Lawana Blackwell

Dear Readers,

Welcome back Lawana Blackwell, you have been missed by readers.  A Haven on Orchard Lane is Lawana's first book in 8 years and I for one could hardly wait to read it.  The best part was I was able to savor it while sitting at the beach one day on vacation.

A gentle tale of life in Victorian England.  Charlotte escapes her abusive marriage.  Her husband only married her for any money that she is rumored to have.  When he finds out that she has none he mocks her for anything and everything.  So when she is offered a chance to return to the stage she makes a run for it.

The results are a disaster.  With no where to return, her estranged daughter rescues her and helps her settle into a small cottage in a lovely village to recover.  Charlotte and Rosalind's relationship is non-existence  since Charlotte left Rosalind with an aunt to raise.

Even with the two women trying to make there way back to each other, this is a gentle story.  It makes you want to go back in time to live in one of those wonderful village.  Lawana has wonderful characters who you want to meet and even though not everyone is perfect, they are people you want to know.

If you are looking for a wonderful, refreshing, tender story.  It is not only a story of a mother daughter relationship it is how those around us are there to help us through those valleys.  Of course it is a great way to take a vacation to England also.

Happy Reading.

New Release - From Winter's Ashes - Amy Leigh Simpson

From Winter's Ashes - Amy Leigh Simpson

If you can trust your enemy with your life, what’s to stop him from stealing your heart?

Hopelessly unlucky in love and a target for tragedy, Joselyn Whyte hardly leads the charmed life you’d expect of an heiress. When she becomes the mark of an arsonist, the last person she expects to ride to her rescue is her nemesis—the man who sealed her fate as a frigid and lonely “Snow Whyte.” 

Firefighter Finn Carson might talk a big game, but behind the swagger and the dimples is a man tormented by a mistake that cost a life. When a force stronger than his stubbornness pulls him off the bench and into a 5-Alarm fire for a miraculous save, Finn decides the key to his redemption lies with the Ice Princess he loathes. But the price to freedom from the guilt and nightmares might be too steep if it means bartering with Joselyn’s father by posing as her boyfriend—her safety and the ruthless billionaire’s Senatorial campaign hanging on the combustible edge of a decade old grudge. 

When secrets from the past resurface, the ruse and reality collide and threaten to thaw their heated rivalry—turning hate into something that terrifies them even more than the cunning predator with a bent sense of justice. Second in The Girl Next Door crime romance series,

New Releases - August 22-27

Dear Readers,

This is the unofficial "lets go camping as summer is over" week.  I know my family used always go camping on the week before Labor day.  Which of course meant a trip to the local bookstore or library to make sure we had enough books to read for either the trip to the campground or if it happened to rain.  Now a days I stay home this week and let the families camp.  But reading, well of course this week is great for it.

Happy Reading,

The Room with The Second Best View - Virginia Smith - #3 Tales from the Goose Creek B&B - Goose Creek is celebrating 150 years.  The buzz is in the air for not only the celebration, but also the wedding of the veterinarian.  Al is fine with it all until Millie surprising him with an idea for the B&B.

When Fall Fades - Amy Leigh Simpson - #1 The Girl Next Door - Sadie Carson has pretty much given up on her dreams.  Working as a hospice nurse she is able to help give others the closure she can't seem to find.  When her elderly neighbor is murdered, Sadie is determined to find out what and who killed him.

From Winter's Ashes - Amy Leigh Simpson -#2 The Girl Next Door - Joselyn Whyte has been labeled "Snow Whyte" by firefighter Finn Carson.  But when her life is threatened by an arsonist, they must join forces and find out who would want to wants her dead.

Mary Chosen of God - Diana Wallis Taylor - Mary is the chosen one. The ordinary girl chosen to raise the Son of God.  Who was she, how did she endure all that God was asking of her?  What can we learn from her walk from the mother of Jesus to one of the early members of a radical new religion.

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Catherine West

Dear Readers,

The Things We Knew by Catherine West is a story about a boy and a girl.  When they start to discover that they may love each other life interrupts and choices are made.  What makes this such a pleasant read is the story of how they find each other again.

Lynette Carlisle grew up in a wonderful family, not a perfect family, but they loved each other.  That is until the night her mother died.  12 year old Lynette watched the rest of her siblings grow up and leave Nantucket to find their way anywhere but at home.  She is left with the pieces.

Even the boy next door who promised always be there for her disappears into the world with no explanation. Nick Cooper was like family, his family life was at best tolerable, at worse... well it just is hard to explain why is father seems to hate him.

Lynette is trying to keep her head above water with a father who is loosing his grip on reality and a house that is falling down around them.  No one seems interested in helping them or believe her when she tells them it is bad.  They all just go one with their lives.

I think that is what is most interesting about this life.  Every one of the characters seems to think that they are living life well, but each one has a flaw.  Each one needs the others and yet they all seem to want to stay apart.  This makes these characters so very real.

Catherine does not make light of any of the baggage she gives her characters.  She doesn't give pat answers to the problems, like if you just believe and pray all your problems will go away.  She makes them struggles, everyday struggles.  Something that is dealt with every time you wake up in the morning until you sleep at night.

If you like books that are not wrapped in a neat little bow at the end with all the problems solved and happily ever after on the doorstep, then I suggest this book.  I found that when the book ended, even though the boy and girl were not married or perfectly happy at the end, I was happy with the conclusion as it left the door open for them to live lives like the rest of us.  Normal, well as normal as we all are.

Happy Reading,

Author Visit - David and Diane Munson

David and Diane Munson

visiting Baker Book House 

Thursday @ 7:00 p.m.

I can't wait to see David and Diane again.  They have been a favorite of mine since introducing themselves to me at the Holland Baker.  Thankfully they were also a regular here in Grand Rapids.

If you like reading action adventure or are just interested in here about a couple who lived on the front lines of the government, join us tomorrow night.  Love to see you there. 

New Release - Disillusioned - Christy Barritt

Disillusioned - Christ Barritt

Nikki Wright is desperate to help her brother, Bobby, who hasn’t been the same since escaping from a detainment camp run by terrorists in Colombia. Rumor has it that he betrayed his navy brothers and conspired with those who held him hostage, and both the press and the military are hounding him for answers. All Nikki wants is to shield her brother so he has time to recover and heal.

But soon they realize the paparazzi are the least of their worries. When a group of men try to abduct Nikki and her brother, Bobby insists that Kade Wheaton, another former SEAL, can keep them out of harm’s way. But can Nikki trust Kade? After all, the man who broke her heart eight years ago is anything but safe…

Hiding out in a farmhouse on the Chesapeake Bay, Nikki finds her loyalties—and the remnants of her long-held faith—tested as she and Kade put aside their differences to keep Bobby’s increasingly erratic behavior under wraps. But when Bobby disappears, Nikki will have to trust Kade completely if she wants to uncover the truth about a rumored conspiracy. Nikki’s life—and the fate of the nation—depends on it