Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Bright Idea Indeed

    My book club members and I agreed that this was such a clever story. None of us could come up with another book that felt similar to this one. Matthew Sullivan didn't just write a mystery, but created fun puzzles and plot twists that I did not see coming.

    Lydia is the main character of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. She works as a bookseller at, you guessed it, The Bright Ideas Bookstore in Denver, CO. She has a special place in her heart for the customers she has affectionately named the Bookfrogs. Men who are usually down and out in life, and spend their time in the quiet nooks of the store. When one of these Bookfrogs unexpectedly hangs himself  (not a spoiler) so that Lydia finds him at closing time, it sets her reluctantly on a trail of puzzles that also makes her revisit her past. Soon she realizes there may be more to this Bookfrog than anyone gave him credit for.

    What is so great about this story is that you think you know what's happening, but Sullivan completely takes you by surprise, and he doesn't do this just once, but multiple times! Also, our book club decided that this book contains one of the best red herrings any of us has ever read! I want to say so much more but I don't want to give anything away!

    Lydia's character was relatable and empathetic, but also damaged. In fact, pretty much every character in this story is very damaged, one way or another. Damaged, flawed, and/or quirky. But it all lends itself to really great storytelling.

    My only complaint here was that the ending seemed a little rushed and also weird. You'll have to read it for yourself. Overall, it was a satisfying ending, but the epilogue made me go, "huh?" I think you'll know what I mean when you get there because my book club members agreed.

    This was one I definitely didn't want to put down! I would almost say it's as much of a thriller as it is a mystery. If you're in the mood for a mystery, this one will not disappoint!

4/5 Stars

   

Another Mystery: I Found You

     It seems I have been on a thriller, mystery kick lately. I've been reading more in this genre than usual. I Found You by Lisa Jewell was another title on Modern Mrs. Darcy's Summer Reading Guide. It sounded very intriguing, but I hadn't really planned on picking it up so soon until I began my search for book club titles at work. My boss raved about this one and it had high praise on Goodreads. When I saw it on the new shelf at work and just couldn't resist the urge to grab it!

     Alice is a single mother who takes in a man suffering from memory loss. He doesn't know who he is, or why he has been sitting on the beach for the last 24 hours. Can she trust him? In another town, young wife Lily is wondering why her husband hasn't returned home from work last night. Involving the police only turn up more questions. Can she trust him? Alternating chapters take the reader back 20+ years when Gray and Kirsty's family vacation takes an eerie turn after a stranger invites them over for dinner. Gray is convinced he has ulterior motives. Can he trust him?

     This book certainly kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I started to second guessed myself. I would say I Found You is more plot driven and I've learned from the various books I've read this year that I much prefer character driven stories. I felt like I was only getting a shallow view of each of the characters. And honestly, I didn't particularly like any of them. That was hard for me. What kept me reading was the switch between past and present timelines and the desire to know how they fit together in the end. While this was a great summer read, it certainly isn't a light read. There are some pretty dark themes and each character is marked by their own sort of trauma. Don't let that stop you though, there are great twists and turns that left me pleased that it wasn't as predictable as I thought!

4/5 Stars

Rekindled Love & The Dry

    When I started reading chapter books as a kid, I would check out a huge stack of The Boxcar Children mysteries from the library and start reading as soon as we got in the car. I'd average about one per day. Regardless of the fact that they all followed very formulaic plot (rich grandfather takes them somewhere, they discover a problem, they conveniently overhear a private conversation, a mysterious phone call tells them to butt out, they save the day anyway), I was hooked!

    Seeing as mysteries are what made me fall in love with reading in the first place, I don't know why I don't read them more often as an adult! Though many of the books I read have mysterious elements to them, I don't read a lot of straight up detective/police stories. The Dry by Jane Harper was on Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2017 Summer Reading List and I was hearing/reading rave reviews all over the internet and book podcasts. I'm so glad I picked it up! My love with mysteries has been rekindled!

    The Dry is about FBI agent Aaron Falk and his return to his hometown, Kiewarra (Australia). His visit is due to the tragic death of his childhood friend Luke and Luke's wife and young son. The small town is reeling from the tragedy for more reasons than one. All of the evidence shows that Luke killed his wife and son before taking his own life. What Aaron thinks is going to be a quick trip home, soon becomes a lot more complicated when his past catches up with him.

    You can probably tell from my summary that this book isn't exactly heartwarming, but it is oh so satisfying. Just like the main character, I was constantly trying to figure out who I could trust throughout the story; nothing and no one were quite as they seemed. I love books that switch between past and present story lines, and this one did a really good job of that all the way to the very end. The title of the book plays a really interesting and important role both in the setting and the climax. I definitely recommend this to anyone who's looking for a page-turner. I'll admit it has some heavy themes, but it had me on the edge of my seat!

5/5 Stars