Shadows Of Lancaster County - Mindy Starns Clark

Shadows Of Lancaster County - Mindy Starns Clark

Centre Point Large Print

Amish Fiction

ISBN : 978-1-60285-398-0

Hardback Largeprint : 507 pages

BOOK SNYOPSIS:

Anna thought she left the tragedies of the past behind when she moved from Pennsylvania to California, but when her brother vanishes from the genetics lab where he works, Anna has no choice but to head back home. Using skills well-honed in Silicon Valley, she follows the high-tech trail her brother left behind, a trail that leads from the simple world of Amish farming to the cutting edge of DNA research and gene mapping.

Anna knows she must depend on her instincts, her faith in God, and the help of the Amish community to find her brother. She also must finally face her own shadows - and pray that she's stronger than the grief that threatens to overwhelm them all.

This is the first book I have read by Mindy Starns Clark and it won't be the last. This was a suspenseful stand alone mystery featuring the Amish. I always enjoy reading about the Amish and was an interesting change to read one with a mystery theme.

The story opens with Bobby being chased in the dark on his motorbike which he had borrowed by an unknown car which seems to want him dead for some reason. He takes a calculated risk which sees the motorbike he is riding leave the road and catapults him over a concrete fence as thoughts run through his head wondering if this is going to be his last moments alive on earth.

Bobby has a wife Lydia and son Isaac. Lydia rings Bobby's sister Anna in a panic concerned as to what to do as Bobby has gone missing and contacted her to insist that she move to stay with her Amish family where she will be able to be kept safe and to contact Anna as she will know what to do and work out how to find Bobby.

Anna had adopted a new identity and created a life for herself as a skip-jumper after an incident in her youth which left her with a criminal record. She is rather reluctant to have to return home to face all the memories from the past and know that the media will have a field day wanting to drag up her past and mix it in with the present day disappearance of her brother Bobby.

After the phone call from Lydia their is an intruder in the house of Lydia's friend Kiki where she has been staying and he injuries Kiki and then attempts to attack Anna as he demands to know where the Beauharnais Rubies are. Anna is totally unaware of anything about the Beauharnias Rubies and so her journey begins.

Anna begins searching for her brother and intertwined in the story is how the Beauharnais Rubies came to be and what they are to mean to Anna and her family. Bobby's work involves DNA and his friends Doug and Reed were also involved working with the same DNA company. Bobby has revealed some illegal gene mapping that has occurred and due to snooping to find out more is how his good friend Doug ended up dead and how he nearly ended up the same way himself. The book reveals some rather interesting twists and turns involving Bobby and Lydia's son Isaac, their old Amish neighbours and a genetic gene that has killed several Amish children.

This is a well written story where Mindy gives us an insight into the Amish and their forgiving Christian nature, romance between Anna and her friend Reed from the Dreiheit Five as they struggle with the romance between them which began in their youth, the mystery of the Beauharnais Rubies and DNA research where Bobby, Doug and Reed worked.

To learn more about Mindy Starns Clark you can check out here blog here.....

http://www.mindystarnsclark.com/

and a video clip on You Tube promoting her book here....

The Inn At Eagle Point - Sherryl Woods

The Inn At Eagle Point - Sherryl Woods

Mira Books

Contemporary Romance

ISBN : 978 1 741 16850 1

Paperback : 384 pages

Book 1 - Chesapeake Shores

BOOK SYNOPSIS:

It's been years since Abby O'Brien Winters set foot in Chesapeake Shores. The Maryland town her father built has too many sad memories and Abby too few spare moments, thanks to her demanding Wall Street career, the crumbling of her marriage and energetic twin daughters. Then one panicked phone call from her youngest sister brings her racing back home to protect Jess's dream of renovating the charming Inn at Eagle Point.

But saving the inn from foreclosure means dealing not only with her own fractured family, but also with Trace Riley, the man Abby left ten years ago. Trace can be a roadblock to her plans.or proof that second chances happen in the most unexpected ways.

This is book 1 in the Chesapeake Shores series.

The story opens with Abby a then 17 year old catching her mother sneaking out to leave the family for good. Abby is shocked how she could just walk out and abandon her and her brothers.

