First up,
The Good House by Ann Leary. This was my first Leary book and I liked it. It is a very entertaining read. It is set in a small New England town where the natives are held together by the past, deep secrets and the desire to keep the town as it has been. However, the main character really takes center stage as she is declared by all around her as an alcoholic while she maintains she is clearly not. The story is great but be warned......You know how some people just have words that they always say like some people call everyone "sugar" or others naturally drop words like "crap" or "poop" well this particular character's word happens to be the f-word. It rolls off her tongue casually and often. If you can't get past that, this is not the book for you. But I kind of hope you can because the story itself is really good.
Next up was Tucker's Way by David Johnson
Tucker's Way by David Johnson. This was the first in David Johnson's Tucker Series and you all know how I enjoy a good series. So this is basically a story of an extremely poor family who have suffered many things, befriending a new neighbor who while more affluent has suffered some abuse herself. It is a good story. I am not sure why these poor, uneducated, backwards families are always portrayed as southern when this mayhem truly has no respect of region, but this is another southern tale of a family that needs saving. There are some surprises here. Not quite as easy to predict the ending as you might think. I may give at least one more in this series a read. Sometimes the author will do so much set up of characters in the first book you don't really get to experience much of the story....so maybe now that we know everyone well, the story will develop more in book two.
Then I read one of the sleepiest little books I have ever read
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. This is in the thriller section. It may be the calmest thriller ever. Don't get me wrong, there's murder, secrets and unexpected twists. But the folks in this town obviously do not have high blood pressure.....they discover dead bodies in the calmest way I have ever seen. The story line is well written. I was literally in the last 20 pages before I figured out the killer. So it is just a different kind of read but still a really good story and it really makes you think about hastily jumping to conclusions. Sometimes things are truly not what they seem.
Last for this month
In the Light of the Garden by Heather Burch. Now this one is quite Hallmarkish. However, it may be more Hallmark Mystery rather than Hallmark love story. A young girl loses her grandparents, gains a sizeable inheritance, but she still has to deal with forgiveness, secrets and flat out lies. It is for the most part a sweet story about love overcoming differences, but (and this is quite a large but) there is this magic tree. And if you can reconcile that so much of this story centers around a magic tree you can enjoy the rest of the story. I did.
See, I told you, quite a diverse set of reading. I would recommend them all but I have to tell you The Good House was my favorite.
Always open to recommendations, let me know if you have read something that I need to add to my stack.
Make it a great week. I will talk to you on Wednesday.
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