FINISHED -

1. "SWITCH" by Meagan Hart (A++++) Don't think. Don't question. Just do. The anonymous note wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the habit of reading other people's mail, but it was just a piece of paper with a few lines scrawled on it, clearly meant for the apartment upstairs. It looked so innocent, but decidedly - deliciously - it was not. Before replacing the note - and the ones that followed - in its rightful slot, I devoured its contents: suggestions, instructions, commands. Each was more daring, more intricate and more arousing than the last...and I followed them all to the letter. Before the notes, if a man had told me what to do, I'd have told him where to go. But submission is an art, and there's something oddly freeing about doing someone's bidding...especially when it feels so very, very good. But I find that the more I surrender, the more powerful I feel - so it's time to switch up the roles. We play by my rules now.
2. "IT'S IN HIS HEART" by Shelly Alexander (Red River Valley #1) (New Author For Me) (A++++++) She has a secret. He has a scandal. And they both have an attraction they can't deny. Ella Dennings is furious. Soaking wet, muddy and furious. All she wants is to spend a quiet summer retreat in her Red River Valley cabin. Maybe she can finish healing after the death of her husband, Bradley. Maybe she can even finish writing that third book in her top secret anonymously written bestselling series. But when she arrives at the cabin in a raging rainstorm, who does she find holed up there but Cooper Wells, Bradley's sexy best friend - a man capable of seducing women within seconds - and a man Ella has never liked. Coop's got his own baggage. He's engulfed in a nasty legal battle and after selling his home to cover his legal fees, he's got nowhere to go but the cabin. He and Ella will just have to coexist under one roof...but is their heated animosity boiling over into attraction? And when Ella's racy new book rocks the sleepy town, will her secret identity spell scandal for both of them?
3. "THE FRIENDS WE KEEP" by Susan Mallery (Mischief Bay #2) (A++++++) After five years as a stay-at-home mom, Gabby Schaefer can't wait to return to work. Oh, to use the bathroom in peace! No twins clamoring at the door, no husband barging in, no stepdaughter throwing a tantrum. But when her plans are derailed by some shocking news and her husband's crushing expectations, Gabby must fight for the right to have a life of her own. Getting pregnant is easy for Hayley Batchelor. Staying pregnant is the hard part. Her husband is worried about the expensive fertility treatments and frantic about the threat to her health. But to Haley, a woman who was born to be a mom should risk everything to fulfill her destiny - no matter how high the cost. Nicole Lord is still shell-shocked by a divorce that wasn't as painful as it should've been. Other than the son they share, her ex-husband left barely a ripple in her life. A great new guy tempts her to believe maybe the second time's the charm...but how can she trust herself to recognize true love?
4. ​"NOAH'S COMPASS" by Anne Tyler (unabridged audio CD) (New Author For Me) (A++++) Liam Pennywell is a school teacher who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life. Liam, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked his job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn't bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the stolen moments of his life leads Liam on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is - well, something quite different.
5. "RETURN TO ME" by Shannon McKenna (A+++++) The midnight man...It's been years since bad boy Simon Riley hopped a freight train out of town and Ellen Kent's given up wondering what happened to him. Running a successful bed and breakfast in Oregon doesn't leave her a lot of time for fantasizing about midnight kisses and secret passion...until an unexpected visitor knocks on her door. Simon is back. She had no idea that he was a famous photojournalist, working in war zones around the world. But the man is everything she wants in a lover - and more. The midnight hour...Dogged by trouble, Simon swore he'd never return to this backwater town, even to see El Kent. But he had to investigate his uncle's sudden death - and El's lush beauty still tempts him beyond belief. He knows he can satisfy her most hidden desire - and he's hungry for the tensual tenderness that only she can give. The last thing Simon would ever do is hurt El, but someone is forcing his hand. Someone who will stop at nothing to keep the past dead and buried - even if it means silencing the woman Simon loves.
6. "THE LAST COWBOY IN TEXAS" by Katie Lane (Deep in the Heart of Texas #7) (A+++++) No sad songs here, darlin'. Country music princess Starlet Brubaker has a sweet tooth for moon pies and cowboys: both are yummy - and you can never have just one. Now, Beckett Cates may not be a cowboy, but he certainly has the heart, soul - and body - to whet her appetite. He's a sexy ex-Marine with a touch hotter than the sorching Texas sun and arms strong enough to catch her when she lands into trouble. Playing bodyguard to America's sweetheart isn't easy for Beckett. But falling for her sure is. Unfortunately, Starlet has a reputation for keeping a guy or two wrapped around her finger and Beckett refuses to be anybody's backup. So no it's up to Starlet to prove that she's put her cowboy-crazy days behind her. Otherwise, she'll be singing solo instead of living in harmony with the man who's loved her even before her fame and fortune.
