I Remember You

Title: I Remember You
Author: Brian Freeman
Published: August 9th 2022 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Kindle, 384 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller / Science Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

First Sentence: How bad was that July 4? Let me count the ways.

Blurb: On the Fourth of July, Hallie Evers dies at a rooftop party in Las Vegas.

Hours later, she wakes up in the hospital, disoriented but alive. Why can’t she find the doctor who revived her? Why does her head feel crowded and loud? Why do her memories feel both foreign and familiar? Her self-doubt spirals into crippling paranoia.

Hallie knows that mental illness runs in her family—her mother suffered from delusions that led to an early death. But now even Hallie’s dreams are fraught with details that seem like more than imagination—vivid images of a city she remembers but has never visited in her life. As she embarks on a cross-country search for answers, Hallie catches glimpses of what feel like another person’s memories. It’s a dark, horrifying, tragic vision…of someone else’s murder.

But is any of it real? (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Brian Freeman has a way of grabbing you from the beginning with no extra fluff or meandering narrative and with rabbit trails as dizzying as Hallie’s dreams. The science seemed a bit farfetched and the technology did have me wondering about possibilities, but I was in for this ride no matter where it took me.

As I was reading, I couldn’t figure out what the flame would be that had ignited the anger and the fury. Then out of nowhere, Brian Freeman began to close the loop. Twist after twist the author brings us to the edge of the cliff. To a place that will show Hallie --- How could I not put that together? The clue was there from the beginning.

The ending is a kaleidoscope of all the parts coming together and the reverberation of what is left.

No matter if you read Freeman’s stand-alone books or delve into his series, you will not be disappointed in this book or his previous works.

Long Gone

Title: Long Gone
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Published: August 9th 2022 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Detective Annalisa Vega #2

First Sentence: Prologue: When the other two didn’t come back for more than ten minutes, he went to look for them.

Blurb: Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line.

Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he’s got a new woman in his sights—Annalisa’s best friend.

Annalisa is desperate to protect her friend and force Bocks to pay, either for Hammond’s death or his earlier crime. But when no one else believes the connection, she takes increasingly risky chances to reveal the truth. Because both Hammond and Bocks had secrets to die for, and if she doesn’t untangle them soon, Annalisa will be next. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Though the previous book was released a year ago, in book years, that is a long time, and I wished Joanna Schaffhausen had done a better job in refreshing the reader's memory. There are bits and pieces sprinkled throughout, but it would have been easier to give a paragraph review and then add reminders along the way.

As for the plot, it was at a mediocre pace that I thought was never going to end, and by the midway point, I was losing track of the members of the “fantastic four” and everyone else thrown in as a diversion. Annalisa Vega, as a detective, is not impressing me and I find her to be a bit on the repetitious and one-dimensional side.

Will I continue with the series? Probably not. I enjoyed the Ellery Hathaway series and had hoped Annalisa Vega would spark the same interest, but that did not happen.

Witches and Wedding Cake

Title: Witches and Wedding Cake
Author: Bailey Cates
Published: July 28th 2020 by Berkley Books
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Genre: Paranormal Amateur Sleuth
Series: Magical Bakery Mystery #9

First Sentence: “Anytime the afternoon of the sixteenth will work,” I said into my cellphone.

Blurb: Katie will be marrying firefighter Declan McCarthy in less than a week, and she's still finding time to run the Honeybee Bakery, where she infuses sweets and treats with special spells and cheerful charms. But her hope of getting hitched without a hitch is short-lived. When Declan's family shows up early to enjoy a few extra days in Savannah, his youngest sister finds an unsavory surprise: her ex-husband, dead in a hotel room hours after they argued.

The ex was scam artist with a lot of enemies, but the argument puts Declan's sister under suspicion. Between dress fittings and dough-kneading, Katie--along with her witchy friends in the spellbook club--will really have to work some magic to figure out who killed the con man...or there may not be a wedding.

My Opinion: I must not have been in the right frame of mind to read this book since I found every character, and their situations, to be predictable, annoying, and bordering on whiney. Somehow tracking down the murderer of a con man while preparing for a wedding seemed absurd. Let it go, Katie, let it go.

I continue to wish this series was more hedge witchery than amateur sleuth, but since it isn’t, I am glad that Colin made a slight reappearance since he is turning into my favorite character.

