The Darkest Summer by Bill Sloan

 The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950 by Bill Sloan -385 pages

The onslaught of the North Korean army into South Korea in late June 1950 caught the U.S. by surprise and at a time of deep cuts to the military. Following World War II, many short-sighted officials were calling for the elimination of the Marine Corps as a fighting force. The desperate battles in the summer and fall of 1950 along the Naktong River and the successful amphibious landing at Inchon not only crushed the North Korean forces, but clearly demonstrated the Marine Corps' continued combat value at a time of general apathy in the military and political structure at home. Further misjudgments at the top led to a broadening of the conflict with China. This is an excellent book on the Marines' actions in the first months of the Korean War. The essential role of air support in these campaigns would also be of interest.  

The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri by Carol Diaz-Granados & James R. Duncan

The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri 
by Carol Diaz-Granados and James R. Duncan 
360 pages

Goodreads:

This comprehensive guide to the rock art of Missouri presents major design motifs and links those images to Native American beliefs. Images on rocks depicting birds, serpents, deer, and other designs are haunting reminders of prehistoric peoples. This book documents Missouri's rich array of petroglyphs and pictographs, analyzing the many aspects of these rock carvings and paintings to show how such representations of ritual activities can enhance our understanding of Native American culture. Missouri is a particularly important site for rock art because it straddles the Plains, the Ozarks, and the Southeast. Carol Diaz-Granados and James Duncan have established a model for analyzing this rock art as archaeological data and have mapped the patterning of fifty-eight major motifs across the state. Of particular importance is their analysis of motifs from Mississippi River Valley sites, including Cahokia. The authors include interpretive discussions on iconography and ideology, drawing on years of research in the ethnographic records and literature of Native Americans linguistically related to earlier peoples. Their distribution maps show how motifs provide clues to patterns of movement among prehistoric peoples and to the range of belief systems. Rock art is an aspect of the archaeological record that has received little attention, and the art is particularly subject to the ravages of time. By documenting these fragile images, this book makes a major contribution to rock art research in North America.

Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe

Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe -- 368 pages

Paranormal medium Rory Woods spends her days offering psychic readings at Ye Olde Spirit Shop and nights haunting the streets of Boston as a ghost-tour guide. Sure, business could be better, but she’s proud of the shop she runs with her mom.

Enter Ezra, adjunct history professor, noted thorn in Rory’s side, and—though she’d only admit it under threat of medieval torture he surely knows too much about—a distractingly handsome, charismatic coworker. Rory can’t stand Ezra’s know-it-all, show-offy behavior. Ezra loves to tease the gorgeous, brilliant medium at the shop. And when the two are forced to host a tour together? It’s no wonder they end up hexed after disturbing a matchmaking ghost.

Saddled with perpetual bad luck unless they’re physically near each other, Rory and Ezra will try anything, from séances to kissing, to stop the jinx from wreaking havoc on both their lives. But in their quest to appease the spirit, they realize that growing closer might not be the curse they once thought it was.

A Twisted Love Story - Samantha Downing

 

A Twisted Love Story - Samantha Downing - 400 pages

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They've never felt anything like it. It's the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy--and she's a detective.

There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about--in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything--even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…

This was the only book I hadn't read by this author so I thought I'd give it a try.  I liked all her other ones so thought this may be more suspense/thriller than love story...I was wrong.  I know, I know, Love Story is in the title so I should've known better, but Twisted is also in the title so I hoped it would lean more to the twisted side.  I found the whole back and forth of on again/off again tiresome.  I kept reading because I hoped it would get better but it did not.  I didn't hate this book, it was ok, it definitely is my least favorite by this author.  

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

 

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier - 311 pages

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .

When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he's something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.

For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela's death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.

While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it?

This was a pretty good story, Geo is a tiny bit annoying but to so much that I didn't like the book.  Overall a good interesting tale.

The Sixth Faction (The Sixth Faction, #1) by Veronica Roth

 The Sixth Faction (The Sixth Faction #1) by Veronica Roth-513 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The worldwide sensation as you’ve never seen it before. Step into a bold new Divergent series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth.

Beatrice Prior stands on the brink of a decision every person in her world must make: five factions, five futures, five lives.

She has a plan: she's going to make the bravest choice, and leave Abnegation behind to join Dauntless, even though it means leaving her family behind.

But when tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony, everything changes—her world, her plans, even Beatrice herself.

Her ensuing decision thrusts her into the crosshairs of an underground rebellion, and into the path of a boy with secrets as dangerous as her own—a boy with only a number for a name.

One choice will change everything.

Thoughts: This is the first book in a duology reimagining the Divergent series. I enjoyed the original series and the first movie, so I was excited to revisit the Divergent world. I really liked this. The big (a character dies who does not die in the original trilogy, for example) and small changes only enhanced the story. I'm excited to see where this goes in the next and final book in this duology. I'm very interested to see if a certain person dies at the end like they did in the original series (iykyk). 

My Hero Academia, Volumes 41-42

My Hero Academia, Volume 41 - 200 pages

My Hero Academia, Volume 42 - 184 pages

Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb D. Cook (Translator)

Series Summary (From Volume 1 on Goodreads)

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

Review

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this series.  I'll try to keep my review as spoiler-free as possible.  While I don't think every villain in a given work needs to be redeemable, I did like how this series explored some of the events that might lead to a given character being seen as a villain, without many (if any) excuses or apologies attached.  That said, I do still have my share of complaints.  I've heard it said that a lot of fans aren't happy with the pacing, especially of the ending, and I'm inclined to agree -- the ending did feel rushed.  Although the arc of the final battle as a whole took several volumes, it felt like the story jumped right into it far too quickly, without much on-page preparation.  Regardless, I loved the worldbuilding and much of the character development, and I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes shonen manga!