The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Arrangement Novels Book 1

Book Blurb:

Ainsley Greenburg is a fixer. It’s what she prides herself on.

So when Ainsley realizes her marriage is at its breaking point, she makes a decision to repair it, no matter the cost. Approaching her husband to propose the arrangement is supposed to be the hard part, but Peter agrees to the salacious plan almost immediately.

The rules are simple:

They will each date someone new once a week.
They will never discuss what happens on the dates.

Soon, though, the rules are broken, turning terrible mistakes into unspeakable consequences.

When the only person they can count on to keep their darkest secret is each other, new questions and deceits surface. Can they truly trust the person they share a life with, or will the vicious lies that have mounted over the years destroy everything they’ve built?

Once, Peter and Ainsley vowed to stand together forever, but as they push boundaries of deception, suspicion, and temptation, each begins to wonder if ’til death do us part may come sooner than they’d intended.

My Review:

Maybe I don’t get out that much and apparently not in the loop, didn’t realize “open marriages” were still a thing (just plain old affairs now?). Back in the Navy, they called them “key clubs,” something the CE and I never would have subscribed to. We’ve been married much longer than Peter and Ainsley and wouldn’t have given a key club any consideration even then.

In this case, it’s an online dating service, proposed by Ainsley (which also surprised me). She explained “the rules” she created to Peter and he agreed. She thought the whole thing would work to light a fire under their sadly fading excitement with each other. They have three children, for heaven’s sake, and they couldn’t work out a date night for the two of them? You’ve no doubt read something about this in the blurb. But aren’t rules meant to be broken?

My first experience with this author, so I wasn’t prepared for the lengths she’d go to for twists.

This book is short and fairly fast paced, so after an introduction to the main characters and the reason for their perceived predictament, the plot pace ramped up pretty quick. I must admit that I was caught off-guard more than once, hitting a new level of surprise.

How could this simple idea go so far off the rails? I did appreciate the character of Peter, not so much Ainsley. But then Peter gets caught up in Ainsley’s drama and things go a little nuts. Or a lot nuts. Just suspend belief. I was left with questions, no answers, and now I realize it was Book 1. Duh.

Definitely not a plot I’ve read very often and certainly not quite this wild. You can’t say the characters aren’t engaging, the idea entertaining, until it gets to the creepy point. Maybe I’m easily entertained, but it did keep me listening to two talented narrators. It’s one you might enjoy as well, although I’m vacillating on reading Book 2.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense Thrillers
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
ASIN: B091BDFT57
Listening Length: 5 hrs 42 mins
Narrators: George Newbern, Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Publication Date: June 29, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

The Author: KIERSTEN MODGLIN is a #1 bestselling author of psychological thrillers. Her books have sold over two million copies and been translated into multiple languages. Kiersten is a member of International Thriller Writers, Novelists, Inc., and the Alliance of Independent Authors. She is a KDP Select All-Star and a recipient of ThrillerFix’s Best Psychological Thriller Award, Suspense Magazine’s Best Book of 2021 Award, a 2022 Silver Falchion for Best Suspense, and a 2022 Silver Falchion for Best Overall Book of 2021. Kiersten grew up in rural western Kentucky and later relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where she now lives with her family. Kiersten’s readers across the world lovingly refer to her as “KMod.” A binge-watching expert, psychology fanatic, and indoor enthusiast, Kiersten enjoys rainy days spent with her favorite people and evenings with her nose in a book.

#ThrowbackThursday

The Other Side of Now: A Novel by Paige Harbison #AudiobookReview #FriendshipFiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Read by the author, this hilarious and heartfelt audiobook about how loves and lives are never truly lost, is perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood’s latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a tiny nervous breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip to Ireland. Specifically, to the village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving.

When Meg arrives, the people in town don’t just recognize her, they seem to know her. She quickly—reluctantly—realizes she has somehow slipped into an alternate reality. One where she did move to Ireland as a teenager, one where she never got famous, and—most shocking of all—one where Aimee is alive and well.

She just wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-two-lifetimes chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke . . . or else risk losing Aimee all over again.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

My Review:

Oh good grief! Is this a YA? And a fantasy? And I read it? And loved it?!

