A couple of August reads and then September is coming...

Hey book friends!  Hope you've had a good weekend and are ready for the last day of August because September will be here tomorrow!  Can you believe it?  Time does march on, doesn't it?

Thought I would mention a few of my August reads that were good - one of them is Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty.  I'll get to that one in a minute - mostly because a few asked if I would 'test drive' it and then share my thoughts.  I'll do it!  However, before I talk about that book I wanted to share a couple more that I do recommend.

First of all, I have loved Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder mystery series since the beginning of it.  Think there has been a book a year or close to that.  Anyway, this summer's book is A Dark Path.  It is a bit different because it is made up of 5 short stories that apparently have been published before and one short story that is brand new.  All have Kate, who is Chief of Police in her hometown of Painter's Mill, Ohio, and also her significant other, Tomasetti, and her team.  This area has a very large Amish community and Kate herself was raised Amish, but left that faith when she was in her late teens.  She became a police officer and eventually returned to her home as the Chief of Police.  This gives her a unique perspective on the area and the residents.  I'm not the biggest fan of short stories, but I wanted to share I did really enjoy this collection and recommend it highly.  I'll look forward to reading this series, hopefully, for years to come.

Another book I'd like to recommend is The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen.  It's the second book in her 'Martini Club' series that features a group of retired CIA agents that live now in coastal Maine and get together to sip martinis and also end up helping to solve crimes.  The local police chief doesn't quite know how to deal with them, but they have helped her out in both this book and the first one, The Spy Coast.  The mystery book group that I attend read and discussed The Spy Coast last year and gave it a definite thumbs-up.  I have also enjoyed many other books by the author, especially her Rizzoli and Isles series.  The 3rd book has just been published.  It's called The Shadow Friends and I'm making my way through it now.  Liking it a lot so far. 

OK, what did I think about Big Little Truths, Liane Moriarty's new book that is also her first sequel?  I re-read Big Little Lies a couple of weeks ago in preparation for this new book and did remember what I liked about it.  It was probably good that I refreshed my memory, but I will say if you haven't read Big Little Lies, you can still get enough info from Big Little Truths to follow the story.  There also was a TV adaptation that many loved.  I did not see the TV show and the author has a note in the beginning of her new book sharing that this is her first sequel and it is a sequel to the book and that the TV show had some changes to the story.  

I did enjoy Big Little Truths.  The group of mothers and families (kids and spouses, boyfriends, etc.) are the same.  In the first book, the kids were in kindergarten.  Ten years have passed and the kids are now 15 and in high school.  New issues, right?  Now the moms are worrying about the kids and drugs, alcohol, sex, grades, etc.  And the moms have their own issues going on as they have 'aged' and so menopause and a 'frozen shoulder' and work problems and marital problems arise.  And...several of the moms are having to deal with their own parents getting older and having health issues and some of the husbands have health issues, etc., etc.  See what I mean?  Life gets more complicated.  They thought that kindergarten was tough.  Ha!  The book also starts with a severed human finger being sent to the high school.  What in the world??  Again, ha!  

That's about all I will say.  Tweaked your interest?  I did like this one and it read very quickly for me.  Do I think everyone will love it?  Probably not.  I don't want to share spoilers so I will just recommend that if it sounds like something you'd like to try, do it!  

I've got a number of books that I want to read for September.  Some will be newly published and some are a little older.  I'm leading the book discussion for the afternoon book group I attend around the middle of the month.  Hope all your reading goes well and I'll try to be back around in a bit to share my reading and will also try to keep up my 'Waiting On Wednesday' posts to share new books I'm excited about.  Take care!