Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Bingo: Justice I saw the movie Mystic River, based on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name, years ago. I remember thinking it was very good. I forgot most of the plot, so I picked the book up. The story features Jimmy, an ex-con. When he was young, his friends Sean and Danny were playing when a car pulls up to them. The men inside kidnap Danny and he escapes four days later, having been sexually abused. The book then jumps 25 years in the […]
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
CBR18 BINGO: One, because it’s first in a series. Also, it’s the only one of the series I plan to read. In 1965, teenager Frances Adams visits a fortune teller who makes an ominous prediction about Frances being murdered. The prediction includes the typical 1-800-PSYCHIC ambiguity that can easily be self-fulfilling, like the dangers of “holding a queen in the palm of one hand,” or the suggestion that a “bird” will betray her. Frances spends the next 60 years in an extreme state of paranoia, […]
An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister
Someone on the Buffering discord mentioned this novel because one of the characters has a “Smash the Demon Lizard Patriarchy” sticker and then also clarified that it was also a good romance/book. I’m sure I am not the only bookish person in these parts that loved college – the courses, the reading, learning, the discussions and the professors’ approval – and may have even glamorized or wished for a job in academia before realizing that being a good student probably isn’t the same thing as […]
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
I got tired of waiting for a hold of this at the library so I bought a copy. It’s very very pink. I am tempted to leave it in someone’s free library. Girl Dinner‘s main conceit is on the cover with the fork and the drops of blood. Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority that is never named on the University campus that is never named eats people. The story alternates between the point of view of Nina Kaur a sophmore pledging […]
Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler
CBR18 Bingo: Sheep – The doctor and Dore, and later the Wittmers, all come to Floreana hoping to live simpler, more rustic lives, growing their own food and tending to their own animals. When Friedrich, a German doctor, and his former patient and lover Dore decide to move to an uninhabited Galapagos island in search of a pastoral setting for their self-improvement, they did not know the publicity and violence that would follow. I had a vague recollection of this bizarre story from hearing about […]
Married with Benefits by Ellie Palmer
A marriage of convenience for health insurance and real estate is so appropriate for 2026. I would marry someone for good health insurance, sadly, I don’t have real estate to trade. Married With Benefits takes on that question of who could we be if we weren’t constantly struggling to survive? Lainey is incredibly competent and a talented artist, but to eat she drives for Uber in her small Wisconsin town. Lainey suffers from debilitating migraines, which are quite treatable, but the prescription medication is expensive. […]
