“The Blessing”  By Jude Deveraux

 

2011 Book Review #109

Summary

A hard-driving businessman sees love with new eyes when a sweet young widow and her son change his life… and his heart… forever. Wealthy corporate genius Jason Wilding reluctantly takes a break from his high-powered world to visit his hometown of Abernathy, Kentucky.

As a favor to his physician brother David, he finds himself spending one week as a live-in baby-sitter in the ramshackle home of Amy Thompkins, who has captured David's heart. Courting the whimsical, artistic Amy has been difficult with her adorable but demanding baby, Max, in tow, and Jason's help is just what David needs.

But stepping into Amy's patched-together world has the most remarkable effect… on Jason.  Amy's joy for life, her love for her son, and her sparkling humor are irresistible and… tiny Max adores Jason beyond reason.  Soon, the enigmatic CEO is thawing. And his newfound smile reminds Amy of a Mount Rushmore monument finally cracking up…in the best possible way.

Their mutual attraction is glowing bright, but what to do about David? In this heart-warming and unforgettable bestseller, Jude Deveraux celebrates the unexpected paths on the heart's journey toward love, and the eternal bond between mother and child.

My Thoughts:  This is not my usual choice of reading but, I liked this book!  Man meets woman with baby…Man falls for woman and baby…Woman takes baby and runs away…2 years later she returns.  What’s not to like?  That’s a simplistic view because it is much more complicated than that, but, if you like a good romance, this is the book for you!

“Pandora’s Daughter”  By Iris Johansen

2011 Book Review #61

Booklist Review

"Dr. Megan Blair has been living a lie. She heard voices up until her mother died in an accident. Raised by her mother's half-brother, Megan managed to live a normal life, became a doctor, and now works in an Atlanta hospital. But, once her car is run off the road and Neal Grady enters the picture, nothing is the same.

Neal helps her realize that her mother's death was no accident. In fact, she was murdered because of her psychic ability, the very talent Megan inherited. Molino, an underworld kingpin, wants to see Megan, and everyone else he calls freaks, dead because he blames her mother for his son's death. Supposedly Megan's mother's mere touch caused Molino's son to kill himself. She may have possessed the rare gift, just like the mythological Pandora, that magnifies a person's psychic ability, power that can either open someone's mind or cause madness.

The hunt for Molino takes Megan and Neal through Europe in search of a ledger that traces a family of powerful psychics from the time of the inquisition to the present, keeping one step ahead of their enemy while trying to destroy him.

Johansen delivers an exhilarating thriller, filled with her trademark paranormal elements, truly heinous villains, and intriguing, multidimensional heroes. This is romantic suspense that will keep the author's fans on the edge of their seats."

My Thoughts:  This is very different from the Iris Johansen books I normally read.  (The Eve Duncan Mysteries)  I don't usually read science fiction,  but, I found this book well written, very interesting and entertaining to read. 

“44 Charles Street”  by Danielle Steel

 

2011 Book Review #48

Book List Review

When Francesca Thayer and her husband, Todd, divorce, he wants to sell their art gallery as well as their charming house at 44 Charles St., and split the proceeds. Francesca can't bear to part with either. She talks her artist father into becoming a partner in the gallery, but that still leaves the problem of how to keep her home.

Against the advice of her mother, Francesca decides to share her house with three other people. She chooses carefully: Eileen Flanders, a young, fresh-faced teacher; Chris Harley, a divorced father with shared custody of his little boy, Ian; and Marya Davis, a newly widowed, famous chef who doesn't want to live alone.

It looks as though Francesca's problems are solved. However, Eileen isn't as innocent as she seems, and the men she meets on the Internet and brings home range from incredibly rude to physically abusive, shattering the peace of the new family.

This book is classic Steel lots of emotion, friendship, romance, heartbreak, tragedy, and danger. Her countless fans are guaranteed to find it impossible to put down.

My Thoughts:  This is the first Danielle Steel book I have read in years.  Most of them are romance novels I read when I was much younger.  However, this is a mystery and she is just as good a writer as I remember!  Loved it!

“If Wishes Were Horses”  

          by  Robert Barclay

2011 Book Review #47

  Library Journal Review

Wyatt Blaine is still grieving the death of his wife and son in a DWI accident on his birthday five years ago. Even so, he decides to reinstate on his family's Florida ranch a therapeutic riding program for troubled teens that had been a beloved project of his late wife.

Gabby Powers, the widow of the driver of the other car, would love to see her 15-year-old son included. With great reluctance and a nudge from his own irascible father, Wyatt accepts the teen, who definitely doesn't want to be there.