Will I continue--of course. I have one more book to get caught up on, and I have a habit of finishing what I start.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

Title: The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Author: Jamie Ford
Published: August 2nd 2022 by Atria Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

First Sentence: Faye Moy signed a contract stating that she would never marry.

Blurb: Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.

As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.

My Opinion: I must admit I was concerned when I first picked up this book -- the number of women and the ability to keep their time in history correct worried me. Faye, Dorothy, Afong, Greta, Zoe, Lai, and Annabel are a large cast to remember but don’t worry, that’s the easy part.

Not told linearly, yet easy to keep all the players straight, Jaime Ford opened a new world -- Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance/inherited trauma/generational trauma. Not knowing these strange new words, I had to rabbit trail my way through Google to get a better understanding. Still, a bit confused if the premise was built on literal science or pseudo-science, yet I eventually realized it didn’t matter.

A deep, painful, and satisfying narrative as each woman’s story unfolds. As their lives are laid raw, each woman becomes your favorite, the one you root for most. They each meld together and hold a place in your heart. A heart that will be broken and repaired time and time again.

Historical fiction, fiction-fiction, non-fiction, women’s fiction, speculative fiction, and dystopian fiction all at the same time. And yet, all originating from a true story.

As a side note, don’t skip the acknowledgments. I found them to be just as fascinating as the book itself.

Mint Chocolate Murder

Title: Mint Chocolate Murder
Author: Meri Allen
Published: July 26th 2022 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, Paperback 304 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Ice Cream Shop Mysteries #2

First Sentence: After spending ten hours on my feet at the ice cream shop, I longed for a hot bath and a few hours curled up with an Agatha Christie paperback, a glass of pinot noir, and a cuddle with my cat, Rocky.

Blurb: When Udderly Delightful Ice Cream shop manager Riley Rhodes is summoned to Penniman’s Moy Mull Castle, it’s the cherry on top of a successful summer season. The gothic pile built by an eccentric New England Gilded Age millionaire has been transformed into a premiere arts colony by Maud Monaco, a reclusive former supermodel. As part of Moy Mull’s Fall Arts Festival, Maud is throwing a fantasy ice cream social and hires Riley to whip up unique treats to celebrate the opening of an exhibit by Adam Blasco, a photographer as obnoxious as he is talented.

As Penniman fills up with Maud’s art-world friends arriving for the festival, gossip swirls around Blasco, who has a dark history of obsession with his models. Riley’s curiosity and instincts for sleuthing – she was a CIA librarian – are piqued, and she wonders at the hold the cold-hearted photographer has over the mistress of Moy Mull.

But when Adam is found dead behind the locked door of Moy Mull’s dungeon, Riley realizes there’s more than one suspect who’d wanted put the malicious photographer on ice. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: The first twenty percent of the book is overly descriptive and does little to move the story forward. You know there will be a murder. You can guess who the victim will be, and you are ninety percent sure who did it and how. So why keep reading. That measly ten percent and the hope you have it wrong.

As you get to the final chapters, you realize you were correct from the beginning. The actual reason became inconsequential, and the reader realized there were many supplementary narratives Meri Allen could have incorporated early on to keep the reader engaged.

Now to the decision — should my radar be on for additional books by this author.

Red Flags

Title: Red Flags
Author: Lisa Black
Published: July 26th 2022, Kenningston
Format: Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Locard Institute Thriller #1)

First Sentence: Few things mobilize people more quickly than a missing child.

Blurb: When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she’s shocked to discover that the child’s mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion—until their infant son is taken.

“Every contact leaves a trace.” That’s the basic principle of forensic science followed by pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies. A reluctant Ellie is teamed with Rachael, employed by Hunter to help with the investigation. Rachael is assistant dean at the prestigious Locard Forensic Institute, named in honor of the French criminologist who inspired the profession. But in this case, discovering where those traces lead quickly becomes a dangerous journey through a web of greed and deadly ambition.

At first antagonists, then allies, Ellie and Rachael race to find the baby alive and bring the kidnappers to justice. What seemed like a simple ransom grab reveals links to a lobbying effort to loosen regulations on a billion-dollar gaming empire. Unless they can piece together the evidence before the Senate hearing, Rebecca’s son—and others like him—will face an unthinkable fate. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: The first four chapters of this book did not mesh well with a vacation brain. Who was that again? Which is the husband? The business owner? The best friend? The mom? Either I needed to slow down or start taking notes.

