"At the Water's Edge" by Sara Gruen

As often happens, I had no plans to read this book, but it was available on audio from my library and I downloaded it to listen to during my daily commute. I ended up really enjoying it. The book is set during World War II. The main character Maddie Hyde is a young Philadelphia socialite who is busy floating from party to party in the company of her husband Ellis and his friend Hank. Unfortunately, their carefree lifestyle is about to come to an end because Ellis' parents threaten to cut off their financial support. Ellis and Hank decide to embark on a fool's errand and travel to Scotland looking for the Loch Ness monster, a venture Ellis' father had attempted in his youth just to spectacularly embarrass himself in front of the entire world.

Maddie was a surprisingly likable and relatable character. Having found herself in Scotland, she begins to re-evaluate her life, marriage and choices. At the heart of it, she is just a lost young woman who desperately wants to be loved and respected. She is also tired of her idleness. When she meets Meg and Anne, the two women who work at the Inn where she is staying, she is humbled by how much they've suffered and how hard they have to work, and yearns to help. The horrors of war and lack of simple necessities wake her up to finally face the horrors of her own life: from childhood abuse and neglect to loveless marriage and more abuse and neglect, but this time from her husband. This book is a story of one woman trying to survive and be happy. It kept me interested and engaged and I could not keep but root for Maddie. 5 out of 5 stars. I will definitely be reading more books by Sara Gruen.

"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give is a YA contemporary inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. A 16-year old Starr witnesses her friend Khalil being shot by a white police officer during a routine traffic stop. Khalil was unarmed and did not do anything threatening towards the officer. Now Starr is suddenly thrown into the spotlight as the only witness to the murder.

This is a very powerful and timely novel. It is also phenomenally well written. The characters are superbly developed and relatable. I listened to this book on audio and I highly recommend this format. The narrator was outstanding. She did a great job changing voices - there are a lot of dialogues in this book - and I never had any trouble following them. If you are considering picking up this book - and even if you are not - please read it. It is poignant, heartbreaking and powerful.

5 out of 5 stars. Hands down: the best book I've read this year so far.

"Twenty-One Days" by Anne Perry

Twenty-One Days was my first Anne Perry book. Perry, from what I understand, is a prolific mystery writer. Lots of her mysteries feature the same main characters. In particular, she had a long running series featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Twenty-One Days is the first Daniel Pitt mystery.

Daniel is Charlotte and Thomas' son. He is a young lawyer who is just starting out his practice at a prestigious London law firm. Perry does a great job with the historical setting of the novel. It is a 1910 Britain, and definitely has that feel. Crime solving is not what it is now. Forensic science is nascent. Women are still unable to vote. Domestic violence is not illegal.

The novel starts out with Daniel winning a criminal case in which we was defending a man accused of murder. He successfully proves that the man was innocent by using the innovative for the day analysis of fingerprints. He then gets assigned to assist in another case. Here, a man is on trial for allegedly murdering his wife. The jury finds him guilty and he is due to be hanged in 21 days. So Daniel has that much time to prove the man is not guilty.

I must say, the setup in this novel was brilliant. It really got me interested and engaged. I am usually not one for a cozy mystery. There is too much tea drinking and some portions of the story are too slow moving. However, this novel did have an interesting twist. Sections of it also gave me Downton Abbey vibes. Daniel goes to the accused man's house and spends some time with the servants there. The butler in particular seemed written from Carson in Downton Abbey. Another nice parallel with Downton Abbey is that the women in the novel are very Sybil-like, i.e. fiercely intelligent and not afraid to go against established conventions and fight for women's rights.

Overall, I rated this novel 4 out of 5 stars. It is interesting, well-written and has a wonderful atmosphere of the early 20th century Britain.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley.com.

"School for Psychics" by K.C. Archer

School for Psychics by K.C. Archer is the first book in a new urban fantasy/paranormal series. The world in this book is very much like ours except there is a secret school that trains young people with psychic abilities for future careers in law enforcement and national security. The main character is Teddy Cannon, a twenty-four year old woman who earns her living by playing poker in Las Vegas casinos. Unfortunately, her ability to read her opponents and thus garner unusually frequent winnings has caught the eye of casino security personnel and she is banned from all the establishments on the Strip. Teddy, however, is determined to play one last time in order to win enough to pay her debts to the Russian mob. She wears a disguise and things are looking as though she might just pull this off, when quiet suddenly she is unable to read her opponent and loses all of her money. She then meets the man responsible for this loss - Clint Corbett, a psychic FBI agent and a teacher at the secret school she is invited to enter.

Things I liked:
 - The school setting. I am always up for any sort of magical school setting. It always takes me back to my love of Harry Potter and the more of the story takes in a school the better, as far as I am concerned.
- The characters in this book are in their early to mid-twenties. This was really refreshing. Urban fantasy/paranormal books tend to fall into one of the two extremes: books featuring teenagers who suddenly discover hidden abilities or paranormal erotica with adult characters. This book is neither, which I really appreciated
- The plot included conspiracy theories, a secret society, a heist, and even a murder investigation. I enjoyed how fast things moved along and I stayed interested and vested in the story.
- The band of Misfits was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the friendships in this book. It was nice to see Teddy meet new people and gradually learn to trust them.

