Friday Five - Five Short Reviews for Books I've Read Recently

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. This week I'm sharing 5 quick reviews for books I've read recently.

1.  The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White -  This was an interesting multi-timeline tale involving the story of a house and a family.  Each timeline has a woman in a challenging situation involving some degree of deception  Yet despite the deception and the stress I connected and sympathized with all three women and felt invested in the outcomes of their lives.  It did get a little angsty at times but I enjoyed it from beginning to end.  My Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)

2.  Pirate Vishnu by Gigi Pandian - Well this was a fun treasure hunt.  This is the 2nd book about Jaya Jones, historian and accidental treasure hunter and it was a lot of fun.  Jaya must dig into her own heritage when a stranger shows up with a treasure map that has links to her great-uncle and family hero.  It was interesting getting to know Jaya a bit better as well as see pre-earthquake San Francisco.  The murder mystery/treasure hunt was a lot of fun and I'm quite interested to see what direction Jaya's personal life goes.  I'm hoping we see more of Jaya's landlord, Nadia, in future books.  I have a feeling she has quite a story to tell!  My Rating: Liked It! (3.5 Stars)

3.  The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry -   I do love a story about coming home and Lena Donohue is definitely coming home to face her demons (and her sister) and spend time with her father as his health fails.  I really enjoyed this read though for the first third of it or so I thought Lena deserved to be nominated for sainthood for not pitching her sister in the river and going back to New York.  The Donohue family looks perfect but has some secrets and shadows lurking in the corners.  I enjoyed getting to know them and the ending was wonderful.  I have really enjoyed the historical fiction I have read by this author and this contemporary fiction was really enjoyable as well.  My Rating:  Really Liked It (4 Stars)

4.  The Ghost and Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell - I have really enjoyed the later books in this series and have liked going back to the beginning of the series and getting to know the characters as they develop into investigators.  The murder of a not so nice woman makes for an interesting mystery and sends Mrs. Jeffries and the rest of the staff on quite the adventure digging into all the suspects.  The mystery was a good one and I enjoyed the dip into spiritualism.  My main issue with the early books in the series is that Inspector Witherspoon is so clueless.  I am glad that he becomes a better investigator as the series goes on.  If you're looking for a light cozy mystery this is a fun series.  My Rating: Liked It! (3.5 Stars)

5.  Born in Shame by Nora Roberts - This is the final book in the Born in trilogy about three sisters with the same father.  This book is about the third sister, Shannon, who has just recently learned about her Irish family.  Shannon is a bit hard to warm up to as at first she is so angry and unyielding.  I did enjoy watching her relationship with her sisters develop and loved her relationship with her brother-in-law Gray right from the start.  Shannon's relationship with Murphy starts pretty much from the beginning of the book.  Murphy has been a pretty big side character from the beginning of the trilogy and I really liked getting to see more of his personality.  There's a bit of a supernatural element to their romance which I found a bit jarring and didn't fit with the rest of the book or the trilogy.  This is a good end to an interesting trilogy even though the random supernatural elements through me off a bit.  My Rating:  Liked It!(3.5 Stars)