2020 Reading Challenge -50 Books 50 States - Eat, Tan, Read

Book 9: Florida

“Fabier Investigations is a stylish and glamorous private detective series, set in lavish locations, with intriguing cases, splashed with romance, mystery and bittersweet themes. Alex Fabier runs a small business named Fabier Investigations, based in South Beach, Miami, Florida, which he opened after the death of his wife Kate, many years ago. This new collection offers all six stories from the successful series including After The Rain, Shadow Of An Angel, Rendezvous, The Girl From Yesterday, East Of The Sun and Desire For Diamonds.”

February Reading Recap

3 Books

778 pages

Average Rating 3.7

The Shadow Priest 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Event 🌟🌟🌟🌟

She’ll Never Tell 🌟🌟🌟

Not that great at all of a month. Still on task for my year end goal however super diasppointed. I will throw out a couple excuses for myself:

1. February is a short month 😊

2. I got a puppy. 🐕 Now let me tell you that you don’t have much time for relaxing and reading when you are chasing around a ball of fur, trying to keep it from peeing on the floor.😵

No earth shattering reads this month just good, solid, entertaining ones.

I want to thank D.C. Alexander and Michael Carlin with Uncorking a Story for providing me a couple copies.

Did you have any books this month that blew your mind?

Book 8: Delaware

Marcy was in a horricle car accident that left her in a coma for 6 months. When she awakes she discovers that plastic surgeons had to reconstruct her face and she is now 60 lbs lighter. Transforming her from ugly duckling into a swan. But someone else has been watching Marcy’s transformation.

“The Bloodsucker walks up the beach, unnoticed by the Swan and her husband. It’s as though he’s invisible. They see him but they don’t see him. If they make eye contact, he just smiles. Waves. No one knows who is he is because everyone knows who he is. That’s the best part about it. Marcy knows him, just as Patty did.”

The Bloodsucker is surprised that Marcy has turned out to be so beautiful. She is perfect. “Exactly the kind of woman he loves to kill….”

Book 7: Connecticut

Libby reflects on “The Event”, what she refers to as the death of her marriage which occurred 12 months prior. “I accept the fact that while my husband crafted the coffin, I hammered the nails into it.” After taking several workshops on self awareness, Libby creates a written record on what she has learned about herself and potentially help others spot troubles that may creep into a marriage before it’s too late.

“This is an uncensored account of The Event; if vivid descriptions of sexual acts are offensive to you, put this down right now and turn to a less graphic resource for help”

Book 6 – Colorado

“In the remote Four Corners region of Colorado, Special Agent Nathaniel Arkin, a disgraced former intelligence officer, investigates the killing of a bigoted, vitriolic preacher who was about to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In processing the murder scene, Arkin thinks he recognizes the modus operandi of a shadowy group he pursued and was on the verge of exposing years earlier, just before his abrupt fall from grace and exile from Washington, D.C. Rumored to be run by a self-righteous, lapsed Jesuit priest, it was a group Arkin long suspected of orchestrating an international assassination campaign targeting charismatic, fledgling fanatics—future Hitlers and bin Ladens—just as they emerged from obscurity, before they were capable of instigating mass murder. Reluctant, but aching for redemption, Arkin resumes the chase, setting in motion a chain of events that could lead to his salvation—or his doom. Along the way, he confronts a question that has troubled him for many years: What creates murderous fundamentalists and fanatics like Hitler and bin Laden in the first place?”

Book 5 – California

“In San Francisco, newlyweds are being stalked – and slaughtered. Enter four unforgettable women, all friends…Lindsey, a homicide inspector in the city’s police department…Claire, a medical examiner… Jill, an assistant D.A. …and Cindy, a reporter who has just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle. Joining forces, pooling their talents, courage, and brains, they have one goal: to find, trap, and outwit the most diabolical and terrifying killer ever imagined.”

Book 4 – Arkansas

Summer 1952, in the Arkansas Delta a 7 year old boy, Luke Chandler, faces a summer of secrets no young boy should be exposed to. Two groups of migrant workers arrive to pick the cotton fields for the Chandlers, two very dangerous men among them. A brutal murder, a fatherless baby is born, and other secrets Luke slowly unfolds that will change his and his family’s lives forever.

Book 3 – Arizona

Lorena is tired of the Merry-go-round her life has become. She quits her hated job and decides to take a much needed vacation in Arizona. She makes a trip to the Montezuma Well, where she meets an old Indian woman. Lorena ends up catapulted into the year 1826. Arizona during the wild wild west, cowboys and outlaws. There she meets a cattle herder who changes everything. Lorena must make the unbearable decision of returning back to her own time or remaining in 1826 with Alexandre Castro.

“Disclosure: Bound Through the Ashes contains steamy romance and dark subject matter and may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised.” 😊 Ooh. Ready for a little change of pace.

Book 2 – Alaska

“The rarest form of murder is serial. Despite what we see on CSI or Mindhunter or the films and procedures that dominate popular culture, people who kill randomly and for no reason are extremely uncommon. It’s also why many of us think we know of every such American killer. But the subject of this book was unlike anything the FBI had ever encountered. He was a new kind of monster, likely responsible for the greatest string of unsolved disappearances and murders in modern American History. And you have probably never heard of him.”

Book 1 – Alabama

College professor/Social worker Cleo Mack is forced to retire early at just 50. She moves to the coastal town of Fairhope Alabama, and finds a part time job with an apartment at Harbor Village, a retirememt community and assisted living facility. When the unpopular director is found murdered, it turns out she was married to Cleo’s ex-husband. Travis asks Cleo to become active director and snoop around as things at the facility have been fishy lately, ending with murder.