Missing You by Harlan Coben

Missing You by Harlan Coben
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kat Donovan is a detective whose cop father was killed eighteen years ago and she is not convinced that the man in jail for the murder is the guilty one. As well, a friend has signed her up for a dating site in hopes of her meeting a boyfriend.

A very odd thing happens when a young teenager from another precinct comes in asking to speak to Kat and tells her that he thinks his mother is missing or in trouble, at which point the plot thickens.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

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The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story of how people keep living in a city under siege. How do you keep living when you have no electricity, water, food and everything is closed to you. Even going out for a bit of water is a huge risk. Snipers are just killing people, ordinary citizens, as they try to go about their routines.

The cellist saw twenty-two people killed while waiting for bread in line. This prompted him to play his cello one day for each person who was killed.

This will make you take a hard look at how lucky we actually are. A good read.

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The Enchanted by Rene Denfelt

The Enchanted: A Novel by Rene Denfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hardly know where to start with this, only to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As well as giving me food thought, it was an eye opening learning experience.

An ancient prison, as seen through the eyes of a death row inmate. At times bordering on fantasy, this was an extremely empathetic story.

The writer, Rene Denfeld, is an author, journalist, mitigation specialist and fact investigator in death penalty cases and really knows her stuff.

An amazing read.

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Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo

Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The story of a cat that lived at the Savoy Hotel in London and travelled on the Titanic with a little girl name Elizabeth and a stowaway orphan, an employee of the Savoy Hotel named Johnny Trott whom Elizabeth had become friends with.

This was a very nice story, suitable for children and YA. A starting point to learn about the sinking of the ship.

An excellent read.

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The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An amazing family saga. Ruth, an American with Chinese background, is worried about her mother's forgetfulness. We hear about Ruth's young life being raised by her mother, who was widowed early. When Ruth is in her forties, she discovers that her mother is started to develop Alzeimers Disease. An eye opener was when she was cleaning up her mom's home and realized that she wasn't eating properly or cleaning herself, and not to mention the memory issues.

During the clean up, Ruth discovered a large memoir that her mother had written. In the front pages she had wrote "so that I don't forget". Ruth had this memoir translated and it was a fantastic enlightenment for her and what her mother's life had been.

An excellent read.

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Road Ends by Mary Lawson

Road Ends by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the third book I have read by this author
and I am eager for more. Her writing is so smoothly
down to earth and human. Absolutely beautiful.

Megan is the only girl in a family of about nine
boys. They live in rural Ontario, very small town.
Father is a bank manager so money is not a problem
and mother is a very strange person who seems to be
addicted to having babies, but once they start
growing, she loses interest and neglects them completely.

I recognize some characters from her other book, Crow
Lake and it was wonderful to visit them again.

Excellent read, couldn't put it down.

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The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Actually 3.5 stars. The story begins with Lily, a Jewish immigrant, with an arranged marriage to a man named Sol in Montreal. When she arrives in Montreal, he sees her and gets cold feet about the whole situation. Luckily for Lily, his brother sees through things and falls for Lily and a wedding does take place.

You are led to believe that the story is about Lily, who stole that identity from a dead girl in Europe, but the main character is actually Ruth, Lily's daughter.

This was a rich, warm story. It is full of believable characters that I became very attached to. I didn't want the book to end.

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Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really fun story. Clay Jannon is unemployed and lands himself a job in the worlds' strangest bookstore.

The book takes us on an ancient quest, with all the mod cons; googles, internet, etc.

The characters are all very loveable and I really enjoyed the time I spent with each of them. They began to feel very real to me.

Either Robin Sloan has the world's most vivid imagination, or there are things out there that we all have no idea about.

Very entertaining read.

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The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A wonderful memoir about Mary Ann Schwalbe and written by her son Will. This lady had an amazing life. She cared so much about everyone and everything. She worked for refugees, was a teacher, was a great parent, and so much more.

The book details her life from the time she is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and the books that she and her son read during the treatment times.

They read together, many of the books that are my favourites as well.

The truly great thing was how she kept up her fight and kept living right up to the very end and always kept cheerful so that she didn't bring others down.

A thoroughly good read and a reminder to us all.

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