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Title: The Forgotten Room
Author: Lincoln Child
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 290
Date read: May 2023

Professor Jeremy Logan (the quirky and charismatic “enigmalogist” who specializes in solving problems of the strange or seemingly supernatural variety) receives an urgent summons from the director of Lux, one of the oldest and most respected think tanks in America. An unexplainable tragedy has taken place in the sprawling compound located on the coastline of Newport, Rhode Island. One of Lux’s most distinguished doctors, overcome by erratic behavior, violently attacked his assistant before meeting with a gruesome self-inflicted end. Deeply shaken by the incident and the bizarre evidence left behind from the doctor’s final project—as well as recent troubling behavior among several of the think tank’s other scientists—Lux fears there is something more sinister occurring within its walls and looks to Jeremy Logan to investigate.

Logan quickly makes a surprising discovery. In a long-dormant wing of the estate, he uncovers an ingeniously hidden secret room, unknown and untouched for decades. The room is essentially a time capsule, filled with eerie machinery and obscure references to a top-secret experiment known as “Project S.” As Logan attempts to unravel its meaning, he begins to discern what transpired in that room—and why the frightening project was suddenly abandoned and sealed off many years before. As his work draws him ever deeper into harm’s way, Logan soon unleashes a series of catastrophic events upon the rest of Lux . . . and himself.


Fairly boilerplate suspense novel, but enjoyable enough. It's listed as the fourth book in a series, but absolutely works as a stand-alone novel as well. I never even noticed it wasn't a stand-alone novel until I came to goodreads to register it, and saw how it was listed.

It'll probably turn out to be one of those books that you read and then forget all about, as there's nothing that really stands out about it, but I enjoyed it while I was reading it, and found the plot engaging and the suspense believable, so a good read - even if possibly not one I'm likely to read again.
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Title: In the Lives of Puppets
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~12 hrs
Date read: May 2023

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?


I'd probably categorize this as "good, but not great", and as I'm used to T.J. Klune being great, it was a bit of a let-down. I liked it, but it never blew me away like some of his other books did. I liked Victor and Nurse Ratched and Rambo was cute with his definite shades of Wall*E. But I never really took to HAP. I think there was too much telling and not enough showing when it came to him, so he just never really grew on me.

The plot itself didn't do much for me either, but I didn't really realize that until after finishing the book. T.J. Klune's strength has always been his characters, and many of his books are far more character-driven than plot-driven, which has never really been an issue for me.
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Title: You'll Be the Death of Me
Author: Karen M. McManus
Genre: YA, Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 326
Date read: May 2023

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Back in middle school they were best friends. So, when Cal pulls into campus late for class, and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch school and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Why did they stop hanging out, anyway?

As soon as they pull out of the parking lot Cal knows why. Ivy's already freaking out about missing class, and heartthrob Mateo is asleep in the backseat, too cool to even pretend like he wants to be there. The truth is they have nothing in common anymore.

At least they don't until they run into the fourth student ditching school that day. Brian "Boney" Mahoney is supposed to be accepting his newly won office of class president. Which is why Ivy follows him into an empty building, only to walk into the middle of a murder scene. Cal, Ivy, and Mateo all know the person lying on the ground of that building, and now they need to come clean. They're all hiding something. And maybe their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all.


Most of the plot of this book took place over the course of a day, which I thought was an interesting change from the other books I've read by Karen M. McManus. I did find it highly unrealistic in places, but it stayed reasonably true to its own universe, so it didn't bother me as much as it would have otherwise.

I liked how the relationships between Ivy, Mateo and Cal evolved and changed through the day, and appreciated how realistic they felt. Sometimes people do rotten things - sometimes those things can be forgiven.
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Title: Slaget om Kejserstaden (Skyggefjenden 3)
Author: Claus Holm
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 455
Date read: Maj 2023

Alain og hans venner er spredt ud over hele Kejserriget.

Desperat prøver de at finde allierede til kampen mod Skyggefjenden, som nu strammer grebet om riget. Men at samle en hær tll at gå mod Kejseren selv... det er lettere sagt end gjort.

Mens de mørke kræfter trækker sammen om Kejserstaden, må Alain, Rowena, Duncan og Aruthan bruge alle deres evner for at holde sig et skridt foran. Da en magisk kuppel lukker sig over Kejserstaden, må mennesker, elvere, feer og Irari stå sammen for at udkæmpe det sidste og afgørende slag.

Men det er ikke alle, man kan stole på...


Sidste bind i trilogien starter umiddelbart hvor bog 2 slutter. Det er godt at have den tidligere historie i frisk erindring, for vi springer direkte ind i handlingen, og det er bare om at følge med når Alain, Rowena, Joanna og alle de andre skal redde kejserriget fra Skyggefjenden og hans håndlangere.

"Slaget om Kejserstaden" er absolut den længste bog i trilogien, men der er også mange tråde, der skal samles, så historien bliver fortalt fra mange forskellige synspunkter - dog uden at det på noget tidspunkt føles som om man hopper i handlingen, og der var stadig plads til nogle uventede drejninger hist og her.

"Skyggefjende"-trilogien er "high fantasy" af den traditionelle slags som vi kender den fra f.eks. "Ringenes Herre". Det er ikke mit førstevalg når det kommer til fantasy-genren, men den er godt og medrivende skrevet, så jeg er glad for, at jeg fik muligheden for at læse serien.

Jeg har modtaget bogen som anmeldereksemplar fra BoD.
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Title: The Single Mums' Book Club
Author: Victoria Cooke
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3.5
# pages: 304
Date read: May 2023

It’s 8:30am and I’m already utterly exhausted. My son has lost his football boots, my daughter is ready for school dressed only in her vest and knickers, and of course, my 1-year-old has filled his nappy for what feels like the tenth time this morning.

As for my husband? He’s decided marriage doesn’t suit him, and well… buggered off.

All hope of ‘me time’ has but dwindled to sipping half a glass of wine whilst shouting after the kids. But everything is about to change.

I’m taking control of my life! I’ve joined… a book club.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Wow… live a little.’ But my fellow book clubbers, Amanda and Janey, are my lifelines. They understand the daily struggle because they’re mothers too.

And in between the prosecco, Doritos and googling everything about Mr Darcy on SparkNotes, they’ve convinced me to go on a date with my boss.

A single mum of three looking for romance… what could possibly go wrong?


Chick-lit for an older audience. It doesn't have anything I haven't seen done before in other books, but I appreciated that it focused just as much on making friends as an adult, handling co-parenting in a sensible way and handling how to introduce children to a new partner as on the romantic aspect... in fact, in some ways the romance seemed almost like an afterthought!

I did occasionally put down the book in frustration over some of Stephanie's less intelligent decisions, but they were always made with the best intentions at heart, and she did quickly get over herself, so in the end it did actually come across more as a realistic depiction of dating with kids than Angst!(TM), and even the "third act breakup" was handled a lot better than I often see.

It never turned into a page-turner, which is why I rounded down rather than up on goodreads, but it was an enjoyable read all the same.
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Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~16hrs, 476 pages
Date read: November 2021, May 2023, April 2025

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission -- and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.


Without a doubt the best book I've read so far this year. Andy Weir blew me away with this one. I loved "The Martian" but thought "Artemis" was only okay, so was a bit hesitant to start this one, but oh wow! I was hooked from the very start, and listened to it at every chance I got. The audiobook was narrated by Ray Porter who did an amazing job.

It's best not to know too much about the story going into it, so I'll just leave it at that I loved Grace, I loved Rocky and I wish the book had been much, much longer than it was. I couldn't put it down, but didn't want to see it end.

Awesome book!

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