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The Charmed Friends of Trove Isle by Annie Rains - A total Hallmark movie of a book. Tragedy strikes four girls on the eve of the high school prom, prompting one of them to flee the small beach town of Trove Isle as soon as possible. Melody returns when her aunt leaves her a store full of carefully curated...junk and is shocked to find the charm bracelet the four friends shared back in their younger days. Of course it leads to the friends reconnecting--Rains ain't reinventing the wheel here. I wanted to dislike this book as it turned more and more "Hallmark-y"...but I couldn't. Instead I found it, yes, rather charming. An overall pleasant read with a happy ending--I'll give it an A- (the minus because it's oh so predictable).

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter by Lizzie Pook - This was one of the first tomes added when I switched from listing the books I want to read in a file on my laptop to jotting down titles in an honest to goodness hardcover (small) journal. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the anticipation. In the late 1800s, when she was a tot, Eliza's father uprooted the family from London to a remote coast of Australia to pursue a life in the pearl trade. Over 10 years later, his boat comes back with all the crew accounted for...except for Eliza's father. She sets out to find out exactly what happened to him. What follows is a convoluted mystery filled with unsavory characters and ultimately a rather weak (IMO) motive for why events happened the way they did. I'll give credit to Pook for doing what must've been a LOT of research to portray the pearling industry (which was apparently shady AF back then) but ultimately, I found the ending unsatisfactory, with a payoff that I felt was a bit unearned. If you're looking for a good mystery to read, look elsewhere. But if female characters who are all "girl boss, slay queen!" in periods of time when that was not all that common are your jam, then by all means, read this book. It was a B for me.

In the Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan - Abandoned as a baby and raised by nuns in England, Edwina is shocked to learn a relative she'd never heard of has passed and left her Maundrill Castle in Scotland. Edie and her teenage daughter Neve arrive at the castle, located on an island surrounded by red water (it's really a thing!) and discovered it's haunted--like, a LOT. Then there's the mystery of the Maundrill Red, the second largest diamond ever found, now missing. Oh, and it's cursed. This was a bone-chilling suspenseful read that will have you jumping at shadows as you find out more and more about the Maundrill family, and frankly, it was a better mystery than the previous book. Solid A for me, though I was surprised to see readers at Goodreads liked, but didn't love the book. Maybe they were too scared to give it 5 stars <g>?

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts - In 1954, 63 year old Annie Wilkins is told by her doctor she has maybe 2 years to live. A farmer in Maine, Annie has always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean so she buys a horse (Tarzan) and along with her dog (the amusingly named Depeche Toi, which translates to "Hurry Up") makes the 4000+ mile journey without a map (or phone or GPS--this WAS the 50s, after all) and very little money. She relies on the kindness of strangers to help her on the way, and when the national news finds out about her, she becomes a minor celebrity. I was really, really enjoying this book...for about the first 250 pages or so. Then something REALLY horrible happens (I won't spoil it but feel free to ask below) that made me question everything, and I also found out that Annie actually wrote and published a memoir, so Letts is really just re-telling the story. I'll give this one a tentative B-.

The Night Guest by Hilder Knútsdóttir - Do not read this book. Actually, it's more of a novella...Iðunn is a young woman living in Reykjavík who can't understand why she's waking up more tired than she was when she went to bed. She goes to the doctor and considers a number of causes but she doesn't really panic until she wakes up one day with cuts and bruises. I'm going to spoil the book a little only by saying by the end of the book, I...had absolutely no idea what was going on. The author seemed to be going more for mood and style rather than story and substance, though I will admit she used some clever techniques. I'll give this one a C-, overall--B for style but F for story. Also, if you're easily triggered by characters experiencing anxiety, maybe take a miss on this one.