Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 239
Chloe Kilgannon is overshadowed by her overachiever older and younger sisters, despite being the genius of the family. When due to health reasons she is forced to return home from a life caring for children, she meets Dr. Zack Hemingway, a friend of the family who has been "handpicked" by her parents as a match for either of her sisters. Chloe and Zack immediately fall for each other, but each of them has to deal with family issues. I have never read a book that portrays love and forgiveness so well. Very touching. This is definitely a "happy" book, and a great way to end the year!
12/31/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 241
Becky Dennison is a single mother of five-year-old terror twins. She works at Out to Pasture, a Thoroughbred stallion retirement farm. When she finds her boss brutally murdered, she teams up with Scott Lewis, acting manager, to figure out who would want to murder Neal, and why. A sort-of sequel to Murder by Mushroom, but much more interesting.
12/30/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 239
Faith Delange is fleeing an abusive ex-husband. Luke Campbell is looking for a caregiver for his mother. They meet in a small town diner, and Luke hires her, only to puzzle over why she is jumping at shadows. Luke swears he will protect Faith, and Faith wants to feel safe at the ranch, but her ex is determined to get back his "property."
12/29/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 239
Snow Canyon Ranch #1. Janna McAllister left home right after graduation, literally in the middle of the night after yet another fight with her mother. Now she and her small daughter have returned to the ranch to care for her mother who has early stage Alzheimer's. Janna  is trying to rebuild the resort on the farm, but somebody is sabotaging her efforts. Her first residents, Michael Robertson and his teen-age son, help her try to figure out who wants her venture to fail.
12/27/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 240
The Three Sisters Inn. Caroline Hampton's new husband died under suspicious circumstances. When somebody begins to stalk her, she flees to their family's Amish country inn, but trouble follows her. Police Chief Zachary Burkhalter is determined to get to the bottom of things, even if it means discovering that Caroline has been involved in shady doings as well as her husband.
12/21/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 237
The Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches #2. The Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches is a group of young women who met as teenagers in a cancer ward. Carly seems to have the perfect life, but she hasn't told her friends everything--like, the ritzy house she lives in belongs to her uncle and she and her mother are there on sufferance, and her father is a recovering alcoholic. When she gets the part of Mary in a Christmas play, she takes it upon herself to study her, assisted by her friend Randy. Their lives begin to change as they study the story of Mary and Joseph.
12/16/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 239
After losing her own son to cancer, oncologist Dr. Emma Shields refused to take any more pediatric patients, at least until her high school sweetheart Mark Williams came back into her life with his daughter Angie, insisting that she has to be the one to treat her inoperable brain tumor.
12/14/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 239
Fostered by Love #2. Social worker Hannah Smith is the new manager of Stone Refuge. Her goal in life is to reunite families if at all possible. Dr. Jacob Hartman firmly believes some families are better off apart. This conflict is carried out on top of a much longer-standing conflict: Jacob was responsible for the death of Hannah's brother Kevin. The story is mostly about forgiveness.
12/11/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
The Three Sisters Inn #2. Rachel has tried to reclaim the rosy image of the childhood she never had by returning to her childhood home in Amish country and helping her grandmother turn their huge old home into a bed and breakfast. Tyler Dunn has come to stay at her in while searching for clues to the murder of his grandfather, who owned the farm adjoining the inn. They soon discover that Rachel's family is somehow tied to his, only somebody doesn't want Rachel to find out what that connection is.
12/6/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Tammie Gardner discovers by accident that she was adopted, and she goes back to a town that is her only clue. There, the first person she meets calls her by another name. Dylan Montgomery comes to the same town in search of his missing brother Chase, and his only clue is a picture of Chase with a woman identfied as Serena Davco. Within the gothic setting of a big old house with all kinds of secrets and a close-mouthed community, Tammie and Dylan try to find out Serena's secret. The story leaves way too many unanswered questions--apparently there is going to be a sequel.
12/4/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Sequel to Pursuit of Justice, which was one of my favorite Love Inspired Suspense novels. Eric Santellis has been released from prison after serving three years for a crime he didn't commit to protect his friend Rosa, from the previous story. He returns to the cabin he has inherited only to find two dead bodies, and Rosa is once more a suspect. Ruth Atkins became a police officer after her husband disappeared. Now his body has turned up in Eric's shed. She knows he can't be guilty, but she had a hard time getting around the Santellis name. Together Ruth and Eric search for the real killer.
12/1/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Chloe Davidson has left her job as a computer forensic specialist to move to sleepy Lakeview and work at a flower shop after a horrific murder attempt on her life claimed the life of her friend and former fiancé Adam, but she still feels she is being stalked, although the police have pretty much decided it's all in her head, especially after she supposedly attempted suicide. Only Pastor Ben Avery and Sheriff Jake Reed believe she really is in danger, and Ben persuades her to go back to her old career and use her detecting skills to help them figure out who is trying to terrify her. This hit home with me as Chloe denies her true calling, the career that has her heart, to attempt something completely unsuitable just because it seems a safer option.
11/29/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 438
The Dragon Jousters #4. Sanctuary is overflowing with priests from both Tia and Alta, so the Dragon Jousters have moved on to another uncovered city they call Aerie. Ari and Nofret are on the throne of the newly joined countries of Alta and Tia. Aket-ten has begun a wing of all-female Dragon Jousters called the Queen's Wing. Everything is going well until a courier finds a mysterious dead body that leads to the horrific discovery of an even greater enemy than the Magi. Kiron, Aket-ten, Kaleth, Ari, Nofret, and even the peasant Dragon Rider, young Peri, are called upon to be greater than they ever have been. What an awesome series, with a very satisfying ending!
11/29/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 436
The Dragon Jousters #3. The Dragon Jousters, led by Kiron, have successfully destroyed battle Jousting and have escaped to the city in the desert, called Sanctuary, accompanied by his old friend Jouster Ari and a few of the best dragon boys from Tia. The Magi are using up and destroying anyone with a hint of power, and the Jousters have to find a way to evacuate as many of the Winged Ones as possible.

