Reef is the prodigal son (or rather brother) of the McKenna family, having left home at 18 to pursue a career as a professional athlete against his family's wishes. One night he unexpectedly appears on his sisters' doorstep covered in blood. It isn't too long before the police come knocking on the McKenna's door to arrest him for the murder of Karli Davis, a fellow athlete. In addition to Reef, the McKenna family consists of Cole, Gage, Kayden, and Piper. Also along for the ride are Jake who works at the adventure store the McKennas (minus Reef) run, police detective Landon who is also Cole's best friend, and eventually Darcy, a sports reporter. Despite the mountain of evidence against Reef, Piper is completely convinced her brother is innocent. The rest of Reef's family and friends have their doubts, but with Piper determined to prove her brother's innocence the rest of the group follows Piper's lead if only to protect her from getting hurt.
Christian, romance, suspense - these are the three adjectives that seem to get attached to Shattered (which is the second entry in Dani Pettrey's Alaskan Courage series) the most often. For me the suspense aspect is what worked the best. The victim, Karli Davis, is much more than she appears. The investigation into her life and death leads to the world of professional winter sports, an outlaw motorcycle gang, and a suspicious pharmaceutical company. It sounds like everything and the kitchen sink but it worked. Each new revelation about Karli's past was intriguing. Following the McKennas and company as they tried to work out who wanted Karli dead and why was a wild ride. It is because of this aspect of the book that I would recommend Shattered to anyone looking for a suspense filled story with a little action and mystery mixed in.
The romance aspect of Shattered did not work as well. Piper and Landon are the couple at the center of this story. As Cole's best friend, Landon watched Piper grow up. As Cole was falling in love with Bailey in Submerged (book one in the Alaskan Courage series) Landon found himself developing feelings for the woman he once considered something of a little sister. For various reasons he decided not to act on those feelings. In the meantime, Piper is dating Denny. Landon does not approve of Denny. He considers Denny to be something of a player, though the only evidence ever given to support this characterization is that Denny is wealthy and used to getting his own way. When Denny takes Piper on a romantic picnic (and although Denny has never tried anything with Piper), Landon shows up and literally drags her away from her date. I suppose this was meant to show how much Landon cared about Piper, but it came off as more caveman than caring. Seriously, I reread the scene to check if he had dragged her by her hair or her arm. Throughout their so-called romance Landon is condescending and controlling. He may be acting out of a good place (to protect Piper) but that doesn't excuse his behavior or the way he speaks to her.
The Christian aspect was also somewhat disappointing. There are lots of examples of people turning to God for help (and that's great), but there was also a lot of judgmental posturing. There were two instances of this that bothered me in particular. The first involved Kayden and Jake.
Jake isn't from Yancey, Alaska but he has lived there for the past few years. Still, in a small town like Yancey a person could live there for years and still be considered an outsider. Now Jake's backstory hasn't been revealed yet (that's coming in book four I hear) but so far he appears to be a good guy. He works at the McKenna store. When the McKenna's need help, Jake is there to lend a hand. While the rest of McKenna family considered Jake to be a friend, Kayden is openly hostile for no apparent reason other than that Jake isn't from Yancey. At one point when they're discussing the investigation Kayden insinuates that Jake is a criminal because only a criminal would say whatever Jake said. Jake says that he is not criminal and Kayden says something like "and we're just supposed to your word on that," at which point I wanted to reach through the book, shake Kayden and tell her, "Yes, you ignorant little twit, you take his word for it. You do not have to automatically trust every stranger that crosses your path, but you also do not go around accusing people of committing crimes, especially in the absence of evidence that a crime has even been committed. You give people the benefit of the doubt until they give you a reason to doubt them." Okay, enough of that rant. I just found the character of Kayden extremely annoying, bitter, and almost hateful (as in that she was full of hate). There was no explanation for her behavior and at no point does anyone call her on her behavior.
