FINISHED -

1. "DON'T TEMPT ME" by Lori Foster (Guthrie Brothers #1) (A+++++) Love comes along when it's least wanted. Jason Guthrie has no time for entanglements - between helping out his widowed brother and teenage nephew and getting his hometown back on its feet, his days are spoken for. But his nights are another story...and when his lovely new neighbor, Honor Brown, reluctantly accepts his help in remodeling her house, Jason finds himself wishing his handyman skills could knock down the defenses she keeps building around herself. Martial arts teacher Sullivan Dean knows real danger when he sees it - even when it takes the form of the gorgeous blonde helping her friend move in across the street. After putting his wayward past behind him to focus on teaching control to troubled kids, Sullivan has learned to avoid party girls like Lexie Perkins. But Sullivan can't seem to keep his hands off the real woman behind that flirty charm - or keep his heart from landing at her feet.
2. "HOT AS SIN" by Bella Andre (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #2) (A+++++) Only total desperation could reunite Dianna Kelley with Sam MacKenzie, the irresistible bad boy she walked out on ten years ago. But the fearless firefighter with the awesome wilderness skills is the only one who can take her where she needs to go. It’s a gamble - tracking down her endangered sister while keeping Sam and their undeniable attraction at arm’s length. Not easy when they’re trekking into a remote corner of the Rockies, where she’s got to trust her former lover with her life. Despite their past, Sam never could refuse a damsel in distress, especially one who has haunted his dreams for years. He’ll help find her sister and get Dianna out of his system once and for all. But soon it’s hard to tell whether the greatest threat is from the rushing rapids, the deadly enemy on their trail, or the passion that’s sending them straight into the line of fire.
3. "SAVING JAKE" by Sharon Sala (Blessings, Georgia #3) (A+++++) There is always hope...After eight years in the Marines, Jacob Lorde returns to Blessings, Georgia, with no plans other than to hole up in his empty house and heal what's left of his soul. But with a charming next door neighbor and a town full of friendly people, keeping to himself is easier said than done. As long as you can come home...Laurel Payne understands far too well what Jake is going through, after witnessing her late husband experience similar problems. She's in no hurry to jump into another relationship with a complicated guy, but their attraction is undeniable-and perhaps exactly what both of them need.
4. "MISTAKEN IDENTITY: TWO FAMILIES, ONE SURVIVOR, UNWAVERING HOPE" by Don Van Ryn (new author for me)  (A++++) The stunning true story of two families trading places from graveside to bedside. Five lives were lost in a tragic accident involving a Taylor University van, and one young woman, severely injured and comatose, was rushed to the hospital.  Families, faculty, students, and communities grieved their losses and joined in prayer and hope as the one young woman, Laura Van Ryn, fought for her life in a hospital bed. The national news spread the story, and people everywhere shared the grief and the hope. Five weeks passed for the Cerak family. Believing they had buried their daughter, the Ceraks clung to their faith and worshipped God through their tears, learning to look forward with hope to an eternal reunion with their lovely daughter Whitney. They spent weeks in mourning and grief, slowly moving toward healing. Five weeks passed for the Van Ryns. Keeping a constant bedside vigil over their precious daughter Laura, they sat and prayed and hoped. They rejoiced at each tiny advance toward recovery. They celebrated each sign of Laura's healing. And then the shock! "Okay, Laura, I would like you to write your name for me," the occupational therapist said. W-H-I-T-N-E-Y. An event that could be seen as pure tragedy becomes a celebration of life's unfathomable gifts and mysteries.
5. "CRAZY ABOUT YOU" by Rachel Lacey (Risking it All #2) (A+++++) She's taking a walk on his wild side...Emma Rush can't remember a time when she didn't have a thing for Ryan Blake. Haven's resident bad boy is just so freakin' hot -  with tattoos, a motorcycle, and enough rough-around-the-edges sexiness to melt all her self-control. Now that Emma's over being a "good girl," she needs a little help being naughty...and she knows just where to start. Before Emma's brother enlisted in the military, he made Ryan promise that he would protect her from everything--including himself. When her brother doesn't come home, Ryan needs to turn his screwed-up life around to honor his pledge. But he knows he's still not the right kind of guy for someone as sweet as Emma. Only he can't stop wanting to be with her. Wanting her. Falling in love with a good girl may be the craziest risk this bad boy can take.
6. "ELEVEN HOURS" by Paullina Simons (new author for me) (A++++) One pregnant woman. One deranged man. Eleven hours of hell. Abducted from a shopping mall in Dallas, Didi Wood, in her ninth month of pregnancy, is taken on the most dangerous, horrifying ride of her life, as a madman drives her across Texas. While her husband and the FBI try furiously to track them down, they can only hope to find Didi - and her unborn child - alive,
7. "MISMATCH" by Tami Hoag (unabridged audio CD) (A++++) They were totally wrong for each other. A romantic odd couple. It was clear at first sight. Bronwynn Prescott Pierson was a jet-setting socialite, a one-time fashion icon, and now a runaway bride. Wade Grayson was a straitlaced, ambitious congressman from the American heartland. They couldn’t have had less in common and more to lose by their accidental meeting in the Vermont woods, where they’d each gone in hopes of escaping the past. Both drawn to the ruins of the old Foxfire estate, the woman from Venus and the man from Washington were playing a dangerous game with the most volatile and unpredictable of human emotions. And when it all blew up, the press would be there to broadcast the disaster to the world. But what their enemies didn’t count on was that the power that drew them together would always be a little stronger than anything - or anyone - that would try to drive them apart.
8. "WRITTEN IN THE STARS" by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #9) ( A++++) A city girl meets the man of her dreams in a least likely place - a sweet, small town nowhere near the big city...No one is more shocked than Grace Gordon when her cosmetics line makes her a millionaire in need of new investments. Bailing out Mason Mayfield’s Cricket Creek craft brewery seems like the perfect solution. It doesn’t hurt that the sexy country boy makes her weak in the knees. Sure, Mason is grateful to Grace for saving his brewery. But her upscale marketing plans for his down home business are driving him crazy. She needs a good man to reel her in, and he happily takes the job - especially since it’ll involve some time behind the brewery’s closed doors. Unfortunately, Grace has never been good at staying in one place. And now that she’s thinking about leaving, Mason has to convince her to call Cricket Creek home - and admit their love was written in the stars.
9. "MAGNOLIA CREEK" by Jill Marie Landis (A+++++) On the eve of the Civil War, Sara Collier marries the dashing Dru Talbot, just before he rides off to join the Confederate army. But fate cuts short their chance for happiness when Dru dies tragically on the battlefield. As a widow, Sara rises above her grief, refusing to mourn her life away. But one wrong choice made with an open heart takes her away from her hometown – and challenges Sara in ways she never could have imagined. Though she returns to Magnolia Creek an outcast, the sorrow in her life makes her stronger. A year after the war's end, battle-scarred surgeon Dru Talbot surprises everyone when he returns home, clinging to the dream of starting life over with his bride. Yet nothing could have prepared Dru for the truth that awaits him in Magnolia Creek.
10. "THE HERO" by Donna Grand (Sons of Texas #1) (new author for me) (A+++++) The hero's homecoming - Owen Loughman is a highly-decorated Navy SEAL who has a thirst for action. But there’s one thing he hasn’t been able to forget - his high school sweetheart, Natalie. After over a decade away, Owen is returned home to the ranch in Texas for a dangerous new mission that puts him face-to-face with Natalie and an outside menace that threatens everything he holds dear. He’ll risk it all to keep Natalie safe – and win her heart. Natalie Dixon has had a lifetime of heartache since Owen was deployed. Fourteen years and one bad marriage later, she finds herself mixed up with the Loughman’s again. With her life on the line against an enemy she can’t fight alone, it’s Owen’s strong shoulders, smoldering eyes, and sensuous smile that she turns to. When danger closes in, she holds close to the only man she’s ever loved.
11. "THE ROPE" by Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon #17) (A+++) (abridged audio CD) Thirty-five years old, fresh off the bus from New York City, and nursing a shattered heart, Anna Pigeon takes a decidedly unglamorous job as a seasonal employee of the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. On her day off, she goes hiking into the park never to return. Her co-workers think she’s simply moved on - her cabin is cleaned out and her things gone. Anna herself wakes up, trapped at the bottom of a dry natural well, naked, without supplies and no clear memory of how she got into this situation. As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and that no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, strength, and will to live that she didn’t even know she still possessed in order to survive, outwit, and triumph.
12. "DOWN HOME COWBOY" by Maissey Yates (Copper Ridge #8) (A+++++) This Texas cowboy has come home to Copper Ridge to put down roots…but will he risk his heart again? Asked where he'd be at this point in life, Cain Donnelly would have said anywhere but Copper Ridge, Oregon, living with his estranged brothers. But since his wife abandoned them, both he and his daughter, Violet, are in need of a fresh start, so he's back to claim his share of the family ranch. Local baker Alison Davis is a delicious temptation, but she's also his daughter's mentor and new boss. That makes her off-limits…until she offers a no-strings deal that no red-blooded cowboy could resist. Alison has worked tirelessly to rebuild her life, and she won't jeopardize her hard-won independence. Especially if it also complicates Cain's relationship with Violet. But with Cain offering a love she never thought was possible, Alison has to find the courage to let her past go…or watch her future ride away for good. 

