Althea's Reading Corner

Title: More Fish Faces Author: Tam Warner Minton Genre: Nonfiction Format: Digital (phone) No. of Pages: 52 Date of Publication:  September 1, 2020 Description:  Ocean lovers and budding marine biologists will love   More Fish Faces , Book Two in the children's book series, Ocean Friends, that started with   All Fish Faces .   More Fish Faces   gives you more fun faces and more fun facts for fish fans young and old. Colorful photography — including the names of every fish featured — creates a colorful dive log worth experiencing again and again. The photos and fun facts are presented in small and easily digestible bites so your child can enjoy learning in short bursts or longer reads. It is a wonderful book for bedtime. Concepts like recycling, re-purposing, and sustainability are presented with photos and practical examples that are easily understood. The new kid's series, Ocean Friends, educates children with colorful photography, practical examples, and ...

Title: The Adventures of Rembrandt the Tuxedo Cat Helps Callie, the Callico Cat, Find Her Meow Author: Marsha Walk Carroll Genre: Children's book Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 32  Date of Publication: October 6, 2020 Description:   Rembrandt, affectionately known as Remy, is well loved and lives with his Purr-ents and his big brother, Leo, the Tabby Cat. In this inaugural story book of Rembrandt, the Tuxedo Cat, Remy comes upon an unfamiliar calico cat who has shyly seated herself on the bench in his backyard. A great mystery has presented itself with the quiet little calico cat. As Remy strikes up a conversation, the little calico cat has no meow. Remy and Callie, as he calls her, go on a quest to help her find her meow. They search his back yard and the woods behind his house. Will they find Callie’s meow? And if so, where will they find it? My Thoughts:  This is my first children's book that I have picked up from Netgalley for a review. I thought it would be a ...

Title:  Don't Be a Victim: Fighting Back Against America's Crime Wave Author:  Nancy Grace with John Hassan Genre: Self-help, non-fiction Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 384 Date of Publication: September 22, 2020 Description:  Discover gripping true crime stories and the surprising tools you need to keep you and your family safe -- from iconic legal commentator, TV journalist, and  New York Times  bestselling author Nancy Grace.   Nancy Grace wasn't always the iconic legal commentator we know today. One moment changed her entire future forever: her fiancé Keith was murdered just before their wedding. Driven to deliver justice for other crime victims, Nancy became a felony prosecutor and for a decade, put the "bad guys" behind bars in inner-city Atlanta.   Now, with a new and potentially life-saving book, Nancy puts her crime-fighting expertise to work to empower you stay safe in the face of daily dangers. Packed with practical advice and invaluable p...

Title: I Will Make You Pay Author: Teresa Driscoll Genre: Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Format: Kindle No. of Pages: 317 Date of Publication: October 10, 2019 Description:  Every Wednesday, like clockwork, the terror returns. It seems like an ordinary Wednesday, until the phone rings. A mysterious caller with a chilling threat. Journalist Alice Henderson hangs up, ready to dismiss it as a hoax against the newspaper. But the next Wednesday, the stalker makes another move—and it becomes clear that this is all about Alice. Someone wants her to suffer, but for what? Her articles have made her a popular local champion—could it be her past rather than her work that’s put her life in danger? Alice is determined not to give in to fear, but with the police investigation at a dead end, her boyfriend insists on hiring private investigator Matthew Hill. With every passing Wednesday the warnings escalate, until it’s not only Alice but also her family in the stalker’s sights. As her tormento...

Title:  What Have We Done Author:  Alex Finlay     Narrators:  Brittany Pressley; James Patrick Cronin; Jon Lindstrom; Maggie Thompson Genre:  General Fiction, Mystery Thriller Format:  Audiobook Listening Length:  11 hours 30 minutes D ate of Publication:  March 07, 2023 Description:  In this “top-notch mystery thriller” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) from Alex Finlay,  What Have We  Done  is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever. One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2023:• BookPage • BookBub • E! News • Go BookMart  • Goodreads • PopSugar  •  The Every Girl • She Reads • Beyond the Bookends A stay-at-home mom with a past. A has-been rock star with a habit. A reality TV producer with a debt. Three disparate lives. One deadly secret. Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect...

