Sunday Salon: Goodreads Reading Goal Reached!

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I have reached my goal of 50 books in the Goodreads Reading Challenge! I am now expanding my goal to 80, and hope to reach even 100! I have at least ten library ebooks on loan through Overdrive, and hope I can get to them before the loans expire! There are two historical mystery novels by Barbara Cleverly, the newest book by Lisa See, another book by Kate Atkinson,  and a few literary fiction and other mysteries. 

An ARC arrived:

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling, September 5, 2017, Sterling Children's Books
Book description:
“Whoa! What happened to your arms?”

Aven Green gets that question a lot. She loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them.

It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms. (goodreads)

I finished only one book last week, though I have started on others.

When Will There Be Good News, a mystery by Kate Atkinson, September 2008.

My introduction to author Kate Atkinson and to her Jackson Brodie, a very likeable policeman turned private eye. Set in Scotland, this book is intriguing - the setting as much as  the plot and characters, in particular the remarkable main character Joanna, and young Reggie, a budding sleuth herself. Definitely a five-star read.

Re my gardening news, he rain has stopped, it's sunny out, and I'm waiting for frosty nights to be over before I plant the annuals and herbs - oregano, basil, thyme -  I bought last week. 

What's on your reading plate this week? 

Book Review: The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman, May 2, 2017, Berkley

Lil, widowed for three years with two young children, is a school text illustrator in Southern California. Her boss signs her up for a vegetable growing class at the Los Angeles Botanical Garden, to prep for the next project - illustrating a series of vegetable guides the company is planning.

Lil attends the six-week class, held on Saturdays and led by gardening professor Ed Bloem. She not only benefits from gardening and meeting new people, but sees the benefits to her sister and Lil's two young children who also participate in the class. 

Lil's sister-in-law Maggie arrives broken hearted by a cheating hubby and somehow the setting and the new arrangement in Lil's life help everyone around her. In the end, Lil finds a new occupation and new love, and a new acceptance of her widowhood.

I liked the story, as I love gardening, and found the vegetable growing tips in the book interesting and useful. Though parts of the plot are predictable, the reading is easy and pleasant, not only for readers who garden but anyone who like a good romance.

My rating: 4 stars

Sunday Salon: Overdrive and Libby

Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also visit Mailbox Monday.

Books I finished recently, psychological thrillers mostly:
The Lost Girls by Heather Young, five stars
Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica, four stars
Broken Grace by E.C. Diskin, five stars
My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella, contemporary fiction, four stars

Ebooks I plan to read, thanks to my library:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, literary fiction
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, literary fiction

Still reading:
Mangrove Lightning by Randy Wayne Wright, mystery
I Shot the Buddha by Colin Cotterill, mystery 

To be read for an upcoming book tour:

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman, May 2, 2017, Berkley

Using the app Overdrive, I am finding so many library books so easily that I am reading more ebooks than ever before, borrowed from my local library. I understand Libby is even better. 

What books are on your desk this week?

Book Beginning: The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers.

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Title: The Widow of Wall Street
Author: Randy Susan Meyers
Published: April 11, 2017, Atria Books
Genre: contemporary fiction
"... a woman struggles to redefine her life and marriage as everything she thought she knew crumbles around her."

Book beginning:

Phoebe
November 2009

Phoebe never hated her husband more than when she visited him in prison. The preceding nightmare of ordeals - eleven hours hauling a suitcase by bus, train, and cab, her muscles screaming from the weight - were the coming attractions of the misery she faced he next day. 

Page 57

"So did he tell you?"
"Did he tell me what?" Phoebe dipped into the pot and sampled a bit of sauce. Almost perfect. Velvet smooth.
"How he lost everyone's money?"

Book description: ... the seemingly blind love of a wife for her husband as he conquers Wall Street, and her extraordinary, perhaps foolish, loyalty during his precipitous fall.

I am eager to see how the wife is portrayed and if her seeming innocence of her husband's double life on Wall Street is believable or not. What did you think, if you have already read the book?  

Book Feature: The Last Chance Olive Ranch by Susan Wittig Albert

Title: The Last Chance Olive Ranch: China Bayles Mystery
Author: Susan Wittig Albert 
Published: April 4, 2017, Berkley
Setting: Pecan Springs, Texas. China fears for McQuaid’s life as an escaped convict targets him...