My brain had grasped onto two characters when the kidnapping was relayed to Ellie, but so glad that I was wrong since that would have been too easy. Instead, I was gut-punched with each revelation and by the last couple of chapters, I realized that Lisa Black left tidbits along the way that only made sense when all was revealed.

To say that I loved this book would be an understatement. The pacing is phenomenal, the lessons along the way regarding insidious online gaming are eye-opening, and the interaction between Rachael and Ellie has me looking forward to the next book in this series.

Murder at the Blueberry Festival

Title: Murder at the Blueberry Festival
Author: Darci Hannah
Published: July 26th 2022, Kensington Books
Format: Kindle, 319 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Beacon Bakeshop #3

First Sentence: Having lived in an old, refurgished lighthouse in Michigan for over a year, I had come to realize a few things.

Blurb: After a career on Wall Street, Lindsey is making a different kind of dough in a pretty lakeside village, and the upcoming blueberry festival—including the pie-eating contest her bakery is hosting—is the highlight of the summer. But soon Beacon Harbor runs into a patch of trouble.

A local real estate agent gets pranked. A parade float gets pelted with water balloons. It’s all laughed off until the stunts start escalating—and looking more like sabotage. As the event turns into a debacle complete with rampaging goats, Lindsey’s sweetheart, a former SEAL, starts investigating. But the juicy mystery takes a bitter turn when a man—dressed up as a Viking—is found dead in a boat, and it’s no longer mischief but murder .

My Opinion: I was beginning to wonder if the murder mystery was going to appear. Thinking that the suspense was only going to involve tracking down a prankster, and decided that I would be ok with that if the pranks remained funny. Then the body appeared, leading to Darci Hannah becoming too obsessed with what sounded like a Dr. Seuss rhyme. After the verse ran its course, things settled a bit, but there were more questions to answer.

Unfortunately, the answers came after a drawn-out repetitive book which had the reader wondering if the author had a direction or resorted to throwing ideas out in the hope something would eventually stick.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one completely missed the mark.

The Song Never Dies

Title: The Song Never Dies
Author: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
Published: November 16th 2015 by Bastei Entertainment
Format: Kindle, 123 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Cherringhame #22

First Sentence: Lauren Dumford checked her makeup in the passenger mirror one last time.

Blurb: When Alex King, leader of legendary 90s rock group Lizard, hosts a party to get the band back together, old grudges surface. At dawn Alex is found floating in the pool of his Cherringham mansion.

To the police it's a drug-fueled accident. But when Jack and Sarah get involved, they quickly discover that while a song may never die - the person, who wrote it, might have been murdered.

My Opinion: I’m not sure why I didn’t connect with The Song Never Dies, but there was a part of me that couldn’t wait for it to be over. Other than Jack and Sarah, the characters did not appeal to me. The narrative was tedious, and by the conclusion, I did not care who was responsible for the death or the reason behind it.

The UnKept Woman

Title: The Unkept Woman
Author: Allison Montclair
Published: July 26th 2022 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Historical, Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery #4

First Sentence: Prologue. The black Wolseley roared down Welbeck Street and came screeching to a halt behind the two patrol cars double-parked at Number 51

Blurb: The Right Sort Marriage Bureau was founded in 1946 by two disparate individuals - Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (whose husband was killed in the recent World War) and Miss Iris Sparks who worked as an intelligence agent during the recent conflict, though this is not discussed. While the agency flourishes in the post-war climate, both founders have to deal with some of the fallout that conflict created in their personal lives. Miss Sparks finds herself followed, then approached, by a young woman who has a very personal connection to a former paramour of Sparks. But something is amiss and it seems that Iris's past may well cause something far more deadly than mere disruption in her personal life. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn is struggling to regain full legal control of her life, her finances, and her son - a legal path strewn with traps and pitfalls.

Together these indomitable two are determined and capable and not just of making the perfect marriage match. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: The beginning of the book made me nervous, but as the multiple plots unfolded, the history lessons began, and the humor returned, I was right back in the thick of it with Iris and Gwen and loved every minute of The Unkept Woman.

I find Sparks & Bainbridge to be hidden gems and hope Allison Montclair will give us more of this duo and their antics. Not sure where they will go next, but one thing is for sure -- I won’t be disappointed.