It is and I did!

Meg and Aimee are high school besties, who, out for a fun night, decide to see a fortune teller. But while Meg has a dual life line, Aimee’s reading is curt, cut short, and reveals nothing. Kind of a downer ending a thirtieth birthday party, but then she is already feeling a bit let down.

Meg has found success as Lana Lord, a hit TV show. Aimee was killed in a traffic accident not long after the birthday party. Meg shuts down. She is beyond consolable and on impulse books a trip to Ireland where she and Aimee had dreamed of going to college.

With the way our family moved throughout my school years, I never had a chance to experience a “bestie.” So, no, I couldn’t identify with how closely connected Meg was to Aimee, but it wasn’t too difficult to understand how she could find herself at a traumatic crossroads in her life at age thirty.

The experience in Ireland, however, is not at all what she expected but it’s obvious something major is going on when everyone appears to know her.

POV switches back and forth from Ireland to her life in Hollywood. The hot bartender in Ireland may be an “ex” for one thing, the boyfriend at home may have been cheating on her. But is it really possible Aimee is living in Ireland—with her family? Why is she mad at her?

I loved the characters; the prose the author delivers is lovingly and emotionally delivered, believable. The atmosphere of Ireland fleshes out the scenes and leaves you yearning for her decision to stay. Must she return?

The author, once again, has a couple twists in store for the reader. Oh, the delicious fun!

How do you pull a satisfying conclusion to this conundrum?

Stay.

Go.

Stay.

Go.

Themes of friendship, family, loss and grief, dogs (yes, dogs!), happiness. Wait, did Meg remember that fateful night differently than Aimee?

My heart fell at one point. Not the ending I was hoping for. Then—NOT the ending—and my goodness, that writer can pull another one out of the hat. Amazing. So satisfying.

If you missed this one, I’d recommend you check it out. Have I ever steered you wrong?

This audiobook is narrated by the author and she certainly does a credible job. Thank you to my local library for the borrowed copy.

Book Details:

Genre: Friendship Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0DK7NHJ93
Listening Length: 10 hrs 22 mins
Narrator: Paige Harbison
Publication Date: June 3, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Paige Harbison - author — Paige Harbison – author

A little bit about me…

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area, raised by a musician and a writer. I graduated high school early, and went to college in St. Augustine, FL. Then, between Freshman and Sophomore year, I wrote my first novel. Everything in my life changed when, the following semester, I signed my first contract at age nineteen.

I transferred schools three times for fun, and changed my major from Theatre to Painting in order to accommodate my new career. I graduated early from Towson University and continued to work on my first three published novels, all YA: Here Lies Bridget, New Girl, and Anything to Have You.

Throughout the next decade I worked as a bartender and ghostwriter, traveling as much as I could, living it up in the name of book inspo.

At the start of the pandemic, I moved with my family to Palm Springs, CA and finally slowed down enough to start thinking about my own next chapter, which led me to leave the service industry, take some opportunities in film and TV, and start work on my next book.

I am now based in Los Angeles, California, where I live with my dog, Tarot, my partner, Richie, and the 12-9000 uninvited spiders that live in and around our home.

find me on instagram and TikTok, where I do comedy videos! @pharbeaux

The River’s Daughter by Bridget Crocker #AudiobookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Best Biographies and Memoirs

Book Blurb:

A vivid and propulsive memoir about finding courage and meaning in a life outdoors, by a world-class whitewater rafting guide.

After Bridget Crocker’s parents’ volatile divorce, she moved with her mother from Southern California to Wyoming. Her life was idyllic, growing up in a trailer park on the banks of the Snake River with a stepfather she loved, a new baby brother, and the river as her companion—until her mother suddenly took up a radical new lifestyle, becoming someone Bridget barely recognized. The one constant in her life—the place Bridget felt whole and fully herself—was the river. When she discovered the world of whitewater rafting, she knew she’d found her calling.

