The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is another mixed media mystery novel from Janice Hallett. If you have read The Appeal or The Twyford Code, this book is in that style but I found it distinct in style and much easier to get immersed in than TTC. 

Told in texts, transcriptions of conversations, and novel chapters, this is the story of Amanda Bailey, a true crime author, who is investigating a cluster of cult deaths twenty years ago that also involves a missing baby. Amanda is at odds and trying to work together with another author, Oliver Menzies who is working on his own novel about the Alperton Angels. 

I won't give much or anything away about this one, but I will praise how easy it was to keep reading and how steadily Hallett revealed interesting information or twists from what I was expecting as the reader. As was a frequently criticism of The Appeal, this is a long one. Other than that, I was very pleased and highly recommend it if you like her style or want to give a full mixed media novel a try. 

 The Berry Pickers begins in July 1962 when a Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia comes to Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. When the four year old girl, Ruthie, goes missing it is the second time tragedy has come for the family. Her older brother Joe, six at the time, feels the ripples of her loss throughout his life and we learn all about the family's grief as this novel spans 50 years of time. 

Meanwhile in Maine, a little girl named Norma grows up an only child with a distant father and an overbearing, overprotective mother. Norma is bothered by recurring dreams and visions that her family dismisses as her imagination. As she grows, Norma notices hard to explain differences between herself and her parents. She quietly pursues her family's secrets for years. 

This is a beautiful, emotional story of an Indigenous family torn apart by circumstances and system racism. And it's the story of a family that hid secrets and their motivations. Even with all of that, it is a story that feels quiet, important, and unassuming. I look forward to more books from Amanda Peters, her Indigenous perspective and experience straddling two identities has created a wonderful book in this debut. 

Ya'll, this story is about some flawed women in the South. Add in a revenge plot, and you know I signed up. I Love it When You Lie follows four women, three sisters and a sister in law, after the family matriarch dies. Grandma Pearl Williams raised the three sisters and their brother when their parents died in a car crash. Pearl may or may not have killed her late husband decades ago. Who knows? But the Sherriff has always held a grudge against the Williams women since. 

I loved how different each of the sisters was. Clementine, Tara, and June are each fascinating women with serious flaws and pasts you can't help but empathize with. And then there are the men in their lives, each despicable in their own way. We learn early on that there is a body, but we don't know until the end who it belongs to. 

If you liked Goodbye Earl (the recent book or the old song), this book is for you. It's a bit on the long side, but shorter than Goodbye Earl and you'll fly through it. It's a character driven family drama mystery, and if you have a love/hate relationship with the South and you like those genres it belongs on your TBR. 

The first seventy percent of this book was looking like a 4.5 to 5 star read for me, but the final third threw it off the rails for my taste. That said, I think this book will work well for a lot of readers so I'll begin with it's strengths. 

Going Zero is about a government sponsored competition that challenges participants to "go zero" to win 3 million dollars if they can survive thirty days without being found by the CIA. One participant in particular fairs very well, but we get the perspective of several as well as Cy Baxter- the designer of this intense and dangerous challenge with a dark secret. 

The ways this fell apart for me are how it suddenly went from fast paced to repetitive politically geared meanderings in the final third. All the political tropes and unveiled character motivations felt so cis hetero white guy who loves the military, which is just not my bag. But that doesn't mean it's bad! It's just not for me. 

A stellar full cast audio production that was originally for BBC radio, Resistance is an uncanny story of a rapidly spreading and deadly epidemic. Different from Covid but clearly written based on accurate research, this story was plausible and unsettling. The voice acting was top notch, and I highly recommend this for a quick listen. It would be great for a short road trip listen with passengers who don't normally listen to audiobooks. 

It's me. I'm the problem it's me. This book is still famous for a reason, but it wasn't the book for me. 

This was the second book I have read by Claudia Pineiro and while very different from Elena Knows, it showcased her amazing gift for writing short, powerful books that pack a real emotional punch. 

A Little Luck is the story of a woman who has run away from a tragic past, leaving her home country of Argentina and ending up in Boston, MA. Slowly the tragedy of her past is revealed in repetitive but ever growing short chapters interrupting the present timeline. I recommend going into this one with minimal knowledge and I'm going to praise that the synopsis doesn't ruin anything! (Quite a rarity these days!) 

Do not believe any sources labeling this as a thriller. It is very literary with tension from the gradually revealed past tragedy and from the potential resolution or lack thereof in the present time. This book is absolutely enthralling and impossible to put down. Please add this excellent translated work to your TBR. 

The Library Book is as advertised, a love letter of sorts to libraries and all they have been and can offer us in the future. If you are a friend and lover of the library, I think this book is homerun. 

It blends a bit of mystery, true crime, and lots of interesting perspectives to tell the story of LA's Central Library which burned in 1986. The beginning of the book focuses almost exclusively on the tragic burning of this huge library, and then Orlean begins introducing other topics and weaving back to the burning as it relates to the topics at hand. I learned so much from this book about unexpected topics (the evolving science of solving arson cases, the specifics of restoring books damaged in a fire, and so on), and it affirmed so many of the amazing things I see happening in the thriving library system of my relatively small city. 

I don't think a review can do this one justice, but you aren't surprised. It's right on the tin, I'm a library fanatic.