The story goes on to explain their lives 15 years later. Abby has been left in change along with her gran to raise her sisters and brothers while her father Mick is away a large percentage of the time with his business. Abby has made a name for herself as a financial whiz at Wall Street in New York. She is divorced with five year old twin girls.

One day Abby receives a phone call from her sister Jess requesting that she return home to Chesapeake Shore and help out with an urgent matter. She doesn't want to have to explain the situation on the telephone but needs Abby's help. Abby along with her girls arrive at Chesapeake Shores curious as to what the problem is.

Jess is the member of the family that has never really settled into do anything seriously. Little do the other family members know but she has bought a house she is in the process of renovating and turning into an inn. Due to her ADD tendencies Jess does not always follow through with things like she should have and being late and skipping mortgage payments etc... ends up with having the bank considering her a high risk and talking of foreclosure of the inn. Jess does not want to put her dream of opening an inn at risk and with Abby being a financial whiz has called on her help in her time of need to find a working solution and be able to help her keep the inn.

The O'Brien family are quite surprised with Jess buying the inn and the great job she has been doing renovating and making a real go of it. The O'Brien family have been somewhat dysfunctional but all start to draw together again to help Jess and her inn.

In the meantime Abby is having to face her old flame Trace Filey. He has also been requested from his family to return to Chesapeake Shores as his father wants him to take over the bank and run it. One of Trace's first jobs at the bank is to take over the case file of the foreclosure on Jess and her inn. It is through a bank meeting that Trace and Abby come to meet up again after so many years apart. Trace realises that no matter how much time has passed he still hasn't managed to get over Abby being the love of his life.

The story goes on to reveal what happens with Jess and the inn, Abby and Trace and the rest of the O'Brien family members.

A great read that had me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. There was a great mix of characters in the book that blended together well. You could easily imagine the events in the story happening to any family and always interesting to see how different issues that arise are able to be resolved and how they go about achieving this especially where affairs of the heart are involved.

I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

If you would like to find about more about Sherryl Woods and her books then you can check out her website here....

http://www.sherrylwoods.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherryl-Woods/157107747648506

2010 Support Your Local LIbrary Reading Challenge

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.

--Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

--Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.

--Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

(Aim high. As long as you read 25 by the end of 2010, you are a winner.)

3. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Young Reader – any book as long as it is checked out from the library count. Checked out like with a library card, not purchased at a library sale.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

6. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.

7. When you sign up under Mr. Linky, put the direct link to your post where your library books will be listed. Include the URL to this post so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you’d prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too.

Just came across this book challenge and although it is late in the year to be signing up thought I would complete the challenge as the majority of the books that I read are borrowed from the library.

I have opted to participate in the Super Size Me challenge and read 100 books that I have borrowed from the library.

If you would like to participate in this challenge or check out other participants in the challenge then you can find out more about the challenge here. I have set up a blog challenge site and will be posting my list of books for the challenge here.

Family Ties - Danielle Steel

Family Ties - Danielle Steel

Transworld Publishers Ltd

Contemporary Fiction

ISBN : 9780593063002

Paperback : 322 pages

Book Synopsis:

Annie Ferguson was a bright young Manhattan architect. Talented, beautiful, just starting out with her first job, new apartment and boyfriend, she had the world in the palm of her hand—until a single phone call altered the course of her life forever. Overnight, she became the mother to her sister’s three orphaned children, keeping a promise she never regretted making, even if it meant putting her own life indefinitely on hold.

Now, at forty-two, as independent as ever, with a satisfying career and a family that means everything to her, Annie is comfortable being single and staying that way. She appears to have no time for anything else. With her nephew and nieces now young adults and confronting major challenges of their own, Annie is navigating a parent’s difficult passage between lending them a hand and letting go, and suddenly facing an empty nest. The eldest, twenty-eight-year-old Liz, an overworked, struggling editor in a high-powered job at Vogue, has never allowed any man to come close enough to hurt her. Ted, at twenty-four a serious and hardworking law student, is captivated by a much older, much more experienced woman with children, who is leading him much further than he wants to go. And the youngest, twenty-one-year-old Katie—impulsive, artistic, rebellious—is an art student about to make a choice that will lead her to an entirely different world she is in no way prepared for but determined to embrace.

