Owning a Kindle has managed to organize my to-be-read pile - somewhat - there are over 100 books now waiting to be read on it! And I still have a library full of great tree books, some waiting for their second or third read (or more.) My favorite book of all time has to be
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but the Tide trilogy by Elizabeth Ogilvie is right up there along with the Corps series and Brotherhood of War series by W.E.B. Griffin. I love Lee Child (or rather Jack Reacher), Tony Hillerman, Georgette Heyer and many others. And I love listening to anything read by George Guidall.
But my latest most favorite book is
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. (Until now my favorite heroes were Jamie Fraser (Outlander) and Nils Sorenson (the Tide trilogy) but I've got a new hero to add to that list. T.J.Callahan might be young, but he grew up fast and he's got all the stuff heroes are made of.
Anna, the heroine of
On the Island is an equally endearing character. They are both at a crossroads in their lives, TJ is just 16 and recently into remission after a lengthy battle with cancer and Anna is facing the end of a relationship that just isn't going where her heart wanted to go. They are thrown together by a twist of fate and forced to cope with trials most of us can't even begin to imagine. The story of their growing friendship and eventual love are compelling. You will cry with them, cheer with them and like me, I'm sure you will fall in love with them and ache with the difficulties the world presents to challenge all they have built together. The ending is wonderfully fulfilling. The next time I am sad, feeling adrift or just want a good read, I'm going to haul this book off my shelf and read it again.
Love a great sweet romance? Elizabeth Sinclair invites you to visit the little town of Carson, West Virginia and get to know Granny Jo Hawks. In
Hawks Mountain Granny Jo's granddaughter, Rebecca, and a newcomer to the mountain, Nicholas Hart, have both come to Hawks Mountain to heal their tattered souls. You'll meet the evil mayor, the cute kid who has a way with animals, the town gossip and many more.
Summer Rose brings you even deeper into the life of this wonderful community with the story of the local vet, Hunter MacKenzie, who's done with raising kids after seeing his orphaned siblings safely into adulthood, and his newly hired staff, Rose Hunter, who just happens to be pregnant with the twins she agreed to surrogate for her best friend, except her friend was killed in an unfortunate accident and now Rose is going to be a Mom for real. And if you hate to put a good book down and leave the characters you learned to love behind, there's good news - there are more in the series to look forward to;
Forever Fall will be out later this year,
Winter Magic comes next and there will be at least three more after that. So fix yourself your favorite brew and settle in for a good read.
I met this author, Mark Mynheir, at a conference last year, so of course, I bought one of his books. It turns out the one I chose,
Night Watchman, was the first in what I hope will be a long series, introducing a wonderfully flawed hero everyone can care about.
"Eleven months ago, Ray Quinn was a tough, quick-witted Orlando homicide detective at the top of his game–until a barrage of bullets ended his career…and his partner’s life. Now medically retired with a painful handicap, Ray battles the haunting guilt for his partner’s death. Numbing the pain with alcohol and attitude, Ray takes a job as a night watchman at a swanky Orlando condo. But when a pastor and an exotic dancer are found dead in one of the condos in an apparent murder-suicide, Ray can no longer linger in the shadows. The pastor’s sister is convinced her brother was framed and begs Ray to take on an impossible case–to challenge the evidence and clear her brother’s name. Ray reluctantly pulls the threads of this supposedly dead-end case only to unravel a murder investigation so deep that it threatens to turn the Orlando political landscape upside down and transform old friends into new enemies. As Ray chases down leads and interrogates suspects, someone is watching his every move, someone determined to keep him from ever finding out the truth–at any cost.
For those who are writers like me,
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card is a great new resource I just found, and I'd be lost without
Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger or
Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon, and
The Dreaded Synopsis by Elizabeth Sinclair.
