Ice Planet Barbarians Series, Book 2 Barbarian Alien / Ruby Dixon / 211 pages

Kidnapped from Earth by aliens Liz and a bunch twelve other women are kept prisoner on their ship to become sex slaves but when things go wrong for their captors the alien traffickers dump their ‘cargo,’ the women, on an ice planet until they can come back for them. When Georgie decides they can’t stay in the cargo container, she explores the ice planet looking for natives that might help her and the other women and finds a native. He and his people mate for life when they meet the ‘one,’ and because of the alien symbiote they have inside them that lets them survive the harsh conditions of the planet ‘choose’ their mate. Now the women also have to get symbiotes in order to survive on the planet and her symbiote chooses one of the natives Raahosh, but she doesn’t really like him. Two points of view in the book by Liz and by Raahosh. Narrated by Hollie Jackson & Mason Lloyd 6h 27min.

Ice Planet Barbarians Series, Book 1 Ice Planet Barbarians / Ruby Dixon / 188 pages

Kidnapped from Earth by aliens Georgie and a bunch of other women are kept prisoner on their ship to become sex slaves but when things go wrong for their captors the alien traffickers dump their ‘cargo,’ the women on an ice planet until they can come back for them. Georgie decides they can’t stay in the cargo container, the aliens only need the six women they have in cryo stasis to meet their deadlines and she and the rest of the women were just extras,  if they wait they’re likely to die from the aliens when they come back, the cold, or starvation. While the other women stay in the cargo hold, Georgie explores the ice planet looking for natives that might help her and the other women and finds Vektal an alien, he’s humanoid, blue, has horns, and his tribe is in desperate need of females. Vektal and his people mate for life when they meet the ‘one,’ and now Vektal has met his and she is strange and pale.  Two points of view in the book by Georgie and by Vektal. Narrated by Hollie Jackson & Mason Lloyd 5h 51min.

After the End/ Clare Mackintosh/ 390 pgs

This book is one of the most emotional and sad books I've read in a long time, which made it difficult to get through. Pip, who is British, and Max, who is American, have an almost three-year-old son Dylan who is in the hospital in Birmingham, England with a brain tumor. The bad news keeps coming as the doctors say the surgery to remove the tumor was unsuccessful, it ended in Dylan being severally brain-damaged, and he is declared terminally ill. At first, Max and Pip agree to challenge this diagnosis. Max wants to take their son to the US for an alternative treatment that might gain him a few more months or years of life. Pip changes her mind though, and wishes to let Dylan go without further unnecessary treatment. They end up in court. From there, the book takes a turn and alternates between two futures--one in which Max wins and takes Dylan to the US for treatment, and one in which Pip wins and only palliative care is provided to Dylan. All of it is gut-wrenching and sad but the book lost me at the second-to-last chapter. I didn't agree with the authorial choices made on many levels. The writing is terrific in this one, but proceed with caution, knowing that it's sad and difficult at almost every turn.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, 498 pages

Beautiful epic story that anyone who loves books would enjoy. The world the author created was so fantastic I've not wanted to live in a book since HP and Hogwarts. The first I've read from this author, but definitely want to read her first book as well. She writes with this sense of wonder that I have never experienced before. It was like reading magic.

Fix Her Up/ Tessa Bailey/ 400 pages

           Georgette Castle went into the birthday party clown business instead of her family's home renovation business. Ever since this choice, and because she is the youngest of the siblings, she has been seen as the baby and not part of the adults. She craves respect from her family and creates a plan on how to do so.
           Travis Ford was a major league baseball player for a couple of years until an injury caused him to retire. Now he is back living in his home town trying to get a new job but he doesn't want his reputation standing in the way.
            In order for them both to get what they want they pretend to be in a relationship with each other. The goal to show Georgie's family that she deserves the respect of any other adult and for Travis's potential new bosses to see that he is not the player he use to be and is living a more serious life. However, they did not expect to actually start falling for each other...
             This was a cute fun rom-com that flies by and has you laughing throughout. If you are looking for a cutesy love story, pick this one up!