CURRENTLY READING -

1. "Gastien: From Dream to Destiny" by Caddie Rowland (Gastien #2) (reading on a Kindle app on my computer)
2. "The Weekenders" by Mary Kay Andrews
3. "Branded as Trouble" Delores Fossen (Wrangler's Creek #3)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -

1. "The White Indian" by Max Brand (new author for me) (unabridged audio CD)

Finished:  Fifty Shades Freed  by: E L James

               Grey  by:  E L James

              The Giver  by:  Lois Lowry  for book club

              Gathering Blue  by:  Lois Lowry

              The Messenger  by:  Lois Lowry

              Son by:  Lois Lowry

              A Stash of One's Own: Knitters On Loving, Living With, and Letting Go of Yarn  by:  Clara Parkes

Currently Reading:  Natural Diaster I Cover Them, I am One  by:  Ginger Zee

I Hope to get to:  Secrets of Cavendon  by: Barbara Taylor Bradford

                         Obama An Intimare Portrait  by: Pete Souza

                          Eve  by: William Paul Young

                         My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry  by: Fredrick Backman

The cat stepped on my player and messed up Druids, so I went over to Dead in the Family on audio, plus the HB Tomorrow's War.  Am still on Watermind.  Finished Watermind, Dead in the Family/on go The Long Mars and Tomorrow's War.

