Reading Challenge/Goals for 2023--2024 link added

[MGMmjl]

14/30 - This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Description:
"In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.

After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole."

This is the first book by Krueger I have read. I really enjoyed it and his writing style!

 

[melk]

15/35 The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Hannah receives a cryptic note from her husband, simply “Protect Her.” Then her husband goes missing and Hannah figures the note must have been referring to her teenage stepdaughter. Together they try to figure out what has happened to him and the reason for the note.

This was a really good suspenseful novel. It took some turns and kept me wondering but was all wrapped up in the end.

 

[mrs. magoo]

18/30 Spare by Prince Harry - This was my audible listen this month and I did not care for it. Harry just made me angry most of the time. I completely understand that he did not choose the life he lives but all of us have not chosen the lives we lead. I think it is good for him that he walked away but the NYC thing makes me wonder if he just wants to be in the spotlight but on his terms only.

19/30 What She Knew by Gilly MacMillian - I really liked this one. It took me a bit to get into the plot but then I became invested and needed to know what happened.
From Good Reads: Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

20/30 The Fallen Architect by Charles Balfoure - Again I enjoyed this book.
From Good Reads:
Architect Douglas Layton has lost everything. The balcony of one of his beautiful music halls collapsed during a packed performance, killing dozens. Layton knows the flaw was not in his design; someone else must have caused the dreadful catastrophe. But with no proof and a hoard of furious Londoners screaming for blood, someone has to take the fall-and Layton finds himself facing a five-year prison sentence.

When he is finally freed, Layton is determined to start over. With a new name and identity, he takes a job as a set painter. But as Layton begins to discover dead bodies hidden within theatre halls across London, it soon becomes clear that something darker is chasing him. When he unearths a clue that ties the bodies to the disaster that ruined him, he knows that redemption is within his reach…unless the culprit gets to him first.

 

[bobbiwoz]

14/35 The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Hannah receives a cryptic note from her husband, simply “Protect Her.” Then her husband goes missing and Hannah figures the note must have been referring to her teenage stepdaughter. Together they try to figure out what has happened to him and the reason for the note.

This was a really good suspenseful novel. It took some turns and kept me wondering but was all wrapped up in the end.

I downloaded this for our car trips coming up.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Update time! I forgot the #s today

"The Invisible Woman", Erika Robak, 3 stars
In the depths of war, she would defy the odds to help liberate a nation...a gripping historical novel based on a remarkable true story from the bestselling author of Hemingway's Girl

France, March 1944. Virginia Hall wasn't like the other young society women back home in Baltimore--she never wanted the debutante ball or silk gloves. Instead, she traded a safe life for adventure in Europe, and when her beloved second home is thrust into the dark days of war, she leaps in headfirst.

Once she's recruited as an Allied spy, subverting the Nazis becomes her calling. But even the most cunning agent can be bested, and in wartime trusting the wrong person can prove fatal. Virginia is haunted every day by the betrayal that ravaged her first operation, and will do everything in her power to avenge the brave people she lost.

While her future is anything but certain, this time more than ever Virginia knows that failure is not an option. Especially when she discovers what--and whom--she's truly protecting.



"The Diva Delivers on a Promise", Krista Davis 4 stars
n a delicious new Domestic Diva Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Krista Davis, entertaining guru Sophie Winston is coordinating a convention for ghost kitchens in Old Town, Alexandria–and trying to keep a killer from making a deadly delivery…

Sophie is busy handling the first ever convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens—restaurants that do delivery only—but she’s taking a little time out for a lunch meeting organized by A Healthy Meal. The group is dedicated to providing meals for children in need, and as a bonus, it’ll give Sophie the perfect opportunity to ogle the lavish Old Town home of socialite Geraldine Stansfield. Gerrie’s dining room is impeccably furnished, the table laden with gleaming crystal and prized china. If it weren’t for the dead man lying on the floor, everything would be perfect...

No one knows the victim—or at least, no one claims to. But a little snooping by Sophie reveals links to many local notables. In fact, not only was he a client of Geraldine’s late husband, an attorney—every member of the Stansfield clan knew the deceased. But only one knows what he was doing in Gerrie’s house.

Gerrie’s elegant abode looks spotless, but there’s plenty of dirty linen in those family closets. Now Sophie will have to get the killer to come clean before he spoils another appetite—for good...


