Author: tamaramorning

Book Review:  Upgrade, by Blake Crouch

Image belongs to Random House.

Title: Upgrade  
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre:   Sci-fi
Rating:  4 out of 5

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Like Crouch’s other books, this one was way over my head, but I enjoyed it. The author did a good job of capturing the sheer overwhelming nature of Logan’s transformation—good enough for those of us who are still regular humans and can’t process things like a computer. There’s a lot of action in this near-future story, and the book flew by.

Blake Crouch is a bestselling author who lives in Colorado. Upgrade is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #181

This week I only wrote two book reviews. I started a class at church on Wednesday evenings, so I have a bit less free time to devote to reading. Still, it’s progress.

Happy writing!

Book Review:  Paradise Girls, by Sandy Gingras

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   Paradise Girls   
Author: Sandy Gingras  
Genre:   Fiction
Rating:  4.0 out of 5

Mary Valley is in a funk. She’s a writer for home magazines, but she’s lost touch with what home means. Her life seems meaningless. The last house she wrote about was a gazillion-dollar mansion with a moat! Plus, she’s estranged from her daughter, CC and granddaughter, Larkin and mired in a dead-end relationship with her boss.

Daniel is a man adrift since his son Timmy was killed in Afghanistan. He’s living on a houseboat in Florida with Timmy’s three-legged dog, Tripod and taking tourists out on fishing charters. But his life is on the edge. He’s painting his houseboat black, and he can’t stop thinking about “getting lost at sea.”

When Mary’s boss tells her he’s spending Christmas with his ex, she books a trip with her family to The Low Key Inn, a hotel on the edge of the Everglades. But things go wrong from the get-go. CC bails out of the vacation, and Mary is stuck with an unhappy Larkin. The hotel is dated and down-on-its-luck, and perhaps its owner is a witch. Then Mary meets Daniel, casts a hook into his head and wrecks his boat.

I think Ollie was probably my favorite character in this story! I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. Mary is so klutzy and accident-prone that it made me laugh, and Larkin was adorable. I wasn’t a big fan of CC, but I did like Daniel. And, frankly, the Low Key Inn sounds completely wonderful and charming and I want to go right now.

Sandy Gingras is an award-winning author. Paradise Girls is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Cold, Cold Bones, by Kathy Reichs

Image belongs to Scribner.

Title: Cold, Cold Bones     
Author:  Kathy Reichs
Genre:   Thriller
Rating:  3 out of 5

Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.

Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears.

At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge—one in which revisiting the past may prove the only way to unravel the present.

I’ve read some of the other Brennan books and I enjoyed them, but I barely made myself finish this one. Tempe kept doing stupid stuff, frankly, and that wasn’t very believable for me, knowing this character. Oh, I know a serial copycat killer is after me and someone just busted my window in the middle of the night, but I’m going outside to see if someone is out there…No. This just did not work for me. A character that’s supposed to be smart making repeatedly dumb moves just sours the entire book for me.

Kathy Reichs is a bestselling author. Cold Cold Bones is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Scribner in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:    Potiphar’s Wife, by Mesu Andrews

Image belongs to WaterBrook & Multnomah.

Title:    Potiphar’s Wife
Author:    Mesu Andrews
Genre:    Christian fiction
Rating:  4.2 out of 5

Before she is Potiphar’s wife, Zuleika is a king’s daughter on the isle of Crete, where the sisterhood of women rules in the absence of their seafaring husbands. Now that she’s come of age, Zuleika knows she will soon be betrothed. Her father believes his robust trade with Egypt will ensure Pharaoh’s obligation to marry his daughter.

But Pharaoh refuses and gives her instead to Potiphar, the captain of his bodyguards–a crusty bachelor twice her age, who would rather have a new horse than a Minoan wife.

Abandoned by her father, rejected by Pharaoh, and humiliated by Potiphar’s indifference, Zuleika years for affection. But when her obsession with Joseph, the Hebrew chamberlain with the face and body of the gods, goes terribly wrong, she discovers the truth: Only the God of Joseph can heal her wounded heart.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this for so long, and I finally had the time! I’ve loved all of Mesu Andrews’ books I’ve read, and I really enjoyed this one, too, although not quite as much as some of the others. I found Zully really difficult to like, frankly. She was so selfish and self-absorbed and couldn’t see past her own short-sighted ambitions to anyone else. I enjoyed the secondary characters like Joseph quite a bit, and I would have liked to see more from Potiphar’s point-of-view, but Zully annoyed me quite a bit. Still, a solid read that I enjoyed.

Mesu Andrews is an award-winning author. Potiphar’s Wife is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of WaterBrook & Multnomah in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #180

This was a decent writing week: I wrote four book reviews, my June reading post, and my best books I read in June. Here’s to another productive week!

Happy writing!

The Best Books I Read in June (2022)

In June, my reading recovered a bit: I read 20 books, and DNFed six more.

Six of those twenty books really stood out, but I’ll try to pick the three I enjoyed the most.

The Iron Flower, by Laurie Forest. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed this re-read. I’d basically forgotten everything that happened, so it was like I was reading this magical adventure for the first time.

This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede. From the very first page, the voice of this story completely captured my attention and then my heart. I thought the setting was unique, but it was the characters that made this truly enjoyable. Alessa and Dante’s banter and repartee were just so much fun! Even the secondary characters were captivating.

Nora Goes Off Script, by Annabel Monaghan. This was sweet and snarky, emotional and believable, and I binge-read it in one go!

Honorable mention: Here for the Drama by Kate Bromley, The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor, and Her Darkest Secret by Jessica R. Patch.

What I Read in June (2022)

Books Read in June: 20
Books Read for the Year:  119/250

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

Heavenly Help, by Sarah Bowling (spiritual).

