As you can see, my reading year is off to a slow start, but I’ve gotta turn this this ship around, and fast, if I’m going to make it to my goal of either 15,000 pages read, or 50 books read.
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Right after I finished book number 2, I started my third book of the year, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are cemented in my mind as Holmes and Watson, so despite my best efforts, I keep imagining them as I read.
Now, let’s talk about what I actually read: Hidden by Helen Frost.
SYNOPSIS
Middle Grade Fiction | First Publushed: 2011
From GoodReads –
When Wren Abbott and Darra Monson are eight years old, Darra’s father steals a minivan. He doesn’t know that Wren is hiding in the back. The hours and days that follow change the lives of both girls. Darra is left with a question that only Wren can answer. Wren has questions, too.
Years later, in a chance encounter at camp, the girls face each other for the first time. They can finally learn the truth—that is, if they’re willing to reveal to each other the stories that they’ve hidden for so long.
Told from alternating viewpoints, this novel-in-poems reveals the complexities of memory and the strength of a friendship that can overcome pain.
*****
FUN FACT: I ordered this book back on April 20, 2013. I finished this book on February 03, 2020: 20-freakin’-20! That’s 7 years it’s been sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I’m appalled! Best go see what else is lurking on my shelf from eras gone by. Aaah, I digress.
A transgender main character. A sex-worker’s murder. 1800’s Victorian London.
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Synopsis (No Spoilers)
Title: The House on Half Moon Street | Author: Alex Reeve | Published: 2018
Leo Stanhope is a transgender man working as a Coroner’s Assistant, during Victorian era London.
At the local brothel, he’s met and fallen in love with a sex-worker named Maria. Leo dreams of a better life for Maria and desires to settle down with her.
He pursues a courtship, inviting her to meet him at the theatre on a Sunday afternoon.
She stands him up.
The next day at work he finds Maria, deceased.
Believing her death was a murder, and determined to solve the crime (because the police won’t give it any attention), Leo sets out to find Maria’s killer.
Could you love someone who seems unlovable? Even when they spurn your care? What about if they’re young, rich, and famous yet have no one who loves them?
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Allison, a woman, wife, and mother of three relocates from Texas to New York after her husband gets a promotion.
Soon after she arrives, she hits a car while dropping her son off at school, but the owner is nowhere to be found.
She leaves her contact information instead.
Days later, Allison receives a call, the voice on the other line demanding she drop off her insurance information to an address on Central Park West.
When she gets there, she discovers it’s the home of young, famous, pop-star: Carter Reid (her daughters’ favorite heartthrob).
But Carter isn’t all bubblegum and sunshine. He’s a mess who’s lacking love and guidance, as those around him take advantage. This concerns Allison.
Soon thereafter, she takes a job as his Personal Assistant.
Can Allison and her family make the adjustment to New York living? Can she help Carter get on a better path? Make better decisions? Not ruin his career? Trust again?
Strong characterization. Take Carter, for instance. He was so expertly portrayed that I forgot he wasn’t a real person. His thoughts, actions, and motivations were so spot-on given his backstory. I felt like I knew him, and eventually felt an affinity towards him.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard of Agatha Christie. Fun Fact: She’s one of the best-selling authors of all time. And she wrote over 70 novels, during her lifetime, all of which are still in print.
Now, shall we get into the synopsis? Spoiler-free, of course.
Heads up: Affiliate links ahead, which means I could earn a small fee if you make a purchase using one of these links.
Synopsis
The Orient Express is en route to London when a passenger is found stabbed to death inside his cabin. By chance, world renown detective, Hercule Poirot, is aboard. We follow Poirot’s investigation as he searches for clues, collects his evidence, and ultimately learns the killer’s identity.
Would you take a road trip with someone you just met?
35 year old Todd certainly wouldn’t.
Todd plays life safe – content with a run of the mill job, unemployed-gamer roommate, and failed love life. That is, until he meets Amy at the Worst Film Festival of the Century.
She’s cute, quirky, and funny. She also doesn’t have much time to live.
Amy convinces Todd to step out of his comfort zone and the duo embark upon a 22 hour cross-country trip for an infamous hot dog.
Will they get their hot dog before her time runs out?
Also – there may or may not be giant gummy bear tractors, men with hooks for hands, suspicious looking hitchhikers, ornery old ladies, stolen or damaged property, a hospital stay, and some vomiting. Maybe.
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