Also, if you have any other ideas of ways to keep me occupied, send them my way.  My house and closets and drawers are almost all cleaned and organized.

I’ve decided to look at this as extending my summer break!

I grew up in New Jersey, but now live in Southern California – the Inland Empire – about an hour from everything you’ve heard of.  Stay cool!

From back cover:

1022 Evergreen Place, Unit B

Cedar Cove, Washington

Dear Reader:

Guess what? I’m falling in love! With Mack McAfee.

My baby daughter, Noelle, and I have been living next door to Mack since the spring. I’m still a little wary about our relationship, since I haven’t always made good decisions when it comes to men. My baby’s father, David Rhodes, is testament to that. I’m so worried he might sue for custody.

In the meantime, the World War II letters I found are a wonderful distraction. Both Mack and I are trying to learn what happened to the soldier who wrote them and the woman he loved.

Come by sometime for a glass of iced tea and I’ll show you the letters. Plus I’ll tell you the latest about Grace and Olivia, my brother Linc and his wife, Lori (who tied the knot about 5 minutes after they met!), and all our other mutual friends. Oh, and maybe Mack can join us…

-  Mary Jo Wyse

My Review: As with all books in the Cedar Cove series – I love this book!  I wish I could live in a community like the one depicted in this series of books.  With each book we get a glimpse into the lives of several of the occupants, BUT each book concentrates on one couple above the rest so you get familiar with each family living in Cedar Cove.  This book concentrates on Mary Jo and Mack – a couple we were introduced to in a previous book – in fact he delivered her baby!  They live side-by-side in a duplex at 1022 Evergreen  Place.  Their relationship goes through some ups and downs throughout this book.  Another couple mentioned quite a bit in this book is Rachel and Bruce.  I hope the next book concentrates on their unusual and somewhat difficult relationship.  This series is a GREAT summer read (actually it’s a great read for any time of the year).  The books are fast moving.  The characters are interesting.  The stories keep you engaged and wanting to read more.  Debbie Macomber is one of my favorite authors.  She writes great chick lit about women of all ages, so she reaches a large audience.  This book is better read as part of a series.  I’m not sure it could stand alone as well.  Therefore I suggest you begin with 16 Lighthouse Road and go on from there.

This book is available the beginning of August 2010.

In this debut novel, readers will meet Linda Revere, a woman who longs to experience true romance with her nerdy, practical husband of twenty-four years. Her desire to add a little pizzazz to her marriage only confuses her husband and frustrates herself. Linda struggles to ignite romance and excitement into her marriage amid the turmoil of contemporary life.

My Review: When I began reading this book, I thought it seemed goofy, but the more I read, the more I liked it and the more engaged I became.  The Reveres – Jerry and Linda are an average middle class couple with two teenage children – a boy and a girl.  Their marriage has settled into a comfortable routine, but Linda wants more spice – she wants ROMANCE.  Jerry, who is a community college science teacher, seems to be a great husband in many ways.  At first, he doesn’t understand his wife’s subtle (or not so subtle) hints for more romance in their relationship.  After he does, it seems like life happens and some of it not so routine and easy.  In fact, one of their children gets into a very sticky and serious situation which takes time to work it out.  There are lots of connections in the story which take time to play out.  All of which make the story a winner in my opinion.  This book is a Christian fiction novel and Christianity is comfortably included in the family relationships, specifically prayer.  This book made me laugh, cry, and kept me in some suspense at points throughout.  If you enjoy Christian fiction with a large slice of  family life, this book is for you!

What would a loving mother not do for her child

Lawyer Danielle Parkman is at her wits’ end. Her son Max, a whip-smart teen with high-functioning autism, has always been a handful. But lately he’s shutting down, using drugs and lashing out – violently.
Desperate, Danielle brings Max to a top-flight psychiatric facility for a full assessment. But rather than reassurance, Danielle receives an agonizing diagnosis describing a deeply damaged, dangerous boy – one she’s never met.

Then Danielle finds Max unconscious and bloodied at the feet of a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death. A fiercely protective mother instinct rears its head – and Danielle is arrested as an accessory to the heinous crime.

In a baffling netherworld of doubt and fear, barred from contacting her son, Danielle clings to the thought of Max’s innocence. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her baby boy really a killer?

With the justice system bearing down on them both, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth – no matter how horrifying. It’s a path well on the wrong side of the law. But only finding the true killer will absolve her from having to choose between her son and her soul.

Release date is October 1, 2010

My Review: This book was riveting!  I could not put it down.  ”Saving Max”  includes two hot buttons – aspergers/autism AND mental institutions.  The third perk I found was the law aspect.  I love the character Danielle (New Yorker)  and her devotion to and belief in her son.  Her willingness to take any risk to save her son moved me.  She begins showing her devotion by taking her son to a psychiatric center in Texas at the recommendation of her son’s New York physician.  The meat of the story begins here.  Danielle, a lawyer by profession, meets Tony who just happens to also be a lawyer.  Tony (an Iowan) becomes her son’s (Max) and her lawyer.  ”Saving Max” is an engaging read.  This may not be your favorite type of beach/pool read unless you are smothered in sun screen and plan to stay a while!. For mystery lovers and lovers of law-related books or for those who just love a great escape, I recommend this book!