"The Challenge, Danielle Steel (4 stars for Danielle Steel lovers, otherwise 2.5)


"The Front Porch Club", Michelle Major, 4 stars. Best for fans of Debbie Macomber or Sheryl Woods.
The drawback to having a picture-perfect life is that there’s nowhere to go but down—and Annalise Haverford is falling fast. Once, she was the self-proclaimed queen bee of Magnolia, North Carolina. Now her husband has been arrested for fraud, and she’s become an outcast in the shallow circles she used to rule. There’s only one affordable rental in town, and it’s owned by the woman Annalise got fired from a lucrative job.

Much as single mother Shauna Myer would like to refuse Annalise, who treated her like dirt on the bottom of her red-soled shoe, she needs that rent money. But when Shauna’s first love arrives in town, unraveling secrets she’d hoped to keep, Annalise becomes her unlikely defender. Meghan Banks, an elementary school art teacher whose quiet existence suddenly descends into chaos, is thrown an unexpected lifeline by Annalise, too.

As spring ripens into a sultry summer, the three spur each other on to share their fears and dreams, face new challenges, and seize second chances. Because no matter how turbulent life may be, it’s much easier to navigate those choppy waters when you’re buoyed by true friendship…


"The Plum Trees", Victoria Shorr 4.5 stars
Consie is home for a funeral when she stumbles upon a family letter sent from Germany in 1945, which contains staggering news: Consie’s great-uncle Hermann, who was transported to Auschwitz with his wife and three daughters, might have escaped. This seems improbable to Consie. Did people escape from Auschwitz? Could her great-uncle have been among them? What happened to Hermann? Did anyone know? These questions are at the root of Consie’s excavation of her family’s history as she seeks, seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz, to discover what happened to Hermann.


The Plum Trees follows Consie as she draws on oral testimonies, historical records, and more to construct a visceral account of the lives of Hermann, his wife, and their daughters from the happy days in prewar Czechoslovakia through their internment in Auschwitz and the end of World War II. The Plum Trees is a powerful, intimate reckoning with the past.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm in the middle of a 2 week vacation, so I have been reading quite a bit.

18/26 - Meant to Be by Emily Giffin - 4/5 stars - when I started this one, I realized I had already read it, but it was the only book I had taken down to the beach with me that day, so I read it again. It is a fictional story based loosely on the romance of JFK, Jr and Carolyn Bessette.

19/26 - Excuse Me While I Disappear: Tales of Midlife Mayhem by Laurie Nataro - 5/5 stars - this was one of the funniest things I've ever read. It's a non-fiction about the author and some of the things that change in her life when she becomes middle aged.

20/26 - And Then There Was Me - Sadeqa Johnson - 3/5 stars - it was a fine book, but pretty predictable.

21/26 - Seaview Inn by Sherryl Woods - 3/5 stars - Another cute, but very predictable story. Apparently it is the first of a 3 part series - even though I only gave it 3 stars, I might try and read the others in the series because I did like the characters.

22/26 - The Icing on the Cupcake by Jennifer Ross - 4/5 stars - A really cute story about a young woman who breaks up with her fiance and goes to New York to find herself where she ends up opening a cup cake shop.

23/26 - Nine Women, One Dress by Jane L. Rosen - 4/5 stars - This was a great story about a "little black dress" and the women who wear it. It was a quick read.

 

[mgarbowski]

15 of 24 - The Black Echo (Harry Bosch #1) by Michael Connelly

I very much enjoyed the Bosch tv adaptation, but for no particular reason could not muster the impulse to read any of the books. Finally dove in and now plan to read the whole series.

 

[Disney_Alli]

52 - The Sneak Peak - Victoria Wilder.
A fun read, third in the series.

53 - After the Fall (Fallen Men #4) - Giana Darling
I'd started this months ago and suddenly lost interest. Picked it back up and finished it quickly. Motorcycle Club romance.

54 - Twisted Love - Ana Huang
I read this whole series last year but when I saw the audiobooks were available from my library I wanted to listen to them.

55 - Reckless (Chestnut Springs #4) - Elsie Silver
I love this series. "Western" romance set just down the road from where I live in Calgary, AB.

56 - Pucking Ever After: Volume 1 - Emily Rath
A quick set of short stories set after Pucking Around. Fun to stay in touch with the characters.

57 - Sweater Weather - Mandi Beck
Book 3 in this little series. Hockey Romance. Fun.

58 - Halloween Haunt - Harley Laroux
Novella set around a Halloween haunted house.

59 - The Unsung Hero (Troubleshooters #1) - Suzanne Brockmann
The series that got me into contemporary romance and like action/adventure romance novels. Has three main plot lines - the main romance and action story, a background romance with secondary characters, and a story from WWII about some of the background characters. I love this book even though I've probably read it 8 or 10 times and the ending made me ugly cry.