Praying the Bible, by Donald S. Whitney (spiritual).

Becoming Mrs. Lewis, by Patti Callahan (TBR). I had problems putting this down. I enjoyed it SO much.

Matthew’s Story, by Tim Lahaye (spiritual re-read).

The Iron Flower, by Laurie Forest (re-read). This series is really good!

For Review:

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse, by Natalie Caña. I almost DNFed this, and I’m still not sure finishing it was the best choice.

Nora Goes Off Script, by Annabel Monaghan. I LOVED this! It was sweet, it was funny, I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Limitless Sky, by Christina Kilbourne. This was an interesting dystopian novel. I liked it, and I’d read more books if they existed.

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, by Kate Khavari. I listened to the audio book, and I thoroughly enjoyed this tale!

Breaking Time, by Sasha Alsberg. This was an okay read, but not particularly unique. And a time-traveler from the 1500s should sound like he’s from the 1500s, right?

The Blue Diamond, by Leonard Goldberg. I enjoyed my second foray into The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series.

The Girls in Queens, by Christine Kandic Torres. This was a tough read (but short). A friendship that I found ugly and lots of horrific behavior from guys.

Ending Forever, by Nicholas Conley. I’ll call this speculative fiction for lack of a better term…quite a unique tale.

Here for the Drama, by Kate Bromley. People who attract drama are not my favorite, so I was hesitant to pick this up, but I enjoyed it so, so much! The banter between Winnie and Liam was fantastic!

Ordinary Monsters, by J. M. Miro. This took a long time to read. It was interesting, but I won’t read more of the series.

The Drowning Sea, by Sarah Stewart Taylor. Love this Irish thriller series, and the setting was such a part of things it made the story sing.

This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede. I adored this entire read! The voice was phenomenal, and the two MC were wonderful!

Her Darkest Secret, by Jessica R. Patch. This was an extremely well-done Christian thriller, and I never figured out who the killer was—highly unusual for me.

The Lost, by Jeffrey B. Burton. Mace is such a relatable character to me! I enjoy this series a lot!

Left Unfinished:

The Physicists’ Daughter, by Mary Anna Evans. The first 10% was very slow to me and I lost interest.

Game of Strength and Storm, by Rachel Menard. I didn’t make it very far in this. There was a slew of unfamiliar things and concepts and very little information to make sense of them and ground me, so it didn’t keep my attention.

Fake It Till You Bake It, by Jamie Wesley. I liked Donovan’s voice, but Jada…was awful. Maybe she’s “the most reviled woman in America” for good reason. I couldn’t force myself to read more than 10% of this because she was so horrible.

The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi. I wasn’t a fan of the main character in the beginning of the book.

Our Crooked Hearts, by Melissa Albert. Too dark, full of the occult. Just wasn’t for me.

Gone But Not Furgotten, by Cate Conte. Just…kind of bored me. I wasn’t interested in any of the characters.

Donut Disturb, by Ellie Alexander. The setting just didn’t work for me. A small-town bakery that employees like 25 people and is always super busy? Not believable to me.

Book Review:  The Lost, by Jeffrey B. Burton

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  The Lost    
Author:  Jeffrey B. Burton
Genre:  Mystery
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Glencoe, Illinois: A home invasion turned kidnapping at the mansion of billionaire financier Kenneth J. Druckman brings Mason “Mace” Reid and his cadaver dog, Vira, to this wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Druckman was assaulted, left behind while his wife and young daughter were taken for ransom.

Brought to the scene by the FBI, Reid specializes in human remains detection, and Vira is the star of his pack of cadaver dogs he’s dubbed The Finders. After Vira finds the dead body of the mother, former supermodel Calley Kurtz, everyone is on high alert to find Druckman’s missing daughter before the five-year-old disappears forever. But the trail Vira finds on the property’s dense woodlands leads right back to Druckman himself.

With the help of Detective Kippy Gimm, Reid and Vira must race against the clock. Nothing is as it appears to be . . . and the red herrings could be lethal.

I’m really enjoying this series! Mace and Kippy are both characters I like—especially Mace with his self-deprecating humor—and obviously, Vira is amazing. I liked how the two separate storylines intwined, adding more nuance to both and, as always, I’m fascinated by the talents of cadaver dogs. This is a good, solid mystery.

Jeffrey B. Burton was born in California but now lives in St. Paul. The Lost is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Her Darkest Secret, by Jessica R. Patch

Image belongs to Harlequin.

Title:  Her Darkest Secret    
Author: Jessica R. Patch  
Genre:   Mystery, Christian
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

The sight of a goose feather at a murder scene modeled after a children’s poem is enough to make FBI special agent Fiona Kelly’s blood turn to ice. Almost two decades ago, a feather was left with her sister’s body—and with every subsequent victim of the Nursery Rhyme Killer. Now he’s back. Only this time, his latest gruesome murder is a message to the only one who ever got away: Fiona.

Finding “Rhyme” is an obsession that’s fueled Fiona’s career—and destroyed her marriage to fellow FBI agent Asa Kodiak. Now Fiona and Asa have to put their past tensions aside and work together one last time. But Rhyme is watching, and catching this killer may force Fiona to reveal her biggest, darkest secret…the one only he knows.

I enjoyed this so much! I never did figure out who the killer was—which rarely happens—and each new twist kept me on the edge of my seat. The team dynamics were very well done, and I’d love to read more about these characters, especially Fiona and Asa. I’ve read a few less than stellar Christian romantic suspense novels, but never a thriller like this, and I loved how the faith was integrated seamlessly into the storyline. I highly recommend this read!

Jessica R. Patch is a bestselling author. Her Darkest Secret is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.)