Storm Child

Finished June 23

Storm Child by Michael Robotham

This novel is part of the series that features psychologist Cyrus Haven, who often works with the police. Evie Cormac is a young woman who Cyrus fostered and then gave a home to once she reached adulthood. She was found hiding in a hidden space when she was a child, with her captors and abusers uncaught. Evie knows parts of her past, but has not recovered all her memories. 

When she and Cyrus are on vacation at a beach and the bodies of migrant refugees begin washing ashore, Evie has a traumatic response. When she connects with the one teenage boy who survived, and learns of the deliberate ramming of the ship he was on, she becomes engaged with his story. 

Cyrus becomes part of the police investigation, but the police don't realize the reach of the people who are behind this event. When Evie becomes determined to push her own boundaries and dig into her own memories to find the truth, she may also put herself and Cyrus in danger. 

Joining them is a female lawyer, who is a bit of a rebel herself. She works for an organization who help refugees, and has had contact with at least one of the women on the boat that sunk. As she uses her contacts and skills to help, she comes closer to the truth, as well as to Cyrus and Evie. 

This is a topical story in more than one way, and I found myself needing to know what happened to those involved. It had some surprising events that led to a range of emotions as the plot unfolded. 

Moving and very well plotted, this book is a great read. 

Bad Wolf

Finished June 22

Bad Wolf by Nele Neuhaus, translated by Steven T. Murray

This is the sixth book in the series featuring Frankfurt, Germany police officers Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and Superintendent Pia Kirchoff. There is a lot going on here. Bodenstein is just coming back from a personal leave, when a teenage girl's body is found along a riverbank. Her body shows signs of long term abuse, and they have trouble identifying her. Soon after, the host of a sensational television news show is found in the trunk of her own car, brutally beaten and raped, near death. 

The police and her coworkers suspect it has something to do with an upcoming show she is planning, but no one else seems to know any details. 

Meanwhile Pia goes to a school reunion and meets up with a woman who has been working overseas until recently and is now pregnant with her second child and staying with her husband's family until after the birth. Her husband, a doctor, is on a speaking tour around Europe. 

As the police and others dig deeper into both cases, they find themselves up against an organization that includes people in high places, including possible police officers. Pia isn't sure who she can trust, and the presence of her partner's granddaughter distracts her from her work worries. 

This is a complex novel, dark and with many victims across time. As always with Neuhaus, we see the officers in both professional and personal settings and the characters grow and change through the series. This novel has difficult situations that may trigger some readers including violence and sexual abuse. 

The Highland Lodge Getaway

Finished June 20

The Highland Lodge Getaway by Julie Shackman

This is the fifth novel in the series Scottish Escapes. Set in the small highland town of Craig Brae, near Ben Nevis, the town has been growing as a tourist attraction for the last few years. Some of the houses have been bought up by outsiders as vacation homes, and there are some that appreciate it and others that don't. Lottie Grant is fine with it. She left the city for a job back in her hometown a few years ago to work in a new festive shop a friend of her mother's opened called Christmas Crackers. She's grown to be the manager of the shop, using her degree in interior design to create a welcoming place as well as effective marketing tools. The plan is for her to buy the shop as the owner is marrying a man from the U.S. and moving there. 

When the landlord decides not to renew the lease and instead take an offer from a restaurant chain, Lottie is devastated, as are the other employees. A chance encounter with a customer takes her in a new direction, with a job as project manager for a set of cabins at a newly renovated historic lodge. Things are looking up for her, until she meets the man that her employers hired as a hiking, wilderness, and mountaineering guide, Blake Dempster. He doesn't think much of her design ideas, pushing for a more rustic, spartan look, and the two clash for the first few meetings. Someone else had done a poor job of the cabin's decor before Lottie was hired and time is tight for her to get the job done for the Christmas bookings, but she has good helpers who work just as hard as her. 

I liked the larger picture of family life for Lottie, and the sense what got of the town and the beautiful setting it has. The dynamic of enemies to friends to lovers is one that works well here, and the plot is fast moving with some surprises along the way. 

Goody Two Shoes

Finished June 17

Goody Two Shoes by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

This novel takes place in a small Scottish town. American singer Josh McInnes has recently bought the small castle in town which had fallen into some disrepair and the original details were either covered or missing. Caroline Patterson has lived her whole life in Invertary and has almost given up on love. Her younger sister is living in the Middle East and currently expecting her second child. They are close, but haven't seen each other lately. Caroline is a woman who gets things done. She runs the community centre, and the library, and is on pretty much any committee going. 

