Books 15 - 18

Escape: A New Life by David J. Antocci

After saving a drowning man during a savage storm, Abby wakes up in a tropical paradise in a fight for her life. She has no idea how she got there, and notices changes in herself that she cannot explain. Haunted by unsettling dreams of her past, she sets out to escape, joined by Eric, who finds himself in the same predicament. Standing in their way is a madman, and his band of willing followers, with a mind set on murdering their unwelcome visitors. An eccentric hermit who has been living there for years offers them refuge, but they must deny his generosity. Escape is their only option. Yet, they discover this deceptive paradise is harder to leave than they had ever imagined. One mystery leads to another, until their escape throws them into even greater danger as Abby’s frightening past finally catches up with her. Her escape is only the beginning.

This was an ebook that I read on my phone at appointments etc.  At first I wasn't too impressed but as I got further into it I was eager to find out what was going to happen.  Quite the premise for a story.  Of course you are left with a cliff hanger at the end.  I found out there are two more books that I will read if I find them.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

When a troubled supermodel falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private detective Cormoran Strike to investigate. Strike is a war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically and his private life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get- and the closer he gets to terrible danger.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days--as he has done before--and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives--meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible--and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them...

Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

I read all three of the above books one after the other and I have to say I can't wait for the fourth book to come out.  Whether it is Harry Potter or a crime series J.K. Rowling is an amazing writer.  These were books that I was reading well into the night because I wanted to find out what was going to happen.  In all three there are interesting twists and turns in the stories and I would highly recommend them.

Marijuana

  

Marijuana became legal in Canada today.  Two stores were allowed to open in Calgary.  There are dozens of them ready and waiting to open but only two got the go ahead for today.We drove by one of them and there were HUNDREDS of people lined up to get in the store.  I couldn't believe it, there were security guards and barriers and cars all over the place.  One of the big supermarkets is in the same shopping centre but there was no way to get near it.  So we drove on and went to another shopping centre and got my bread and milk without any hassle or parking problems!

Amazing!!!

We had an amazing weekend in Fairmont Hotspring Resort, B.C.,for Kelsey and Joel's wedding.  It was absolutely beautiful.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Even the deer came to check it out!!

Cute, cute, cute!!!

Just saw this on the news
This is the snowiest fall day since Oct. 21st, 1957
Snowiest Oct. 2nd on record
Snowiest day since April 10th, 2008
So far we are up to 40cm since last night and it's still snowing.
So they checked with the pandas at the zoo and they didn't seem to mind the snow!!

They Lied!!

The weather forecasters said 16cm by tonight.  How about 20cm by this morning!  There is chaos in the city! The streets are like skating rinks and lots of the roads are at a standstill. I got up at 7:45 and one of our neighbours was shoveling our sidewalks.  That's a great help, now I just have to do the driveway and all the back.

 The driveway, through the screen door

 So much snow, that's as far as I can push the door open to the driveway!

 That pile is the raspberry patch!

 The neighbour had shoveled the sidewalk

The front lawn and hedge!

That's quite a mountain on the bird house!

The icing on the patio table!

I guess this is the start of it!  Glad I got the last of the plants cut back and bagged yesterday for the compost pickup today. Kelsey and DIL were supposed to drive to Fairmount B.C. today to do all the preparations for the wedding on Saturday!  Just talked to Kelsey, she can't even get out of her neighbourhood to go to the bank.  I hope they wait until tomorrow.

Weather

We just had one of the coldest Septembers recorded.  Average temp. was 7.2C.  But now we are into a new month and so it's snowing!  We are expecting 16 cm. by tomorrow night.  I think I blinked and missed fall!!  We are not impressed!!!

Books 11-14

I've had this post in my draft folder for a long time.  Just kept forgetting to finish it.  Finally, a few more books to read about.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

People say Beartown is finished.  But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded the town.  And that rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today.  Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national championships, and they actually have a shot at winning.  All the hopes and dreams of the town now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semifinal match is the catalyst for a violent act that leaves a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil.  Here is a story no one wants to believe, since the truth would mean the end of the dream.  Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.
I had a hard time with this book.  I think part of it was that there were so many characters with difficult Swedish names that were hard to keep straight.  Maybe I kept getting confused with this book because I read it not long after the Humbolt crash and I kept getting confused about the location of the story.  I kept thinking it was in Saskatchewan and things weren't quite making sense.  Maybe it just wasn't a good time to read this book.  I found it really slow going at the start but it did pick up and get better.  It also started to make more sense when I later read that it was going to be part of a trilogy, although I don't know if I will read the other books when they come out

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home.  It left their mother dead.  It left their father-Pikeville's notorious defense attorney-devastated.  And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.
Twenty-eight years later, Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself-the ideal good daughter.  But when violence comes to Pikeville again-and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized-Charlie is plunged into a nightmare.  Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it's a case that unleashes the terrible memories she's spent so long trying to suppress.  Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won't stay buried forever...
I actually loved this book!  It was shocking and chilling at times and full of surprises.  I would definitely recommend this book and I will be looking for more books by this author.

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

Lisbeth Salander is serving time in Flodberga Prison when a sadistic gang leader nicknamed Benito starts to torture Faria, a young Bangladeshi prisoner.  Salander finds it impossible not to intervene and becomes a target of Benito and her gang.  Salander's time in prison is further complicated by news from her old guardian, who tells her she may have been a subject in a secret experiment known as the Registry.  She enlists her friend Mikael Blomkvist, crusading editor of Millenium magazine, to help her look into it.

Once Salander is released, she devotes her time to uncovering the truth in the case that landed Faria in prison, and Blomkvist continues his search into Salander's background.  But when the two cases start to dovetail, Lisbeth and Blomkvist must join together to fight for justice and their lives.
Although I love this continuing series of books I think I was a little disappointed in this book, as I was with the last one.  Since Lagercrantz started writing the books I don't think they are as good as the first three written by Larsson.  As Lisbeth is the main character in all the books I didn't think she had a very big role in this book.  I just expected more.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I read this book on my phone when waiting at appointments etc.

From Wikipedia: At the turn of the 20th century, Mary Lennox is a sickly and unloved 10-year-old girl, born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her and make an effort to ignore the girl. She is cared for by servants, who allow her to become a spoiled, aggressive, and selfish child.

After a cholera epidemic kills her parents and the servants, Mary is discovered alive but alone in the empty house. She briefly lives with an English clergyman and his family in India before she is sent to Yorkshire, in England, to live with Archibald Craven, a wealthy uncle whom she has never met, at his isolated house, Misselthwaite Manor.

I remember reading this book and watching the series on tv and just loving it.  As an adult not so much.  I found it very repetitive and a lot of the time quite boring.  I read a review that said some things are best left in our childhood, and I think I agree.  Not to spoil the story, Mary is left to her own devices and discovers a secret garden within the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.  She also hears a crying child during the night and eventually discovers her cousin Colin.  She also befriends a boy Dickon who is an animal whisperer.  They all get together in the secret garden.  I even kind of felt let down at the end of the book.  I thought there should have been more.