false 55 154 154 true 5688199 read 0 true 1334521 currently-reading 0 true 1334520 to-read 0 false 2845845 wishlist http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79896022 to: The Christmas Secret (Hardcover) by Donna VanLiere
Christine Eisley is a single mother of two small children. She works as a waitress trying to make ends meet as her ex provides little child support. Her ex is not above making her life difficult with his demands to see his children when he wants to use them against her.

When an elderly woman suffers a heart attack at the end of Christine's driveway, Christine helps her and makes sure she is okay before going to work late once again. The inconsistency of baby sitters and this latest incidence causes her boss to fire her and it is just before Christmas. Later that day her landlord decides Christine will never make good on what is owed and tells her to vacate by the end of January. Christine's world just keeps getting worse and worse.

Jason has been down-sized as an accountant and with the holidays right around the corner firms are just not interviewing. He goes back to his small hometown to work with his grandfather who owns Wilson's department store. Jason feels the job is far beneath him and his grandfather sets out to try to teach him the department store is all about the people who work there. The elderly lady Christine (Christy) saved happens to be Jason's grandfather's assistant. One of the tasks is for Jason to find the Christy who helped but she has vanished.

Christine gets a job at Betty's Bakery and be-friends all the local customers. They all help each other and they are the ones that end up giving Christine the greatest gift of all.

I enjoyed reading this very up-lifting book. This is a book of friendship, loyalty, love and hope with a generous dash of miracle thrown in.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79895367 to: Gone for Good (Mass Market Paperback) by Harlan Coben
Will Klein's older brother Ken was suspected of killing his girlfriend and then disappearing 12 years ago. His family always believed that he was murdered also.

When Will's mother on her deathbed reveals that Ken is still alive, Will starts to delve into what really happened. He starts investigating Ken and all of Ken's high school gang at the time. Then Will's girlfriend disappears and the FBI come calling, telling him that her fingerprints are at the scene of a double murder in Santa Fe. That is when things keep on getting more 'darker' and more macabre.

This is one of the books with the most twists I have ever read. As suggested by the previous reviewer the writing is choppy but so consistent with my own curt style that it just seemed to fit this mystery. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79135346 to: Out at Night (A Grace Descanso Novel) by Susan Arnout Smith
Grace Descanso has gone on vacation with her daughter and her daughter's father who has just recently found out about his daughter. Grace is feeling very conflicted over the relationship with him and over the budding relationship between him and her daughter.

In the middle of all this, a professor is found murdered in a field of genetically modified (GM) soybeans. He has been shot with a crossbow bolt and on his cellphone is the start of a text message to Grace. Grace is a former doctor now working with the crime lab. The FBI and specifically her uncle feels no remorse in pulling her from her vacation to help them. Grace's uncle is the FBI agent in charge of the murder investigation and in charge of keeping control of the extremists at the conference.

Is Professor Bartholomew's murder simply that or is it the start of some terrorist plot?? The world is converging for a agricultural conference and the extremists are out in full force.

This book is a sequel to The Timer Game and I wish I had read that first as there were times I just got lost in Grace's personal life. I don't know whether it was because I hadn't read the first book or because there was too much going on in Grace's life. I felt I didn't 'bond' with Grace.

I found the mystery part of this story gripping and extremely interesting. The information about GM crops was both frightening and fascinating. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46313226 Bookczuk's review of The Help
by Kathryn Stockett

another book to be added to my ever-growing wishlist ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78113579 to: City Of Bones (Harry Bosch, #8) by Michael Connelly
This is #8 in the Harry Bosch series and they just keep on getting better and better.

Harry is investigating a bone that a dog has found in the Hollywood Hills. It ends up being human from a cold case 20 years previously. The case becomes intense for Harry as his childhood keeps on being dredged up.

Harry in his typical persistent dogged manner starts digging through police records, hospital records and missing people reports. He just won't let it go. Bosch finds a family is disarray because of their missing child. Following a trail of meager proportions he continues, sometimes alone by choice, until all hell breaks loose and the police have a live case to solve.

Harry also gets involved with a rookie cop which although short has disastrous results.

Harry's character is the cop we all love to see. One who follows a case and solves it on crumbs of clues. Can't wait to read the next in the series.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77865634 to: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Hardcover) by David Wroblewski
This book is a saga about the Sawtelles and their exceptional dogs. Dogs not of a particular breed but bred for their qualities of obedience, loyalty and intelligence. Edgar was born to Trudy and Gar,as a mute. He learned sign language to communicate but he has grown up with the dogs and little outside contact. His father gives him his own litter to raise and train.

