The Heights by Peter Hedges

This is a well-written book that kept my attention from beginning to end. The narration goes back and forth between Kate and Tim, a happily-married couple. Of course everyone is usually happy at the beginning of a book! Tim teaches in a private school and has his dissertation hanging over his head. Kate left her career to stay at home and be a mom. Money is tight and though they live in a rather ritzy area, they only occupy 900 square feet of it! And then Kate is offered a job - a nice job. So they decide she should return to work and Tim will take care of the kids and work on that pesky dissertation. Tim gets to know all of the other mothers/caregivers on the playground. One day there is someone new in the neighborhood -Anna Brody. She is married, rich and you know right away that she is going to be causing trouble! This is a good read.

The Merlot Murders by Ellen Crosby

Recovering from a car injury two years before, Lucie Montgomery receives the news that her father has died - accidentally. Returning to her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Lucie is immediately surrounded by old family pressures. The family winery is failing and her brother and sister want to sell it. Soon the only holdout along with her is also killed and Lucie begins to wonder if she is next. And who should she suspect?

A quick read, this book none-the-less has interesting characters and a fun setting. Like most books that are the first in a series, a time was spent setting up the characters and their background. I enjoyed learning more about that area of Virginia and found the mystery intriguing. Perhaps best read with a glass of wine in hand?

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

In the summer of 1945, Marjorie Hart, then a student at the University of Iowa, made the trip to New York City with her friends. Their purpose? To find a job. What they really wanted? To experience the "big city" and all it had to offer.

After being turned away from jobs at Lord and Taylor's, Marjorie and her friend Marty finally find jobs at Tiffany's. Because of the absence of male workers, the two became the first women to be employed on the floor at the world-famous jewelers. During their summer in New York, they saw famous people up close and were able to experience life in New York City at the end of World War II.

This is a wonderful look at a specific time in history. The stories of how the girls managed to live on $20 a week and pay for rent AND see the sites of New York City are fun. Add into that the romance of finding a midshipman to date...

Recommended to me by a friend, I enjoyed this book a great deal!

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

This novel is the story of two sisters and the people whose lives intertwine with theirs.

At 28, practical Emily is the CEO of a start-up technology company on the verge of going public. At 23, her younger sister, Jess, is a philosophy student and also involved in environmental causes. While Emily is rational and driven, Jess is dreamy and whimsical. Emily is the mathematician in the family; Jess works at an antiquarian bookstore. Set in 1999, the novel follows their lives over the course of the next three years.

This is a very sparse outline of the book and yet it is the best one I can give. Throughout the first 100 pages or so, we are introduced to Emily and Jess, to Emily's boyfriend, Jonathan, to Jess's boss, George, and to many other people. For awhile, I found myself slightly miffed at the way the novel wandered from one person to another. Why wasn't there more about the relationship between Jess and Emily? Who was the "cookbook collector" of the title? And just when I thought I was going to put the book down and not finish it...I was hooked.

The author has a lovely, lyrical way of writing. I lost count of the number of characters she introduced me to but found myself caring about each of them. Her explanations of life in and before and after the "dot.com" collapse were fascinating and sad and exciting, all at once. She wound recent past history (the presidential election of 2000, 9/11) in and around the characters' lives.

And just when I had given up on ever finding out anything about the cookbook collector, there he was. The cookbooks became as much a character in the novel as the people, just as real and just as alive.

This is one of those books where the characters won't necessarily stay with me for awhile but the way the author uses words will.

Faithful Place by Tana French

The main character in the book is Frank Mackey. He grew up in a not-so-nice part of Dublin known as Faithful Place. He and his siblings had a tough time growing up. Their father was an alcoholic with a mean streak. The older children tried to look out for the younger ones. The highlight of Frank's life is Rosie - the beautiful girl who lives down the street. Their fathers don't get along so when their relationship becomes serious they are forced to keep it under the radar. Plans are made for them to run away to England where they will marry and start a new and better life. The night they are to meet Rosie never shows up. Frank finds a note that leads him to believe she is going without him. Devastated, Frank leaves home and eventually becomes an undercover cop with a successful career. His marriage wasn't so successful. They are divorced but still share their daughter.
After 22 years away from Faithful Place Frank receives a call from is sister, saying that a suitcase belonging to Rosie was found in an abandon house. Unable to leave the past, Frank becomes involved in the mystery of what happened to Rosie. It was a great mystery with lots of bits and pieces to it.

