Top Ten Books with Dynamic Duos

Top Ten Books with Dynamic Duos

TTT for February 21, 2022
#TopTenTuesday
 

📚  📚 📚

For this one, I have used two interpretations:
two names in the title and/or two persons on the cover!

Please click on the book covers to access my reviews
or the relevant page

  The Little Wooden Robot Monet and Oscar  

  Hikikomori Because of Winn-Dixie  

  Trap for Cinderella Hard-boiled wonderland  

  Summer of Reckoning The Missing Sister  

  Crenshaw Lady Clementine

Have YOU read any of these?
Any great books you have read, that fit this meme?
Please leave the link to your own list,
so I can visit.

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2020: March wrap-up

MARCH 2020 WRAP-UP

Amazing how the world has changed since my February wrap-up!
I hope you are all doing well and keeping safe.

Actually, life is still about the same for me, as I work from home, teaching French, and this keeps me really busy these days, with among others, two of my students preparing two different and very demanding exams.

The only major change is Church. We closed our Church on March 14, so besides our usual home prayers, we are watching services from a monastery through livestreaming videos. We have also organized some Skype Conferences for our parishioners, and also social hour, just to chat together.
Last time we left home was basically on March 11, so we are doing good so far.

The above and many phone calls, skype sessions, and emails with many people, parishioners, friends, and family members, have kept me super busy.
Hence so little activity on this blog for a while. I apologize for those who have left comments, and that I haven’t approved yet. I haven’t visited many other blogs recently either. And now I am a few reviews behind.
Some days, I’m too exhausted to read in the evening. So my pace has slowed down a bit.

📚 So here are the titles I read in March:

7 books:
6 in print 
with 1,139 pages, an average of 36 pages/day
1 in audio
= 2H44
, an average of 5 minutes

5 in nonfiction:

  1. Theological Territories: a David Bentley Hart Digest, by David Bentley Hart – ebook, for review. See notes (to be continued, upcoming review)
  2. On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder
  3. The Book of Numbers – audiobook
  4. Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau – ebook
  5. Le petit livre de la vie réussie, by Anselm Grün – for review

2 in mystery:

  1. Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien, by Georges Simenon – ebook
  2. La tête d’un homme, by Georges Simenon – ebook

MY FAVORITE BOOK IN MARCH

Theological Territories

READING CHALLENGES & RECAP

Classics Club: 24/50 (from October 2019-until September 2024)
Japanese Literature Challenge: 8 books read

Total of books read in 2020 = 31/110
Number of books added to my TBR this past month= 12

OTHER BOOKS I REVIEWED IN MARCH

Besides the books above listed, this month I also reviewed:

  The Missing Sister   Creativity for Kids

GIVEAWAYS

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Civilizations

click on the cover to access my review 

MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
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BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH

Caffeinated Reviewer
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Davida at The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog
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please go and visit them,
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Come back tomorrow
to see the books I plan to read in April


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How was YOUR month of March?

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Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!

 

Book review: The Missing Sister

The Missing Sister

The Missing Sister,
by  Elle Marr
Thomas & Mercer
4/1/2020

Mystery/Thriller
300 pages

Goodreads

You can follow the author on Twitter @ellemarr_

***

The Missing Sister by Elle Marr is a thrilling debut, set in Paris, where one twin sister has seemingly vanished, and the other must scramble to solve the mystery and find her sister before the danger turns deadly.

Elle Marr is far from being the first author to choose the Catacombs of Paris as her setting. And yet, in her debut, The Missing Sister, she manages to create a very atmospheric thriller with gripping scenes that will cause shivers.

The opening scene sets the tone, with picture-perfect details that evoke feelings of arriving in Paris with Shayna.

“Nous sommes arrivés, mademoiselle.” The cab driver speaks to me without turning, wide charcoal eyes peering curiously through the rearview mirror. He yanks the parking brake. Stubby fingers push buttons on a digital console displaying the cost of my trip from the airport in euros. The route to Montmartre passed in a blur despite unrelenting morning traffic. Children run wild on the sidewalk beside us, high on summer vacation, fast food wrappers trailing their bands of twos and threes. The urban doorways of this northern pocket of Paris alternate between adult film rental businesses and glass panes leading to residential apartments. Voices rise above the engine’s rumble, words in French carrying through the window; a couple examines an accordion on a collapsible table.

And why is Shayna in Paris? She receives an email saying that her twin sister, Angela, is dead and jumps on a plane to go recognize Angela’s body and sort her apartment.

But is that the real reason she is there?

When she arrives in Paris, she meets Sebastian, who was in a relationship with her sister.
Things quickly get complicated as she makes a mysterious discovery: on the wall of Angela’s apartment, Shayna finds a message written in the secret (and super smart) language the twins developed when they were kids. It says, Alive. Trust no one.

So where is Angela? And is she really alive? Not even trusting the police, Shayna decides to investigate by herself.

As the story proceeds, similar questions multiply—especially as, little by little, through flashbacks (mostly from emails exchanged by the sisters), more about the half-Chinese/half-American twins and their relationship is revealed. And as more is revealed, the twins’ mental health becomes worrisome.

The signs are on the wall, and no one can be trusted.

I really enjoyed how the author manages to build mistrust with all the narratives and characters, including the seemingly good Concierge Madame Chang. This is done very progressively. What seems rather clear and obvious at the beginning ends up getting quite muddled and dark.

The Missing Sister is a strong debut, with evocative descriptions of ambiance, people (with excellent portraits of the uniqueness of each sister), and places (for instance the Saint-Denis neighborhood). Marr transports readers to some weird locations as she ratchets up the tension, and her attention to detail will undoubtedly leave some feeling claustrophobic while exploring the Catacombs.

I also appreciated the psychological exploration of twins, as well as another type of person, which I will leave undefined to avoid spoilers.

We have always needed each other to be our best.

There’s a lot to investigate and discover in Shayna’s week in Paris, as danger continues to intensify. A lot of clues turn into dead ends, though I felt Shayna gave up on some clues too quickly in favor of the next. This did create a sense of urgency, however, and the end is definitely satisfying. Beware, though, there is a very intense scene in Chapter 32.

VERDICT: The Missing Sister is a very promising debut—atmospheric, gripping, and set in Paris. In other words, the perfect ingredients for a satisfying result.

Please go to Criminal Element to read my full review

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 HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK?
What’s your favorite novel featuring the Catacombs?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE