"Finding Home" by Lauren Baker and Bonnie Dee

Megan is a 23-year-old aspiring journalist working as a copy editor at an L.A. weekly hoping for her big break when she takes it upon herself to write a piece about homeless youth on her own time.  One of the teens who reluctantly agrees to be interviewed is Mouth, a 17-year-old orphan who makes money as a prostitute on Santa Monica Boulevard.  As Megan gets to know some of the kids better and continues to interview them, she finds herself physically drawn to Mouth and worries when she doesn't see him for nearly a week.  When he reappears beaten and robbed by thugs, Megan talks him into staying at her apartment until he heals.  Though reluctant, Mouth agrees and admits that his real name is Sean and that he wants to get his GED along with a real job.  As their friendship deepens and they become roommates, he and Megan both try hard to fight their mutual attraction, and here's where the book becomes controversial.  Even though Sean is still legally a minor for only a few more months, he and Megan do become involved.  She feels guilty; is this his way of paying her back for all she's done for him, or does he truly care for her and want a real relationship?  As her friends and family find out that they are dating, reactions range from disbelief and disgust to acceptance.  Sean also has issues when he sees how harshly she is being judged for being with him.  His self-esteem is already low, and not being accepted by some of Megan's friends and family makes it worse.

I liked this story but was torn in my feelings because Sean/Mouth is still legally a minor, although he acts more mature than Megan does sometimes, but that's really what drives most of the conflict in the story. He's been on his own for over a year and knows how to survive while Megan is constantly late for work and family functions and can barely take care of herself.  The authors did a great job handling a controversial subject and rendering both characters with depth and distinct personality traits.  Megan's family was also well drawn, especially her sister and brother and their relationship to her.  Overall, this was a well written and highly believable tale of love and redemption.  248 pages (Kindle edition).

Pardonable lies : a Maisie Dobbs novel by Jacqueline Winspear.

Maisie Dobbs returns to France to look for a pilot who was presumed dead during WWI.  She reunites with her best friend Priscilla who asks her to look into the death of her brother.  Maisie discovers what happened to the two men and how their deaths were linked to her mentor, Maurice. Is there such a thing as a pardonable lie?  342 pages.

"After the Frost" by PG Owyns

This gentle and lovely book takes place in 1928 in the Pacific northwest and focuses on Julian Powell, who suffers from an illness that is never named but has limited his life.  He lives with his overbearing aunt, meek uncle, and cruel cousin after the death of his parents when he was a child.  Now he is a young man but has been held down by his illness and his uncaring family.  Books and writing are his solace in his lonely and solitary life.  But when an ailing childhood friend, Mark, moves back to town, he decides to move in with him and Mark's father to help take care of him.  While there, he gets to know one of their neighbors, William Neill, a WWI veteran suffering from flashbacks of the battlefields in France.  As their friendship grows, Julian and William help each other find what the other has been missing.

What an unexpected treasure this story turned out to be.  The author really knows how to write lovely descriptions, and her gentle phrases mirrored the gentleness in Julian, his love of nature, and his wonderment of the outdoors after having spent so much time inside while ill.  He also has a secret that makes the story all the sweeter.  William is also a very kind and tenderhearted man who struggles with what he witnessed in the war, and his protection of Julian is touching.  On top of all this, there are two dogs and a cat who come to enrich Julian's life.  This was a deeply moving tale of living for love and choosing a family of one's own.  175 pages (Kindle edition).

Freefall by Tracie Abramson

(Posted for Diann Stark)

This romantic suspense novel brings together Lieutenant Brent Miller and Amy Whitmore, an LDS Senator's daughter. Brent successfully frees six of seven hostages in the Middle East. Amy, the final hostage, and Brent must cross miles of desert to safety. In order to survive Brent will need her as much as she needs him. Saint Squad series, book 1.

Audio Book: Reading time: 9 hours and 53 minutes. 242 pages

The Undaunted by Gerald Lund

(Posted for Diann Stark)

This is a story about David and how he and his family came to America, the father continued working in the Coal mines, but David took out on his own. Eventually David helped move a group of people who were called to the San Juan Mission in 1879.  They were to create a settlement to serve as a buffer between the established towns of Utah and the lawless frontier of the Four Corners area.  First they had to create a trail over desert slick rock and through desolate cliffs. The story goes into the telling how they built the roads for the wagons to be able to travel through. The first few chapters was hard for me to get through, but, once they get to America the story had my attention and turned out to be a good read!


Audio Book: Reading time: 31 hours and 44 minutes. 804 pages 

Coming Home: The Chesapeake Diaries by Mariah Stewart

(Posted for Diann Stark)

Widower Grady Shields, a former FBI agent, who now lives in the wilderness and loves it. He attends his sister Mia's wedding to police chief Gabriel Beck. Gabriel's twice-divorced half-sister Vanessa Keaton falls for Grady. Grady plans to leave right after the wedding but decides to stay around town to help when Vanessa's life is endangered. 

