Cross Her Heart/ Sarah Pinborough/ 340 pgs

I loved the final twist in Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes. This novel isn't quite as good but it's still a solid read. Lisa seems like a normal woman with a normal middle class life. She has a job she likes, a best friend she can count on, and a teenage daughter she's raising by herself. But as we go back in time, we begin to realize there is something dark in Lisa's past and it's coming back to haunt her and her daughter. Ava, the teenager, is a typical teen looking for attention and she finds it in an online relationship. Lisa's past is exposed when, to the horror of all around her, a picture of her and Ava appears in a local newspaper. This story turns crazy about halfway and has a wild finish. I also want to warn that parts of this book deal with violence against a child.

Someone Like You/ Lauren Layne/ 252 pgs

This is another in Layne's Oxford series, which is set at a men's magazine in New York City. This one is about Lincoln, the charming lover of women who has a secret angsty side, and Daisy, a divorced southerner also harboring a secret. As always the characters are likable and the romance fun, though the story here has a bit of a darker side. Also as always, there is something just a little off with the story that keeps me from absolutely loving it, but as usual it's still a fun, quick read.

The Lying Game/ Ruth Ware / 370 pgs

I'm really not sure how I feel about The Lying Game. While I think the author tried hard to make the reader care about the characters and their relationship, the whole thing just fell a little flat for me. Isa, Kate, Thea, and Fatima spent one year together at boarding school and formed a thick bond before they were all told to leave for something mysterious that happened. They've kept in touch sporadically and have always been there for each other in an emergency. So fifteen years later when Kate texts "I need you," they all drop what they are doing and race to her side, Isa with her six-month-old baby in tow.

It becomes clear that the ladies are hiding a secret, something to do with Kate's father, who was a teacher at the boarding school. The girls used to play--and really still play--something called the lying game where they tried to get other people to believe their lies. Since they really don't seem to have outgrown this immature game, it can be hard to like the characters. The story is told only through the eyes of Isa and her rationalizations of her behavior, especially in regards to her partner, Owen, got on my nerves. But the writing is fantastic and the setting is atmospheric. I was really rooting for Fatima, who seemed the only sensible one, to take charge and sort everything and everyone out, but alas this is not what happened and the story ends on two notes--one tragic and one ugly.

The Duke's Disaster/ Grace Burrowes / 439 pgs

Grace Burrowes has a lot of historical romance titles to her name but I've never read her books. I had one of her paperbacks lying around so I picked it up and started reading. About a half later I put it down, went to the library's OverDrive site and dowloaded the ebook to my Kindle:-)

Noah is the duke in question and he's not much for small talk and socializing so he decides to cut to the chase and ask Lady Thea, a down-on-her-luck earl's daughter turned companion to marry him. Thea agrees because she doesn't think she has any other prospects and Noah has agreed to provide a decent dowry and come-out for her younger sister. The marriage takes place straight away and off we go. Thea has a secret that she only tells Noah in dribs and drabs so things are rocky almost from the start. These two have problems communicating about the big things and that was frustrating. And yet, I found there everyday interactions adorable and enjoyed the rapport between them. Burrowes has a distinctive cadence to her writing, especially dialogue. It's at once refreshing and wearing, especially over the course of the book. Still, I enjoyed the story and just might give another of her books a try.

The Fifth Letter/ Nicola Moriarty / 278 pgs

I didn't realize until I finished reading this book by Nicola Moriarty that she is the sister of Liane Moriarty. I've read a number of Liane's Australian-set novels and liked them. The Fifth Letter is also set in Australia. Four women have been friends since middle school and they try to get together every year for a vacation together. They are now in their thirties and have gone to the beach (in the winter!) for a week. The organizer of the group, Joni, decides that they should all write an anonymous letter divulging a secret they've never shared with each other and then they'll read one letter aloud each night. This alone would make for quite a story but it also turns out that someone wrote a "fifth" letter. They wrote that letter first, then changed their mind about the secret they wanted to reveal and wrote a different letter to be shared. Of course Joni finds the fifth letter. Much drama ensues.