7. "ONE MOUNTAIN AWAY" by Emilie Richards (Goddesses Anonymous #1) (A+++++) Charlotte Hale plans to change her life one careful step at a time. With nothing but brains, ambition and sheer nerve, Charlotte Hale built a career as a tough, Savvy real-estate developer. Her reputation is rock solid...but her life is empty. One terrifying day, Charlotte realizes that her friends are as grasping and insincere as she is. Far worse, she's alienated her family so completely that she's never held or spoken to her only granddaughter. Charlotte vows to make amends, not simply with her considerable wealth, but by offering a hand instead of a handout. Putting in hours and energy instead of putting in an appearance. Opening her home and heart instead of her wallet. With each wrenching, exhilarating, joyful decison, she finds her path to friendship, love and forgiveness - even as she learns what it truly means to build a legacy.
8. "APART FROM THE CROWD" by Anna McPartlin (New Author For Me) (A++++++) People are talking...In a little Irish town like Kenmare, there's no need to worry whether people with discover your secrets. They already have. For Mary, that means being remembered for her tragic losses, even if she'd rather get on with her life. For her cousin Ivan, as close as a brother, the gossip is all about how his wife took the kids and ran off with her new lover. For Mary's friend Penny, it's an old romance that didn't work out quite right and a current affair with a bottle of vodka. Then Sam Sullivan rents the cottage next door to Mary and within hours the whole town is talking about the film-star-handsome American. When Sam hurts his back while helping his new neighbor and spends the next week confined to a mattress on her floor, gossip runs rampant. But neither Kenmare nor Mary know about the secrets Sam is so successfully hiding. For Mary's circle of friends, Sam's arrival marks one more change. And Mary - whose unlucky history has kept her apart from the crowd much of her life - has finally found a man with whom she feels she might truly connect. But, so long as both are captive to memories they dare not reveal, the past is a barrier that will kekep them forever alone.
9. "ONE BREATH AWAY" by Heather Gedunkauf (New Author For Me) (A++++++) In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom. Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits. Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands. Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother. As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.
10. "WAY OF THE WARRIOR" "HOT AS HELL" by Julie Ann Walker (Deep Six novella) (A++++) "IN PLAIN SIGHT" Catherine Mann (Elite Force novella) (A+++++) "TORN" by Kate Serine (Protect and Serve novella) (New Author for Me) (A+++++) "WAR GAMES" by Lea Griffith (Endgame Ops novella) (New Author for Me) (A++++) "BEAUTY AND THE MARINE" by Tina Wainscott (New Author for Me) (A+++++) "NSDQ" by M.L. Buchman (Night Stalker novella) (New Author for Me) (A+++++) "SEALED WITH PASSION" by Anne Elizabeth (New Author for Me) (A+++) "Homefire Inferno" by Suzanne Brockmann (Troubleshooters novella) (A++++++)
11. "THE WINNING SEASON" by Alison Packard (Feeling the Heat #2) (A++++++) Kelly Maxwell has finally landed her dream job as publicist for the San Francisco Blaze. But the team's newest member, handsome bad boy catcher Matt Scanlon, is refusing every interview. She's got to get him to open up before the seasons ends or she may not be back next year. And after everything she overcame to achieve her dream, Kelly's not about to let that happen. Matt Scanlon just wants to be left alone to revuild his life and his career. After a year of masking the pain of a recent loss with hard partying and fast women, he finally hit rock bottom and was traded to a team he's loathed his entire life - a team with no chance at the postseason. Butting heads is getting Kelly and Matt nowhere but annoyed and the team's schedule on the road, they can't avoid close quarters - or their surprising attraction to one another. As the season winds down, Matt finds his growing feelings for Kelly to have brought his numbed emotions back to life,. But when betrayal shatters their fragile trust, winning it all seems more impossible that ever.
12. "SEE JANE RUN" by Rachel Gibson (Chinooks Hockey Team #2) (A+++++) This is Jane...a little subdued. A little stubborn. A little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day, she's a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team - especially their notorious goalie Luc Martineau. By night, she's a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of "Honey Pie"...the magazine series that has all men talking. See Jane spar...Luc has made his feelings about parasite reporters - and Jane - perfectly clear. But if he thinks he's going to make her life miserable, he'd better think again. See Jane attract...for as long as he can remember, Luc has been singleminded about his career. The last thing he needs is a smart-mouthed, pain-in-the-backside reporter digging into his past and getting in his way. But once the little reporter sheds her black and gray clothes in favor of a sexy red dress, Luc sees that there is more to Jane than originally meets the eye. Maybe it's time to live out fantastic. Maybe it's time to...see Jane score.
