Friday Reads 8/9/2024

Well, here we are at Friday again. It's been a rough week. I have managed to get a little reading done every day, but usually about 15 pages. Let's talk about it.

Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark - This is pretty entertaining. Astor and Jefferson got together and decided to try to set up a big trading center at the spot where the Columbia River open onto the Atlantic. They sent two groups out. One group went overland and one group went by boat around Cape Horn (the Panama Canal didn't exist yet) and back up the West coast of the America's to Oregon (with a quick stop in Hawaii.) I'm only a third through it, but I'm enjoying it.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano - I am less enamored by this one. I've read less than 50 pages, but I am not a fan of the burnt out mom situation. In this one, Finlay is a recently divorced mom of 2 toddlers whose ex husband is keeping her in penury and then paying her bills to prove she is an unfit mother. He is threatening to get full custody, but he can't handle even one of the kids for a couple of hours. Due to a misunderstanding, she has been hired to kill off someone's husband for $50,000 (she's a murder mystery writer, not a hit woman) and she's considering doing it. That part of the premise is pretty funny, but I can't get on board with the main character. I'll probably put this one down. Which means I'll have to find another book to use for the debut book challenge.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I might pick this one up in replacement of Finlay Donovan in a huge case of "and now for something completely different." I am pretty sure this is a bit dark. I mean, it's a Bronte, so duh. But also it's about a battered wife, if I remember correctly.

Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas - I think I'm really feeling the historical fiction thing, so I might pick up the next in Will's series. I enjoy these main characters and it's been awhile. I'm way behind in this series.

I think that's all for now. What are you reading?