March Wrap-Up

Shannon's Books:

So, my month of reading started off strong, however: it puttered out near the end. The last two weeks of this month I was working 40+ hour weeks due to Co-vid. I work at a paint your own pottery studio and while we couldn't be open to the public we started delivering pottery to people houses so they could paint at home. This drew up a lot of business. Now that my area has been placed on a "stay at home" order, I plan to do a lot of reading.

1. The Twin by Natasha Preston

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis: When twins Iris and Ivy's mom dies, Iris moves in with Ivy and their dad. Ivy can't help shaking the feeling that something is off about Iris.

2. Entwined with you by Sylvia Day

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis: Eva and Gideon continue to face the demons of their past and accept the consequences of their obsessive desires.

3. The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: Dita, only fourteen when transferred to Auschwitz with her mother and father becomes the secret librarian of Block 31. She is placed in charge of eight smuggled books that are used to teach the children of Block 31. These books also help them keep the hope of survival.

4. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis: Anne and Marco, a young couple, with a 6 month old seem to have it all together. That is until returning from a dinner party to find their baby girl missing. As Detective Rasbach unravels the case, he finds that both Anne and Marco have secrets.

5. Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: Born to a wealthy and powerful yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lived the early years of her life in luxury. However, when she was six, everything changed: her father was jailed, and the family fell into debt. Bullied by her classmates and terrorized at home by her father, who became a drunken, violent monster after his release from prison, Tendo rebelled. As a teenager she became a drug addict and a member of a girl gang. At the age of 15 she spent eight months in a juvenile detention center after getting into a fight.

6. Stardust by: Neil Gaiman

Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis: Tristran Thorn promises to bring back a fallen star for the girl with whom he feels he is in love with. He sets out on a journey to fulfill his promise and stumbles into the enchanted realm that lies beyond the wall of his English country town.

7. Wake by: Lisa McMann

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: Seventeen year old Jamie has been getting sucked into other people's dreams for years, and it's getting old. She has seen been in enough falling dreams, people in their underwear dreams, and sex-crazed dreams for a lifetime. Jamie can't tell anybody because who would believe her. So Jamie lives cursed with the ability she doesn't want nor can control. Then she falls into a nightmare, and for the first time she's more than a witness.....she's a participant.

8. Fade by: Lisa McMann

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck. Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. It's up to Janie and her ability to crack the case, all while she learns the truth about herself and her ability.

Sarah's Books:

This month has been absolutely crazy for a myriad of reasons. My husband and I had the opportunity to move to Arizona to be closer to his family. So we moved out of our house, and into my mom's house (she has an apartment in her basement that we are currently occupying). Then we started doing the repairs on our old house such as painting the whole house, replacing the drop ceiling, caulking in the bathroom, and hopefully replacing the cellar door soon. So here's to reading more in April because this month did not go well.

1. Never Never by James Patterson

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis: Detective Blue's brother is accused of a grisly crime, and in an attempt to help her, her chief sends her to work a weird murder case on a mine in the middle of the desert.

2. The Elephant's Girl

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: A young girl raised in a zoo, after being stranded there by a tornado, has a deep connection with an elephant named Nyah.

3. The Woman in the Window

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: A woman with agoraphobia witnesses something that she shouldn't at her neighbors house.

4. I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: Caitlin lives in Pennsylvania and is assigned a pen pal in Zimbabwe. They form a pure friendship and unique bond.