Josh doesn't believe in falling in love. He sings about love, but has only experienced lust, not love. He loves the way his parents love each other, but they got married because his mother was pregnant with him. He thinks an arranged marriage is the way to go. He has asked his best friend and manager Mitch to pick a woman for him. He wants a partnership, a friendship, a lifelong commitment. 

When his friend sets up a meeting with Caroline, she thinks it is about renovation of the castle. When he explains his philosophy around marriage and proposes to her, at first she can't believe it. Then she negotiates. She gets to do whatever she wants regarding the castle (which she wants to bring it back to its original condition) and she will agree to marry him and have a family with him. 

At first they manage to keep it a secret within the town, except for Josh's parents. But then someone leaks the news and they find themselves under media scrutiny, something Caroline definitely isn't ready for. As the critiques of her life, her looks, and her fashion choices come in, things really get out of hand. 

Saving graces are the townspeople who love Caroline as their own. There is a group of retired men known as the domino boys, who meet regularly at the centre and who latch on to the wedding offering planning and security. Josh's parents, Andrew and Helen, have their own issues which come to the fore during their visit, and some of Josh's fans are a bit enthusiastic about changes to his life.

This novel is lighthearted and fun, with humour, escapades, and great lines. Both Josh and Caroline find themselves growing in ways they didn't expect, as the learn about each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and it is the second in a series set in this small town. 

Three Hours in Paris

Finished June 14

Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black

This novel is set during World War II, and begins in June 1940 with Kate Rees, a ranch woman from Oregon who is also a prize-winning marksman, is in Paris in an unoccupied apartment across from Montmartre, waiting to shoot Hitler. After a couple of chapters, we go back to the fall of 1939, where we learn that Kate is married to a Welsh man. They and their young daughter are living where he is stationed in the Orkney Islands. She works at a munitions factory as a tester, shooting rifles to ensure they work as they should. Her marksman skills get noticed and the government offers her a job, but she isn't interested. When an enemy bombing mission kills her husband and daughter, she initially gets lost in her grief, but by early June, she finds herself wanting to do what she can to defeat the man who took her family from her. So she calls the number of the man who made the previous offer to her. and finds herself offered a different job, this one top secret, and she must sign the Official Secrets Act before being told anything about it. 

Because of the timeliness of her mission, she is given a very sped up version of the usual training. One of her lessons emphasizes the acronym RADA, which stands for Read the Situation, Assess possible outcomes, Decide on options; Act on your decision. This is something she returns to repeatedly while on mission. 

When Kate misses and kills another man she finds herself on the run, and unknown to her, one of the reasons she is on this mission is because someone is compromised and the team she is associated with in France has had several members discovered and killed. As she follows what clues she has and makes the way around the city looking for help to get back to England, she must rely on her intuition and quick thinking. She also begins to suspect that she was never meant to succeed, and think about what that means. 

I found this book almost impossible to put down, as I had to know what happened to Kate. There is a man of Paris on the endpapers that shows all the key places that Kate either thinks of going to or actually visits. The pace is fast and the minor characters intriguing in their own ways. One of the characters that we see a lot of is a German police officer that is assigned with finding the would-be assassin and capturing her. Part of the novel is from his viewpoint, and we see that he has his own struggles as well. Excellent plot, with a character that I really cared about. 

Watch Us Shine

Finished June 13

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

This novel is a story of trauma and recovery, of families, and of forgiveness. It has dual timelines, one in the present and one in the 1960s. Cornelia Brown is the mother of two children, in a strong marriage. She is also the daughter of Ellie, the main character in the older timeline. 

Cornelia is recovering from a traumatic event that we learn about gradually as she talks about it to others. When her father lets her know that her mother was injured in a hit and run, she returns to her childhood home in Virginia to help. 

Ellie struggles to recovery physically, but sometimes she has periods where she seems to be grasping for a past that Cornelia doesn't understand. Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the northern lights, and despite not understanding what Ellie means by this, Cornelia promises she will.

This starts a quest, first by Cornelia, and then joined by her older sister Ollie, to dig into her mother's past to find clues to this desire of hers. 

They gradually follow clues to different places from Arkansas to Michigan, to the Carolinas, to learn about their mother's childhood and the people that she was close to, but is no longer in contact with. Ollie has questions deep within her that she has never talked about either, and these drive the quest as well. 

In the past, we see the life that Cornelia and Ollie are searching for, the difficult childhood of abuse, the escape to college and acceptance into a family that Ellie grew very close to, and above all the relationship to her sister Martha, whom Cornelia and Ollie never knew about. 

This is a story of trauma, of the desire to be loved, of recovery, and of families, both blood and found. 

