Review: The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir

Title: The Martian: A Novel
Author: Andy Weir
Publisher: Crown Publishing
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Edition: hardcover (369 pages)

The Martian by Andy Weir

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Mark Watney is a member of a crew exploring Mars when a storm and freak accident causes him to be left behind on the planet. He is sure he will not leave Mars alive, but he decides to use every bit of ingenuity he has to try and survive.

Though the book is characterized as science fiction, it has more of an adventure theme to it. It was captivating, held my attention, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. There was also much focus on space exploration which I found equally interesting. Read it, if you want a great story that is well written.

Lynn's List (October 28, 2016)

• The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss by Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper
• Blue: A Novel by Danielle Steel
• Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein by John Connolly, James Patterson and TimMalloy
• Home by Harlan Coben
• Small Great Things: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
• Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks
• The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir
• Cold Ridge (Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, #1) by Carla Neggers
• Night's Landing (Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, #2) by Carla Neggers
• Prairie Girl: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson and Renee Graef
• The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy by Jean Kennedy Smith
• Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II by Albert Marrin
• Secret Service Dogs: The Heroes Who Protect the President of the United States by Clint Hill and Maria Goodavage
• The Group, The Company She Keeps, and Birds of America: Three Novels in One Collection by Mary Mccarthy
• Wreckers Must Breathe by Hammond Innes
• Air Bridge by Hammond Innes
• Isvik by Hammond Innes
• The Whistler by John Grisham
• Mistletoe Cottage by Debbie Mason
• Runaway by Ed Mcbain
• Privileged Conversation by Ed Mcbain
• Scimitar by Ed Mcbain
• Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD by Romeo Dallaire
• The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
• The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans
• Montana Sky by Nora Roberts
• Buried (A Bone Secrets Novel) by Kendra Elliot [Kindle]
• Confessions of a Suicidal Policewoman by Thomas Fitzsimmons [Kindle]
• Those Children Are Ours by David Burnett [Kindle]

Review: Night's Landing (Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals, #2) by Carla Neggers

Title: Night's Landing (Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals, #2)
Author:Carla Neggers
Publisher: Mira Books
Publication Date: October 3, 2016
Edition: ebook

Night's Landing by Carla Neggers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sarah Dunnemore was home from Scotland when she received a phone call telling her that her twin brother, Rob, had been shot in Central Park in New York City. She came to New York and met Nate Winter, her brother's partner, who also had been shot. And, thus begins the mystery as to who shot them and why.

As with the first book in the Series, the characters are strong, well developed and engaging. The plot takes many twists and turns which kept me wanting to know more. Great suspense and romance.

Review: Cold Ridge (Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals, #1) by Carla Neggers

Title: Cold Ridge (Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals, #1)
Author: Carla Neggers
Publisher: Mira Books
Publication Date: June 1, 2005 (first published January 12, 2003)
Edition: ebook (377 pages)

Cold Ridge by Carla Neggers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A RITA Award Nominee by Romance Writers of America for Romantic Suspense (2004), Cold Ridge (Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals, #1) by Carla Neggers, is a great read. Carine Winters unwittingly finds herself entangled in a dangerous murder plot when she is hired by a couple to photograph their historic home. And her former fiance, Tyler North, also becomes involved because of her and his best friend's actions, as the police suspect the friend as having committed the murder.

Carla Neggers writes complex plot lines involving interesting and intense characters. So glad I decided to give her books a try. The scenery is also picturesque. I will definitely continue with the Cold Ridge U.S. Marshals Series.

Review: TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald by Timothy L. O'Brien

Title: TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald
Author: Timothy L. O'Brien
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication Date: October 20th 2015 (first published October 1st 2005)
Edition: ebook (276 pages) [nonfiction]

TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald by Timothy L. O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Donald Trump. Who is he, and what is he all about? Timothy L. O'Brien attempts, in so far as is possible, tries to answer those questions for the reader. The footnotes and sources referenced attest to the author's meticulous research. And Mr. Trump gave him access and approval for the writing of this book.

I decided to read this book because I wanted to have a better understanding of Mr. Trump as a person and as a presidential candidate. When I read that Mr. Trump sued Mr. O'Brien for $5 billion, and the courts rejected Mr. Trump's claim of libel, I thought this book might offer me what I was seeking. And it did. When I finished reading, I could once again take a deep breath and say, whew! Mr. Trump is an intense personality. His life is like a speeding roller coaster. I believe the author did an excellent job of capturing that essence.

