FINISHED -

1. "TEST DRIVE" (Body Shop Bad Boys #1) by Marie Harte (A++++) Get to know the body shop bad boys...Johnny, Foley, Sam and Lou are the rough and tumble mechanics of Webster's Garage. These reformed bad boys are used to living fast, but it's the women in their lives who take them from zero to sixty in a heartbeat.Rough and tumble bad boy mechanics - Living fast and loving hard - Johnny Devlin's a charmer with a checkered past. He has had his eye on scorching-hot bartender Lara Valley for ages, but she's rejected him more than once. That doesn't mean he won't come to her aid when some dirtbag mauls her. When she asks him on a date as a no-strings-attached thank you, he can't say no. And then he's saying nothing but hell, yes.
2. "CARRY YOURSELF BACK TO ME" (unabridged audio CD) by Deborah Reed (new author for me) (A+++) Famed alt-country artist Annie Walsh has more than enough reason to sing her version of the blues, including a broken heart, a stalled career, and a troubled family. Annie seeks refuge from an upended love affair with her producer, Owen Pettybone, by sequestering herself at home with her old dog Detour, surrounded by a lush Florida tangelo grove. There, she spends her days furiously sanding down the house’s every veneer in a vain attempt at erasing the painful memory of the love she lost. Soon, however, this quiet, small town existence - far from recording studios, ardent fans, and affairs of the heart - comes crashing down around her. A violent murder connected to her brother Calder threatens to tear her family apart and forces Annie to shore up her loyalties and uproot profound disappointments from her distant past. The evidence stacks against Calder, compounded by his lifelong affliction with Tourette syndrome that causes some in the community to cast aspersions on the soundness of his mind. As the circumstances converge to challenge lifetime ties and forge unexpected new bonds, this soulful, stirring novel shifts its narrative from an imperiled and ever-changing present, where each hour brings an unforeseen and unwelcome piece of news, to the poignant childhood days of first allegiances and life-altering loss. Like a fine and forlorn love ballad, the gifted, conflicted Annie lulls the reader into a journey through love and loss that mines the mysterious, and, at times, paradoxical rhythms of the human heart. As vibrant as Annie's treasured tangelo grove, Carry Yourself Back to Me cultivates an always tender, sometimes tart, portrait of one family’s regret and redemption. Inflected with melancholy and redeemed by melody, this deeply affecting novel is certain to strike a resonant chord with music fans and lovers of fine fiction everywhere. 
3. "WEDDING BELLS IN CHRISTMAS" (Christmas, Colorado #4) by Debbie Mason (A++++) To have and to hold from this day forward   Wedding bells are ringing in the charming town of Christmas, but not for Vivian Westfield. She's just had her heart trampled under the cowboy boots of Chance McBride and lost her dream job at a big-city newspaper. But when she returns for a wedding, she stumbles on a story that could resurrect her career. First, though, she'll have to deal with the handsome man standing in her way…and a still-burning flame that's too hot to ignore. Chance recognizes trouble when he sees it. He just didn't expect to find it in the first-class cabin on the flight home for his father's wedding. Yet there she is, as gorgeous as ever. Vivi dared Chance to want things he knew he could never have. It's why he left her. But Christmas's meddling matchmakers have them firmly in their sights. So if they want to survive the next week, they'll have to play the part of an adoring couple - an irresistible charade that may give them a second chance at the real thing.
4. "SPIDER WOMAN'S DAUGHTER" (Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito #19) by Anne Hillerman (new author for me) (A+++++) Anne Hillerman, the talented daughter of bestselling author Tony Hillerman, continues his popular Leaphorn and Chee series with Spider Woman's Daughter, a Navajo Country mystery, filled with captivating lore, startling suspense, bold new characters, vivid color, and rich Southwestern atmosphere. Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette Manualito witnesses the cold-blooded shooting of someone very close to her. With the victim fighting for his life, the entire squad and the local FBI office are hell-bent on catching the gunman. Bernie, too, wants in on the investigation, despite regulations forbidding eyewitness involvement. But that doesn't mean she's going to sit idly by, especially when her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, is in charge of finding the shooter. Bernie and Chee discover that a cold case involving his former boss and partner, retired Inspector Joe Leaphorn, may hold the key. Digging into the old investigation, husband and wife find themselves inching closer to the truth...and closer to a killer determined to prevent justice from taking its course.
5. "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE" (Unabridged Audio CD) (Michael Bennett #2) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (A+++++) A calculating killer who calls himself The Teacher is taking on New York City, killing the powerful, the arrogant, the don't-give-a-darnst-about-anyone rich. For some New Yorkers it seems that the rich were getting what they deserve at last. For New York's social elite, it is a call to chaos and terror. The Teacher's message to the wealthy is clear: remember your manners or suffer the consequences! Detective Mike Bennett is assigned the case. Managing the pressure from his Commissioner, the Mayor, and the New York media would be enough for anyone, but Mike also has to care for his 10 children - who are all under 12 and who all have the flu! Detective Bennett discovers a secret pattern in the Teacher's lessons - and realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in its history.

