19. The Pleasing Hour

By Lily King (256 ebook)

This isn't my favorite Lily King that I've read. It's about a young American woman who is a au pair in Paris. The story jumps around in time and it felt like threads were dropped and it was sometimes hard to follow. The writing and characterization are great but also this character makes some aggravating decisions.

Look how many books I read in March and April -- 11! Yeah, a lot of them were short. But also I was recovering from Covid and we had a long wet spring. I can read a lot if the circumstances are right.

18. So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion

By Caren Gussoff Sumption (114 pp)

Caren is one of my Clarion West classmates and it was great to read something new from her. This is about a guy who is part of a space mission on another planet who befriends a resident creature of that planet while the space mission does some sketchy studies. It's sweet and disturbing and funny and sad. Terrific characters and world building.

17. To Be Taught, If Fortunate

By Becky Chambers (160 ebook)

Becky Chambers can do no wrong! Even the books that don't really work for me pay off. This one is about a science mission to potentially habitable planets and has a wonderful cast of characters and so much heart. Recommend.

16. Verity

By Colleen Hoover (333 ebook)

Hoover is all over the best sellers list so I've been wanting to read something of hers out of curiosity. This is a suspense-romance(?). I think it might be romance but it's pretty dark and there's lots of sex but it's not that romantic. It's about a down-on-her-luck woman who gets a job finishing a popular book series by a famous author who is ill. Of course, it requires going to the remote estate where this author wrote to go through her office and of course, she has to stay longer than intended and of course there is a mysterious sexy husband and a creepy kid. At first it was fun, page-turny, suspension of disbelief but the ending went completely off the rails and did not work for me.

15. Murder in the Library

By Agatha Christie (224 ebook)

I bought a 3-book Agatha Christie Miss Marple bundle. This is the 2nd that I've read and I enjoyed it more than the first. This one starts opens with the discovery of the body of a young woman in the Bantrys' library. Another young woman's body is discovered in a quarry. There are dancers and actors and tennis instructors and an old guy with a sad story and lots of money that people want to inherit. Miss Marple is on the case.

14. Ninth House

By Leigh Bardugo (496 ebook)

I read a lot of books in a short period because I was dealing with fatigue from The Covid. Plus it was a cold wet winter/spring so what better to do than sit around and read? I have never read Bardugo but I loved Shadow and Bone on Netflix and she's been on my list. This book is set in a different world from her main books and seems like her regular readers weren't as fond of this. I LOVED it. It's set at Yale and has secret societies, dark magic and ghosts. The main character is a troubled and rebellious woman who gets a second chance but signs up for more than she expected. There's a murder and ever-shifting bad guys. REALLY GOOD.