I began April still on vacation and plowing through books while lounging by a pool. Then I came home to a very busy work schedule, but still managed to squeeze in lots of reading, clearing off a little of my TBR pile at home! This month I read:

• The Laughter by Sonora Jha – When I heard this book discussed on Currently Reading, I knew I wanted to read it but I also knew it would be a hard read. The story, told in disjointed flashes, is narrated by an aging white professor Oliver who feels under attack by all of the changes in the modern world. We see his perspective, his biases, and his desires through his narration (hard as much of it is to read) as he gets to know a Pakistani woman professor, Ruhaba, and her newly-arrived nephew, Adil. As trouble ensues, Oliver entangles himself more and more into their lives, and therefore into the problem the story is building up to with greater urgency. While I didn’t like the narrator, or many other characters, I appreciated the way the author explored cancel culture, microaggressions, bias, tenure in the university system, and much more of our current culture.
• Tempting Olivia by Clare Ashton – This book is a second in the Oxford Romance series. It’s a cute rom-com style and a quick read. Olivia is a Type A lawyer, who likes everything neat and clean and organized. When she is asked to represent her favorite acrtress in her divorce case, Olivia is internally thrown for a loop. Then, when the two find themselves attracted to each other, everything gets messy. I like the side characters in this book, who were the main characters in the first in the series.
• The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander – I borrowed this book from a reader friend at work and it was a sweet, romantic, cozy story centered around books; who doesn’t love a book about books and reading?! Jess is lost after her grandmother dies and she loses her job. On a whim she purchases a cottage in a small English village, then moves there with no job and a lot of home repair work necessary. As she settles into her home, she gets to know her community and her grandmother’s beloved book collection come to great use in a little library she runs out of an old phone booth in her yard. This book just makes you smile and want to hug a book and a friend!
• The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen – I LOVED this fast-paced thriller! In a small town in Maine we meet a group of 60 year old retirees who seem to know a lot about crime, especially when a dead body shows up on Maggie’s driveway. We learn that Maggie and her friend are all former CIA agents and Maggie’s past has come back to haunt her. Through flashbacks we learn the details of the past missions and Maggie and her friends fight to keep their little town in Maine safe. I look forward to this series continuing.
• The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – This was a sweet story that reminded me of the children’s books The Westing Game and The Phantom Tollbooth. Jack, a famous children’s book author, decided to hold a contest for his highly anticipated new book. The contestants are all adults who once ran away to Jack’s island, which is what is books are based on. Lucy, one of the participants, is struggling to make ends meet, with an end goal of adopting a young boy who needs her. Lucy and her fellow contestants have to compete in challenges, solve riddles, and make it to the end of the wishing game.
• A Share in Death [audiobook] by Deborah Crombie – This is the first in a long series about a Scotland Yard dectective. I knew going in that the series was old, so I was prepared for this to feel a little outdated. The only thing I noticed was the lack of cell phone use. Duncan Kincaid is the decetive, but we meet him when he is taking his first vacation in a long time. While at the time share resort he happens about a dead body and wants to help the local police solve the crime. While all the rest of the guests are forced to stay together during the investigation, this locked room story featured MANY characters (somewhat confusing since I was listening to the audiobook!) and more deaths before we got to the end. I like the decetive enough to keep reading this series in the future.
• Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth – I’m so glad I picked this as my Book of the Month! I love a fast-paced thriller and I’ve loved other books by this author. In this story we meet Jessica, Norah and Alicia as sisters. Through flashbacks and a current timeline, we learn of their time in foster care, and the horrors that happened while there. There are unlikeable people, dark actions, and shady professionals, but there is also love and found-family. I inhaled this book so quickly!
• The Wives: A Memoir by Simone Gorrindo – This was a brutally honest memoir about life as an army wife. Simone marries a man who decides, in his mid-twenties, to join a Special Ops force in the army, which completely changes the trajectory of their life. With no past military connections, being an army wife is all new to her. We follow her as she leaves her writing careeer in NYC to move to Georgia with her husband. Then we stay with her when he is deployed or off training, as she battles her own mental demons and lonliness at home. This was sad with moments of sweetness and lots of reality.
• Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanaugh – I love this author and didn’t even realize that he wrote this thrille when I picked it from Book of the Month! In this fast-paced, propulsive story we are following Amanda, who is grieving the murder of her child and subsequence death by suicide of her husband, and Wendy, who also lost a child to murder. They quickly realize how much they have in common, including the desire to find justice for their children. We also follow Ruth, who survives a home attack and suffers major PTSD afterwards. This was a ride!
• Burden of Truth (Cass Leary Legal Thriller #1) by Robin James [audiobook] – I don’t know where I heard of this legal thriller, but I’m glad I found it and that it’s a series! I was happy to listen to this on audio, but I didn’t like the narrator. Cass is a lawyer who just moved back to her hometown, after some serious trouble in Chicago. She is assigned as the court-appointed lawyer to a 19 year old girl accused of murdering the town’s hero, the high school football coach. The entire book followed the trial, and we learn about the past as Cass catches up to try to help save this young girl’s life.
• The Senator’s Wife by Liv Constantine – I haven’t read a book by these sisters who go by the pen name of Liv, but I LOVED this thriller! We meet Whit, a Senator, and Sloane, his new wife, after their spouses died tragically and they found love. Through multiple narrators we learn that Sloane has lupus and is about to have hip surgery, so they hire Athena as in-home care for her during recovery. Whit is a handsome politician who has to meet with a lot of people, but everyone around him wonders if he’s in this marriage for money or love. I enjoyed the ride and the ending was so great!
• The Overnight Guest by Heather Gundenkauf – I loved this fast-paced thriller that tells the story over two timelines. In the past, we meet Josie, the lone survivoer after her entier family is murdered and her best friend goes missing. In the present, we meet Wylie, a true crime writer, braving a winter storm alone until she gets an overnight guest. I loved where this story went in both timelines and enjoyed the ride!

Favorite Books

Fiction: The Spy Coast, Darling Girls & The Senator’s Wife

Nonfiction: The Wives: A Memoir