From Scratch

Title: From Scratch
Author: Tembi Locke
Published: Published April 30th 2019 by Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover, 339 pages
Genre: Memoir

To be honest, I never thought this book was going to end. I understand the death process is hard, I understand raising a daughter alone is hard, but to hear Tembi Locke tell it, she was all alone, except for all her friends and family; she wasn’t prepared for her husband’s death, yet it was a 10-year journey. I lost interest about a third of the way through yet stuck with it in the hope there would be a moral to her tale. There was not.

This is a love story which began 20-years prior when a young college student met a charming Sicilian chef from a strict family who would not accept their son marrying a woman they did not know, was not Sicilian, and horror of all horrors – she was a black American, from Texas. Combining their two careers and the adoption of their daughter, the couple finds a new normal, a new peace, and a seamless life together until a soft tissue cancer metastasizes and their perfect life devolves into ten years of doctors, treatments, surgeries, hopes, and disappointments.

This is a long drawn out book about coming to terms with the things which you had no choice over. About putting past hurts to rest and realizing you did your best, loved your best, and compromised when your best was not going to make the bad go away.

Open Carry

Title: Open Carry
Author: Marc Cameron
Published: February 26th 2019 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Arliss Cutter #1

Add a little Walt Longmire, a touch of Jonathan Stride, and a pinch of Leroy Jethro Gibbs and you have Arliss Cutter, the unforgettable protagonist in Marc Cameron’s newest series.

Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter (a bit like Jonathan Stride) learned his skills, which are all numbered (a la Jethro Gibbs), from his grandfather and brings them to every assignment. This time he is headed to Alaska, with new partner Deputy Lola Fontaine, to bring back Hayden Starne a predator and kidnapper.

When a local is reported missing, everyone assumes Hayden is responsible since they were known to have worked on a local television production (think Real Housewives Alaska-style), yet things are not what they appear when a Mexican cartel boss shows up seeking revenge on the show’s producer.

This book is not for the faint of heart. I have a strong stomach and yet even I got a bit queasy. There is extreme brutality yet Arliss has a way of adding humor (this is where the Longmire reference comes in) and with a little romance from an unexpected place, yet a character which I hope returns, you end up seeing Arliss for the sensitive soul he can be.

Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold

Title: Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold
Author: Nancy Atherton
Published: June 18th 2019 by Viking
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Aunt Dimity Mystery #24

Finally, an Aunt Dimity book where Lori Sheppard is not treating her 10-year-old sons as if they were still teething and wearing short pants. Her helicopter parenting was truly getting on my nerves but she seems to have broken that mold, and not only introduced a more mature style but has introduced a tale which will keep her readers engaged.

There is no need to have read the previous 23 books in this series to understand Lori Sheppard or the village of Finch since Nancy Atherton spends the first few pages reacquainting her readers. There is a bit of repetition when she rehashes her findings with mystical Aunt Dimity, but that, along with her always needing to light the fire before she settles down for her evening discussion, is just one of the many quirks in this series.

What begins as a pre-Christmas party at Anscombe Manor quickly turns into a history lesson when Emma shows the ladies, and an unexpected guest, a curious room which had never been properly identified on any building plans. Not only is this room a mystery, but there is yet another curiosity hidden within its walls. Thus, leading the ladies on a tour of old archives and bumping down country lanes in search of a family’s history.

I enjoy the simplicity of this series, of revisiting the busybodies and laughing as the friends jump to all sorts of conclusions before realizing their over-romanticizing tends to get in the way. Granted, there is usually a moral and a happily ever after, but on occasion, you just close the book shaking your head.

The Golden Oldies Guesthouse

Title: The Golden Oldies Guesthouse
Author: Dee MacDonald
Published: August 27th 2019 by Bookouture
Format: eBook, 543 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Though not specifically billed as a sequel to “The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane”, since “The Golden Oldies Guesthouse” can be read as a standalone, it takes up about eighteen months after Tess and Simon Sparrow are married. While on vacation in the Cotswolds, the ever-adventurous Simon takes an old bumpy road and at the end is a glorious yet crumbling mansion. Called Over and Above due to its never-ending costs, which are over and above quoted repair bills, Tess and Simon toss all care to the wind and purchase it with the hopes of turning it into a long-term retreat for authors, artists, and whatnot.

The whatnot is their first set of guests who arrive in the second part of the book, and with them, secrets which bring this book to life since the first part was beginning to border on boring. As backstories are revealed, the reader finds themselves falling deeper into the narrative. From a spinster, to a lonely older man, to a has-been actress, to a couple trying to hold on to their marriage, this book bounces from one storyline to the next without missing a beat.

I do hope that Dee McDonald continues this as a series. The mere fact that each guest coming to the Sparrows’ Nest (which they had renamed) will have their own unique stories could make this a gem of a series for years to come.

Wonton Terror

Title: Wonton Terror
Author: Vivien Chien
Published: August 27th 2019 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Format: eBook, Paperback, 320 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Noodle Shop Mystery #4

I love coming back to this series. Maybe it is all the food talk or maybe it is the main character that seems to bumble her way through her amateur sleuthing, but there is something charming about Lana Lee and the input from the Mahjong Matrons. Maybe that could be a second series for Vivien Chien, something centered on the matrons who breakfast together and supply a fountain of knowledge from the comfort of their favorite booth.

The first outdoor Asian Night Market of the summer is in full swing when an explosion rips through the event. Turns out that propane tanks on food trucks can be tricky and when a body is found in the rubble, a man who was seen fighting with his wife, starts everyone gossiping when it comes to light that the two had a contentious marriage and on a previous occasion the police had gotten involved. Is it possible that his death was intentional?

It isn’t until Lana, with her murder book and overcurious mind, starts putting the clues together and asks one too many questions, do the pieces fall together and once again Lana’s life is on the line.

The Rosie Result

Title: The Rosie Result
Author: Graeme Simsion
Published: June 4th 2019 by Text Publishing Company
Format: Hardcover, 378 pages
Genre: Fiction
Series: Don Tillman #3

About halfway through I lost interest in the book. From what I remember from the prior books were more humor and more odd encounters. Granted there were a few in The Rosie Result, but they seemed to miss the mark.

With a son who is suspected of being on the autism spectrum, over-analytical, and on the spectrum himself, Don Tillman takes it upon himself to diagnose 11-year-old Hudson. There are online evaluators, but Don being Don decides to take it a step further and develops his on “Hudson Project”. There is nothing typical within the project, but in the end, both father and son come to their conclusions about themselves, friendship, responsibilities, and other suitable things which will finally put an end to all questions and allows the Tillman family to find their places, and futures, in the world.

The Rosie Result is the third and purported final book in the Don Tillman trilogy.