60 - The Defiant Hero (Troubleshooters #2) - Suzanne Brockmann
This another romance from another one of the SEAL team members. Also has the same format with three plots - the main romance, a background romance, a WWII. I love this series so much. No tears in book 2.

62 - Over the Edge (Troubleshooters #3) - Suzanne Brockmann
Another SEAL team member and follows the format again. I think this is the book where people really fell in love with the background romance of Sam and Alyssa. This WWII plot was about Jews in Denmark which is a part of WWII history I don't think too many are familiar with. This was the first book in this series that I read originally (my sister and I bought the first 3 books and she started on book 1 and I started on book 3 so she got to read them in order and I started here and looped back to 1&2)

63 - Out of Control (Troubleshooters #4) - Suzanne Brockmann
Wildcard Ken from the SEAL team and an uptight NYC lawyer hiding from terrorists in Jakarta. The WWII plot in this one is about the FMC's grandmother being a double agent and how she met her grandfather. Don't love the secondary plot line in this as much - no Sam and Alyssa this time.

64 - The Anti-Hero - Sara Cate
Quick break from Troubleshooters books to read this ARC (advanced reader copy) that was sent to me. I LOVED it and devoured it in under 9 hours one afternoon/evening. It comes out July 14th and while the themes probably aren't for everyone it really touched me.

65 - Into the Night (Troubleshooters #5) - Suzanne Brockmann
Back into it with a planned presidential visit leading to a terrorist attack on the Navy base. This WWII plot is about the creation of the Frogmen and how they lead to the SEAL teams. The secondary plot is about Sam and his wife who he married after she became pregnant at the very end of #3.

66 - Gone Too Far (Troubleshooters #6) - Suzanne Brockmann
Finally Sam and Alyssa's book! It's 6 or 9 months since book #5 and Sam and his wife are getting divorced. He travels to Florida to get the divorce papers and see his daughter and finds his ex dead on her kitchen floor... and away we go. This book relies HEAVILY on plot points from book #5, more so than any other book in this series. The WWII plot - the last one in this series - is about a Tuskegee Airman. The secondary plot reintroduces us to characters we originally met in Book #3 who become the secondary plot characters for the next several books (I think. I don't remember the secondary plot in book #7 lol).

I've apparently lost a book somewhere as my Goodreads says I'm at 67 books but this says 66... that's not helpful.

 

[mrs. magoo]

21/30 - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

22/30 - The Second Summer of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

I had never read either of these books and saw them in one of the little free libraries so I picked them up. They were ok. I think the girls had a lot more independence then my own children at 16/17 years old.

 

[evilmommie]

19/24 - The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

20/24 - No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

 

[evilmommie]

15 of 24 - The Black Echo (Harry Bosch #1) by Michael Connelly

I very much enjoyed the Bosch tv adaptation, but for no particular reason could not muster the impulse to read any of the books. Finally dove in and now plan to read the whole series.

I love the series and the books! I didn’t think I would be into either. IHarry Bosch.

 

[Caseheidi]

27/52 Wool (#1 The Silo Series) by Hugh Howey

I saw this series suggested on this thread while people were discussing The Hunger Games. I love the Hunger Games, so thought I would give it a try. The book was good, but I have to admit that it had some triggering moments for me as someone who is claustrophobic. I also did not care for how many points of view were used. I understand why in context of the story, but it sometimes took is a hot minute to figure out who the view point was and why they were telling it. I am undecided if I will read the second in the series or not.

 

[tiggrbaby]

14/30 - This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Description:
"In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.

After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole."

This is the first book by Krueger I have read. I really enjoyed it and his writing style!

Loved this one as well!

15 of 24 - The Black Echo (Harry Bosch #1) by Michael Connelly

I very much enjoyed the Bosch tv adaptation, but for no particular reason could not muster the impulse to read any of the books. Finally dove in and now plan to read the whole series.

Great series! Also enjoyed the Bosch and Ballard.

 

[tiggrbaby]

June:

#32/70: Cold Wind (Joe Pickett #11) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)

Earl Alden is found dead, and Joe’s mother-in-law, Missy, is arrested for her husband’s murder. But Joe and Marybeth believe that Missy may have been set up.

#33/70: Force of Nature (Joe Pickett #12) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)

Nate Romanowski was in Special Forces when his commander did something terrible. Now the commander is a high ranking government official, determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it, including Nate. And to get to Nate, he targets his friend Joe Pickett and his family.

#34/70: River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (4.5/5) (historical fiction)

In 1834, the master of the plantation in Barbados utters the words Rachel has longed to hear: the King has declared the end to slavery. But the master has no intention of losing his work force. He announces that they are all now his apprentices. Rachel decides that she must leave now to find the five children that were taken from her. Her journey takes her from Barbados to British New Guiana and finally to Trinidad.

