Sunday Post #272

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

It's been a busy week with cats! Smokey has been settling in, super friendly and less afraid. Peanut and Smokey have little meet-and-greets through a small crack in the door as we supervise. It's going well. We caught Starla, the mom cat (now named Marmalade) and her 3 kittens, took them to the animal rescue. Starla is being spayed and given her shots on Tuesday and I'm picking her up directly from there to come home. Marmalade and her kittens are on the list to be adopted out. The kittens have a better chance at getting placed. If they can't place Marmalade, we'll get her back after she's been spayed and vaccinated.

We've had a few rainy days and it's been cold at night! It dipped down to 27F degrees. We've pulled dead flowers and vegetables from the garden. I do have some fall/winter produce coming. Little gem lettuce, Swiss Chard radish, arugula, cauliflower and broccoli. 

I've been out on a lot of runs/walks around the neighborhood and the fall colors continue to amaze me!

Burning Bush 

Scarlet firethorn

Great Blue Heron in middle background (hard to see) and a buck.

Read:

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

Cursed (Alex Verus #2) by Benedict Jacka: 4 Stars

The Forgotten One (The Heirs #2) by Catherine Bybee: 4.5 Stars

The Taken Ones (Steinbeck and Reed #1) by Jess Lourey: 4 Stars

Received:

Thank you to G,P. Putnam's Sons and Dial Press! 

Instagram:

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Review: The Forgotten One by Catherine Bybee

 

The Forgotten One (The Heirs #2)  by Catherine Bybee

Publication Date: November 12th 2024 by Montlake

Pages: 378

Source: Publicist

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Max Smith finds out that he’s the illegitimate son of billionaire Alex Stone, who’s died and left him part heir to his empire. This comes as a shock since he was told his parents were dead and he was shuffled from one foster home to another. He’s also gained two half-siblings. There’s already some strife within the family’s corporation, and so they want to control how the news is released to the board, and the public. This is where reporter Sarah McNeilly comes in.

 

Sarah and Max form a connection right away even though she was sent to dig up dirt on him. It’s quickly apparent that Sarah is a principled journalist. Sarah also helps Max find information on his mother, a difficult journey for Max.

 

I was thrilled that Max and his siblings found each other! Max needed someone in his corner, never having had a stable family in the past. Max and Sarah had instant chemistry, but their relationship felt like it progressed naturally and believably. No ridiculous, contrived third act breakup!

 

The Forgotten One was an engrossing romance, but also a feel-good story with Max initially leading a lonely, monotonous existence and having all that change into a life full of love, prosperity and family! It put a warm glow in my heart.

 

The author’s note touched on her own personal experiences with foster care. It was emotional and made the story even more moving!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee spins a dazzling tale of long-lost relatives, overnight riches, and unexpected romance in the dramatic second book of The Heirs series.

Sarah McNeilly is a rare find in the tabloid industry. She won’t ignite gossip. She finds the truth. And for once, that’s what her boss wants. With her job on the line, Sarah’s latest assignment is to identify the elusive “Maximillian Smith,” unearth his connection to the billionaire Stone family, and dig up some dirt.

Yesterday Max was an ordinary working man, concerned with little more than the price of gas. Now he suddenly has a family, jaw-dropping wealth, and an avid (if clumsy) reporter on his trail. With the press threatening to destroy his new life, he needs to release his real story strategically, and Sarah is the key—not to mention an adorable yet invaluable resource for finding his mother.

As Max and Sarah team up to peel back the ugly layers of Max’s past, they stumble heart-first into their fiery attraction. But when their research threatens their newly built trust, it’s their future that is on the line.

Read book one in The Heirs series, All Our Tomorrows, available now on #kindleunlimited.

 

Author Bio:

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee has written over forty-five books that have collectively sold more than eleven million copies. Her titles have been translated into more than twenty languages. Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the popular Not Quite, Weekday Brides, Most Likely To, and First Wives series. 