Rich, Thin and Pretty by Beth Harbison

This was a good book. The title is a description of three girls/women - Lexi, Nicola and Holly. They first knew each other at a camp when they were teenage girls - and you know how they act! Cliques, meanness, insecurities and secrets. Nicola and Holly were the recipients of the meanness and so they clung together. They didn't know that rich-girl Lexi was just as miserable as they were but for different reasons. Nicola and Holly planned some revenge on Lexi to get even.
Twenty years later Nicola and Holly are still best of friends. Nicola lives in Hollywood where she had a smash movie. Now she is waiting for some more success. Convinced that it is because of her looks, she has some plastic surgery done. Holly is still fighting the demons of weight. This time she might win because she is highly motivated. Her boyfriend has said that they will get engaged when she has lost twenty pounds. Lexi has lived a very spoiled life. Her "job" is shopping. She has lived at home with her very rich father and her not-so-nice stepmother. But when her dad dies she finds herself out on the streets and looking for a way to support herself. She and Holly run into each other. Holly becomes overwhelmed with the guilt of what she and Nicola did to Lexi all the years ago and talks Nicola into trying to right that wrong.
This isn't a particularly deep book but it was entertaining and perfect for spending a lazy day in an air-conditioned house while avoiding the heat outside!

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

This is a great relationship book. The relationship between sisters, between mothers and daughters, between aunts and nieces - and then there are few men that creep into the story too! Birdie is a newly divorced woman who is spending lots of time and money planning the wedding of her daughter Chess. It surprised Birdie that Chess is letting her do that because they aren't very close. But in the middle of the preparations Chess breaks off her engagement. No one can understand why - especially her fiance Michael. Then Michael goes off a climbing vacation with his brother and is killed when he falls. Chess is devastated. Birdie talks her into going to Tuckernuck, an island near Nantucket. Tuckernuck was left to Birdie by her parents and she hasn't been there for a long time, but it was the place she most loved to go when she was growing up. They end up being joined by Birdie's younger daughter, Tate, and Birdie's sister, India. Throughout the book we hear from everybody about what is really going on. It was a great book and I highly recommend it!

Fragile by Lisa Unger

This was a great easy read that kept me reading at a frantic pace. It involves two missing girls - although the cases are 20+ years apart. The incidents took place in The Hollows, a small town outside of New York City. It is the type of town that has a hold on people and many of the kids that were around when the first girl went missing are still around. Only now they are grown-ups working as cops, a psychologist and other respectable things! Maggie is the psychologist and the latest missing girl is the girlfriend of her teenage son. Hmmmmmm. And one of Maggie's teenage patients is not very stable. Hmmmmmm. Oh yeah, Maggie's husband is the lead detective on the case - and he may know more about the original disappearance that he's ever told.

Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

We own three different versions of this title, regular print, large print and downloadable audiobook. I listened to the downloadable audiobook version, and was amazed by this book.

We start out with a woman named Hallie James, who gets a letter in the mail from a lawyer that changes her life forever. In that envelope is a letter from Hallie's mother, whom Hallie had thought died when she was 5 years old. Now 30 years later she is informed that up until a week ago her mother was alive and well. Trying to find answers to why her loving and caring father (who died the day after she got this letter) would have taken her away from her mother, Hallie travels to the island where her mother lived, and is thrown into a strange world. She learns about her mothers side of the family, with all the strange paranormal activity surrounding their family home.

This gothic / paranormal fiction story was a wonderful book. I was hooked from the beginning to the end, on my toes wanting to know what was going to happen next!

If you'll enjoy a ghost or two, a unsolved murder and a mysterious family this is the book for you!

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James

James is a new writer and she wrote a great debut novel. It has a psychological suspense flavor to it. Katherine is the main character. Her story is woven throughout the book so that we just get bits and pieces until it all comes together at the end. Because of a tragedy she has chosen to leave her parents and live with her aunt in a new city and she also changes her last name to protect her privacy. The first day at school she meets Alice and they seem to hit it off. Alice seems a bit unstable mentally - at least to the reader if not to Katherine! Katherine and Robbie (Alice's boyfriend) are constantly being manipulated by Alice, but neither has the will to distance themselves from her. The story changes from the present to the past to the future and back again. It kept my interest from the beginning to the end.

