The Mistletoe Promise

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The holiday season is soon approaching but Elise Dutton carries no excitement for what lies ahead. Guilt-ridden, Elise's past has jaded her to the beauty of Christmas. When a rather handsome stranger from her place of work approaches her with a proposition for the weeks ahead, Elise stiffly agrees with a sense of foreboding. However, the platonic relationship turns out to be fun until someone from her past appears..

*I believe the main goal of Evan's small Christmas novella is for people to stop judging others mistakes...that in reality a person carries so much crippling guilt and self-loathing from serious mistakes in the past...let us who is without sin cast the first stone...

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The Time Between

The Time Between by Karen White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eleanor's favorite times and worst times were on Edisto Island, where she grew up with the sweetgrass and salt marshes and memories of her loving, piano playing father. Eleanor's guilt holds her prisoner - guilt over her sister Eve's accident on Edisto...guilt over how she feels about her brother-in-law, Glenn. When Eleanor's boss offers her a job taking care of his Aunt Helena on that same island, she jumps at the chance to go back and relive her memories, not realizing that Helena carried her own guilt-ridden secrets.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy Karen White's writing. A favorite line from her book that Aunt Helena, who had suffered and lost so much says, "That adversity in life does not rob your heart of beauty. It simply teaches it a new song to sing."

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The Beekeeper's Ball

The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bella Vista Chronicles, #2 picks up with Isabel slowly turning her home into a cooking school. The land complete with a barn, beehives, and an apple orchard will lend itself to reserved parties and wedding receptions. The lovely, reserved Isabel has a secret but so does her beloved Danish grandfather Magnus and family friend Annelise. This will be the summer season to free all secrets and feel liberated from guilt and pain.

An excellent book - I did not know about the Danish Resistance (Holger Danske), the Lebensborn program, and how King Christian and his people fought back against the Nazi regime. It is also a story of sharing those secrets that imprison us and hold us captive to old fears.

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The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At 14 Grace was fortunate to start service, as her mother did many years before, at Riverton, where the wealthy Hartford family lived. She watched the three golden haired, blue-eyed Hartford grandchildren, all near her own age, grow up and totally fell under their spell - David, Hannah, and Emmaline. Over the years, Grace took on the role of a lady's maid, helped dress the young women, and was privy to their conversations and secrets. Enter World War I, the Lord of the manor and his son, the Major, both fall in France, and Riverton and the world are changed forever. Hannah marries to escape, taking Grace with her, only to find that there is no escape, only boredom, but does find kinship and romance with her brother's best friend, Robbie - now a poet but Emmaline's love interest as well. The story ends with a scandalous event that no one knew Grace was privy to. Now 98 and failing, Grace is determined that her only grandson will know the truth.

The Great War changed so much, as all wars do, and social classes lost a foothold..the story is haunting as in how secrets were handled in that era, women were handled with kid gloves and not accepted into exclusive male conversations. ...for lovers of Upstairs/Downstairs and viewers of Downton Abbey..

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The Wednesday Daughters

The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It all began with the Wednesday Sisters, published in 2008 - five moms that got together in the park to chat, discuss literary works, and share their lives with each other. Now Meg Waite Clayton is back with the Wednesday Daughters - daughters, of those same moms, that have grown up around each other and are closer than sisters. Hope goes on a trip to England to discover more about her mother, Allie, one of the five original moms who liked to write, who had recently passed. She carries her mother's ashes with her. Friends Anna and Julie, who are Wednesday sisters and who were also very close to Allie, travel with Hope, to give support but also looking for answers to their own issues at hand. Discoveries are made, new family is found, and secrets are unlocked and laid to rest.

All the references to Beatrix Potter really intrigued me, as did the setting in England's Lake District, as Allie spoke through Beatrix's voice and illustrations. Beautiful descriptions of the area bring the surrounding countryside to life.

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The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe by Mary Simses
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ellen Branford, NYC attorney and soon to be married, is on a weekend mission - to deliver her beloved, late grandmother's letter to an old friend in Maine. But what is supposed to be quick trip turns into trouble when Ellen falls through a rotted seaside dock and has to be fished out by a local, handsome carpenter. As Ellen finds out more about her grandmother's young life in the small village, discoveries are made and questions turn into more questions! An enjoyable light read but rather predictable from this first time author.

It is definitely not to be compared, as it was touted, to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a favorite of mine...

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The Apple Orchard

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tess Delaney is a whiz at finding lost or stolen antiques and returning them to their rightful owners and is actually awaiting a huge promotion. Everything is right on track, except for the fact that Tess barely has any family left and she lives out of suitcases. Her controlled little world is rocked when she discovers that she has more family than what she thought - a grandfather, bedridden from a coma, and a sister who run an apple orchard called Bella Vista in the Sonoma Valley. The lure of new-found family and unknown secrets unravel Tess's desire to move ahead in the jet-hopping antique business.

I liked this book - reading about the orchard and the way the family was drawn together by homegrown organic foods and cooking, but what kept me on edge was the information on the German invasion of Denmark and how Wiggs wove it throughout the novel and her characters.

