Share Your Shelf #19 & The Books I Read in October

 It's the first Thursday of the month and time for Share Your Shelf with  Marilyn, Jennifer, Tanya, and I. This post and link up are dedicated solely to books and book reviews and it's one I look so forward to each and every month. I am always looking for new and more book ideas.

I had a pretty good month of reading; though truth be told without audiobooks I don't think I would have gotten much reading done. I don't know where all my time is going but I'm struggling to find time to read, paint, scrapbook, make cards and do all the other things I have to do like laundry, groceries, teaching, etc. 

 

1. The Third Gilmore Girl; A Memoir by Kelly Bishop--  I enjoyed this memoir a lot! I didn't know much about Kelly's life or her other roles and jobs that she had before (or after!) being part of the cast of Gilmore Girls. It was a fun listen. It prompted me to start rewatching Gilmore Girls and I watched Bunheads for the first time too. 

 2. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros-- Oh I liked this book so much. It was sad but very gripping. Ella is a single mom raising twins on her own when her brother, who is off serving in the military, suggests she write to a guy in his unit that is all alone. Beckett, known only as Chaos to Ella, becomes such a good friend through their communications. Ella is struggling to run her family business and faces a battle that no mother should ever have to face. When her brother is killed in action his last letter to Beckett pleads with him to go help his sister. Beckett shows up at her door months after the loss of her brother while she's dealing with all the health issues her daughter is facing, and Ella wants nothing to do with him. Undeterred, Beckett is determined to help. The story spans more than 2 years and we see these two hurt and damaged people learn to trust and love and face life together.  

3. The Late Show by Michael Connelly--  This is the first book in the Renee Ballard series and I enjoyed it a lot. I listened to it on the Libby app and finished it rather quickly. Renee Ballard is a detective working the midnight shift in Hollywood. Put there as a sort of punishment after losing a sexual harassment case against her supervisor. She finds it frustrating that in her present role in the LAPD she often just gathers evidence to turn over to the daytime shift and rarely gets to see any investigations through to the end. One night two assignments cause her to really sink her teeth in and not give them up right away. One case involves a brutally beaten prostitute that reeks of premeditation, the other a waitress that was the victim of a shooting at a club who manages to stay alive just long enough to cross Ballard's path. As she digs into these two cases the investigations start to intertwine and forces her to put her career on the line. 

 4. The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham-- I enjoyed this story that Elin wrote with her daughter. It takes place in a boarding school and boy is there lots of drama and secrets and lies... all of which are about to be exposed. A new app features blind items being shared and no one is immune. I'll be honest this concept reminded me of another book I read but I could not for the life of me remember which book which drove me a bit nutty. It in no way took away from my enjoyment of this book but I hate when I can't place a book I'm thinking of. I can't wait for the second book in this 2 part series to come out next year. I will be sure to snap that one up too. 

 5. Roommating by Meredith Schorr--  Sabrina is a grad student working at the local library while attending classes at night to get her master's in library studies. She lives with a septuagenarian named Marcia. Both Marcia and Sabrina adore one another and have settled into a wonderful roommate situation. Then Marcia asks Sabrina if she's be okay with Marcia's grandson Adam moving in and living on the pull out sofa. Sabrina isn't sold on the idea at first but can't help rooting for Marcia and Adam to reconnect in a meaningful way. The three find a new routine and all is going well but sparks fly between Adam and Sabrina. Mindful of their living situation and Marcia the two try to fight it as much as possible. Then Marcia has a health scare and her doctor advises her that so many people living in a cramped 2 bedroom apartment might be too much. Knowing that only one can stay, Sabrina and Adam begin competing to see who can be the better roommate to Marcia and they pull out all the stops. Their antics can be a bit childish and eye-rolling inducing at times but they sure are funny. It was a fun read. 

 6. Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly-- In the second book in the series Ballard ends up working a cold case with Bosch (a main character from another of Connelly's series). I had never read any of the Bosch books but I didn't feel like I needed to since in this story he's a retired detective that Ballard stumbles across one night rifling through the filing cabinets. Once Ballard looks into the case, she's hooked and offers to team up with him. When 15 year old Daisy Clayton was brutally murdered and her body dumped in the trash there wasn't much to go on to find her killer but Ballard and Bosch look for new inroads to cracking the case while also continuing to work on other cases. It was another fun one and mentions of Mickey Haller and Cisco also crop up (another series of Connelly's I've yet to read but I did watch the Netflix show). 

7.  Fall At Once by Nora Everly--  I was given an advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley and I was thrilled! I've been saying for years that publishers need some more fall themed rom-coms to take the place of summer beach reads once the cooler weather hits. This story was adorable and gave me all the fall feels. Madi has moved to the cute little town of Cozy Creek to help her injured grandmother run her bakery. Madi is recovering from a breakup and trying to figure out where she wants to go from here. Being a consummate people pleaser, Madi has made most life choices based on what her mother and sisters want for her without question, until now. Running into her grandmother's neighbor Cole, over and over again has Madi fantasizing about the hot firefighter. He's a cute single dad still trying to recover from his ex-wife's betrayal but despite both their protests that they are not ready for any sort of a relationship, sparks fly. I was surprised to read that this was the 3rd book in a 6 book series all set in the adorable Cozy Creek town in fall. I am definitely going to be on the lookout for the others in this series. This book was published October 28th, so be on the lookout for it if you'd enjoy a cozy fall romance. 

 8. No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister-- I enjoyed this audiobook a lot! This was such a fun and unique story. Alice had always wanted to be a writer but had such a hard time getting her story down until tragedy struck and a story found her. Reluctant to publish one of her college professors reminds her that stories alter and grow with each new person that reads them. Each part of the story focuses on one reader, why they are drawn to the book and how it changes their lives.  We see how each new reader connects to some part of the story and how their reading and understanding changes based on their own past and beliefs. 

 

9. A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder book #10)-- I'm still making my way through this series. In this book Kate Burkholder is called the scene of a barn that has gone up in flames where an 18 year old boy has gone missing. When his remains are found in the burned barn, Kate struggles to dig for answers of what happened in an Amish community that is suddenly determined to close ranks and put Kate and her deputies on the outside. 

 

10. This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash--  Easter and her sister Ruby are living in foster care when their father Wade shows up. Wade gave up his parental rights years ago and steals the girls away in the middle of the night. Soon Wade and the girls are being hunted down by the girls' court appointed guardian as well as some old "buddies" of Wade that are hunting him down over missing money that may or may not be linked the missing armored car money the feds are investigating. It was a fun and quick listen on Libby app. 

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