The Heart of the Deal, book #11

 

This is another book I read for the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.  This one was a little more casual, but still a good read.

She thought no one had ever seen her work.  She was wrong.

Liz Quinn has spent years hiding the one thing that matters most: her landscape photography.

It was never meant to be found.  Until her best friend, a curator, discovers it… and everything changes.  But her best friend isn’t the only one who’s been paying attention.  Nigel Ashworth, her best friend’s brother. Her almost. The man she’s never quite gotten over has seen her work before.  And he’s never forgotten it.  While Liz has been playing it safe, Nigel has been quietly opening doors, believing in her talent long before she ever did.  Now, as autumn settles over the vineyards of Montauk, the connection they once set aside becomes impossible to ignore.  But stepping into the life Nigel sees for her means risking more than her work. It means trusting him with her heart.  And this time, walking away may not be an option.

Because some masterpieces aren’t captured.  They’re created… together.  (picture and description at Amazon)

The Wayfaring Widow, book #10

 

I won't go into too much detail on this, as I was a judge for Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award and this was one of the books I read.  It was cute!

As the trio explores Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Niagara Falls, and New York City, surviving fires, disreputable innkeepers, sickness, and storms, Victoria and Harrison are loathe to find that they cannot avoid each other’s company. But in such close proximity, will Victoria and Harrison’s initial flared tempers lead to even stronger and more unavoidable feelings about each other? Feelings that have them questioning whether their journey will have the most unlikely of destinations: love and healing―and happily ever after―with each other? (Picture and description from Amazon)

The Thursday Murder Club, book #9

 

This has been sitting on my bedside for a while now and finally had a chance to pick it up.  It was truly hilarious, sneaky, mysterious .. all the things it claimed to be.  Two regrets ~ I wish I had been taking notes all along because a lot got mixed up in my head and I wish I had time to just into the next in the series.  Maybe another time I can reread it (with notes!) and move on through the series.

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.  When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.  As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?  (picture and description from Amazon)

Next I am reading several new books not out yet to judge for something or other, plus I need to read the April book for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge (guess I'm not reading the first FOUR books in that series now!) PLUS our book for the school book club.  Whew!

But I do love it!

Melissa

When Justice Comes, book #8

 

What can I say but Whew!  When I got about 70% through with this, I really wanted to keep reading to see what happened ~ well, how it played out, I knew the good guys were eventually going to win! ~ but I also was sad because I realized this wild ride I had been on with Hez and Savannah and Simon was almost over!  I wasn't ready for that!  

The good news is, there are plenty of other Colleen Coble books that I haven't read it!

Hez and Savannah Webster have survived storms that would bury others without a love as strong as theirs--but can they withstand the final battle in the deadly Legare-Willard feud that threatens to sweep away everything they've fought for? Hezekiah "Hez" Webster and his fiancée, Savannah, stand on the brink of a new life, but their dreams are haunted by specters of the past. Just as they're getting ready to adopt her nephew, two other petitioners also file for custody--both of whom only want Simon for their own gains. Between the financial company that Hez outmaneuvered to save the university from ruin and the bad blood from the head of the Willard family, it's hard to say who wants them out of the way more. Hez and Savannah's quest for justice leads them through a labyrinth of family law, where loyalties are tested and trust is a dangerous luxury when every decision could be their last. With the clock ticking, Hez and Savannah must confront the ghosts of their past and their deepest fears to secure a future for Simon. But with every secret revealed, the stakes grow higher. Can they build the family they've always dreamed of, or will their enemies succeed in tearing them apart forever? The Tupelo Grove series reaches its breathtaking conclusion as an enemy's agenda for revenge runs darker than swamp water and justice remains as precarious as quicksand in this heart-pounding narrative that underscores the power of redemption and forgiveness. (picture and description from Amazon)

I don't even know what is next on my reading list, but I'll start a new book soon!

Keep Reading!

Melissa

Where Secrets Lie, book #7

 

Well, she did it again.  I had forgotten how much I LOVE Colleen Coble books!  I went on a little quick trip on an airplane and train this past week and didn't want to carry a book, so I splurged and got this for my *new* Paperwhite (thanks to my old one literally just dying out of the blue the other week).  I do love the bigger size of the Paperwhite and my pretty new cover,

Alas, the book.  I have no words.  After the major plot shocker in the Epilogue last book, I didn't even know where to begin with this!  It made me so sad for some of the characters because one of the "bad guys" was not at all who I thought.  But throughout this book you realize this person was sort of trapped in something that quickly got out of hand.  But they still did bad stuff.  And then THIS happened!  And then THAT happened! and by this point I realize indeed this will NOT wrap up like Savannah and Hez think, because here come the Epilogue again!!  By now I was ready for another shocker, but at least this time it wasn't quite as bad. I mean, it's still bad, but not as big as the shocker of the first book.