Things that could be better:
- The characters felt flat. Teddy in particular was not well fleshed out. We are told throughout the book that she has problems trusting people. This is never very well explained. Yes, she was adopted, but grew up in a loving family. I also never understood how she got into gambling, why she owed a lot of money to the mob, and most importantly why she needed to play poker in Vegas where she was clearly banned. Couldn't she drive down to Reno or any other casino for that matter?
- The plot twists were quite predictable and the big reveals were not surprising. If anything I was surprised that Teddy missed what was right in front of her.
- Teddy's psychic abilities kept evolving throughout the book. In the very beginning all is able to do is read people and know when they are lying. Once she enters the school she learns she is a telepath and is also a telekinetic. It is interesting that she did not know about these abilities before.

Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was enjoyable, but a lot of plot twists were too predictable. I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley.

"La Belle Sauvage," Book 1 in The Book of Dust Trilogy by Philip Pullman

I was not a fan of Pullman's His Dark Materials. For whatever reason, I had trouble getting into each of the three books, and even though I did like the story and the characters reasonably well, it was not a good reading experience for me. So I was not overly optimistic about La Belle Sauvage, which is the first book in a new trilogy set in the same world. But boy, was I wrong. I really enjoyed this book.

La Belle Sauvage is set in the same world as The Golden Compass. Lyra is just a baby (six or eight months old), and is put in a priory to be cared for and raised by the nuns. The main character in this book is a boy named Malcolm. His parents are innkeepers and he lives across the river from the priory. Malcolm is precocious, friendly and curious about the world around him. He helps out at the inn and enjoys chatting with Oxford scholars who frequent the establishment. He also knows the nuns and helps the carpenter who is making shutters for the priory windows. I really enjoyed spending time with him,

La Belle Sauvage is the name of the canoe, which Malcolm takes out on the river when he goes into town. The canoe ends up playing a major role in the book as Malcolm sets out to save baby Lyra when a big flood hits the area, demolishing the priory. Malcolm and Lyra are joined on the quest by Alice, a serving girl who works at the inn owned by Malcolm's parents. She and Malcolm generally do not get along. But thrown together by the turn of events, they make a great team and both grow tremendously as characters.

The book is suspenseful, fast-paced, unexpected, but also filled with deep philosophical questions such as: is matter conscious, what are the dangers of theocracy, how can a truly evil person be attractive, etc. I loved the characters, the world and the plot. 5 out of 5 stars.

Philip K. Dick "The Man in the High Castle"

The book club I belong to chose this book, otherwise I would have probably never picked it up. I had read Ubik by PDK, and I was not a fan of his writing. After reading The Man in the High Castle, I am firmly of the mind that he is not my author.

The Man in the High Castle is based on the premise that the Nazis have won WWII. The United States is divided into the Japanese territory (West of the Rockies) and the German territory - to the East. There is an area in between that is neutral. Most of the events in the book take place on the West coast.

Even though the premise is interesting, the alternate reality painted by PDK was not convincing. It is supposedly 1962, less than 20 years since the war was won, yet the American population is completely assimilated into the Japanese culture. There is not even a trace of resistance to the Nazi/Japanese occupation, and the overall complacency of the characters given continued atrocities committed by the Nazis around the world is utterly revolting. I also found the ending strange and wholly unsatisfying. No matter how many  positive reviews I read, I remain unconvinced. This book was disappointing and I do not think I will be reading any more PDK's books. 2 out of 5 stars.

"Red Clocks" by Leni Zumas

Red Clocks is set in a near future America where abortion and invitro fertilization are no longer legal. The book really resonated with me in that it gives us a glimpse into what could potentially become a reality for all of us. The book is written from the perspective of four different women.

Even though perspectives alternate throughout the book. I personally felt that Ro, or the Biographer, was the main voice in the novel. Ro is a single high school teacher, who has been working on a biography of a little known female arctic explorer. She is in her early forties and is desperately trying to get pregnant. At her age and with invitro fertilization no longer available, getting pregnant is next to impossible. In addition, we learn that in a few months time a new law will come into effect, which will make adoption impossible for her. Only married couples will be able to adopt from that point on. As Ro struggles to accept the fact that the dream of motherhood will never come true for her, she also realizes that she, along with millions of others, passively stood by as lawmakers made decisions which now intimately affect her and preclude her from becoming a mother.

In addition, we meet one of Ro's students, a girl named Mattie, who at sixteen wound up pregnant. She is scared, frustrated, and seemingly without options in regards to this pregnancy. By law, she cannot have an abortion. She has to either keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Mattie herself was adopted when she was a baby, and is left to forever wonder who her biological mother was and why she made the decision to give her up. Thus, the possibility of giving her unborn baby up for adoption is painfully personal for Mattie.

Next, we meet Susan, a mother of two, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage and is borderline suicidal. By law, she is supposed to be the one worthy of being a parent. However, as we see from her example, married couples are not always the best parents.

Finally, there is Gin, the Mender, an odd healer (a "witch") living in the woods, who provides poultices and potions to those who cannot afford medical care or require a service that is no longer legal in the United States. When Gin gets arrested for allegedly injuring the High School Principal's wife, all the various characters are brought together to play a part in this modern day witch trial.

I really enjoyed this book. I understand that some readers struggled with Zumas' experimental style of writing. But it did not bother me. I enjoy reading books that are written in a non-conventional way and make me look for unexpected connections between characters. I found the subject matter of this book poignant and relevant, and characters realistic and relatable. 4 out 5 stars.