Then, just when least expected, a chance encounter changes Annie’s life yet again in the most unexpected direction of all.

From Manhattan to Paris and all the way to Tehran, Family Ties is a novel that reminds us how challenging and unpredictable life can be, and that the powerful bonds of family are the strongest of all.

Danielle Steel has always been a favourite author of mine. It has been a while since I have read any of her books so was great to pick up when from the library to read.

The story starts with Annie having enjoyed spending time with Seth her boyfriend of two months. She was needing to complete some work when she received a phone call from her sister advising her that they were about to head home after having spent the weekend away with her husband enjoying a romantic getaway from their three children and closing up their summer house.

Little did Annie know but the flight home of her sister Jane and her husband Bill would change both her life and the life of her sisters three children forever. Jane and Bill were killed in an aeroplane crash flying on their way home.

Annie takes over the care of her sisters three children and sets any thoughts of romance aside to devote her life to her sisters children. The children grow up to be responsible and caring adults and the story tells of the different challenges the three children face and how it will effect their lives. Annie also gets to take a look at her life and find with the children grown up and fending for themselves that it now time she has to spend on herself and will she allow the opportunity for some romance.

Altogether a great read and had me turning the pages to see the different issues the characters were going to encounter and how they would deal with them. Danielle has a knack of writing about everyday life situations and as you read the story you can clearly envision and easily imagine the story developing as it does. Life is certainly full of challenges but even though we try and reach out and help others sometimes you just have to be able to stand back as best you can and let others fend for themselves and hope that everything will have a way of working out for the best otherwise you will be there to help out if and when you are needed.

Another enjoyable read from Danielle.

If you would like to check out this and other books from Danielle then you can check out her website here.

Here are two video clips featuring Danielle talking about Family Ties...

Mr and Mrs Anonymous - Fern Michaels

Mr and Miss Anonymous - Fern Michaels

Kensington Publishing

Contemporary Fiction

ISBN : 978-0-7582-1272-6

Hardback : 293 pages

BOOK SYNOPSIS:

College senior Lily Madison is on her own and desperate to pay for her last semester of school. With nowhere to turn, she makes the difficult decision to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. Sam Parker is also a penniless student who supplements his tuition money by visiting a sperm bank. One day, Lily and Sam meet at the clinic and talk about their secret. Despite their obvious attraction, Lily and Sam go their separate ways.

Now a wealthy entrepreneur, Sam never forgot Lily, and when he sees her in an airport one day, he falls for her all over again. But while they enjoy their unlikely reunion, a story on the news has them riveted. Two teenage boys are missing and their disappearance may be linked to the fertility clinic Sam and Lily visited in college. In a shocking twist, one of the boys looks exactly like Sam.

Lily and Sam are determined to find out what really went on at the clinic all those years ago, but the truth will be more than they bargained for. Together they discover that letting go of their past is the best way to build a future worth fighting for...

I have only read a few of Fern's books but after this book was recommended to me I was keen to read it. The storyline had me keen to keep turning the pages so I could find out how it was going to end. You guessed how the ending would be but I was keen to see what interesting twists and turns were likely to occur along the way.

The story starts with Lily and Sam each making separate visits to a fertility clinic where they each donate in return for a monetary payment which they use to help these towards their study costs. Neither of them had attended the counselling sessions offered before donating and as it comes time for them to make their last donation they are some what relieved that it will be finally all over as they start to query the meaning of just what takes place after the have made their donations.

They meet by chance outside the clinic and from then on their paths connect and they decide to find out what happened at the clinic where they made their donations. The discovery ends up being way more than the bargained for. Sam and Lily are shocked to find out what really took place behind the scenes at the clinic and Sam later discovers that through his donations at the clinic he has fathered a son. Just how he makes that discovery and what happens next makes for very interesting reading.

After reading this book I see online that this book has received some rather negative feedback. I found the storyline to flow rather well and had me keen to turn the pages and find out what was going to happen next.

