Book 10- 17

Find You First by Linwood Barclay

Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has everything he could dream of-except time.  Only forty-two years old, he's recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a 50 percent chance that it can be passed on to the next generation.  But Miles, a confirmed bachelor, doesn't have children.  Or does he?

Two decades ago, a struggling young Miles, desperate for cash, donated his sperm to a fertility clinic.  Somewhere out there, he has kids.  And they might be about to inherit both the the good and the bad from him-maybe his fortune, and possibly something much worse.

AS Miles begins to search for the children he's never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson embarks on a quest to find her biological father, armed with the knowledge that twenty-two years ago, her mother used a New York sperm bank to become pregnant.  Chloe soon locates one sibling, a half brother, Todd, and she's eager to meet more.

When Miles and Chloe eventually connect, their excitement at finding each other is overshadowed by a series of mysterious and terrifying events.  One by one, the other potential heirs are vanishing-every trace of them erased, as if they never existed at all.

Who is the vicious killer eliminating Miles's offspring-is it one possible beneficiary methodically eliminating rivals?  Or is something even more sinister afoot?  It's a deadly race against time...

This seems like this could all happen in real life.  Pretty exciting in parts and kind of sad too.

The Incident by Lars Emmerich

- Inferno Rising

Special Agent Sam Jameson is having a bad week. People are trying to kill her.
That would be business as usual in the counterespionage world, except that it’s the good guys who have her in the crosshairs.
Why are the DC Metro police trying to kidnap her? Do her bosses at Homeland want her in a body bag, too?
And why does everyone she talks to seem to end up in the morgue?
Will a ruthless mercenary, a hapless American traitor, and a dead man’s cryptic clue hold the key to Sam’s survival?

-Reckoning

-Devolution

I read these books on my ereader.  They were billed as a trilogy. I really enjoyed the first two books. They were exciting and real page turners.  Everything seemed to be concluded at the end of the seconf book.  Started the third one-Devolution-and I was completely confused.  I was totally bored after about 100 pages and it had nothing to do with the first two books so I gave up on it.

I found thie following review of Devolution on Goodreads pretty well sums it up for me 'There are not too many books that I give up on, but this was one of them.

'After about 50 pages there were too many characters and so many different plot/story lines that I found it too much work to try to keep up. Also the author seems to be flaunting his knowledge of $10 words; really, is that necessary?'

The Magnolia Inn by Anne Marie Meyer

Maggie is thirty-six, recently divorced and embarrassingly unemployed.  With a bank account nearing zero she does the only thing she can think of-makes a business proposition to her gorgeous and successful estranged mother.

To Maggie's utter surprise, her mother agrees.  Any funds she can create off the sale of the dilapidated family inn on the island of Magnolia would be hers to invest.

So Maggie packs her few belongings and heads off to Rhode Island to make her dreams come true.

Clementine has been stuck in Magnolia her whole life. The moment her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s she knew she could never leave. And it was unrealistic for her to rely on her older brother, Archer, who can't seem to outrun the ghosts of his past.

So when Maggie blows into town, both Clementine and Archer find themselves intrigued by the new move-in.
When they stumble upon an old photograph of Maggie’s grandmother buried up in the attic, Maggie can’t help but be drawn to a woman she’s never met. In an attempt to feel closer to a family she never knew, a book club is revitalized.
The Red Stilettos Book Club.
What starts out as an act of desperation, soon becomes exactly what the women of Magnolia island were looking for, a sisterhood.

This was a great, light summer type read.  It was very predictable.  It didn't take too many chapters to figure what was going to happen but I quite enjoyed it.