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 434
The Dragon Jousters #2. Vetch, now called by his true name of Kiron, has managed to escape to Alta and begin a wing of Dragon Jousters with "tame" dragons. The Jousters range from a baker's boy to one of the heirs to the Twin Thrones. After Toreth, the Dragon Jouster, is murdered, Aket-ten comforts his dragon and becomes the only female Jouster, and his "shadow" twin Kaleth develops an awesome power as the Voice of the Gods. Evil things are happening with the rulers, and the Jousters come to realize that the only way to end the endless war between Tia and Alta is to destroy all the Jousters--or at least the way Jousters are used in battle. Meanwhile, Kaleth has learned of a city in the desert that has been uncovered by the winds, and he leaves to establish Sanctuary for anyone who is trying to escape the evil Magi.
11/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 442
The Dragon Jousters #1. Vetch is an Altan serf, meaning he is tied to the land and the King's property, so he cannot be sold. He is being barely kept alive by a cruel master who claims the land Vetch's family farmed for generations. One day a Dragon Jouster swoops down and informs him that he needs a dragon boy, and carries him away. Vetch soon discovers that Ari is not a typical Dragon Jouster, and his dragon, Kashet, is not a typical dragon. Ari has raised Kashet from an egg, and does not have to drug him into submission like the other dragons. As the Tians find better ways to catch and train dragons to increase the army against Alta, Vetch longs to get to Alta and impart Ari's better way of training dragons. Finally, he manages to secure a dragon egg, and he has his chance. He just has to manage to hatch it and raise it, all in secret, and their First Flight has to be an escape to freedom.
11/4/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Maggie Somers returns from her grandfather's funeral to find his house trashed, and Zach Collier standing in the middle of it. Her grandfather and Zach's had been feuding for many years, but Zach insists he had nothing to do with it--he had come to talk to her because his grandfather's house had been ransacked and a valuable map stolen. Maggie has the diary that supposedly contains the key to the map, a map that supposedly shows the location of a priceless ancient treasure. Maggie and Zach put aside their grandfathers' feud to puzzle out the clues and find this treasure.
11/2/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Shadows #1. I was excited to see one of my favorite inspirational suspense authors in this particular market. I was a bit disappointed in her characters, but nobody who hadn't read her other books would probably notice. The story itself was a good read. Marylee Simson has been begged by the aunt who raised her to never return to her hometown of Burlington. When she passes away, Marylee moves back to try to learn about her family, but it's as though they--and she--never existed. She enlists the help of photographer Evan Baxter to puzzle out her only clue to her past, a photo of her parents that an elderly woman recognizes as being from a magazine illustration for a romance story. But someone doesn't want her to find out what happened all those years ago...
11/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 350
From Halter to Altar (Cathy Marie Hake)
A New England farmer misreads an order for "bridles" and takes the opportunity to pack off his four sisters-in-law as mail order brides to Lickwind, Dakota Territory. James Collingswood accepts responsibility for his surprise shipment, and discovers that having four women around the ranch can be a good thing--especially Matty, who drives him to distraction by befriending every cowhand who crosses her path.
From Carriage to Marriage (Janelle Burnham Schneider)
Corrie, a delicate pregnant widow, arouses Luke Collingswood's protective instincts. Corrie is torn between loyalty to her late husband and her attraction to Luke.
From Pride to Bride (JoAnn A. Grote)
Bess, the oldest of the Craig sisters, is used to running things and taking care of everybody. Now that the twins Matty and Corrie are married, she decides to move away from the Rough C's ranch and make a home for herself and their youngest sister. She runs into saloon owner Gideon Riker when she volunteers his saloon to hold church when the jail becomes too small, and, before he knows it, he is renting her his brand new home and she is teaching the local "soiled doves" to read.
From Alarming to Charming (Pamela Kay Tracy)
Bertie, the tomboy of the Craig sisters, is busy helping Bess with her restaurant and teaching school (as soon as she slips up and Bess finds out she's learned enough to graduate!). However, her tomboy ways and insatiable curiosity haven't abated a bit. When Thomas Hardin comes to town, she just can't believe he's the trouble everybody is saying he is, and she causes a bit of trouble herself by refusing to deny schooling to the daughter of Thomas's Chinese assistant.
10/28/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Angela London learned how to train guide dogs in prison, and now she's gone into business with a partner. Ex-football star Brian Ramsey is losing his sight because of steroid use, and he comes to her asking to participate in the training of his own guide dog. Things are complicated when Angela's ex-boyfriend comes around demanding money he is sure she has hidden away, and a nosy reporter with a vendetta against sports stars becomes determined to prove that Brian is using his charity as a front to deal drugs. Very touching story.
10/25/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Alligator conservationist CoCo LeBlanc finds a body in the clutches of one of her alligators for the second time. Last time it was Luc Trahan's father. This time it's his grandfather, only he has been shot in the back, the day after serving CoCo's grandmother with an eviction notice. Both CoCo and Luc are suspects, and they are trying to work together to figure out who wants to frame either or both of them. Things are complicated by a lawyer with a mysterious past, and Luc's distrust of CoCo's past as a voodoo priestess.
10/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 246
Classic Judy Baer, which means it's funny, and there are lots of animals involved. Suze Charles is a chronic sleepwalker whose exploits are legendary to her friends and family, and they recount them endlessly. Now she has received a promotion that will require travel, and she is caring for her Terror Twin nephews for several months, and she sleepwalks, literally, into the arms of sleep disorder specialist David Grant. He thinks her problem can be fixed. She thinks she has done it all, several times over, and the only reason he is interested in her is because she is an intriguing case study. As Suze watches her uptight friend Darla and Charley, her, um, eccentric coworker at the animal rescue league fall in love and learn to compromise with their very different natures, she begins to realize some things about herself. Amusing, thought-provoking read.
10/17/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 251
All right! Finally, a book with a realistic toddler behaving in a realistic fashion, not some adorably precocious matchmaker baby. After her sister and his best friend are killed in a car accident, Annie Gideon agrees to marry Link Morgan to protect her 20-month-old niece Marcy from unscrupulous cousins who only want her for the business she will inherit. Annie has to make the difficult transition from career woman to mommy, and Link thinks he only wants to protect his friend's interests for his daughter, although he soon falls in love with little Marcy. They have to learn to become parents, while having Social Services watching over them and the cousins determined to use any means at their disposal to get Marcy. Very realistic.
10/14/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 251
The McKaslin Clan. Not sure where this fits in the series--some things are confusing, such as a different set of identical twins as characters. Paige McKaslin has raised her siblings and her son and has spent her life running a diner mostly to provide jobs for assorted young family members. Even Thornton is facing an empty nest with his two sons in college. When he comes to her rescue when a pipe in a restroom in the diner springs a leak, they connect. It's cute, and it's fun to read about "older" characters. However, I am older than the older character, and I resent him being protrayed as practically decrepit, and I don't think the author really needed to remind us at least once a chapter that Evan is 42 years old. Frankly, I really don't know any people my age with bad backs and who are worrying about having heart attacks. I have no clue how old the author is, but, as I read the book, I kept having the feeling that she is a long ways from seeing 40 and still sees us as "old" people--or else her 40s were a lot rougher than mine!
10/14/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Kaylee Campbell escaped a cult, and, in retaliation, cult leader Noah Nash killed her sister. Now his almost-identical brother Eli is asking for Kaylee's help in rescuing his own sister from Noah's cult. Only Noah is bent on killing Kaylee before she can destroy his cult... Fast-paced.
10/12/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Jessie Barker and her sister Laura remember events that happened 25 years ago, the night their parents were supposedly killed in a car accident, but nobody believes them. Now Laura has disappeared, and Jessie sets out to discover what really happened that night, with the help of detective Steve Gardner.
10/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Lydia Cantrell, church administrative assistant, and Pastor Dev Malone are at a conference when they go to his motel room to work on his sermon and discover a dead body. Dev is a retired member of CHAIM, a Christian group of undercover agents who rescue other Christians in dangerous situations. It seems somebody wants him dead, and Lydia, as well, apparently because she saw the body and now knows too much. So they are on the run, neck deep in secrecy, complete with code names and fancy equipment and every stereotype in the book. All that would be fine, except Lydia is so pathetically naive that I couldn't really relate to her at all.
10/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 236
Homestead Series Book Three. Lissa Bowers is seriously injured from a dynamite blast intended to remove a boulder in the way of the Bowers' dream house. At the same time, there is a chicken pox outbreak. Lawson's April has had it, so she is the one to nurse the family, and Jolie is banned from the house, to her despair, so, instead, Jolie and Essie head off to rescue Essie's "sweetie" Leppy from a lynch mob. Lawson finally gets to marry April. And Gibs finally gets the bad guy.
9/29/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 255
Homestead Series Book Two. The roof of the Bowers' sod house caves in. Lissa, Jolie, and Essie stop a train and prevent a horrific accident, thereby making the acquaintance of a handsome widower. Matthew Bowers is arrested for starting a riot. Lawson and Miss April are still glued to each other's side. Gibs gets a chance to play deputy for real. And Jolie tries to quell the growing conflict between the homesteaders and the railroad.
9/29/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 286
Homestead Series Book One. After a lifetime of moving, the Bowers family has bought a homestead and plans to settle down. As it turns out, the homestead is a sod shanty on a flood plain, and the crooked owner has sold it to at least three other families as well, but nothing daunts the Bowers family. Father Matthew is full of dreams, mother Lissa loves fast horses, 17-year-old Jolie runs the family and her beauty triggers fights wherever she goes, 16-year-old Lawson lives to farm and fish, 14-year-old Gibs loves guns and can't wait to become a sheriff's deputy, and 12-year-old Essie can't wait to grow up and marry the 20-something drifter she has a major crush on. Along with an equally-fascinating assortment of neighbors, they work to scrape a living from the soil. Hysterically funny from the first page to the last.
9/26/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Glory #2. Started out to be just as stupid as the previous one, but it got better. Lori Dorsett works undercover for an insurance agency that is investigating a claim. Somebody defrauded the church in Glory of all the money they inherited in the previous book, and Lori's job is to find out if their claim is legit. Plus, a church member is accused of murdering the con artist. She befriends pastor Daniel Hartman to try to gain information, and they end up working together to find an alibi for the church member who has been unjustly accused of the murder.

