THE WOMAN IN THE PARK by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist

PUBLISHER: Beaufort Books, 8/2019
GENRE: Fiction/Thrillers
SETTING: New York, USA
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: When Manhattanite Sarah Rock meets a mysterious and handsome stranger in the park, she is drawn to him. Sarah wants to get away from her daily routine, her cheating husband and his crazy mistress, her frequent sessions with her heartless therapist, and her moody children.

But nothing is as it seems. Her life begins to unravel when a woman from the park goes missing and Sarah becomes the prime suspect in the woman's disappearance. Her lover is nowhere to be found, her husband is suspicious of her, and her therapist is talking to the police.

With no one to trust, Sarah must face her inner demons and uncover the truth to prove her innocence. A thriller that questions what is real-with its shocking twists, secrets, and lies--The Woman in the Park will leave readers breathless.

MY THOUGHTS: Sarah's an unhappy thirty-nine year old woman with psychological problems. She's on medication for depression. Her therapist is devious and things aren't going well for her. Sarah's not someone most can relate to since she's wealthy and her kids are in boarding school all week long.

Some things are real and some are imagined and that got a little confusing for me near the end. The ending was slightly rushed and far-fetched, stuff involving the therapist and Lawrence, the man she met in the park, who's tied in with the woman from the park. The book is just under 200 pages and had it been longer, I think the ending wouldn't have been so compact. Up until then the story was easy to follow since there weren't a lot of characters and locations. I think this should be titled The Man in the Park, not 'Woman' since he plays a bigger role.

This story went in a completely different direction than I'd have ever expected and I'm not sure I liked that. The time span is about 1.5 years. I also didn't like mention of social media.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RELATIVE FORTUNES by Marlowe Benn

PUBLISHER: Lake Union Publishing, 7/2019
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Mystery
SETTING: New York, 1924
SERIES: Julia Kydd, #1
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: A-

FROM PUBLISHER: In 1924 Manhattan, women’s suffrage is old news. For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life’s too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to launch her own new private press. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what’s hers—including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged, putting her aspirations in jeopardy.

When her friend’s sister, Naomi Rankin, dies suddenly of an apparent suicide, Julia is shocked at the wealthy family’s indifference toward the ardent suffragist’s death. Naomi chose poverty and hardship over a submissive marriage and a husband’s control of her money. Now, her death suggests the struggle was more than she could bear.

Julia, however, is skeptical. Doubtful of her suspicions, Philip proposes a glib wager: if Julia can prove Naomi was in fact murdered, he’ll drop his claims to her wealth. Julia soon discovers Naomi’s life was as turbulent and enigmatic as her death. And as she gets closer to the truth, Julia sees there’s much more at stake than her inheritance…

MY THOUGHTS: Julia's a couple weeks away from turning twenty-five. She's been living in England for the past five years and has a married boyfriend, David, there. We didn't get much background on her. The info we got on her ex-boyfriend was pointless and did nothing for the story. I'm not sure what to make of her. She was likely motivated to investigate the death of Naomi so she could get her inheritance more so than to find out the truth.

I like her old school acquaintance, Glennis Rankin. She's the opposite of Julia in personality. I've read reviewers calling Julia "feisty" but she's not at all; Glennis is. They weren't really friends in school and only knew each other for a year and are the same age. Glennis is the youngest sister of dead woman, Naomi, who's forty-years-old.

There was some unnecessary stuff regarding her stepbrother, Philip, and his mother at the very end that was also pointless. Enough was already going on so there just was no reason to add that.

I don't think there was a physical description, hair color, eye color, of anyone at all, other than her friend Glennis having wide-spaced eyes and not getting the looks in the family.

It seems to me that author wanted Julia to be British so she should have made her be from there. Julia uses the nonAmerican term "cheeky" and says "round" instead of "around", and uses the European form of writing the date, like 24/7/2019 instead of the American way, 7/24/2019.

This story held my attention from the start and there was never a dull moment. The story spans a few weeks, possibly as much a month. A little too much went on at the end, revelations regarding Naomi's death, and was slightly hard to follow, due to too many characters. I'm not entirely happy with how it played out.

The book has a pattern printed onto it, which you can view here.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

ABEL'S ISLAND by William Steig

PUBLISHER: Square Fish, 2007
ORIGINAL PUB: 1976
GENRE: Fiction/Children's
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: Abel's place in his familiar, mouse world has always been secure; he had an allowance from his mother, a comfortable home, and a lovely wife, Amanda. But one stormy August day, furious flood water carry him off and dump him on an uninhabited island. Despite his determination and stubborn resourcefulness―he tried crossing the river with boats and ropes and even on stepping-stones―Abel can't find a way to get back home.

Abel's time on the island brings him a new understanding of the world he's separated from. Faced with the daily adventure of survival in his solitary, somewhat hostile domain, he is moved to reexamine the easy way of life he had always accepted and discovers skills and talents in himself that hold promise of a more meaningful life, if and when he should finally return to Mossville and his dear Amanda again.

MY THOUGHTS: This is a short children's book, 119 pages, set in 1907 in a town called Mossville. There are 31 full-page black and white illustrations and quite a few pages with one large black and white illustration that takes up 2/3 of the page.

Abel's a well-to-do unemployed mouse who's married to Amanda. They have no children and live in a fancy house. Able gets stranded on a island for a full year. He has to live off the land. He lives in a hollowed-out log. He's studied botany so he knows which plants are edible which ones to stay away from. He even made himself a coat by weaving grass blades together. He made bowls and dishes out of clay. Sometimes he'd write a note, put it in a dish with a flower and send it downriver in hopes of someone finding it and rescuing him, but that never happened.

He was getting along just fine until an owl showed up and tried to harm him. One thing that shouldn't have been in a children's book is how Able wished harm on the owl by contemplating poking his eyes out with a pole and setting fire to his wings. I thought it odd and funny that it was mentioned Abel "defecated" behind a rock.

One day a frog, Gower Glacksen, showed up. He had been washed away in a waterfall so had to live with Able until he could make his way back to his own home. A cat showed up and nearly killed him but, like with the owl, he survived. The weather got better and he made his way home and lived happily ever after.

This is a cute and innocent story with great illustrations. Too bad they weren't in color!

A thirty-minute direct-to-video film was made in 1988 but definitely looks more like 70's animation. Abel was voiced by Tim Curry. You can watch the first half here.