August Reads

With three months down in my new job I feel amazing. Not only that, but my husband and I got a puppy! Her name is Ursulina. She is a ball of energy and exactly what our older Lab needs. Amazingly enough our two cats actually really like her. So I am all around in bliss. Most of the time. :)

Below are a list of books I read this month in no particular order.

In August:

Fiction

Bones never lie (Book 17)
Author: Kathy Reichs
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the acclaimed author’s thrilling new novel, Brennan is at the top of her game in a battle of wits against the most monstrous adversary she has ever encountered.

Unexpectedly called in to the Charlotte PD’s Cold Case Unit, Dr. Temperance Brennan wonders why she’s been asked to meet with a homicide cop who’s a long way from his own jurisdiction. The shocking answer: Two child murders, separated by thousands of miles, have one thing in common—the killer. Years ago, Anique Pomerleau kidnapped and murdered a string of girls in Canada, then narrowly eluded capture. It was a devastating defeat for her pursuers, Brennan and police detective Andrew Ryan. Now, as if summoned from their nightmares, Pomerleau has resurfaced in the United States, linked to victims in Vermont and North Carolina. When another child is snatched, the reign of terror promises to continue—unless Brennan can rise to the challenge and make good on her second chance to stop a psychopath.

But Brennan will have to draw her bitter ex-partner out of exile, keep the local police and feds from one another’s throats, and face more than just her own demons as she stalks the deadliest of predators into the darkest depths of madness.

In Bones Never Lie, Kathy Reichs never fails to satisfy readers looking for psychological suspense that’s more than skin-deep.


In a Whisper
Author: Diana Nixon
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

There are things that are so hard to say aloud. Especially when it comes to something that you never thought your heart was capable of feeling…
In Ashton Bright’s life, there is no place for feelings. A successful surgeon, he knows how to make hearts beat faster, yet his own heart is as cold as a scalpel. He doesn’t know how to do romance, and he knows even less about love.
The day Nicola Holt comes to work as Ashton’s assistant, everything he believed was right for him becomes wrong. For someone whose everyday job is saving lives, Ashton finds himself too weak to stand against Nicola’s charm.
But most of all, he hates that she makes him feel things – the things he once swore to never allow himself to be submerged in.
“I have spent my whole life searching for what I have found in you. I do not want to let it go...”


Sting
Sandra Brown
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Jordie Bennet and Shaw Kinnard lock eyes across a disreputable backwater bar, something definitely sparks. Shaw gives off a dangerous vibe that makes men wary and inspires women to sit up and take notice. None feel that undercurrent more strongly than savvy businesswoman Jordie, who doesn't belong in a seedy dive on the banks of a bayou. But here she is . . . and Shaw Kinnard is here to kill her.

As Shaw and his partner take aim, Jordie is certain her time has come. But Shaw has other plans and abducts Jordie, hoping to get his hands on the $30 million her brother has stolen and, presumably, hidden. However, Shaw is not the only one looking for the fortune. Her brother's ruthless boss and the FBI are after it as well. Now on the run from the feds and a notorious criminal, Jordie and Shaw must rely on their wits-and each other-to stay alive.

Miles away from civilization and surrounded by swampland, the two play each other against their common enemies. Jordie's only chance of survival is to outwit Shaw, but it soon becomes clear to Shaw that Jordie isn't entirely trustworthy, either. Was she in on her brother's scam, or is she an innocent pawn in a deadly vendetta? And just how valuable is her life to Shaw, her remorseless and manipulative captor? Burning for answers-and for each other-this unlikely pair ultimately make a desperate move that could be their last.

With nonstop plot twists and the tantalizing sexual tension that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best-loved authors, STING will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final pages.

#1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Sandra Brown jolts the reader from the first page of this heart-pounding story of corruption, treachery, and ceaseless deception . . .where nothing is what it seems and every truth brought to light exposes a darker lie.

Midnight Crossing
Author: Charlene Harris
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...



Renegade Son
Author: Lisa Jackson
My Rating: ⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The prettiest single mom in Montana
With unscrupulous enemies, a rebellious child and a ranch that was slowly being sabotaged, Danielle Summers had to shore up her defenses! If she wasn't careful, rugged Chase McEnroe would invade more than just her property -- he'd trespass on her heart.

Chase wasn't planning on seducing Danielle for her land. His reasons for wanting the sexy single mom in his bed had more to do with desire. But that didn't mean this renegade son was ready to settle down. It would take more than a beautiful woman with a pretty piece of property to make this confirmed bachelor change his tune.

But then, Chase had never counted on falling in love...

I've got you under my Skin
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Laurie Moran's husband was brutally murdered, only three-year-old Timmy saw the face of his father's killer. Five years later his piercing blue eyes still haunt Timmy's dreams. Laurie is haunted by more: the killer's threat to her son as he fled the scene: Tell your mother she's next, then it's your turn . .

Now Laurie is dealing with murder again, this time as the producer of a true-crime, cold-case television show. The series will launch with the twenty-year-old unsolved murder of Betsy Powell. Betsy, a socialite, was found suffocated in her bed after a gala celebrating the graduation of her daughter and three friends. The sensational murder was news nationwide. Reopening the case in its lavish setting and with the cooperation of the surviving guests that night, Laurie is sure to have a hit on her hands. But when the estranged friends begin filming, it becomes clear each is hiding secrets . . . small and large.

And a pair of blue eyes is watching events unfold, too . . .

Young Adult Fiction

A Monster Calls
Author: Patrick Ness
My Rating: 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.