The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Books are often said to create new worlds, but what if maps could as well? Nell Young is struggling with that question. Years ago, her father threw her out of his office over a gas station map. It was stunning because she had lost her mother at a young age and her father had raised her. And he had raised her to love maps. So why would he distance himself over this one?

Now, her father has died under mysterious circumstances and Nell finds that same map hidden in his office. Why? And she's off on an adventure that will have her uniting a group of friends formed in college but who haven't been together in a long, long time. We see the formation and dissolution of that group in first person flashbacks. 

Not every voice is unique which makes it sometimes hard to read but this is a whimsical book that lets you escape into its own world for a little while. 

Four stars

This book came out March 15, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Though this is the second book in a series, my book club assured me I need not have read the first and they were absolutely correct. A fabulous book about retirees solving crimes. A little darker than I was expecting but overall a delight. 

The Thursday Murder Club, consisting of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, is getting back together. A series of subplots are delightfully woven together by Osman using all four of these characters as well as local police partners Donna and Chris. Donna and Chris are working on trying to take down a local drug lord. One of her runners decides to take a swing at Ibrahim who is just figuring out how vast the world is. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is struggling as her past, both personal and professional, comes back, even while her husband's dementia is getting worse. 

Four stars

This book came out 

Follows The Thursday Murder Club

Followed by The Bullet that Missed

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

Ruth Kettering is unhappy. She didn't marry her first love, her millionaire father ran him off. But her current husband seems to be no better, flaunting his affairs, running through her money. Even the fabulous, though possibly cursed, necklace that her father gifts her doesn't make her happy. She boards a train to the Riviera anyway but doesn't survive the trip. Her father hires Hercule Poirot to figure out what, exactly, happened.
A lot of the story is told from the third person limited narration focusing on Katherine Grey. Miss Grey has long been a companion and has inherited a tidy sum from her last employer. She is on the same train and actually interacts with Ruth.
An interesting story but not as fairly clued as many in the Christie ouvre. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 29, 1928

Follows The Big Four

Followed by The Underdog and Other Stories

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Zinnia by Jayne Castle

Zinnia Spring's life hasn't been going real great lately. Her parents died, her family is pressuring her academic brother into being CEO of the family corporation, and then a wealthy husband and wife set her up as his mistress to cover up their menage a trois resulting in Zinnia being branded the "Scarlet Lady." And now, trying to track down a matrix talent she's held the focus for (her prism is well suited for matrix talents), she encounters a psychic vampire.

Nick Chastain is a powerful matrix talent but not a psychic vampire. Even if. He did sort of "jump" Zinnia's prism on the psychic plane. Luckily, she works past it (pretty fast, actually) and is able to work with him not only to figure out what happened to her original matrix, but to discover what happened to his father... a decades old murder. 

Better than the first book in the series, Castle starts to find her rhythm in her new world.

Three stars

This book came out May 1, 1998

Follows Amaryllis

Followed by Orchid

Audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

July 2022 Rereads

Go Fetch! by Shelly Laurenston

Magnus Pack #2

Follows Pack Challenge
Followed by Here Kitty, Kitty
This book came out March 6, 2007

Audiobook from Audible

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews 

Innkeeper Chronicles #1

Four stars

Followed by Sweep in Peace

GraphicAudio borrowed from Libby

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #2

Follows Clean Sweep

Followed by One Fell Sweep

This book came out November 13, 2015

Ebook of my own on Kindle

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #3

Follows Sweep in Peace

Followed by Sweep of the Blade

This book came out November 13, 2015

GraphicAudio borrowed from Libby

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #4

Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart

This book came out December 2018
Ebook of my own on Kindle

Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #4.5

Follows Sweep of the Blade

This book came out December 20th, 2016

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #1

This book came out October 28, 2014

Followed by White Hot
Audiobook from Overdrive

White Hot by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #2

Follows Burn for Me
Followed by Wildfire
Audiobook from Libby
This book came out October 28th, 2014

Opinions are my own

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 15, 2017

Follows White Hot

Followed by Diamond Fire

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #3.5
Four stars
Followed by Sapphire Flames
This novella came out November 6th, 2018
Audiobook from Libby

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #4

Follows novella Diamond Fire

Followed by Emerald Blaze
This book comes out August 27th, 2019

Ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #4

Four stars
Follows Sapphire Flames

This book came out August 25th, 2020
Ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

The Neuroscience of You How Every Brain Is Different and How to Understand Yours by Chantel Prat

This book, though dense, is incredibly readable. I got this book as an ARC but have also already reserved it at the library to reread certain sections.

This book is not just a boring recitation of sections of the brain (amygdala, hippocampus, lobes, etc.) with a paragraph about what they do. Instead, the author builds a narrative around what parts of the brain do. 

Prat offers many exercises for readers to learn more about themselves ("you" is in the title after all). The last part of the book offers you chances to learn more about other people. 

Four stars

This book come out August 2, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Penny, the Engineering Tail of the Fourth Pig by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes

When Penny's three brothers are having to deal with a big bully, Penny comes to the rescue. A trained engineer, she knows how to take charge and build well. The next time Wolfgang comes around, he's in for a big surprise.

The authors leaned a little too much into the puns, especially since a lot of them came out in the last part of the book. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 1, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Capstone and NetGalley

Opinions are my own