Lori and Daniel have been snooping around the con artist's house, and Lori steps on a mine trigger:

"We need to replace your weight on the floorboard with something of equal weight. How much do you weigh?"

"Let me think."

"About what?"

"Whether I'd rather get blown up than tell you what I weigh."

Come on, most every woman can relate!
9/22/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Lillie Delaney has had enough of big city life and returns home to Gumption, Arkansas, only to find out that everything has changed. Her grandfather has run off with another woman. Her grandmother is a recluse wearing a shower cap. And the new pastor, James Warner, is a leather-clad biker. I felt a bit cheated by the ending, but the process of getting there was amusing.
9/19/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 408
Kelly Trent plays a nasty advice personality on a popular daytime soap. After a suspicious accident, her managers decide somebody is out to get her, mistaking Kelly for her malicious character. She is put on leave from the show, and they convince her to do a music video with an up and coming group. Professional dancer and ex-cop Doug O'Casey is hired to teach her to dance and, incidentally, to keep her safe, only trouble seems to follow her from California to Florida.
9/17/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
The final installment in the Caught series does not disappoint. Two weeks from her wedding to Curt Carlyle, Merrileigh Kramer decides she needs to get into shape, and co-worker/friend Jolene bullies her into going jogging with her. Jolene trips over the foot of a dead woman along the jogging path, and Merry is in the middle of another murder investigation. Only, this time, Mac, her boss, is the prime suspect... And, if that isn't enough, a teenager she knows is having problems, and there is trouble in paradise when both Merry and Curt receive fantastic job offers from different areas of the country. And then for some reason somebody thinks Merry knows something about the murder, and they are out to get her. Her car gets blown up (to her much-patronized rental agent's delight) and then her house, and her friends pull out all the stops to protect her. Funny, fast-paced, every bit as good as the previous three!
9/11/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The Three Sisters Inn #1. Financial expert Andrea Hampton returns home when her sister is injured. Rachel and their grandmother are determined to turn their ancestral home in the middle of Amish country into a bed & breakfast. Andrea does not think this is a good idea, but she realizes how much this means to them and agrees to help, endangering her own career to help family. But strange things begin to happen, and they realize somebody does not want the bed & breakfast to open. Andrea and Cal Burke, her grandmother's tenant, try to figure out what's going on. A sweet story of lifelong friendships and the value of family.
9/5/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Scientist Kate Murphy receives a frantic call from her estranged best friend telling her she :found "something" and asking Kate to come take a look at it, bribing her with the return of Kate's prized possession, her grandfather's cross. Only wanting to get her cross and return, Kate takes off to the middle of nowhere. But she is in an accident on the way, and, when she arrives, she learns that Tina has died under strange circumstances. She recuperates at the home of Nolan Price, Tina's employer, bonding with his troubled teen daughter. Nolan is intent on taking down the illegal organ transplant ring that was responsible for his wife's death. As Kate and Nolan struggle to figure out who's involved, more and more suspicious characters surface till it seems they are living in the twilight zone. The story is almost creepy. A definite page-turner.
9/07