When Gar brings his brother, Claude into his home after his release from prison, the family is changed. Gar and Claude start to argue a lot and Edgar doesn't understand why. When Gar dies, Edgar knows he must learn everything that his grandfather and father knew about the dogs. But Claude is insinuating himself more and more into Edgar's and Trudy's lives. When Edgar tries to prove that Claude killed his father everything backfires and Edgar runs away.

This is a coming-of-age, a mystery, an animal and family story. The scenes from the wilderness that the author portrays are so very real. By far my favourite part of the book is the narration by Almondine, Edgar's faithful companion dog. These chapters are poignant and beautifully written. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77678521 to: The Art of Racing in the Rain (Hardcover) by Garth Stein
Enzo is a dog like no others. He knows that when he dies he will return as a man and so hopes by watching the humans around him he will learn his lessons well. He educates himself by watching TV and listening to his master, Denny.

On the eve of his death Enzo recounts his life story. He starts off when he was picked by Denny and goes through Denny's life. The hardships Denny has faced trying to become a professional race car driver. The marriage and then loss of his wife to cancer. The ugly custody battles with his late wife's parents over his daughter Zoe. All Enzo hopes for is for Denny to have Zoe beside him when he wins the ultimate race.

Enzo draws on car racing as an analogy of life. Enzo's way of looking at life is funny, quirky and sometimes sad. One wonders if dogs really see us this way. Even though I knew Enzo was dying I cried buckets at the end. Loved, loved this story ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76939495 to: Margarettown: A Novel (Paperback) by Gabrielle Zevin
N falls madly in love with Margaret Towne while a grad student. When he goes to visit her family in Margarettown he finds several women named Margaret: May, a little girl, Mia, a sullen teenager, Marge, a cynical middle-aged woman, Greta a 50ish woman who has committed suicide and Marge, old and full of advice.

The first half of the book describes N's and Margaret's love and the struggle of N to understand all the variations of Margaret. The second half belongs to Jane their daughter reading her father's letters and version of his courtship with Margaret, their affairs and eventual 'getting back together'.

Every person does have a multitude of people that make up their whole. That is the gist of the book but I found this book just a bit too philosophical for me. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76229172 to: Isabel's Daughter: A Novel (Paperback) by Judith R. Hendricks
Avery James was a foundling. Brought up in institutions and foster homes she leaves at the age of 13 to find her own way. At first she stumbles upon Cassie who teaches her about herbs and healing.

She eventually finds her way to Sante Fe where she is an assistant to a caterer. Working at a wealthy art dealer's party she comes upon a painting of a woman who is her mirror image. Avery has found her mother. What follows is a search. Her mother died in a tragic accident 8 years ago. Avery initially declines wanting to know anything about her mother but she ends up wanting to know all about her. From her lover and friends, her enemies and even her isolated cabin and journal she finds out about her mother and herself. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75518243 to: The Summer Kitchen (Hardcover) by Karen Weinreb
Nora Banks has the perfect life. She is wealthy and well-liked. Her boys attend a prestigious private school and her eighteenth century house is renovated to immaculate and tasteful perfection. Nora's life is filled with volunteering, driving her boys to school and getting together with the other mothers to gossip.

When Nora opens her door before dawn one morning to find federal agents there to arrest her husband Evan for a white collar crime, she is astounded. She never expected this to happen. All the other mothers snub her. What is she to do?

Nora decides with the help of her nanny Beatriz to go back to work. She starts off by doing a midnight shift in a bakery. Soon she decides to indulge her passion and start baking her own goodies to sell.

Nora is furious with Evan to the point of being barely able to talk to him and take the boys to visit their father in jail. She feels the isolation and finds herself encouraging an affair with her lawyer. The lawyer besides helping her with the legal mess her husband has left her with is also trying to help himself to Nora's house. Nora is also dealing with a mum who is determined to run her out of town and out of business.

I loved this book. It brought back what values are really important in life. Nora finds out eventually what is really important in life: family, love and real friends. Sometimes books have a profound effect on their readers. That is what happened to me as I realized what a deep love my husband and I share. Thanks to Weinreb for making me think about my important things in life and realizing what I truly have and can cherish ]]>