13. "MIDNIGHT EXPOSURE" by Melinda Leigh (Midnight #1) (A+++++) Point, click, die. When two hikers disappear, their Maine hometown blames the blinding storms. But the truth is far more sinister. Unaware of the danger, tabloid photographer Jayne Sullivan follows an anonymous tip to rural Maine to find the most reclusive sculptor in the art world. Instead, she finds sexy, mysterious handyman Reed Kimball - and a small town full of fatal secrets. Five years ago, Reed buried his homicide detective career along with his wife. But when a hiker's body is discovered, the local police chief asks Reed for help. Why was a Celtic coin found under the remains? And where is the second hiker? Avoiding the media, Reed doesn't need a nosey photographer snooping around. But when Jayne is attacked, her courage makes him want to risk everything to protect her...and to find a determined and desperate killer.
14. "THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS" by Debbie Mason (Christmas, Colorado #1) (New Author For Me) (A+++++) It will take a Christmas miracle to melt her heart. Resort developer Madison Lane is about to lose the one thing she loves most in the world - her job. Dubbed "The Grinch Who Killed Christmas," Madison spoiled a deal that would turn quaint Christmas, Colorado, into a tourist's winter wonderland. Now the citizens want her fired but the company gives her one last chance, sending Madison to the small town to restore the holiday cheer. For Sheriff Gage McBride, no hotshot executive from New York City is going to destroy the dreams of the people he loves. But one look at this beautiful woman and it's his heart that may be broken. In just a few days, Madison causes more trouble than he's had to deal with all year. He can't decide if she's naughty or nice, but one thing is for certain - Christmas will never be the same.
15. "ONCE TOUCHED" by Laura Moore (Silver Creek Trilogy #3) (A+++++) The youngest of the three Knowles siblings, Quinn has in her blood the love of the land and its beautiful creatures. Raising enough money to build an animal sanctuary is a dream Quinn lives every day - while fending off her family's well-intentioned matchmaking schemes. Though harboring secret fears about intimacy, Quinn realizes she cannot fight her growing attraction to a man who has suddenly entered her life. Scarred by his months in Afghanistan and the violence he witnessed through his camera lens, photojournalist Ethan Saunders throws himself into hard ranching work as a prescription for healing. But falling for Quinn has given him the one thing he thought he'd lost forever: hope. Ethan discovers that Quinn, like the innocent animals she rescues, is shy and afraid of entrusting her heart to a man. Passion soon awakens Ethan's strength and his tender seduction may be just what Quinn needs to believe in herself - and in his love.
16. "THE HOTTER YOU BURN" by Gena Showalter (The Original Heartbreakers #2) (A+++++) Beck Ockley lives by a single rule: one and done. The millionaire playboy knows the pain of loss and will do anything to avoid another. He moved to the snow town of Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, expecting more of the same - time with the only two friends he trusts, work...and lots of pleasure. What he never could have predicted was that a vulnerable Southern beauty would sneak past his defenses. Harlow Glass is determined to rebuildd her life. The reformed bully has lost everyone and everything she loved and she's paid the ultimate price for her checkered past. Now she wants commitment, the only thing Beck refuses to give As their chemistry blazes white-hot, he'll either have to break her heart...or surrender his own. 
17. "DARK PERIL" by Christine Feehan (Carpathians: Dark #21) (unabridged audio CD) (A+++++) Two lovers find themselves bound by the very desires that could destroy them. Dominic, of the Dragon seeker lineage - one of the most power Carpathian lines - is desperate to go to the very heart of the enemy camp and learn their plans. There's only one way to do so: ingest the parasitic blood of a vampire. He knows that it is a mission from which there is no return. With little time before the blood takes effect, he'll get the information he needs, relay it to the leader of the Carpathians,and go out fighting. There is no more honorable way to end his life. Solange Sangria is one of the last jaguar people, a royal pureblood, a dying species that cannot recover from bad decisions made over hundreds of years. She has long been alone, fighting to save the remaining shapeshifters from the hands of Brodrick the Terrible: her own father, who slaughtered her family and everyone she loved. Wounded and weary, she plans one last battle, hoping to stop the man who has made an alliance with the fampires, accepting that she will not come out alive. They are two warriors who have lived their lives alone. Now, at the end of their time, they find each other - an obstacle neither saw coming and which neither can hope to ignore.