While I thought this was well-written, it took a while to get going and I didn't think the secret in the fifth letter was really all that "holy cow, I can't believe it!" Let's just say I was honestly glad to see someone getting psychiatric help at the end of the story. And I have to say that the epilogue, especially the very last line, was just too much. I think the author thought she was being clever but my reaction was just "ugh."

One Hundred Names/Cecelia Ahern/471 pages

Katherine (Kitty) Logan's career as a journalist is pretty much over after a scandal that lands both her and her bosses in court. When the judgement comes down that costs the television news program a bundle, Kitty is suspended, another word for fired. Kitty's mentor from her first job, Constance, is dying of breast cancer, but she is still happy to talk about a comeback story for Kitty at the magazine that she and her husband run and where Kitty got her start. Constance tells her to get the file from from her house, and then they will discuss what Constance has in mind for the story. Kitty jumps at the chance for redemption, but before she can get back to the hospital, Constance has slipped into a coma. She dies the next day without regaining consciousness. The magazine will be publishing a tribute issue for her, and Kitty boldly asks to write the story that Constance would have written. The problem is the file is just a list of one hundred names and nothing more. Kitty has less than two weeks to figure out the story or her career will be over for good.

This is a charming story of redemption, forgiveness and love.

My Sunshine Away/M. O. Walsh/20th Century Challenge

Growing up in an upper middle class neighborhood in Baton Rouge seems to be almost like a Norman Rockwell painting of Southern idyllic life. Children playing together, cookouts, colorful crepe myrtles and college football all sound like the perfect childhood. But when 15-year-old Lindy Simpson in attacked just down the street from her own house, the neighborhood takes on a darker side. Several suspects emerge, including the narrator of the story. His obsessive love, crossing the line into stalking, makes his own mother wonder about his involvement. Through his eyes, we see how life was before and after the attack and how he tries to set things right.


Beautifully written, this story truly captures the magic of growing up in a close-knit neighborhood with all the underlying currents of secrecy and dysfunction. This was a very fast read, mainly because it's hard to put down.

The Glass Kitchen/ Linda Francis Lee/ 375 pages

When Portia Cuthcart was seven years old, her mother and grandmother knew she had "the knowing." The knowing is what her grandmother called her intuition that led her to bake and cook what was needed by the customers of her café, The Glass Kitchen. Portia and her sisters end up living with her grandmother after their parents die, and Portia learns to cook with her grandmother. After her grandmother's death, she marries and her husband's disapproval of her instinct makes her learn to suppress it until it nearly disappears. Fast forward three years, Portia's husband has divorced her in favor of his pregnant girlfriend, her ex-best friend. Portia moves to New York from Texas to join her sisters who made the move years before. She decides to live in the garden apartment of the building her aunt left to the three sisters. Olivia and Cordelia have already sold their apartments in the building to Gabriel Kane who also wants to buy Portia's. She backed out of the sale at the last minute and intends to live there. Soon, she finds that she can no longer suppress the knowing and begins to make plans to open a restaurant.


Complete with recipes, The Glass Kitchen is a whimsical story of magic, food, family and relationships. The conflicts between Gabriel and his daughters strike a cord, and the relationship between the Cuthcart sisters rings true as well.

Truly, Madly, Deadly/Hannah Jayne/262 pages/2 December Challenges Met

Sawyer Dodd's life is falling apart. Her parents divorced, and her father has remarried and has a child on the way (6 geese a-laying.) Her boyfriend was just killed in a drunk driving accident. She's even feeling watched while she runs during track practice (7 swans a-swimming.) Then she receives a note implying that her boyfriend (who was secretly abusing her) was killed for her. When other people who abuse her in different ways start dying, Sawyer must convince everyone she's isn't responsible.

This was a fairly predictable, but still relatively entertaining, YA book. It would be a good first thriller for that audience.

