Top Secret Twenty One by Janet Evanovich - 5 Stars

 "Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.

To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.

Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret."

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I think the Stephanie Plum books are getting funnier the further I get into the series. There was a lot of this book where I was laughing so much! Evanovich has a good way of describing these scenes to where you can picture it and that makes it even funnier. 

A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean - 5 Stars & A Favorite

 "After a crushing betrayal by the man she loves, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home for a much-needed escape, but when she finds an old photograph of her grandmother in the arms of a Nazi officer, Gillian’s life gets even more complicated. Rattled by the discovery, Gillian attempts to unravel the truth behind the photos, setting her off on an epic journey through the past…

1939. England is on the brink of war as Vivian Hughes falls in love with a handsome British official, but when bombs begin to fall and Vivian’s happy life is destroyed in the blitz, she will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves…

As Gillian learns more about her grandmother’s past, the old photo begins to make more sense. But for every question answered, a new one takes its place. Faced with a truth that is not at all what she expected, Gillian attempts to shine a light not only on the mysteries of her family’s past but also on her own future."

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I can't say enough good things about this book. It was absolutely amazing!!! The author pulled me in and I kept wanting more. When the truth about one thing was revealed, something else came to light and I had to know what was going to happen. It was fast paced and so emotional. 

Never Lie by Freida McFadden - 4 Stars

 "Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams .But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate … with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room . One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance .

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels .

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth."

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This was a pretty good read. McFadden's writing isn't stellar at some points. There were a few thoughts that were unnecessarily repeated several time and a couple of grammatical errors, but the twists in her books really make them worth finishing. This is my 2nd one by her and I'm sure I'll check out a few more. 

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa - 5 Stars

 The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.

In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity—and indomitable nature—of the human spirit

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This was such a heartbreaking read, but inspirational at the same time. It's amazing that the author lived through all the horrors he went through while in North Korea. It's hard to imagine a government having complete control over your entire life. And the way they treated their citizens was awful. 

This book was translated from Japanese, and I have to say that the translating was done very well. A lot of times I feel translated books are translated into choppy English that doesn't make a lot of sense, but this one flowed really well. 

For the Sake Of (1) by Judith Sonnet - 4 1/2 stars

 Tabby thought she'd never see her child again. Missing for eight months, all hope seemed lost in finding six-year-old Riley. But then, Tabby wakes up one morning to find a brown lunch bag on the porch. Inside is a burner phone and a picture of Riley... with a decapitated head on her lap.Now, Tabby Moss has to prove that she'll do anything to save her daughter and have her returned. She'll do whatever the fiends who are holding her captive want.No Matter how sick...No matter how depraved...No matter how EVIL...It's a twisted game of life and limb, wherein Tabby must prove to a psychopath (and his hoard of online followers) that her daughter is worth saving!

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This was my first time reading this genre (extreme horror). I love horror movies, so I was interested to see what these books would be like. I had a hard time trying to decide what rating to give it. While it was such a grotesque story, it was like a train wreck you didn't want  to look away from. It was like Hostel meets Saw meets Criminal Minds. The author did a good job of making you want to know what was next. I was disappointed in the ending, though. It was a bit of a let down. But I will probably read something else in this genre in the future. 

Sisters Behaving Badly by Maddie Please - 4 Stars

 Sisters Kitty and Jenny haven’t spoken since a very disappointing Carvery lunch. Kitty, sixty-two, thinks Jenny is turning grey. Jenny, sixty-six, thinks Kitty needs to grow up!

So when both sisters inherit a farmhouse in rural France, it gives them the perfect chance to heal the rift between them. Except the farmhouse is a wreck, the garden is terrorized by a flock of chickens, not to mention a donkey with a serious flatulence problem!

Kitty is determined to enjoy herself, especially when she meets gorgeous French builder, Leo. Ooh la – la! And Jenny finds the fully stocked wine cellar helps enormously with missing horrible husband Paul – hic!

And as the two sisters begin to repair their fragile friendship, they discover that being bad is actually very good for the soul.

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This was such a cute book. It had a few LOL moments and I enjoyed the predicaments that Kitty was getting into. And of course it was heartwarming with a happy ending, too. 

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka - 3 Stars

 Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he’s done, and now awaits execution, the same chilling fate he forced on those girls, years ago. But Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. He hoped it wouldn’t end like this, not for him.

Through a kaleidoscope of women—a mother, a sister, a homicide detective—we learn the story of Ansel’s life. We meet his mother, Lavender, a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation; Hazel, twin sister to Ansel’s wife, inseparable since birth, forced to watch helplessly as her sister’s relationship threatens to devour them all; and finally, Saffy, the homicide detective hot on his trail, who has devoted herself to bringing bad men to justice but struggles to see her own life clearly. As the clock ticks down, these three women sift through the choices that culminate in tragedy, exploring the rippling fissures that such destruction inevitably leaves in its wake.

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Ended up being disappointed in this. The author put too much mumbo jumbo in the middle of the storyline. Metaphors and philosophical stuff just to take up space. Half of what was written didn't even pertain to the story. There were too many POVs. I got confused as to who was who a couple of times. Won't be reading this author again. 

The End of Temperance Dare by Wendy Webb - 5 Stars

 When Eleanor Harper becomes the director of a renowned artists’ retreat, she knows nothing of Cliffside Manor’s dark past as a tuberculosis sanatorium, a “waiting room for death.” After years of covering murder and violence as a crime reporter, Eleanor hopes that being around artists and writers in this new job will be a peaceful retreat for her as much as for them.

But from her first fog-filled moments on the manor’s grounds, Eleanor is seized by a sense of impending doom and realizes there’s more to the institution than its reputation of being a haven for creativity. After the arrival of the new fellows—including the intriguing, handsome photographer Richard Banks—she begins to suspect that her predecessor chose the group with a dangerous purpose in mind. As the chilling mysteries of Cliffside Manor unravel and the eerie sins of the past are exposed, Eleanor must fight to save the fellows—and herself—from sinister forces.

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This one surprised me. It started off a bit slow, but then really pulled me in. It was different than what I thought it was because it turned out to be a Gothic horror/ghost story. But I enjoy the paranormal, so it was a good read.