas book in March, I had already read the first two books in the series and had this book on request through much of December and January so I started reading it at the end of February anyway. In this 3rd book in the series Kira has just moved into town and bought up the old Christmas tree farm. She had zero intentions of running a Christmas tree farm since she really doesn't like Christmas anyway but her finances were running out and Kira's new house needed a lot of work. Bennett is visiting the town to see his sister over the holidays and gets roped into checking on Kira since she's been so standoffish with everyone else in town. 

7. Happily Never After by Lynn Painter-- Sophie had no idea when she was planning her wedding that there as such a thing as a professional objector but Max comes to her rescue when Sophie realizes she can't go through with her own wedding. Max gets paid to stand up and object; usually with strong evidence of cheating or some other wrong doing of the guilty party when the hurt party is unable to handle the break-up on their own. In Sophie's case her soon to be father in law would have blamed her and fired her father. Sophie and Max debrief later that night and Sophie lets slip that she loves this idea... so 4 months later when Max has a job he's unable to do he calls on Sophie to help.  Sophie is nervous at first but soon the two are spending lots of time together and breaking up couples that were never meant to be and having lots and lots of fun. But things change when they're hired by a groom to be and the bride to be turns out to be Max's ex; the woman that broke his heart. I loved these two from the first page and it was such a cute and funny story.

8. Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff--  I really loved this story; told in 2 times lines. I had never heard of this piece of World War II history before which made it all the more intriguing. 1953- Louise finds a necklace in a box of donations that reminds her of one she saw one night in the war. She truly believes that if she can find out the story of the necklace she will understand the mysterious death of her friend Fanny. Helaine's story is told in bits and pieces throughout the 1940's but we follow her through her time spent working in a Nazi prison set in a department store in Paris. With lots of twists and turns their stories do finally collide. Since Louise's timeline isn't far from the end of world war II all of the characters have been shaped in some way by the war and I really felt for them all. 

9. You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto-- Oh I had such a hard time getting into this one; mostly I think because both Aspen and Meredith seemed so juvenile. I can't remember worrying that much about what strangers thought of me since I was in middle or high school! But as influencers they are both hyper aware of their public image. With lots of fun plot twists, a murder, and some other sabotage it was a fun story once I got over my dislike of pretty much every character in the book.

 

10. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill--  I struggled to focus on this story and finish. I mean, it was cute, but I thought it was much too fantasy/magical/farcical for me.  Yet, I am so glad I stuck with it as it really was rather sweet. In this fictional town a baby is sacrificed each year to the witch in the woods to keep the townspeople safe. The witch, baffled by the town giving up a sweet baby each year rescues the child and feeds it stardust while bringing it across the dangerous land to other small towns and families.. until the year she accidentally feeds the baby moonlight and enmagicked the child. 

 

11. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson-- I listened to this book through Libby and never having read anything by this author I was pretty curious. It was a fun mystery; a bookstore owner is contacted by the FBI when they suspect a series of murders is playing out that follows along with a blog post he had written many years earlier called eight perfect murders. At first it seems like he might become a suspect and then it seems like someone close to him is carrying these murders out but nothing is ever quite what it seems like. It's a neat little story with lots of twists and turns.

12. From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough-- I enjoyed this audiobook about what it was like to grow up in the shadow of Elvis Presley. I didn't know much about his family at all so hearing about his daughter's (and even granddaughter's) life was very interesting. Though I am always struck by these celebrity memoirs and how much they crave normalcy... and yet seem to not even know what "normal" life is like to try and emulate it in the first place.

 

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