Kate’s 2¢: “Rock Bottom” by Fern Michaels
“Rock Bottom” by Fern Michaels
Laural Merlington did a great job of narrating this story for us. I agree that perpatrators deserve their just dessert, however, the punishment seemed a bit sadistic and inhuman. Okay. Okay. Purposely building with subpar materials is a terrible thing.
I liked the swapping of the semi carrying bakchoy with one with the cheap cinder blocks. That was just desserts and saved the children, to boot.
www.fernmichael.com:
Fern Michaels (born Mary Ruth Kuczkir; April 9, 1933) is an American writer of romance and thriller novels. Her books include Family Blessings, Pretty Woman, and Crown Jewel, as well as the Texas quartet and the Captive series. Fern Michaels is the pen name of Mary Ruth Kuczkir, who was born in Hastings, Pennsylvania on April 9, 1933.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Rock bottom DB120975
Michaels, Fern. Reading time: 8 hours, 57 minutes.
Read by Laural Merlington.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
“Isabelle “Izzy” Flanders and Yoko Akia are beginning a new project–an indoor/outdoor café that will be the cornerstone of a market village. Izzy knows just where to get the project off the ground: her old college classmate, Zoe Danfield, now vice president of a huge construction corporation. But the Zoe that Izzy reencounters doesn’t seem like her old, confident friend. This Zoe is tense and stressed, and Izzy eventually learns why. Buildings and bridges have been collapsing all over the world, causing hundreds of deaths, and Zoe suspects her firm’s inferior foundation materials are the cause. When she asks questions, she gets told to keep her nose out of what doesn’t concern her. Zoe knows someone has to blow the whistle and reveal the truth. Who better than the Sisterhood? But this adversary has money, power, and resources to match the Sisterhood’s–and no intention of giving up without a fight…”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Downloaded: June 27, 2024
Download Rock bottom
Uncategorized
by kate
Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The Secret Witness” by Victor Methos
Kate’s 2¢: “The Secret Witness” by Victor Methos
“The Secret Witness” by Victor Methos
Timothy Andrés Pabon did a good job of narrating this story for us. I must admit, I didn’t anticipate the story ending the way it did.
From the web:
Victor Methos is the Edgar Award nominated bestselling author of over forty novels. He has been a criminal and civil rights lawyer in the Mountain West, conducting over 100 trials, and produces two books a year with his dog Fraiser by his side.
Victor Methos immigrated to the United States from Kabul, Afghanistan, at the age of nine and wrote his first short story in English at the age of ten.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
The secret witness DB120976
Methos, Victor. Reading time: 8 hours, 7 minutes.
Read by Timothy Andrés Pabon.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
“This is Reaper speaking. So begins an anonymous letter published in a Utah newspaper after a young couple is viciously murdered. Tooele County sheriff Elizabeth Gray leads the investigation into the double homicide, which is eerily reminiscent of a string of brutal killings years ago. When the letter leads detectives to yet another body, Gray calls on an old friend for help. Former prosecutor Solomon Shepard is still struggling to recover from the deadly courtroom attack that ended his career. He’s been keeping a safe distance from the action, teaching criminology seminars about serial murders and psychopathology–until Gray asks for his help on the Reaper case. As the body count mounts, Shepard and Gray race to unravel the deranged design of a copycat killer–and find themselves in a face-off with an enemy they never saw coming.” — Back cover. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Downloaded: June 27, 2024
Download The secret witness
Uncategorized
by kate
Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
Kate’s 2¢: “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
“The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
Sandra Murphy did a good job of narrating this story. It starts out as the usual theme of bitchy wife’s rich and handsome husband falls in lust with the housemaid. Then the reader learns the diabolical truth.
#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida’s work has been selected as one of Amazon Editors’ best books of the year, she is the winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback, and she is a Goodreads Choice Award winner. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages.
Freida lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification.)
Freida McFadden (born May 1) is an American author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury from New York City.
Biography[edit]
McFadden self-published her first book through Amazon KDP in 2013. Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller. A movie adaptation of the book is set to be adapted for Lionsgate with Rebecca Sonnenshine to pen the screenplay, and Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman and Alex Young to produce.[1]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
The housemaid DB114201
McFadden, Freida. Reading time: 10 hours, 7 minutes.
Read by Sandra Murphy.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
Bestsellers
Psychological Fiction
“Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am. They don’t know what I’m capable of…” — Provided by publisher. Violence, strong language and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller.
Downloaded: July 4, 2024
Download The housemaid
Uncategorized
by kate
Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The Coworker” by Freida McFadden
Kate’s 2¢: “The Coworker” by Freida McFadden
“The Coworker” by Freida McFadden
Alyson Krawchuk did a good job of narrating this story. The individual characters’ back stories become vital in understanding what is going on. The ending is quite thought provoking and seems to lead to another book.
#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida’s work has been selected as one of Amazon Editors’ best books of the year, she is the winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback, and she is a Goodreads Choice Award winner. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages.
Freida lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification.)
Freida McFadden (born May 1) is an American author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury from New York City.
Biography[edit]
McFadden self-published her first book through Amazon KDP in 2013. Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller. A movie adaptation of the book is set to be adapted for Lionsgate with Rebecca Sonnenshine to pen the screenplay, and Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman and Alex Young to produce.[1]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
The coworker DB116357
McFadden, Freida. Reading time: 8 hours, 15 minutes.