A quick and easy read for Fern and I will be on the lookout for more of her books to add to my TBR pile.

If you would like to find out more about Fern Michaels and the books that she writes then check her out here.

Honk If You Love Real Men

Honk If You Love Real Men

Four Tales of Erotic Romance

Naughty Girl - Carrie Alexander

Wanted : Once Hot-Blooded Man - Pamela Britton

Have Mercy - Susan Donovan

Reno's Chance - Lora Leigh

Saint Martin's Press Inc

Adult & Contemporary Romance

ISBN : 0-312-33916-X

Paperback : 352 pages

Book Synopsis:

Wanted: Real Men. Must be irresistible, good with his hands, and know how to handle any situation. . . in or out of the bedroom.

Honk If You Love Real Men is a contemporary erotic anthology featuring some of the brightest up and coming names in contemporary romance and erotic romance.

"Naughty Girl" by Carrie Alexander: When a sexy, sassy woman driving in her convertible catches the eye of a gorgeous construction worker, they indulge in a delicious afternoon tryst.

"WANTED: One Hot Blooded Man" by Pamela Britton: A sexy firefighter is responsible for lighting more fires than putting them out!

"Mercy Me" by Susan Donovan: A heated encounter with an irresistibly handsome doctor.

"Reno's Chance" by Lora Leigh: Ever since she was a little girl, Raven McIntire has secretly pined and longed for her best friend's sexy older brother, Reno, a Navy SEAL who has just returned home from duty. What she doesn't realize is that his only true mission is to get into her heart and get her into his bed.

I haven't really read many erotic romance books and the four authors featured in this anthology were all new authors to me.

I enjoyed reading these four stories by the different authors with their different styles of story telling. If you like hot, spicy and steamy stories then you might want to check this book out. Would make for a quick and easy read so ideal to throw in your bag as a book to read as you hang out for the day at the beach.

I look forward to checking out more books by these authors. If you would like to find out more about the four authors then you can check out their websites.....

Carrie Alexander

Pamela Britton

Susan Donovan

Lora Leigh

Magic Hour - Kristin Hannah

Magic Hour - Krisitn Hannah

Random House USA Inc

Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 978-0-345-46753-9

Paperback: 469 pages

Back Cover Synopsis:

Dr. Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby - a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation. To Julia, nothing is more important than saving the girl she now calls Alice. But Julia will need help from others, including the sister she barely knows and a handsome doctor with secrets of his own. What follows will test the limits of Julia's faith and strength, as she struggles to find a home for Alice... and for herself.

The story opens with Julia appearing in court to defend her reputation as a child psychiatrist after the client she was seeing shot and killed four children and then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide. After Julia was dismissed from the complaint from the judge it was only to find that she was at a loss to know what to do with herself next as she no longer had any clients to see. Due to the court case they had opted to abandon Julia and with no clients to fill her days like she was used to Julia was at rather a lose end.

In the meantime Ellie, Julia's sister who is Chief of Police in their hometown has a rather unusual problem she desperately needs Julia's help with. She phones Julia to come to her aid and Julia having nothing better to do with herself due to lack of clients filling her days agrees to help out not really knowing just what it is that she is agreeing to.

Julia has lots to deal with returning to her hometown and staying with her estranged sister who lives in their deceased parents house. Ellie explains to Julia that she needs her to help out in a police case. A girl that they are referring to wolf girl has suddenly made an appearance in town. She was carrying a wolf in her arms and is looking rather scruffy and doesn't talk. It is as though she has been living it rough on her on in the forest for some time,

Will Julia be able to tame the unknown girl, try and get her to talk and be able to tell them her name so they have a chance of being able to locate her parents and return her to them. The story goes on to tell of the challenges that Julia faces with not only working with the girl who she comes to name Alice but also Alice's doctor Max who also seems to work his way into Julia's heart.

A very interesting read and one that has you continuing to turn the pages to find out how Julia faces her challenges and if she is able to tame the girl and exactly what the girls future will hold.

An excerpt of Kristin's books Firefly Lane was also included and I look forward to checking out this book next.

If you would like to learn more about Kristin Hannah and check out her other books then visit her website... http://www.kristinhannah.com/