The other example of judgmental nonsense considered Meredith Blake, the district attorney prosecuting Reef and, coincidentally, Gage's ex-girlfriend. Of course, the McKennas are mad at Meredith for prosecuting Reef which is ridiculous because (a) there was ample evidence pointing to Reef as the killer and (b) the district attorney cannot not pursue a case just because the family of the accused swears he's really good guy who would never hurt a fly. The bigger issue is Gage's and Meredith's past together. Without going into detail, the couple suffered a devastating loss several years earlier. Their relationship did not survive the loss. Now everyone has different ways of grieving and dealing with a loss. Gage is still deeply upset, which is totally understandable. Meredith grieved and then moved forward. She chooses not to think too much about past and what she lost, which is also totally understandable, except that it isn't so understandable to the McKennas. Gage and certain others attack Meredith for not grieving in the way that Gage grieves. I found this troubling, obnoxious, and not very Christian or kind. Gage and Meredith dealt with their pain differently but in the best way they could and neither should be judged for it, at least not by people looking in from the outside.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned complaints, I still enjoyed the Shattered. The suspenseful story surrounding Karli Davis made it all worth it.
What could be more perfect than mysteries at Christmas? Christmas is the happiest time of year and all that, but the cold winter days are also the perfect setting for all things dark and twisty. Maybe a murder, perhaps a robbery gone wrong, or maybe there could be a ghost. However you like your mystery there is something for you in The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. There are ghosts, thieves and cold-hearted murderers. There are traditional mysteries and modern mysteries, funny mysteries and seriously scary mysteries. For added measure, Otto Penzler (the editor) threw in a few classics from the greats - Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Faking It is a new adult (I'm still getting used to the idea of this genre) romance centering around Max and Cade. Max is a struggling musician with a body covered in tattoos and piercings. When her parents unexpectedly come to town Max covers up her tattoos, tames her hair into a respectable shape, and enlist the clean cut Cade to pretend to be her boyfriend to satisfy her judgmental parents. Several years earlier max lost her sister in an accident. Mourning a sister, juggling jobs while trying to make it as a rock star, and trying to appease picky parents has left Max with trust and intimacy issues. Cade is the Cade from Losing It (the first book in this series) who fell in love with his best friend Bliss only to find that she was in love with someone else. His mother died when he was young and his father abandoned him, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother. Between losing his parents and losing Bliss, Cade has abandonment issues. When Max and Cade meet, or rather collide, the connection is immediate. They are drawn together like magnets, but with all their issues they repel each other almost as quickly. 
I love mysteries. I love books and books about books. For reasons unknown I've been infatuated with Paris from a young age. So when Mark Pryor's The Bookseller appeared on my radar, it was a foregone conclusion that I would read it. The story centers around a Paris bookseller named Max who is kidnapped in broad daylight from his bookstall along the Seine. His friend Hugo Marston, a former FBI agent and current head of security at the U.S. embassy in Paris witnesses the kidnapping and sets out to find out what happen to his friend and bring the perpetrators to justice. 
Bailey Craig was the bad girl in high school. She drank a little too much and slept around. Twelve years a later she's sober and has earned a doctorate in Russian history (or something like that). Despite being on the straight-and-arrow she still feels tremendously guilty and ashamed about her behavior in high school. Fortunately, Bailey now lives in Oregon, far away from her Alaskan hometown and the people who knew her (and tormented her) in high school. She had no intention of ever setting foot back in Yancey, Alaska again. Then she gets a phone call telling her that her Aunt Agnes, a woman who was there for her when her parents weren't, has died in a plane crash. Bailey returns to Yancey, intending only to stay long enough to attend the funeral and settle her aunt's affairs, but then...
In 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup, a free Black man living
in the north, recounts his experience of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. For twelve years he witnessed and suffered
the indignities and brutality of slavery, until one day one of his pleas for
help made it to the right person. He was
then rescued and reunited with his family.
It is a compelling and disturbing read. That it was from the victim’s point
of view (as opposed to a third party observer) made it more so. 
In The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley looks at education through the lens of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) which is a test administered around the world to test the math, science, and reading skills of 15-year-olds. In general, student scores indicate that teenagers in Finland, South Korea, and Poland are learning and mastering the skills needed to solve problems and make complex arguments, skills that are increasingly important in the modern economy. In contrast, the scores of American students seem to indicate that teenagers in the United States are not learning or mastering these skills, at least not as well. In an attempt to figure out why or at least how education differed among these four countries, Ripley followed three American students who spent a year abroad in Finland, South Korea, and Poland. She also talked to educators, parents, and a host of other people.