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
When somebody uses the hotdish Jackie Hoffner made for a church potluck to murder a much-disliked mean-spirited widow, Jackie decides to set out to solve the mystery on her own, fancying that she's working with Trooper Dennis Walsh and they're helping each other. She starts out assuming the worst of everybody and causes all kinds of hurt feelings in search of clues. The whole thing is a heavy-handed lecture on the evils of gossip. The one redeeming feature is the title. After the fact, I found it ironic and amusing that I was reading this book while I sat in the ER with a client who had become violently ill from eating something she shouldn't have.
8/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romanace
Pages: 249
Miranda Shelton happens to be on hand to save DEA agent Hawke Morran's life when his cover is blown. He has spent his life trying to best the drug cartel that murdered his family, and now he and Miranda are on the run to the Philippines to face them down, with assorted enemies hot on their trail. Very fast-paced, exciting read.
8/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Harbor Intrigue #3. Sylvie Patterson's cousin Ginger returns for a visit and informs Sylvie that she has some big news. But before she can tell Sylvie, she is murdered. Ridge Matthews, a state homicide detective, has returned to pick up Ben, a teenager left in his care, and deliver him to military school because he is unable to care for him. However, he is put to work with the Winfield police department, and stranded in the area longer than he planned. Whoever murdered Ginger also ransacked her apartment in search of something, and, not finding it, has since broken into the homes of her family members. Sylvie and Ridge try to figure out what they are searching for, and who is after it, but they have no clue what it is, and there are too many possible suspects. The ending is unexpected, but actually very satisfying.
8/26/07

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
A Hideaway Novel. Too many references to stories that were apparantly not published in this line. Former missionary Ginger Carpenter is caring for her foster nieces on a wedding/honeymoon trip to Hawaii. Joining her brother and his bride-to-be are an older couple of honeymoon planners, a bodyguard, Ginger, the girls, and Dr. Ray Clyde, the man responsible for yanking her away from her missionary work in Belarus and blacklisting her for any other missionary positions. The man who murdered the girls' mother (apparently in a previous book) has escaped from prison and is stalking them. I was never satisfied with the reason Ray eventually gave for yanking Ginger from her missionary work, and I never did quite figure out why he was blacklisting her from going elsewhere. (Other than because he wanted her to work with him.) I couldn't really relate to any of the characters except the spunky older girl Lucy, who feels it is her mission to protect her little sister Brittany and is quite resourceful.
8/24/07

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
A Gracie Lee Mystery. Unfortunately, apparently the first Gracie Lee mystery in the Love Inspired line. Too many references to events that happened before. Gracie Lee Harris's ex-husband's fiancée Nicole turns up missing, and her 18-year-old son announces he's engaged. They're equal crises in Gracie's mind, and she is annoyed that Hal, the ex, isn't more concerned about his son. Then Nicole's body is found, and there are all kinds of suspects, and  Gracie's sometimes-boyfriend Ray Fernandez is on the case. I really didn't get it. Gracie doesn't do anything to actually help solve the murder, and Ray is really not in the picture all that much. I couldn't find much of either "meddling amateur detective" or romance in this story. Her son Ben and his girlfriend Cai Li are pretty cool characters, though.
8/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
This book wins on every count. I love to learn things while I'm being entertained, even if it's a subject I've never given much thought to, such as coffee. I also learned about some of the things involved in starting up a small business. And it was all fun. Maggie Black's dream is to open a Christian coffeehouse (called Higher Grounds!) in Seattle. Her banker William Grey III turns her down for a loan, but agrees to reconsider if she will take his class on starting a small business. Maggie has no patience for figures--she knows this is what she is meant to do and she has faith that everything will fall into place. Will has no patience for dreams--and he doesn't even like coffee! Maggie works on learning the boring business side of things, while teaching Will to appreciate coffee. The best part... There is a moral, and it doesn't hit you over the head, but makes you think. God answers prayer, but not always in the way we expect. As Maggie fights for her dream, she doesn't consider that God might have other ways of fulfilling it than what she had in mind. Very enjoyable read.
8/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
The McKaslin Clan. Lauren McKaslin is the youngest of the McKaslin's. When she wasa baby, her mom took her and ran off to pursue a dream of acting. Now, after growing up in uncertainty, Lauren has reconnected with her grandmother and has come back to get to know her siblings. Caleb Stone is her grandmother's next door neighbor, and they hit it off immediately. However, Caleb is in law enforcement, so Lauren's distrustful brother Spence convinces him (against his better judgment) to do a background check on her. It comes back clean, of course, but, also of course, it becomes the source of conflict between them that Caleb would do such a thing. Predictable, but still a cute book and a fun read.
8/07