On the river, Bridget learned to read the natural world around her and came to know the language of rivers. One of the few female guides on the Snake River, she then traveled to the Zambezi River in Africa, some of the most dangerous whitewater in the world, where she faced death and learned to conquer her fears—both on the water and off. The river taught her how to overcome years of betrayals and abuse, to trust herself, and, finally, how to help heal her family from generational cycles of trauma and poverty.

A beautifully rendered memoir of a woman coming into her own, The River’s Daughter opens us to the possibilities of transformation through nature.

My Review:

The Snake River. The CE knows it well, having grown up in Twin Falls, ID. When our kids were late teens, our daughter’s then-boyfriend persuaded us into taking a rafting trip on the American River (California). While I know our little ride (see photo) didn’t compare with what is described in this book, I only know I wasn’t into looking for greater class rapids than these, one of which almost pitched me out of the raft.

But it was fun and I’ll never forget it.

So there were several things that caught my attention about this book. And it didn’t disappoint.

The author describes her early life with first, an abusive father, then a mother tuning in, turning on, and then checking out. Too bad, as she had learned to love the step-father. It was a chance to ride some rapids that gave her a calling. She loved the river. It spoke and sang to her. It didn’t take long before she doubled down to learn how to guide, rather than just ride.

The revelation of her childhood is prefaced with trigger warnings of abuse and sexual assault. Parents who were themselves abused who knew no other way to parent. Bridget watches the metamorphosis of her mother into a flower child she didn’t know, couldn’t understand, and really didn’t want the responsibility of her daughter anymore.

Bridget’s choice of male companions reflects what might have become a generational cycle trying to repeat itself and usually ends in abandonment and the realization that what she had was not the love she’d hoped.

Still, that might also have been instrumental in her continued striving to become an independent world-class white water guide, and she conquers that goal when she finally writes of the rapids of Zambia’s Zambezi River. The writer waxed poetically, often confirming her love of the wild, with prose that delighted the mind’s eye, lent perfumed mist to the air, and authentic African sights and sounds.

Descriptions of treacherous waters, boulders and spray, and the peculiarities of eddies and precipitous drops were detailed with emotional clarity. OOH!! I loved those descriptions and the descriptions of her various guides on world-class rafting rivers.

Sorry, but I loved those sections. Not so much her attempts at reconciliation with both mother and father. Why? She has fully transformed herself. Won her struggle with the trauma…healed. She is awesome.

Ever thought you’d like to try out some white water? You might wish to check out this book first. I recommend it. And rafting? I figure you have to experience it at least once.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: North America Travel & Tourism, Adventure Travel
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks
ASIN: B0DJHDN97L
Listening Length: 9 hrs 11 mins
Narrator: Bridget Crocker
Publication Date: June 3, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Bridget Crocker - author — Photo and bio courtesy Goodreads author profile.

The Author: Explorer. Storyteller. Guide.
A leading whitewater explorer and river guide, Bridget Crocker writes adventure memoir for life travelers forging new directions in their relationships and lives. Crocker’s writing transports readers to far-flung locations filled with flawed characters overcoming incredible adversity. A trauma survivor, Crocker explores themes of recovery and overcoming multi-generational cycles as well as sexism and racism in the outdoor industry. In her work as an author, speaker and leader of women’s empowerment river workshops, Crocker helps others strengthen their connection with the natural world and find the courage to navigate harrowing obstacles both on and off the river.

#Audiobooks

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

#1 Best Seller in East South Central US Travel books in Kindle

Book Blurb:

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America – majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaing guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way – and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).

My Review:

Well, phooey. Yes, I’m aware the Appalachian Trail, known affectionately by those who really, seriously hike, “the AT” is over 2,100 miles long and stretches from Georgia to Maine. I used to love hiking. And camping. The first time we got stuck at the top of a Sierra mountain in a driving rain storm that dropped the temperature ten degrees and started gravel sliding down the side of the mountain though, we scrambled down to the hot springs below and gratefully shivered into the warm, toasty water. So, no, I’m more of a short trail hiker, more level than climbing, please. Well, more of a trail walker and home when the weather turns nasty.

