Hudson Bay Bound by Natalie Warren

 "Sometimes a great adventure lands in your lap."

"...everything that happens, good or bad, is a story. And life is just a string of stories that we collect, over time, and we might as well make them good ones." 

This is a true adventure memoir about two women who are best friends and the two thousand mile canoe trip they take from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay the summer of 2011. What a journey! 

I love these kinds of stories: the challenges and life-changing moments they experience, the humorous camping incidents, and the descriptions that immersed me in parts of the country, the rivers and surrounding wilderness I will never get to see in real life. Plus, there's a very cute dog in it that they adopt at Norway house in Canada, along with some moose and polar bear sightings. It's an interesting and fun read. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

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Mud, Rocks, Blazes by Heather Anderson

Force of Nature by Joan M. Griffon

The Twenty-Ninth Day by Alex Messenger

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

 

JULY 1980:  Three girls enter the Minnesota woods at the end of their street to go swimming in the creek one summer afternoon. Only one girl comes back out, so traumatized she can't remember what happened to her two friends. Was it the Bendy Man who took them? Or someone else?

SUMMER 2022:  When the body of a woman who was buried alive is found, the small gold heart found with her connects her to the Taken Ones. Minnesota's BCA brings in cold case detective Evangeline "Van" Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck to investigate. And Van is determined to figure out what happened to those two missing girls, no matter how many people she angers in the process. 

My thoughts:  I really loved Jess Lourey's book The Quarry Girls, and this one is equally good. But I don't know how to talk about it, because so much of this story just needs to unfold on its own. Especially with Van, her past, and all her secrets. She's a complicated character, with flaws and vulnerabilities, and a special talent that helps her know things she shouldn't. I liked her. And Harry is great, too. I think his secrets might come out in the next book. Another thing I really liked is Lourey's writing; she has a gift for adding poetic touches to her prose. If you like character-driven mysteries with atmosphere and suspense, give this one a try.

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

The plot:  Minnesota, 1970s. When the body of a young Ojibwe woman is found in the flood waters of the Red River Valley, Sheriff Wheaton calls in his young protege, Renee "Cash" Blackbear to help identify her. Cash's investigation leads her to the White Earth Reservation, the place where she was born, and where she should have grown up except that she was put into foster care when she was young instead. When another young Ojibwe woman is found dead, the only connection Cash can find between them is Pastor Steene and his wife, Lillian, and their unconventional church. And when she visits the church, she sees a dark ghostly shadow outside, something the Ojibwe call a Jiibay. And she knows that there's something not quite right about the place. 

My thoughts:  What makes you want to keep reading a particular series? I look for interesting settings and time periods, intriguing plots, but most of all, I look for real, personable, flawed, layered and likable characters that I can root for. Cash Blackbear is one of those characters. At just 19, she's tough and smart. She's in college but she mostly chooses classes where attendance isn't mandatory because she knows she can not show up and still ace the papers and tests. She earns her money driving farm trucks and playing pool. She's very guarded and struggles to connect with people. And she has a sixth sense when it comes to helping Sheriff Wheaton--an ability to see things that others don't. 

In this book, she's starting to open up with other people, even though it leaves her feeling vulnerable and scared. I liked that she's growing as a person. And I like her toughness and independence, though she does have one reckless TSTL moment in her investigation into Pastor Steene's church that made me shake my head. She does redeem herself a little by being resourceful enough to extricate herself though. I liked her for that, too. I think this third Cash Blackbear mystery just might be my favorite. And as a bonus, I'm now all caught up with this series. 

Happy Reading!

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon

 

This is the first book in a series centered around Renee "Cash" Blackbear. It's set in the 1970s in the Red River Valley between Moorhead, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota. Cash is nineteen and Native American. She works as a farm laborer driving truck, and hustles pool at night. Growing up, she was bounced around from one white foster family to another. The only constant figure in her life was the local sheriff, who still watches out for her. 

When a man from the Red Lake reservation turns up murdered near the Red River, Cash helps Sheriff Wheaton find out who the man was, and why he was killed. Because they both know no one on the reservation will talk to a white policeman. And Cash has other skills: she can spirit walk, and she sometimes has dreams about the dead that turn out to be true. 

I really liked Cash, which is good because this is a very character-driven novel. And I thought Rendon did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the 1970s, and showing the racism and sexism that existed for a woman like Cash. The mystery was also interesting. My one complaint is Cash's excessive drinking and smoking. The amount of time the author spends on Cash's habit of buying Marlboros, lighting up, smoking, stubbing out butts, sharing cigs, running out, buying more, etc. got old fast and ended up being very annoying. I hope she tones that part down in the next book. Because I definitely want to read the next few books in this series. 

Happy Reading!

The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey

 "That summer, the summer of '77, everything had edges. Our laughter, the sideways glances we gave and got. Even the air was blade-sharp. I figured it was because we were growing up. The law might not recognize it, but fifteen's a girl and sixteen a woman, and you get no map from one land to the next. ... But it turns out the sharpness wasn't because we were growing up. Or it wasn't only that. I know, because three of us didn't get to grow up."

 The plot:  Heather, Brenda, and Maureen are best friends. They're even in a band together. But their friendship is beginning to fray because Maureen is keeping secrets. When Heather and Brenda chance upon one of them, it's so shocking they vow they'll never tell what they saw. Then Maureen disappears, the second girl in Pantown to disappear in a week. Only no one seems to be looking for either Maureen or Beth. And while Heather and Brenda didn't really know Beth, they're sure Maureen didn't run away. When Heather starts investigating on her own, she uncovers more secrets than she ever knew existed about the men in Pantown. Including the sheriff and her very own father. Even the boys she's known her whole life can no longer be trusted.  

My thoughts:  Wow! Talk about a riveting read. This novel is part coming-of-age, part psychological thriller, and I could not put it down. Lourey does an excellent job of capturing that 1970s setting, along with creating an undercurrent of danger directed at these young women. After a few mediocre books in a row, it was a relief to read something so well-written and well-plotted. I loved it! This is one of the best books I've read this year. And I will definitely be checking out more by this author. 

Happy Reading! 

Stranded

It was supposed to be a weeklong canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area south of the Canadian border. It was supposed to be a fun adventure for Emma and the other teens who signed up for the trip. It wasn't supposed to turn into a trip they might not return from alive. But halfway through their trip a freak windstorm destroys their camp and kills their guide. With limited supplies, no map, no compass, and no canoes, these four teen-agers must figure out how to survive storms, dehydration, hypothermia, wild animals and each other.

Stranded by Melinda Braun is a fast-paced and suspenseful tale of adventure and survival. None of the four teen-agers--Oscar, Isaac, Chloe, and Emma--know much about survival, although Oscar does have a copy of Hatchet in his backpack. And they don't all get along either, which adds to the drama of their situation. Life-and-death situations like this always bring out the best, and the worst, in people, which is why I'm such a sucker for these kinds of books. I like trying to figure out what I would do in similar situations. Could I make fire? Find food? Build a shelter? Stay alive? And I also wonder if my own will to survive would negatively affect the way I interact with others; I hope it wouldn't, but you never know how you'll react in extreme situations until you're in the middle of them. It's fun to think about...especially from the comforts of my living room couch. I ended up liking this book a lot.

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

     Trapped by Michael Northrop

     Girl Underwater by Claire Kells