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Ms. Hansen's boks are usually pretty good, but I don't know what happened here. Probably the biggest problem is the misleading back cover blurb. It makes reference to "a disturbing series of crimes" and "a deadly tornado," so I expected quite a different story. Chancy Boyd runs an antique store. Nate Collins is a storm chaser who has come home to convince his parents to move to a retirement community near him. A mysterious character--who is identified halfway through the story--is searching for a key she inadvertantly used in a collage that was sold to Chancy at an estate auction, which Chancy then gave to Nate's parents. She and a couple other nefarious characters break in to Chancy's store and Nate's parents' home searching for the collage. Chancy's parents were killed in a tornado and she doesn't like Nate's occupation. This could have been resolved in any number of ways, but they had them caught in a storm (of course) that only materialized a small twister out of town and Chancy suddenly comes to realize how important Nate's job is. Every aspect of the story was lame and disappointing.
8/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
A church choir has been left a huge bequest, and it's torn the choir apart, with the "contemporary" camp playing practical jokes on the "traditionalists." Emma McCall just likes to sing in the choir--she wants no part of the controversy. But then somebody puts a VW Bug on the front porch of her bed and breakfast. She calls out deputy police chief Rafe Neilson, who thinks it's funny, just like everybody else. He soon figures out that his daughter is involved in the pranking. Then the pranks escalate, and somebody is killed, and finally people don't think it's so funny. I was underwhelmed. I'm not a big fan of cozy mysteries in general, but it took me about ten minutes to come up with a number of solutions to settle the huge controversy of the bequest, so it just wasn't a believable conflict for me. And, come on. Are teens really that dumb that they think playing a prank on somebody will encourage them to side with them? Again, it just doesn't ring true. But half a star for an intrepid heroine who uses her own wit and skills to get out of trouble instead of waiting to be rescued by a hero. That was the highlight of the book, and beautifully foreshadowed.
8/5/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Caught series #3. Poor Merry Kramer. The paper's been sold, and Mac, the acting editor, is a nervous wreck. And now Edie's husband Tom has vanished, and her son Randy thinks it's good riddance. And she has just met the gallery owner who's been working with her beloved Curt Carlyle--and she's gorgeous! And then bodies start turning up, in Randy's new car, and (again!) in Merry's. (The rental man loves her!) Merry manages to do some matchmaking and finds some funding for a shelter for battered women, in between finding Tom and solving the murders, and she still makes it to Curt's big show! I was hoping Ms. Roper could keep up the level of intensity and humor throughout all three books in the series, and I am pleased to report that she does indeed. This series stays on my shelf!
8/3/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The Secrets of Stoneley #6. Miranda Blanchard, the oldest of the Blanchard sisters, and the Reverend Gregory Brown become involved in further turmoil as somebody continues to make trouble for the Blanchard family while they search for their missing mother. Their father is trying to make peace with his family and with his arch rival who is now engaged to his sister, their beloved Aunt Winnie, and their grandfather's health continues to fail as the story unfolds. The ending of the book--and the series--is satisfactory, if a bit predictable.
7/31/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Harbor Intrigue #2. Grey Lawson just spent seven years in prison for a fatal drunk driving accident. Now he has returned home to Winfield to care for his elderly aunt. Deputy Trish Franklin's uncle was killed in the accident. She and her brothers have forgiven Grey, but her father cannot. And somebody else cannot, either, because somebody is trying to drive Grey out of town. Fast-paced.
7/25/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Caught series #2. Trouble just seems to find reporter Merry Kramer. At the end of the last book, her commitment-shy boyfriend of six years had shown up on her doorstep just as she was becoming serious about her new interest, artist Curt Carlyle. He's having a little trouble accepting that things have changed. Then Merry gives coworker Jolene a ride to her house, only to discover her soon-to-be ex dead on the kitchen floor. Arnie was a nice guy according to all accounts, but, the more Merry digs, the more people she finds who have a motive to murder him. And nothing at all turns out to be what it seems, as the story becomes more and more tangled. This is the best book I've read in awhile.
7/22/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Single father J.T. Logan gave up the life of a Chicago detective for that of a small-town sheriff, but he made a lot of enemies in his past. Now his young daughter has been kidnapped, and it's up to FBI agent Madison Spencer to help him find her. A page-turner that keeps you guessing till the end.
7/17/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
The Secrets of Stoneley #5. Delia Blanchard has come back from her home in Hawaii because of all the things that have been going on in the search for the Blanchard sisters' mother. She takes charge of the investigation, becoming entangled with Shaun Murphy, who has come home to help his father with his woodworking business. When they were young, Ronald Blanchard had forced them to annul their marriage, and neither has gotten over the other. Together they work towards figuring out who really was killed in the library.
7/14/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Harbor Intrigue #1. Keir Harding is the newly-elected sheriff of his hometown, trying to put his troubled past behind him. Somebody is setting fires, and he asks Audra Blair to help keep an eye on his two teen suspects. Chad is foster son to the couple she is staying with and Brent is her cousin. Meanwhile, she is a single mother trying to start up her own business. Good. Keeps you guessing till the end. Bad. They end the book with foreshadowing for the next one. I don't think that's fair.
7/9/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Caught series #1. I have a particular fondness for suspense mixed with humor, and this first book of a series has both in abundance. Feisty reporter Merry Kramer leaves home and a controlling boyfriend. When she discovers a body in the trunk of her car, and demands the story for herself. And she determinedly investigates, despite repeated attacks and the attentions of the overprotective artist Curt Carlyle. Lots of human interest, and even the bad guys have a realistic softer side. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!
7/3/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 113
Trail of Thread #3. This is the story of young Maggie Kennedy, told in letters to her older sister Caroline, as she comes of age during the Civil War. Maggie, an orphan, decided to join her brother in Kansas when she was 14. She lands smack in the unrest of the slavery feud between Kansas and Missouri. The story of the Civil War, as told from a different aspect than usual.
6/30/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 109
Trail of Thread #2. This is the story of widowed Margaret Ralston Kennedy, told in letters to her friend Phoebe, who travels to Kansas Territory to live near her grown children. It describes the turmoil of the feuding  pre-Civil War "freestate" Kansas Territory and pro-slavery Missouri. I guess I learned about the problems of the new states deciding whether or not to allow slavery back in U.S. History, but I never realized just how horrible it was to be in those states, with raiding and looting and burning and revenge back and forth, and this was before the Civil War even began.
6/30/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 112
Trail of Thread #1. This is the story of Deborah Pieratt, told in letters to her step-mother, as she and her family journey to Kansas  Territory to homestead. The rigors of the wagon train are familiar to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. What sets this story apart is its gritty realism. The story is about a real person, Hubalek's ancestor, and has a bit of an "unpolished" feel, but she includes details I have never read in other books.
6/30/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Lydia Sloan's husband died mysteriously in a fire the night before she and her son Tyler were going to leave him, causing her to be under a cloud of suspicion. The book starts with a bang. "Not my baby!" is the very first line, as Lydia foils an attempted kidnapping of Tyler by moments. She and Tyler flee to Sanctuary Island, a gated community, to stay at her Aunt Katherine's while she is in Ireland. She meets Matt Lawson, head of island security, when she inadvertantly sets off the alarm trying to get into Katherine's house. Lydia's husband was involved in unsavory business, collecting information so he dared leave. Lydia is in a race to find where he hid the information before his enemies do. Unfortunately, his enemies have managed to follow her to the island...
6/30/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
The Secrets of Stoneley #4. Rissa Blanchard has been dragged back from New York to Stoneley by her twin Portia to help her plan her wedding. Strange things are happening, and she is afraid her mild clinical depression might be something more. Drew Lancaster is Mick Campbell's partner. When Rissa finds their long-missing mother shot to death in their library, Drew is assigned to stay with the family to protect the crime scene. The story is advanced, but no aspect of it is resolved, so I was a bit disappointed.
6/25/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Emma St. James witnesses her brother's murder, and, while fleeing his killers, runs out in front of Rev. Colin Fitzpatrick's vehicle. She has lost her vision and all memory of what happened. She stays with Colin's aunt while they try to figure out who would want to kill her brother. It didn't grab me for some reason. There were too many characters, too many potential suspects for this short a story. By the end when some of the characters reappeared, I'd forgotten who they were.
6/22/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Officer Samuel Packard arrests a woman for speeding, only to have someone start shooting at them, and his suspect dive into the car and reappear with a semi-automatic pistol and start firing back. He hauls her in, digs through false IDs till he finds out she is Rosa Cagnaila. Rosa witnessed a murder two years ago while she was helping police, and has been on the run since, trying to find evidence against the murderer, because she knows nobody will believe who it was. What a treat after the last book! I was laughing and cheering one minute at Rosa's sheer audacity and determination to escape, and biting my nails the next. Murder, mayhem, double-crossing, and a rescued street cat named Go Away for comic relief. This is the best book I've read in awhile.
6/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
DEA agent Micah McLeod returns to keep an eye on Rachel Neesham after her jailed ex-partner Angela warns him that she is in danger. Rachel, rightly, wants nothing to do with him. He had gone undercover at her antique shop when she was suspected of being a drug dealer, and he ruined her life, destroyed her reputation, ended her career, and took off. She is working three menial jobs trying to feed herself and her two kids and is about to lose her job. Micah feels terrible, but apparently not badly enough to return to check on her until her life was threatened. She isn't on speaking terms with her pastor father, who insists it's her fault her life stinks because she can't forgive her partner and the drug lord who is after her. Her father faithfully visits Angela, but when Rachel wants a sympathetic ear instead of a lecture, he coldly informs her that he can't separate the pastor from the father. In the end, she manages to forgive, but he never does apologize, making me feel that the writer wants us to believe that Rachel was the one in the wrong, when I spent the entire book feeling frustrated for her. And, when things are going down at the climax, Micah's boss pulls his team. He does admit later that he was wrong, but it reads more like a contrived plot device than something that moves it forward. I was unimpressed with this story.
6/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Quinn Hunter is a model only to support her passion for tutoring. She meets Jack Harmon while tutoring his son Ben. She has two best friends, Pete, who badgers her into hosting Chrysalis, a makeover reality show, and roommate and professional model Maggie. This is a situation where there was too much story for the book. Maggie's battle with self-esteem and the way being a contestant on Chrysalis is more interesting than the romance between Quinn and Jack, which seems to be hardly touched on, with no real conflict other than Jack's devotion to his deceased wife. And there is the ever-annoying cute matchmaking kid. I thought it would be fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes look at a reality TV show, but the entire major subplot only gets one scene, the interview between Quinn and Maggie. And Quinn is the host? You hear much more about Maggie's issues and Pete's unrequited love for a minor character than you do about what is going on in Quinn's life. It gets half a star for promoting retired greyhound adoption. I love the way Ms. Baer uses animals as characters in her books.
6/15/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
The McKaslin Clan. "Boring" Aubrey McKaslin (twin of the bubbly, spacy Ava  from the previous book) meets photographer William Corey when he delivers a gift from her brother-in-law Jonas to her stepsister Danielle. They seem to have everything in common, but Aubrey has never even had a boyfriend, and can't imagine that a man like William could fall for boring old her.
6/12/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The Brothers' Bond #3. Photographer Drew Michaels is injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq and forced to return home to recuperate. He is afraid of his past, and has just asked his wife Larissa for a divorce, but Larissa is having none of it. As she fights for their marriage, she begins to learn a little more about his past. And then she sees the news story about Collin and Ian Grace and their search for their brother who is presumed to have died in a fire... Very good ending to the Brothers' Bond trilogy.
6/9/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 253
The Secrets of Stoneley #3. Juliet Blanchard is the baby of the family, so desperate to win her father's approval that she agrees to work in management in the family company instead of working as a designer, which is her passion. And then she discovers she might not be her father's child, that her mother apparently had an affair, and is most certainly very much alive. Only nobody seems to know where she is, and somebody is out to stop Juliet from finding out. Brandon De Witte finagles his way into Ronald's good graces and gets the job promised to Juliet. Unknown to the family, he is related to the family Howard Blanchard, the patriarch of the clan, ruined because of a disagreement over a woman, and he is out to ruin Blanchard. However, he meets and falls in love with Juliet, and his revenge is set aside as they search for her mother.
6/7/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
The final book in The Flanagans. Mary Kate Flanagan Donnelly is a widow with two small children, trying to start a career in physical therapy. One of her first clients is her old neighbor and one-time boyfriend, Luke Marino. Luke is a soldier who was injured in Iraq, and he is very bitter over losing his life as he knew it, and feeling guilty for his friends who are still over there. As his therapy progresses, in good part due to Mary Kate's sheer persistence, Luke, Mary Kate, and her children Shawna and Michael all begin to heal.
6/2/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Texas Treasures #3. Abby Cramer is a young widow caring for her small son and elderly parents. Then her mom fractures a hip at the local home improvement store, and owner Guy Hardy comes to her rescue. Guy becomes involved with the family, helping her father with all of the improvements Abby never has time for. There are too many loose ends, and some things are just too convenient.
5/27/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Rancher Jake Traynor finds a mysterious woman lost in his pastures. "Sunni" has no memory of who she is or how she came to be there. As she heals, she settles into life at the ranch, and the two begin to fall in love. But Sunni keeps having dreams about another man, somebody she loves dearly...
5/26/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Rosewood, Texas. Laura Manning's abusive, controlling husband Jerry dies and leaves his estate half to his parents and half to his children in trust of his best friend and business partner Paul Russell. Laura is determined to become independent and not rely on the allowance Paul is responsible for doling out to her, so she and her two children move to Rosewood where Paul lives. She is determined to learn the real estate business and take Jerry's place as Paul's partner. To Paul's amazement, she has a talent for the business, and things are going well until her controlling in-laws move to town and sue for custody of the children. I couldn't help but cheer on Laura with her feisty determination to succeed.
5/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Serenity Bay #3. Rowena Davis returns to Serenity Bay to restore her father's nursery in hopes that it will pull him out of his severe depression. Connor Wingate has returned to fix up Wingate Manor while his uncles are recuperating from an accident. Rowena has agreed to do an elaborate landscaping job for Wingate Manor in exchange for the nursery, which the Wingates purchased from her father. Both think they have their lives planned out, but, of course, nothing works out the way they planned.
5/20/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Suspense
Pages: 404
After the deaths of his wife and children, Thomas Kent just wants to die. Then he suddenly finds himself saddled with Michelle and Micah, twins of a man he barely remembers, trying to deliver them to their mother and keep them from being held as hostages against her. Josephine Bishop is on the run from a cult, determined to expose them. Fast-paced.
5/19/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 238