Gabby and Wyatt are attracted to each other but are afraid to act on those feelings. Family loyalty and love, self-forgiveness, learning to love again after loss, and the benefits of equine therapy both physical and emotional are themes developed in this faith-tinged tale.

With detail on horses and their use in rehabilitation services, consultant Barclay's first novel is ultimately a feel-good story. The couple eventually find love but without engaging in graphic sex; still, the frequent use of off color language might be a deterrent to fans of Christian fiction.

My Thoughts:  I am not a big fan of romance books, but this story appealed to me because of the emphasis on the Horse Therapy.  There is a lot of bad language but, it is used as I suspect anyone in those circumstances would use it and…you can skip the words as you read. Don’t let that stop you from reading this book.  I liked it!

“Rainwater”  by Sandra Brown

 

2011 Book Review #38

An antiques store owner's explanation of why he won't sell his beloved pocket watch to a yuppie couple is the basis of this book.

             Publishers Weekly Review

Bestseller Brown brings Depression-era Texas to vivid life in this poignant short novel. At the recommendation of Dr. Murdy Kincaid, Ella Barron, a hardworking woman whose husband deserted her, accepts David Rainwater, a relative of the doctor's, as a lodger at the boarding house she runs in the small town of Gilead, Tex.

As the local community contends with a government program to shoot livestock and the opposition of racist Conrad Ellis, a greedy meatpacker, to poor families butchering the meat, Ella grows closer to David.

 Meanwhile, David becomes a special guardian angel to Solly, Ella's nine-year-old autistic son. Dr. Kincaid has gently suggested Ella put Solly in an institution, but she refuses to do so.

Brown skillfully charts the progress of Ella and David's quiet romance, while a contemporary frame adds a neat twist to this heartwarming but never cloying historical.

My Thoughts:  I will be reading more of Sandra Brown’s books.  Loved this one.

“Crooked Heart”   by Cristina Sumners

A Reverend Kathryn Koerney Novel

2011 Book Review #30

  

  Booklist Review

Chief of Police Tom Holder is middle-aged, 40 pounds overweight, and trapped in an appallingly bad marriage. When a suburban housewife goes missing, it doesn't take Tom long to conclude that she is a kindred soul who has decided to run away from her despicable husband.

However, the case soon becomes more complicated, and he enlists the bright, attractive Reverend Kathryn Koerney (with whom he is secretly smitten) to help question a child who believes she has witnessed a murder.

Sumners shapes a case that mirrors the emotions of the lead characters. The simmering erotic tension between Tom and Kathryn, which they refuse to act on, constrained by their faith and their roles, is reflected back to them in the course of their investigation of two people who acted on their attraction with disastrous results.

Sumners also explores the nature of unrequited love--is it cowardice or conscience? What happens when you play it too safe? This is smart, engaging writing in what one can only hope is the beginning of a series.

My Thoughts: Sumner has written a couple more books since this Booklist Review was written.  I have reviewed two others previously.  I like the characters and the plots in all of them.   The author is becoming one of my favorites.

“Sam’s Letters to Jennifer” 

by James Patterson

 

2011 Book Review #29

 Publishers Weekly Review

Though Patterson is best known for his Alex Cross thrillers, one of his biggest-selling titles has been Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas (2001), an affecting love story awash in tragedy and hope. This new, less powerful but compulsively readable novel is cut from the same sentimental cloth, with the narrative hook here being not diary entries but letters that an elderly woman writes to her beloved granddaughter.

When Jennifer, a grieving widow and columnist for the Chicago Tribune, hears that her grandmother Samantha has fallen and is in a coma, she races to Sam's town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. At Sam's home on the shores of the lake, she finds a packet of letters addressed to her; their text, recapping Sam's life with an abusive husband but, also, with a mysterious lover she calls "Doc," occupies half the novel.

In counterpart runs Jennifer's romance with a childhood friend, Brendan, she reunites with, only to learn that he is dying of brain cancer…a romance that allows her to heal her grief for her dead husband, Danny, who drowned the year before.

The novel's structure works brilliantly, with Patterson as usual using brief chapters and simple prose to propel the reader onward; more thrust comes from the plot questions: Will Sam survive? Who is Doc? What will become of Jennifer and dying Brendan? The answers will leave readers satisfied but not as stirred as they were with Suzanne. This is a slighter tale, but also one that few if any will put down as Patterson again shows how it is done. 

My Thoughts:  I was surprised that a man wrote a book like this!  I loved this book.  I have not read Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, but, I will!

