Chapter 20 - Three Days in June

As you all know we have been super busy between last month and this heading south and then north to celebrate our two oldest granddaughters' graduations from high school. Add to that Dave's cataract surgery and planning a trip to London that I've hardly had time to hunker down and read.

I can't believe it is June already. We are almost done with the first half of the year and I haven't read nearly enough books because, as you know, they keep publishing them all the time! There are so many good ones being published this month both by authors I enjoy and a few new ones too. Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be able to pick up read the following books that are on my TBR list.

With A Vengeance by Riley Sager - Riley Sager has become a master of quirky thrillers and his latest is in the same vein. In 1942 six people destroyed Anna Maxwell's family and 12 years later she is out for vengeance. Her plan is to get these people together on a train from Philadelphia to Chicago. So, under false pretenses, she brings them all together to get them each to confess their crimes so she can turn them over to the authorities. Seems like a good plan until one of them is murdered and it seems like someone else also is seeking vengeance.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell - Shiloh and Cary have been best friends forever. She was going to be an actress and he was going into the navy after high school. Now Shiloh is a single mom and she hasn't spoken to Cary in 14 years. When a high school friend invites her to a wedding she hopes she'll see Cary but doesn't know if she can bear being seen by him. Would he even want to see her after all this time?

Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver - Charlie has some problems in his life; a screenwriting career that got derailed, a business that he never wanted, and a hot romance novel which the author wants nothing to do with its publication. Knowing that, given the chance, the book could become a hit, Charlie hires an actress to "pretend" to be the author and go on tour. Kate is a former soap opera actress looking for a new gig and no one will know - right? Sounds like a perfect book for beach reading.

The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay - Katherine Reay is a very talented author with books spanning from rom-com to historical fiction. In her latest she goes back to the art world of 1970's London. As the assistant to the director of the Tate Modern museum, Lily has helped to plan an exhibit of Picasso who has just died. The function could not have gone better until Lily stands before a Picasso masterpiece and declares that it is a forgery. What comes next is definitely worth the read.

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel - Here is another author whose historical fiction is always worth your time and money. Colette had been stealing jewels since she was small, taught by her mother Annabelle. The message was clear though, only steal from the cruel and give to the less fortunate. So it was no surprise that Annabelle and Colette were stealing to fund the French resistance during World War II. It was during this time that Annabelle was arrested and Colette's little sister disappeared with a diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown. Seventy years later, and with no luck finding her sister, the bracelet appears in a museum. As Colette tries to hunt down information she realizes that there are others who want to know things too.

So it looks like I'll have about three uncommitted days in June where I'll be able to do nothing but read. The chapter title comes from Anne Tyler's latest book though and I will definitely be reading that!