Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng FIC Ng

James Lee was a professor who fell in love with Marilyn who was working as his assistant while she was pursuing her dream to become a doctor.  That dream fell apart when she became pregnant with her first son. They decided to get married.  Marilyn wasn't very close to her mother but she did invite her to come for the wedding.  Her mother was impressed that her daughter was marrying a professor - until she arrived and found out that he was Chinese.   In the 60's this still raised a lot of eyebrows.  They eventually have a daughter and another son.

When the novel begins we learn that their daughter Lydia is dead. She was 16, an honor student and with some 'help' from her mother is headed toward college and then medical school.  When Lydia went missing the police talk to the family members and want the names of her friends.  The police are shocked to find that she really didn't have any friends - and her family was unaware of that.

Her body is found in a lake.  Now they need to figure out if it was a suicide or a murder.  Lots of family secrets will have to be uncovered to find out the truth.

      This is a debut novel!   Can't wait for more.

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To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin FIC Col

Caitriona Wallace, a young Scottish widow, is chaperoning two young adults, Jamie and Alice Arrol, on a world tour.  Their last stop is Paris.  On a hot air balloon flight over the city, Cait has a chance encounter with Emile Nouguier, a designer and engineer for the controversial Eiffel Tower.  Although they meet only twice, both are affected by their visits.

Once home in Scotland, Cait finds her life vastly constricted.  Left impoverished by her husband's death she finds her options are limited.  On the verge of accepting a marriage proposal from an older gentleman that would make her comfortable but miserable, Cait jumps at the opportunity to accompany Jamie and Alice back to Paris where Jamie plans to apprentice himself to Nouguier.

Cait yearns to break free from the strictures placed on her by society (is she destined to be a chaperone for the rest of her life?).  Emile has broken from the family tradition of running a glass factory and faces the disappointment of his mother.  Over time the two of them are drawn together but can their attraction succeed in a society that disapproves?

Told in alternating chapters from the point-of-view of Cait and then Emile, this story fairly quivers with what life in Paris in the late 1880s was like. From descriptions of the restrictive clothing women wore to how the public looked on the building of the Eiffel Tower, it was a fascinating look.  I could almost taste the metal in the air that was in constant use to build the tower.  The struggles that Emile and Cait faced in order to be together were also clearly drawn.

A good book that provides an inside look at a time I wasn't familiar with and the building of something I now take for granted.

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Faithful by Alice Hoffman FIC Hof

I loved this book.  It begins two years after the event that changed the life of Shelby, a normal high school girl.  There was an accident.  It was truly an accident.  But that is not what it felt like to Shelby.  Helene, her best friend, lived but would never have a life.  Shelby has been overwhelmed with guilt. She has basically been living in her parents' basement and has not been having a life either.

She finally leaves her Long Island home and moves into the city with Ben.  They went to school together and later he was the one who could get drugs for her.  He treats her well.  He loves her.  But in her mind she is not worthy of love.  It takes a long time for her to believe that maybe she is worthy.  Along the way she touches the lives of others.   A well-told story of what guilt can do to a person.

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Hush, Hush by Laura Lippman MYS Lip

This is one of Lippman's Tess Monaghan mysteries.  Tess is helping to provide security for Melisandre Dawes who is involved with filming a documentary about her attempt to reconnect with her two daughters after twelve years.  Melisandre was a lawyer and she also comes from money.  She is not the easiest person to work for.  Why does she need security?  Well she is rather infamous.  Twelve years ago she left her infant daughter to die in a hot car.  She was arrested and tried in court where she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.  She left the country and left her other two daughters with their father.  Now she is back and wants to connect with the girls who are now teenagers.  Melisandre is also receiving threatening notes.

Melisandre is back in the spotlight when she becomes a prime suspect in a murder.  Tess works to figure out what really happened - both in the past and in the present.

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Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline FIC Sco

From the very beginning the reader knows that there is a sociopath at work.  The question of course is the identity of this sick person. There are a couple of good suspects in the story.  Who better to spot a sociopath than a psychiatrist?  Enter Dr. Eric Parrish a very successful one who is the head of the Psychiatric unit at a hospital  Things are going very well at the hospital.  He also has private patients whom he treats at his home.  But not everything is going well for Parrish.  He is separated from his wife, Alice, and she does not make things easy for Eric who wants to spend as much time as possible with his daughter, Hannah, who is 7. But for the most part things are going well.  And then it all starts to fall apart.

At work, where he is well-liked and respected, he is suddenly accused of sexual misconduct by a young intern.  One night at the hospital he is asked to meet with Max who is at the hospital with his grandmother who is terminal.  He is having a very hard time.  Besides dealing with the expected outcome for his grandmother, Max also suffers from OCD, has rituals that he must perform every 15 minutes and is having violent thoughts about a girl that he is working with at a tutoring center.  Eric takes him on as a private patient.  He is afraid that Max might hurt himself.  Instead the object of Max's obsession is murdered.  And Eric becomes a 'person of interest' in the investigation.

This book kept my interest from beginning to end!

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Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves MYS Gra

Lizzie Snow is a smart and likable homicide cop.  She worked in Boston but has now moved to a place called Bearkill, Maine.  She hasn't moved there in search of murderers.  Instead she has gone because of a lead she received.  Lizzie's sister was killed and her niece has been missing since then and she is determined to follow every lead. Lizzie's boss, Sheriff Chevrier, wants her there for his own reasons.  There have been several ex-local cops who have died.  It was determined that they died either by accident or by suicide - but the Sheriff doesn't believe it.  So she is one busy cop!  But of course there are some love interests.  The lead she received about her niece came from the good-looking lawman who broke her heart back in Boston.  He is trying to get her to give him a second chance.  There is also a very nice veterinarian who is quite appealing.

So there are likable characters, a bit of romance, the mystery of the multiple deaths and the dangerous attempt to rescue a young girl. What's not to love?!
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They May Not Mean To, But They Do by Cathleen Schine LP Sch

This was a very entertaining book!  It has a universal theme to which most people can relate - the relationship between grown children and their aging parents.  You may love each other so you know they "don't mean to", but they often drive us crazy!  Joy and Aaron Bergman have been married for a long, long time.  Joy is still working and taking care of Aaron who has dementia.  Children Molly and Daniel have lots of advice for Joy but she really isn't looking for advice on what to do.

When Aaron dies it changes the dynamics of the family.  Molly and Daniel are feeling more responsibility (which always comes with guilt!).  There are moments in the book that made me sad but sometimes I would laugh out loud. One of my favorites was when Molly has been trying to get her mother to go out and socialize.  Joy's response is that she is busy.  "Between losing things and looking for things I've lost and going to the bathroom, well, the day just isn't long enough."  I can so relate to this!!!   A great read.

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