Before She Was Found

 Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf                                 Psychological Thriller

(from Amazon) For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover--movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.  Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora--and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted--not even those closest to Cora.  Before She Was Found is a timely and gripping thriller about friendship and betrayal, about the power of social pressure and the price of needing to fit in. It is about the great lengths a parent will go to protect their child and keep them safe--even if that means burying the truth, no matter the cost.

(My Review)  This is a story of friendship, bullying, and catfishing.  Three 12-year-old girls meet late at night, one gets beaten, almost to death.  Was it one of the girls?  Was it someone else?  What happened that night?  This was a very engaging read.

That's Not My Name

 That's Not My Name by Megan Lally                                    Teen & YA Mystery/Thriller

(from Amazon) She thought she had her life back. She was wrong. It was a mistake to trust him.  Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.  When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.

(My Review)  This was a fast-paced thriller.  This story keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning all the way until the end.

Wildflower

 Wildflower by Drew Barrymore                                          Memoir

(from Amazon) Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences she’s had throughout her life. It includes tales of living in her first apartment as a teenager (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck under a gas station overhang on a cross-country road trip, saying good-bye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more journeys and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today.

(My Review)  

I listened to the audiobook of this (narrated by Drew Barrymore), and found it delightful.  It is not a straight biography, but little excerpts from her life.  

The September House

 The September House by Carissa Orlando                              Horror/Thriller/Paranormal/Mystery

(from Goodreads)  A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.  When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.  Margaret is not most people.  Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

(My Review)  Hal and Margaret move into their dream house for their retirement, but things are not as they seem.  They soon learn the house is haunted, especially in the month of September.  Their daughter, Katherine, comes to visit (in September) to find her father missing.  As she tries to figure out where is he is, she tries to unravel the mystery of the house.  Is the house haunted, or is her mother suffering from a mental illness?  I found this book interesting.  It was part spooky, part Haunted Mansion, part family drama.  I would definitely recommend it.

Starling House

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow                            Fantasy/Horror/Gothic/Fiction

(from Goodreads) Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.  Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.  As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares. If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

 (My Review)

This was so atmospheric.  If you want dark academia, this is the book for you.  Opal goes to work in the haunted mansion of the author of her favorite book, which is now inhabited by Arthur Starling.  Together, they fight supernatural forces threatening the house.  I really enjoyed the relationship between Opal and Author - it gave me Beauty and the Beast vibes.  It also kinda reminded me of Ninth House.  

Shark Heart: A Love Story

 Shark Heart:  A Love Story by Emily Habeck                Literary Fiction/Magical Realism/Fantasy

(from Goodreads)  Newlyweds face the unimaginable in this epic tale about marriage, motherhood, and enduring love.  For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.  At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this bold novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.  A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

(My Review)

I've never read a book like this before.  Falling in love and getting married is hard enough, but what if you find out that he is going to turn into a great white shark?  This is a beautiful story of the dramatic journey this couple takes during their first year of marriage.

In the Lives of Puppets

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune                                      Fantasy/SciFi/Fiction/LGBTQ+

(from Goodreads)  In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.  The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans.  When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.  Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for can he accept love with strings attached?

(My Review)

This book was so delightful!  Vic, a human, lives with in a family of robots, including an inventor who collects broken robots.  Vic secretly repairs an android, Hap, and to learn more of his past (or to escape from it) they set off on an adventure.  This was a beautiful little retelling of Pinocchio, with hints of Frankenstein and Wall-E.  The characters was so lovely, and at times I found myself laughing out loud.  I loved the found-family aspect of this story. This was by the same author as The House in the Cerulean Sea which I also recommend.