Almost wordless: A lone male Mallard was sitting in the center of a small pond.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Nothing in my physical mailbox last week although I did receive a few audio downloads . . .
Audio Downloads
Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell from Penguin Audio.
…an evocative, multilayered story of ambition, success, and secrecy in 1950s New York.
The Passenger by Lisa Lutz from Simon & Schuster Audio.
From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past.
The Regional Office is Under Attack by Manuel Gonzales from Penguin Audio.
In a world beset by amassing forces of darkness, one organization—the Regional Office—and its coterie of super-powered female assassins protects the globe from annihilation.
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It has been a while since I’ve gone on a bird walk. While we didn’t have a lot of snow this winter, it had been too cold and too icy for me to want to spend more than an hour outside, so most of my recent birding has been very local.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a long (4-hour) hike with my bird club to look for early spring migrants. It was warm but overcast day, so not good for photography, but we did get to see a lot of birds for this time of year.
Great-horned Owl Nest
Our first stop was to look at a Great Horned Owl nest. Mom was sitting on the nest when our large group arrived. We stayed far away so we wouldn’t disturb her. This photo is at the limits of my zoom lens. You can barely see her face and ears sticking up.
A Visiting Coopers Hawk
The Great Horned Owl does not make its own nest and typically takes over nests in trees made by other bird species. This nest belonged to a Coopers Hawk last year. We were treated to a visit from the hawk while we were observing the owl. Mom owl sat perfectly still and the hawk sailed on past.
Hooded Merganser
A pair of Hooded Mergansers and a group of Mallard Ducks were swimming in one of the ponds.
Great Blue Heron
A Great Blue Heron was fishing but decided to leave when our group showed up.
Canada Geese
The ever-present Canada Geese were lounging along the shore.
[Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy. Visit her blog to see more great photos.]
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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A Rapid Review
Publisher: Crown | PRH Audio, 12 hours | March 2016
Format: Hardcover, Audio | Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Mystery
A singularly compelling debut novel, about a desert where people go to escape their past, and a truck driver who finds himself at risk when he falls in love with a mysterious woman.
Ben Jones is an independent truck driver along Route 117, a remote area in the Utah desert. There is not much out there to speak of. There is Walt’s roadside diner that hasn’t opened in 20 years following a tragic incident, and Ben’s customers, most of whom prefer not to be noticed. Everyone in the desert has their secrets.
Ben’s life is uneventful until the day he finds a woman playing a cello in an abandoned building. It’s clear she is running from something or someone. Ben’s instincts tell him not to get involved with her, but he is drawn in anyway. Soon Ben becomes part of a deadly scenario.
I enjoyed the writing style — the prose is beautiful and the description of the desert made it seem like a character itself. While this is a noir mystery, it is also very literary. There are a host of well-developed, interesting characters; all are broken in some way with something to hide in their past. There is a love story here too.
This was an original, well-plotted tale, both haunting and beautiful, that has left me thinking about it days after I’ve finished the book. One of my 2016 favorites.
Audio production
I alternated between reading and listening to the book. The narration was skillfully performed by Kirby Heyborne in a flat, mysterious tone which added to the noir feel of the characters and the landscape.
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Source: Review copy provided by LibraryThing and the publisher.
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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A Rapid Review
Publisher: Harper | February 2016
Format: Hardcover | Rating: 4½ stars
Genre: Mystery
Roy is a conman living in a small English town, about to pull off his final con. He is going to meet and woo a beautiful woman and slip away with her life savings. But who is the man behind the con? What has he had to do to survive a life of lies? And who has had to pay the price?
Roy has been a con man for much of his life. It comes natural to him. He’s good at it and he enjoys his work. However, Roy, now in his 80s, decides it’s time to retire from the con game — but he wants to pull off one last job. All he needs is to find a wealthy widow.
Roy’s life story unfolds backwards, decades at a time, alternating with his plan to con Betty, a woman that he met on an internet dating site, out of her life savings. But Betty seems a bit too easy a mark. Her grandson, who you would expect to be protecting her, goes along with her relationship with Roy a little too easily. Soon it becomes apparent that Betty has a hidden agenda of her own.
While this was not a fast-paced novel, I still found it gripping. As the story progressed, the tension increased. It took a little more work to follow than a linear story, and it wasn’t always immediately evident where we were heading and the significance of newly introduced characters, but it was worth the effort. I often found myself reading a little slower than usual so as not to miss any detail — there were many clues as to where this story was heading. The flow could have been a little smoother, but overall this was a great story with a satisfying ending.
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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Advertisements appearing on this site are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed or approved by me.
Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
A few new books arrived in my mailbox last week. Now if I could just get caught up on my reviews . . .
New Arrivals
The Girl From Home by Adam Mitzner from FSB Associates.
…a gripping psychological thrill ride in this electrifying tale of a millionaire who will go to deadly lengths to get what he wants.
Agatha Parrot and the Odd Street School Ghost by Kjartan Poskitt from Clarion Books.
A mysterious bell tolls at night and a glowing face is seen in a distant window—is Odd Street School haunted? Agatha and her gang of friends are determined to help their teachers find out.
The Children by Ann Leary from St. Martin’s Press.
The captivating story of a wealthy, but unconventional New England family, told from the perspective of a reclusive 29-year-old who has a secret (and famous) life on the Internet.
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