The Lace Reader
By Brunonia Barry

Look into the lace... When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen... In this moment, an image will begin to form... in the space between what is real and what is only imagined. Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can.

The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid dream, though Barry's portrayal of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts - with its fascinating cast of eccentrics - is reportedly spot-on. Some of its stranger residents include generations of Whitney women, with a gift for seeing the future in the lace they make. Towner Whitney, back to Salem from self-imposed exile on the West Coast, has plans for recuperation that evaporate with her great-aunt Eva's mysterious disappearance and drowning. Fighting fear from a traumatic adolescence she can barely remember, Towner digs in for answers. But questions compound with the disappearance of a young woman under the thrall of a local fire-and-brimstone preacher, whose history of violence against Whitney women makes the situation personal for Towner. Her role in cop John Rafferty's investigation sparks a tentative romance. And as they scramble to avert disaster, the past that had slipped through the gaps in Towner's memory explodes into the present with a violence that capsizes her concept of truth.

Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader s own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace?

A really good read. When you get to the ending, you will re-evaluate everything that you read previously in the novel. I really enjoyed this book.

Beneath a Rising Moon (Ripple Creek, Book 1)
By Keri Arthur

Keri Arthur once again creates a believable alternate reality in which the paranormal exist among us. In this, the first of the Ripple Creek novels, Neva Grant, a golden werewolf with psychic powers, investigates the assault of her twin sister Savannah. Savannah is a ranger on the werewolf reservation and was attacked by a silver werewolf while investigating a series of murders. Neva infiltrates the stronghold of the silver werewolves and becomes involved with one of them to further her investigation. It quickly becomes apparent that both she and Duncan are in danger from the murderer.

Duncan and Neva find themselves falling in love, even though Neva is terrified to admit it, and she has good reason: Duncan has a reputation of being wild, never staying with one mate for more than a week, and getting thrown in jail. Will Duncan convince Neva that she is his soul mate? More importantly, will Neva have the courage to look beyond Duncan's reputation and acknowledge her love for him before the moon phase is up and he leaves her life, possibly forever?

While I enjoyed this book, my one complaint is that, for being a book about werewolves, I didn't think that Arthur went into enough detail on her idea of a werewolf. For example, she didn't describe the change from human to wolf and back again in enough detail. What happened to their clothes when they changed? Was the change painless, fluid, etc? I thoroughly enjoy some of her other books, but this series is primarily a romance with supernatural characters - a nice little "bodice-ripper" and a very quick book. Great for an afternoon escape.

Will I read the next in the series? Haven't made up my mind yet - if I run out of other reading material, maybe.

New Moon (Book 2, The Twilight Saga)
By Stephenie Meyer

Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of Twilight, Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step.

It's not until Bella re-acquaints herself with childhood friend Jacob, a sophomore with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella's emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends.

If you are a huge Edward fan, he only appears in about a third of this novel. I didn't particularly miss him, though when my daughter read it, she couldn't wait for him to reappear. I'm a Jacob fan.

No Humans Involved
By Kelley Armstrong

In Armstrong's assured seventh Otherworld paranormal romance, pretty Jaime Vegas, a 44-year-old necromancer who can reanimate the dead, faces her biggest career challenge yet - freeing the trapped ghosts of six murdered children. Thankfully, Jeremy Danvers, Jaime's hunky and very Alpha werewolf boyfriend, tags along for this hair-raising ride. Jaime, who has made a living onstage and off by her ghost-whispering skills, is in L.A. as one of three celebrity mediums participating in Death of Innocence, a TV special that hopes "to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe," but instead uncovers a serial-killing cult intent on man-made black magic. Seeking justice for the lost children and punishing the dark arts practitioners don't prevent Jaime and Jeremy from finding time for love.

Armstrong deftly juggles such creatures as werewolves, witches, demons and ghosts with real-life issues. A great story that further develops characters we already know and love. As long as she keeps writing them, I'll keep reading. Jaime is one of my favorite characters and seeing her come into her own in this book was a great satisfaction.

