FFTNFR XII

Does November 13, 2018 mean anything to you?  No?  Well, that was when I published Fiction for the Non-Fiction Reader, XI!  Wait, you don't remember?  It was only 16.5 months ago!  Regardless, it's time for FFTNFR, XII.  I will give you 10 on this list and am half-way to XIII (if you can't wait to know what those 5 are, feel free to contact me).  Don't forget that all of these books are either 3.75/4 or 4/4.  And, as an added bonus, 3 of them (Dugoni, Eisler, and Wiseman - What She Left Behind) just made my 3rd top 12 all-time list!

What She Left Behind - Ellen Marie Wiseman.  Izzy is 17 and lives with foster parents because her mother killed her father and is currently in prison.  The foster parents work in a museum and have asked Izzy to help them do some cataloguing.  While that is going on, she discovers some interesting info about her grandmother and an insane asylum!

The Life She Was Given - Ellen Marie Wiseman.  You've got a young girl in 1931, a 19-year old in the 1950's, a circus, and a whole bunch of secrets. I'll read anything Wiseman writes.

The Winemaker's Wife - Kristin Harmel.  Kristin has written 5 books.  3 of them are in FFTNFR XI. 4 and 5 are on this list.  That's how good she is. TWW takes place during WWII in France.  It basically centers on a winery in the countryside outside of Paris and how it is aiding the Allied cause.

The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah.  The author of The Nightingale strikes again.  The year is 1974.  A former POW moves his family to Alaska.  This is about the mom, dad, and 13-year old daughter.  Hannah can flat-out tell a story.

Swimming for Sunlight - Allie Larkin.  An aspiring costume designer gives up everything in a divorce just to keep her dog.  She decides to go stay with her grandmother in Florida.  Once there, she discovers that her grandmother was a performing mermaid in her youth.  This leads to a whole interesting storyline.  And there just might be an old boyfriend in the mix...possibly...could be.

The Girl He Used to Know - Tracey Garvis Graves.  A young man and woman fall in love...and then out of love.  Ten years later they run into each other again.  Will they rekindle their formerly mutual affection?  Or will they succumb to the circumstances that broke them up a decade earlier?  Read it and find out.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (audiobook) - Robert Dugoni.  This one is a gem.  It's the story of a young boy with red eyes.  The premise may not seem that interesting.  But let me assure you that I have been scoring some major brownie points because of this recommendation!  I kid you not.

Mending Fences - Suzanne Woods Fisher.  This one comes under the genre of Religious Fiction.  I don't have many of these on my lists.  But this one really resonated.  It's about 2 young adults with difficult childhoods who end up in an Amish community.  It's redemptive without being saccharine.

When We Meet Again - Kristin Harmel.  I just read the blurb on this one because it's been a while.  I got chills.  That's happened before, but not often.  WWMA features a young woman with a tough family dynamic. She comes across a painting that sets her on a path of discovering some very interesting facts about German POWs in the U.S. during WWII.  And how it relates to her grandmother, who recently passed away.  If your next 5 books were all by Kristin Harmel, you would be a happy camper.

All the Devils - Barry Eisler.  In FFTNFR, X, I've got Livia Lone, by Barry, on the list.  That was #1 of a series about a female detective in Seattle.  You learn about her extremely rough childhood, and how it leads her to do the things she does.  All the Devils is #3.  Gripping.