#35/70: Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes (3.5/5) (fiction)

Nisha lives a very glamorous and pampered life, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Sam is in a job that makes her miserable, and her husband is unemployed and depressed. When they accidently end up with the wrong bags at the gym, they find how wearing someone else’s shoe changes their lives.

#36/70: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (5/5) (fiction)

Elizabeth is not your average early 1960s woman. She is working in a lab where all of her coworkers treat her with contempt, except Calvin. He falls in love with her mind, and they embark on a magical collaboration. But a few years later Elizabeth finds herself not only a single mother, but the star of a very unusual cooking show.

#37/70: Breaking Point (Joe Pickett #13) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)
Joe has always liked Butch Robertson. But in their last interaction. Joe did not realize that Butch was not just hunting, he was on the run. Two EPA agents were found buried on Robertson's land, which was apparently deemed to be wetlands. But was it? And did he really have something to do with the dead agents?

#38/70: The Spectacular by Fiona Davis (4/5) (romantic historical fiction)

New York City 1956: Marion Brooks has the opportunity to audition for the famous Rockettes. She jumps at the chance to leave behind her predictable life for one of excitement. Here Marion finds herself pulled into an investigation for a string of bombings.

#39/70: Stone Cold (Joe Pickett #14) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)

Joe Pickett goes off on a quest for the governor: find out if the rich and reclusive stranger living in the Black Hills of Wyoming is responsible for the mysterious disappearance of a string of men, as it is rumored that his wealth comes from murder for hire. But Joe finds out a lot more than he bargained for.

#40/70: Shots Fired (Joe Pickett #14.5) by C. J. Box (4/5) (short stories)

Ten short stories including four Joe Pickett mysteries.

 

[Wood Nymph]

18/30 - Horse - by Geraldine Brooks - 5/5

from Book Browse:
Winner of the 2022 BookBrowse Fiction Award

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history.

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

I really liked this book. Someone in this thread recommended it. In fact, I liked this author so much that I am going to read another one of her books.

 

[MGMmjl]

15/30 - Broken Wings by Terri Blackstock

Description:
"Among the 151 people who died in the crash of Flight 94 was Mick Hammon, the plane's captain and Erin Russell's close friend. A pilot herself, Erin now struggles with the shattering losses both of her friend and of her own confidence in the cockpit. With pilot error speculated as the cause of the accident, Erin fights to save Mick's reputation for the sake of the family he left behind. But that fight pits her against Addison Lowe, the crash investigator. Like Erin, he is determined to get at the truth of the disaster. But his conclusions could ruin Mick's good name and the future of Mick's family. Clashing over the details of the disaster, Erin and Addison discover an unexpected, mutual attraction for each other. But it could go down in flames as the investigation spins out of control. "

This was a pretty good book. I've enjoyed all of Blackstock's books that I've read.

 

[bobbiwoz]

59/75 Where are the Children Now by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.
4/5

 

[willowsnn3]

I don't think I have listed the last 3 books I have finished.
#32/50 Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry
Jackie Hill Perry shares her own personal journey. Not what I would normally read but found it interesting.

#33/50 Morning Glory by Lavyrle Spencer
ELLY
In town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule--she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way.
WILL
He drifted into Whitney, Georgia, one lazy afternoon in the summer of 1941, hoping to put his lonely past behind him. He yearned for the tenderness he had never known, the home he'd never had. All he needed was for someone to give him a chance.
Then he saw her classified ad: WANTED--A husband. When he stepped across Elly Dinsmore's cluttered yard, Will Parker knew he had come home at last ...
This is one that I re read every so often & is one of my all time favorites.

#34/50 Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler
Reviewed earlier by another poster. I enjoyed it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

24/26 - The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine - 2/5 stars - I didn't enjoy this book at all. It started out as a book about a set of identical twins who had their own language as babies - that would have been a neat story line to explore, but it was sort of backstory and it was just about these twins lives and wasn't all that interesting.

25/26 - White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner - 5/5 stars - I really enjoyed this book. It's about a traditional "perfect" white picket fence sort of family who take in their niece so she won't become a ward of the state. Things from the past start to come up.

26/26 - The One & Only by Emily Giffin - 3/5 stars - I usually really like Emily Giffin's books, but this one was sort of hokey I thought.

This was my first time joining this thread and making a reading goal - I have already met that goal, so I know I need to aim higher next year.

 

[OKW8297]

10. 1776 by David McCullough. I love American history and felt this was a great time of year to read it. One of my favorite authors and it did not disappoint!