But I have researched the AT, thinking there must be a drop in, drop off site that we could take advantage of. Those are as few and far between as services. When you’re out on this trail, it’s you against the elements, some of which can be brutal. “The Appalachian Trail is the longest hiking only footpath in the world.” Started in 1921, it wasn’t completed until 1937. Makes it sound like a real trail, huh. According to Bryson, it’s not.

Still, I was attracted to this book, thought if I couldn’t hike it, perhaps enjoy some of it vicariously.

Or maybe not.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, perhaps as far as the loss of hiking buddy Katz, with whom he’d had a fleeting experience before but was that desperate to have someone to hike with, and accepted his invitation. For some reason, the whole timbre of the book changed after Katz left. In the meantime, they’d hiked through downpours, freezing temps, snow, wind, and even the loss of the trail itself…discovering it again as they stumbled along.

While Bryson spent major bucks on equipment, thoughtful food additions, and appropriate clothing, it would seem that Katz thought he’d live on jerky and chips, at one point even tossing his water bottle. Usually, they roughed it, pitching their tents on a flat portion of land to sleep.

Bryson speaks with contempt his efforts to drag Katz along and at one point even loses him and wonders if he’d be able to complete the journey by himself to the next possible town or trail shelter.

Yes, their initial confrontations with the actual hike were humorous, pocked with sardonic comments re his hiking partner and the distance covered per day or the sights and conditions encountered. Two comically unprepared for the actual conditions of the trail.

During that initial portion of the book, there were interesting tidbits about the trail, different stories, people and animals they encountered, and trail communities that provided anecdotes and history.

Then, the “story” settles into a travelogue and the storyline fails to revive the initial excitement as well as much of the sense of humor.

It’s a fun and informative book describing the trail a little rougher than I’d expected a real trail to be that took sixteen years to complete. The switch in the tone of the book also changed a great book to a good one and I still love the idea of the trail, whether or not I’ll ever get to that drop in point or not.

The World’s Funniest Travel Writer Takes a Hike (Bryson Book 8) (UK)

The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states and over 2,000 miles, snaking through some of the most spectacular landscapes in America. Reluctant adventurer Bryson recounts his gruelling hike along the longest continuous footpath in the world.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Travel Writing & Commentary, Travelogues & Travel Essays, North America Travel & Tourism
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B009GBVCAG
Listening Length: 9 hrs 44 mins
Narrator: Rob McQuay
Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links: Amazon-US – Amazon-UK

The Author: Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. Settled in England for many years, he moved to America with his wife and four children for a few years ,but has since returned to live in the UK. His bestselling travel books include The Lost Continent, Notes From a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods and Down Under. His acclaimed work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize, and was the biggest selling non-fiction book of the decade in the UK.

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews – Hell Is Empty and Return to Sender by Craig Johnson #WesternFiction #TBT

Walt Longmire Mysteries Books 7 and 21

Yes, time for catching up on the Walt Longmire series! Gees, the last I read was The Longmire Defense, Book 19, back in February 2024. (Dang, I missed Book 20? I’ll have to remedy that.) So, yes, I try to go back and pick up an old one I missed back when, as well as keeping up with the new installments.

Recorded Books has always released the Longmire audiobook series and fortunately for all of us, George Guidall narrates. He is the quintessential Sheriff Longmire.

Return to Sender: Walt Longmire Mysteries, Book 21

Date Released: May 27, 2025

My Thoughts

Definitely a switch here in that Sheriff Longmire of Absaroka County comes to investigate the disappearance of a mail person who has the longest route in Wyoming. In this particular investigation, however, he doesn’t pursue the missing person without going incognito—undercover.

Pursuing any leads he gleans, he crosses paths with religious cult leaders nomading around the Red Desert. Between desperate scenes, assassins, and twists, the pace is, as always, fast.

Hell Is Empty: A Walt Longmire Mystery, Book 7

Date Released: June 8, 2011

My Thoughts

In this installment, as well as many of the others, Walt Longmire connects with the myths and magic of the Cheyenne Nation. He is befriended by a Cheyenne ghost of the past that imparts life-saving support as he confronts a blizzard while tracking down escapees into the mountains. It becomes a mystical journey, seen or experienced by him, given his affinity for the traditions of the local tribe.

Always some good quotables:

“Cigarettes are killers, they travel in packs.”

