October 2024 Wrap Up

I needed to read 7 books in October to be sure to reach my goal. I read 5. Sigh. It was a pretty busy month. I don't remember what I was doing, but I do remember a lot of evenings when I came home, at ice cream for dinner, and fell in bed. So, it makes sense, even though it's a little disappointing.

Let's recap:

Jean Harlow and the Legend of Stonefish Creek by Jes McCutchen - This is the third book by this author I've read this year, and this is my favorite. Jean and her ecology club are out at Stonefish Creek doing a trash cleanup when a pipe bursts and nearly washes them away. Her sister saves two younger kids who weren't so lucky. When her sister and another friend start acting weird, Jean wonders what was in that water?

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft - I thought this was a YA novel until I got to the sex scene. Then I realized the library has it shelved under adult, which is fine except that the rest of it felt like YA. Her other books have been YA. I liked it, and I guess it doesn't matter how it's categorized, except that I had expectations. The world appears to be very German. There are various countries united under one ruler. The "Germans" are in power. The darker folks, who have Jewish sounding names, are the ones everyone hates. They're conniving snakes, apparently. Lorelei is one of those, but she's suddenly in charge of an expedition to find the fountain of power for the supreme ruler. Her mentor gets murdered and now she has two jobs: find the fountain, and find out who killed her mentor. In the meantime, she falls in love with her nemesis.

A Sign of Affection by sun Morishita - Yuki is a college student who is partially deaf and uses sign language. On a train, she is rescued from a fraught encounter with someone asking directions by another student. He speaks many languages, but not sign language. They begin to get to know each other and he asks her to teach him. Adorable. All the green flags.

Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas - I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I fell right back into Victorian England and Thomas Llewellyn's mind. He is smart, but not Barker smart. He is definitely hilarious. It was fun being back in this world.

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny - Speaking of being back in lovely worlds, we head back to Three Pines in the third Inspector Gamache mystery. The best word to describe Three Pines is bucolic. Little houses in a little town where everyone knows everyone. A witch comes to town, and the local hotelier advertise her as a psychic. She came to take a vacation and then ends up doing a seance at the local haunted house. And then someone dies. My one complaint is that all these people are described as being beset with physical ailments related to aging. Then it says they are in their 40s. Their descriptions make them sound well into their 70s and then they are 40. WTF?

There are my 6 books for October. Hopefully I can pull out a better showing in November.