First chapter: 

I hate it when the telephone rings at night. Granted, it wasn't night, technically speaking. It was 5 a.m., according to the clock on my side of the bed. But the only light in the room was a dim nightlight and my husband and I had both been sound asleep. To me, that qualifies as night.

From Ch. six:

...Hank grunted, "I'll do it," he said. But China better not blame me if you wind up dead." 

Book description:
Max Mantel, the killer McQuaid put away years ago, has busted out of the Huntsville prison and appears to be headed for Pecan Springs. McQuaid knows there’s only one way to stop the vengeful convict—set a trap with himself as bait.

China wants to stay by her husband’s side. But McQuaid  insists that she get out of town and go to the Last Chance Olive Ranch, where she’s agreed to teach a workshop on herbs.

While China throws herself into helping Maddie, the owner of the ranch, McQuaid’s plan backfires when Mantel executes a countermove he never saw coming. 

Have you read any of the other China Bayles mysteries?

MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

Mangrove Lightning by Randy Wayne White: First Chapter

Mangrove Lightning by Randy Wayne Wright, Doc Ford Mystery #24, March 21, 2017, Putnam Sons
The ghosts of a 1925 multiple murder stalk Doc Ford in a new novel in the series. Setting: Key Largo to Tallahassee.

First chapter, first paragraph:

On the telephone, Tomlinson said to Ford, "When the deputy's wife and kids disappeared, moonshiners might have dumped their bodies in the lake - it was during Prohibition. It wouldn't be the first time karma has waited decades to book justice in the ass." 

"Tootsie Barlow told you that story? " Ford a marine biologist was referring to a famous fishing guide who ranked with Jimmie Albright, Jack Brothers, Ted Williams, and a few others that ranked as fly-casting pioneers in the Florida Keys. 

from the Author's Note:
This novel is based on events that occurred in Florida and the Bahamas during Prohibition, as reported (often vaguely) by newspapers at the time. 

Based on the book description and the excerpts, is this a book that would capture your interest?
MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

Sunday Post: Spring Has Sprung, But Where Are the Bees?

Spring is definitely here to stay and my Mount McKinley cherry tree was in full bloom. However, heavy rains and lack of bees mean there will be no red cherries this year on my tree. Very discouraging. I have only seen one or two bumblebees so far but am hoping for more in the summer.

Title: Murder in the Bowery: Gaslight Mystery #20
Author: Victoria Thompson
Published May 2, 2017 by Berkley
Genre: historical mystery
"Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy search for a connection between a murdered newsie and a high society woman with dangerous habits."

Title: The Widow of Wall Street
Author: Randy Susan Meyers
Published: April 11, 2017, Atria Books
Genre: contemporary fiction
"... a woman struggles to redefine her life and marriage as everything she thought she knew crumbles around her."

Title: The Murder of Mary Russell: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #14
Author: Laurie R. King
Publisher: April 5, 2017, Bantam
"Has Laurie King followed in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s footsteps and killed off her protagonist?"

These are the books most recent to my bookshelf. How about yours?

Last week, I finished several books:

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel, June 2016.
Review: The author is an excellent storyteller and creator of interesting characters. The novel is about people seeking freedom - freedom from parents, families and social custom, from all that is expected of them. Edgar and Fern, born to wealthy parents, feel they have escaped all of the responsibility of their inherited wealth, and live in the freedom they want, until the day their fortunes change and Fern's parents lose all their money. The book is about how this couple look a harsher reality in the face and how they adjust to it, or not.
Recommendation: Five stars. 

The Girl from Yesterday by Kathryn Miller Haines, published April 17, 2017, Pocket Star Comments: The thriller features complicated dysfunctional families and a convoluted plot. The situations some of the girls find themselves in are almost too hard to read about, but it's a good thriller nonetheless. Three and a half stars.  The Day I Died: A Novel by Lori Rader-Day, Comments: I enjoyed the detailed settings - two very different small towns in Indiana and Wisconsin; plus the interesting main character, a woman who escapes abuse at home and raises a son on her own, moving from town to town to escape being traced, while working for the FBI and police as a handwriting expert. She is believed dead by some, but when she settles in a town close to her original home, secrets and the past come to light as she works to help the police solve a local crime. A thriller with an excellent plot. Five stars.  Baby Proof by Emily Giffin, published 2006.I was able to flip quickly through the novel and still get, I think, the gist of this novel of the marriage of a couple who agree from the beginning that they don't want children. But then, one of them changes their mind. An interesting though somewhat predictable read. Four stars.   What books are on your desk this week?

Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also visit Mailbox Monday.