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Woman Without Fear
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
***I won a copy of this book in a First to Read giveaway on Goodreads***

The story is about a shy woman named Trinity Silverman who, for reasons that are never fully explained, suffers from constant fear and anxiety. Despite this, her job is to go to trade conferences, and give presentations trying to sell her firm's financial software. Her companion when she travels is a snail named Speedy that she keeps in a small Plexiglas box. On one such business trip to Las Vegas, she meets a man in the hotel bar who works for a pharmaceutical company. He offers her some pills that he has developed, promising that they will take away all of her fears.

I had a few issues with this book. Conversations were sometimes strange, but it was originally written in French and translated into English, so that could be the reason for the odd dialog. I also had a problem with the way Trinity befriended a hotel maid who allowed her to dig through the garbage to retrieve the her lost pills. I didn't find their interaction and fast friendship at all believable. Most of all though, I was surprised at the amount of time spent on the snail who is not even mentioned in the book blurb. This was the first time I had ever read a novel told (at least in part) from a snail's point of view.

It ended abruptly, and somewhat confusingly, but it was only part 1 of the story. There are 4 more books, but the author's style and the unusual subject matter just didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to keep reading to find out what happens.
  
One Taste Too Many
One Taste Too Many
Debra H. Goldstein | 2018 | Mystery
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sarah Blair’s Tasty Debut
Sarah Blair is awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from her twin sister Emily who exclaims that Bill is dead and the police think Emily is responsible. Sarah isn’t that upset that her ex-husband is dead, but she is surprised that Emily is the chief suspect. But Emily was found with Bill, who had eaten her rhubarb crisp despite the fact that he hated rhubarb and avoid the nuts Emily used because of his allergies. What is really going on? Meanwhile, Sarah gets a shock when Bill’s current girlfriend, Jane, produces a will that claims Jane gets custody of RahRah, the Siamese cat that Sarah has had ever since Bill’s mother died several years ago. Can Sarah prove she should keep RahRah while clearing Emily of murder?

While it doesn’t take much to intrigue me with a culinary cozy, I found Sarah’s status as a cook of convenience to be a great pull for this series. For more serious culinary lovers, Emily works as a line chef and is part of a culinary festival taking place in their town, so all abilities are covered, although the two recipes at the end are definitely on the simple side. The mystery starts strong, with us learning about Bill’s death on the first page. I did find it harder to care about the sub-plot involving RahRah; I think it’s more because I’m not a pet person so I needed more time to warm up to him before I would care. Still, both storylines reach great climaxes, and Sarah manages to figure out all the twists along the way. The characters have some room to grow, but the main cast, including the suspects, are all solid, providing a good base for future growth. Fans of culinary cozies will enjoy this tasty debut.
  
The World That We Knew
The World That We Knew
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Thanks to Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio for letting me listen and review this wonderful book. This wasn't what I expected. For some reason, I was thinking this was going to be a story about something else that I was hesitant to read but after I started reading/listening I realized this story was not at all what I had thought it would be and I was pleasantly surprised by it.
This was a bit of a different spin on things with Hanni wanting to save her 12 yr old daughter from the Nazis by sending her away to keep her safe. After something almost happens one night with her daughter, Hanni goes to find help by seeking out aid from a Rabbi and when she asks for help from the Rabbi's wife, the wife turns Hanni away and it ends up that Hanni finds the help she needs from the Rabbi's daughter, Ettie, instead. Hanni and Ettie make a deal and so Ettie makes a golem that is made to protect Hanni's daughter, Lea.
The golem that Ettie makes is named Ava and Ava, Ettie and Lea become linked together, their paths always connected in a way with their paths crossing from time to time from then on. Ava guards and accompanies Lea to Paris to find safety and there Lea meets the boy she loves and Ettie ends up going into hiding for a time.
This story takes you on a journey as they travel looking for safety while growing up, learning and figuring who and what they are in this world and what they want out of life. It will take you apart and put you back together again causing you to reflect and think about the world, life, yourself, and so much more.
  
A Window Breaks
A Window Breaks
C. M. Ewan | 2020 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dripping with tension and atmosphere
Well, that certainly was a page-turner with non-stop action from the sound of breaking glass to the sickening crack of metal against bone.

