Tag / Sarah Pekkanen

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Prolific Authors – 2 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we start things off with the 35 authors I’ve read twice.

Max Barry

An Australian author, I’ve enjoyed the two novels of his I’ve read, Jennifer Government and Company.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away last year.

The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of  the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Diane Duane

Living in Ireland, she is responsible for a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and a Spider-Man novel, of all things.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

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Book 20 (of 52) – An Anonymous Girl

An Anonymous Girl – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

When a struggling makeup artist finds her way into a study on morality, she thinks she’s found an easy way to supplement her income.  Instead, she finds herself opening up in ways she never imagined, putting herself in situations meant to test the strength of the study’s leader’s marriage.  When she learns the truth, she finds herself in the middle of a marriage that is breaking apart, one which already has a death toll.  But who should she trust: the cheating husband that she has already slept with or the wife that brought her in to the “study” in the first place?

An Anonymous Girl, the second collaboration between Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, is an improvement over their first, in that it doesn’t beat around the bush for the first half of the book to get the story moving.  Things move at a good pace from the start, and the tension rises to a satisfying climax.  This author team has a third offering out and I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for it at a reasonable price on the Kindle store.

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2020: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2020, a year where I should have been setting records due to the pandemic and stay at home orders, I managed to read only 23 books, a decrease of 5 books over last year.  Of those 23, 8 were non-fiction and, of the 15 novels, only 2 were tied to a TV show.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer and 15 were e-books.  I read just over 7,800 pages, my seventh highest total of all time.

For the first time in years, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 11 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Ken Harrelson
  • Jeff Snook
  • Liz Phair
  • Megan Abbott
  • Greer Hendricks
  • Sarah Pekkanen
  • Cameron Esposito
  • Rich Lindberg
  • Sara Schaefer
  • Alex Trebek
  • Trevor Noah

Tom Perotta, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2020.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  My vacation to Hawaii in February and being off in December certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit. Continue reading →

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Book 6 (of 52) – The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

In The Wife Between Us, authors Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen introduce us to two women, Vanessa and Nellie, and the man they share between them.  As Vanessa deals with the tatters of her life following the end of her relationship, Nellie prepares for her upcoming wedding.  But, twist, they are actually the same woman!  Now that their, or her, ex is moving on to a new fiancé, Vanessa decides to warn her of the dangers awaiting her, even if it means putting herself back in danger.

My feelings on the book are sort of split.  Prior to the big twist, I was quickly losing interest in where things were going.  Or not going.  After the twist, things started to pick up, but I feel like too much time was spent getting there.  Overall, I guess I would say I enjoyed the experience, but I feel like there was an opportunity to tighten things up which would have made it more enjoyable.

I see that there is another offering from this author team out in the world.  I guess I saw enough here to give it a chance, if I come across it at a reasonable price on the Kindle store.