I am so behind.
13. Winging It - Anna Jefferson
Chick lit looking at the first year of child rearing. It was pretty well done, fairly real with what a shock it can all be and how mundane bits of it are.
14. Warlight - Michael Ondaatje
This was the book club book and it turned out to be one that really split the group. I was one of the few who finished it as I just accepted the beautiful writing style and let the story flow over me, without really caring that it was meandering all over the place with things never really being resolved. Others hated it for that very reason.
15. The Dark Days Deceit - Alison Goodman.
The third and thankfully final book in what had been up until this one a fun read. This wasn't - it felt as if the author had run out of ideas, or was contractually obliged to finish a story she no longer cared about.
16. Rescue Me - Sarra Manning.
Chick lit with a cute dog. Premise is fairly stupid - two strangers want to foster the same dog and so are allowed to have weekly turn abouts. But hey, the dog was sweet.
17. Christmas for Beginners - Carole Matthews
Another sequel that may have been better off left alone. Chick lit, and back on the hobby farm that is used as a school for kids needing various special education. Don't read it if you have a working knowledge of how these things would really work.
18. You Deserve Each Other - Sarah Hogle
Now this was fun chick lit - an engaged couple seem to have run out of steam but don't want to be the first to end the relationship as the wedding is in three months time and the bills are massive. So instead there are endless pranks to drive each other insane. You could read this quickly and just look at the game-playing, or you could muse about the deeper statement of how role-playing the perfect partner and not being honest is not a good thing in relationships and it is best to be true to yourself.
19. The Galaxy and The Ground Within- Becky Chambers.
Her last Wayfarers novel. Sob. As beautiful as the other books - she writes such wonderfully real characters, even if they are aliens or AI. A review described this as 'the breakfast club for aliens' and I can't really go past that. While transitting through a planet, three strangers are stuck when a freak occurrence grounds them at the stopover facilities for a few days, with their host and her child.
20. Not quite perfect - Gretchen Galway
Chick lit, part of a series. A bit meh
21. The Broken Shore - Peter Temple
Another book club book, and another one that not everyone finished. This is incredibly Australian - the language, the characters, the casual racism of the small town. A city homicide dectective goes back to the small town he grew up in after being seriously injured and mentally scarred with a case. Things are quiet there until the brutal murder of one of the town's prominent citizens. Warning - this book takes a turn and ends up very very bleak. I don't know if I would have finished it if it wasn't a book club pick.