“I couldn’t die, I’d have too many women who’d kill me.”

Just when circumstances can’t get much worse, there comes a humorous note to break the tension. Sometimes you’ll exercise a little disbelief. It’s okay. Enjoy the author’s writing style. They are fun, fast reads, but do yourself a favor and listen to the gritty tones of the narrator as he carries you through another escape into a different world.

It amazes me how long the man can keep going, given that he must have aged a little since the series began in 2004. I love the support characters and his closest allies, his undersheriff, now fiancé, Vic, and Henry, a member of the Cheyenne Nation. They are not featured so much in Return to Sender, even so, these as well as any of the others could be read as standalones. His books are heavily spiced with a sardonic sense of humor and an extremely quick wit. If you’ve watched any of the Netflix Longmire series, you’ve come to love the atmospheric setting and the characters. It’s well written and immensely engaging and entertaining.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to these books. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

The Author: Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix SNCF du Polar. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 25.
http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/

The Narrator: George Guidall is a prolific audiobook narrator and theatre actor. As of November 2014, he had recorded over 1,270 audiobooks, which was believed to be the record at the time. Wikipedia

#Audiobooks

Beartown by Fredrik Backman #AudiobookReview #bookclubs #TuesdayBookBlog

#1 Best Seller in Sports Fiction

My participation with The Y Book Club for July was Beartown by Backman. Yes, I listened to this audiobook back in 2022 before quickly discovering that it’s sports fiction, definitely not one of my usual genres. Reloading an ebook so I could refresh my memory of it for the club meeting, I discovered new depths to the narrative I’d missed in skimming the sports dialogue.

Book Blurb:

By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals—and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown.

This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

My Thoughts

Beartown was my first experience with a Backman novel and my problem was in having the patience sufficient to get through the heavily weighted ice hockey game descriptions; game strategy, players, coaches, parents, rivalry, and ethics to get to the crux of the novel.

Of course, I loved that it is located in a tiny community in a deeply forested area of Sweden. It is the crushing isolation and the economic loss killing the little town that seems to force the only claim to fame it possesses—a winning junior ice hockey team. Some of these kids are so good they are recruited to professional hockey. Too much weight on the shoulders of teenagers, however, builds the tension that eventually threatens to bury the last of their hopes.

The moderator led us into several spirited discussions and nuances I’d missed on my own. When I read it earlier, I thought it was an emotional look at parenting, teenage angst, friendships, and disloyalty. I could understand the decisions made while at the same time railed at the loss it reflected.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Book Club Thoughts

Spirited discussion on many of the book club’s point discussions. Most were shocked at the turn of events to the tragic circumstances about half-way into the book and then further shocked at the sharp division of opinion or sentiments about the incident. Of course, that was the driving emotion triggering frustration at the lack of options. Hidden behind the division of he said/she said was the obvious impact of how any remedy could possibly affect the entire future of the little town. No equitable solution in sight.

As possibly expected, the group hit the same wall as the author expected his readers would. Was there ever to be an equitable solution? Must it always be the sacrifice of one or a few for the good of the many?

Book Club book ratings vote

Book Details:

Genre: Sports Fiction, Small Town & Rural Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 978-1501160783
ASIN: B01KG5GQDS
Print Length: 430 pages
Publication Date: April 25, 2017
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, The Winners, Anxious People and two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime, as well as one work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. His books are published in more than forty countries. His next novel, My Friends, will be published in May 2025. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand or on Instagram @Backmansk.

Book Club meeting — AI generated graphic courtesy Gemini 2.5 Flash

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews – Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride: A Novel by Will Leitch and Our Last Wild Days: A Novel by Anna Bailey

Still catching up on audiobook reviews, here are two more, one of which is getting quite a bit of attention. (Links on individual covers are to Amazon.)

LloydMcNeil’s Last Ride: A Novel by Will Leitch

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year So Far 2025

Soon to be a major motion picture.

HarperAudio
May 20, 2025
Narrator: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Four Stars

Police officer Lloyd McNeil has been given a death sentence. Not by his job. And in no way could he have expected.