Garden Spells
By Sarah Addison Allen

A magical, utterly delicious debut that will cast its charm over everyone who loved Chocolat or Fried Green Tomatoes. Bascom, North Carolina is a town where everyone is known for their family's characteristics, passed down through generations. One family's women are good in bed: they always marry well. One family gives birth to a strong man - always called Josiah -
once in a generation (you go to him to help you when you move house). The Waverleys are known for their magic touch: Evanelle, who's lived in Bascom all her life, gives people what they need before they know they need it; Claire, who came to town when she was six and never wants to leave, can turn the plants in her garden into delicious food and drink with spectacular effects on those who consume it; Sydney, who ran away from her home town at 18, hasn't worked out what hers is. When Sydney returns to Bascom with her little girl, in flight from an abusive marriage, she proves a catalyst for change in the lives of all three women.

Allen bewitches with savoury prose and keen insight, leaving me to want more. Think of the very best fairy tale you were ever told; now pick up "Garden Spells" and read one of the best magical stories for adults I have enjoyed in a long time. I rarely pass on my books, but I did this one and the recipients were as delighted and enchanted as I was.

Kissing Sin
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 2
By Keri Arthur

Vampire-werewolf heroine Riley Jenson escapes an unknown enemy's breeding pens to kick off the second installment of Arthur's urban fantasy series. The action and sex come fast and furious as Riley works with her twin brother, her boss at Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races, as well as most of her lovers (who include a vampire with werewolf issues, a werewolf with mixed loyalties, an alpha werewolf and a horse-shifter) to uncover and derail a nefarious plot to create an army of super-beings.

Strong world-building, vivid personalities and the distinctive cultures of each of the various paranormal strains combine for a rich narrative, and Arthur's descriptive prose adds texture and menace. She also creates strong empathy for Riley, whose vampire half is beginning to assert itself, making her already precarious fertility problems worse.

Riley is a strong willed woman who accepts her nature and tells men who can't accept her for what she is to take a hike. The novel is a fast paced action packed romantic fantasy that takes place on an earth so descriptive readers will feel they must have visited it.

Once Upon a Day
By Lisa Tucker

The young woman in Stephen Spaulding's cab was strange. Her view of the world was unusual to say the least. Gradually, however, Stephen learns how she and her brother have been raised by their once-famous father in a utopian 'Sanctuary', away from the decadence of modern America. She has come to St Louis to find her runaway brother, a brilliant painter who fled the Sanctuary himself two years before. Dorothea's search for her brother will turn into an odyssey of discovery, leading to the shocking truth about her family's past and the terrifying events of the day that drove her father to escape California in a desperate attempt to protect his children from a dangerous world. In Stephen, Dorothea finds a fellow traveller on her journey - together they learn that while a heart can be broken by the tragic events of a day, a day can also bring a new chance at love and a deeper understanding of life's infinite possibilities.

A BRA book club selection. A nice enough book with a good mystery but the story is too neatly wrapped up at the end. A good piece of 'chick lit' for a rainy weekend.

The Italian Romance
by Joanne Carroll

Lillian has had to make the hardest decision a woman can make. In war-torn Australia in 1947, she is forced to choose between her baby daughter and the love of her life, an Italian prisoner-of-war. She flees to Italy to make a new life in an act of love that haunts her for fifty years.

Set between rural New South Wales and Italy, The Italian Romance examines the choices we make and their unexpected consequences. In this moving novel about families and the different faces of love, Joanne Carroll reminds us what it is to be human.

This book was a BRA selection. Beautifully written, three stories take us on a journey through the life of Lillian. From her sadness and courage as a young woman, to her melancholy existance as a widow in Italy meeting her daughter for the first time since she was a baby. Can you love two men? Can we be happy if we give up our children for love? Difficult questions are explored in this novel with thoughtfulness. A lovely story with an ending full of hope.

Cross Stitch
by Diana Gabaldon

The first book of a trilogy crossing 200 years of Scottish history. On holiday in the Scottish Highlands in 1945, Clare Randall walks through a stone circle - and into a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. She becomes marooned amid passion, violence, superstition and shifting allegiances.

In this time-travel romance, strong-willed and sensual Claire Randall leads a double life with a husband in one century, and a lover in another. Torn between fidelity and desire, she struggles to understand the pure intent of her heart. But don't let the number of pages and the Scottish dialect scare you. It's one of the fastest reads you'll have in your library. I didn't think that I would like it, but read it when several different friends ensured me that I'd enjoy it.

While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.

Gabaldon creates characters that you'll remember, laugh with, cry with, and cheer for long after you've finished the book. I can't wait to read the next installment.