River Readers

When Connell picks his mom up from her job as his classmate Marianne's family's housekeeper, he and Marianne discover an unusual connection. Though Connell is a well-liked athlete and Marianne is seen as an antisocial outsider, they're both known as their high school's brightest: their first, and lasting, bond. The secrecy of their relationship creates a shelter in which to explore their intense chemistry, both intellectual and sexual, before Connell blithely betrays Marianne, and they both leave their small town for Dublin's Trinity College.

While did enjoy this audiobook, I felt like a needed a "Clue" type score card to keep track of who was who, what day it was, and what happened when. When it all wrapped up it made perfect sense. I did like the way it ended with hope for the future. I was still a bit confused on what happened to some of the characters since there were multiple endings each day, but sometimes it better not to know for sure.

The Rules of Blackheath: Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m.
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

I give this 3 stars. The twist at the end was good, but unless you read these books in order, it throws in unrelated items that tie in to the main characters and not the current story. Not as gripping as I thought it would be.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here, comes a poignant, charming novel about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything. Winning a junior ice hockey championship might not mean a lot to the average person, but it means everything to the residents of Beartown, a community slowly being eaten alive by unemployment and the surrounding wilderness.

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams. - From Goodreads.com

The Dunbar brothers were a force of nature. They lived alone with a menagerie of animals, their mother dead, their father AWOL. They fought to survive, they fought each other and they fought their memories. Clay was different somehow. He was just as tough on the outside but had a softer inside, he felt everyone's pain. This book is about Clay's story but is told by the oldest brother Matthew, and it begins with the return of their father after many years of leaving the boys to fend for themselves.

Astrid is the little thunderbolt of Glimmerdal. She is the only child and her best friend is an elderly neighbor, Gunnvald. Astrid's life on the mountain seems idyllic. She lives with her father; her mother is away in Greenland studying the icebergs. She spends her days with Gunnvald inventing the most amazing sled or just listening to him play his fiddle. She has the run of the mountains and valleys of her home. That all changes when Gunnvald becomes injured and his estranged daughter comes to Glimmerdal. Suddenly things aren't how Astrid thought they would be. 

A small but powerful book of poems depicting the anguish and sorrow of women and children during the ethnic cleansing and genocides of South Asia during the Partition of India and Pakistan. The Partition remains one of the largest human forced migrations in history.

This book has so much going on it kept me busy keeping track of who everyone was. Mary wants a life at sea and boy does she get it! Not only does she become a female pirate, but she discovers that her childhood love may not be the type of life she wants. Her new life leads to a new forbidden love.

There were so many things I had forgotten when I listened to this book. I find new facts every step of this listening journey. I can't wait to start the next one.

Well, you can tell what we've been up to at our house lately lol! I thought this was a good book, but was a little more vague than the "Oh Crap" book of potty training that I read. However, the approaches were similar in that they both dismissed awards and gimmicks. They were both full of helpful info and we based our approach at home on a little of both books with success!


Description from Goodreads-
A calmer, simpler approach to potty training

Greg King with the permission of the Tate family has written a biography of Sharon Tate detailing her life before the Manson family murder spree that caused a wave of paranoia and fear to sweep through the elite Los Angeles area in 1969. After her death, Sharon Tate's reputation was ruined by gossip and innuendo based on her perceived lifestyle by the public and more particularly, the press. King sets the record straight by researching exactly what happened the night Manson family members invaded her home and committed the most heinous crime to date at that time.

I enjoyed this review by Swapna Krishna from curledup.com -

One day, Michael is taken ill outside Hanna’s apartment and she takes him in, cares for him, then sends him on his way. When he returns to her apartment to express his gratitude, he is mesmerized by how beautiful she is, in her own way. Eventually, Hanna takes Michael as a lover. The more he sees her, the more Michael realizes he knows nothing about Hanna. And there is a reason for that – Hanna is a woman with a secret, a secret that does not become clear until many years later.

Sweet, funny, and quietly poignant, Debbie Tung’s comics reveal the ups and downs of coming of age as an introvert.

This illustrated gift book of short comics illuminates author Debbie Tung's experience as an introvert in an extrovert’s world. Presented in a loose narrative style that can be read front to back or dipped into at one’s leisure, the book spans three years of Debbie's life, from the end of college to the present day. In these early years of adulthood, Debbie slowly but finally discovers there is a name for her lifelong need to be alone: she’s an introvert.