Quantum by Patricia Cornwell

 Q in my A-Z of Fiction Titles is Quantum.  

The blurb says:

On the eve of a top secret space mission, Captain Calli Chase detects a tripped alarm in the tunnels deep below a NASA research center. A NASA pilot, quantum physicist, and cybercrime investigator, Calli knows that a looming blizzard and government shutdown could provide the perfect cover for sabotage, with deadly consequences.

As it turns out, the danger is worse than she thought. A spatter of dried blood, a missing security badge, a suspicious suicide—a series of disturbing clues point to Calli’s twin sister, Carme, who’s been MIA for days.

Desperate to halt the countdown to disaster and to clear her sister’s name, Captain Chase digs deep into her vast cyber security knowledge and her painful past, probing for answers to her twin’s erratic conduct. As time is running out, she realizes that failure means catastrophe—not just for the space program but for the safety of the whole nation.

 I don't think I've read any of Patricia Cornwell's books before, though I'm well aware she is a prolific and well-revered author.

The thriller side of this book I enjoyed.  Trying to work out what is going on with Carme as well as finding out why there was a suicide and the mystery of the tripped alarm.  However, I didn't see the point of the NASA background, the rocket launch and all that side of thing.  I get that it's just the backing for the story, yet it seemed so irrelevant, that the story could have been situated elsewhere and nothing much would be lost.

There is also no ending to the book.  I understand the idea of ending on a cliff-hanger, but I much rather books that have some sort of ending, with an epilogue/final chapter that introduces the cliff-hanger.  This book, however, simply doesn't end.

Overall, I'm just disappointed by this book.  Reading other reviews however, have shown me that even Cornwell fans didn't like this book, so that gives me hope should I ever decide to read one of her other series.

I've put the next book on my wishlist, just because I want to know how the story ends, but there are a load of books on my wishlist that I will be buying before the next one. 
(For new readers to my blog - hello, and welcome!  After discovering I had nearly 1000 unread books on my kindle [I love a freebie!], I'm now working through them, refusing to buy any more books until these are read and down to a decent level.  I'm getting there, with only 660 still to go, lol.  The only exception to my no-buying rule, is if a book is so amazing, then I do tend to buy the rest of the series and live in that world for a week or two...)

Pancakes and Corpses by Agatha Frost

After reading a book that was mildly depressing, it's good to read a cosy murder mystery. 😁

Pancakes and Corpses is a great title for this book and lets you know what is going to be in store for the reader.

The blurb says:

Soon to be divorced Julia South never expected to be caught up in solving a murder, until she discovered the body of her cafe's most awkward customer. With a new smug Detective Inspector in town who underestimates her every move, Julia makes it her mission to discover the real murderer, before her village friends are dragged into the frame, and more bodies are discovered.

This is a lovely little story, that introduces you to Peridale Cafe and all the characters in the village.  As cosy mysteries go, this one wasn't predictable which made the read all the more enjoyable.  It's a light read, so is accessible for bookworms like me (I read it in a day as I couldn't put it down) or for people who want to get back into reading and want a fun romp.

The sequel, Lemonade and Lies, is already on my wishlist.

Out of a Dream by Rosemary Hines

 

Out of a Dream is O in my A-Z Challenge.  It is about a woman called Michelle, who starts to have some weird dreams, so looks into dream interpretation.  As she does so, she delves into yoga, meditation and then into tarot and other "New Age" things.  Meanwhile, her life starts to go belly-up:  she has problems in her marriage, and her dad is on the verge of suicide.

The blurb says:

Michelle Baron should be reveling in her new life in Sandy Cove, Oregon. From the outside, it all looks idyllic. A newlywed settling into a quaint coastal town, her husband establishing himself as a junior partner in a law firm—what more could she want?

But a series of disturbing nightmares haunts Michelle. Her quest to understand these dreams leads her to the New World bookstore, where she begins a spiritual journey that will challenge her Christian heritage as well as her marriage.

I have to say, I was not keen on how this book was written.  Even though I'm a Christian, it felt very much like a non-subtle "if you don't become a Christian, your life will be crap" message, which I can imagine will irritate a lot of non-Christians - it annoyed me enough!  I did persevere with the book, and though there was tragedy in the story, it had a good ending.

***Spoiler Warning***

However, the book really comes into its own, when you read the Note From The Author at the end and realise this book is semi-autobiographical: though the characters and events are fiction, the author did become interested in New Age ideologies before the suicide of her father, at which point she turned to Christianity.  Though it would give away the plot somewhat, I do wish this note was at the beginning of the book, so the story could be read through that lens.

***End of Spoiler***

There are two more books in the Sandy Cove Series, however I will not be adding them to my wishlist.

Nocturne by Kat Ross (The Fourth Talisman Series)

 Nocturne by Kat Ross is N in my A-Z Challenge of Fiction Titles.

This is part of The Fourth Talisman series, which is a sequel to The Fourth Element Series, so as a quick recap, I reread the review I had written previously.

The blurb of Nocturne says:

As the net slowly tightens, something ancient and vengeful begins to stir in the arid death zone called the Kiln. A dashing daeva named Darius is pursuing Nazafareen, but so are a multitude of enemies. War is brewing again. Can she stay alive long enough to stop it?