I'm not sure where to begin. With the plot? It is difficult to describe the plot without it sounding convoluted. I’m not saying Envy is convoluted, but that my description of it would it be. It is a complicated story, at the center of which is Will, a man in his mid to late forties. He is married to Carole and father to Samantha and Luke. Will has a nearly identical twin brother, nearly identical because Mitch has a birthmark covering 60 percent of his face. The twins haven't spoken to one another in 15 years and Will isn't sure why that is. There is a lost child, a lost brother, and the possible discovery of a previously unknown a child.
Witches of East End is the first book (excluding the prequel) in a series about three witches living in the small Long Island town of North Hampton. The three witches in question are sisters Freya and Ingrid Beauchamp, and their mother Joanna. For centuries they have lived as ordinary human beings, forbidden from practicing witchcraft. But the day comes when the three Beauchamp women decide to stop concealing who and what they really are. Revealing their true selves has consequences, good and bad. 
I have never quite understood terms like "beach read" or "summer read" because my reading choices are generally not determined by the seasons or the weather. Further, when I go on vacation I like to bring one big, involved book (plus a second book because having backup book is necessary) rather than short, uncomplicated stories since if I planned the vacation I will likely plenty of uninterrupted reading time. Notwithstanding my lack of a proper understanding of what a beach or summer read is, I imagine Someday, Someday, Maybe might be what people mean when they use those terms.
Earlier this summer I was traveling through the seemingly evergreen pacific northwest. One night I switched on the tv in the hotel and came across two outdoor adventure shows. The first was Naked and Afraid where two people, a man and a woman who don't know each other are cast off into the wilderness without food, clothes or shelter. Their challenge was to survive for 21 days. What they got at the end of it all, I don't know. It was such a weird show. I couldn't understand it and didn't make it through a full episode. I did follow the Twitter commentary, which was hilarious. The second show I came across was Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls.
There are a handful of writers whose work I aim to read all of during my lifetime. One of these writers is John Irving. I first discovered Irving by watching tv. I was what used to be called a latch key kid and spent a lot of time at
home alone watching tv, reading books, and writing. One afternoon either The World According to Garp or The Hotel New Hampshire - I can't remember which I saw first - came on tv. Upon learning these movies where based on books I started reading John Irving and have been a fan ever since. It was with a great degree of anticipation that I picked up his latest, In One Person. Unfortunately, I did not love this book, but I admire John Irving for writing it.
In my experience, the second book in a trilogy is often a disappointment. My theory to explain this is that in the first book the author introduces the characters, sets up the world in which they operate, and outlines the main goal of the characters. In the third or final book of the trilogy the characters eventually accomplish their goal. The role of the second book is that of a bridge - it gets
readers from one side to the other, but the voyage is often frustratingly slow. Second books often feel like a holding pattern or a distraction until the third book. The story may move forward a little, but not in a satisfying way. Catching Fire is the second entry in the Hunger Games trilogy and for the reasons above, I had a low expectations. I couldn't have been more wrong. Catching Fire is not only amazing, it is better than the the first book in the series. 
One of the things I love to do at bookstores (and one reason why I try to buy most of my books at physical stores rather than online) is to walk among the shelves from A to Z and see what sparks my interest. I can, and have, spent hours doing this. I distinctly remember being at a Borders store several years ago and gazing at Isabel Allende's row of books. Prolific authors intrigue me and her books took up one-and-a-half rows. However, though my interest was piqued, I didn't pick up one of Allende's books that day. 
I'm not sure how to describe The Martian Chronicles, but I'll give it a shot. It is a series of short stories set on Mars. Earthlings went to Mars to explore and to get away from the war and destruction that was the Earth. The first visit to the Mars doesn't go well. Neither does the second, the third, or the fourth. Still, they keep coming. Mars seems to be a lot like Earth, or maybe that's just how Earthlings perceive it. Mars feels like home, and it doesn't.