Author: Amy Meyerson

I was walking past one of our free library boxes and stopped to look. The title of this one spoke to me and I came home with it.

Miranda was an only child and loved the visits she had from her uncle Billie, who would often leave clues inside books from the bookstore he owned. When Miranda was twelve the visits stopped suddenly and with no explanation. Fast forward several years, Billie has died and Miranda now owns the bookstore. There are still clues waiting in books for Miranda to solve until she comes to better understand her past.

Goodreads Rating: * * *

Author: Van Pelt, Shelby

I heard a lot about how good this book was and I knew it was a Netflix movie. It also won awards but I wasn’t particularly interested in reading it. I expected it to be a story about an octopus, Marcellus, but there is also a cast of other characters telling their story.

Tova, a 70-something widow, has a cleaning job at the local aquarium. She comes to love all the aquatic life but her particular favourite is Marcellus. And Marcellus seems to have a soft spot for Tova. Added to the characters is Ethan, who is in love with Tova; Christopher who is a down-on-his-luck newcomer to the town; and several of Tova’s Knit-Wit friends. But it is a high school ring that brings the story to its conclusion.

The book was passed to me by one of the Popsicles so it will go into my swim bag and I’ll pass it along to the next person sitting on “our” log at the beach.

Goodreads Rating: * * *