Defending Jacob tells the story of a 14 year old boy accused of murdering a classmate in the woods before school on a chilly April morning. Jacob’s father is the assistant district attorney and immediately launches to his defense. 

The tension of the story is simple, is Jacob innocent like his father believes? But Landay adds more to the problem, unbeknownst to most Jacob’s grandfather is in prison for murder. Is there a murder gene? Was Jacob born with a propensity toward violence? 

I think this novel was a bit over written and could have been condensed. However I loved the characterization and the development of both parents. I think it could’ve been made much more interesting with the addition of Jacob‘s perspective. 

Overall I am glad I read it and it has aged better than most novels from 10 years ago. If you are a fan of legal fiction, I think this is a great read. 

The Feather Thief is a different take on the true crime genre. Rather than a gory story of murder, this is the story of the greatest natural history heist in known history. 

You may be familiar with the events in this book from the news, but if you are not I suggest diving in without much knowledge. It is a wild ride. I want to avoid spoiling anything, but this is a tense story of an unlikely culprit stealing millions of dollars worth of artifacts from a famous museum in the UK. The author conducted research that fuels the second half of the novel, rightly following suspicions that the known story was far from complete. 

If you like true crime and need a break from the intense content or if you just prefer your crime entertainment without bodily harm, this is a fantastic choice. Also it obviously has great appeal to nature and bird lovers. Or maybe you’re like me and none of those groups fit just right, in which case you might still love it. Simply put, I think this has broad mysterious appeal. 

The Perfect Child is a dark psychological thriller centering on Heather and Chris and their adopted daughter, Janie.

After many years of infertility and awaiting adoption approval, Janie comes into their lives at work. Chris and Heather both work at the hospital that treats Janie when she is discovered alone in just a diaper wandering a parking lot. Chris instantly falls in love, while Heather is more reluctant. Janie has clearly been through unthinkable abuse and neglect. 

When they finally bring Janie home, the trouble begins. What is Janie’s past and can she be helped? Is it really as bad as Heather perceives? In the end, the consequences are incredibly serious and no one in the family is safe. 

If you are a fan of The Push or novels that confront the challenges of motherhood, this book is a wild ride and quite a thrill. Some people won’t be a fan of the open ending, but I think it’s just right. 

Is the word quixotic a spoiler? It certainly describes this novel about Zach Wells, a professor of geology, who goes on a strange quest to save people he is not sure exist. 

Zach’s daughter begins to have changes in her vision at the start of the book. They take her to several specialists and the news is not good. Around the same time, Zach finds messages written in Spanish asking for help in shirts he ordered on eBay. He searches for answers as he deals with the sadness of his daughter’s condition. 

This book uses lots of paleontology and chess references, along with other little known inside baseball type phrases to organize the writing. I understood little of it, but what I was able to follow or look up showed even more depth and complexity in this short but powerful book. There are several different endings in print, indicated by the color and direction of the compass on the cover. I just love the level of thought that Everett clearly puts into his novels. I highly recommend this book. 

The Last Mrs. Parrish is a twisty psychological thriller centered on Amber, a 26 year old woman with a shady past, trying to steal the wealthy husband of Daphne Parrish, a mom of two and head of a charity for Cystic Fibrosis. 

From the beginning we learn that Amber is not all that she claims, but around half way through the book everything gets turned on it’s head. You don’t know what you thought you knew, and the tension is suddenly higher and higher. 

I can’t say much about the ending, but it was very satisfying. If you like a “I stole your life” thriller, or if you’ve never tried one, The Last Mrs. Parrish has plenty of tense entertainment on offer. 

Delilah Green is a queer woman living in the city, far away from her past in the small town of Bright Falls. When her step-sister Astrid gets married, Delilah is roped into being the photographer for all of the wedding festivities. This begins two weeks back in a place that never felt like home. 

When she returns, Delilah soon runs into an old high school acquaintance named Claire. Claire is a single mom of a preteen with a complicated ex. There is immediate chemistry and the spice in this book is fun and believable. 

While Delilah and Claire figure out their attraction and try to have a casual fling, there is also subplot action around Astrid’s upcoming wedding. This book serves up a great perspective on functional and dysfunctional relationships. 

This is a book for fans of HEAs, but it feels grounded in reality. Well written and nicely paced, this book will have you rooting for all the characters to find and ask for what they need. 

Counterfeit is a fast paced story of Ava Wong, a former lawyer turned stay at home mom, who becomes wrapped up in the world of selling counterfeit high end handbags. 

Ava’s son is difficult, her marriage is rocky, and she needs to make some money for speech therapy for her son. Conveniently, a friend from her past reenters her life and quickly sucks her in to the counterfeit world. 

Told in interviews with the police, the story will keep you reading as you cannot wait to find resolution. 

What I love about this book is that it delivers that tension and desire to keep reading with virtually no content warnings. This is the perfect book when you don’t want to be stressed but you want a fast paced read. 

This book is a fantastic expansion of the Click! universe and if you are a fan of that graphic novel series, this is a must read. 

Beth and Chanda need to make money to buy a birthday gift. After a failed lemonade stand, they get a chance to pet sit for an affluent neighbor. When they decide to post pictures of the fancy house to Instagram, things get a little tricky. They make a costly mistake which they have to scramble to make up for it, but in the end they learn their lesson about honesty and responsibility.

I absolutely loved the illustrations, the exposition, and the storyline. This is a fantastic middle grades graphic novel! 

I decided to read Booth because it is long listed for the Booker prize and I enjoy historical fiction. Booth is about the family of the infamous John Wilkes Booth and focuses primarily on his many siblings. 

Booth’s mother gave birth 10 times in roughly as many years. As was common in the time, many of these children died. Much of the story focuses on how those losses impacted the surviving children and their mother. We learn significantly about the lives of Asia, Rosalie, and Edwin. John is mentioned here and there in passing.

This book is almost entirely factual and very little is fictionalized, mostly the details about Rosalie‘s life which are vastly missing from his historical record. 

As I was reading, I kept thinking why are we not hearing more about John Wilkes Booth? My question was answered and the brilliance of this book was revealed in the authors note at the end. Fowler explains that she wanted to write his historical account that did not center the murderer and instead focused on how his actions impacted the family. She was inspired by school shootings. In this way she shows both compassion for the family as well as culpability. 

This was more to the historical side and in that way it was not the typical fiction experience I was expecting. However I cannot argue that this was well written, extensively research, and a perspective that was missing about a man who will continue to live in infamy.