Lynn's List (October 21, 2016)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Climbing Jacob's Ladder: One Man's Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition by Alan Morinis
• Mason by Delores Fossen
• The Outsiders by Se Hinton
• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read
• The Rapids by Carla Neggers
• Trouble in Paradise by Robin Lee Hatcher
• Woman Without a Name by Emilie Richards
• Wedding Bush Road: A Novel by David Francis
• Line of Vision by David Ellis
• Kara and Dave by Melanie James
• On the Line by Kathryn Ascher
• Broken Wings by Mark Olshaker and John E. Douglas
• The Washington Stratagem by Adam Lebor
• Bane by Brenda Jackson
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Dance of the Bones by J. A. Jance
• 31 Verses to Write on Your Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs
• Home on the Range: A Novel by Ruth Logan Herne
• Four Perfect Pebbles: A True Story of the Holocaust by Marion Blumenthal Lazan and Lila Perl
• Thunder Mountain: A Western Story by Zane Grey
• The German Girl: A Novel by Armando Lucas Correa
• Dear Amy: A Novel by Helen Callaghan
• Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty by Anthony Galvin
• The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights by Shaun Assael
• Final Scream by Lisa Jackson
• Seashell Season by Holly Chamberlin
• This Side of Brightness: A Novel by Colum Mccann
• The Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Kimberly Cutter
• Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk
• We All Fall Down by Eric Walters
• United We Stand by Eric Walters
• Geronimo's Story of His Life: As Told to S. M. Barrett by S. M. Barrett and Geronimo
• The Love Letters by Beverly Lewis
• TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald by Timothy L. O'Brien

Review: In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French

Title: In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1)
Author: Tana French
Publisher:Viking
Publication Date: May 17, 2007
Edition: hardcover (429 pages) [fiction]

In the Woods by Tana French

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the summer of 1984, three youngsters went into the woods to play, and only one came out. What happened remained a mystery for twenty years. Then, suddenly a young girl is found murdered in the same wooded area, and Detective Adam "Rob" Ryan and his partner are assigned the case. What happened twenty years ago? Is it related to the present case?

Tana French tells this story in vivid detail. As the plot unfolded, I was constantly thinking I had things figured out, but around every corner, there were twists and turns just waiting to be discovered. I found the characters well developed and interesting, along with the police procedure and criminal investigation elements.

Dewey’s Readathon is this Saturday, October 22, 2016.

Dewey’s Readathon is this Saturday, October 22, 2016.

I didn't officially sign up this year, but I'm going to celebrate and read, nevertheless. It's so fun and exciting to stay awake for twenty-four hours and devote that entire time to reading, minus a few breaks, of course.

This time, I've decided to read romances. I do read them, throughout the year, but they are not my main focus. I've chosen three, though I'm fairly certain I won't be able to read them all in twenty-four hours. The three are by Carla Neggers and are the first three books in the Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals Series.

Cold Ridge (Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, #1) is the first of the three, followed by Night's Landing (Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, #2), and The Rapids (Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, #3).

For more information on the upcoming Readathon, visit Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. Happy reading!

Review: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Title: This Is Where It Ends
Author: Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Edition: ebook (288 pages)

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This Is Where It Ends is stunning. Not only because it tells the fictional story of a massacre at a high school in a small southern town, but because it is so detailed and eloquently told that you actually find yourself inside the minds of the four characters who tell it. The subject is harsh, and the consequences deadly, but the characters in this book are remarkable.

A good story is one that wakes me up, makes me think and feel, and stays with me long after I read it. This story is one of those. It is not one that glosses over the reality of life only to look on the bright side. It presents love, caring and loss just as it often occurs in real life. But I do not recommend it to anyone easily upset by violence.

Lynn's List (October 14, 2016)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism by Matthew Avery Sutton
• All God's Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence by Fox Butterfield
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• The Bad Lands: A Novel by Oakley Hall
• Free Your Breath, Free Your Life: How Conscious Breathing Can Relieve Stress, Increase Vitality, and Help You Live More Fully by Dennis Lewis
• Overwatch: A Thriller by Matthew Betley
• The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor
• Beach Plum Island by Holly Robinson
• America's Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve by Roger Lowenstein
• Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
• Yesternight: A Novel by Cat Winters
• Breaking Bailey's Rules by Brenda Jackson
• The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andrés Reséndez
• Zero Day (John Puller #1) by David Baldacci
• The Forgotten (John Puller #2) by David Baldacci
• The Escape (John Puller #3) by David Baldacci
• Rightsizing Your Life: Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most by Gail Sheehy and Ciji Ware
• See How They Run by James Patterson
• This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
• Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris

Review: Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris

Title: Behind Closed Doors
Author: B. A. Paris
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 9, 2016
Edition: ebook (336 pages)

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jack and Grace! A chance meeting on a Sunday afternoon. Love at first sight for both. Marriage. The perfect house. The perfect life. But it is really? Are things what they seem?

B. A. Paris has crafted a psychological thriller that kept me reading from beginning to end. Though I found it disturbing, in some ways, I couldn't stop reading it. And it reaffirmed by belief that people can easily choose to show you who they are not as easily as show you who they are. Fortunately for humanity, most of us choose to show one another who we really are, at least for the most part.

This book is definitely not for younger readers or anyone who is easily upset by depravity.

Review: The Carpenter's Lady by Barbara Delinsky

Title: The Carpenter's Lady
Author: Barbara Delinsky
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: July 26th 2005 (first published 1983)
Edition: ebook (336 pages)

The Carpenter's Lady by Barbara Delinsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Debra Barry needs a new start after a divorce. As a successful script writer, she can write from anywhere, so she leaves New York City for New Hampshire. Within days, she has purchased a house she loves. The house is in need of major renovation. She hires master carpenter, Graham Reid, a man experiencing his own emotional termoil, to do the work. There is an almost instant attraction between them, though neither wants to risk more painful emotional involvement.