"A Deadly Game"
      by Virginia Smith

2011 Book Review #19

Summary: 
"After discovering her boss's dead body, Susanna Trent receives an unusual package from him filled with strange metal tokens and odd clues. 


Then Susanna, who is the guardian of her three-year-old niece, (Lizzie), starts getting anonymous phone calls taunting her with thinly veiled threats. Worried for her life and that of her sister's child, Susanna struggles to trust the one man who can help: wealthy executive Jack Townsend. 


As they work together to solve the mysterious puzzle, Jack and Susanna are led into a dangerous game neither knows how to play. But they do know the stakes...life or death."         
...Publisher's description...   


My Thoughts....What the summary didn't tell you is that Lizzie is kidnapped and the ransom is all ten of the mysterious "tokens".  
I liked this book!  I liked the "treasure hunt" plot!  And...I liked the characters!
...So will you!  

"Cold Dawn"  by Carla Neggers
A Black Falls Novel"

2011 Book Review #


Summary:
The small town of Black Falls, Vermont, finally feels safe again—until search-and-rescue expert Rose Cameron discovers a body, burnt almost beyond recognition. Almost. Rose is certain that she knows the victim's identity…and that his death was no accident.


Nick Martini also suspects an arsonist's deliberate hand. Another fire killed an arson investigator in California months ago. Now the rugged smoke jumper is determined to follow the killer's trail…even if it leads straight to Rose. Nick and Rose haven't seen each other since they shared a single night of blind passion, but they can't let memories and unhealed wounds get in the way of their common goal—stopping a merciless killer from taking aim straight at the heart of Black Falls.


My Thoughts:  I thought there were too many characters and things moved a little slow for me. Maybe if I had read the other books in the series first, I would have understood more about what was going on.  It's an okay book but, not the best I have read of Neggers' writing.  The other books in the series are "Cold Pursuit" and "Cold Ridge".

"ECHOES"  By Danielle Steel

2011 Book Review #14

Summary: 
For the Wittgenstein family, the summer of 1915 was a time of both prosperity and unease, as the guns of war sound in the distance. But for eldest daughter, Beata, it was a time of awakening. 

By glimmering Lake Geneva, the Jewish beauty met a young French officer and fell in love. Even though her parents would never accept her marriage to a Catholic, Beata followed her heart anyway. As the two built a new life together, Beata's past would stay with her, and when Europe faces war once again, Beata must watch in horror as Hitler's terror threatens her family, even her daughter Amadea who has taken on the vows of a Carmelite nun. 

As family and friends are swept away without a trace, Amadea is forced into hiding, thus beginning a harrowing journey of survival, first in the Nazi death camps and then in the French resistance.  

My Thoughts: This is a heartbreaking story and one of the best Danielle Steel has ever written.  I haven't read Danielle Steel's books for years, but I'm glad I read this one!   

“A Daughter’s Legacy” by Virginia Smith

Review #119

Accountant, Kelli Jackson’s estranged mother, Lillian, has died. After the funeral service, Kelli discovers that her mother has put an unusual requirement in her will. Lillian was Director of the Cougar Bay Zoological Park and if Kelli works with the animals in the zoo for six months, she will inherit half of $1.4 million. (The Zoo receives the other half.) If she refuses, Kelli will receive $25,000 and nothing else. If she fails to receive a positive report from Jason Andover, the handsome zoo director who is replacing her mom, then her inheritance will be given to the Zoo to help build a new African Lion Habitat. The major problem with this requirement is that Kelli is terrified of animals due to an event early in her childhood!

At first she refuses, but decides she needs to do this for her grandmother who will need the money as she ages. But, how can she possibly explain her fears and her past to her boss, Jason Andover? How can she trust him? After all, if she fails, the Zoo will get all the money!

I am not, presently, a fan of romance novels, but I liked this book! It is not only interesting and well written, but it's educational too! If you like animals and romance, you will enjoy this book!

“SCENT OF MURDER”     by   Virginia Smith

Book Review #31

This book is a romantic suspense novel.


Main Characters:
Caitlin Saylor, flute teacher and part of a musical trio
Chase Hollister, candle factory owner

Jazzy and Liz are getting married, the musical trio is breaking up and moving away from each other, and...Caitlin’s boyfriend has left her. Everything is changing and Caitlin doesn’t like it one bit! The group’s last gig is another wedding in Nashville, Indiana. Caitlin decides to take a little vacation and heads for Nashville alone several days before Jazzy and Liz can get there.