Tom, his wife, Rachel, and their daughter, Holly, have been through it. First their teenage son, Michael, and his girlfriend, Fiona, die in a road traffic collision when Michael was driving and if that wasn't bad enough, Holly is viciously attacked by a mugger. What's needed is for them to getaway and take Tom's boss up on his offer of time away at his secluded and secure lodge in Scotland ... what could possibly go wrong?

Written mainly from Tom's perspective, we are taken on a thrilling journey of survival; we are lulled into a false sense of security when Tom and his family arrive at the lodge but are quickly plunged into a nightmare when they are awoken by the sound of someone walking on broken glass. When Tom goes to investigate, what he sees makes his heart drop to his toes and so it begins 😰

Tom's voice is a breath of fresh air because he is not your usual macho Bear Grylls hero, he is a "normal" husband and father ... vulnerable, fearful and afraid but determined to protect his family despite not being particularly brave, strong or fit ... this made him more real somehow and because of this, you are never quite sure how this was going to end.

With an easy to read, flowing style, this book is dripping with tension and atmosphere with many hold-your-breath moments that had me gripped and eagerly flipping my Kindle® ... I couldn't read fast enough.

Recommended reading for action/thriller/suspense lovers.

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for my advance copy in return for an honest review.
  
S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone, #19)
S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone, #19)
Sue Grafton | 2006 | Mystery
8
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Kinsey Tries to Solve a Very Cold Case
On July 4, 1953, Victoria Sullivan vanished without a trace and was never heard from again. Her abusive husband lived under the shadow of suspicion, and her then seven-year-old daughter, Daisy, has lived with the questions about what happened to her mother and why. And so, thirty-four years later, she hires PI Kinsey Millhone to try to finally solve this mystery. Kinsey is reluctant to take on the case. After all this time, what can she find? Yet, as she begins to poke around, she suspects that the people she is talking to know more than they’ve ever told the police or are telling her. Can she figure out what happened?

Cold cases can make excellent novels, and this is a perfect example. It is obvious early on that Kinsey is gaining new information, but how that is going to play out keeps us guessing until the end. I was certain I knew who it was, but I was wrong. Still, the ending did make sense to me. The characters are strong as always. Kinsey spends much of the book out of town, so we don’t see much of the regulars, which was disappointing, but a minor issue. While all the “modern” 1987 scenes are narrated from Kinsey’s first-person point of view, there are sections from other character’s point of view back in 1953. As good as some of those scenes are, sadly, there are some very graphic scenes in them. We could have easily done without them and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all. I’m taking a star off for that. If you are a fan, be prepared to skim those scenes and you’ll still enjoy the book overall.
  
40x40

Butch Vig recommended track My Generation by The Who in Who Sings My Generation by The Who in Music (curated)

 
Who Sings My Generation by The Who
Who Sings My Generation by The Who
1965 | Rock
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

My Generation by The Who

(0 Ratings)

Track

"This had a profound effect on me when I was really young. I was maybe eleven or twelve years old when I saw The Who play ‘My Generation’ on a TV show called The Smothers Brothers Show. I was sitting with my brother, sister and parents and I just freaked out at how powerful they were. Watching Keith Moon, I just couldn’t understand what he was doing. I’d never seen anyone play like that before, he blew up his bass drum at the end of the performance, it was unbelievable and that’s when I told my parents I wanted to get a drum set. My mum said “Well, if you want to get a drum set you’ll have to take lessons and keep up your piano lessons too.” I promised I’d do both and kept up my piano lessons for about a year, but then I dropped them and focussed on the drums and started trying to figure out how to play Rock and Roll. The Who are in my top five bands of all time, in my home studio in Los Angeles I’ve got photos of them spread throughout the studios and the hallways. They had everything, they looked cool, Pete Townsend was an incredible writer, the way he played the guitar with windmills and swooping arm movements, Roger Daltrey was a great singer and an iconic frontman and John Entwistle’s bass runs held the band together. They had an incredibly unique sound. I still love this song, it’s in my top ten greatest rock songs ever written. It speaks to the essence of the confusion of adolescence and even the confusion of being an adult and what kind of world we live in. It never gets old, it’s a constant recurring theme that every generation of kids grows up with."

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