I found myself having trouble putting this book down. Highly recommended. 

The Lovers

Finished June 10

The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti, translated by Stash Luczkiw

This novel is set in an unnamed time, but it doesn't mention technology that we use today like cellphones and internet, so it feels pre-1990s. Fausto is in his 40s and freshly divorced. He has left his home in Milan for solace in the mountains, renting a small home in the alpine village of Fontana Fredda. After some time spent hiking and trying to write, he is running low on funds and takes a job in a seasonal restaurant someone going through a similar life change ran. The other cook trained him, and he found himself liking the job. He also found himself attracted to a young waitress and he finds that she likes him as well and they begin a relationship. We watch as the work their way through the seasons, part and reunite and work out some of the questions they each have.

I can see why this novel was a bestseller, even though it is slow-paced and quiet. It has a real sense of place, and is understated. Thanks to the bookstore Mr.B's in choosing it for me. 

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Finished June 8

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

I always enjoy this author's books, she has a nice way of drawing you in and making you care about her characters. Here the main character is Elinor (Nory) Noel, who runs a secondhand bookshop in London. She comes from a working class family, with her parents running a greenhouse. She was accepted as a scholarship student at a prestigious boarding school and made friends with a group of kids there. She has kept loosely in touch with most of them. Two of them are now getting married and have proposed a reunion in the days leading up to the wedding, at the manor house (now inn) that backs onto the school property. They aren't far from Nory's parents' home and she plans to visit them while she's there.

A few years ago, one of the friend group died, and it brought the group together in grief at the time. Several of them questioned the way their life was going, and Nory was among them. She didn't enjoy her work, and that is when she determined to open the business she runs now. She is much happier and has one close friend from the school group, Ameerah, and is also friends with her one employee, Andrew. 

Nory is looking forward to the reunion in some ways, but not so much in others. She had a night with one of the former school friends, Guy, years ago, but he hadn't told her that he was married, and neither had the friends that were aware of it. She is determined to avoid him as much as possible. On the first night there she goes out into the gardens, which she knows fairly well from childhood, to avoid him and ends up getting startled by the head gardener Isaac, who father used to head the gardens. 

As the two get to know each other, they find a lot of things in common, but there is also pressure from someone close to her against her choice, and a secret Isaac has that complicates things. 

The friends are an interesting bunch, all from wealthy backgrounds except Nory, and some of them are definitely out of touch with the real world. It's not necessarily because they don't care, but their lifestyle just hasn't exposed them to the awareness of other lives. Nory is someone who is sure of herself, but less sure of how others feel about her. A fun read. 

Lies and Weddings

Finished June 7

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

There and many lies and several weddings in this novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is definitely tongue in cheek at times, and the whole vibe of the novel was just great. 

It begins with a tragic scene in Hong Kong in 1985, and then jumps to the present day. As a reader, I gradually became aware of the way this early event related to the characters and actions in the present day. 

We get a list of seven characters who are the 'main players' in the story. They are an English earl, Francis Gresham; his Hong Kong model wife, Arabella; their three children, Rufus, Augusta, and Beatrice; Thomas Tong, a doctor, friend of Francis, and longterm tenant in a cottage on the property; and Thomas' daughter Eden, a newly minted doctor. 

Arabella is about to get married to a prince of Liechtenburg, on a new resort property of the Greshams in Hawaii. Then things begin to go wrong in a variety of ways from environmental to financial. 

I love a lot of the details of Kwan's writing. Things like the list of schools a character went to listed when they first appear in the novel; the inclusion of text conversations, announcements, invitations, and newspaper articles; and the way he uses language to hint at upcoming plot elements. But the best is the use of footnotes. These footnotes are done properly and seem serious, but are often hilarious in the way they make fun of the characters, situations, and general class system that is at play in the novel. 

Wealth and status in this novel are front and center, but despite the outer trappings of money or the character's title, one can never be sure whether the wealth is a facade or the real thing. I loved the role of Eden as a grounded middle class doctor who lives on the edges of the earl's family. Childhood playmate and friend of all three Gresham children, she doesn't have the designer clothes, the international travel, or the connections that they have. Accepted in some ways, and not in others, she finds herself seeing her situation in a new light here. 

The novel takes us from the English home of the characters to Hawaii for Arabella's wedding, to London, Paris, Marrakech, Beverly Hills, and Venice. We see the high life close hand, designer names dropped continuously, and ostentatious displays of wealth throughout. But they are always so ostentatious that they become objects of ironic humour. 

I will definitely be seeking out more books by this author. 

