White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson is fun book that ties in a lot of topical issues like prisons, blended interracial families, poorly treated mental illness, veganism, peanut allergies, predatory televangelists, drug use and gentrification into a spooky ghost/horror story. The ending was incredibly abrupt. Bizarrely so. I got it from the library and truly … Continue reading
I had some high hopes and mixed feelings about The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue. On the surface it ticked all of my “summer reading” boxes: A book set the late 1990s where a sixteen-year-old girl and her teacher disappeared from a remote Catholic girls’ boarding-school housed in a cliffside old mansion in Ireland? … Continue reading
I came across this one in a NYT column and put it right on my holds list. It sounded intriguing–a man with three wives found dead near his rural compound. What a disappointment! I’m not entirely sure if Marilyn Stasio actually read the book. I didn’t get the impression from Black Widows or interviews with … Continue reading
I found A Spy in the Struggle a little puzzling. The concept was unique and I like how it touched on real issues and was topical (there is even a Covid-19 reference) but the main character was so flat. Her thinking was very black and white and childlike. It was very difficult to believe she … Continue reading
There needs to be a new subgenre of books that describe a book where something mysterious happens but that at the heart of the book is family-centered general fiction. I’ve read many books where a teenage girl disappears but the book is mostly about what is going on in the town vs. a true mystery or investigation. … Continue reading
I have not had great luck with books this month. Even ones I really looked forward to like the new Meg Wolitzer didn’t really grab me. I must have started and stopped a dozen books this month. I had high hopes for Then She Was Gone. I’ve read Lisa Jewell’s books since college. Back then … Continue reading
Trying to get back into the habit! Night Film was the 6th book I’ve read so far for 2018 so I’m off to a good start! I’ve started a new page on my book list for this year so we will see how many books I end up reading. I had read Marisha Pessl’s first … Continue reading
I’ve been reading this series since I was about 12 so of course, I pre-ordered Y is for Yesterday almost 9 months ago and read it the day it came out. I’ve always enjoyed Kinsey Millhone and her weird peanut butter and pickle sandwiches and affinity for the elderly. Kinsey was in her early 30s … Continue reading
This book was an unexpected delight. I didn’t remember what it was about at all or what it was about but it was on my Amazon wishlist (I’ve since made a dedicated book wish list, why did that take so long?) so I requested it and it was finally available to download to my Kindle. … Continue reading
The Tannie Maria mysteries are one of my all-time favorite mystery series. That’s really saying something because I have read literally thousands of mysteries over the years. The Satanic Mechanic was a lot of fun and a little less gruesome than the first book in the series which involved some unfortunate wildlife poaching scenes. The … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 