    CURRENTLY READING - 

    1. "Perfect Touch" by Elizabeth Lowell
    2. "Wild Hearts" by Sharon Sala (Secrets and Lies #1)

    CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -

    1.  

Finished:

Eden Burning

All The Light We Cannot See (for book club)

American Colonial Homes - A Pictorial History

Currently Reading:

Country Reminisce Hitch - The Mane Event

Plan to Read:

The Pecan Man (for book club)

The Loving Spirit  by: Daphne du Maurier

I am reading a lot of smaller coffee table books right now, because we are moving.  I need to get settled before I can get into something big and too enticing to put down.

The Murder House:  James Patterson, David Ellis              I really liked this one.  Twists and turns.

Ashley Bell:   Dean Koontz              I really liked this one.  It definitely had me going in one direction and then unexpectedly changed.   

Just finished No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd and Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry. Next up is The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt.

Reading:

The Attack by Yasmina Khudra.

The Red by Linda Nagata.  The military in the not too distant future.  At a base in Africa right now, lots of neat technology introduced that is probably on the way in a lifetime or so.

Youth and the Bright Medusa by Willa Cather, a short story book.

Land of Opportunity: One Family's Quest for the American Dream in the Age of Crack by William Adler.  Title pretty much sums up.

reading: Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride Very good so far

finished : Banana by Dan Koeppel  4.5 stars - history of the banana , lots of info on the polotics and abuse of this common fruit, especially since it's  introduction to USA in the late19th century.  You'll never think of Chiquita in the same way again. ;)

Good, I liked it and for me to like a non-fiction book - well its got to be good!!

Finished this month: Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts-- Reena Hale was 11-years-old when her parents pizzeria was burned to the ground by an arsonist and it shaped her future.  As an adult she is an arson inspector for the fire department and loves her work.  When things start getting personal and someone is targeting her and the people she loves, she fights back.  A very good book with lots of information about how arsonists work.

Coming Home by Mariah Stewart --- Second in the Chesapeake Diaries series.  Dallas MacGregor may be a much-in-demand movie star, but when her soon to be ex-husband is caught on a video with two other women, she takes her young son and heads back to the only place she feels safe from prying eyes, St. Dennis, Maryland, and her great-aunt Berry's home. It's also the place where she fell in love for the first time when she was 16, and he still lives there!  Likable characters and a fun read.

