George > Recent Status Updates

Currently listening to the Chirp! audiobook version of The Lost Past of Billy McQueen by Neil Alexander.

Unfortunately that version of the novel - currently on-sale at Chirp! - is not yet listed on Goodreads. I hope the author will correct that omission shortly.

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks...

3.5 Stars - Rounded Up

Fearne Hill's Cloud Nine is a just as delightful as it is informative. This is the first book I've read with one of the protagonists having cerebral palsy, and her descriptions of his life were more than illuminating.

If there had been less focus on the sexual relations of Tristan and Dom and more on their feelings for one another, it cold have been a 5-Star read.

Following a Boston polling station shooting by a man dressed as a Christian Nationalist Evangelical~
“Oh sure,” Sylvie scoffed. “So you know all about the CeeNees now, do you?”
“Have you ever even spoken to one?”
“No,” Jaclyn admitted. But he saw with clarity that’s exactly what he should do. They had to find a way to connect with these people - otherwise, the entire country risked being torn apart.

“It’s the most important elections in decades…Control of Congress hinges on today. This could be the end of the union as we know it and the establishment of religious governments in separatist states. Everyone wants to vote.”

“Radiation detected! This is not a test. Take cover immediately”

dnf at 12%

Decided to try Patricia Logan’s Leo on Fire (FBI Files #2) because it couldn’t possibly be as sick, depraved, and filled with page after page of gratuitous sex scenes, as Prince of L.A. , the first book in this series, had been.

Sadly it was.

dnf at 38%

Maybe if I'd read the first book in this series Red Fish, Dead Fish MIGHT have been tolerable.

Definitely not one of Amy Lane's finest.

DNF at 35%. Sorry I even went that far.

The premise of Between the Lines had real promise. Unfortunately it was poorly executed and this book REALLY needs to be edited.

“Do you miss it, Hank? Your old life?” Tony asked.
Did he miss it - turning tricks in the garden, late-night escapades by the pool? The casual, comfortable release he and Tony used to offer each other.
“No, surprisingly I don’t. All I think about now is Ernie.  Doing something with anyone else would feel, oh, I don’t know, not like cheating exactly, but…pointless, maybe?

“This is why the Cuban people want a revolution,” Matt said.
Ernesto was tired of Matt thinking he knew everything about the ‘Cuban people’.
“We don’t want a revolution, Matt, we just want to have elections & eliminate corruption.”
Everyone turned to look at him. Ernesto rarely spoke up for himself, but now that he realized his family was at increased risk he wasn’t going to let others make all the decisions.

“But it’s perfectly possible for two men to have a relationship, to build a life together. Hans and Arthur have done it, and we have good friends back in New York who are practically mar—”
“But you’re Americans, and white.” Ernesto wrang his hand. “You make your own rules.”
“All men can make their own rules, Ernesto.”
What an odd thing to say. What an odd thing to think.
“Even in Cuba,” Mannix continued.

Ernesto received his third rejection from the university.
The Orthodox Party stressed there was only one Cuba, and everyone was a part of it.
Ernesto believed that.
But he couldn’t help noticing all the light-skinned students at the university, and the darker faces that worked in the factory.  And the still darker faces working in the fields.

“I saw him shirtless in the pool house,” Mannix said.
Cordero grinned. “Knowing you, I’m surprised you didn’t talk him out of the rest of his clothes.”
“Well, I did try to-” Mannix began.
But Matt interrupted with a groan. 
“Is every young man’s worth defined solely by his looks?”
A stunned silence descended around the table.
“Unless he’s rich, yes,” replied Mannix.  
Everyone laughed.

3.5 Stars - Rounded up

From next door he could hear the sound of children playing with their toys. But their giggles only made him feel more dismal. They made him realize that he had no connection to any other human being on the entire planet.
There are billions of people in this wold and not a single one of them cares about me.

If this Stewart was a family member, the famous Stewart looks - and charm - had clearly passed him by. He was tall, lanky, almost like a Coppersmith, and with the sort of face Jonty’s late mother might have described as unfortunate.

He had no comprehension or allusion or the like, so to him everything was literal. I remember him asking me if I knew where the cook kept her other head, because he’d overheard the maid call her two-faced.”

This entire series by Charlie Cochrane is so well written.

Once again she has her protagonists, Jonty and Orlando, proving that "the absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence."

WARNING - All Lessons Learned is marketed as Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #8. IT IS NOT

Charlie Cochran’s chronological listing of books in her series lists All Lessons Learned as #13. https://www.goodreads.com/series/3173...

Lessons for Suspicious Minds, is the actual 8th book in this series.

He’s sitting on the bed with unbuttoned jeans halfway up his thighs like he just got stuck. I sit on the carpet & hand him the coffee.
“Looks like you got distracted.”
He hums through a mouthful of coffee & swallows.
“I realized if I got dressed, then last night would officially be over.”
The morning sun applies gold across his naked torso as he shrugs.
“Nexts scare me. I live fast so they can’t catch up.”

“What do you want to do?”
His hand tightens around the railing next to my leg.
“I don’t need to be special and remembered for generations. I just want to be happy and make memories with the people I care about.”

“I don’t think I can ever trust in a relationship again, so I guess kids aren’t happening.”
“You’re thirty-six, not sixty. Who knows what might happen?”
His voice ices over.
“I lost my future once; I refuse to go through that again. My career is the way that I get to help people now, and that’s perfectly satisfactory.”
Perfectly satisfactory. A solid 3 out of 5 stars. Living the dream.

I’m starting to wonder which is worse - big, dark secrets or small, festering ones that hurt us slowly every day for the rest of our lives.

DNF - Only 3% in and it's clear this one isn't for me.

“That went well,” Cameron murmured to himself. He couldn’t stop thinking about how Ricky must feel. Deceived and rejected. And it was all his fault.
Secrets are like termites, stealthily worming their way into the wood until it collapses with rot. Cameron despised the game they were playing. If anything the night had only made him more determined than ever to come out. Before anyone else got hurt.