In an alternate present time, abortion rights have evolved to the "right to die" which has evolved to the "duty to die." It is scarily believable. Ashley Cooper is being put to death because she has cancer. Coral Summerlin's newborn son is going to be put to death because he was born wth Down Syndrome. Shannon Carpenter--wife of the congressman who drafted the "Right to Die" legislation--is being forced to abort an illegal third pregnancy. Cameron Walker has just been diagnosed as HIV-positive and is on the run. Dr. Aaron Landers risks his life daily to spirit "Defectives" away to a safe house. And brand new President of the United States Charlotte Tinsdale has to step forward and take a stand, despite the tragedy shadowing her own life. Very thought-provoking and scary, because it could become reality all too easily.
5/19/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 405
Book Five of THE BLENDING. Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi, Lorand, Rion, and Naran are on their way to face the Seated Blending, who seem more intent on destroying each other than taking their "peasant" competition seriously. Meanwhile, the neighboring country of Astinda is determined to get revenge against their country for all the destruction the nobility has done to their country. This is a page-turner, with one of the most satisfying conclusions I've encountered in a long time. The ending is perfect for the story. There is a sequel trilogy, and now I must track it down!
5/18/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 388
Book Four of THE BLENDING. Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi, Lorand, and Rion have been scattered; Tamrissa to a High who wants her bloodline to increase the ability of his heirs, Vallant to an official who has always been enamored of him, Rion to his pathologically controlling mother, and Jovvi and Lorand have been included in a shipment of "segments" to fight a war they didn't know existed. Thanks to some planning they did, Tamrissa manages to free herself, and with the aid of Naran, Rion's love, she rescues Rion and Vallant, and the threesome seek to rescue the other two. They learn just what has been happening to the myseriously disappearing High talents, reconnect with some old friends, and cause some major chaos for the unfairly-promoted Seated Five. Each book so far has been better than the previous.
5/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Fostered by Love #1. Laura Williams has been widowed and forced to move into her aunt's duplex. Her troubled teen son Sean catches the attention of high school principal Peter Stone, as does Laura. Peter runs a ranch for abandoned animals and has a dream of providing a home for foster kids, since he was one himself. He gets the family involved in his ranch as they work towards his dream. Two strikes against it: cute matchmaking kids and cute matchmaking old ladies. Overkill!!! Loses half a star just for that.
5/4/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 378
Book Three of THE BLENDING. Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi, Lorand, and Rion achieve Blending. So do the nobles, Delin, Kambil, Bron, Homin, and Selendi. Both groups learn things they aren't supposed to know. In the first competition, Tamrissa and crew destroy the noble competitors that have been prechosen to be the next Seated Blending, causing consternation for the officials, who now have no option but to choose Delin's group, the remaining noble group, to be the next Seated Blending. But, in the end, both groups are betrayed...
5/2/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational/Biblical Fiction
Pages: 298
I have always been fascinated with Esther from the Bible. However, I think I'd have liked this book better if I hadn't read Hadassah, which is much better. This book is sections of Queen Esther's supposed diaries, interspersed by real and made up articles and press releases, mostly relating to the evolution of women's rights. It only gets a third star because it's about Esther.
4/28/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 422
Book Two of THE BLENDING. Tamrissa, Lorand, Rion, Jovvi, and Vallant go through the individual competitions, and meet their rivals at the end of the book. This book is different in that it introduces the Blending that is going to be their main competition, Delin, Kambil, Bron, Homin, and Selendi. This band of nobles knows that they are not supposed to win the competitions, but they have decided among themselves that they intend to win.
4/27/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 285
What happens when a widow with four children has been making her own way in the wild west, and her husband's brother comes along and decides to take care of them? A hilarious romp about five capable women, one good-intentioned but clueless man, and a passel of bad guys. Very well done humor.
4/16/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 442
Book One of THE BLENDING. So I had these books sitting on my bookcase for a few years now, and, since this series is finished, I decided to finally read it and make a little more room. I picked up this one and flipped through it, wondering what there was that had attracted me to this series. It looked OK, but not particularly fascinating. I started reading, and then I realized, "Oh! Sharon Green!" She wrote an absolutely fantastic series maybe 25-30 years ago, and I never did get to read all the books in that series. When I found a different series by her, I was thrilled. And, when I started reading, I was not disappointed. In this universe, everybody has varying degrees of one of five Talents, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, or Spirit. Most are Low Talents, but if they are at least Middle Talents, they are required to go through testing to determine if they are High Talents or not. The country is ruled by a Blending formed of one of each Talent, and every 25 years, there is a new Blending. Tamrissa, Fire, has just escaped an abusive marriage and is trying to maintain her independence. Lorand, Earth, is a simple farmer from a very unloving family. Clarion, Air, is an aristocrat with a very dysfunctional upbringing. Vallant, Water, is a sailor who wants nothing more than to return to the sea. Jovvi, Spirit, is a courtesan who is escaping her madam and planning to open her own house. When Tamrissa opens her house to the contestants to prevent it from going to her father after her husband's death, the other four are assigned there, and they become close friends as they go through the testing and begin to realize that things are not exactly as they seem.
4/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 246
Bestselling author Aaron Jackson has run a retreat with an iron fist that leaves him both loved and hated by the writers who stay there. Now he has been murdered and his former flame/current retreat manager Maggie Weston is the chief suspect in his murder. His longtime friend Fletcher MacAllister is investigating his murder. There are many suspects--actress Lily Dunne, hiding out from a stalker; her struggling writer husband Scott; Aaron's money-grubbing wife Korie; any one of the writers whose lives he made miserable. Maggie and Fletcher are determined to track down Aaron's murderer and get justice for their friend. A page-turner--you don't know till the very end whodunit.
3/23/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The Brothers' Bond #2. Gretchen Barker is the "barracuda," a hard-nosed journalist determined to ferret out dishonest charities. When her sister Maddy, a drug addict, is found dead in the front yard of Ian Carpenter's Isaiah House mission, she blames the mission, and sets out to find any misbehavior. Instead, she gets caught up in volunteering. In the midst of accusations of misappropriating funds, he suddenly learns he is adopted and has two brothers. This ties in with the first book in the series.
3/13/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
The Flanagans. Midwife Fiona Flanagan returns to Pennsylvania Dutch country to meet her father's side of the family, the Irish Flanagans, and to establish her business. She has no interest in meeting her mother's Amish relatives, because they abandoned her mother, but she is in the same community and has no choice but to face her mother's family--who appear to have no love for her. She meets police chief Ted Rittenhouse, who will do anything to protect her mother's family from her. A fascinating story about love and tolerance between very different cultures. There aren't many category romances that can make me teary eyed, but this is one. One of the most touching books I've read in awhile.
3/11/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The McKaslin Clan. Classic Jillian Hart, cute and funny. OK, seriously cute. Ms. Hart can do cute better than most IR authors I've encountered, but she doesn't always choose to write that way, which is a shame. Ava McKaslin is a walking disaster except in one area, her baking. She falls for Brice Donovan, who is renovating her new bakery. Brice seems to be too good to be true, so she is sure the relationship is doomed because of her "fault blindness," a self-described inability to see the flaws in her boyfriends until too late. It doesn't even help that Brice also thinks she is perfect--she is just sure he has the same problem! It's just over the top enough to be hilarious without being annoying.
3/10/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Serenity Bay #2. Ashley Adams comes home to Serenity Bay to recuperate from a car accident, and to face the fears she's had to deal with ever since she was abducted there as a child. She meets a former crush, Michael Masters, and his daughter Tatiana. Amazingly, Tatiana is cute without being horribly precocious, and adds to the story. The down side... Nobody believes she was abducted, including Michael, who is determined to force her to face the man she is so terrified of. It ruined a great deal of the story for me.
3/4/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Kate Wheeler has just discovered that her murdered husband Paul had several other lives. Sheriff Brody McClain arrests her when he sees her apparently breaking into Pete Kinsey's cottage. The two of them race ahead of some mysterious bad guys trying to figure out what on earth Paul/Pete was into, trying to find a mysterious disk that Paul told the bad guys Kate had. Fast-paced read.
2/27/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Chick lit meets suspense. And it works. Anna Volente has a home-decorating sideline business. While she is hanging window treatments at a ritzy new home, she witnesses a murderer who also sees her. She and the site developer Grayson Edwards become involved in dodging a professional hitman, aided by her enthusiastic roommates and her new "guard dog," a boxer who is more slobber than bite. Definite page-turner!
2/24/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 252
The Secrets of Stoneley #2. Portia Blanchard's story. Portia is a free-spirited artist who has been burned by a man and daughter she fell in love with, when he decided to return to his wife. Now Mick Campbell is investigating his former partner's murder, and his last job was for Bianca Blanchard, searching for their mother. Unfortunately, he also is a single father with a lovable young daughter. Not as good as the first one.
2/23/07