Judye

I & Claudius: travels with my Cat by Clare de Vries

Finished this book this afternoon. It turned out to be a pretty good read. I enjoyed it all the way. This was a totally unknown book I saw here and requested it on a lark.

Reading:  

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Legacy by Stephen Frey

The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin

Finished:

Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill

Joyland by Stephen King

On Par: The Everyday Golfer's Survival Guide by Bill Pennington

Seventh Plague by James Rollins

Finished this month:  Shadow and Silk by Ann Maxwell [Elizabeth Lowell's former pen name]-  Professor Dani Warren is trying to obtain a rare and precious piece of Tibetan silk to preserve it from destruction.  Shane Crowe is after the same silk to return it to its rightful owners, the Azure monks. A woman who heads The Harmony is after the same silk, but for nefarious reasons. A fun read.

Plain Jane by Fern Michaels--- Jane Lewis has always been a "plain Jane" [in her mind anyway], so when handsome Michael Sorenson, a guy she had a crush on in college, wants to take her out she has her doubts. Why? She is now a successful psychiatrist with her own talk show. But she is also plagued by guilt concerning what happened to another college friend. Interesting story line with some romance and mystery thrown in.

The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Rose by SusanWittig Albert --- The Dahlias garden club of Darling, Alabama is in charge of this year's Watermelon Festival. The highlight of the week-end will be Lily Dare and her Dare Devil Flying Circus. A look at the 1930s Depression era in a small rural town and how people coped.  I love this series!!

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews --- A fun read as are all of Andrews' books.  Gina Foxton has a regional cooking show on PBS and has a chance to go national if she can win a cook-off with Tate Moody, the 'hunk' that has a cooking show on another channel.

Forbidden Ground by Karen Harper --- 2nd in the Cold Creek series.  Anthropologist Kate Lockwood has come back to Cold Creek to be in her sister's wedding and also to try to get permission to excavate the Adena burial mound on Grant Mason's property. Grant doesn't want the mound entered, but the reason he gives Kate isn't the real one, and then when tragic events begin to happen they both begin to question why.  The ending is a total surprise. Good read.

The Horse You Came In On by Martha Grimes --- Scotland Yard's Inspector Richar Jury comes to Amertica along with Melrose Plant and Sargeant Wiggins to investigate the death of a friend's nephew.  While they really have no authority, the police in the U.S. cooperate because they are at a dead end.  As always an interesting read.

The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves -- Jacobia Tiptree has sent an old book to an expert to authenticate, but when he is murdered and the book disappears, "Jake" and her friend Ellie set out to find the answer.  But there is someone else who is also looking for answers.  Fun series.

One False Move by Harlan Coben --- Myron Bolitar is representing Brenda Slaughter, a member of the women's professional basketball league. She's being followed and getting threatening phone calls, because she's looking for her mother who deserted her as a child. Surprise ending, good read!

High Country Fall by Margaret Maron --- Judge Deborah Knott is in the North Carolina mountains, filling in for a judge on vacation. A young man is in court charged with voluntary manslaughter, and while there seems to be evidence he's guilty, his friends claim he couldn't be.  Deborah starts to ask questions on her own, and when other events happen his guilt seems more in doubt.

Currently reading: Santa Fe Rules by Stuart Woods

I just finished Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown. A+++++. What a wonderful story ( for Women) and a spiritual Journey. The first in the series of 3.  Check it out!

I have no idea why this book was not a best seller:  

If You Lived Here
Author: Dana Sachs
ISBN-13: 9780061130489 - ISBN-10: 0061130486

First book in a long time that I was caught from the first page!  Great characters, great writing, great story line.   I give it 5 stars as does my two neighbors who read it after me.

Just starting Job by Joseph Roth. a translation from German. Never read anything by this guy.

I read The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson about a young woman with multiple personalities.  I was quite disappointed in it. I think perhaps because it was written in 1954 and didn't have any newer psychology in it.

I also read I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh and give it 4.5 Stars,. I am trying to get everything else she had written.

Reckless Creed by Alex Kava, not the best n the series, but I’ll still read others

Betrayed by Lisa Scottoline for a book club. I’ll finish it but will never read another in this series (Rosato and DiNunzio). The main character is incredibly annoying and I didn’t really care.

Every Good-bye aint Gone by Itabari Njeri . memoir. some family history from a black woman

The Alluring Target: In search of the secrets of Central Asia edited by Kenneth Wimmel. travel narratives.

This book is not what I thought it was. I thought it was going to be travel narratives but it is actually a collection of short biographical sketches of famous explorers who went to central asia. Some were the first European to see some of the areas they explored.