Rose Madder/ Stephen King/ 608 pages/ Horror

          After fourteen years in an abusive marriage, Rose Daniels leaves her husband, Norman. Her first step is to find a place he won't find her and start her life over again.
          Rose meets new people, finds friends, gets her own apartment, a job, and meets a new guy, Bill. Even with all this that she has built for herself she still is nervous of Norman finding her. He is a cop and is very good at hunting down who he is looking for. As we follow Rose and her new life we also follow Norman and see his mind as he mentally unravels while searching for his wife.
           This novel had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was an incredible novel with a terrible villain that had me checking over my shoulder while reading. The fantasy in the novel is a little out there but still interesting. Before starting, I was thinking this was going to be boring since it's not like other King novels but I was very wrong. I would recommend looking into this one if you are looking for a mystery/horror novel to try.

Verity/ Colleen Hoover/ 333 pages

           Verity Crawford was a  famous author when she suffered an accident leaving her unable to finish her series. Verity’s husband, Jeremy, hires Lowen Ashleigh to come stay at the Crawford home to look through Verity’s notes and complete the series for his wife. While Lowen is staying with them she discovers an unfinished autobiography that Verity was working on and learns some bone-chilling secrets about the Crawford family. 

           This book is a fast read that you won’t be able to put down. Such an addicting story that leaves you speechless.

Nine Perfect Strangers / Liane Moriarty / 453 pages

  I tend to compare an author's current book with others they have written, and I have read.  The characters are well-developed. The story was about nine people attending an upscale health resort that promises a transformation for each person. Each person is there for a different reason. Masha, the resort owner is bizarre and treats each person like a rat in a lab experiment. Her ego is enormous.  There will be no deviation from her plan for each person.
     I did not find this story as engaging as The Husband's Secret or Big, Little Lies.  For that reason I gave it 3 stars. A book club would find lots to discuss since each person attending at the resort was going through so much in their life. I'm sure the amateur psychiatrist in all of us would have a great time analyzing these characters.

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Ann Morrow Lindberg's life is the subject of this novel.  While this is a work of fiction, it does chronicle the facts of Charles and Ann Morrow Lindberg's accomplishments and family members.  Told from the voice of Ann, we hear the emotional highs and lows (lots of lows!) of being the wife of the famous aviator.  She refers to herself as the aviator's wife throughout. 
    The description of the loss of their first child is particularly moving and also bizzare as Charles comes off as very cold-hearted.  He is often distant and narcissistic in his life with Ann.  She describes the pain and lonliness of being married to him.  She also takes comfort when a morsel of love and affection is shown to her by Charles.  You often wonder why she stayed with him.  The book vascillates between their history, his last months of life in 1974, and Ann's life after he dies.
     This is a good bookclub option when discussing marital relationships.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry/ Gabrielle Zevin / 260 pgs

I read this book based on a recommendation from a coworker. So glad I did. This is the story of A.J. Fikry, a widowed bookstore owner. Drinking too much and barely living, A.J. has lost his way after the death of his wife. He hits a new low when he passes out one night and has a rare, expensive book stolen from his home. Soon, though, a young toddler is abandoned in his store, he adopts her, and he's back among the living. A.J. is grumpy, at least on the outside, the kind of character I love. Despite its depressing beginning and ending, this is an uplifting book about the power of love and friendship.

Heartstone / Elle Katharine White / 352 pages

A.K.A. "Pride and Prejudice and Dragons." 

Alastair Daired (Darcy) is a warrior and dragon-rider from a long line of nobles sword to protect the country from the deadly monsters that overrun it. Aliza Bentaine (Elizabeth) lives a peaceful existence befriending garden gnomes. Their first impressions of each other do not go well.