On her way into Nashville, she sees a sign for a tour at a candle factory. Thinking this might lift her spirits, she turns in. Here she meets Chase Hollister, the handsome and charming candle factory owner. Although Caitlin has sworn to not date for 365 days (so that anyone she finds attractive will not become a rebound romance), she is immediately drawn to Chase. He has the same reaction to her.

After the tour, Chase gives Caitlin the gift of a very special candle. But there's something more to the candle than Caitlin or Chase suspect...something that puts Caitlin in danger. In order to save Caitlin, Chase must face a haunting crime from his past--and a deadly killer in the present.

This is an very interesting book with a very different plot. Even though I did figure out the killer before the end, I had to work at it! You’ll like this one.

"A TASTE OF MURDER"   by  Virginia Smith

Review #29

Main Characters: Jasmine Delaney and Derrick Rogers
Romantic suspense novel

Jasmine Delaney and her two friends come to Waynesboro, Kentucky to provide the string ensemble for a wedding…right in the middle of the Kentucky Bar-B-Q Festival!
When they check into the hotel, Jazzy finds a body, covered with Bar-B-Q sauce, in the bathtub. The body belongs to DJ Josh Kirkland who was scheduled to be one of the judges in a beauty pageant at the Festival.

In rapid succession, Jazzy meets the bride’s handsome brother, Derrick Rogers, she and her friends are drafted to participate in the judging of several Festival events, and she becomes a potential target of a murderer. Derrick fears Jazzy is the killer's next victim and promises to keep a close eye on her…too close sometimes for this very independent soul! There is an electrical attraction between Jazzy and Derrick that she keeps denying because she believes he is ‘not her type’.

All’s well that ends well and this one does, with a surprise ending!

Another good book by Ginny!

MURDER AT EAGLE SUMMIT                     By Virginia Smith                                                                   

Review #19 
Inspirational, romantic, suspense novel.
Main Characters: Liz Carmichael and Deputy Sheriff, Tim Richards

A murder at a romantic, Utah ski resort turns everyone there into suspects.
Liz Carmichael has come from Kentucky for her cousin's wedding. At 3 o'clock in the morning, unable to sleep, she goes out on her balcony and sees a shawdowy figure on the ski lift. One that should not be running. When that figure turns out to be a murder victim, Liz finds herself giving a statement to her former fiance, Deputy Tim Richards about what she saw.

Does Liz have something the killer wants?
Can Liz finally make things right with Tim? Or...will the killer find her first?

I enjoyed this book. It is well written, free of vulgar language and holds your attention throughout! You won't want to put it down until you find out what's going on!

MURDER BY MUSHROOM                             by  Virginia Smith

Review #18
Main Character: Jackie Hoffner, Social Worker
Christian, romantic, suspense

Someone laces the left-over casserole Jackie brought to the church potluck picnic with poisonous mushrooms. Fellow churchgoer and town fussbudget, Alice Farmer, is the recipient of the deadly dish and is now pushing up daisies.  

Jackie believes she is the prime suspect and sets out to prove her innocence. With help from the Pastor's wife, Margaret and with Trooper Dennis Walsh's helpful efforts, she starts bumbling her way to a solution.

In the mean time, the town's mysterious poisoner seemed to have more victims in mind.  Teenager, Samantha Carlson is run down by a car...Jackie's car.

You'll like this book. It is funny at times, suspenseful, of course, and there's romance in the air! It's at the library and it's in paperback. What else could you ask?

BLUEGRASS PERIL   by  Virginia Smith   
Review  #14
This is an inspirational, romantic, suspense novel, set near Lexington, KY.

Neal Haldeman operates a retired champion horse farm, 'Out To Pasture'. It is his passion to save champion horses from the slaughter house when they are no longer able to breed. Becky Dennison runs his office.

WHO KILLED HER BOSS? When single Mom of twin boys, Becky Dennison, trips over her boss's body in the horse barn, she becomes the prime suspect in his murder. Then, Scott Lewis, handsome assistant manager of a nearby horse farm, entered Becky's life. Soon the amateur detectives were on the trail of the murderer. As they work and sleuth together, their feelings for each other deepen. Then her ex-husband shows up and complicates matters.

I found this book easy to read, the plot interesting and overall, liked the writing. I would recommend it to all romantic suspense lovers.

NOTE:
There is only one real farm like 'Out To Pasture', in the Nation, that takes in Stallions. It is in Georgetown, KY.

'Old Friends', founded by Michael Blowen, began as a retirement and rescue facility for pensioned Thoroughbreds. Then news broke of the inconceivable death of Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand in a slaughterhouse in Japan in 2002.....to read more about this real farm, go to: www.oldfriendsequine.com/