The big problem is that McNeil has a son, if there can be a bigger problem than dying young. And that problem is a young, dependent son.

I don’t remember specifically if the main character actually went through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). What pulled me in was the prognosis, what kept me reading was how he was going to solve the problem of taking care of his son after his death. Given the time frame, he didn’t have a lot of time to solve that and seemed more like he went from denial straight to acceptance.

The novel becomes a final, loving, teaching, philosophical tome to his son. The narrative is infused with a sense of humor, which I appreciated, as there were also times when the philosophical pages became a bit long and heavy, points repeated with slightly different wording that slowed the pace.

McNeil hatches a plan that goes awry more often than not. It’s a heavy character-driven story that takes a unique circumstance and tries to instill the depth of emotion the plot would demand. Well written, although I was a bit underwhelmed with the ending.

Our Last Wild Days: A Novel by Anna Bailey

Simon & Schuster Audio
May 20, 2025
Narrator: Kate Handford

Three Stars

I’m one of those readers who enjoys stories of Louisiana, usually colorful and colloquial.

I thought it might be atmospheric. And it was. Just not the way I expected.

Loyal Mae returned to Jackknife for her mother who is rapidly declining. She finds an ally in Sasha, another journalist. When Loyal’s childhood friend is discovered dead in a bayou, she becomes embroiled in getting to the truth of her death. Cutter had two brothers, neither of whom was particularly crushed by the loss of their sister.

It’s a slow burn of a plot and then turns dark, nasty even, getting into topics I’d never have considered had I known they were all included. These are often graphic depictions, one of which I’d never heard of that almost turned my stomach.

This might be the darkest that mankind can hand out. Perhaps we haven’t left barbarism behind us after all.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to these books. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Happy Listening!

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews – Never Lie by Freida McFadden and Women of War by Suzanne Cope

Well, dang, so easy to listen to audiobooks and I’ve gotten woefully behind on reviews, so I’m posting shortened versions. (Links on individual covers are to Amazon.)

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Best of #BookTok
Hollywood Upstairs Press
November 8, 2022
Narrator: Leslie Howard

Three Stars

No, no, and no. Too many problems for me here to more than okay the book. Okay…the equivalent of a C or 3 stars. So, I get the unreliable narrator, but as the twists began heaping upon twists, it was making less and less sense. I hate feeling like I have a ring in my nose and am being led on a road that won’t particularly go anywhere.

The newlyweds are searching for a home and are supposed to meet their agent with an impending snowstorm. It’s a walloping big house with a history and has been vacant for some time, cold, dirty, but if I remember right has utilities on? Supposed to set the chill-raising stage.

Who is really worse, Tricia or Ethan? I couldn’t engage in either, but then Tricia finds hidden tapes of a previous (psychiatrist) owner and begins listening and, yeah, I listened.

Things are pushing disbelief, twists that leave the reader trying to reconcile with previous hints. Salient plot points are repeated—we got it the first time. Some of the dialogue had you wondering if the characters actually listened to each other—a little disjointed. And I wasn’t crazy about the ending. Another I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over.

Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis by Suzanne Cope

Penguin Audio
April 29, 2025
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

Three Stars

It’s obvious a ton of research went into this book which features four women of the Italian resistance, Carla, Bianca, Teresa, and Anita.

It helps that the chapters were kept fairly short, but also created confusion as they alternated between the main characters. There were times I lost track which life was currently being told. While each woman was amazing in their own right, it read much like a history book, not a novel, and became too easy for me to tune out.

I’ve read a number of books regarding the huge strides made by women during the war, pushing abilities far beyond the kitchen and astounding most with their successful exploits. Those were encapsulated in thrilling fiction storylines. This is the first I’ve read regarding their Italian counterparts and I must say was quite eye-opening but read more like a document.

I’m aware there were many more women equally engaged risking their lives for the cause, for which I’m grateful and awe struck as I have a hard time trying to imagine if I could have been that brave.

This book was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Ms. Maarleveld, who is capable of switching languages back and forth with the blink of an eye. She is always a pleasure to listen to but couldn’t quite make a text type book into a suspenseful novel.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to these books. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

#Audiobooks