Connect with Catherine Bybee:

Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Facebook Group | Instagram | Tik Tok | X

Audiobook Review: First Do No Harm by Joe Kenda

 

First Do No Harm (Detectives Kenda & Wilson #2) by Joe Kenda

Publication Date: September 17th 2024 by Blackstone Publishing

Pages: 272

Audio Book Length: 7hrs 

Narrator: Bradford Hastings & Joe Kenda

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Librofm |  Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When there are several odd heroine overdoses, all cut with the new drug, fentanyl, Kenda and his partner Wilson are tasked with finding the dealer before anyone else dies. During their investigation, Dr. Moreland, an anesthesiologist who happens to work at the same hospital as Kenda’s wife, captures their attention as rumors about his drug use and odd behavior circulate.  

 

Dr. Moreland was a piece of work, and I couldn’t help but hope he was caught either by Kenda and Wison or the Mexican drug cartel!

 

Do No Harm is the second book in the Detectives Kenda & Wilson series penned by the real-life Detective Joe Kenda. While the stories are fictional, they’re inspired by past cases Kenda worked on, set in the 1970s, at the beginning of his career. It was an interesting mystery that kept and held my attention as the events played out. Kenda’s storytelling felt like a true crime narrative with a natural progression of events that snowballed into an action-packed conclusion!

I listened to the audio version performed by Bradford Hastings with an introduction and conclusion by Joe Kenda, which was a nice addition and gave some background to this case. Bradford Hastings did a wonderful job portraying Det. Kenda, with a pleasing masculine voice, easy going and good with the bits of ironic humor interspersed.

4 Stars

Book Description:

Former homicide detective and star of Investigation Discovery, Joe Kenda follows his authentic and fascinating debut novel with First Do No Harm, another addictive tale of crime and punishment as only he can tell it.

A string of overdoses in Colorado Springs has Detectives Joe Kenda and Lee Wilson on the lookout for a bad batch of heroin that has been cut with a drug they’ve never seen before.

Meanwhile, at Springs General Hospital, Dr. Blair Moreland—the notoriously unpleasant head anesthesiologist—has found a way to feed his deepening addiction to the very same powerful new Fentanyl.

But when Dr. Moreland starts supplying the dangerous painkiller to dealer Lula Lopez—planning to manufacture the drug himself—he angers a Mexican crime syndicate and sets into motion a cycle of death and violence that threatens to engulf the entire city.

Detectives Kenda and Wilson must track down the source of this killer heroin before anyone else can overdose—and stop Moreland before he can escape the long arm of the law.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Destination in the Titles

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bookish folk to share their lists on that topic. 

 

This week's theme is Destination Titles: Titles with names of places in them. Can be fictional or a real place. I'm listing books I've read and enjoyed:

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

Lake Silence (The World of the Others #1) by Anne Bishop

The original series with Meg and Simon will always be my favorite, but I was happy to get more with this spinoff!

The Talk of Coyote Canyon (Coyote Canyon #1) by Brenda Novak

Compelling and addictive! You think you're just going to read few chapters and you've read the entire book in one sitting!

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

I've read this several times over the years and for a change listened to the audio back in 2020, narrated by Hugh Frasier "Hastings" in the film adaptations with David Suchet. Love the new covers!

The Belle of Belgrave Square (Belle's of London #2) by Mimi Matthews

Julia's parents were an utter nightmare! So happy she found Jasper and he, along with her friends, helped her stand up to them! The romance was beautiful, swoony and passionate!

The View from Alameda Island by Robyn Carr

Alameda Island is not that far from me and sounds like a charming place. I need to visit after reading this story. Robyn Carr wrote some crazy ex's in this one, but they get foiled at every turn! Thank goodness Lauren and Beau's romance was steady, calm and lovely!

Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles #3) by Melina Marchetta

Wow, can't believe I read this series back in 2011! It was a moving, epic and emotional fantasy series! The writing is clever, moving, with levity to balance out some of the dark! Melina Marchetta is such a talented writer Australian writer!