Supreme Justice by Phillip Margolin

I have read many of Margolin's novels and I have to say that this wasn't my favorite one. In fairness to the book, let me say that I listened to the audio book and some books are just better in print. I listen to audio books because I am doing something else while I listen! This book was hard to follow. I had a hard time remembering all of the characters and the story seemed to jump around. The main plot of this book involves Sarah Woodruff, a policewoman, who has been on trial twice for the murder of lover. (The first time it turns out he wasn't actually dead - so they dismissed the case.) She has been sentenced to death and now is appealing her case to the Supreme Court. So we have her story and the story concerning the Supreme Court. And is a justice who is retiring and two justices who are attacked. I think you get the picture - there is a lot going on! Not my favorite book of the month, but it could have been that I was too distracted. He really is a good author.

The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier

After reading some "heavier" books, this one was a welcome change. Joy Harkness is a college professor at Columbia in New York City. She likes the big city and how easy it is to keep your life private and to stay out of other people's lives. Her apartment has a "heart-stopping view of the Hudson" - but then she explains that you can only see it by hanging out the window! There isn't much space in the apartment and she has to walk up four flights of stairs - which was easier when she moved in 15 years ago.
Then one day she gets recruited by Amherst College in Massachusetts. A real estate agent named Donna was recommended to Joy. I loved the part where they met. Donna is wearing a yellow warm-up suit and Joy is dressed in a New York appropriate outfit in the wild colors of dark gray and black. Let the culture shock begin. Joy had sold her apartment in four days for an astonishing amount of money, so Donna was eager to show her some beautiful houses. And the house that Joy sees and can't get out of her mind? Of course it is an old Victorian which needs to be fixed up.
This book is one about new beginnings - a house which gets her involved with "the only guy who can save the house" , a job with colleagues that share a little more than Joy is used to knowing and a life that seems like - well, a second chance!
A nice easy read with enjoyable characters.

Messages by Bonnie McEneaney 133.9 Mc#

I heard about this book on Date Line NBC. The next day I filled out a request for purchase. When it came in I couldn't wait for it to be processed so that I could cover it and start reading. When I started it I couldn't stop. If you have any belief in an afterlife, you will find this book very compelling. If you are not open to it, don't waste your time reading the book!
McEneaney is a 9/11 widow. There were some strange things that happened before and after 9/11 in her life. Over the years she spent time with other people who had lost loved ones on that day. Many of them also had stories to share. Some of them were non-believers, but they could not explain the things that occurred.
The sub-title of this book is "Signs, Visits, and Premonitions from Loved Ones Lost on 9/11". Now you know what the book is about. From a sad event came hopeful stories of love and connections that never end.

The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch

Tilly had some rough years. Her mother died when Tilly was 17, her father tried to drink away his sorrow and there were two younger sisters that needed some mothering. But she survived and everything turned out - well, mostly. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart. She is a counselor at her former high school and she is reliving many of her own high school moments. But a baby - when is that going to happen? When it does everything will be perfect.
One day Tilly is at a local fair when she sees a fortune teller's booth which is run by her old childhood friend,Ashley. Instead of just reading her fortune, Ashley gives Tilly the gift of clarity. You might think that would be really great, but it doesn't work out so well for Tilly. Her happy life looks like it has a few bumps ahead. I really enjoyed reading it and I think there are a few lessons that could be learned - if you wanted to learn a lesson!

Innocent by Scott Turow

About ten years ago I read the book Presumed Innocent by Turow. The fact that I can remember the surprising conclusion of that book is a testament to how good it was. The main character is defense attorney Rusty Sabich. He finds himself as a defendant when a colleague is raped and murdered - and he happened to be having an affair with her.
Now it is déjà vu all over again! He's been having another affair - when will these men learn??????? And there is another dead body - only this time it is his bi-polar wife. He ends up back on trial again. This time it is even worse because he is a judge who is in contention for the state supreme court. And this time is son Nat is in the court room listening.
I loved the way Turow wrote this. The narration moves from Rusty to Nat to Anna (the mistress) and to the prosecuting attorney, Tommy Moto. The pace is quick and the story keeps you wondering what the truth really is.

Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

Becca is the daughter of a well-to-do family with a summer home in Red Hook. John's mother, Jane, cleans for Becca's mom, Iris, and others. Of course they fall madly in love and marry. They are blissfully happy and never have a cross word for each other during their marriage. But to be fair I should tell you that the marriage only lasted a few hours. They were tragically killed when their limo is hit by another car as they returned to the reception after taking pictures. So although John and Becca are talked about during the entire book, we are never part of their lives -just their deaths. This book is about the two families over the next four summers - how their lives and their sorrows intertwine. I think it is well-written and very readable. The end, however, - oh the end. I am not sure what happened! I think I know but I read and reread it a few times.
Interesting characters and believable actions make it a good read.