#ManyAreInvited – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews October Recap

October flew by and it would seem my schedule weighs increasingly heavier. I thought I could relax a bit after achieving the 500 review badge for NetGalley but that achievement coincided with harvest and I got embroiled with juicing, walking trails, and the search for a good used bike. We got our much revered Indian Summer and just couldn’t resist getting out of doors. Now, of course, we are looking at the upcoming holidays—all designed to be time sinks. Let’s face it—something has to give. First, I’ll try giving up one post a week.

Together we read or listened to seventeen books in October, most from NetGalley, but also audiobooks, and several author requests.

October reads

Many Are Invited by Dennis Cuesta (CE review)
How the Wicked Run by Annabelle Lewis
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (audiobook)
The Gods of Sanibel by Brian Cook (CE review)
Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas (CE review)
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
Beartown (audiobook) vs The Winners by Fredrik Backman (CE review)
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley (CE review)
Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni (CE review)
Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale
Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops by Allison Hong Merrill (audiobook)
The Last Summer in Ireland by Noelle Harrison (CE review)
The Quadrant Conspiracy by James H Lewis (CE review)
Murder at an Irish Bakery by Carlene O’Connor
Bullet Train (movie) vs Bullet Train (audiobook) by Kotaro Isaka
No Quiet Water by Shirley Miller Kamada
O’Brien’s Law by John McNellis (CE review)

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed Bullet Train, but in a head-to-head which one? Would still have to go with the book. The movie, despite a dead-panning and understated Brad Pitt, was just too much flash bang Hollywood. I preferred the psychological study of the great mix of characters in Isaka’s book.

Did you see the movie or read the book? Both? Did you read any of the others above? I saw many thought The Winners was indeed a winner while the CE could not finish it—and as you know—very unusual for him.

Reading Challenges

My usual battle with trying to catch up the challenges. Lost the battle again, but you’ll see—I’ll eventually catch it up and win the war. My challenges for 2022 are all listed and linked in the widget column on the right. Please check out their progress by clicking the Reading Challenges page. I’m now at 92% of the Goodreads Challenge of 180 books at 166. I’ve already achieved the Audiobook Challenge, Historical Reading Challenge, and the NetGalley Challenge with a 98% Feedback Ratio. Phew! I’m feeling a bit like my granddaughter with our great-grandson—see that face? Yeah…

But speaking of getting older; our little Bichon Frisé, Frosty, will have her seventeenth birthday in January 2023. I’m not sure she’ll make that as she is declining before our eyes. Breaks our hearts and we watch her every day for signs she is suffering. So far, so good; eating and drinking her water, getting me up one to three times during the night to piddle. Maybe it’s not the books and blog that have me exhausted, but we love her too much to give up quite yet.

Thank you for joining me if you are a new follower and as always I appreciate those who continue to read, like, share, and comment—especially comment! Let me know if you saw something above that got your interest.

Book Blurb:

A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos, a native Midwesterner, reflects on his time in Northern California during the 1990s, a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem, the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy, the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it’s a housewarming party, held in late 1999, that affects him the most.

At the request of John Goertz, a group of technology managers and executives gather in a conference room. Listening to the presentation is Steve Galanos, who is suspicious of Goertz’s approach and the dramatic way he describes the problem. Goertz tries to convince his audience that a disaster awaits them unless they immediately address the two-digit year in the company’s distributed systems and compiled code. It’s 1994, well before anyone has heard of the term, Y2K.

A promotion to run the newly-created year 2000 compliance program earns John more skepticism and envy from Steve, yet the two have much in common and soon become good friends. A few years later, John leaves for a startup and their lives trend in different directions.

By the time John cashes out from a successful IPO, gets married, and buys a house in Los Gatos, his friendship with Steve has waned. It’s at John’s housewarming party where latent animosity and lingering distrust finally come to a head.

His Review:

In the late 1990’s the whole world was wrestling with “the Y2K” problem. Seems the computers automatically were setting dates but provision had not been made for the upcoming change from 19.. to 20..! Staff were thrown together in groups whose sole purpose was to wrestle with the change and the problem that computers were not set up or programmed for the change.

Lauren and Mary are two very attractive ladies who work in the computer industry. Lauren is over six feet and seen as a goddess who is untouchable! All of the guys silently wish to possess her. Meanwhile, corporate powers that be are designating teams of programmers whose sole purpose is to design programs and prepare for the upcoming date changes.

John and the main support character have set up a system of ranking very attractive ladies as Swedes. Lauren is titled Swede 8 and is considered unapproachable. Of course, as men are known to do; they plot the means necessary to breach the barrier and become emotionally involved with Lauren. Her friend Mary is pretty but does not have a “Swede Rating” and appears on the outside of the attraction scramble.

The problem with these types of competitions is the fact that the women do not realize their position in the scheme of things. Our hero secretly would like to be attached to Lauren but decides to settle for Mary. Mary is the much smarter of the two and has plans of her own. John has decided that Mary is the one for him and throws the whole system into an uproar. The entire affair turns deadly.

This novel might be more appropriate for the late teen/early college years than adult. The struggle between the “rich and entitled” and the “poor and struggling” was a page directly out of my high school years! I identified with the struggling hero of the story while secretly thinking he was being such a putz! Only my opinion, however, and you might very well see it differently. 3.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Literary Fiction
Publisher: Celestial Eyes Press
ASIN: B0BB9Q7PQQ
Print Length: 254 pages
Publication Date: October 6, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: Many Are Invited [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

A native of California, Dennis Cuesta attended the University of Michigan and remained in the Upper Midwest during his early career. Stuck in Manistique is his first novel. Dennis and his wife did get stuck in Manistique once, long ago. The interrupted trip served as inspiration for the novel.