Summer Nights by Susan Mallery

Reviewed by Cassandra, Collection Management Librarian

The Fools Gold series is already on book 8! Summer Nights is the story of horse trainer Shane Stryker and the fiesty town librarian Annabelle Weiss. If you like romance and chick lit then this is the series for you! The plot is a bit silly at times but Mallery is such an excellent writer that you stay hooked regardless. This series is great if you enjoy romance or chick lit. I know I am looking forward to the next installment in the series.

Cooking Up a Mystery

This Mysterious Mornings group met yesterday and talked about their favorite culinary mysteries.  Here is the list of group favorites by author and sleuth:

• Childs, Laura (Theodosia Browning)
• Coyle, Cleo (Clare Cosi)
• Crosby, Ellen (Lucie Montgomery)
• Daheim, Mary (Judith McMonigle Flynn)
• Fluke, Joanne (Hannah Swenson)
• Hyzy, Julie (Olivia Paras)
• Jaffarian, Sue Ann (Emma Whitecastle)
• Lipperman, Liz (Clueless Cook Mysteries)
• Loehfelm, Bill (Maureen Coughlin)
• MacInerney, Karen (Natalie Barnes)
• McKevett, G.A. (Savannah Reid)

Interested in joining a Mysterious Mornings discussion?  A list of suggested authors and titles are available at the Bridgewater Library and books will be on display about a month prior to the discussion.  (If you’re a voracious mystery reader you can read more than one!  Our next theme/subgenre is New England Mysteries.)

If it’s a mystery and it takes place in New England, hen it fits this month’s subgenre.  Just keep in mind how the location affects the mystery because that’ll be a major talking point at our discussion in July.  (The meeting will be on Wednesday, July 11^th at 9:30am at the Bridgewater Library.)

Liver Let Die by Liz Lipperman

Jordan moves to Ranchero, Texas to work for a small town newspaper after leaving Dallas and her ex-fiancé behind.  She wants to be a sports reporter, but she settles for running the personals desk.  Then disaster strikes.  The food columnist has a personal water craft incident and will be unable to review restaurants or publish recipes while she recuperates.  The editor offers Jordan the job (for no extra pay, but free meals and the satisfaction of seeing her name in print).  Jordan jumps at the opportunity and then freaks out a bit.  She is a fast food maven and can’t cook anything.  The art of making grilled cheese eludes her.  Yet, she’s headed out to a fancy restaurant to try her hand at being a foodie.

I was pleasantly surprised by this cozy mystery.  This is a mystery that is light-hearted yet not light on substance.  There are a few storylines going and while some things seem pretty straightforward the whodunit (and whydunit) are not obvious at all.  Jordan is a savvy reporter and balks at any situations that would put her in danger.  Her friends are great and quirky and I would like to return to Ranchero, Texas for the next installment.

Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr

Reviewed by Cassandra, Collection Management Librarian

Tom Cavanaugh thought he wanted to escape from his family's apple orchard business so he joined the Marines. After his two years, he decided the last thing he wanted to do was be anywhere else but home. Nora Crane has had a tough life to be so young but she is filled with determination and resolve to make the best of it for her two young daughters.

When the Cavanaughs posted a notice at the church for apple pickers, Nora jumped at the opportunity to have a pretty decent paying job for a change. Tom Cavanaugh took one look at her and turned her down. His grandmother, Maxie, intervenes and Nora is hired. And so begins the transformation of Tom and Nora's lives.

There is secondary story involving Luke and one of his former Army buddies, Hank Cooper, that had the makings of something pretty interesting but fell flat by the end of the book. I'm hoping that Hank will be resurrected in a future story but I was disappointed in this storyline.

Overall, this is a pretty solid addition to the series, even though it won't be in my top favorites. Nora and Tom are really likable characters, even though he could be rather dense at times. 

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

My worst subject in school was history.  I hated it.  I didn’t see the point.  I didn’t want to know.  Only now do I have an appreciation for history and a craving to know all those things I once found so pointless.  Needless to say my knowledge of Russian history pre-WWII was quite poor, practically non-existent.  After reading this book I feel pretty caught up with Russian and European history during the reign of Catherine the Great. 

While this truly is a portrait of Catherine, every person is molded by their era, surroundings and circumstances, all of which is detailed here.  This is a dense, detailed read.  And I don’t mean dense as a negative.  There is a lot of rich detail here which makes you want to read slowly so you don’t miss a thing. 

For all fans of history – there is something here to engage every reader.

Stay Close by Harlan Coben

If you’ve left your past in the past should the people in your present hold it against you?  Megan is living a comfortable upper-middle class life in suburban New Jersey.  She’s married to a wonderful man and has two wonderful boys.  One day, her past comes knocking.  Seventeen years ago Megan, then going by the name of Cassie, was an exotic dancer in Atlantic City.  It was a life she loved and misses, but she has moved on.  She had to.  She witnessed something the night she fled her former life that she has been running from ever since.  It has finally caught up to her.

While constructing an edge of your seat thriller Coben also addresses some interesting questions.  Can you ever leave your past behind you?  Does your past matter?  And do the people from your past mean as much to you as you do to them?  Scott Brick, one of my all time favorite audiobook narrators, does this one and he really makes the less glitzy part of Atlantic City come to life.

The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny

Gabriella Mondini is not the typical 16^th century Venetian.  She is following in her father’s footsteps, and has become a doctor, well regarded by her patients yet a concern for the practicing male doctors in the area.  Her father went off quite a few years ago to find more materials for his book regarding madness and cures and his correspondence has gotten more and more sporadic and disturbing.  Gabriella decides to not just adopt her father’s profession, but to literally follow in his footsteps by beginning a journey across Europe and into Africa to find the man she loves and admires more than any other.  For without his patronage she can no longer practice medicine in Venice.

This is a harrowing journey tale.  The land, the people and the disease which meet Gabriella and her two devoted servants in each city and country they traverse come to life through the author’s words.  This book reminded me of the quest novels of the fantasy genre the world was so foreign and new.  An atmospheric tale that truly transports you back in time.