CURRENTLY READING -

1. "Gastien: From Dream to Destiny" (Gastien #2) by Caddie Rowland (reading on a Kindle app on my computer)
2. "Seven Stones to Stand or Fall" by Diana Gabaldon
3. "More Than Words" "The Greatest Gift" by Diana Palmer "Shelternet" by Jan Richardson and Kathryn Babcock "Close Call" by Carla Neggers "Quilts from Caring Hands" by June Nielsen "Hanging by a Thread" by Emilie Richards "Memory Box Artist Program" by Tera Leigh "Small Packages" by Brenda Novak "The Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program" by Dena Wortzel "Built to Last" by Susan Mallery
4. "Roadside Assistance" (Body Shop Bad Boys #2) by Marie Harte

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -

1. "Dark in Death" (In Death #46) by J.D. Robb (listening on an Audible application on my cell phone)
2. "Feels Like Family" (Sweet Magnolias #3) by Sherryl Woods (unabridged audio CD)

Reading:

At Home on Ladybird Farm  Donna Ball

Finished:

A Father's Story  Lionel Dahmer

Winder Hollow R F McClure

At the End of the World  Lawrence Millman

Christmas On Ladybug Farm  Donna Ball

Under the Influence  Joyce Maynard

The Leisure Seeker  Michael Zadoorian

The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke & Other Tales of the Outer Banks  Charles Whedbee

North to the Orient  Anne Lindbergh

Sweet Tea, Fried Chicken & Lazy Dogs  Bill Thompson

Hero of Hacksaw Ridge  Booton Herndon

Butter in the Well Linda Hubalek

Fear and Trembling  Amelie Nothomb

The Grass Harp Truman Capote

The Milk-Weed Ladies  Louise McNeill

Murder in Mount Holly  Paul Theroux

Nanaville Anna Quindlen

Island of the Lost  Joan Druett

The Midwife Jolina Petersheim

Reading:

Walk in the Light and Twenty-Three Tales by Leo Tolstoy

Birdseye: Adventures of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky

Pharaoh's Friend by Nancy Yawitz Linkous

Finished:

Glasshouse by Charles Stross

X by Sue Grafton

Joshua by Joseph Girzone

Hitler's Secret Jewish Psychic, and other strange and obscure history by Phil Mason

Backlash by Brad Thor

Family and Other Accidents by Shari Goldhagen

The Martian by Andy Weir

Finished this month: Angels at the Table by Debbie Macomber, State Fair by Darlene Fowler, The King's Deception by Steve Berry, Ladies' Night  by Mary Kay Andrews, Out of Circulation by Miranda James, Separate From The World by P. L. Gaus, Sentenced to Death by Lorna Barrett, The Perfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown, Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown, Yesterday by Fern Michaels, Monet Talks by Tamar Myers, Sins and Needles by Monica Ferris

Currently reading: The Cane Mutiny by Tamar Myers

Finished in November:  The Fallen  by:  David Baldacci

                                   Redemption  by:  David Baldacci

                                   Changing Law A Biography of Arthur T. Vanderbilt  by:  Arthur T. Vanderbilt II

                                   Barack And Joe The Making of An Extraordinary Partnership  by:  Steven Levingston

Hope to get to:             The Great Alone  byKristin Hannah  for book club

                                   My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry  by:  Fredrik Backman

                                   Offer It Up  Book II  by:  John Hart

                                   Sweet Water  by:  Christina Baker Kline                                  

1. Finished listening to Hopin' and Wishin' by Wally Lamb

2. Finished reading Death of a Cad by M.C. Beaton

3. Listening to The Secret School by Avi

4. Reading A Cunning Death  by Blythe Baker

finished:

Know My Name by Chanel Miller, very very moving

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, excellent & I am not usually a fan of her

Eleonor Olymiphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, light and funny