Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

Staying at your parents’ home for an extended Christmas visit can be stressful, particularly if you haven’t spent the holidays with them in years. Can you imagine how much harder it would be if your family were under quarantine?

The Goddesses by Swan Huntley

This is going to be a another tough review for me, because I don’t really have a lot to say about this book. I checked to see if I’d left any comments on Goodreads as I was reading, and found only one:

July 26, 2017 – 51.0% “First half was a slow burn, but hasn’t lost my interest. Seems to be picking up the pace a bit at the start of the second half. Curious to see where the story goes from this point on.”

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed

Gather the Daughters is the story of a group of people living on an isolated island. The story goes that just before the country went up in flames, a small group of men and women brought their families to the island, thus escaping the fate of what would later come to be known as “the wastelands.” The founders formed an entire civilization based around ancestor worship, adhering to the rules set forth by the original inhabitants of the island, such as: limiting the number of children each family is allowed to have, and the declaration that a person may live only so long as they are useful.  Knowledge about the wastelands is practically non-existent, and only an elite group of men known as “the Wanderers” are allowed to go there in order to scavenge for supplies.

The Blind by A.F. Brady

Samantha James is a psychologist at Typhlos, a Manhattan mental institution. Even though she appears to have a great life—both professionally and personally—the shameful truth is that Samantha—or Sam, as she prefers to be called—is a mess in more ways than one. She’s an alcoholic with an abusive boyfriend she refuses she leave because she’s convinced she can help him. That’s what Sam does—she tries to save everyone—and she does have the highest success rate with the toughest patients at Typhlos—but she can’t seem to save herself from the wreck her life has become. She manages to hide it at work, until she takes over the care of a patient named Richard, a man no one else can help because he refuses to speak about why he’s there, or even assist with getting the necessary paperwork filled out. Sam is determined to get him talking and find out why he is there… even as the facade of her ‘perfect’ life begins to unravel.

The United States of Absurdity by Dave Anthony & Gareth Reynolds

If you enjoy reading about odd and ridiculous events in history, then this is the book for you. Let’s face it: the history we learn in school isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs. All those events that happened throughout the centuries—while important to know about—are decidedly lacking in the humor department. This book has many funny anecdotes, but it’s not exactly the sort of history that would find its way into a school textbook.