The Women by Kristin Hannah

Book #25 in 2024
4.0 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

I liked parts of this book but also didn’t like parts of the book. Overall it got me thinking about the setting and I felt the main character was pretty well developed.

Frankie is a nurse who goes enlists and goes off to serve in Vietnam. She sees horrific things. She makes new friends. She finds love and loss. When she returns home she is faced with a world she’s unfamiliar with and feels like she doesn’t fit in.

The first half of the book is about her time in Vietnam. The second half is about her life when she returns home. I liked the first half of the book a lot better than the first.

While the book felt a bit like a combination of a soap opera and a Hallmark movie, it did get me thinking about what it would be like to be a nurse during a war and what it must have been like as a woman returning from a war that was protested. I’m sure my experience as someone adopted from Vietnam in 1975 also played a role.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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Scythe by Neil Shusterman

Book #24 in 2024
4.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

I finished this in about 24 hours. The story and characters kept me interested. This is a young adult book set in a dystopian future where there is no hunger, disease, conflict, or even death. Scythes are the only ones who can kill people. This special group of people trains normal people to join the group.

Two teens, Citra and Rowan have been selected as apprentices. They must train for a year under a scythe to determine if they’re fit to become one. Neither wants the role but both must go through the training. An added twist is put upon the two that pits them against each other.

Within the scythdom there are those who take their job seriously, with compassion. There are others who glean (their word for taking a life) more as a sport.

This is the first book in a series and I’ll be picking up the second one sometime.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Book #23 in 2024
4.0 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

I enjoyed this book. It’s a humorous (to me) murder mystery. The main character is sarcastic, which is where the humor comes in. The plot was interesting. While I didn’t necessarily like any of the characters, I still wanted to know what happened. This is the author’s debut adult book.

Lucy’s best friend died five years ago. Lucy doesn’t remember the night it happened but she was found covered in her friend’s blood. Everyone suspected she was the murderer but there was not enough proof to bring charges. Lucy moved away from her small hometown but has returned for her grandmother’s birthday.

She hoped that her past would stay there even if people still looked at her like she was a killer. But podcaster Ben has been interviewing people as he tries to solve the case. Lucy has to deal with bringing the past up again and whether she can remember what happened that night.

Told from Lucy’s point of view with podcast episodes sprinkled in, the reader tries to figure out if Lucy killed her best friend Savvy. If she didn’t, who did it?

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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In the End by Demitria Lunetta

Book #22 in 2024
4.0 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

This is the second book in what is a two book series. I read In the After in May. I liked both books. At least now, after just finishing the second book I like the first better, but enjoyed this one as well.

If you haven’t read In the After, stop reading as spoilers for that book are below (but spoilers for In the End will be behind a “read more”).

In the End picks up right where In the After ends. Amy is off on her own after escaping New Hope and leaving Baby behind. But a few months after being on her own again she gets a message from her friend Kay (who helped her escape New Hope) telling her that Dr. Reynolds has Baby.

Amy makes her way to Fort Black, a former prison to look for Kay’s brother. He’s a researcher who may be able to help Baby. At Fort Black she befriends Jacks who tries to help her locate Kay’s brother. She has to learn the ropes and rules of Fort Black and try and stay out of trouble while the time keeps ticking on the safety of Baby.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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The Vacation by John Marrs

Book #21 in 2024
3.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

This book started out slow for me but I’m glad I kept with it. The characters are decent and overall the plot kept me interested but it wasn’t a page-turner for me. This book was previously released in 2015 under a different name. I don’t know that The Vacation is a good updated name for it. I didn’t feel like any of the characters were on a vacation. They’re more like travelers who cross paths at a hostel.

Eight people end up at a Venice Beach hostel. Each of them seems to have something they’re running from or want to keep secret from their past. In the beginning I didn’t feel like I got into the characters or the plot because having to get to know each person and what his or her story was going to be about.

I obviously liked some characters better than others. There are some twists and turns but it’s more sort of soap operaish vs some mystery or thriller.

This was a decent book by an author that I like. It was interested reading one of his early works.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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When the World Goes Quiet by Gian Sardar

Book #20 in 2024
2.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

This was just an okay book for me. I felt like it dragged on and not much happened. I didn’t feel all that connected to the characters.

It’s 1918 and World War I is coming to an end. Evelien’s husband has been missing and she doesn’t know if he has survived. A member of the resistance approaches her and tells her that if she steals a secret list of names from her employer that she will be given a letter from her husband.

Along the way Evelien meets Joseph. They share a love of art and begin to form a bond.

I didn’t feel like I really learned much of anything about the time period in which the book was set. The plot and characters didn’t draw me in enough to really get into this book.

Stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers!

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James by Percival Everett

Book #19 in 2024
3.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

This was an interesting take on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim. It has been over 30 years since I’ve read Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. But reading James made me remember parts of the former.

Other than a part of the book when Jim and Huck aren’t together, I couldn’t tell you if the timeline between James and Huck Finn are the same. But I found it interesting to see things from Jim’s point of view. I was also reminded about the terrible life of black men, women, and children during the time of slavery.

Even if you don’t remember the Mark Twain books, this is worth picking up. After reading this I looked at the synopsis of Twain’s books. I didn’t realize that there are two additional books based on the characters of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn!

In the After by Demitria Lunetta

Book #18 in 2024
4.0 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

We picked this book up at a library book sale. It’s a young adult book that my youngest son picked out but he’s the only one in our family of four who has yet to read it!

The main character, Amy finds herself in the After. A place where the majority of people have been killed by vicious creatures. In order to survive you must be quiet and not draw attention to yourself. Amy is alone in this new world without any friends or family until she sees Baby, a toddler found at a grocery store. Amy is only a teen herself but she takes Baby in.

Eventually, the two of them find a place where other survivors have congregated and live. At first it seems like an ideal place where there’s food, other people, and structure away from the creatures. But Amy quickly begins to see that New Hope isn’t what it seems.

I enjoyed this book and the characters of Amy and Baby. I thought the beginning of the book was better than the end. I’ll read the second (and I think final) book in the series too at some point.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona

Book #17 in 2024
1.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

Meh. I was really tempted to give this one star but the nostalgia for the 80s and 90s made me add half a star. It’s a nice nod in theory to horror/slasher movies from decades ago through mention of a variety of movies. There’s a babysitter in a home when strange phone calls start happening. People who shouldn’t be there show up. There ends up being a dead body in the kitchen.

The elements are there but the execution is not. Thankfully this was a short book so I didn’t have to suffer for too long. It didn’t feel like a thriller. It read like a young adult book – a poorly written one at that since there are some young adult books that I’ve enjoyed.

I don’t even care enough about this book to write about the characters and plot or any spoilers. Definite miss for me.

They Call Her Dirty Sally by Amy Matayo

Book #16 in 2024
2.5 out of 5 (photo from Goodreads)

This was an okay book for me. I liked the author’s writing but the plot was a bit too meandering for me as well as predictable. The characters were likeable enough but there wasn’t anything wowing about this book for me.

Finn is a journalist. He’s sent back to the small town where he was born to write about the 30th anniversary of a hospital fire that claimed the lives of seven infants. Once he’s there he finds that not many people want to talk about what happened decades ago. As he starts to dig into the history of the fire he finds himself researching his own past and how it’s tied to the fire.

Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers!

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