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Chick lit
Pages: 325
Paris has lost her Olympic dreams, and now she dreams of designing the perfect running shoe, but things are not going well. Her late nights and focus on her business are impairing her work at her day job and she's on the verge of being fired, but her hot boss seems to be more than a little interested in her. Her two girlfriends are each going through a crisis. Her "casual" boyfriend is suddenly wanting more of a commitment. Her ex reappears on the scene, sent by his shrink. And her mother is suddenly obsessed with funerals and finding "Mr. Right" before it's too late. And as if that isn't enough, her little company is about to fall apart... More interesting than I expected. I had to keep turning the pages to find out how on earth Paris was going to find her way out of this mess.
2/17/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Teen Fiction
Pages: 266
What's not to like about a petite 16-year-old girl with "anger issues" who spends half her time in detention for smacking around football players who insult her best friend or her disabled older brother? And then Jess gets struck by lightning, and suddenly when she wakes up in the morning, she knows where missing people are. It sounds good in theory--until she finds a boy who has good reason to not want to be found, and the government decides she would be a handy anti-terrorist tool. Fast, fun reading.
2/11/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Serenity Bay #1. Piper Langley returns to her beloved Serenity Bay to help revitalize it, working alongside Mayor Jason Franklin. They manage to work together on everything except for one issue--Jason cannot understand why Piper refuses to consider options from Wainwright, Inc. Piper's father owns Wainwright, and she is determined that he will not ruin this one good thing she has left. Actually a very good story about trust and forgiveness.
2/11/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 396
Dee Henderson does it again. Rae Gabriella left the FBI after an undercover investigation went bad, and now she is joining her ex-boyfriend Bruce Chapel's P.I. business in the small town of Justice. You wouldn't think there would be that much going on in a small town, until women start dying mysteriously. Nathan Justice, sheriff of the town that bears his family name, is investigating the murders while dealing with a union situation that is rapidly going downhill. When the parents of one of the victims hires Rae to investigate, Rae, Bruce, and Nathan end up working together to try to solve the murders. Warning... Take this as good or bad, but the ending leaves a lot of room for a sequel. But, even so, I think this is my favorite so far of all of her books.
2/7/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 252
Marilee, Lizabett, Carly, and Becca met as teens living with cancer and formed a knitting club, The Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches. Now they are all adults, and they have decided to write a journal telling their story. They have been cancer-free for five years, so each set a goal for the year. Marilee starts the journal covering her goal of going on three dates.
2/3/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
The McKaslin Clan. Katherine McKaslin catches state patrol officer Jack Munro's daughter shoplifting in her Christian bookstore. They agree to make Hayden do volunteer work instead of pressing charges. Meanwhile, Katherine and Jack are falling in love, but Katherine has a secret that she is afraid will chase him away, just like it did her ex-boyfriend. Mildly cute family interaction... I love their description of the stages of falling in love.
1/31/07