I reviewed this book for the publisher via Net Galley.

When Georgia and her best friend, Riley, travel along with nine other suburban Pennsylvania kids to Anapra, a squatters’ village in the heat-flattened border city of Juarez, Mexico, secrets seem to percolate and threaten both a friendship and a life.  Certainties unravel.  Reality changes.  And Georgia is left to figure out who she is outside the world she’s always known.

My Review: I feel that this book will appeal to women of all ages even though the main characters are teens.  The story is very thought-provoking and sensitive.  The relationship between Georgia and Riley is very indicative of women’s close friendships – a deep knowing of one another along with denial of some of the more touchy areas.  Girls relationships are so complex as is evidenced by the ups and downs Georgia and Riley face on the trip to Mexico. Both girls had their own ideas of what “helping people” involve, which I found interesting.  Parent-child relationship between the girls and their parents are realistic as well as a deep wanting of making the world a better place.  I enjoyed the book. I understood Riley more than the other characters – maybe because I could personally relate to her the best.  The story is realistic, the writing is good, and the cover is beautiful.  I look forward to more books by Beth Kephart.

My Review: I always love reading books about the Amish.  I think the simple and hard-working life appeals to me, even though I would never want to live that way myself.  Wanda Brunstetter does a great job writing about the Amish lifestyle, and in each book she seems to hit an issue.  In this book, dwarfism is the issue.  People who are “tall” don’t really consider what little people deal with on a daily basis. We are always curious about people who have different challenges than we do.  Wanda Brunstetter in “Lydia’s Charm” puts this challenge within the context of the Amish. The book also deals with death – the death of a husband, grandfather and child.  In my finite mind I think the characters work through their grief very quickly, but as of yet I have not lost a spouse nor a child, so I don’t have first-hand knowledge.  I read this book in one day.  It kept me totally engaged and my emotions ran all over the place from crying to laughing.  If you love reading about the Amish and/or different lifestyles; if you love reading books about people facing adversity, if you love reading books with happy endings; you will enjoy Wanda Brunstetter’s books.  I enjoyed this book as well as all of her others and I look forward to reading more from her.  I would recommend these books for girls age 13 and up.  Brunstetter’s books contain good, solid, Biblical principles and lessons.

Book will be available September 1, 2010.

Everyone wants a piece of millionaire Bennett Marshfield, owner of Marshfield Manor, but now it’s up to a new curator Grace Wheaton and handsome groundskeeper Jack Embers to protect dear old Marshfield. But to do this, they’ll have to investigate a botched Ponzi scheme, some torrid Wheaton family secrets-and sour grapes out for revenge.

My Review: Daughter Amy gave me this book because she knows I love cozy mysteries.  I read this book in two days.  The story was engaging, the characters likable and this is the first book in what I hope are many more.  Grace is by herself, single, parentless, but she has obtained the job of her dreams.  Almost as soon as she is hired,  she encounters problems she wasn’t expecting and the police are understaffed which leaves it up to her to (help) solve the mystery.  Along the way I encountered some heart pounding situations which made me continue turning pages to find out what would happen next.  This was a fun new book and I look forward to many more in this series by Julie Hyzy.  She has also written the White House Chef Mysteries, and I think I may look up those as well!

Gripping, suspenseful, magical, and richly atmospheric . . . Ilie Ruby’s haunting debut novel, The Language of Trees, is exhilarating fiction that announces the arrival of a truly extraordinary storyteller.

Echo O’Connell knows that the summer holds its secrets. They are whispered in the rustling trees, in the lush scent of the lilacs, in the flurry of the mayflies batting against the screen door, and in the restless spirits that seem to clamor in the scant breezes on hot evenings. It is in summer that she returns home to Canandaigua, to confront these spirits, both living and not, and to share a secret with her first love, Grant Shongo—a secret that will forever change the lives of many people in the town and put to rest the mysterious disappearance of a little boy more than a decade earlier.

Grant, a descendant of the Seneca Indians who call this place “The Chosen Spot,” has also come back to face his past. After a broken marriage, he has moved into his childhood home, a lake house that has withstood happiness and tragedy. He knows the spirits of the past must be dealt with—that of the little boy who disappeared all those years ago; the boy’s sister, who never overcame the loss; and the love Grant still has for Echo. But before the healing must come the forgiveness. . . .

My Review: I enjoyed this book and it is a great summer/beach read. The characters are diverse and somewhat tragic.  Small towns hold lots of secrets and this small town, Canandaigua Lake, is no exception.  As the book progresses many of those secrets are revealed, sometimes surprisingly so.  Two of the biggest secrets involve one family.  Most of the book builds up to these revelations.  If you enjoy mysteries, small town life and imperfect people working through problems sometimes alone and sometimes together, you will enjoy this book!

This book will be on sale July 20, 2010.