Finished: One Step Too Far (Gardner) The second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Frankie is a middle-aged, recovering alcoholic with many past demons. She has given up all her worldly goods and travels the country looking for missing persons whose cases have gone cold. She's not a private investigator or with any police force. She's just a woman who wants to make a difference, and in doing so, maybe atone for her past sins. In the last book, she found her first live victim after the other 14 she'd found had been just bodies. In this book, Frankie travels to a small town in Wyoming to help search the remote woods for a young man, Timothy O'Day, who disappeared one night when camping with his four groomsmen-to-be. It has now been five years that he's been missing, and his mother is dying of cancer. Her one wish is that her husband finally find their son's remains and bring them back to be buried with her. Frankie ingratiates herself into the hunting party along with the hunting guide, a cadaver dog and her owner, the father of the missing man, an affable second guide who is mostly a hunter of Bigfoot, and three of the groomsmen who still feel a huge amount of guilt for what happened on the mountain that night five years ago. Of course, the groomsmen have a secret about that night, and only Frankie, with her good people skills, can get them to open up with one-on-one talks. In the meantime, their hunting party is in grave danger. There is a killer who knows the woods better than any of them who is hunting them down, determined not to let them see a cave where he's buried not just Timothy's remains, but the remains of seven other people as well. Frankie grows close to the groomsmen, the Bigfoot hunter, Bob, and Luciana, the owner of the cadaver dog, Daisy as they all face the obstacles and dangers together. Another great book by Gardner. I do hope she writes another Frankie Elkin book, but would also love it if she wrote more with old favorites Rainie and Quincy. :-)

 Finished: Before She Disappeared (Gardner) I think I've read every Lisa Gardner book. She captured me long ago with her books because she'd use some of the main characters over and over. Then, every so often, she creates a new main character, and this one is Frankie Elkins. Frankie is a middle-aged, white woman, sober alcoholic, with extreme baggage of her own. She's given up all her worldly possessions to travel the country and help to find missing persons. She's got no family attachments to hold her in any one place. Frankie scours the internet for cold cases...those that law enforcement have given up on. And, usually those who law enforcement would prefer NOT to have a civilian coming in and asking questions about. She reaches out to families of victims and lets them know she's not a journalist, a cop or a private investigator. She's just a woman who wants to bring home people who have been missing. She's brought home 14 people so far, many of them teens or children, but none of them have been alive. She's only been able to bring them home for closure for their families. Now, Frankie makes her way to Boston where a 15 year old Haitian immigrant has been missing for eleven months. Angelique had walked out of her high school one afternoon, and not been seen again. One minute she was on the cameras near the school, and the next, she had vanished. Frankie won't take no for an answer as she questions the police and talks to the family. She's determined this time to bring Angelique home alive. However..the more she finds out, the less time she has to save Angelique. Can she do it? I'm really liking this new character and think I may just pick up the most current Gardner book which happens to be another Frankie story. :-) 

 Finished: Fairy Tale (King) I haven't read a Stephen King book since one of my favorites, 11/22/63, and this one was very good, with characters I'll not forget: Charlie, Radar, Mr. Bowditch, Dora, Leah, Iota, the Snab, and more...but mostly, Charlie and Radar. Fairy Tale is the story of Charlie, a 17 year old boy whose mother dies when he's 7 and whose dad he watches live in a stupor of alcohol for years until he finally gets sober. Charlie is a great son, a great student, and a great athlete. One day on his way home from school, he's passing the neighborhood "Pyscho" house when he hears a long, sad howl coming from the backyard. He hears is again and again, and decides he must go back and see if everything is okay. He comes across the elderly man who lives there by himself, Mr. Bowditch, who has fallen off a ladder and broken his leg. His 14 year old German Shepard, Radar, is by his side and pleading for someone to help his master. Charlie calls 911 for the very grumpy and suspicious Mr. Bowditch, and so begins a relationship between Charlie and Mr. Bowditch, which turns into one of complete trust and caring. Mr. Bowditch has to be in the hospital for several weeks and Charlie promises to take care of Radar. He even quits the baseball team when it comes down to Mr. Bowditch coming home and having no one to stay with him. This is a good story in of itself, but this is Stephen King, so you know it's just beginning. :-) It's not long until a few unusual things start happening...especially pertaining to a shed in the backyard and a pot full of gold pellets in Mr. Bowditch's safe. After Mr. Bowditch passes away a few months later (not related to the fall), Charlie finds out that he's left his house and everything in it, including Radar, to him. Of course, this also includes the gold, the mysterious shed and a message about what exactly is underneath that shed, and where Charlie must take the rapidly failing Radar to help him live longer. Charlie and Radar basically enter a whole new world that looks as if it once belonged in a fairy tale, but now has a horrific, evil enchantment cast over it that is killing most of the residents. Charlie meets unforgettable character after character, most of whom call him the Prince who had been foretold to come and save them all. The adventure ensues. There's an old woman who repairs shoes, instead of living in one. There's a princess who no longer has a mouth. There's a giant red cricket. There's a very nasty Rumpelstiltskin type man. There are two giants. There is evil everywhere as the few good people try to prevail. I'll have to let you read for yourself and see what happens. :-)

