Autumn Authors

The weather keeps vacillating between hot and cold, but I’m so ready for autumn – hopefully, more time for snuggly reading and relaxing! Here’s what I’ve read lately…

–Marissa

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters is a future book discussion group for our book, so I grabbed it while it was available! This novel tells two concurrent stories… the family of 6-year-old Ruthie, who vanishes while her Native American family is berry picking in Maine over the summer. The other is about Norma, a young girl growing up in a rich family with an overprotective mother. There’s no secret made that Ruthie and Norma are the same person, but how they weave together to the end is well done. A novel of family secrets, family identities, and who we really are.

The President’s Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins sounded like a great premise – Rob, a DC litigator, is tasked with defending his childhood best friend against the charge of murder of his mistress… oh, and he’s a former President of the United States. I was ready for a solid legal suspense novel, but this one just kind of devolved into plodding plots and wooden characters, and a “twist” that really wasn’t much of one. Eh.

A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian was an audiobook listen with Wes on our driving trip to Michigan, and it was a whirlwind! Told in two timelines – 2015 and 1995 – when six former classmates reunite when one of them is found murdered in their small town. Mix in a mine, character conflicts, murder, religion and the supernatural, and you’ve got this (lengthy) but engaging novel. This definitely did NOT go in the direction I anticipated from the summary, but we enjoyed it nonetheless!

The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni appears to be the second in a series featuring Mike Brink, a brilliant puzzle solver (due to a TBI when he was young) who is sought out to try and solve one of the most ancient puzzles of the Japanese empire… the problem is, everyone else who has ever attempted it has been killed by the puzzle. This had “Japanese Da Vinci Code” vibes, but somehow never quite coalesced for me – great locations but a little too “just in the nick of time” or “because Mike’s brilliant” happenstance for it to feel truly suspenseful. An interesting premise though!

Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf was an audiobook listen, and was entertaining enough. Six strangers take part in a fully online, viral competition to win 10 million dollars, but the challenges – and secrets revealed – are brutal. Obviously far-fetched, but I liked the “behind the scenes” of the competition, though the final reveal of who was behind it all and why was a bit “c’mon, really?”. Still, I’m not mad about spending a few hours listening to it.🙂

Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts by Jeremy Egner is truly a love letter to Ted Lasso fans… interviews with all the cast and creators, behind the scenes looks, episode breakdowns, everything. I loved every page of it. 🙂