Audio Book: Reading time: 9 hours, 13 minutes. 376 pages

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The town of Wall is a night's drive from London.  It takes its name from a gray rock wall on its eastern side.  There is only one opening in the wall. On the other side are a meadow, a stream, and a forest. Two townsmen always stand guard to prevent entry to the meadow, except for a few days every nine years. That is when there is a fair in the meadow, put on by people who aren't strictly human. At the fair one year, Dunstan Thorn is seduced by one of them. Nine months later, a baby is left on his doorstep with the name Tristran Thorn pinned to its blanket.

 

When Tristran is 17, he falls in love with the prettiest girl in town and asks her to marry him. She says she will if he brings her the falling star they see streaking through the sky. So Tristran sneaks past the guards, through the opening in the wall, and sets off through Faerie to find the falling star.

 

The star has fallen in Faerie, and though Tristran soon finds her (for in Faerie a star is not a ball of flaming gas, but a living, breathing woman), he has a hard time holding on to her. The sons of the Lord of Stormhold also seek the star, for it is said that he who finds her can take his father's throne. In addition, the oldest of three evil witches seeks the star, for her heart can grant youth and beauty. They flee from the evil witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold,  surviving outrageous tests and mishaps, including passage on a “sky-ship'' and Tristrans transformation into a dormouse. Safely returned to Wall, he acquires through a gracious act of renunciation his (long promised) “heart's desire.''

 

368 pages

Deadly Magic by Elisabeth Crabtree

The employees of the Straker Toy Company are not a happy lot, but they surely are not unhappy enough to kill the boss' wife, are they? There are lots of characters - some are lovable, some are tiresome. I am curious enough about the lead character, Grace Holliday, that I will check out the second book in the series. 330 pages.

Seeds of Vengeance by Sylvia Nobel

In this second book in the series, Reporter Kendall O'Dell  investigates the grisly murder of a prominent judge. There are plenty of suspects - and one of them apparently wants Kendall dead, too. There were enough twists and turns to keep me reading.385 pages.

Ordained Irreverence by McMillian Moody

Elmo Jenkins unexpectedly steps into an internship at a mega church which starts him on many unexpected adventures. There is a little mystery, a little romance, and lots of laughter in this first book in the Elmo Jenkins series. 242 pages.

"Thief of Shadows" by Elizabeth Hoyt

The fourth book in the Maiden Lane series focuses on Winter Makepeace, the manager and headmaster of the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children in the rough London neighborhood of St. Giles, and Lady Isabel Beckinhall, a young widow who wants to help with the home.  Winter has no interest or ability in schmoozing with aristocrats, but Isabel convinces him that he must if he is to find wealthy patrons to help pay for the orphanage.  She gives him dancing and etiquette lessons and takes him to the opera and balls in order to introduce him to London's high society.  Meanwhile, the Harlequin Ghost of St. Giles, a vigilante who roams the streets at night to protect the innocent, is rescued by Isabel when he is injured, and everyone is desperate to know his identity.  Will she be the first to find out, and, if so, will she tell?

Hoyt continues the series in grand fashion, pairing the dour and serious Winter with the vivacious and rich Isabel.  She could easily have made both cartoon characters, but the author gives them depth through loss and disappointment.  I especially liked Winter with his high ideals and willingness to sacrifice himself for the citizens of St. Giles, and he helps Isabel see what is truly important in life.  I'll definitely be reading the next in the series.  367 pages.

"Blue Notes" by Shira Anthony

Jason Greene is a successful lawyer in Philadelphia when he finds out his fiancee has cheated on him.  He calls off the wedding and decides to spend two months in Paris at his sister's apartment for a much needed break.  While there, he befriends a struggling but talented jazz violinist, Jules Bardin, and offers him a place to stay.  As they get to know each other, they find that they have little in common except for a passion for music.  Jason grew up in a happy family with money while Jules' mother was a druggie who neglected her children.  But Jason's confident appearance hides inner turmoil and anxiety about his life, and only Jules can help him through it.  This was a lovely, well-written story of two very opposite men brought together by their love of music and quests for something more out of life.  Paris and Grenoble figure prominently in the story with plenty of French terms thrown in.  This is the first time I've read this author, and she must be a musician by the sensitive way she writes about performing.  I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.  242 pages (Kindle edition).

Blindsided by Fern Michaels

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

The sisterhood takes on a pair of Maryland judges, who are corrupt. Their money is hidden in off shore accounts and will be found. One of the sisterhood falls in love and may be leaving.

Audio:  9 hrs. 12 min.
Print:  400 pages 

History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time by Brad Meltzer with Keith Ferrell

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

This book contains or examines ten historical mysteries. The most famous being the Kennedy assassination, who, how many shots, how the assassin wasn’t better protected. Who killed the president, mafia, Russians, Cubans?

Audio:  6 hrs. 45 min.

Print:  160 pages