 Finished: The Missing Sister (Riley) Book 7 of the Seven Sisters Series! At this point, we have met all six sisters who were adopted by Pa Salt, who were all given clues to their biological families after he died...plus the exact coordinates to where they were born. The individual stories of Maia, who found family in Rio, Ally, who found family in Norway, Star, who found family in England, CeCe, who found family in Australia, Tiggy, who found family in Spain, and Electra, who found family just a few blocks from where she lived in New York, were all fascinating and heartwarming and ended up positively for all the sisters. However, one thing that haunted their father for as long as they could remember was the missing seventh sister. They'd all been named for the Seven Sisters constellation and that included  the missing sister, Merope, even though she was never found. It was as if Pa Salt already knew who she was, but had lost her somehow. Now, as the one year anniversary of his death and burial in the Aegean Sea approaches, the sisters receive a big clue from their father's longtime attorney and friend, and they are determined to find the missing sister before they set sail on the anniversary to toss a wreath in the exact spot where Pa Salt was buried at sea. The clue takes them on a wild chase from New Zealand to Canada to London to Ireland, with different sisters picking up the trail depending on how quickly they could get to a location. They are basically chasing Merry McDougal, a 59 year old woman who has recently lost her husband, and whose son, Jack, and adopted daughter, Mary-Kate, hold down the fort in New Zealand. As the sisters realize that the near misses of meeting Merry aren't accidental, and that she doesn't want to be found, they begin to think that maybe she's afraid of losing her adopted daughter, and so doesn't want to be found. Of course, we go back in time to both the 1920's and the 1950's in Ireland, when the country was in the middle of a war for their independence. The times for the Irish people are very, very rough, but we do meet some very strong women who end up being related to Merry. It's another great story! I loved having a book where all the sisters were together and also having their own personal things going on as life moved forward for everyone. At the end of the book, we DO discover who the missing sister is...and we're also given a huge clue in one last letter that Pa Salt has written to that sister. Then the book ends!! None of the questions about Pa Salt's history and how and WHY he picked each of the girls is answered. In his letter he says..."It's all explained in the included journal." And, as it turns out, that is what the next and final book of the series will be. It's out in May of 2023 and called Pa Salt. You can bet I'll be reading that one! :-)

