The Full Cupboard of Life - Alexander McCall Smith                                                                  ("A" Book)

#monopolychallenge - Reading RR - "X" in title or Author's name

  Mma Ramotswe , owner of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, is hire by a very wealthy lady to investigate 4 men who are interested in her.  So there is a lot of discussions on the good and bad behaviors of men.  Some are actually rather insightful.  Lol.

More information about Mma Ramotser's and Mr. J.L.B.Matekoni's engagement and of course the beautiful landscape of Botswana.  

This was an easy read and put a smile on my face at times.  

Goodreads:   Mma Ramotswe, who became engaged to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni at the end of the first audiobook, is still engaged. She wonders when a day for the wedding will be named, but she is anxious to avoid putting too much pressure on her fiancé. For indeed he has other things on his mind, notably a frightening request made of him by Mma Potokwani, pushy matron of the Orphan Farm.

Mma Ramotswe herself has weighty matters on her mind. She has been approached by a wealthy lady, whose fortune comes from successful hair-braiding salons, and has been asked to check up on several suitors. Are these men just interested in her money? This may be difficult to find out, but Mma Ramotswe is, of course, a very intuitive lady. 

 

       The River - Peter Heller                                                                                                   (Guilty Pleasure)

#monopolychallenge -Park Place _ Book title with P,A,R, or K

What an adventure.! We go on a wilderness canoe trip with college friends, Jack and Wynn.  What was meant to be a leisurely trip on a river in northern Canada turned into a trip of survival. We had white water rapids, a forest wild fire, and a man hunting us down.  Plus the beautiful scenery of the trees, mountains and the stars at night..  

This was a nice change from what I have been reading lately.

Goodreads:: TWO FRIENDS

Wynn and Jack have been best friends since their first day of college: a gentle giant from Vermont and a rugged kid raised on a ranch in Colorado, brought together by their shared love of literature and the great outdoors.

THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
When they decide to take time off university and canoe down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate the ultimate wilderness experience: two young men navigating the rapids through the quiet, imposing landscapes of North America.
No phones.
No fellow travellers.
No way of going back.

A HELLISH RIDE
But as a raging wildfire starts to make its way towards them - reducing the towering trees to charred carcasses - their idyllic expedition becomes a desperate race for survival.
And when a man suddenly appears, seemingly in a state of shock and claiming his wife has vanished, the fight against nature's destructive power becomes entangled with a much deadlier game of cat and mouse.

Because the only thing more dangerous than a burning forest is a man's thirst for revenge...

 

  All is Beauty Now- Sarah Faber 
                 (Debut)

#monopolychallenge - Marvin Gardens - Plants on the cover.

This book is written in the prose style and mostly character development with a little romance and mystery.

It is about a 20 year old daughter who walks into the water off of the beach near Rio de Janeiro. It is told in back and forth chapters by the family members, their feelings, things that happened prior to and after she disappears. It also deals with the father's mental illness,his highs and lows.

The country of Brazil is beautifully described, the beautiful beaches, the beauty of Carnival, The Copacabana Club   and the waters of the Amazon.  I learned that there are pink dolphins that live in the Amazon River,  How cool is that!!!!

Goodreads::   Set against the seductive world of 1960s Rio de Janeiro, an exquisite debut novel about family secrets, divided loyalties, and what we're willing to do to save ourselves.

This mesmerizing first novel follows a glamorous family as they prepare to leave the seeming paradise of Brazil for Canada in the wake to the mysterious disappearance -- and presumed drowning -- of their eldest daughter a year earlier. As the novel moves back and forth between the members of the Maurer family, we are taken into the heart of a family whose beauty and charm belie a more troubling reality.

We meet the family's brilliant and charismatic father, whose bipolar extremes are becoming increasingly disturbing; his long-suffering wife, who once had a brief affair that proves to have shattering consequences for the family she swore to protect; their two remaining daughters, both on the brink of understanding the darker currents that run in their once-proud family; and the lost daughter herself, a beautiful young woman undone by her own grand delusions.

 The Last Piece by Imogen Clark

Monopoly Book Challenge - Electric Company - a "light and fluffy" book
Once Upon a Book Club - July 2020
New Author

While this wasn't a bad read, it was a book I was unlikely to choose myself. It was part of our OUBC monthly subscription.

The story was fairly predictable and I didn't particularly like any of the characters. BUT, that's just me. This is a light, chick-lit story about a rather complex subject. There's some romance, sisterhood, and scant, but beautiful descriptions of Greece.

Summary from Goodreads: A sudden departure. A story decades in the making.

The chaotic but happy equilibrium of the Nightingale family is thrown into disarray when Cecily—whose children can’t remember her ever being remotely spontaneous—disappears to a Greek island with no warning or explanation.

Her reasons for doing something so out of character are a total mystery to her three daughters, high-powered executive Felicity, unfulfilled GP Julia and organised mother-of-five Lily. What connection could she possibly have with Kefalonia?

But Cecily has gone to continue a story she thought ended decades ago—one that could have a huge impact on her family. And when she returns, she’ll have to tell them the truth.

