A bunch more books

I have fallen off the blog posting wagon again, so as 2021 draws to a close I thought I would finish off the year with a quick list of the books that didn't get their own posts. 2021 was a big year of reading for me, it's the most I have read since having kids! They are old enough to do a lot of things for themselves, leaving me more time to read!

Good Eggs - Rebecca Hardiman - This book follows the family of Kevin Gogarty. His mother, Millie, is lonely and after another shoplifting episode, Kevin decides she needs home care help. Kevin recently lost his job and has become a stay at home dad to his four children. One of his twins, Aideen, is acting out and is eventually sent to boarding school. The family goes through many trials throughout the book, with the most difficult being when Millie and Aideen leave the country without telling anyone. The story was good, but the pace was slow at times. Overall it was a good book.

The Wife Upstairs - Rachel Hawkins - This thriller takes place in Birmingham Alabama where Jane has recently moved and is working as a dog walker for wealthy families. One day she met Eddie Rochester, recently widowed, and very wealthy. He buys a dog just so he can hire Jane and eventually they end up living together. But the deceased wife, Bea, is always around, from her pictures to her old friends. Jane starts to get suspicious and wonders what really happened to Bea. Based loosely on Jane Eyre, this was a pretty good read.

Miss Benson's Beetle - Rachel Joyce - This historical fiction follows Miss Benson, a lonely woman who once dreamed of finding an elusive golden beetle, but somehow ends up old, alone, and in a job she doesn't even like. After a breakdown at work, she throws caution to the wind and decides to go find the beetle. She places an ad in the paper for an assistant and begins planning her trip to New Caledonia. The first assistant she picks doesn't work out and she ends up with the least qualified candidate who has ulterior motives. The two women are completely opposite, but end up becoming great friends and helping each other achieve their goals. But there was a strange secondary story that didn't seem needed, and the ending was unexpected and disappointing.

The Kitchen Front - Jennifer Ryan - This historical fiction takes place in England during WWII. A radio station holds a contest for the best cook and the winner will get to co-host on The Kitchen Front radio show. Four very different women enter the contest and initially they are rivals, but as circumstances change, all four end up living in the same house and become great friends. This was a nice book with a happy ending. It was a bit slow at times, but overall a good read.

All the Lonely People - Mike Gayle - This book follows the life of Hubert Bird, an eighty year old widower. Hubert leads a lonely life with most of his human interaction coming from a weekly phone call from his daughter in Australia. One day his daughter says she is coming to visit and Hubert realizes he needs to find some friends to present to his daughter, but he doesn't know where to start. He finds friends in the most unlikely places and even though they aren't who he was looking for, they are who he needs. This was a heart-warming book, but I didn't like the ending.

Hana Khan Carries On - Uzma Jalaluddin - This was a wonderful book set in Toronto. Everything in Hana's world is crumbling around her. Her career in radio is not going anywhere, her father was injured in an accident years ago and is still struggling, and her mother's restaurant is barely holding on. A new restaurant is opening in the same strip mall, putting more pressure on the family restaurant. Hana wages war on the new owner, but the attraction between them is palpable. This is a great story about an immigrant family. I really enjoyed learning more about Hana's culture.

The Windsor Knot - S.J. Bennett - This book uses Windsor Castle as its setting for a murder mystery. After a dine and sleep (people are invited to the castle for dinner, entertainment, and a sleep over!), one of the entertainers shows up dead. While the secret service are investigating poorly, we follow the Queen as she puts on her detective cap with the help of her assistant. This was a nice read and the first in a series, but I was hoping for more. The Queen character was well written, but most of the detective work was done by her assistant and all of the credit went to the secret service.