Finished: Good Bad Girls (Feeney) Another good page-turner by Alice Feeney! She keeps you guessing until the end about all the relationships in the story. Twenty years after a baby is stolen out of its baby carriage at a grocery store, we meet a set of characters who we know must somehow be involved in some way with that baby. We meet a girl who could be the baby, who's the same age. Her name is Patience. She has run away from home and works in a care facility for the elderly. One of the elderly people that she meets and really grows attached to is 80-year old Edith. Edith has all her marbles, but her grown children have placed her in the care home after tricking her into signing away the deed to her home. Her daughter Clio is a lonely person, who used to have a husband and child, but lost them both. She still lives in the same house where she lived with them. We also meet Frankie, who's in her late 30's, lives alone on a house boat, and runs the local prison library. Her daughter has run away a year earlier, and she's desperate to find her. When there is a murder at the care home, everything shifts into high gear as all four of the women we've met become suspects. The story then unfolds all its twists and turns, revealing how everyone is related to (or not) everyone else. :-)  

 Finished: They Both Die At The End (Silvera) It took me a long time to read this book because we've got so much going on in real life. I even said at one point that it wasn't compelling enough to keep me turning the pages. However, I ended up being so wrong. In this book, set in what seems like current times, there is an entity called Death-Cast that calls you on the day before you are going to die. Once Death-Cast calls, there is nothing that can be done to stop your death. It merely gives you  24 hours to live your last day to the fullest. In this story, Death-Cast calls two teenage boys who don't know each other, 18 year old Mateo and 17 year old Rufus. Mateo is a really good, kind-hearted soul who is being raised by his single dad. His mother died giving birth to him. Matteo spends most of his time inside their apartment playing video games when he's not at school. His father is currently in the hospital in a coma, so Matteo is beside himself when he gets the call from Death-Cast. Rufus is a troubled soul who lost his mother, father and sister a few years earlier when Death-Cast called them all on the same day, but didn't call Rufus. He had to watch in horror as they died, and then spend the remainder of his youth in foster care. He has a set of friends from foster care who he now considers family. Death-Cast calls Rufus on the same day that he beats up his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend....who is not a nice guy. Both Rufus and Matteo sign up for the Last Friend application which is something that gives those who have been called by Death-Cast a last friend to spend their "End Day". Though total opposites, they decide to go for it and spend their last day together. Rufus encourages Matteo to get out and have some experiences that he doesn't normally have. Matteo asks Rufus to go with him to visit his father and Rufus also encourages him to see his best friend, Lydia, face to face to let her know what has happened. Matteo encourages Rufus to break through the tough guy facade and tell him his feelings, and about what happened to his family. They end up becoming very close throughout the day and have one of the best days either has had in their young lives. I didn't like the idea at first, and particularly not in relation to a couple of people who are so young, but it's such a good story. It definitely encourages you to live each day to the fullest every day of your life.