April 2022 Wrap Up

So I did read a few books in April. Here they are.

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich - I waited for this book for sooooo long. I liked it, but the main character needs to find a personality. Luckily, the side characters are impeccable and really save the story. Gabriela is a finder. She finds things people have lost. Her home town is in danger of failing so she decides to go find a buried treasure from Cortez. She ends up in Peru a couple of times and her annoying ex-husband comes along for the ride. There are drug cartels and cannibals and demon gods. It's definitely an adventure.

You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus - I am now completely out of McManus books until the next one is released. In this one, three kids run into each other in the parking lot of their high school. In middle school, they snuck away from a school field trip together and had "the best day ever". Each one of them is dealing with something and none of them want to be there that day, so they take off. They run across a guy who beat one of them in the student council election and he's supposed to be at school accepting the presidential position. They follow him. When they catch up to him, he's dead. They run. What follows is a long, windy tale of teachers and siblings and stolen drugs. This was also an adventure.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn - I watched the first bit of Bridgerton with Jamie one night. I figured I'd try out the book. I was pleasantly surprised. The show added a bunch of extraneous drama that wasn't necessary and made it gross. The book was much purer. I went out and bought the second book last week. There is one unpleasant scene that amounts to a woman raping her husband. It's gross. I docked it a star for that.

Jane and the Year Without a Summer by Stephanie Barron - This was a slooooowwww one. The actual mystery didn't crop up until page 100. A whole bunch of the secondary characters were unlikeable and obnoxious. Only a couple of them were obnoxious in a funny way. And since this is set in 1816, Jane is quite ill. In the book, she learns she has 6 months to a year to live. The tone is elegiac because you already know she's nearing the end of her life. There is a love interest which is nice, but you know it'll never work out, since he wasn't in her biography. If there is another one, I'll probably read it because I like these books, but it will be very sad. In this one Jane and Cassandra are visiting Cheltenham to take the healing waters. There are two ladies and a gentleman staying in their inn that are very interesting. One lady is incapacitated and is in a wheeled chair. She is looked after by her friend and doted on by the gentleman. The mystery is revealed when her husband and step-mother show up and want to remove her back to his home.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore - This is a literary thriller. Maybe? It's written like a literary novel, but it's most decidedly a mystery. Mickey is a cop. Her family is full of drug addicts and low-lifes and they do not appreciate her chosen profession. Her sister is a drug addict and sometime prostitute. Mickey keeps an eye on her on the streets, but she hasn't seen her for awhile and she's worried. When prostitutes start getting murdered, she takes matters into her own hands. The twists and turns are gasp-worthy. The ending isn't particularly thrilling, and loose ends are not tied up very satisfyingly, but that's where the literary part comes in. It's at least a good ending for the most part.

Five books. Not too bad for a crappy month. What did you read?