Dear Readers, August was a great month, I’m still in my reading groove. I completed my goal of all 7 books this month from my TBR, and added 2. I read 1 graphic novel, 1 horror, 3 mysteries, 1 young adult, 2 middle grade and 3 new releases thanks to netgalley. I Read 2 books from a book series with Goosebumps and the Harry Bosch Universe which I’m going to continue into next month. I read zero 5 star books , six 4 star books, two 3 star books and one 2 star book.

Four Star Reviews:

The Diamond Eye By Kate Quinn is a historical fiction taking place during World War II from the perspective of a former Russian teacher now a sniper nicknamed Lady Death. This story is based on a true story of Russia’s Number 1 female sniper. This story has action. drama, and romance. The story is paced pretty well from the start making it pretty hard to put down, it dips a little when it’s focus goes away from the battlefield. The book is like two stories in one the history of Lady Death and then a time where she campaigns for US involvement and a presidential murder plot. The presidential murder is teased throughout the book until the story catches up. I loved the lead up and thought this was going to be my favorite part but the murder plot keeps having problems and keeps getting delayed, it eventually had an exciting climax. but there was a lot of give or take with the reader.

Black Cake By Charmaine Wilkerson is a family history drama with a unique voice from a debut author. Black Cake is on Goodreads’ and Amazon’s Best of 2022 So Far list, which is a reason I checked it out. Black Cake is a pretty ambitious debut novel with over 15 different perspectives, and it makes sense. Wilkerson writing to her credit did not make me feel like I was reading a brand new author more in the middle of seasoned pro. The flow of the story is a little disjointed as the narrative is telling a life in the past and a couple lives in present day at the same time. I loved the ending for this story so much, and it fixed a big hole in the story for me. The story itself is interesting and I have not read many stories of the Caribbean, so I loved the detail and insights.

Nothing More to Tell by Karen McManus is a fun Young Adult mystery that hooks the reader fast. The mystery hooked me really fast and wanted to know who done it? The set up worked as Brynn pitches the murder to a true crime podcast she wants to intern, but actually pitching it for the reader, and I was sold. We get two perspectives Brynn who moved soon after the murder who wasn’t involved but knows all the suspects and Tripp who might me involved but is definitely covering up something. The twists are through out the book and changed who I thought had done it multiple times and at the end I did not guess who did it? And once you read it you find that is not the only mystery. The pace for this book is so fast I was able to read it pretty quick. I was happy to get an advanced Reader’s Copy thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press. Nothing more to Tell is published on August 30 2022.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a mystery with a very unreliable lead character. Liv has a condition that when she sleeps she forgets everything that has happened in the last 2 and a half years of her life. She is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her. This is a fun who done it? and What happened mystery. The plot reminded me of the excellent Christopher Nolan film Memento where a man can not from longterm memories, and must place notes and rely on tattoos to remember, but if someone knows your condition it can be messed with. This is what is really intriguing about this book, you don’t know who to trust. The story is told with us following Liv and the perspective of two detectives that are solving a murder with everything pointing at Liv. The opening for this story hooked me right away, we fell the character’s confusion and was intrigued by the found bloody knife. I feel like the novel did repeat it’s self just a bit too much, as a reader I get it she has no memory, lets do more with this concept then going into places and being confused. I read Stay Awake thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an advanced reader’s copy. Stay Awake is published on August 12 2022.

Gangland by Chuck Hogan is a 1970’s gangster novel that is inspired by true events. The plot of this story feels really small but then you open up the paranoia of both the gangsters and the thieves, then heads will roll. There’s scenes in both Goodfellas and Casino where a lot of people die because of what they are involved in the scene last 5-10 minutes. This novel is one of those scenes expanded into the tracking, the execution, and the planning. The novel follows Nicky “Two Pins” a man with secrets who runs a legitimate business the bowling alley, but what most other people don’t know until it’s too late is he is the guy that handles the executions, he’s also an FBI informant, and closetly gay. The secrets are what he does and there’s no one better. The climax was very worth while and exciting. The epilogue is long and many years after the climax it answers some of the questions but not all. The opening scene is a little rough and felt cliché, but the ending to that scene starts this easily readable novel going. The pace of Gangland is very fast. Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for letting me read the ARC. Gangland is published on August 2 2022.

It Came From Beneath The Sink by R. L. Stine is one weird Goosebumps tale. This book is number 30 out of 62 in the original Goosebumps series order. This book added the jump scares back and they were set up pretty well. This story starts fast and stays focused on what came from beneath the sink, and what happens if you take it out. This book reads fast because there is a ticking clock if the kids don’t do this one thing then someone can die. The monster is weird but I did like the origin and what it’s powers were. I liked what it took to defeat it and reminded me a lot of the ending to Ernest Scared Stupid. The twist at the end was okay I like that it was foreshadowed earlier. I think this is one of the better brother and sister relationships you can feel the love in their sibling rivalry. The plot feels like it came out of a 50’s B-movie.

Three Star Reviews:

The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly is the forth book in the Harry Bosch Universe. This is detective Harry Bosch’s most personal case, a thirty year unsolved murder case with the victim being Harry’s mother. Harry is on suspension and is not even a detective with his badge and gun taken away. At first he takes the case as a distraction but he opens up old wounds and might never be the same again. This is the most personal case but also the slowest novel so far. The pace is so slow and gets into it’s stride as the character heads to Florida about mid way through. The novel has a very long ending where you think it’s over but there’s still a mystery to solve and Harry is going to solve it how ever long it takes. This is the fourth book and you do not have to read the other books to know what’s is going on and everything that happened in those books that is pertinent is talked about.

Study Hall of Justice by Derek Fridolfs is a what if story that Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all went to middle school together and the other classmates and teachers are full of future villains. The story is a mystery where the Trinity try to find out who the mysterious principal that runs the school and recruited everyone. The story is told as a graphic novel mostly but we get all the Batman notes and memos, student evaluation forms, articles from the student newspaper and group chats with the group. The story is middle grade approved but there references to future villainy that will go over a lot of not informed kids head. But that could lead them to look into characters more. I liked the end reveal of the mystery principal that explained why the kids were recruited for the school. There was some obscure villains that I was happy to see inserted like Vandal Savage and the Shriek. The highlight for me was the student newspaper with Mr. Freeze doing the weather report and Poison Ivy doing the nature report. This is the first book in a series called the Secret Hero Society.

Two Star Review:

James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life by James Patterson is an autobiographical account of his life growing up becoming a best selling author. If you read this book for insight on the man’s incredible streak of best sellers, then this is not the book for you, it spends maybe 30 percent on writing, and there are some good insights there. But this book is about his life and how he came up from humble beginnings to become the writer he is today. So I already told you it is is 30% about writing what else is this book about, 5% about him growing up, 5% about his family in the present (they seem very nice), 20% about working in advertising, 15% about golf, and 25% about name dropping and celebrity encounters. You will come out of this book knowing James Patterson is a loyal, genuine, at time humble human being who cares about young kids reading and love celebrity encounters and golf.