Porch Lights

Ms. Frank never fails to amuse and entertain me. Her characters always touch my funny bone and in this novel Annie Britt, matriarch and owner of her home, The Salty Dog down on Sullivans Island, makes me giggle out loud with her thoughts and words. Things like: “I had two hormones left. Benedict and Arnold” and “I still believed I could handle Dr. Love. That’s why the Lord invented dimmer switches. There comes a time when we’re all better off in the dark.” Annie’s daughter Jackie and her sweet ten year old son, Charlie, have come to spend the summer with her. Jackie’s husband, a New York City fireman, recently lost his life doing the job he loved and both Jackie and Charlie were still distraught – so back to the island they came. Can the lovely Low Country and Annie’s love heal their hearts? This novel is a great summertime read or anytime read… Another line by Annie and wholeheartedly agreed with is: “…because a book lets your imagination soar and a movie makes all the decisions for you.”

Folly Beach

Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I admit that I'm a big fan of Dorothea Benton Frank and her lowcountry novels. I love the way her characters talk off the cuff and are a bit zany and this book, even though it begins with a tragic suicide, didn't take long to get me giggling because of the main character's thoughts and antics. This novel is a bit different than her others - interwoven throughout the book is a one woman play featuring DuBose and Dorothy Heyward of Porgy & Bess fame.

Cate Cooper, in the days following her husband, Addison's suicide, is more relieved than saddened. Throw in anger because he left her almost penniless - within hours of the funeral, repo men appear to claim most of her furniture and home. To worsen matters, Cate finds that Addison had been having more than one affair. The only answer is to pack what little she has left and head south to her beloved Aunt Daisy and Folly Beach. When Cate settles into the small, comfy Porgy House her aunt owns, will the spirits of DuBose and Dorothy also console her?





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The Fireman's Wife

The Fireman's Wife: A Novel by Jack Riggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cassie, a mountain girl from North Carolina married young. One summer trip to the beaches of South Carolina changed her college plans and her life when she fell in love and became pregnant. Now living in the low country marshes with her fireman husband, Peck and teenage daughter, Kelly - Cassie, always restless, longs to break free and head back to her mountains. The Fireman's Wife is told from the viewpoint of each of three main characters and the pain and confusion in their relationships come through the written word. Although I became angry with Cassie - I also felt sorry for her that she kept searching for more, regretting and thinking she had lost something years ago. Cassie finds out, at great cost and too late, what love truly is. A great reader's guide is included.



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The Beach House

The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This would be a wonderful summer read - however I read it in the dead of winter! Maybe I needed to feel a hot summer breeze and pretend I was at the ocean after all the cold and snow we have had here in Western MD. Did you know that a loggerhead is called Caretta caretta in Latin? I've always been interested in those big old sea turtles and how they travel what seems like millions of miles to lay their eggs. This wonderful book of fiction about a lovely older woman nicknamed Lovie, who loves loggerheads and who is hiding the fact that she is dying from cancer from her two adult children, is mixed with factual tidbits about the Caretta caretta. Lovie wants her last summer in South Carolina to be one to remember.



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