Title: The Essence of Darkness Author: Tom Clearlake Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 447 Date of Publication: April 18, 2020 Description:  Five unexplained child disappearances have plagued the small town of St. Marys in the space of four months. All the elements indicate that these are abductions. FBI Special Agent Eliott Cooper is sent to investigate. Little by little, he uncovers facts that he can’t rationally explain. Soon, he finds that a dark and very ancient evil seems to have taken over the forests around the city. This is only the beginning of his investigation... My Thoughts:  I almost didn't complete this book as I found it extremely difficult to get into it until I was a little more than half way through. Honestly, I thought about putting this book down a number of times but since I had requested the book from Netgalley and it was granted to me, I felt an obligation to try to complete it.  I requested the book because of the...

Title:  The Perfect Mother Author: Caroline Mitchell Genre: Suspense, Thriller Format:  Kindle Arc No. of Pages: 364 Date of Publication: January 14, 2020 Description:  She thought they wanted her baby. But they won’t stop there. Roz is young, penniless and pregnant. All she wants is to be the perfect mother to her child, but the more she thinks about her own chaotic upbringing, the more certain she is that the best life for her baby is as far away as possible from her hometown in Ireland. Determined to do the right thing, Roz joins an elite adoption service and can’t believe her luck. Within days she is jetting to New York to meet a celebrity power couple desperate for a child of their own. Sheridan and Daniel are wealthy and glamorous—everything Roz isn’t. Her baby will never go hungry, and will have every opportunity for the perfect life. But soon after Roz moves into their plush basement suite, she starts to suspect that something darker lurks beneath the glossy surfa...

Title: A Desperate Place: A McKenna and Riggs Novel Author: Jennifer Greer Genre: Mystery, Suspense, & Thriller Format: Kindle Arc No. of Pages: 316 Date of Publication: August 11, 2020 Description:  Three separate homicides. Three unrelated victims. One grisly secret. When the body of famous actress Niki Francis is unearthed from its shallow grave, the small town of Medford, Oregon is alarmed, but not shook. After all, there should be plenty of motives and suspects--Niki had fame, wealth, looks. The kill was targeted, premeditated, and it's about her celebrity. Or so they thought. Whit McKenna is licking her wounds, working as a reporter for the local Medford rag. Fresh from a harrowing assignment for her previous post at the  L. A. Times  which cost her her husband, Whit must pull herself together for the sake of her two daughters. The wound has hardly begun to scab when she's called to cover the murder, so she teams up with her best friend, medical examiner Katie R...

Title: The Persuasion Author: Iris Johansen Series: Eve Duncan Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 465 Date of Publication: June 2, 2020 Description:  When Eve Duncan's daughter, Jane MacGuire, becomes a killer's target, Jane must team up with longtime love interest Seth Caleb in this suspenseful novel from the #1 bestselling author of  Smokescreen . Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and ex-Navy Seal Joe Quinn are about to give Seth Caleb their trust for the most important duty of his life: keeping their daughter, Jane, safe at any cost. Her talent as an artist has caught the attention of a brilliant psychopath with a violent past. Seth, Jane's strongest ally and fiercest protector, is determined to keep her out of danger, but that becomes nearly impossible when Jane is forced to take matters into her own hands and confronts the madman who wants her for himself...and wants Seth Caleb dead. As Jane and Seth chase down their blood-thirsty adversary,...

Title: The Turn of the Key Author: Ruth Ware Genre: Mystery, Suspense, & Thriller Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 384 Date of Publication: August 6, 2019 Description:  When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at...

Title: Closer Than You Think Author: Darren O'Sullivan Genre: Psychological Thrillers Format: Kindle ARC No. of Pages: 384 Date of Publication: March 15, 2019 Description:   He’s watching. She’s waiting. The unmissable new thriller from Darren O’Sullivan, author of  Our Little Secret  and  Close Your Eyes . Having barely escaped the clutches of a serial killer, Claire Moore has struggled to rebuild her life. After her terrifying encounter with the man the media dubbed The Black-Out Killer, she became an overnight celebrity: a symbol of hope and survival in the face of pure evil. And then the killings stopped. Now ten years have passed, and Claire remains traumatised by her brush with death. Though she has a loving and supportive family around her, what happened that night continues to haunt her still. Just when things are starting to improve, there is a power cut; a house fire; another victim found killed in the same way as before. The Black-Out Killer is ba...