12 by Nolan King & David W Wright

What Would You Do With the Last 12 Hours of Your Life?
At 6 p.m. on a Wednesday in October, a gunman will enter Goldman’s Diner and commit one of the worst massacres the small coastal town of Palm Isles, Florida has ever seen.
Twelve hours earlier: twelve lives are on borrowed time, unaware that death is coming, or that their paths will collide in one tragic moment.
A young waitress and mother fights to protect her daughter from her violent estranged husband. Little does she know that a greater threat looms under her nose.
A cop is forced to decide between his job and his marriage.
A bullied teen with an abusive father is down to one friend when his world suddenly crumbles around him.
An old man struggles to hold onto his memories and do one last thing to honor his wife. But in doing so, he will have to reveal his darkest secret.
A cook with a shady past attempts to stay on the straight and narrow, until he gets a call which forces him to choose — his family or his honor?
A woman attempts to meet her father’s expectations, clinging to a struggling diner even as her relationship with her son falls apart.
TWELVE HOURS
TWELVE LIVES
WHO LIVES?
WHO DIES?

This book was really good.  I didn't want to put it down. All the lives are in one way or another, connected to the diner.  There's not much I can say without giving away what happens, I just highly recommend it.

The Obituary Society by Jessica L. Randall

When Lila Moore inherits her grandfather's house, she finds herself in a small Midwestern town where margarine is never an acceptable substitution for butter, a coveted family recipe can serve as currency, and the friend who will take your darkest secrets to the grave will still never give you the secret to her prize-winning begonias.
Lila is charmed by the people of Auburn, from the blue-eyed lawyer with the southern drawl to the little old lady who unceasingly tries to set Lila up with her grandson. But when strange things begin to happen, Lila realizes some of her new friends are guarding a secret like it's a precious family heirloom. It's a dangerous secret, and it has come back to haunt them. Lila is caught in the middle, and her life may depend on uncovering it. But even if she can, can she stay in Auburn when not everyone is what they seem, and even the house wants her gone?

I did enjoy this book although it could have done with much more careful editing. Things were out of order and things happened out of sequence etc.  But all in all it was pretty good.

Her Last Goodbye by Rick Mofina

Perfect wife. Doting mom. Jennifer Griffin was loved by everyone, including the women in her suburban neighbourhood book club.  Their meetings sometimes went late, but Jenn always came home.

Until that night.

When Greg Griffin wakes to find his wife is not in bed, his blood runs cold.  Her book club friends say Jenn left for home hours ago.  Bur she's missing. Greg tells detectives their marriage is good, but his alibi is razor-thin.  With their young son away at a sleepover, Greg had all night to commit a crime. And there are scrapes on his hands...

Investigators discover Jenn has troubling secrets, but she isn't the only one. With the threads of their picture perfect life unraveling, Greg is forced to confront the lies that hold their marriage together-and a dark past that refuses to stay buried.

I was quite engrossed in this book from start to finish. I had many theories throughout, and the most obvious answers didn't turn out to be correct. This is a novel full of twists and surprises that are sure to please even the most seasoned mystery readers. The only criticizme would be that I thought it was a bit too long and drawn out, and I while I love stories about missing people, I equally hate wrongfully accused characters and that got a bit tedious after a while.

The Last Bride in BallyMuir by Dorien Kelly

Miss Kylie "Soon-to-Be-a-Saint" O'Shea teaches at the Gaelic school, helps her neighbors and volunteers for every good cause. No one in Ballymuir can figure out why she keeps the interested lads at bay but they all warn her that she's in danger of fulfilling a local legend: becoming the last bride in Ballymuir. When a stranger named Michael Kilbride comes to the village wild rumors surround his every move. But Kylie, captivated by Michael's intense passions, lets herself go where Michael leads her -- into an awakening of dreams and desires...even if it means exposing her beloved village's and her own darkest secrets.

Michael the angry young man who hated everything and everyone at the beginning of the book, grew into a loving hardworking man who is fiercely protective of his family.
Kylie as well grew from a timid shy girl who kept away from most people embarrassed by her fathers sin and evasive of men due to her rape aged 18 also developed confidence and a bit of a temper.

For me, the best character was Michaels sister because she didn't what anybody said or thought. This was an easy read.