Book Review: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms, May 1, 2019, Amazon Digital Services

Source: Amazon Unlimited

For moms, single or otherwise, who need a life of their own on top of being a super parent. An inspiring read for moms, and single parents, everywhere! Amy Byler's husband left her permanently for Hong Kong three years earlier, left her with two kids in grammar school whom she had to support financially and physically. After John comes home unexpectedly for one summer and decides to bond with the kids for a brief while, Amy gets a chance to spend a week on her own in New York City to attend a librarian's conference. How she finds herself in her new surroundings, among new friends and acquaintances, and even with the prospect of new loves and a boost in her career, is the theme of the story. A thumbs up novel for overworked moms. A novel meant to inspire parents , especially women and single mothers.

For moms, single or otherwise, who need a life of their own on top of being a super parent. An inspiring read for moms, and single parents, everywhere!

Amy Byler's husband left her permanently for Hong Kong three years earlier, left her with two kids in grammar school whom she had to support financially and physically. After John comes home unexpectedly for one summer and decides to bond with the kids for a brief while, Amy gets a chance to spend a week on her own in New York City to attend a librarian's conference.

How she finds herself in her new surroundings, among new friends and acquaintances, and even with the prospect of new loves and a boost in her career, is the theme of the story.

A thumbs up novel for overworked moms. A novel meant to inspire parents , especially women and single mothers. 

The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey: A Brief Review

The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, May 14, 2019, Soho PressSetting: India, 1922, southeast of BombayGenre: mystery

My goodreads review:

Traveling back in time to 1922 in British India, where the Raj (the British) oversaw royal families and princely states, while allowing local religious and other traditions to continue. I learned a lot about what it might have been like then, for men,  and women as well who were living in purdah or seclusion. 

A mystery novel, with intrigue and suspense, and romance, in a unique historical setting and time period.  Perveen, a female lawyer, is sent to Satapur state to help resolve the conflicts over where the young raj is to be educated. There are conflicts between the boy's grandmother, who wants him to stay close to home, and his mother, who wants an English education for him. There have been unfortunate deaths in the family, and Parveen wonders if the young raj is in danger. 

I enjoyed this second in the Perveen Mistry series and look forward to the next.

Opening paragraph:

Perveen Mistry sighed, adjusting her hat on her sweating brow. It was six thirty in the morning, and already eighty-two degrees. Cantering around the riding ring at the Royal  Western India Turf Club, never quite keeping up with her friend Alice, was vigorous exercise. 

 Memes: First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by I’d Rather Be at the Beach; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

Sunday Salon: Two Thrillers reviewed

The Reunion

The Reunion by Guillaume Musso, Kindle edition, July 9, 2019, Little, Brown and Company

Source: Netgalley

A novel of suspense about high school students in the south of France, the Cote d'Azur, and the secrets two of them have kept for 25 years. Their school reunion forces them to confront what happened years ago, when their popular classmate Vinca disappeared, believed to have run off with her philosopher teacher, Alexis. Another murder soon puts everything into question, and the former students must discover what really happened to Vinca and what role others around them may have played in her story.

I read this in one day and part of the night, intrigued by the story and the characters and the unfolding of the unusual plot. The setting of the south of France - the cliffs and the sea - add to the interest of the novel. Recommended. 

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides,  published February 5, 2019, Celadon Books

Source: library book

Theo, a psychotherapist gets a job with a secure private medical unit in order to try to reach a patient, Alicia, who is said to have murdered her husband and then gone silent for years.  Theo is obsessed with her case and feels he can get her to open up and even talk again about what happened years ago. 

The case of Alicia is interesting to Theo as Alicia was a successful painter in what seemed like a healthy marriage.  But things are not what they seem, as I found out as I read along. And everyone becomes suspect!

The twist at the end caught me by surprise and totally turned everything around. Four stars.  

I must finish other books I started before reading the above psychological thrillers. Now reading three good books:  The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, 

Tahoe Deep by Todd Borg, and The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

What are your favorite book genres this summer? 

Memes: 

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and the Sunday Salon,  Mailbox Monday.

Sunday Salon: Mystery Novels Set in France and India

I got through a French novel, a thriller, in record time. Hooray! My reading in that language is getting better, with the help of the built-in dictionary in my ereader.

Un Juge Sous Surveillance

Un Juge Sous Surveillance by John La Galite, December 6, 2014, in French, borrowed through Kindle Unlimited.  The book is also published under the title, Justice Pour Tous (Kindle and paperback editions)

Setting: France and Spain

An investigating judge tries to find the truth behind two murders in one family and unwillingly involves her daughter Ines in her investigation. Thrilling and suspenseful, especially a dangerous climb in the snowy Pyrenees to reach a dead man and the evidence he carries that could condemn some in high positions.  

Timely topics, and a daring main character in the judge, Marion Lambert, made this an enjoyable reading challenge. 

On a recent visit to the library, I netted more books that I had intended to borrow! This is one I'm currently reading. 