This was what the book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" should have been, but wasn't. White takes Elizabeth and Darcy's story and transplants it into a quasi-medieval world, freely changing and adapting the characters to fit the new telling. All of the characters from Austen's story are there and recognizable, but with different motivations and backstories that makes this more than a simple copy-and-paste story. And there are new characters, like Daired's sentient dragon Akarra, that change the dynamic extensively.

It's a fun and clean read, fine for teens or adults, but the wit and banter of the original is gone, as is the social critique. If you like adaptations like tv's <i>Once Upon a Time</i>, this is a fun way to pass a few hours, but the character motivations are lacking and the plot gets rather ridiculous. Recommend to girls who swoon at the idea of Darcy as a dragon rider.

Dark Places/Gillian Flynn/349 pgs

This book from Gillian Flynn was published before Gone Girl but I've just now got around to checking it out. When the main character, Libby, was seven her mother and two older sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas home. Libby managed to escape. Her teenage brother was convicted of the crime, largely on Libby's eyewitness testimony.

Fast forward 25 years. Libby is now a very messed up adult. She's not the most likable of characters, but I found myself mostly sympathetic toward her anyway, given what her life had been like. She answers a curiosity seeker's letter and thus heads down a twisting path to discover/remember what really happened on that terrible night.

I found the mystery interesting, though occasionally unbelievable. I also liked that the ending was at least somewhat optimistic. Flynn knows how to write deeply flawed characters that pull you in.

Warning: the description of the murders is graphic and there is a scene involving animal abuse that I had to entirely skip over.

A Dog's Journey (sequel to A Dog's Purpose) / W. Bruce Cameron / 336 pgs

A Dog's Journey is the sequel to A Dog's Purpose, soon to be released as a movie in the cinemas at the end of the month. Whereas in A Dog's Purpose, the dog who is known alternatively as Toby, Bailey, Ellie, and Buddy learns that his purpose is to love and protect his boy, Ethan, in the sequel, our canine hero learns that his/her purpose is to love Ethan's granddaughter, C.J., and ultimately to love and take care of all humans. Buddy is still alive at the beginning of the book, but ultimately passes and is reborn as Molly, then Max, and finally Toby again. The ending is sweet and might require tissues. I really enjoyed both books, and although it is wrapped up perfectly, I sure wish there was another book. Very well done, and I can't wait for the movie, so I can take my dog-loving husband to go see it.

 P.S. I am totally a cat person, and have my own four-legged friend who takes care of me, Mia, but that didn't keep me from loving both of Mr. Cameron's books.

P.P.S. This book fulfills a few of the challenges I started in 2017 and it is the first book I started in the New Year. The challenges include:

The #2017FullHouseReadingChallenge - Category: Page Turner
The #2017AudioBookChallenge - No Category
The #2017PopSugarReadingChallenge - Category 21: A book from a nonhuman perspective

The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman 304 pages

Lolly is the mother/grandmother who passes on the family history through charms on her bracelet. Her daughter, Arden, has been estranged from Lolly for three years because she thinks her mother doesn't understand the pressures of her life as a single working mother. Arden doesn't think her mother is very realistic about life. Lauren is Lolly's granddaughter. Lauren is very unhappy and at a crossroads in her life. She has tried to fulfill her mother's (Arden) expectations by pursuing a practical degree in college. However, Lauren is an artist, and she feels such despair about not following her passion that she wants to drop out of college.
When Lolly faces a health challenge, Arden and Lauren go visit her. The story of their family is shared in each chapter by describing each charm on Lolly's bracelet. Heartwarming! 

Off Season / Anne Rivers Siddons / 11 hrs. 29 min.

This audio book was read by Jane Alexander - an actress I have enjoyed in the past. Her reading was almost the reason I would have given this 4 stars, however, the last part of the story was unfulfilling. The journey of Lily through her present grieving process took us to back to her past. The story had wonderful description and character development - I really knew who these characters were and could easily picture them. Lily loves so completely that her very self is lost when Cam, her husband, dies suddenly. Lily goes back to her childhood summer vacation home to heal in the only way she knows how...by connecting to her past. It is when the author brings us to Lily's present life when unsettling information becomes known to Lily and she does not pursue it. Why the author chose to finish her novel this way is a mystery to me. Seems like it was time to wrap it up, I guess.