Agony Hill (Franklin Warren #1) by Sarah Stewart Taylor

An engrossing mystery from the first page! The characters, time period, and setting of Vermont were vividly portrayed! I'm looking forward to the next one!

The Hope of Azure Springs by Rachel Fordham

A historical Western. A mix of romance and suspense. I loved every minute! 

Moonlight over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan

This was the first book I read by Morgan and I've been hooked by her romance/women's fiction ever since! I grab up every new release!

Sunday Post #271

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

It's been a week! Gotta say I was in a state of shock on Wednesday. I didn't expect that outcome. I've had a lot of things to distract in the meantime. Cat hijinks!

We have four feral cats that we've been feeding.  Well, there's been another grown cat showing up and suddenly there were 3 babies! Like 4-6 week old babies! Didn't even know this cat was pregnant! So we made a trip to our local rescue and picked up a catching cage. Our goal is to get all neutered/spayed, and hopefully some adopted out. If they aren't we've told the rescue we'll take them back and continue to feed and give shelter. They can get into our garage and we have warming pads for them.

Kitten in our woodpile. Their favorite hiding spot.

There are two, Smokey and Starla, the kittens that started coming around when they were about 2 months that we want to keep here. We just caught Smokey a couple of days ago, him being the friendliest of the bunch, and we're trying to acclimate him in the house, and Peanut. He's confined to the guest bedroom for now. It's a whole process we've read up on. He's a sweet kitty!  Peanut knows there's a cat somewhere in the house and he's been a little, understandably, unsettled. I'm giving him more attention to compensate.

Our fall in the area has been so brilliant this year!

Puzzle: Winter Stores. Done while listening to an audiobook.

Read:

(Click on cover for Goodreads link)

The House at Watchhill by Karen Marie Moning: 4 Stars

First Do No Harm by Joe Kenda: 4 Stars

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson: 4 Stars

The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose: 3 Stars

It's been a weird reading week for me. I've started and stopped a few of books I wasn't feeling. One book is probably going to be a DNF.

Received:

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Random House Audio!

Instagram:

This is one I've had to set aside...

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Ten Before the End: Ten Books I Want to Read Before the End of the Year

 Happy Friday! I saw this on list/challenge on Instagram and thought I'd make a goal of ten books I want to read by the end of the year. We'll see if I get to all of them. Can't believe we have less than two months left of 2024!

The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews

I've loved all the books in the series and really anything I've read by Mimi Matthews. I'll be picking this one up soon.

Cursed (Alex Verus #2) by Benedict Jacka

I'm so happy I've finally started the Alex Verus series since I've wanted to read it for some time! Just waiting on my library lend to come through.

The Outlaw Nobel Salt by Amy Harmon

I enjoy historical Westerns and I've enjoyed everything I've read by Harmon. She's written a variety genres. 

The Taken Ones (Steinbeck and Reed #1) by Jess Lourey

I've seen this series on Anne's blog and it's a "read & listen" on Kindle Unlimited. Love a good mystery/crime procedural!

The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2) by Nora Roberts

I read and loved the first book which ended on a cliffhanger! I'm eager to start this installment!

Devil's Due (Red Letter Days #2)

I read the first book back in 2012 and requested the second book. It's been sitting on my shelf on Netgalley since 2013. Yikes! I'm trying to knock out my old ARCs. Wish there was an audio version.

The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy) by Karen Marie Moning

I loved her Fever series, (books 1-7, at least. 8 and 9, not so much, never read the last 2) so I was curious. I'm listening to it right now and enjoying it.

Schemes & Scandals (A Rip Through Time #3.5) by Kelley Armstrong

I've been enjoying this series! A modern day homicide detective somehow gets transported back to Victorian Scotlad. I'm eager to see what Mallory and Gray get up to next!

The Outsider (Holly Gibney #1)

I've been wanting to read Stephen King and I thought the Holly Gibney series would be a good way to try him.

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #1) by J.L. Bryan

Another series that's been on my TBR for ages. 

Here's my 10 Before the End. What books would you like to get to before the end of 2024?