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The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, May 14, 2019, Soho Press

Setting: India, 1922, southeast of Bombay

Genre: mystery

India's only female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, is asked to help made a decision re the education of a young crown prince in the kingdom of Satapur. She finds she has walked into a trap. (publisher)

I'm enjoying it so far, especially since there is a hint of possible romance in the remote mountain area for the main character, Perveen.

Memes: 

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and the Sunday Salon,  Mailbox Monday.

Sunday Salon: Exciting New Books

Books on my reading list: 

Tahoe Deep

Tahoe Deep by Todd Borg, August 1, 2019, Thriller Press

Genre: mystery, thriller set in Tahoe

In 1940, a teenage blind boy named Danny Callahan witnessed the scuttling of the SS Tahoe Steamer, the grandest ship to ever sail Lake Tahoe. Eighty years later, a killer beats up old man Daniel Callahan, demanding to know the truth about a secret that went down with the ship. (publisher)

A Killer Edition

A Killer Edition by Lorna Barrett, August 13, 2019, Berkley

Mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Tricia Miles overhears an argument in a bookstore, and later finds that one of the people in the argument has been killed. 

My lucky library find:

The Dragonfly Sea

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, March 12, 2019, Knopf Publishing Group

I opened this tantalizing cover of a book at the library and found a dedication to  the author's mother, whose name I thought I recognized. Sure enough, the author is the daughter of a former college classmate of mine from over 50 years ago. We had lost contact, but are soon to be in touch. How amazing and exciting to recover a friend through this book! 

Setting: island of Pate, off the coast of Kenya

Book description: a coming-of-age novel about a young woman struggling to find her place in a vast world--a poignant exploration of fate, mortality, love, and loss.

Memes: 

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and the Sunday Salon,  Mailbox Monday.

Review: In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten

In the Heat of the Moment

In the Heat of the Moment (Sandhamn Murders, #5) by Viveca Sten, 2018

I read this mystery series set in Sweden out of order, No. 1 and then No. 5, not that it matters as each book can be read as a stand alone mystery. The only carry over are the main characters, two police detectives, and the island setting, Sandhamn.

In this the fifth, the time is Midsummer Eve and Midsummer, a big celebration in  Sweden. This novel takes us to the island of Sandhamn, Swedish archipelago, where teens go to celebrate in droves and the police are out in full force to prevent violence, crime, or drunken tourists. The island dwellers mostly stay at home, knowing the crowds and the rowdiness that will prevail on pleasure boats and on land. 

There is a murder on the island and some teens are missing, some are suspects in foul play, some found, interrogated, and grilled by parents and police. There is general mayhem among families, as well as mistakes made, one almost fatal. 

I learned about the summer solstice celebration of Midsummer in Sweden, island culture, and much more in this novel, besides an interesting plot and some teen behavior that is mostly universal. A good mystery novel that I recommend. I  hope to read all eight in the series.

Here is the first in the Sandhamn Murder series, which I read last year.

Still Waters

This one I rated a five as well. 

My review from goodreads:

The first in the Sandhamn mystery series, Still Waters is set in the Swedish archipelago with its hundreds of islands, including Sandhamn. The main characters are a police officer and his childhood friend, a lawyer, who try to solve the mystery of a man found dead, tangled in a fishing net off the island. Atmospheric and suspenseful, the novel has a good plot, interesting characters, and a splendid description of the picturesque islands in this part of Sweden.

Book Review: What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

What Rose Forgot, a novel by Nevada Barr

What Rose Forgot

First paragraph:

Rose's head jerks, drops, and she's awake. I've fallen asleep meditating, she thinks. It's been a while since she's done that. Over the years, an ease of concentration has incrementally developed. Staying awake is - was - easy. Eyes still closed, she sweeps her hands overhead, breathing in. The inner elbow of her right arm burns like a cigarette has been stubbed out on her flesh....

Rose, 68, wakes up frail, feeling like 100 years old, and finds herself on the grounds of a home for the mentally impaired, from which she seems to have escaped. She doesn't remember how she got there or why. After being hauled back into the maximum security home, Rose realizes she  doesn't belong there but is being drugged to make it seem as if she is mentally incompetent or suffering from ALS. Rose stops taking her medications, hides her pills, becomes slowly more alert daily, and plots her escape.

She not only has to get through locked doors, but find out who has done this to her - admitted her to this home from which no one comes out alive. Rose's husband has recently died, which leaves only her two stepsons and her 13-year-old granddaughter, Mel, the only one she thinks she can count on.

As the suspense builds, Rose, a former yoga practitioner, decides how to fool her caretakers in the institution and slither out of their grasp, with the help of granddaughter Mel and Rose's long-distance sister Marion. She also has to find out who committed her to the home and why.

I loved the intrigue, the unanswered questions posed by a tantalizing plot , and Rose's determination and quick thinking, at age 68. This was an entertaining read, which I did in just over a day.

This ebook was borrowed through NetGalley. Publication: September 17, 2019, Minotaur Books

Meme: Each week, Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the beginning paragraph(s) of a book they are reading or plan to read.