Murder Inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman --- As always, Margaret Truman wrote about Washington, DC as only she could, as a person who lived there and knew intimately the workings of the government. Rosalie Curzon was a prostitute with high-level clientele. When she's found murdered the investigation leads to some men in government, especially one. Reading this book makes one think of the way our government is today, scary!! Truman always hit the bulls-eye, too bad she's no longer alive.

Ask Anyone by Sherryl Woods --- 2nd in the Trinity Harbor series.  Bobby Spencer has bought beach front property and wants to develop it into something the town of Trinity Harbor can enjoy for years to come. Jenna Pennington Kennedy is determined to be the one selected to draw up the plans and oversee the construction. Except she first has to win over Bobby and then convince her father, head of the development firm, that she is capable of doing it. Likable characters and a fun story.

Along ComesTrouble by Sherryl Woods -- Sheriff Tucker Spencer's former girl friend comes to him for help when she finds her husband murdered. Since she had dumped Tucker to marry the guy, he isn't all the thrilled to help her, especially when old feelings start getting in the way.  King Spencer is determined to get all his kids married off, and Tucker is the last one, but not to the woman who broke his heart. The last of the Trinity Harbor trilogy. 

Live Bait by P. J. Tracy --- Excellent follow-up to Monkeewrench.   Someone is killing elderly Jews who had been in concentration camps during WWII.  Minneapolis police detectives Magozzi and Rolseth uncover the connection to those murders and another seemingly unrelated murder with the help of the Monkeewrench team of computer experts.

Colder Than Ice by Maggie Shayne --- A real page-turner that continues the story line from Thicker Than Water.  Mordecia Young is looking for Elizabeth Marcum, the young woman who was shot during the raid on his Young Believers compound, but she is in a witness protection program and doesn't want to be found. The man sent to protect her has a terrible secret that he doesn't want her to find out about.

The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice --- Luanne Rice writes books that speak to the heart.  In this one three pairs of sisters deal with tragedy in different ways.  Maura and her sister, Katherine, are estranged due to an incident years prior, Beck and her sister, Carrie, are separated when Carrie runs away from home, and Pell and Lucy are dealing with the death of their father and the abandonment of their mother.  When the lives of all six interweave, it makes for a very engrossing read.

Currently reading: One True Thing by Anna Quindlen

Up next: The Body in the Belfry by Katherine Hall Page

The Yellow on the Broom by Betsy Whyte. memoir of Ms Whyte's early life as a travelling woman in Scotland. Beware if you want this book. The mass market paperback has very small print.

Currently reading IN THE FALL by Jeffrey Lent

Just finished ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr for book club.

The next book club book will the THE PECAN MAN.  I loaned the book oout to another member so I don't know the author.  I relly enjoyed this book.

The Pecan man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck. looks good

LaRose by Louise Erdrich.  Enjoyed it a lot.

Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen.  Least favorite of hers. 

The Highwayman: A Longmire Story  by Craig Johnson.  A Novella.

The Doula by Bridget Boland.

Audios:

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.  Great book with an terrific narrator: Kimberly Farr.  She sounds almost exactly like Debra Monk.

Love, Water, Memory by Jennie Shortridge, narrated by Angela Dawe, who raises the tone of her voice at the end of her sentences.  Quit.

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea by Morgan Callan Rogers, narrated by Luci Christian.

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman, narrated by Jenna Lammia.

The Great Zoo of China: Matthew Reilly      Jurassic Park with dragons instead of dinosaurs.  I really liked it.  Good Book.

Finders Keepers: A Novel: Stephen King       I had a hard time finishing this one.  I didn't really like it.

The Guilty: David Baldacci           Another good book by this author.

Shipwreck (Island, Book 1)           Survival (Island, Bk 2)         Escape (Island, Bk 3)
Author: Gordon Korman

This trilogy is listed under Children's genre, but I think they fit more for YA.  I liked all three of these fast reads.