Nocturne, a wilderness of eternal night.
Solis, a wasteland of endless day.

Nazafareen is a Breaker, a mortal who has the rare ability to shatter spell magic—although her power carries a high price. With the memories of her former self erased and nowhere else to turn, she comes to Nocturne hoping to start a new life under the triple moons of the darklands.

But when an assassin forces Nazafareen to flee to the sunlit mortal city of Delphi, she finds herself embroiled in a deeper mystery whose origins lie far in the past. Why was the continent sundered into light and dark a thousand years before? And what really happened to the elegant but ruthless creatures who nearly reduced the world to ashes? The new Oracle might know, but she’s outlawed magic and executes anyone caught practicing it. Nazafareen must hide her powers and find a way out of the city—before it’s too late.

The book starts with Nazafareen being held in Nocturne after she has lost all her memories.  She has been advised not to travel without being accompanied, but she is aware there is more going on than meets the eye, convinced that if she could regain her memories everything would fall into place.  After stowing away aboard an air-ship, Nazafareen discovers the other lands are not all they seem. 

As with the previous series by Kat Ross, I couldn't put these books down, and ended up buying the rest of the series: Solis, Monstrum, Nemesis, and Inferno.  
I don't want to give away too much of the plot of these books, but it is another epic adventure mixing magic, religion, revenge, power, love and action.  

Highly recommended.

Weekly Update - I've broken 2 minutes!

My PT came on Friday for the first time in a couple of weeks (due to a combination of illness, self-isolation and camping) and boy, did it hurt!  It was fun (in a masochistic way) - my PT had 5 A4 pages, which I had to select randomly.  Each one had a different set of exercises, that I had to repeat 4 times.  There was a mix of all the exercises that we had done so far, including boxing, slam balls, weight lifting, Russian twists, sit ups and more.  Afterwards, I ached.  Normally, I don't ache until the next day, but I ached Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and this morning my quads were still aching!

Incidentally, if you've been following my FB page (and if not, please CLICK HERE to like and follow me!), you'll know my husband completed Race To The Stones at the weekend.  Just because he covered 100 kilometres, does not mean that his legs ache more than mine after an hour in my garden, lol!

This morning, my PT returned and made me start off with a plank.  Because I am trying to push myself, I asked her not to tell me the time until 1min30secs had gone past, and then every 20 seconds after that.  Today I managed a whopping 2min 08secs in a plank! Beating my previous PB by 11 seconds, and I think I may have been able to go slightly longer had it not been pouring with rain, as my rain coat was much too warm as the hood fell over my head.

The rest of the session today was mainly arms, shoulders and abs.  I don't really ache right now, but know it'll hit me tomorrow.  At least my legs have stopped aching, so it no longer hurts when trying to go up or down stairs. 😃

Book Organisation

Ok, so I have gone through all my past Book Reviews and tried to classify them, so that if you wanted to find a certain type of book that would be easy to do now.  All you have to do is look at the Word Cloud on the right, squint a bit, and then choose the genre you're looking for.

If you have read something based on my recommendation and think that I have missed a classification (from the list below), please comment and I will add it.  Depending where you read, there are 7 or 8 main classifications of genre (I have made sure I covered them all) but there are also 150+ subgenres and classifications that I can't always see the difference between.  As such, some things you'll have to give me artistic license for, such as grouping Paranormal under Fantasy, rather than giving it its own classification.  And I'm surprised to see that despite reading a load of Stephen King and James Herbert as a teen, I haven't got any Horror listed.  That's probably the only addition that I would make.

And, you will notice that some of the links give more than just books listed, especially in the non-fiction list, but you'll just have to cope with scrolling down to find the books for those.

So here is the list of classifications, so that if you did want to find something quickly, you can either click the link below, or the word cloud.

Fiction:
Adventure
Chick-Lit
Childrens
Classic
Cosy
Dystopia
Fantasy
Horror (No link yet, as there are no books yet)
Mystery
Romance
Sci-Fi
Thriller
YA

Non-Fiction:
Bible
Childrens
Christianity
Feminism
Non-Fiction
Real Life
Recipe
Weightloss

Weekly Update

This past week I have done nearly zero exercise and have been eating crap. I haven't weighed myself, but I hope to get back to it this week  After a few days of not eating properly, I'm missing vegetables, so I'm looking forward to our veg box coming this Wed.

What I have been doing, is loads and loads of home ed stuff.  I have two different FOIs going on, and have been busy collating the information altogether.  I'm even drawing a pretty chart to display the info, which looks good, but wasn't as easy as I was hoping for!  DD2 missed her transition day for secondary school due to covid, but has been invited to a summer school.  I need to start getting her uniform together - I swear for DD1 I had it all by this point in the year, whereas for DD2, I've barely thought about it.

I have also been reading - hurray! - reading a lot and escaping into other worlds really does help my mental health. I am approximately 5 books/series behind on my book reviews, so instead of doing that (because that would be the obvious thing to do, wouldn't it!), I'm going to go back through all my previous book reviews and group them by genre, so that anyone who wants to find a specific type of book, will be able to find it easier.