Ann Shorey's Blog, page 9

WORDS SPOKEN TRUE, by Ann Gabhart

The back cover copy for Words Spoken True leads the reader to believe that this novel is simple romance between two people with interests in competing newspapers. But Words Spoken True is so much more.
A serial killer is on the loose in 1850's Louisville, Kentucky, preying on young Irish girls. As this mystery deepens, author Gabhart drops the reader into the midst of a political campaign

WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS, Lynette Eason

            Alexia
Allen is on enforced leave from her firefighter job in Washington when she
receives a phone call from a high school friend inviting her to their tenth
reunion. Impulsively, she decides to return to the town she fled on the day
after graduation ten years ago.

            Her
homecoming starts off with an almost-literal bang when she discovers a murdered
classmate in her

SMITTEN

Smitten is a
delightful collection of four novellas written by Colleen Coble, Kristen
Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter.

            The town
of Smitten, Vermont, seems doomed when the main employer, a lumber mill,
announces it is closing. Smitten
tells the story of four friends who won't let the town die without a fight.
They launch a scheme to turn Smitten into a honeymoon

LONG TRAIL HOME, by Vickie McDonough

When Annie Sheffield is thirteen, her life goes from bad to worse when her father abandons her in Waco, Texas. With nowhere else to go, she pretends to be blind in order to have a home at the Wilcox School for Blind Children.
Several years later, her peaceful life is rocked when a returning Civil War veteran, Riley Morgan, takes a job as handyman at the school. Annie is drawn to him, but cannot

SUMMER OF PROMISE, by Amanda Cabot

Abigail Harding plans a short visit to her older sister, Charlotte, in Wyoming, then she will hasten back to Vermont, where she has an almost-fiancé waiting. Her sister's protestations that all is well in her marriage don't match up to the actions Abigail observes in the home Charlotte shares with her husband, Jeffrey, at Fort Laramie.
While Abigail walks a fine line between being a guest of

BLUE SKIES TOMORROW, by Sarah Sundin

Helen Carlisle is left widowed, with a small son, when her husband is killed in the Pacific during WWII. To the people in her hometown, she's a brave woman who is giving her time to support the war effort in honor of her heroic husband's memory. But Helen is hiding a secret about her marriage.
Lt. Raymond Novak wants nothing more than to serve his hometown as a pastor, but with the war raging

MINE IS THE NIGHT, by Liz Curtis Higgs

As promised last week, here's my review of the conclusion of Liz Curtis Higgs' beautiful retelling of the Biblical story of Naomi and Ruth.
Mine is the Night continues the story of Margery and Elizabeth Kerr as they leave Edinburgh and travel to an uncertain future in Margery's hometown of Selkirk.
Faced with near poverty, and branded as traitors for their support of the Jacobite cause, they

HERE BURNS MY CANDLE, by Liz Curtis Higgs

 From the beginning of Here Burns My Candle, right on through to the end of its sequel, Mine is the Night, Liz Curtis Higgs leads the reader through an inspired retelling of the story of Naomi and Ruth in the Old Testament. I'll be reviewing Mine is the Night next week. In my opinion, the two books should be read in sequence. After finishing Here Burns My Candle, I couldn't wait to pick up Mine

THE HEIRESS, by Susan May Warren The Heires...

THE HEIRESS, by Susan May Warren


            The Heiress provides a fascinating glimpse
into what has been called the Gilded Age in America. Warren has created two
sisters, Esme and Jinx Price, and used them to illustrate the opulent lifestyle
of the era's most privileged citizens.


            Esme,
the older sister, is forced by her family into an engagement to a man she does
not love--or

THE FENCE MY FATHER BUILT, by Linda S. Clare

The teaser on the back cover of The Fence My Father Built reads, "This is the story of finding your way home--even when home is a trailer in the middle of nowhere." And what a story this is. Muri Pond's parents divorced when she was a small child, and she has spent her life dreaming about reuniting with her father. When she decides to take the journey to eastern Oregon to find him, she takes her