The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third and final conclusion to Inn Boonsboro ties things up rather nicely. Sexy, swaggering, tool belt toting, and oldest brother Ryder Montgomery is at odds with the lovely city girl and innkeeper Hope. Admittedly Hope runs his mother's inn like clockwork, smoothly and perfectly. When the inn's resident ghost and matchmaker, Lizzy, locks them in the penthouse together, the only thing to do pucker up and make Lizzy happy. Hope's best friends, Avery and Clare, are delighted to see the romance progress and want Hope to be included in the Montgomery family.

MacTavish's Restaurant and Tap House gets finished and another building begins demolition and rehab. The dialog is hilarious as usual, the way the Montgomery men interact with their children, as in Men night, is a hoot and learning what led to Lizzy's fiancee's death during the Civil War is heartbreaking. Great series to finish!

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Taming the Wind

Taming the Wind by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Carissa Lowe loves her young daughter, Gloria and has made a new life after the death of her abusive husband – but it includes never trusting another man and never marrying just to have a father for Gloria. Living in Texas with her sister Laura’s family, while her parents are away, proves to be one harrowing adventure after another. When the man who saved her life comes calling at the door, Carissa stands her ground that she’ll never need another, but Gloria has no doubts that Tyler could be her new papa.

Set in Texas when anger still burns hot from the Civil War and dangerous cattle drives and Indian raids are the norm, Taming the Wind, finishes the adventures of the Land of the Lone Star.


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Chasing the Sun

Set in the 1863, Texas has taken sides during the War Between the States. For those settlers that fought for the Union, their lands and holdings were confiscated and given to supporters and helpers of the Confederacy. Hannah Dandridge and her family, formerly of Vicksburg, have settled on a ranch that once belonged to the Barnett family. When young, injured Union fighter William Barnett returns home alone, he finds Hannah, her younger brother and sister, and some of his ranch hands struggling to keep things running. Although William wants his land back, he can't help but admire the strength and faith of the Dandridge family, but is also afraid to admit that he had fought in Vicksburg, the same town that Hannah lost her brother and now possibly - her father. When outside forces again threaten the safety of all in the little homestead, Hannah and William try to work through their differences....

Times were so unsettled in Texas in the 1860s, not only were the Confederates and Yankees fighting, but the Native American tribes were unsettled - hope and faith were the only things keeping people looking forward to another day - to fall in love, raise their families, and work and run their homesteads...

The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Ballad Novel

The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Novel by Sharyn McCrumb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Growing up in mountains of Western MD, I’ve listened to and sang the song, “Hang down Your Head Tom Dooley” by the Kingston Trio many times – never knowing there was truth behind the lyrics. What an eye opener to read McCrumb’s historical and fictional retelling of the tale, but with proven evidence of another main character’s involvement and betrayal.



Handsome, former Confederate soldier Tom Dula (dooley) and the lovely, but married Anne Melton had been attracted to each other since their early teens. Anne, even after marriage to the hardworking farmer, James, continued her dalliance with Tom. When her sociopath cousin, Pauline Foster, appears on the scene looking for work and needing doctor’s care for her “pox”, Anne hires her for room, board and little else, working her from sunup to sundown. Little does she know that Pauline, in her jealousy and contained rage, will set Tom and Anne up for the murder of another Foster cousin, Laura, who only wanted to elope and head to Tennessee with her beloved.



Set in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in the hard years following the War Between the States, fascinating, dry and repetitive in places, and narrated by Pauline and Zebulon Vance, lawyer and former governor assigned as pro-bono counsel to Tom Dula – this novel is an eye-opener.





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