One Step Too Far / Tina Serkis / 285 pages

What would cause a mother and wife to up and leave her family one day without seemingly any warning?  That's question readers are trying to answer in this psychological thriller.  Emily Coleman has become Cat Brown and has run away to escape some dark devastation in her past and start a new life in London.  The chapters alternate between a first person narrative of Cat's story to flashbacks of other characters, including Cat as Emily, that help fill in the background of what has brought Cat to this point.  The reader will never see the ultimate twist coming which is as heart-wrenching as it is surprising.  Tina Serkis weaves a story filled with flawed, realistic characters who the reader can't help but keep reading to discover more.  This definitely a book that will keep you up at night in your desire to find out Cat's secret.

Invasion of the Tearling/Johansen/515

Invasion of the Tearling is 2nd book of Queen of the Tearling trilogy by Erika Johansen. The story is set three centuries after an environmental catastrophe has pretty much destroyed everything. A small group has emerged from the "crossing" and finally the true queen has come of age and is ready to take her throne. Nineteen year old Kelsea Glynn has been hidden away and must reclaim her mother's throne. She is trying to save her kingdom from forces of corruption and  dark magic. We basically get two stories in this second book in the series as Queen Kelsea is drawn into the world of Lily, a young woman fighting for her life before the crossing. Even though the world building is confusing in these books, and at first I did not like the flashbacks to Lily's world, I found myself drawn into that story as well.

Prodigal Son/Danielle Steel/318 pages

Peter McDowell broke away from his parents and his twin Michael after high school. His trips back to see them were limited to seeing his sick parents once before they died and then their funerals. His life in the New York financial world was complete with a luxury apartment and a wife and two boys until the stock market crashes, and he loses everything. With his wife moving back to her father's home in LA with the boys, Peter restarts his life by moving back to the lake house his parents left him. He tries to stay out his brother's way in town, but Michael seeks him out and makes an attempt to bury the past. Peter happily decides to let go of the past until more information about his brother, the beloved town doctor, comes to light.

This is part of my project of reconnecting with authors I used to enjoy decades ago but no longer read. First up was Mary Higgins Clark a couple of months ago. The book I read did not convince me to start reading her books again. I never was a devout Steel fan, but I had read a couple I had enjoyed. This one started out promisingly, but the last third of the book was just too easy. I wanted a twist, a surprise, something other than what I got. I give this one a "pass."

Legal Tender / Lisa Scottoline 295 p.

Legal Tender / Lisa Scottoline 295 p.

Bennie Rosato is still reeling from her breakup with lover and law partner Mark Biscardi when he is found murdered in his office. Bennie is the chief and only suspect. When the weapon is found in her home, that puts paid to her innocence. She has no alibi as she was out rowing alone. It is up to her to foil the case the police is building against her. This fast-paced features a gutsy strong woman who can get herself out of hot water...with a little help from friends. Interwoven into the story is the story of her caring for her deranged mother. This is the 2nd in the Rosato and Associates novels series.

How to be a Grown-Up/Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus/240 pages

Blake Turner's career started off with a bang when he was just a tween, but now he's just a mostly working actor kept afloat with regular, substantial residual checks. Rory, his wife, freelances as a stylist for photo shoots. When Blake's latest "big break" falls through, Rory must take a job at a start-up run by twenty-somethings and learn the new buzz words that make up their conversations. Between caring for their two children, trying to bolster up Blake's self-esteem and reasoning with  two bosses who are clearly unsuited for leadership, Rory's hands are full.

McLaughlin and Kraus, authors of the Nanny Diaries, have written a funny and sometimes poignant story of a woman faced with a changing world. Longevity and experience are discarded in favor of youth and bad behavior. Quick, fun read.