Read by Alyson Krawchuk.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
“Two women. An office filled with secrets. One terrible crime that can’t be taken back. Dawn Schiff is strange. At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m. So when Dawn doesn’t show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell—beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running—is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything… It turns out Dawn wasn’t just an awkward outsider—she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her wondering: who’s the real victim? But one thing is incredibly clear: somebody hated Dawn Schiff. Enough to kill.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Downloaded: July 4, 2024
Download The coworker
Uncategorized
by kate
Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Deep as the sky, red as the sea” by Rita Chang-Eppig
Kate’s 2¢: “Deep as the sky, red as the sea” by Rita Chang-Eppig
“Deep as the sky, red as the sea” by Rita Chang-Eppig
This story was one of seven on the NLS cartridge that was automatically sent to me. I think I would have down-loaded this story, as I enjoy reading about other cultures, their legends, myths, and folklore.
I enjoyed this story, even though I couldn’t geel much sympathy with the main character. The only part that resonated with me, is child-birth.
The ending stated it correctly: The story-teller has the choice of how to end the story.
Copilot GPTs
About 183,000 results
Rita Chang-Eppig is a celebrated novelist with an unparalleled writing ability. Having grown up amongst books, she developed a profound passion for reading and writing at an early age. And it was through these she grew into one of today’s most renowned historical writers, providing work for a variety of different and prestigious outlets.
Chang-Eppig received her MFA in fiction from NYU. Her stories have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Conjunctions, Clarkesworld, The Rumpus, Virginia Quarterly Review, Best American Short Stories.
From NLS/BARD/LOC”
Deep as the sky, red as the sea DB115949
Chang-Eppig, Rita Reading time: 10 hours, 43 minutes.
Emily Woo Zeller
Historical Fiction
Adventure
“When Shek Yeung sees a Portuguese sailor slay her husband, a feared pirate, she knows she must act swiftly or die. Instead of mourning, Shek Yeung launches a new plan: immediately marrying her husband’s second-in-command, and agreeing to bear him a son and heir, in order to retain power over her half of the fleet. But as Shek Yeung vies for control over the army she knows she was born to lead, larger threats loom. The Chinese Emperor has charged a brutal, crafty nobleman with ridding the South China Seas of pirates, and the Europeans–tired of losing ships, men, and money to Shek Yeung’s alliance–have new plans for the area. Even worse, Shek Yeung’s cutthroat retributions create problems all their own. As Shek Yeung navigates new motherhood and the crises of leadership, she must decide how long she is willing to fight, and at what price, or risk losing her fleet, her new family, and even her life.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Kate’s 2¢: “One By One” by Freida McFadden
“One By One” by Freida McFadden
Oh, dear Gussie. McFadden has mastered the craft of suspense in this novel. By starting this story with the anonymous character’s monologue, the reader/listener’ curiosity is immediately piqued. Wow. It is hard to imagine one so evil, even in a novel.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification.)
Freida McFadden (born May 1) is an American author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury from New York City.
McFadden self-published her first book through Amazon KDP in 2013. Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller. A movie adaptation of the book is set to be adapted for Lionsgate with Rebecca Sonnenshine to pen the screenplay, and Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman and Alex Young to produce.[1]
From NLS/BARD/LOC”
One by one DB121242
McFadden, Freida. Reading time: 6 hours, 44 minutes.
Read by Alyson Krawchuk.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
Supernatural and Horror Fiction
“A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with friends. It sounded like heaven. Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought. Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them? But as more time passes, one thing becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Downloaded: July 4, 2024
Download One by one
Uncategorized
by kate
Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Nonna Maria and the case of the missing bride: a novel” by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Kate’s 2¢: “Nonna Maria and the case of the missing bride: a novel” by Lorenzo Carcaterra
“Nonna Maria and the case of the missing bride: a novel” by Lorenzo Carcaterra
This fits my impression of an Italian grandmother. She is warm, friendly, well-known, full of advise, and takes no nonsense. I enjoyed reading/listening to Kathleen Garrett narrating this story.
From Wikipedia
Carcaterra was born in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York. His Italian family was from the island of Ischia, 18 miles (29 km) off the coast of Naples.[1]
He became a journalist in 1980, when his first articles begin to appear in various newspapers.
Lorenzo Carcaterra (born October 16, 1954) is an American writer of Italian descent. Hell’s Kitchen is the setting for his most famous book, Sleepers, which was adapted as a 1996 film of the same name. In April 2009, he joined True/Slant as a blogger. True/Slant ceased operations on July 31, 2010.
Carcaterra’s wife, Susan Toepfer, died of lung cancer on December 24, 2013. She was also the mother of Carcaterra’s two children, Kate and Nick.[2][3]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Nonna Maria and the case of the missing bride: a novel DB120972
Carcaterra, Lorenzo. Reading time: 7 hours, 19 minutes.
Read by Kathleen Garrett.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
“When a crime on a beautiful Italian island stumps the police, locals locals turn to the nosy, elderly widow Nonna Maria in this transporting mystery from author Lorenzo Carcaterra. Nonna Maria has lived in Ischia, a little island in the Gulf of Naples, her entire life. Recognizable by the widow’s black she’s worn every day for decades, Maria always has pasta on the stove and espresso in the pot for the neighbors who stop by to ask her advice on life and love. Everyone knows her, and she knows everyone’s business. So when something goes wrong, islanders look to her, and not the local carabinieri, to find the solution. A man’s fiancé disappears the night before the wedding. Is it a case of cold feet, or is something more sinister in play? A fisherman who knows the waters around the island like the back of his hand is drowned early one morning. Was it a tragic accident, or is there more to the story? While the police appear uninterested in these domestic concerns, Nonna Maria pours herself another glass of red wine and gets to work”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Downloaded: June 27, 2024
Download Nonna Maria and the case of the missing bride: a novel