Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult

#2019AtoZChallenge - (S)


Wow!  Again Jodi Picoult does not dissappoint.!
Intense book about pro-choice, pro-life, parent-child love and relationship,  and choices that are made that affect one's live forever.


Hugh is called in to negotiate with a gunman at the abortion clinic. What Hugh soon discovers is that his daughter, Wren , is inside the clinic along with many others.  All who are there for many different reasons. 

Jodi tells their stories in a structure that counts backward from the time Hugh arrives on scene in the afternoon back to when each of them started their normal day.    At first, this was a little confusing for me,  but once I got the hang of it,  I felt I got to know the characters better and had a better understanding of why each and every one of them was at the clinic on that day. 

"Both life and death began with a spark of light"

              Nemesis - Jo Nesbo
                   4th in Series

#2019AtoZChallenge - (N)
#Colorcodedchallenge -Red


Another fine mess you have gotten us into, Harry!!!!

This time someone is trying to pin a murder on Harry.  The murder of an old girlfriend of his to be exact.  So while Harry is trying to keep himself from being arrested for the murder, he is  also helping the Robbery Unit catch a very clever bank robber.

Plus, just to make things interesting,  Harry knows that there is a dirty cop on the force and he is trying to find evidence of that without the cop getting suspicious.  Oh, and Harry really tries had to stay sober!!!

There is always alot going on in a Harry Hole novel, which is what makes them so fun to read.  So, next up is"Death Star".   I can't wait to see the trouble Harry gets into and the case he will try to solve.

Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore

Debut
2019 A to Z Challenge - "B" 2019 Color Coded Challenge - White

Once Upon a Book Club - May 2018

This book was published in 2018 and what a time to read it - with the Dakota Pipeline protests, North Dakota's controversial voting ID law that prevents Native Americans from voting and the recent confrontation with a tribe elder after an Indigenous Peoples March - to be reminded of America's early history and outright abuse of Native Americans.

Between Earth and Sky is a beautiful telling of an ugly history, that we all need to be reminded of.  How the land, traditions and languages were destroyed and/or stolen from the Native Americans in an attempt to assimilate them to the ways of the white man which were representation of progress, the future.

The problem has always been and continues to be that the white man and more often than not, the Christian white man, has always believed his way is the right way, the only way and that there is no room for another's culture, ideas, traditions to be incorporated.  If we could all try to be more open minded to another's experiences, beliefs, customs; to accept others and their differences, we could possibly find true peace on this earth.

Quotes:  "The words and stories may be different, but the stars [constellations] remained the same."

"'They're indolent...born and bred lazy as sin,  They complain because they want everything handed to them without a drop of sweat on their part.'"

"'The white man has always been generous with what he doesn't want.'"

"Growing pains of the burgeoning West.  The right of the strong and civilized to conquer the weak."

"'If you ain't white and ain't a man, he assumed you had no sense'"

#2019AtoZChallenge

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Historical Fiction

2019 A to Z Challenge - "G"

Once Upon a Book Club - February 2018

What a heartbreaking, but totally worth it, read!  Hannah does a great job of getting you truly invested in each of the main characters, Leni, Cora, even Ernt as well as the Walkers, Large Marge and Mad Earl.

Alaska is beautiful, as I've seen for myself as a tourist, but Hannah brings that beauty and the dangers to life in The Great Alone.  It inspires one to want to live off the grid, live simply, from the land, BUT an outhouse - in a foot of snow, in single digit temps, yeah I probably won't be doing that anytime soon!

There is a lot to unpack in this novel; the struggles and reality of domestic violence, progress vs. keeping the familiar, love and loss.  You won't want to put it down, and have the tissues ready!

While the ending, for me, was a bit predictable (though I know a lot of people who will enjoy it) and as Bookworm said in her review, it was a bit rushed, but it didn't take away from the novel as a whole.  This was still a terrific read and I highly recommend it.

Quotes:  "'You know what they say about finding a man in Alaska - the odds are good, but the goods are odd.'"

"'It's scary that people can just stop loving you, you know.'"

"The world could tumble, change radially..., with just one less person living in it."

"'Men are stupid.  You might as well learn that now.  Look at bull moose.  They ram into each other at full speed.'"

