know thy neighbor...

"The Neighbor" by Lisa Gardner, proves that you never know those closest to you.  Sandra Jones, a young wife and mother, goes missing from her Boston home.  Her husband is an immediate suspect, as is her neighbor who is a registered sex offender.  It seems the only witness to Sandy disappearing is her 4 year old daughter.

But of course, everyone has secrets, and Sandy and her husband, Jason, each have skeletons in their closets.  The police want to find Sandy before it is too late but they cannot seem to find out what it is that Jason is hiding.

back to the beginning...

I went back to the beginning of Tess Gerritsen and her Rizzoli and Isles books.  The one I just finished, "The Surgeon" was quite good.  The was a good mix of suspense and romance yet I was left wondering who the bad guy was going be.

There is someone tormenting women.  He comes while they are sleeping and they never see it coming.  The only lead they have is a surgeon, Dr Catherine Cordell, who was a victim of the same crime a couple of years earlier, but during that attack she was able to shoot and kill the man.  However, the same crimes are being committed yet again with freakishly similar details.  And it seems his goal is to torment Catherine.

a little fluff goes a long way...

Sometimes it is nice when a story has its problems but then everything works out in the end.  I just finished reading "1105 Yakima Street" by Debbie Macomber.

There are many little stories going on within these pages.  It is a story about the town of Cedar Cove.  First there is Rachel and Bruce, recently married and now expecting their first child together.  The problem is Bruce's daughter, Jolene, who is having a hard time adjusting to having a stepmom.

Linc and Lori and are happily married couple.  Linc has a business that is failing and a father-in-law who doesn't accept him.

Olivia and Will, brother and sister, are worried about their mom who is starting to show signs of dementia and wonders how to bring up the subject.

careful and reckless...

I really, really enjoyed this book, "The Witness," by Nora Roberts.

Elizabeth is a 16 year old girl, studying at Harvard, who has had her path set out for her since the day she was conceived by IVF by a donor.  Her mother is a surgeon and wants Elizabeth to follow in her footsteps.
Elizabeth decided one day that she has had enough and defies her mother.  She decides to let loose and goes to a club, drinks too much and her life is forever changed.

It is twelve years later and Abigail Lowery is just trying to lead a quiet life in a small town, but people have noticed her and she is not sure how to react.  Police Chief Brooks Gleason is intrigued and sets out to find out all about her.

senses alive...

In "Close Your Eyes" by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen, musical therapist Kendra Michaels loves to help others, through music she is able to reach kids that normally are unreachable.  She is also fond of her ordinary life.  She underwent stem cell surgery to restore her sight but her senses from when she was blind are part of what make her able to pick up on things that most people miss.

Kendra's former boyfriend, Jeff, an FBI agent, goes missing and former agent Adam Lynch comes to Kendra for help in located the missing man.

tv or not tv...

The book I just finished, "Last to Die," has characters that are based on the tv show "Rizzoli and Isles."  I read this book without realizing it was part of a recurring character type of book.  I am going to go back and read the series from the beginning, but I can say that because I have watched the tv show I was so able to picture each character, even though it is definitely different then what I watch on tv.

There is a privately owned school, called Evensong, that takes in children who are victims of violent crimes and need help with dealing with the world and all its danger.

Teddy has survived a massacre.  A couple years ago his whole family was killed and he survives and now the foster family he lives with is also killed.  Rizzoli is assigned to the case and tries to protect Teddy.

opposites attract...

"Beautiful Disaster" by Jamie McGuire is about Abby, a college freshman, who is trying to make a fresh start in life by leaving behind a life she wishes didn't exist.  Travis, the "one-night-stand" guy, is also a street fighter and very aggressive.

Abby makes a bet with Travis.  If Travis wins, she must live with him for one month.  If Abby wins, Travis must restrain from sex for one month.  There is obvious chemistry between these two, but it is up and down and there is a constant battle.  However, it works for them and it was a good and easy read.

friends

"How Lucky You Are" by Kristin Kusek Lewis follows three friends, Waverly, Kate and Amy who have been friends for a long time but are each going through issues of their own.  Waverly owns a bakery but is worried about the mounting bills.  Kate is standing by her husband as he runs an election for becoming governor but seems a future she doesn't want and then there is Amy who has a big secret she is keeping from her friends.

girl power...

Cate, Renee and Abby are the main characters in "These Girls" by Sarah Pekkanen.  All three girls have come to New York City for very different reasons and have come to live together.

Cate and Renee have been living together and take in Abby as a third roommate. Both work for a magazine, Cate as a features editor and Renee is trying hard to get promoted to the beauty editor.

Abby comes to them from a nanny job where something went wrong and she escapes to see her brother in New York who is friends with Cate and Renee.

All three girls really come to rely on each other for more than just being roommates and together they realize how much they have come to depend on each other.

heart and soul...

"The Heart Specialist" by Claire Holden Rothman, is a story about Agnes White, a young girl who is not interested in the normal girly things, but loves microscopes and dissecting things.  She wants to grow up and become a doctor.

When she was younger her father, a doctor,  was accused of murdering his sister and although he was acquitted, his reputation was soiled and he flees leaving Agnes with her pregnant mother.  Less than a year after that her mother dies and leaves Agnes and her baby sister on their own.

The story follow Agnes as she excels as a heart specialist but not so much at knowing when to listen to her own heart.