College professor Savannah Webster is ready to give her ex-husband, Hez, another chance, and she believes he's finally ready for them to face their many past trials as a team. But when Savannah finds evidence that points to Hez's old demons resurfacing, the fragile trust they've built begins to crumble. And it's not just their relationship that hanging in the balance--the survival of the university Savannah's family poured their lives into is also under threat.  Hez is determined to put his past mistakes behind him with his new role mentoring law students at Tupelo Grove University's legal clinic. His primary focus with the clinic is to help Savannah pull the university out of a pit of debt and bad decisions made by the previous leadership, including her father. But their quest for stability takes a dark turn as they try to root out the dangerous smuggling ring the university is entangled in, and their investigation puts them in the crosshairs of criminals who will stop at nothing to eliminate any obstacle in their path.  The twists continue until the final page as a dangerous world of smuggling and financial instability collides with the complex dynamics of legacy and family.  (Picture and description from Amazon)

I'm so glad I'm on Spring Break this week so I can tear into the final book!

Keep Reading!

Melissa

What We Hide, book #6

 

Wow but wow!  Our book for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge for March is When Justice Comes, which is the third book in the Tupelo Grove series by Colleen Coble.  Some say the 3rd will make more sense if you read the other two, so I decided to jump in, especially since I was ready for a whodunit.  She did not disappoint it!  

At first you think — he did it!  Then you think — no, she did it!  Then you go WHAT?!?!  Then it all comes together (whew!) until the Epilogue.  Then you go AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!

For Savannah and Hez, a crumbling university, stolen artifacts, deep family secrets, and deadly ambitions all stand in the way of a second chance at happiness.  Savannah Webster is trying to find her way forward. She and her husband, Hez, have been separated since tragedy tore them apart and he began numbing his grief and guilt with alcohol. She returned to Tupelo Grove University, which her family helped found over a century ago, to teach history.  When Hez turns up in her classroom asking for a second chance, she rejects the idea immediately. But twenty-four hours later she's under suspicion for murder, and since Hez is the best attorney she knows, she reluctantly asks him for help. They suspect the murder is tied to someone selling off the university's pre-Columbian artifacts, but the secrets go much deeper than they realize.  The only hope they've got is each other, and they're going to have to put their past behind them if they're going to stay alive long enough to uncover all that's hidden.(picture and description at Amazon)

I can hardly wait to tear into Book 2!!

Keep reading!

Melissa

The English Masterpiece, book #5

 

Just finished this book, the second in the Christian FIction Reading Challenge.  I didn't much care for this one as much until the last 20% when things start hopping.  There was not as much mention of God and Jesus in this, and I understand why some Christian authors choose to write that way.  In fact, ones that I could almost try and sneak in as options for my FHS Book Club.  But we have overloaded on mysteries this year there so I'll not be suggesting this one :)

I'm honestly getting all mixed up in my reading right now and it's driving me crazy!  There are a variety of reasons for that, but mainly it has to do with this Reading Challenge.  I do enjoy it, don't get me wrong!  But for the Challenge, we read a book, then do the Zoom with the Author the end of the month.  But with my Book Club, we are a month behind.  So the book we read for Book Club was one I finished last month and watched the Zoom, but then we were going to talk about it this month.  So now, I have finished this book, and the Zoom is this coming week, but we are just now reading it in Book Club.  I am trying not to say too much about how I really felt about it so I don't mar their opinions of it before they read it.  ;)

As the recently promoted assistant to the Tate's Modern Collections keeper Diana Gilden, Lily helps plan a world-class Picasso exhibit to honor the passing of the great artist--and she's waited her whole life for this moment. The opening is beyond anyone's expectations--the lighting, the champagne, the glittering crowd, and the international acclaim--until Lily does the unthinkable. She stops in front of a masterpiece and hears her own voice say, "It's a forgery." The gallery falls silent.  Lily's boss, Diana, is polished perfection, schooled in art, and descends from European high society. She's worked hard to become the trusted voice in London's modern art scene and respected across the Continent. The Tate's Picasso Commemorative is to be her crowning achievement, featuring not only the artist's most iconic and intimate works, but a newly discovered painting--one she advised an investor to purchase. But when Lily makes her outrageous declaration, suspicion and scandal threaten everything Diana has achieved, as museums and collectors across Europe, already doubting most post-war acquisitions, fall into chaos and rumors of a world-wide forgery run wild.  All Lily has ever wanted is to follow in Diana's footsteps and take the art world by storm in her own right. Yet one comment puts not only her own career at risk but also her mentor's. Unless . . . Was she right? With the clock ticking and the clues starting to pile up against her, Lily must uncover the truth behind the Picasso before she loses not only the career she's always wanted, but her freedom.  (Picture and description at Amazon)

Now I am on to the audio book of Matthew Perry's last book for FHS Book Club, then back to the Reading Challenge, which is yet another one of my favorite authors: Colleen Coble!  (However, this is book 3 in the series and I believe there is chatter on the FB page that you need to read the other two books first!) 

Keep Reading!

Melissa