This is my third Barbara Delinsky book, and, as with the previous titles, I enjoyed the characters and got to know them as they came alive in my mind. This book, however, was more focused on the romantic, and not so much on community and the whole of life as my previous Barbara Delinsky titles, Lake News and An Accidental Woman, both of which remain two of my favorite books at the top of my rereads. This book also has more descriptions of sex, though it is by no means graphic, by today's standards.

Review: The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

Title: The Amityville Horror
Author: Jay Anson
Publisher: Bantam Books
Publication Date: 1978
Edition: Mass Market Paperback (315 pages)

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jay Anson chronicles a family's experiences while living in a home, the scene of a mass murder of six people in Amityville, New York.

George and Kathleen Lutz, and their three children spent twenty-eight days in their Amityville home and left it with only their dog and the clothes on their back.

You may have seen the movie, but the book is written in vivid detail. Personally, I found the story believable and plausible. This book is a nonfiction account that reads like fiction.

Lynn's List (October 7, 2016)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party by George R. Stewart
• An Amish Christmas and Family Blessings by Anna Schmidt and Patricia Davids
• Missing by Lynette Eason
• Girl on a Plane by Miriam Moss
• The Last Hostage by John J. Nance
• The Freedom Line by Peter Eisner
• The Memory of Things: A Novel by Gae Polisner
• Waging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress, 1776 to ISIS by David J. Barron
• Crossing the Horizon: A Novel by Laurie Notaro
• The Hostage's Daughter: A Story of Family, Madness, and the Middle East by Sulome Anderson
• Mary Astor's Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 by Edward Sorel
• The Dressmaker: A Novel by Beryl Bainbridge
• Jesus Always (with Bonus Content): Embracing Joy in His Presence by Sarah Young
• The Angel of Forest Hill: An Amish Christmas Romance by Cindy Woodsmall
• Among the Living by Jonathan Rabb
• Crane Pond: A Novel of Salem by Richard Francis
• Turbulence: A True Story of Survival by Annette Herfkens
• The Emancipator by Tracy Winegar
• The Apartment by S L Grey
• My Own Words by Wendy W. Williams, Mary Hartnett and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber
• The Obama White House and the Supreme Court: from The Oath by Jeffrey Toobin
• Broken by Lisa Edward
• Missing: A Private Novel by James Patterson
• How to Move to Canada: A Discontented American's Guide to Canadian Relocation by André Du Broc
• Get What's Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs by Philip Moeller
• Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner
• Chains of Love: Slave Couples in Antebellum South Carolina by Emily West
• The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention by Judith Wellman
• Christmas Bells: A Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
• Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point by David Lipsky
• Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC by Judy Richardson, Jean Smith Young, Faith S. Holsaert and others
• I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl by Hilda Polacheck
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: Road to the New Deal, 1882-1939 by Roger Daniels
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: The War Years, 1939-1945 by Roger Daniels
• Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
• Natchez Burning: A Novel by Greg Iles
• Last Stand by Michael Punke
• The Carpenter's Lady by Barbara Delinsky
• Together Alone by Barbara Delinsky
• Flying Changes: A Novel by Sara Gruen

Review: The Apartment: A Novel by Danielle Steel

Title: The Apartment: A Novel
Author: Danielle Steel
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Edition: Hardcover (336 pages)

The Apartment by Danielle Steel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Four very different young women come together to live in an apartment in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. They are as close as sisters. "The Apartment" tells their story--their successes, challenges, tragedies, and the blending of their lives. I reveled in the sometimes unconventional nature of these women and their choices.

As the story began, I expected to be immediately involved with these women, as I am with the characters of most Danielle Steel novels. But this one took a little longer to draw me in. And, as always, I found I could not just "read" a Danielle Steel novel, but I had to "experience" it. Feel it. This one, too, touches the heart and reaches out to draw the reader in, though, perhaps, a bit more slowly than some of her other novels. Still, it was a very good read.

Review: Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Title: Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto
Author: Tilar J. Mazzeo
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: September 27, 2016

Irena's Children: A True Story of Courage by Tilar J Mazzeo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Irena's Children is the story of a young woman who saved at least 2,500 Jewish children from almost certain death in Warsaw, Poland, during World War II, by putting together a network of people to get these children to safe homes to await the end of the war. She, herself, took great risks to save these children, and suffered torture at the hands of the Nazis, not to mention living in unspeakable conditions as Warsaw was decimated. What is so striking is that Irena Sendler was a young woman who lead an ordinary life as a Polish citizen, and yet, she undertook this heroic effort.

Tilar J. Mazzeo has told Irena's story as well as the stories of many of her friends and those who worked with her, brilliantly, in my opinion. I have always been extremely interested in World War II and the Holocaust, especially. The emotional impact of the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis still staggers me. And it is even more compelling when you consider the number of people killed by the implementation of Hitler's final solution plan.

Note: The edition I read is the hardcover edition, not the edition for young readers, but the links provided here take you to the young readers edition.