Will Cecily be able to hold her family together once she reveals her big secret? And might she discover that she’s not the only one with a story to tell

 train by pete dexter

Monopoly Book Challenge - Reading Railroad - A book with X in the title or author's name.
Guilty Pleasure

The monopoly book challenge for Reading Railroad could be a book with X in the title or author's name OR a book with a train on the cover or about a train. While this book was titled "train", it was in reference to the nickname of a golf caddy, the protagonist of the book. So, even though I already did my X author, I decided to read another X author for this challenge.

This was a fairly fast moving novel. I really liked the protagonist Train and appreciated the development of many of the other characters, even the undesirable ones. I could even get past some of the violence of the book. And while I understood the character development of some of the sex scenes, at times it felt that the author's 15 year old prepubescent self was doing some ghostwriting.

In the end, while the storyline wasn't too bad, it's a book that I will not recommend due to the gratuitous sex and violence.

Summary from Goodreads: Los Angeles, 1953. Lionel Walk is a young black caddy at Brookline, the oldest, most exclusive country club in the city, where he is known by the nickname “Train.” A troubled, keenly intelligent kid with no particular interest in his own prodigious talent for the game, he keeps his head down and his mouth shut as he navigates his way between the careless hostility of his “totes” and the explosive brutality of the other caddies.

Miller Packard, a sergeant with the San Diego police department, first appears on the boy’s horizon as a distracted gambler, bored with ordinary risks. Train names him the “Mile-Away Man” as they walk off the first tee, and even months later, when they have become partners of a sort and are winning high-stakes matches against golf hustlers all over the country, the Mile-Away Man is a puzzle to Train, remote and intimate, impulsive and thoughtful, often all at the same time.

Packard is also a puzzle to Norah Still, the beautiful lone survivor of a terrifying yacht hijacking, who is both aroused and repulsed by his violent and detached manner at the crime scene. Packard himself feels no such ambiguity. He is unequivocally drawn to Norah – and perhaps to what has happened to her – and an odd, volatile triangle takes shape, Packard pulling the other two relentlessly into deeper water, away from what is safe.

    The Lost Love Song - Minnie Darke                                                                                          (New Author)

#monopolychallenge - Tennessee Ave -character in music industry

Well, I stretched this a little to fit the monopoly challenge.  It starts with a pianist , my character in the music industry but it is really more about the song and the connections the song makes.  So, sort of in the music industry.

I call this book a cozy romance. It is about loss, love, finding yourself  and a song. Cute, quick read.

Goodreads:  Concert pianist Diana is finally ready to marry her longtime fiance, Arie; she's even composing a beautiful love song for him, and finishes it while on tour. Before she can play it for him, though, tragedy strikes--and Diana is lost to Arie forever.

But her song might not be.

In Australia, the world has gone quiet for Arie and he lives his life accordingly, struggling to cope with his loss. In Scotland, a woman named Evie is taking stock of her life after the end of another lackluster almost-relationship. Years of wandering the globe and failing to publish her poetry have taken their toll, and she might finally be ready to find what her travels have never been able to give her: a real home. And through a quirk of fate or circumstance, Diana's song is passed from musician to musician. By winding its way around the world, it just might bring these two lost souls together.

 The Hidden Keys by Andre Alexis

Monopoly Book Challenge - Chance - A book with a Goodreads rating higher than 3.0
"X" Author

With a Goodreads rating of 3.77, this was a apt fit for the Monopoly challenge and a fun read!

The book's characters go on a treasure hunt and while the reader doesn't have enough access to solve the clues themselves, they do get to following along! Tancred, our protagonist is a complex thief that you can't help but love.

Alexis makes some interesting points about what is good/bad, right/wrong. The difference between thinking you are doing good and actually doing good and the reasons we act as we do.

Summary from Goodreads: Parkdale’s Green Dolphin is a bar of ill repute, and it is there that Tancred Palmieri, a thief with elegant and erudite tastes, meets Willow Azarian, an aging heroin addict. She reveals to Tancred that her very wealthy father has recently passed away, leaving each of his five children a mysterious object that provides one clue to the whereabouts of a large inheritance. Willow enlists Tancred to steal these objects from her siblings and help her solve the puzzle.

A Japanese screen, a painting that plays music, a bottle of aquavit, a framed poem and a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater: Tancred is lured in to this beguiling quest.

As he tracks down the treasure, he must enlist the help of Alexander von Würfel, conceptual artist and taxidermist to the wealthy, and fend off Willow’s heroin dealers, a young albino named Colby and his sidekick, Sigismund ‘Freud’ Luxemburg, a clubfooted psychopath, both of whom are eager to get their hands on this supposed pot of gold. And he must mislead Detective Daniel Mandelshtam, his most adored friend.

The Perfect Husband - Lisa Gardner                                                                                   (Oldest on TBR)   

#monopolychallenge - Vermont Ave. Mostly white cover

This is my go-to genre after a couple of tough reads.  Nothing like a good serial killer to clear my mind.

Tess helps to put her serial killer husband,Jim, in prison but when he escapes he begins to hunt her down.

She goes to a mercenary, J.T., for help.  Tess wants him to  train her in self-defense and how to fire a gun. She wants to be ready when  Jim finds her.   Surprise, surprise, Tess and J.T. get involve.  

Goodreads:

What would you do if the man of your dreams hides the soul of a killer?

Jim Beckett was everything she'd ever dreamed of...But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped—and the most dangerous game of all begins....

After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill—or be killed.