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Sweet Salt Air

Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charlotte Evans is a freelancing travel writer - she loves her travels around the world and is more than good at her job. Nicole Carlysle, a photoblogger with a huge following, lives on the island of Quinnipeague and blogs about food - delicious, fresh food and herbs. At one time, the two women were almost like sisters on the island, spending all their time together until one huge mistake. Although Nicole has never been aware of the aberration, Charlotte has carried the guilt for ten years - never going back to Quinnipeague until Nicole suggests a collaboration to work on a book of delicious, organic island cooking. What Charlotte doesn't know, is that Nicole carries her own heavy, heartbreaking secret. Can this summer be a time of honesty and truth for the once best friends?

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Unwritten

Unwritten by Charles Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two hurting people with secrets and painful memories - one that has already fallen off the map and another that's ready to make the leap...and a priest in the center willing to help both. The Ten Thousand Islands, off the west coast of Florida, is just the place to hide...

Could NOT put this book down....be sure to check out the afterword and Reading Club Guide.

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And Then I Found You: A Novel

And Then I Found You: A Novel by Patti Callahan Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Katie hasn't loved another man since she kissed Jack Adams in the moonlight by the May River - at the time she was only 13. Fast forward to Kate, now 35 and trendy boutique owner, who panics when she discovers she will soon to be proposed to by her very patient boyfriend, Rowan Irving. But, Rowan doesn't know the secret that Kate has hidden since she was 22 - only her, Jack, and her family are aware of the deep, drowning sorrow that Kate carries. How can Kate move ahead with her life when her heart is set in the past...


Beautiful writing..

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Family Pictures

Family Pictures by Jane Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When West Coast Eve meets East Coast Grace, a friendship begins until Eve spies a photo of Grace's father sitting in the middle of a table surrounded by other family photos. To Eve's horror she recognizes the man as her own father, who is married to her mother Sylvie. Things are already shaky as Eve is hiding an eating disorder. Lives and homes of both families unravel as untruths and secrets are uncovered.

It was a wee bit predictable as you could see all the circumstances come to a head and blow up around them. Most of the POVs are from the women but Maggie's youngest son, Buck, has a very small chapter. The very emotional chapters are when Eve, who can not control the downward spiral of eating and purging, is near death and her mother Sylvie knows she can not help her. There's also a series of rather lucky circumstances that lead both women in rebuilding their lives - very convenient.

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You are the Love of my Life

You Are the Love of My Life by Susan Richards Shreve
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Painter has always kept secrets - it had been well taught to her by her mother after Lucy's beloved and famous father committed suicide in the Summer of '51. Now in the Winter of 1973 Lucy, single mom of teen Maggie and cuddly, sweet Felix, is moving back to her hometown of DC and the same house her father hanged himself. With her, Maggie will still carry all the shameful secrets, hauled back and forth across country, secrets that have become larger, secrets that even her children do not know. While hanging ever tighter to her encumbered baggage, Lucy continues to push people away, even her own daughter until it's almost too late....

A very interesting novel - I liked reading about DC in the early 70s. 12 going on 13 in 1973 and just getting ready to enter our 9-12th school here in Western Maryland, I remember hearing about the Watergate scandal and President Nixon and watching coverage on our B&W TV. (I won't mention how my father became agitated watching the only three channels we could get!) Another turbulent time in our lives...

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The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sixteen year old Laurel Nicolson, hiding in her favorite spot - the family treehouse - witnessed something that she will never forget - her sweet, happy young mother plunging a cake knife into an unknown man's chest. Everything changes after that, everything....now 50 years later, Laurel - an accomplished actress - is still looking for answers to how her mother, now 90 and nearing death, could have committed such a horrible crime and then covered it up with a lie.

Oh my, such a great book - of mysteries and coverups, love and great loss, set in again one of my favorite time periods, pre-WWII to the Blitz and back to current times in England. Sometimes circumstances can change your entire life...this book should be your definite next read!

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Reunion

Reunion: A Novel by Lauraine Snelling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great contemporary, Christian fiction by Snelling - this read is based on two families, related by blood but also best friends. Keira Johnston has just been presented a trip to Norway by her husband. The only thing stopping her from getting her passport is finding her birth certificate. When it is finally found, she is shocked and unsettled to discover that her beloved father was not her birth father. Why didn't her mother tell her and how can Keira tell the big Sorensen clan at the upcoming reunion? At the same time, her niece Kirsten Sorensen is days away from her high school graduation when she's overcome by nausea and uncertainly takes a pregnancy test. The results may keep Kirsten from accepting a college scholarship in the Fall and break her family apart. The secrets kept by both women tug at the close kinship and need to brought into the open for healing.

Very contemporary and moving, Snelling's main characters are strong women who have human flaws. Please read the Afterword to see how the story personally relates to the author.

I'm also a big fan of Snelling's Red River of the North Series - again the characters face real life and death issues as they try to farm and settle the land in the Dakota Territory, amidst sickness, hardships, and blizzards.

