With thirty-eight books complete so far this year, I am now fifty-one percent of the way to my reading goal of seventy-five books. I probably should have set a higher goal for myself this year!

First on my list The Prophetess by Evonne Marzouk. I normally will not accept YA literature for review but I made a rare exception in this case because the premise of this story intrigued me. Some of my studies lately have been focused on discovering the soul’s purpose in this world which is a central theme in this story.

I’m also spending a little time on non-fiction this week with the audiobook edition of Appeasement by Tim Bouverie exploring the time period between Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and Germany’s invasion of Poland. Bouverie explores the failed diplomacy and policies that led to world conflict.

The Prophetess tells a modern story about Rachel, an American teenage girl called to join a secret community of Jewish prophets. The story weaves Jewish tradition, mysticism, modern Jewish American life, and discovery of Israel into a coming-of-age story of a girl discovering her power and purpose in life. The book is targeted at young adults but is also very appropriate for all ages.

When Sasha disappears, Ellen fears the worst. Then long-buried secrets resurface, Ellen realizes she may not know Sasha — or what she’s capable of — at all.

2005: 17 year old Ellen falls under the spell of glamorous newcomer, Sasha. As Ellen is welcomed into Sasha’s family, she doesn’t see the darkness that lies beneath their musical, bohemian lifestyle. At a New Year’s Eve party, events come to a dramatic head, resulting in a court case (in which Ellen is a key witness) that means family life at the Corner House will never be the same again.

What if the nightmares are actually memories?

It’s been a year since Poppy’s husband, Jack, was murdered during his morning run through Manhattan’s Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack?

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Six days ago, Joe Lynch was a happily married man, a devoted father, and a respected teacher living in a well-to-do London suburb. But that was before he spotted his wife’s car entering a hotel parking garage. Before he saw her in a heated argument with her best friend’s husband. Before Joe confronted the other man in an altercation where he left him for dead, bleeding and unconscious.

Now, Joe’s life is unraveling. His wife has lied to him. Her deception has put their entire family in jeopardy. The man she met at the hotel has vanished. And as the police investigate his disappearance, suspicion falls on Joe.

A gripping new history of the British appeasement of the Third Reich on the eve of World War II

On a wet afternoon in September 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepped off a plane and prepared to address the crowd of journalists, Cabinet Ministers and well-wishers waiting at Heston airfield. Chamberlain had just returned from Munich, where he had averted the greatest crisis of the century. Under his leadership, Britain and France had conceded the German-speaking fringe of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, after which the Führer was persuaded to sign a joint declaration symbolizing “the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.” The cost had been high, but Chamberlain’s eleventh-hour gamble had, the Prime Minister boasted, secured “peace for our time.” Less than a year later, Germany invaded Poland and the deadliest conflict in human history began.