The Running Bibliophile

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is the first science fiction novel written by a Black woman. It's part memoir, part fantasy, and part historical fiction. The book opens with Dana, an African American woman in 1976 Los Angeles, California, who is transported back to 1815 Maryland and saves a drowning white boy.  However, she finds herself fearing for her life when the boys father, a slave owner, is pointing his shotgun at her. I discovered Kindred through my book club, which selected it for our September meeting. Although I had heard of the novel, I wasn’t familiar with its plot. Science fiction isn’t usually my go-to, but I was captivated from the first page. The story is compelling, well-written, and utterly immersive. Octavia E. Butler’s writing is engaging, vivid, and unputdownable. The characters feel real, and I found myself thinking about them long after finishing the book. Butler expertly portrays the horrors of slavery and imagines what it might be like if a Black person fro...

The Nanny by Ruth Heald opens with Hayley Taylor hurrying to pick her daughter up from school and is keeping a secret from her husband.  Hayley was a nanny in Thailand during her gap year, and one of the children disappeared.  When a potential lodger shows up to view the room for rent and looks like the kid who went missing when Hayley was a nanny, her whole world just may come crashing down around her. First and foremost, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Bookoutre for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Nanny by Ruth Heald.  I was intrigued by the synopsis and cover of the novel, and I was not disappointed in the least. Switching back and forth from the present and past, The Nanny weaved a thrilling story that kept me on the edge of my seat.  There were a lot of twists and turns that threw me for a loop, and I was completely wrong in what I thought was going to happen.   Had it not been a work night, I would have stayed up until the wee hours of the n...

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle and retold by Alex Woolf was adapted for young readers and is the first book in the Sherlock Holmes book series.  The main two characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, meet for the first time and solve their very first mystery. I'd like to thank Arcturus Publishing and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Alex Woolf.  Not having read the original story written by Arthur Conan Doyle, I have nothing to compare the retelling to, but Alex Woolf does a phenomenal job in rewriting this story for children in a way that they'll understand.  The illustrations are amazing and a great contribution to the story.  I think this retelling will encourage children to read more.  I know I would have loved reading this in elementary school. It has definitely piqued my interest in reading the series as originally told and compare it to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot seri...

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is about a woman named Ariel Pryce waking up alone in her Lisbon hotel room, and her husband is no where to be found in the hotel.  Panicking, Ariel reaches out to the local police and the American Embassy, but they aren't of much help.  Who would want to harm her husband? First and foremost, I'd like to thank NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone in exchange for my honest review.  I was excited to receive this book, especially since I'm a fan of the author's writing. Chris Pavone weaved an intriguing story in Two Nights in Lisbon that had twists and turns galore that left me guessing until the very end.  I found myself rooting for the main character and loved the fact that all the loose ends were wrapped up so there were no cliffhangers.  I enjoyed the fact that the storyline switched back and forth between the present and past . . . making this novel a bit of a slow burn....

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1) by Elle Cosimano opens with a stressed-out single mother of two, Finlay Donovan, whose babysitter suddenly doesn’t show up. Already overwhelmed, Finlay heads to a meeting with her book editor, where their discussion of a fictional plot is overheard. Due to a misunderstanding, Finlay is mistaken for a contract killer and inadvertently accepts an offer to kill someone’s husband . This novel was chosen as the August pick for the book club I belong to. I knew it was a popular book, but it’s not one I would have picked up on my own, even though it falls within my favorite genre. I struggled through the first 125–150 pages because the premise felt so far-fetched. It almost became a “Did Not Finish” for me, but I didn’t want to show up to book club without finishing the book. That said, I was glad I stuck with it. There were parts I genuinely enjoyed, though I’m still not sure why so many readers found this book funny. To me, it felt extreme...

Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight (Stephanie Plum, #28) by Janet Evanovich is the latest edition in the Stephanie Plum book series and opens with Stephanie being awoken by footsteps in her apartment.  Turns out that it's Diesel, and he's looking for the same person Stephanie is looking for . . . Oswald Wednesday, an international computer hacker.  Stephanie doesn't know if Diesel is on her team or looking for a competition in apprehending the suspect. Once again, this latest edition in the Stephanie Plum book series feels ghost written.  Not that there's ever a lot of cursing in these books . . . Lula is usually the only one who does . . . but when all the characters start using the phrase, "Stick a fork in me", it just doesn't seem like anything any of the characters would say.  There were other character inconsistencies that I can't recall off the top of my head, but it definitely detracted from the story. With that being said, I loved that the story...

Murder on the Class Trip (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #3) by Lee Hollis opens in Portland, Maine where Maya Kendrick and Sandra Wallage are enlisted by their kid's teacher to chaperone the class trip to Washington, D.C.  When the intern for Sandra's soon to be ex-husband Stephen turns up dead in the senator's apartment, the moms struggle to juggle their chaperoning responsibilities and solving the murder to acquit Senator Stephen Wallage. First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Murder on the Class Trip (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #3) by Lee Hollis.  I was delighted to receive this book for free in exchange for my honest review.  I was intrigued by the synopsis of Murder on the Class Trip by Lee Hollis because politics intrigue me, and I enjoyed visiting Washington, D.C. several years ago, so I was excited to receive an ARC of this book. This novel isn't the first book I've read by this author, and it certainly won't be the ...

The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera opens with NYPD Detective Leigh O’Donnell returning to her hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio, to investigate three suspicious drownings that may not be accidents. Leigh hopes that solving this unsettling case will help repair her reputation and put her career with the New York City Police Department back on track in New York City. I’d like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Hunter . I was both thrilled and honored to be selected to review this suspense novel prior to its publication. Receiving early access to highly anticipated mystery and thriller releases is always exciting, and this one definitely stood out. At first, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about The Hunter because the pacing started off slower than I expected. However, after the first few chapters, the story began to gain momentum, and once it did, I found myself completely invested. The tension steadily builds as secret...