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The Cove

The Cove by Ron Rash

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Such a beautiful, quiet, haunting book....of wrongdoings, bittersweet love, fear and judgment, brave heroes and shameful cowards, and life-changing secrets.

Set in the mountains and coves of North Carolina, the main character, lovely, lonely Laurel Shelton, is thought to be a witch by the superstitious people of Mars Hill - her birthmark proves it according to them. Laurel lives in a backwoods cove, so deep that the sun only dapples it occasionally, with her war hero brother Hank. While walking through the cove and listening to birdsong, she comes across a young man playing a silver flute. Laurel stays hidden, visiting him almost daily, but never revealing herself until the day she finds him, unresponsive, stung by yellow jackets. Somehow she manages to help him home to her cabin where she enlists Hank's help. Going through the young man's dirty, threadbare clothing that needs washed, Laurel discovers a note - her foundling's name is Walter: he is mute and trying to get to New York. As Walter heals slowly and begins to help her brother on the land, Laurel begins to finally dream, feeling her life is about to change for the good.

An amazing piece of work - being of the mountains myself, the descriptions of the cove and birdsong Ron Rash weaves into the story are almost ethereal in their beauty. Highly recommended and I believe I will check out Rash's earlier novel, Serena...



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Christmas in Sugarcreek

Christmas in Sugarcreek: A Christmas Seasons of Sugarcreek Novel by Shelley Shepard Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ben Knox has only come back to Sugarcreek to sell his parents home and move on - at least that's what he keeps telling himself until he runs into Judith Graber. When Judith's father offers him a temporary position in the family store, Ben grabs it and finds himself working side by side with the lovely, responsible Judith everyday. Judith has everything that Ben ever wanted and never had - the important things like - a loving, big family, respect, honor, and a kindness that permeates to her very soul. Ben can't help falling in love with her, but realizes he has nothing to offer. Will Christmas work its many wonders on Ben and Judith?

A sweet little Amish Christmas novel, with several stories within the main story.....



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House of Secrets

The three Cooper sisters have hidden a secret for 15 years, since childhood. If such a secret was exposed, it could change their lives and their fathers - but the time has come for truths to be revealed.

Bailee, 27, has always been a mother hen to her two younger sisters Gina and Piper. She learned early as her mother suffered from depression and mental illness and her father worked constantly. She never learned to make friends since the family moved around the country often and her few playmates were frightened by her mother's outbursts. There were periods in her life that are fuzzy and Bailee is afraid to examine them more closely. When the Cooper sisters' father calls them to return to their childhood home, layers and layers of memories become clear, with frightening results. Can Bailee learn to free herself from guilt and learn to move forward without constant fear?

According to the author of the book, Tracie Peterson, the surgeon general and statistics say mental illness affects approximately one in five people. This book brings to light some of the issues that friends and families dealt with due to a loved one's illness.

The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Take a setting in the North Carolina. Throw in a bunch of Southern ladies, an inn, some coffee, a few peaches, a skeleton, a lot of secrets, and some magic and you have The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. Sweet, silly, and sad in some parts, this novel is a juicy peach in itself.

Wild Willa Jackson, (the high school Joker of days gone by) has settled down and laid her pranks to rest. She's an adult now and a legitimate, respectable, boring owner of a sports store. Her family, once part of the socialite scene, but now disgraced has lived for generations in Walls of Water, NC. The once beautiful family home, The Blue Ridge Madam, is now being restored as an inn by perfect in every way Paxton Osgood, Willa's high school arch-nemesis. Oddly enough, Paxon and Willa's grandmothers had been best friends as girls. As the grounds are dug up near the Madam's only peach tree, a skeleton and a suitcase are found. Will more scandal and secrets hidden for 75 years also be brought to light?



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All She Ever Wanted

All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another book on how secrets and poor choices can affect many generations. Even though the book begins in the present day with secretive Kathleen distraught over her teenage daughter, Joelle, caught shoplifting - it all began in Ireland, with lovely, young Fiona moving to America with her father in a quest for all that they couldn't have back in the green Isles. Fiona's choices affect her son and daughter, Elenore, in turn during the war years, whose bad choices and secrets affect Kathleen - who only wants to forget her shameful childhood years. It's also a book about laying down one's fear, shame, and offering forgiveness.

It was very easy for me to get caught up into the life of each of the female characters and the times they lived in. The ending is a little far-fetched where almost everything seems to be resolved, but all in all, it was very good read.



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Heartwood

Heartwood by Belva Plain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Laura is the daughter everyone wants - reliable, loving, kind, and loyal. But Laura's marriage is in trouble - her loving support of her brilliant, but weak husband, Robbie, is waning. She puts her own talents and gifts down to build him up. Her mother, Iris, a professor and her father, Theo - a doctor, will not understand if steadfast Laura allows her marriage to fail. Unknown to either woman, Theo holds a secret that could hurt either one. A book about 4 generations of women who learn to cope with disappointment, lost love, and the crises that life always seems to hand out.

Belva Plain's final novel - Mom and I will miss her writings of family and relationships.



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