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 393
I think I've already read the best book I'll read all year, because I can't imagine it gets any better than this... This is a worthy sequel to The Fairy Godmother, the book I rated the best I read in 2004. A dragon is suddenly marauding the small kingdom of Acacia, one of the 500 Kingdoms, and studious Princess Andromeda, desperate to impress her mother, Queen Cassiopeia, and her advisor, Lord Solon, turns to her books to research what can be done. The best she can come up with is appeasing it with a weekly virgin sacrifice, which appears to work... And then Andie herself is chosen as a sacrifice. This is a take-off on St. George and the Dragon, where George is... well... not George, and the dragon is an honest-to-goodness Bookwyrm. What's not to love???
1/28/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Nonfiction
Pages: 264
This is the story of Patrick Atkinson of Bismarck, North Dakota, who started The GOD'S CHILD Project in Guatemala. What he went through, and his continuing dedication to the children of Guatemala, is amazing. Highly recommended.
1/26/06

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 252
The Secrets of Stonely #1. Bianca Blanchard and her five sisters lost their mother when they were very small, and were raised in a dysfunctional, unloving environment by their domineering father and grandfather. Now Bianca is a successful corporate lawyer She returns home for her beloved aunt's 60th birthday, and gets reacquained with Leo Santiago, her father's second in command at Blanchard Fabrics. Unknown to her, her father has ordered Leo to win her over to bring her back home to work for Blanchard Fabrics. Trying to do his job, Leo innocently gives her a photo of their mothers--taken a week after Bianca's mother supposedly died in a fiery car crash. As they work to unravel the mystery, they fall in love. Fascinating story, the first in a series. I can't wait for the next one!
1/20/07

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
Kate Collier knows her twin Zach is still alive, even though he's been missing for over a month. City girl and church secretary that she is, she still takes off to the Amazon to search for him. She hires A.C. Slader as a guide, and he only accepts the job because she's made it clear that she will take off searching, with or without him, and he refuses to be responsible for "burying another woman in the Amazon." I'm generally not fond of "naive city girl braves the wild world and is constantly being rescued by the hero" stories, but I couldn't help but admire Kate's pluck and sheer blind faith--and she gets to do a bit of rescuing of her own.
1/19/07

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 248
Terry Flanagan was a paramedic and Dr. Jacob Landsdowne an up and coming neurosurgeon the first time their paths crossed. Now Jacob is in charge of the ER where Terry brings patients, and is also in charge of the migrant worker clinic she is involved with. They try to deal with a shared tragedy in their past that shattered both of them.
1/07

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 754
I have no idea what the original version was like, when this teenager's parents published and publicized this book into a bestseller, but it's worthy to be published, and publicity can only do too much unless the book really is good. And this book is good. It's unquestionably teen fiction, and doesn't pretend to be anything else. It's a fast and fun read. Eragon is a "normal" boy on the border of young manhood when he acquires a "rock" that turns out to be a dragon's egg that hatches for him. And Eragon and his dragon Saphira and an assortment of friends are off in search of the Varden, the only ones who can train Eragon. Only they end up bringing trouble with them... More to come in this series, and I'll be reading.
1/13/07