Too Good to Be True

Finished June 6

Too Good to Be True by Sheila O'Flanagan

This novel is a combination of genres. Partly romance, partly women's fiction, it follows two Irish adults as they navigate whirlwind romance, the realities of living with someone else, family dynamics, and career issues. 

Carey Browne is a woman who works as an air traffic controller, and can handle unpredictable situations in her work. She lives with a co-worker, has a weakness for shoes, and is confident in herself. She and her friends from work party a lot, but they take their jobs seriously. When she takes some downtime to visit a former co-worker who now lives in New York City, she meets Ben Russell. Ben and his older sister Freya are close and after he had an up-and-down career experience in the tech field, they joined forces to run a wellness store. They now have several branches, and Ben has a meeting with a supplier in New York. There is chemistry between the two and after a few days together, Ben proposes marriage and Carey accepts. They make it real in Las Vegas. 

When they get home, they go back to their real lives, Carey moves in with Ben, and they break it to their families. Neither family takes it well. So that and the realities of living together, with Carey's work schedule that can have her working very early or very late, takes a toll on the new relationship. 

They also discover that neither of them have revealed all their relationships from the past, When exes start giving them a hard time about moving on, and they become aware of some of those secrets, Ben and Carey start to question everything about their relationship and emotions get very heated. 

We see things from both their viewpoints, and see their family dynamics, their dating history, and their fear of vulnerability. 

They both grow as a result, on both the personal and professional fronts, and we them move forward from just living their lives to planning their futures. I found this a quick read despite the length of the novel, and enjoyed the different storylines within the main story. 

Abandoned

Finished June 1

Abandoned by Cody McFadyen

This is the fourth book in a series, but the first one I've read. The main character in the series is FBI agent Smoky Barrett, who has already been through some difficult situations, where she was kidnapped, raped, and tortured, and her husband and daughter were killed. Here, she is at the wedding of a fellow agent, when a car driving by the outdoor wedding venue slows down and pushes a woman out of the car. She is in bad shape, wearing only a nightgown and very thin with her head shaved. 

The wedding guests spring into action as most of them are either police or FBI. The woman is obviously traumatized and she doesn't respond to questions, so they use other methods to track down her identity. Which leads them to some very interesting new questions. 

As usual with serious cases, they also look for other similar crimes, and find some that fit. As Smoky digs deeper, she also puts herself at risk. She has extra security on her adopted daughter, and her husband is also in the law enforcement business, but this criminal is tricky and seems organized and dispassionate about the effect on their victims. 

This was a fast-paced read, with tense situations and life-changing outcomes for any victims that are released. The plotline was interesting, and there are parts where we see how the criminal was formed by their upbringing. There is also a secondary plotline with a potential job change for Smoky, and we get to see into the personal lives of many of the characters, something that brings depth to the characters. 

Crystal Magic

Finished May 31

Crystal Magic by Madeline Freeman

This teen novel is the first in a series set in a small town called Clearwater. Kristyl Barnette has been living with unusual occurrences that she doesn't understand. When she feels strong emotions, things around break or explode or move. She also sees images and scenes around people she knows. When she first shared these with friends, she found herself ostracized and now is just regarded as weird. 

When a tragedy in her life causes her paternal aunt to come get her and move her back to the house her aunt and father grew up in, in the small town of Clearwater, Michigan, she finds herself with a fresh start. 

She finds new friends quickly, but also makes an enemy, a girl called Crystal who is rumored to be a witch. She finds herself a target of bullying from Crystal's group of friends, but her own friend group is one that stands firm with her, and she finds herself developing feelings for one boy. When a situation at school results in one of her occurrences, she finds herself wondering about her own magical abilities. 

Her aunt tries to help, but Kristyl finds herself drawn to Crystal's group and a need to understand the truth. 

This novel ends with an interesting situation that definitely leads into the next book in the series. This is a teen read set in our reality, with a strong paranormal element and outcomes that are unexpected. 

The Lost Book of Bonn

Finished May 28

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes

This historical novel has two timelines. The one the story starts with is that of Emmy Clarke, an acquisitions librarian with the Library of Congress. It is 1946, and she has been sent to Offenbach tasked with going through books at the Archival Depot looking for anything that could be deemed 'enemy literature' in an effort to learn more about why and how all this had happened. As a precaution she would be going as a US Army soldier in uniform.

Emmy was raised in Montana by a single mother who ran a travelling library through logging camps. She later moved east and worked in public libraries before taking her current job. Her husband Joseph died in the Normandy invasion and she holds anger towards the German people for it. Emmy is met by Major Wesley Arnold, of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives unit who has been part of the group searching for cultural works taken by the Nazis. 

