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The Pretender (Mifflin County Mystery #3)
The Pretender (Mifflin County Mystery #3)
Wanda E. Brunstetter | 2025 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
We are introduced to Anthony, who is working while waiting for a young woman who is running late for her shift. This young woman, who goes by the name Eileen Person. She came on, tears in her eyes, and she seemed ashamed at what she did.

They make a plan and then head to her family's hometown. It turns out that this young woman is Risa, who disappeared from home two years ago and has now returned, pretending to be married.

We get a glimpse of Anthony's parents, Larvane and Herb, and a little bit of their home life.

Will the family welcome them back? Will Anthony fall for the community, and will he fall in love with Rosa? Will the community welcome Rosa back in with her husband? The act continues, though Susan got suspicious of her sister Rosa and her husband; she is not happy about Rosa coming home.

Rosa and Anthony are getting along and are starting to fall in love with each other, despite appearing to be happily married.
There are some twists and turns, but god may have a plan for Rosa and Anthony?
  
Ice on Fire (Treble and the Lost Boys #1)
Ice on Fire (Treble and the Lost Boys #1)
G.R. Lyons | 2018 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ice on Fire (Treble and the Lost Boys #1) by G.R. Lyons
Ice on Fire is the first book in the new series, Treble and the Lost Boys. Set in the same world as the Shifting Isles series, it can nevertheless be read without any prior knowledge of that series.

Zac is leading a double life - he is the violinist in Treble, and the guitar player in Inferno. He can't tell his longtime friend in Inferno that he plays violing as they will see it as 'gay'. So he definitely can't tell them that he is, in fact, gay too. So he pretends, and hates every minute of it. His family life is a good one, but he is worried about telling them he is gay as well. So, all in all, Zac is firmly in the closet. The only bright spot, which he keeps to himself, is seeing the mysterious Mr Shadow when he plays with Treble. This unknown man is the root of all his fantasies.

Adrian is also leading a double life, but although it looks like he has it all, he is actually more trapped than Zac. Suffering with acute anxiety, he has to toe the line his strict father lays down, or he will be kicked out with no money to his name. He manages to go to the club every time Treble are playing though. There is no way he would miss out on seeing the vibrant and passionate violinist.

These two definitely have a bumpy road, and both of them annoyed me at times. It was heartbreaking to see their relationship splinter under the pressure of studies and exhaustion. With high expectations, and only manageable reality, we see them fall apart and can only hope for a HEA, or at least a HFN!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and can't wait to continue with this series. A brilliant start to the series, and I am waiting patiently for Rylie's story! Absolutely recommended.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
All That Remains: A Life in Death
All That Remains: A Life in Death
Sue Black | 2019 | Medical & Veterinary, Mind, Body & Spiritual, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
9
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Pros:
▪ Descriptive
▪ Very fascinating
▪ Surprisingly life-affirming
Cons:
▪ Could be a possible military/trauma PTSD trigger
What an incredible book. When I first picked this up I was sceptical about reading it right now, I thought this was going to be a dark, depressing read about death. It certainly is about death but surprisingly not in a dark or depressing way.
I've been suffering with a bereavement since November after my best friend was killed in a road accident, hit by a drunk driver. I have been struggling quite a bit with this and there doesn't seem to be any support for people struggling with bereavement, there is one local charity that provides free counselling but I'm currently on a 16+ week waiting list before they can even assess me to see if they can help me.
So you can see why I was hesitant to read this, however, after reading some reviews on it i took the risk and dived in. I'm glad I did.
I found this actually very refreshing and life-affirming, it's made me see life and death in a different way and I feel like it's helped me cope a little better whilst I wait for counselling.
The chapter about the authors personal experience with bereavements was nice to be reminded that everyone deals with grief in their own ways, even if it may seem odd to others.
I really enjoyed reading the scientific parts of this book aswell, as detailed as some of it was it was actually really interesting. It was also nice to learn about all the different options available now days for what happens to our bodies. Donating your body to a medical school is one option I wasn't even aware of.
The epilogue was a tear jerker, I admit I struggled to read through those last pages. It was very personal to Blacks family and very detailed about her wishes when her time comes.
I highly respect Black for making such a personal memoir published.
This was an emotional, uplifting, scientific memoir that I highly recommend.
  
A Window Opens
A Window Opens
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Alice Pearse is faced with a dilemma when her husband decides to leave his job. She leaver her part-time job that she really enjoys to find full-time work. She thinks that she may have found the perfect job(I would think so too) getting to work with books all day long. It's a dream come true. Unfortunately, this job also comes at a time when there is so much going on in her personal life. Will Alice be able to still be present for her family as well as her new job? Will this job live up to the excitement that was offered to her at the beginning, or will things change?

I was very enthusiastic to read this book. Imagine a job where all you do is read books and talk to publishers all day long. That is my dream job. The story moved very slowly for me. Taking me 10 days to read this book, and I wasn't drawn to it in my down time to pick it up, although I was curious to find out the outcome of the book. The second half moved along a bit quicker for me.

The thing that really drew me to this book was the main character Alice. She is a book lover and her job is to read and vet books for a new concept of bookstore. Who wouldn't want a job like that, especially as a book lover. I'm not sure why is always seems that when one thing is going right in your life, other things seem to go terribly wrong. Alice is faced with many challenges after taking this position and they seem to be all flying at her face at the same time. From issues with her parents health, to marital problems and guilt of not being there for her kids as often as she was before she took the job. These are things we all face in life and how we handle them will determine our strength and character. How Alice handles these problems will be a test to her as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, friend and employee. How many balls can we juggle before they all come crashing down upon us?