The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda

Hello everyone. I hope your day is going well.

As you lose people in your family, ultimately many of their belongings are divided up among those that are left grieving their absence.  My parents and grandparents had some nice dishes. With four of us all wanting certain pieces, despite losing these family members long ago, we still argue over who has what. Right now, the issue is these gigantic yellow Pyrex bowls.  My mother had one so did my grandmother.  One of my sisters has both of them.  This has become an issue of cataclysmic importance.  My mother made great potato salad and always served it in the humongous yellow bowl. None of my three sisters....NONE...have ever even made potato salad.  I, however, make fantastic potato salad (which I'm currently eating, hence this story), in fact, I make my mother's potato salad.  My potato salad and the elusive yellow Pyrex should be together, it is how the world should be.  I know there are terrible things going on in the world, heck plenty in the US alone and we have it better than so many others.  Yet, I implore you to consider my bowl dilemma, it is unfair that I am the only one able to use the yellow bowl as intended by family tradition, yet my sister holds TWO of them and feels not a twinge of guilt over her ceramic gluttony!  While I usually try and tie the opening of this post with the book, but I have little to say about hiking and have potato salad in my mouth.  Eh, it's free, take what you can get.

I recently read The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda. This is the story of a woman, Abby, who works at an inn in western North Carolina.  The big draw of this picturesque vacation spot is the hiking, rafting, general outdoorsiness.  In the past, there have been problems when people have gone missing on the hiking trails.  When a mysterious guest checks in, Abby's curiosity is peaked.  She discovers that the guest, Trey, is the brother of one of those who had disappeared.  As Trey begins his exploration of his brother's actions Abby is surprised by what she discovers while trying to assist him.  All is not right at the inn and the evidence is mounting that something is very wrong.

While I don't really consider Megan Miranda's books heart pounding thrillers, this is more thriller than usual.  The mystery is interesting and complicated. The story is intriguing and grabs you quickly.  The writing is pleasant, as always.  I wished it was a bit shorter, but at 336 pages the length doesn't seem outrageous. Overall, this was very enjoyable and my favorite by this author so far.  Can't wait until the next. 

You know what would be great to take on a hike?  Potato salad!

Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

Hello everyone.  I hope your day has been very nice.

Hubby and I are house people.  We love looking at houses and have owned all different kinds.  We bought our first house the month before we were married with our honeymoon money (yes, I realize I recently told you this...I'm not losing it...well, I am, but I'm just rounding out my story, geez).  When we had a house built, it was lots of fun.  Choosing the lot, then house plan and all the interiors.  It was a lot of firsts for us, including the first time we had a Home Owners Association.  Now if you aren't aware of what that is let me enlighten you.  It is a group that you hand over a bunch of your money to that then turns around and tells you all the stuff you can't do with your own house.  Now, I can support this to a point.  I don't want my neighbor to paint their house hot pink and reduce my value.  However, we received a nasty letter for putting our trash can in the wrong place, on the side of our house.  They wanted it always stored in the back.  In the back?  We had a patio and a lot that sloped away. My trash can would have either have to have been lashed to our house or would have been half way to Georgia with the slightest breeze.  Oh sure, I see you laughing.  It's all fun and games until you have to put your trash can in your garage when it's 195 degrees outside. 

I recently read Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda.  I have read this author before and while I liked that book I was disappointed.  It was being sold as a thriller and was much closer to a mystery.  This time, despite the description being thriller, I went into it expecting a mystery.  Ahhh, much better.  This is the story of a neighborhood of just a few houses.  We follow Harper Nash whose husband has left her and her friend Ruby Fletcher has been convicted of murdering two of the neighbors.  When Ruby turns up, after having her conviction overturned and being released from jail, all the residents are on edge.  They fear a killer now is among them.  As we follow the story to find out why Ruby would come back to the scene of the crime, the reader is also urged to discover if she was even guilty in the first place, or had the group of homeowners worked together to send her to prison.  As with most places, we soon discover that everyone has secrets, some worse than others.

Expecting a mystery, I was much happier this time.  I thought perhaps it was a slow read or too wordy but then read a chapter out loud to hubby and discovered it was pretty darn good.  I needed to slow down and just enjoy it.  Pretty soon, I found myself picking it up over and over again...you know, just a chapter here, a few more pages there, maybe hit an even page number before calling it a night.  It was good and I now consider myself a fan.

We've been looking for another house, you know HOA fees are now three hundred dollars a month in some areas! I wonder if they have gold plated trash cans.

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Hello everyone.

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. To quote the magician in Frosty, things here are "busy, busy, busy" as I suspect they are for you.  For the rest of the year, I'll try to hold back on the jibber jabber and get on with thoughts about books instead of housewife stuff. I know your time is extra valuable this time of year!

A few months ago I read The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda. I delayed writing any reviews on this book as I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  Finishing this story I felt ....blah....on the other hand I was satisfied.

This is the story of woman, Avery, who lives in a coastal town in Maine. Avery handles vacation rentals in this paradise for the wealthy. Suddenly, Avery's friend Sadie is found dead. The police insist Sadie's death is a suicide but Avery is not so sure. The story is easy to read, engaging from the very beginning and all around pleasant as far as who-dun-its go.  I really liked it. Yet when I completed The Last House Guest, I was underwhelmed. Since I knew the story was good, I couldn't figure out why. I think the issue for me is that this book is listed as a thriller. I actually googled the genre "thriller". This certainly qualifies. For me, though, a thriller is when I can't stop flipping pages; when my heart is beating fast because someone is running for their life or is hiding in a closet about to be found out. Something quick and tense. This book is not like that. For me, this is a really good story with a big old mystery at the heart. Once over the lack of adrenaline rush, I realized I really did like this book.

If you want a great mystery, this is definitely a book to check out. If you want your heart pounding so fast you almost faint, take a look at my kitchen after holiday cookie baking....it's the worst kind of thriller!