 Finished: The Sun Sister (Riley) Book 6 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The sixth sister, twenty-six year old Electra D'Apliese, is the sister who was the most difficult baby and child. Always screaming and crying and arguing. She's now a 6'1" beautiful, ebony skinned, supermodel who is known all over the world. She's the only famous sister, and fame has taken its toll on her in the way of alcohol, drugs and men. As she gathers with the other sisters, she's angry at Pa Salt for leaving them. She wants nothing to do with the letter he has left her or the coordinates to where she was born. She just wants to get back to the rock star she's dating and her whirlwind life. Her life quickly takes a downturn when her boyfriend dumps her and she sinks more into the oblivion of her alcohol and drug use. Those who really care for her finally convince her to go to rehab. Before she goes, she comes face to face with her biological grandmother, who she looks exactly like! Her grandmother is a Harvard educated, well-known activist for black rights. While in rehab, Electra must come face to face with all her insecurities and fears, as well as decide if she really wants to explore her biological family. And, that family is so interesting! She is descended from African royalty, and her backstory is set in beautiful, but wild, Kenya. The beginning of the story really throws you for a loop, though, as it seems as if there is no way it could be related to Electra...but when it all comes to light, you fall in love with a woman named Cecily who sets everything in motion. Another great book! On to the last book, which is The Missing Sister...and then a long wait until May 2023 to get the book about Pa Salt that wraps everything up  and shows us how he picked each of the babies! 

 Finished: The Moon Sister (Riley) Book 5 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The fifth sister, twenty-six year old Taygete D'Apliese (or Tiggy as she was called), is the sister who is kind and very spiritually attuned with nature. She has a great love for animals, and believes that people do become spirits after they die. Tiggy is working at a deer rescue program in the Highlands of Scotland when her father dies. She rushes home, like the other sisters, and is also given her letter from Pa Salt, and the coordinates for where she was born. Tiggy doesn't feel an instant need to go and discover her roots, though. She's already got another job lined up on an estate in Scotland whose owner, Charlie, has dreams of turning his beautiful Scottish land and woods into an animal sanctuary. Tiggy's first duty is to bring some Scottish wildcats to the estate and get them acclimated to their new home. From Charlie's jealous (horrendous) wife, to his impetuous teenage daughter, to a visitor at the estate who won't take no for an answer when he becomes smitten with Tiggy, there are many drawbacks and stresses to her job. On the plus side, she meets Chilly, an old man who can take one look at her and tell her what is going to happen in her life, and what's more...tells her that he's been waiting for her because he promised Angelina he would bring her back to her home. She also sees a beautiful, rare white stag in the forest who she develops a connection with. However, the stresses and the insistent, rich visitor become too much for her. When Chilly tells her the story of her grandmother, the famous flamingo dancer in Spain, Tiggy is floored by the details that Chilly knows which match Pa Salt's letter. She decides to head to Granada, Spain to find out more about her family. Of course, then we are taken back to the early 1900's when the dirt poor Lucia, Tiggy's grandmother, starts flamenco dancing brilliantly at a young age. We are then thrown into the story of her and her family and her own fascinating life, the good and the bad, before as always, coming back to Tiggy in the present day and how all the people she has met recently come to be a part of her life. (Except the stalker visitor lol) It's another good book in the series!! :-) 

  Finished: The Pearl Sister (Riley) Book 4 of the Seven Sisters Series! Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world, and named them all for the Seven Sisters constellation. The fourth sister, twenty-seven year old Celaeno D'Apliese (or CeCe as she was called), is the sister who is practically a twin with third sister, Star. She's also blunt, outspoken, and feels she's not nearly as pretty as all her other beautiful sisters. She's short and stocky and of an exotic lineage. She doesn't realize that she's beautiful as well, but the lack of confidence she has in herself plays a huge role in her personality. As all the sisters gather at home, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short). They are devastated that they can't see their father, Pa Salt (as they called him) one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. However, he has left them all a letter and the coordinates for the locations where they were born. He encourages them to go out and find their biological families when they are ready. Cece is an extremely talented artist, but is also dyslexic and simply can't do well at school. After years of traveling with Star, she has been accepted into a prestigious art university and struggles with the criticism of her professors. With her dreams of college imploding she goes into panic mode, especially since Star has begun to pull away from her as she looks for her biological family. As Cece feels more and more like Star has deserted her, she decides to quit college to follow Pa Salt's advice and look for her own biological family. She had been intrigued when she met with the family lawyer and he handed her a black and white photo of a man and a boy and...a million dollars which the man had sent to the lawyer, claiming it was her share of an inheritance. Cece's coordinates take her to Australia! She is to look for the history of a woman named Kitty McBride who lived in a northwestern coastal town in Australia. As she begins to investigate, of course, we are sent back 100 years to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we meet 18 year old Kitty who is about to be sent across the ocean to Australia as the companion of an older, wealthy, female friend of her parents, who is going to visit her sister. The plan is for her only to be gone for nine months, but once there, Kitty is introduced to the twin sons of the sister, Drummond and Andrew Mercer, and both fall instantly in love with her. Drummond, being the second born, is who she meets first and is carefree and funny and they hit if off instantly. Andrew is the first born and set to take over the family Pearl fishing business, and is more serious and responsible, but very sweet to Kitty. This is another great story about a strong woman and love and duty and what wins out in the end. It's also the story of the extreme prejudices and miscarriages of justice that are carried out against the mixed-race population. The Aboriginal people are left alone in their own world, as most Europeans who move to Australia are afraid of them. However, if there is a ever a mixed child born between and Aboriginal and a white person, the child is instantly taken away and sent to a convent to be "turned Christian". Cece comes to discover that she's got Aboriginal blood, and what's more, that her grandfather was a talented, famous artist. As she finds her way in this hot, vast country, tracking down her clues, she meets a good friend, Christi, who looks just like her and she finally feels at home. She also meets her grandfather who is the one who sent her the inheritance and the picture, and he is able to tell her the entire family story. It's another good book. :-) Cece wasn't my favorite sister, but through this journey she learns and grows and becomes much more likable and relatable. On to book five....

