Former whistleblower Nora Trier has built a successful career as a forensic accountant.  For the last 15 years, she has spent her days combing through financial records searching out fraud, but she's still surprised by her newest case.  Strike, a billion-dollar home-grown premium athletics brand, is on the verge of hosting a huge kickboxing competition with an unprecedented prize—the winner earns $20 million and the chance to be Strike's new spokesperson.  The problem?  The coveted prize money has gone missing.  Strike's owners, Gregg Abbott and his wife, famous kickboxing champion Logan Russo, have suspicions about where it might be and who might have taken it, but no one knows for sure.  With one week before it's to be awarded, the money needs to be found.  Gregg is convinced that only Nora has the expertise to find it.

Nora prides herself on her objectivity, but she has more than one secret connection to Strike.  Can she investigate the company fairly?  The further she delves into its financial transactions as well as the personal lives of its owners and employees, the more concerned she becomes.  With whispers of embezzlement, betrayal, and sabotage in the air, Nora's not sure what to believe.  All she knows is that the evidence is leading in a disturbing direction.  As she gets closer and closer to the truth, Nora's position becomes more and more dangerous.  Someone doesn't want her to find out what's really happening at Strike.  Who would do the unthinkable to keep the truth hidden?

I enjoyed the two books I've read by Mindy Mejia, so I picked up her newest assuming it would be just as enticing.  Strike Me Down definitely sucked me in and kept me reading.  I whipped through its pages because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  The plot kept me guessing, which is something I always appreciate in mysteries/thrillers.  Unfortunately, though, I just could not stand any of the novel's main characters.  Nora and Logan are both cold, selfish women who are admirable in some ways but still almost wholly unlikable.  Gregg is greedy, unfaithful, and overly obsessed with Strike.  By the end of the novel, I found all of them so repulsive that I didn't care much what happened to any of them.  So, while Strike Me Down is an engrossing page turner that held my attention, for me it ended up being a depressing, dissatisfying read because I hated the characters so much.  Bummer.

(Readalikes:  No specific titles are coming to mind.  You?)

Lana Lee is always looking for ways to promote her family's Chinese restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodle House.  As manager, it's her responsibility to keep the place running smoothly as well as look for new ways to bring in business.  Offering catering services seems like a good idea.  Especially when Lana sees just how swanky their first catered party really is.  Wealthy guests are eating up all of Ho-Lee Noodle House's delicious offerings and promising to use the restaurant for their own fancy galas.  Everything is going swimmingly until a dead body is found in the backyard pool.

Donna Feng—the party hostess and co-owner of the Asian Village shopping center where Ho-Lee Noodle House is located—swears she has no idea how her children's nanny ended up dead.  Everyone heard Donna screaming at the young woman earlier in the party.  Everyone knows Donna hasn't been quite right since her husband died.  Everyone seems convinced that the widow snapped and killed Alice Kam in a fit of rage.  Lana seems to be the only one who believes Donna, an old family friend whom she's known for years, is innocent.  True, the woman is not exactly who she says she is.  Still, Lana knows she isn't capable of murder.  So, who did the dastardly deed?  It's up to Lana to find out...

Vivien Chien's Noodle House Mystery series is one of my favorites.  The books don't take themselves too seriously which makes them fun, entertaining reads.  Lana is a spunky heroine whose natural curiosity leads her into plenty of far-fetched but exciting mystery-solving adventures.  Her relationship with her colorful, complicated family adds humor and tension to every book.  While Egg Drop Dead isn't my favorite installment in the series, it's still an enjoyable romp that kept me smiling while I zipped through its pages.  Even though the killer in this one is pretty obvious and Lana's boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, drove me crazy with his condescending "dollface" comments, I still liked Egg Drop Dead.  I'll continue with the series, no question, because it really is a whole lot of fun!

(Readalikes:  Other books in the series, including Death By Dumpling, Dim Sum of All Fears, Murder Lo Mein, Wonton Terror, Killer Kung Pao, Fatal Fried Rice, and Hot and Sour Suspects; also reminds me of culinary cozies by Ellie Alexander, Amanda Flower, Kylie Logan, and Eve Calder)

I'm a *little* late on posting this monthly link-up for January.  Sorry about that! For those of you who are participating in the challenge, this is where you can post reviews for this month.  Please include the title of the book you're reviewing along with your name and the name of your blog.  I can't wait to see what everyone's reading!

If you haven't "officially" signed up for the challenge, it's not too late.  Just go to this post and add your name to the Mr. Linky there.

Imani Mandel is used to nosey questions from strangers.  The 12-year-old has spent her whole life fielding them.  Why is she Black when her parents are white?  Who are her real mom and dad?  How can she be Jewish when she's Black?  Shouldn't she be celebrating Kwanza instead of Hanukkah?  

Imani has grown up in an adoptive Jewish family, so her life makes sense to her.  Still, she can't help but wonder about her birth family and the truths that are hiding in her DNA.  For her upcoming bat mitzvah, Imani gets to choose a "big" present.  She knows what she wants—her parents' permission to search for her birth family—but she doesn't know how to ask for it without gutting them.  

For her bat mitzvah, Imani is supposed to do a research project about the Holocaust.  When her great-grandmother dies, leaving her many books to her grandchildren, Imani is shocked to discover a diary forgotten among the other volumes.  Even more amazing, it's the journal her great-grandmother Anna kept when she was forced to leave her native Luxembourg in 1941.  At 12 years old, she fled to America by herself, reluctantly leaving her parents and five siblings behind.  As Hitler's campaign to destroy the Jews heats up, she worries constantly about the family she left in Europe.  What happened to Anna's family?

As Imani becomes immersed in her great-grandmother's story, she begins to understand her place in her adoptive family, her legacy as a Jew, and what it truly means to be her own unique self.  

I had never heard of The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman until I came across Afoma Umesi's wonderful list of 67 Best Middle-Grade Historical Fiction Books.  As the adoptive mother of a mixed-race daughter and a lover of World War II stories, I was immediately drawn to the novel's premise.  It promised a compelling story about themes I find intriguing: identity, family history, heritage, adoption, DNA, etc.  Did it deliver?  Absolutely!  The characters are sympathetic and likable, the plot is exciting and interesting, and the overall story is poignant and moving.  When it comes to dual-timeline novels, I'm usually way more invested in the past story than the present.  Not so with The Length of a String; I was equally intrigued by both story lines.  Although the book deals with some difficult subjects, overall it's upbeat, uplifting, and empowering.  So far, this is my favorite read of the year.  I loved it.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen and other children's books about the Holocaust)