Finished: Exiles (Harper) I’ve read all of Harper’s books and really enjoy her writing! Aaron Falk is a character that has been developed from the first book. He always solves the mystery, but along the way we also see his own personal relationships, past mistakes, loves, etc. Can’t wait for (hopefully) more! Again, being lazy and using Amazon blurb. J

“Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is on his way to a small town deep in Southern Australian wine country for the christening of an old friend's baby. But mystery follows him, even on vacation.

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Kim Gillespie's disappearance. One year ago, at a busy town festival on a warm spring night, Kim safely tucked her sleeping baby into her stroller, then vanished into the crowd. No one has seen her since. When Kim's older daughter makes a plea for anyone with information about her missing mom to come forward, Falk and his old buddy Raco can't leave the case alone.

As Falk soaks up life in the lush valley, he is welcomed into the tight-knit circle of Kim’s friends and loved ones. But the group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, the missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge. What would make a mother abandon her child? What happened to Kim Gillespie?”

 Finished: A Town Called Solace (Lawson) I'm going to be super lazy and just use the Amazon blurb. A pretty good book, but I wanted to love it more than I did. I liked all the relationships that developed between various characters, like Clara and Liam, and Elizabeth and Liam much earlier. Both sets of parents in the story left alot to be desired. 

"A Town Called Solace, the brilliant and emotionally radiant new novel from Mary Lawson, her first in nearly a decade, opens on a family in crisis. Sixteen-year-old Rose is missing. Angry and rebellious, she had a row with her mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Left behind is seven-year-old Clara, Rose’s adoring little sister. Isolated by her parents’ efforts to protect her from the truth, Clara is bewildered and distraught. Her sole comfort is Moses, the cat next door, whom she is looking after for his elderly owner, Mrs. Orchard, who went into hospital weeks ago and has still not returned. 

Enter Liam Kane, mid-thirties, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, who moves into Mrs. Orchard’s house - where, in Clara’s view, he emphatically does not belong. Within a matter of hours he receives a visit from the police. It seems he is suspected of a crime.

At the end of her life, Elizabeth Orchard is also thinking about a crime, one committed thirty years previously that had tragic consequences for two families, and in particular for one small child. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies. 

Told through three distinct, compelling points of view, the novel cuts back and forth among these unforgettable characters to uncover the layers of grief, remorse, and love that connect them. A Town Called Solace is a masterful, suspenseful, darkly funny and deeply humane novel by one of our great storytellers."

 Finished: Just the Nicest Couple (Kubica) A pretty good book...one that picks up a bit more during the last half. It is told in alternating viewpoints by Christian and Nina. Christian is happily married to Lily, and they are expecting their first child after several first trimester miscarriages. He comes home one night to find Lily in a state of panic and finally gets her to tell him what is wrong. Lily teaches high school math and has a good friend there, Nina. Nina is five or six years older than Lily and took her under her wing when Lily began teaching, and they became fast friends. Nina is married to neurosurgeon, Jake. Jake is a bit full of himself and loves living the high life that his salary provides. He and Nina are pretty happy in their marriage until Nina has to start spending weekends with her mom, who has been diagnosed with macular degeneration. Jake is very childish about not getting all of Nina's time, so their marriage has been a bit rocky lately. Lily finally tells Christian that when she went for a walk on the trail in the park that day, she ran into Jake, who convinced her to go down a more remote trail with him to see some deer. Once there, Jake put the moves on Lily and got out of control angry when she told him no. He grabbed her and pushed her down and Lily picked up a rock and bashed him in the head...more than once. She's afraid she might have killed him. Meanwhile, Nina can't believe that Jake has not come home after their fight the night before. More importantly, he hasn't shown up at his work for his patients and surgeries. Christian has Lily take him to the exact spot where everything happened, and there is so much blood, but no body. As Christian panics and moves to erase any evidence of Lily being in the park, weird things start happening at Nina's house. Weird because Christian has snuck in looking for Jake's car key to move his car, which is parked at the park. Nina's mother thinks, with her poor vision, that Jake has returned home briefly when he runs out the door. Nina, who has filed a missing person's report with the police, tells them it's not necessary any more. She still just can't figure out how Jake could have disappeared and not want to see her. Certainly things hadn't been THAT bad. The story unfolds and we find out what really happened in the woods between Lily and Jake, what happened to Jake, and who did it! My guess was right. It's always the one you least suspect. :-) Pretty good book, but not one that kept me up late reading. 

 Finished: One True Loves (Jenkins Reid) Not my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid book, especially after starting with Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and then the amazing, Daisy Jones and the Six. Anyway, this one was written earlier and is a solid book, just not one of my favs. :-) It's the story of a woman, Emma, who has moved back home to the small hometown in the northeast, after the death of her husband of one year, Jesse. Jesse was the absolute love of her life...her one true love. They met in high school, realized they were kindred spirits, and then traveled the world together for ten years before finally tying the knot. When Jesse accepts a work assignment right before their first anniversary, Emma asks him not to go, but he says no worries, he'll be back in a flash. Of course, his helicopter goes down over the ocean and his body is never found. The pilot's and co-pilot's bodies are both found. Emma is devastated and refuses to believe Jesse is gone. Her sister finally convinces her that Jesse isn't coming back. Emma breaks down then, and returns home to work at the family bookstore...the one she didn't want to take over as an adult...the one she ran away from. Emma deals with her grief day by day and finally starts going about the town...and working at the book store! She reconnects with another boy from high school, Sam. Sam had always been in love with Emma and was heartbroken himself when she suddenly fell for Jesse. Of course, Emma had no idea how he felt, as they were just the best of friends. Sam is now back in town and teaching music, what he always wanted to do. After gradually dating, and then moving in together, they finally get engaged. Emma loves Sam and loves that he knows her so well. He has become her true love as well. The wedding is only a couple of months away when Emma gets a phone call from a number she doesn't recognize....it's Jesse. He's alive! He's been stranded on an obscure island and trying everything he can to get back to his wife, to his Emma. And, from there the book goes as you'd expect. Emma becomes torn between Sam, who knows the person she is now and loves her for it...and Jesse, who is in love with the girl he left behind who would never have moved back home. Who does Emma end up picking? Of course, you've got to read to find out. :-)