Sisterland/Curtis Sittenfeld/400 pages

Daisy and Violet are twins who also are psychic. Up until middle school, the girls are happy to play with each other and one other girl. But in middle school, in order to make friends with the queen bee, Daisy tells the twins' secret and the girls are labeled witches. Fast forward to college where Daisy starts going by a variation of her middle name, Kate, and attends school at Mizzou while Vi goes off to Reed College, although only for 6 weeks. From then on, the girls lead very different lives. Kate gets married and starts a family while Vi capitalizes on her senses by becoming a psychic for hire. Everything is more or less okay until Vi predicts an earthquake and Kate inadvertently supplies a date. Vi becomes a national sensation, and the entire St. Louis region is put on edge waiting to see if the predication comes true. Will there be an earthquake or is that just a metaphor for life-altering changes is one or both of the twins' lives?

Set in St. Louis, Sisterland is a fun read if only because you recognize every place they go. The overall description of the attitudes of the area are pretty insulting, though. Sittenfeld has made a name for herself lately by being critical of the region although she chooses to live here. She refused to have her picture on her first few books because she didn't want to be recognized as famous in her hometown. Apparently, she has gotten over that. The ending of the book is quick and a little unsatisfying, but overall, a good read.

Until She Comes Home/Lori Roy/338 pages

A lot is changing on Alder Avenue in Detroit, 1958, and it's not just that Grace is having a baby. The working class white neighborhood is changing with new neighbors moving in, men losing their jobs at the local factory, and vandalism becoming a daily occurrence. The recent murder of a black woman near the factory where their husbands work put on the women on edge, but then the disappearance of Elizabeth, a young woman with a child's mind, pushes everyone over the edge.

There's a lot going on in this novel of secrets and lies in suburbia. Most of it is tied up in the end, and overall, it's an engrossing book.

Scandal/Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur/326 pages

Callie Andrews, when we last left her, had been accused of being the Ivy Insider, the person who was writing articles exposing the seedier side of the Hasty Pudding Club at Harvard. She suspects her archrival Lexi is behind it all, but how to prove it? And to top it all off, Gregory, her almost boyfriend has disappeared to avoid the questions about his father's questionable finances. The four roommates plus the three boys from across the hall band together to figure out what's what.

I started this series when I was sick last month and finished it this month while fighting off yet another nasty bug. This was the perfect thing to read while recovering. My other choice would have been The Poisonwood Bible which I'm reading (and not really into) for my book club next month.

Six Years/Harlan Coben/351 pages

Six years ago, Jake Fisher made a promise to never contact Natalie Avery again. Even though they had just spent six weeks of the summer totally in love, she was marrying her ex-boyfriend Todd. They had suddenly reconciled and now wanted to leave everything else behind. Jake went back to his life as a college professor, but when he sees an obituary for Todd on the alumni website, he decides to reconnect with Natalie. But Todd's widow of 16 years isn't Natalie. Now Jake is obsessed with finding out what really happened six years ago.

Harlan Coben specializes in taking ordinary people and putting them in extraordinary situations. Another great read from the master.

A Week in Winter/Maeve Binchy/326 pages

Chicky Starr has moved back to her hometown of Stoneybridge, Ireland after living in New York for years. She's determined to make Stone House, the ancestral home of Miss Queen, the last remaining Sheedy sister, into a restful holiday by the sea. Miss Queen is thrilled to have her home restored to its glory days, and Chicky has definite plans to make it work. Stone House's first week in business attracts an interesting mix of people looking to escape their normal routines.

Maeve Binchy passed away shortly after finishing this book. It was a bittersweet read because she's one of my favorite writers, and it was hard knowing this was the last one. No one else could make Dublin and Ireland more enchanting. It was her typical charming story.

Secrets/Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur/313 pages

Callie has only told one person, Vanessa, about the scandalous secret she's been keeping. So, when her arch nemesis, Lexi, starts blackmailing her with the secret, she figures that Vanessa sold her out for a spot in the Hasty Pudding Club. After all, what are best friends for? Callie must start running errands and doing Lexi's bidding to keep her secret and land a spot on the magazine since Lexi is the editor. Adding to the drama, Callie has fallen hard for Clint, Lexi's ex, and the feeling is mutual. Somehow, too, her grades aren't what they used to be.

Hopefully, by the end of her first year, Callie will not only learn to wear appropriate clothing, but she will also log out of public computers.