false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172676360m/205622.jpg 205622 6 Doing what she does best, popular author Eileen Goudge has created the seemingly idyllic town of Carson Springs, along the golden coast of California near Santa Barbara. In <I>Stranger in Paradise</I>, the first novel in a new trilogy, the tranquil surface of Carson Springs unsuccessfully hides the murmurings of discontent; amid the gentle hum of the famous honeybee hives at the local convent, real problems exist. It's hard to believe that the wedding of Alice Kiley to her much older fiancé, Wes Carpenter, would presage the end of the comfortable existence of Alice's widowed mother, Sam, and her divorced older sister, Laura. But a dead car and a gatecrasher at the reception are only the beginning of the changes that will rock the Kiley family and the town of Carson Springs.<p> Sam catches a ride from the church back to the reception at her home with her new son-in-law's son, Ian Carpenter, the beach-boy-handsome artist, only to discover a hungry runaway girl named Finch stealing food. When Sam finds herself hotly pursued by a man young enough to be her son--her younger daughter's new stepson to boot--the temptation to say yes is just too great, and the encounter leaves Sam and Ian with a joint project in the making. Alice is horrified by her mother's actions, but her sister Laura is too busy trying to break through Finch's mistrust and heal her wounds to care. Sam, Alice, and Laura struggle against others' expectations of them and their own visions of each other. When a string of gruesome murders occurs, the darkness seething beneath Carson Springs' surface threatens to overwhelm the Kiley women and the men who love them. Goudge has produced another roller coaster of a read with <I>Stranger in Paradise</I>. Fasten your seat belts before you start this one! <I>--Alison Trinkle</I> 379310 2001 Stranger in Paradise (A Carson Springs Novel, Book 1) total:93|5:24|4:27|3:35|2:6|1:1| 93 346 136 7 1 1 false false Thu Sep 11 07:34:46 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 07:39:37 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 06:44:56 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 10:10:41 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Wed Feb 27 19:48:50 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 19:50:05 -0800 2008 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 07:22:29 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 01 07:23:12 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 12:25:31 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 02 15:11:09 -0700 2008 1
This was a well written story about a fabled town - Carson Springs - a place that I would love to visit one day, if only it were real! The author creates a tight, plot driven character study and I enjoyed it but there were a lot of characters, probably be...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Feb 18 08:07:23 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 08:08:31 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu May 24 19:52:19 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 17 15:47:58 -0700 2009 1 4 0 false false Mon Nov 30 11:54:47 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 30 11:54:47 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Nov 29 14:38:30 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 14:38:50 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Thu Nov 19 08:53:52 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 08:54:14 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 14 12:08:02 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 14 12:08:02 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 02:32:01 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 02:32:01 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Oct 30 08:15:50 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 08:16:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 14 22:36:43 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 22:36:57 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Oct 05 16:21:59 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 16:21:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 29 09:19:03 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 09:19:10 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 24 18:15:57 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 18:15:57 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 19 17:32:34 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 17:32:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 17 08:45:27 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 08:45:27 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Sep 11 18:37:16 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 18:37:16 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=205622