#2019AtoZChallenge

                   Our House - Louise Candlish
                           New Author

#2019AtoZChallenge - (O)

Fi and Bram Lawson are getting a divorce because Bram has been unfaithful for a second time.  They are going to share custody of their 2 sons by "bird-nesting". The boys will stay in the home and the parents will take turns living in the house with them. 

It all seems to be working very will until Fi comes back for her turn and  finds strangers living in her house and her husband and boys missing.!!

Oh, the twists and turns that you will never see coming and the "Oh,No!"  ending make this a very good suspense novel. 

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

Series

Well, I did it.  I gave up on the Chet and Bernie series a little more than 1/2 way through.  Here's the difficult thing about a series:  you need to develop the recurring characters without being repetitive; each new edition to the series must feel like a new story but the character must evolve.  Laurie King did it wonderfully with her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series but Spencer Quinn simply repeated the same story just in a different locale/with a different mystery to solve.

So, I've moved on to a new series and I hope Mr. Nesbo can accomplish the difficult task of developing the wonderfully flawed Harry Hole (hoo-leh) with a new and inventive story; as there are 12 books in the series!

The Bat - named after the Australian Aboriginal "Garden of Eden" style story - introduces us to Harry Hole, a Norwegian inspector with the Oslo Crime Squad as he is sent to Australia to assist in the investigation of the murder of a Norwegian woman there. I enjoyed reading about Australian history and folklore and the mystery plot had red herrings that kept you guessing the real killer's identity till the very end.  Nesbo's writing is entertainingly descriptive, yet the multiple metaphors applied to a bar fight slowed down the action scene to make it almost comical in nature.  I really enjoyed getting to know Harry, oh poor Harry.

Already looking forward to Book #2.

Quotes:  "Human nature is a vast impenetrable forest which no one can know in its entirety."

"People are afraid of what they don't understand.  And hate what they're afraid of."

"And how long does it take to really know someone?...it doesn't take very long to get to know the beaten tracks through the big, dark forest.  Some people have fine, straight paths and streetlamps and road signs.  They seem to tell you everything.  But that's where you should be careful you don't take anything for granted.  Because you don't find the forest's animals on illuminated paths, you find them in the bushes and the scrub.***Some forests are darker than others."

        Lights on the Sea - Miquel Reina
                  Debut Novel

#2019AtoZChallenge - (L)
#2019 Color Challenge - Blue
               

A wonderful story about things that are important in life.

Harold and Mary Rose Grapes go on a very unexpected journey when the house they built on a cliff breaks off and they end up adrift on a cold sea.
What they learn on their journey changes them forever.

What started out as a fairy tale-like story,  ended up with me pondering my journey.

Quote from the book "The only reason we are given life is to live it"

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent

"N" Author

2019 A to Z Challenge - L
2019 Color Coded Challenge - Brown
2019 January Motif Challenge - New to You Author

I was looking forward to reading this book simply for the book jacket and the rave reviews, and the first line "My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it."; then when it was going to check all 4 of my challenge boxes....Yippee!!!

While the story, which alternated narrators, kept me entertained, it wasn't the gripping, nail biting book I was expecting.  The author drops breadcrumbs of information so the reader stays engaged till the end and it is a rather diabolical ending.  The characters are difficult to like, there is some unrealistic plot points and with the swapping narrators there is some repetition, but all in all it is still a good whodunit read.

#2019AtoZChallenge

                 The Chalk Man - C.J.Tudor       
                        Guilty Pleasure

2019  A to Z Challenge - "C"
2019 Color Challenge - Any other Color (Orange)
2019 January Motif Challenge - New to you Author

This started a bit slow for me, but around 100 pages it got interesting.

The chapters alternate between 1986 and 2016.
In 1986 , Eddie and his friends are 12 years old and they leave each other  coded messages written in chalk stick man figures.   One day someone has left stick men messages leading the boys to a dead girl in the woods.

In 2016, Ed and his friends each receive a letter with a stick figure written on it and then one of them is murdered.   Ed tries to piece together what happened in 1986 and who is after them now.

I enjoyed the read but was disappointed because of all the hype this book got when it first came out.
Still, if you like a good mystery,  then read "The Chalk Man" !!

#2019AtoZChallenge