  Finished: The Shadow Sister(Riley) Book 3 of the Seven Sisters Series!  Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The third sister, twenty-seven year old Asterope D'Apliese (or Star as she was called), is the sister who was very quiet and introverted as a child. So much so that the fourth adopted daughter, CeCe, who was only 3 months younger than Star, was the complete opposite and spoke for Star all the time. Star and CeCe were like twins, adopted so closely in time. And now, even as young adult women, they were still constantly together, living together, traveling the world together, with Star hardly speaking, and CeCe doing all the talking. As all the sisters travel to their home on an island in Lake Geneva, they gather, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short). They are devastated that they can't see their father, Pa Salt (as they called him) one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. However, he has left them all a letter and the coordinates for the locations where they were born. He encourages them to go out and find their biological families when they are ready. Star and CeCe have recently moved to London, and into a fancy new townhouse that CeCe has bought with money, which we will find out about in her book. :-) Star is beginning to feel suffocated, feeling as she doesn't have her own purpose in life...her own dreams and goals. She'd even given up enrolling in Cambridge after accepted, because CeCe wasn't accepted there. After reading her letter from Pa Salt, she is ready to finally go out on her own and follow the clues. Does it hurt CeCe's feelings that suddenly Star is off and doing stuff without her? Yes, it does. They have their ups and downs as Star spreads her wings. Stars coordinates point her to an antique book store in London. When she visits the shop, she meets the eccentric Orlando, the bookstore owner. They make an instant connection as friends and he hires Star to work there. She tells him about her letter and how she's searching for her family and is supposed to look for someone named Flora MacNichol. Of course, Orlando knows who that is and as he begins to tell her the story, we are transported back 100 years earlier to the life of Flora. I really love the twists and turns of Flora's story. She the oldest sister of two, and her parents live on a huge estate, but like many of the "old" rich gentry, having fallen on hard times, they are wealthy in name and home, but not in actual money. They tell Flora this is the reason she can't be presented to society when she comes of age, but the very next year her sister is presented into society. There is definitely something her parents are keeping from Flora, and the mystery unwinds in a jaw dropping way. Meanwhile, to make things particularly difficult for Flora, the young man she loves, and who loves her back, is one of the most coveted matches in London and Flora's sister has fallen in love with him after meeting him at one of the balls. He doesn't lead her on in any way, as he truly does love the more down to earth Flora, but in the world of arranged marriages, he has no choice but to marry Flora's sister. It's a very good story which really sucked me in, so it was always shocking when the story popped back into current time as Star grows closer and closer to Orlando and his family, who she is very likely related to...and closer to finding (perhaps) one of her parents actually living! Another great tale in the Sisters Saga. :-)

