goldsberry921

Down by the River by Charles Bowden if you like true crime.

KalamaQuilts

don't think I've mentioned Maggie Sullivan yet, a PI set just before and during WWII. Besides being well written there are many interesting tidbits abour rationing and shortages without the books feeling dated. I did not know to get a new tube of toothpastte you had to turn in the old one. scrap metal you know. although tooth powder was still commonly used too.
The first book is free, and this week the third one is on sale on Kindle.
The mysteries don't have to be read in order, but there is underlying story and relations and reoccurring characters that make reading them in order quite nice.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0061063ZE...8-99fb52602985

If you try the first free one and like it, there are 2 boxed sets, books 1-3 and 4-7.

beckyboo1

Recently finished The Women by Kristin Hannah. Holy moly, it was great! It starts in Vietnam in the 1960s where a new nurse has gone to become a hero to her family. It goes through all the darkness seen during the war then goes on to life for her afterward. One of the best books I've read in years. Highly recommend! Also, I can't remember if I've recommended Lessons in Chemistry but it's also a winner.
I have wanted to read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for months and I'm still months away on the wait list through the Libby app so I asked my library if they could get it (they didn't have a physical copy). Not only did they buy it, but they bought book 2 in the series and saved both for me! I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Buckeye quilter

So excited to see this thread! I just retired at the beginning of this year and I'm getting back into reading. Just read my first Colleen Hoover book, Verity. Wow, that was good. No wonder so many people have recommended her. I also just finished Brad Balducci's 6:20 Man and really enjoyed it, so now I'm exploring his other series. Thanks for all the recommendations. I have them noted and will put them on my wait list at the library.

Iceblossom

Welcome to the thread, Buckeye. I looked up Verity but sadly it isn't available in audio (at least in English) through my library. Looking at other books by the author that are available to me.

Beckyboo, Kristin Hannah has been recommended a lot. I'm still holding off on Firefly Lane but it is on my list -- it is basically my growing up time. I did read The Great Alone -- which again, is my growing up time AND set in Alaska (where I was at the time). I debated about it but put The Women on my hold list. I usually avoid Viet Nam war stories because again, it was my growing up time and my father was there. Thankfully he came back again. His cousin (who I refer to as an Aunt) was a "China Beach" Air Force nurse who came back and was a trauma and surgical nurse afterwards, I'll be thinking of her as I read.

I didn't care so much for the first Flavia de Luce story but I will try another in the series. Sometimes it takes a few books for the author (or the reader) to get into a character. Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files is generally felt to hit the right note at book 4.

I used to read a lot of true crime. For me it doesn't translate so well into audio, too direct and personal maybe? I had to stop the last one I tried which was before I moved. But then I had to stop a number of books during Covid...

When other books aren't taking my attention, I'm still working through the Longmire and Chet and Bernie series and enjoying them both. I have a lot of favorite authors/series coming out this year and already on hold, including a new Pendergast book by Preston & Child, as well as a book just by Preston, Extinction which is sort of an Ice Age version of Jurassic Park. There is a new Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs, genre is "modern fantasy" and a particular favorite of mine. Linda Castillo featuring ex-Amish Kate Burkholder. Paul Doiron with Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. A new "Bones" by Kathy Reichs (much different than the series). And on and on the Hold list goes, have about 17 books there as well as my Wish list where I take what is available.

Iceblossom

A couple of books came off my hold list much sooner than I expected. For fans of Leif Enger, I think this latest book (I Cheerfully Refuse) is actually my favorite so far. I set in an not-to-distant dystopian future and like most of his writings deals with the mundane world with magical flourishes... I think it is about grief and love and change -- and life on the water

The next book on is a long one -- 32 hours or so in audio format. A continuation of the family in the Wilderness Books by Sara Donati. This time (The Sweet Blue Distance, so after the Wilderness and Gilded Hour books) we are starting shortly before the civil war and heading in the (now) Old West in Santa Fe. I really like these author and characters and always want to know "what's next". I'd describe them as the line between Historical Fiction and Historical Romance, just slightly on the Fiction side but with love stories written in.

I stopped midway in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paoline. He also wrote the Eragon (Young Adult Fantasy) series, but this is more adult and set in space. Another long one, again 32-ish hours. The writing was fine, the story was fine but I just didn't feel a connection with the characters. I will probably go back to it during another books on hold gap but didn't want to turn back these two new books.

beckyboo1

Finished Fourth Wing this morning and am glad I have the next in the series to go right in to. Rebecca Yarros has announced there will be a third in the series coming out in 2025. If you like action and dragons, Fourth Wing is sure to please!

KalamaQuilts

I want me a gargoyle to go with my dragons Just finished the Accidential Alchemist series by Gigi Pandian. Set in Portland Oregon where I lived for many years. Zoe accidently found the elixer of life when trying to save her brother during a plague in 1700's. Now 300 years old so recieves a stowaway living gargoyle when she has some things shipped from France to Portland.

also makes vegan food sound good Gigi had breast cancer about 10 years ago and changed her diet which is reflected well in the books.

Iceblossom

Been having my usual hit and miss luck with my audio books. I did really like the latest Sara Donati book, but felt that too much of the book had been recycled from previous stories. Which was good in a way, you have to edit some things or the already long books would become encyclopedias.

For books that stood out for me, "To Anyone Who Ever Asks" was fascinating, non-fiction. Through a series of coincidences, a guy at a party hears a song that he felt he should recognize and basically become obsessed with the story of the singer, Connie Converse. He tells the story in depth, but Connie didn't "make it big", her sound wasn't appreciated in the 1950s, but she made some recordings and then one day in 1974 she left her family behind and was never heard from again. Audio book was a great format because instead of just starting chapters with lyrics, they could start with the actual recordings.

Still working my way through the Longmire books, the current one"An Obvious Fact" is set around Devils Tower and the Sturgis motorcycle rally. On our trip before our house sale/move we went to the Tower and spent the night in Rapid City and went to Mt Rushmore.

Also still enjoying the Chet and Bernie books. The last one was book 5, "A Fistful of Collars" Is nice to have 10 or so books ahead of me!

Jennifer Chiaverini has been writing other things but has a new book coming out with the Elm Creek Quilters. Turns out I never finished all of them -- some are definitely better than others so I have book 19, "Sonoma Rose" on a short hold.

Likewise Laurie R King has a new Mary Russell/Mrs Sherlock book (The Lantern's Dance) coming out but again, in a series with so many books some are better than others and I stalled out about midway. I have put book 12 ":Garment of Shadows"
on my wish list to see if it tempts me between other books.