As they travel from the train station to the Depot, they drive through rubble and see the hunger in the people along the way. She finds her feelings towards the Germans becoming more complex, and doesn't feel good about the suffering she is observing. In conversation with the Major, Emmy says that she doesn't think this is what justice looks like. Her first visit to the depot she finds overwhelming with the volume of material there. When she randomly opens a box and finds a book of poetry with an inscription written with love, she feels that she must return it to the owner. Despite her desire to put books back into the hands of the owners, that is not her mission. She is only allowed to work on books, documents, and films that originated in Germany or were created or owned by Nazi Party leaders. This is to guard against any accusations of looting. The book that she picked up does not fit in this category, but her emotional reaction to it leads her to take it and try to find the Annelise the book is inscribed to. 

The second timeline begins in 1937 in Bonn, and follows Annelise Fischer, a young woman who is part of a group of teens who enjoy outdoor pursuits like hiking and camping, but who have also started acting against the groups of Hitlerjugend (HJ) increasingly present in their town. They call themselves the Edelweiss Pirates. We see the friendships, the teamwork, and the worries of these young people. Annelise in particular worries about her younger sister Christina who has recently joined the HJ to try to fit in, but who is naive and doesn't understand the full ramifications of what she is part of. As the war begins and the teens move into adulthood, their actions become more serious and the risks become more dangerous. As Annelise falls in love with a young Jewish man, she tries to protect him, and avoid the eye of a German soldier who desires her. Christina ends up in the middle, and we see her growing into understanding and her own way of dealing with her situation. 

As we follow the three women: Emmy, Annelise, and Christina, and learn their stories, this novel takes us into their lives and the decisions they make. Each will find their heart pulled by someone, and each will have to make choices that are sometimes uncomfortable. This book draws these characters with depth and empathy, and the plotlines both fit real history and the lives of these women. A great read. 

Bed and Breakup

Finished May 25

Bed and Breakup by Susie Dumond

Set in the real town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, this LGBTQ+ second chance romance features two women, Molly and Robin. When they met years ago, they connected quickly, married, and bought an old Victorian house in need of TLC. They did a fantastic job of it, and created a bed and breakfast that was well known beyond their region. 

Robin's cooking skills led her to being seduced away from Arkansas to bigger things, from reality television to her own restaurants. But despite the aura of success, Robin is not doing well financially. Her latest restaurant failed and she is back in town to regroup and find a new way forward. 

Molly was devastated when Robin left, and stayed for a while, later hiring a management company to run the B&B. But it has been closed for a while, and while Molly found an outlet for her creativity, stained glass, she has recently wanted to do work that she connected with on a personal lever rather than creating commission work for wealthy clients. She has come back to town at the same time as an artist friend of hers, and plans to create a sign for her friend's new shop, as well as another niche shop in town. She isn't sure if she's ready to stay longer or resume the nomad lifestyle she's lived for the last few years. 

As Molly and Robin discover each other's presence and intention to stay at their old B&B, they react first with antagonistic acts, but find their chemistry still calls them to each other.

The inn has been modified by the management company, with some of its best features removed or covered over. When a mutual friend who runs boutique hotels expresses interest, the two women team up to bring the bed and breakfast back to its beautiful past through updates so they can sell it and move on. The question is, do they really want to split up for good?

I really enjoyed this novel, as I do most second chance romances, as people change and grow and bring their maturity to a better understanding of the real work relationships need to survive. 

Mya's Strategy to Save the World

Finished May 23

Mya's Strategy to Save the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

This children's novel is narrated by Mya, a 12-year-old girl, living in Vancouver. Mya and her best friend Cleo are the co-leaders of her school's social justice club. Each month they pick a cause or theme and work to support it. Mya's dream is of working for the United Nations. 

As the novel begins, Mya's mother leaves for Myanmar where Mya's grandmother has taken ill, where she plans to look after her until she is able to travel back to Canada. 

Mya is engaging is a lot of things typical for her age: trying to convince her parents that she deserves to have a phone like most of her friends do, beginning to take an interest in boys, and starting to make money from babysitting. With her mom away, Mya also takes on more responsibilities around the house like learning how to cook. She is also tasked with picking up her younger sister from school and supervising her skateboarding lessons. 

There are successes and missteps in her various endeavours. When an accident leaves Mya to take charge without warning, she proves herself up to the challenge.

I enjoyed seeing Mya come to live and grow as a person. She's earnest, but also has a lighter side. A fun read. 

June Reviews for the 18th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

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