  Finished: The Storm Sister (Riley) Book 2 of the Seven Sisters Series!  Six sisters gather at their childhood home to mourn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The second sister, thirty year old Alcyone D'Apliese (or Ally as she was called), is the sister who shared both a love of music, specifically the violin, and a love and obsession for sailing, with her father, Pa Salt. He raised the girls on a huge estate on Lake Geneva, only accessible by boat. As they gather, along with their longtime female caregiver, Marina (Ma for short), they are devastated that they can't see him one last time. He's already been buried at sea privately, per his last wishes. The thing is...Ally had actually been out on a boat with a friend and they'd seen her father's yacht from a distance. Radioing that they were coming, the yacht quickly pulled away from them. On her visit back home, Ally finds out that she actually just missed seeing Pa Salt's burial at sea. This makes her feel even guiltier for not being there when he died. This story begins with sailing mates Ally and Theo and the newfound love they'd just discovered before Pa Salt died. When tragedy strikes for Ally again, she decides to pursue the clue that Pa Salt left her about her birth origins and it takes her to Norway! We then travel to the past and read about the life of Anna Landvik, a mountain girl with a beautiful voice, who was discovered in Norway over a hundred years ago and sang the lead vocal for the first ever performance of another favorite of Ally's, Grieg's musical "Peer Gynt" based on Ibsen's play. We are thrown into the life of Anna, her rise to success and her love for violinist, Jens Halvorsen, and all the trials that she encounters in her young life before the connection between Ally and Anna is finally revealed...along with a surprise, living relative that Ally is able to welcome into her life! Another good book! :-) 

 Finished: The Seven Sisters (Riley) Well, I have fallen down the rabbit hole of what appears to be an 8 book series! This is the first book in the series, and I really liked it. :-) Six sisters gather at their childhood home to morn the loss of their very wealthy father, who adopted them all as babies from different parts of the world. The oldest, thirty-three year old Maia D'Apliese, is the only sister who still lives on the fairy tale estate on an island in Lake Geneva. Her father, Pa Salt as they call him, is often away on business, but Marina, who has been their mother figure since childhood, is still there as well. As the sisters gather from all locations, Marina (or Ma as they call her), tells them that Pa Salt died a few days ago, and at his request, he didn't want them to know he was ailing. Nor, did he want them there for a funeral, so per his instructions, he'd already been buried at sea in the Aegean Sea. The sisters, of course, are devastated and wish they could have seen him one last time. He'd spent all the time he had at home teaching them about the things he loved, and encouraging them to follow their passions. From astronomy to violin to sailing to languages he filled their childhood with his loves. He even named them after the constellation known as the Seven Sisters in the Pleiades Cluster: Maia, Alcyone, Asterope, Celaeno, Taygete, Electra and Merope. Or, Maia, Ally, Star, CeCe, Tiggy and Electra, as they are otherwise known. Pa Salt had never been able to find a seventh baby girl to adopt, but considered Merope his lost daughter. As their father's attorney visits, he hands them each a letter and a clue from their father. Each clue is a hint as to where they come from in case they ever want to find their biological families. Pa Salt has also commissioned a sculpture for his garden that is a spherical astrolabe, with seven bands of gold encircling it...each with a set of coordinates engraved giving the specific location where he adopted them. So, book one is all about Maia and her adventure. Her clue takes her to Rio de Janeiro where she is soon thrown into a whirlwind of discovering her family origins through a series of letters written by her great-grandmother, Izabela Bonifacio. As she begins to read, we are taken back to Izabela's time in the 1920's and read the story of her life, her loves, her obligations, and just how, eventually, Maia is related to her...and how she was put up for adoption. And, we get an inkling as to what caused Pa Salt to seek her out and adopt her as an infant. I really enjoyed reading about Izabella's life, and about her true love (who was not the man who had been arranged for her to marry.) Of course, on her adventure, it is also possible that Maia finds true love after years of being the sister who'd stayed at home. There are also sprinklings of real historical characters throughout that was very clever. I thought I'd just read one of the books and be done, but I'm already well into the second book and enjoying it as well. :-)