THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey

This was a fun book to read as it was really an adult fairy tale.  The story was based on a Russian fairy tale about a girl who was half human and half snowmaiden.  When her family all perished she would visit an aging couple who had moved to Alaska because they could not cope with their sadness over the loss of their only child during childbirth.  Since they longed for a child of their own, they were happy for the visits of the child and wished for her to become their own.  The child would not live with them in their cabin, preferring to live among the trees and wild animals. A neighbor's son came to the couple's farm to help sow and take care of the crops when the man was injured because his horse, scared by a bear,  drug him in the field that he had been working. Over time, the son and the snowmaiden fell in love and she became pregnant.  They married and she had a son.  Shortly thereafter she became ill and was outside because she was running such a high fever but she disappered never to be seen again.  The story ends telling of the relationship the old man and his wife develop with the young child, his father, and his partents.

LOVE IN A NUTSHELL by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

    This story is a lot like other Evanovich novels.  Boy and girl meet.  They fall in love but there are problems.  The boy saves the girl and they live happily ever after.     This is true of this story.   Kate, recently divorced, returns to her childhood summer home at Keene's Harbor.  She needs money to pay the morgage on her home because it is about to go into foreclosure.  She is fired from her first job as a bartender and she shows up at the brewery and gets a job by the owner Matt Cuhane.  Matt's business is being sabotaged and he hires Kate to find out who is doing it.  He promises to give her 20 thousand dollars when she has done this.  This is the amount needed to save her home so she jumps at the opportunity.  She and Matt are attracted to each other and Kate is the object of several acts by the person who is doing the destructive acts.   She stays at Matt's place for awhile but eventually moves back home when her parents come for Thanksgiving.  However, Matt's home is set on fire and Kate discovers it and the guy who set it.  He takes her to a cabin but they are luckily found before he kills. Kate.                                                                  

THE HUNGER GAMES - by Suzanne Collins

This story takes place in a place called Panem which covers what once was North America.  Because parts of the country rebelled the country was divided into districts and each year each district must send one boy and one girl (chosen by lottery) to the Capitol to participate in games where the children are pitted against each other.  They must kill each other and only the last child gets to go home to a new home and wealth.  Katniss Everdeen takes her sister's place when her sister has been called to be this year's participant.  A boy named, Peeta, is also called to represent their district and he is in love with Katniss. Katniss has a friend at home which she really cares for and is unsure of her feelings for either one of the boys. Peeta and Katniss team up and are the victors of this year's Hunger Games. However, all is not resolved by their victory.

THE TEA ROSE by Jennifer Donnelly

This story starts out with Jack the Ripper stalking prostitutes in London in the late 1800s.  The story's main characters are Fiona Finnegan and Joe Bristo who have been in love since they were young children.  They are saving their money to buy a store of their own but currently have to work hard to help their families put food on the table.  Fiona's father is killed because he is trying to get a union started in the local tea factory and then her mother is killed by Jack the Ripper while she is trying to help a neighbor.  Fiona's loses and sister and she thinks her brother Charlie has committed suicide.  She takes money from the man who has ordered the killing of her father and takes her brother Seamie to America because she is being hunted by her father's killer.  Joe marries the daughter of his rich employer after she becomes pregnant but he is haunted by his love for Fiona.  Fiona and Joe both become wealthy merchants and later reunite.

THE WINTER SEA by Susanna Kearsley

This story is told in two parts.  Carrie, a young writer, writing a piece of historical fiction, finds that she knows historical details before she has researched the facts.  She moves close to a castle where part of her story takes place because she feels the characters there. Carrie rents a cottage near the ruined castle and finds that she is attracted to the son of her landlord , Grahem, while the landlord's other son also takes a liking to her, also.  Grahem is a history professor and so has interests in common with Carrie.  He helps her with her research and they maintain a relationship.  Carrie writes a story about a hidden love affair in which an orphaned girl named Sophia is taken in by a kind relative whose family is secretly trying to return King James to his throne.  Sophia secretly marries a soldier who is a wanted man because of his political dealings.  He goes off to war and Sophia has been told that her husband has been killed in war.  She placed her young child in the care of a friend's sister and lives elsewhere in grief.  However, he is only injured and takes on the identity of another so that he can live a life where he is not wanted.  In the end, he is reunited with Sophia and they live happily ever after.

THE NEXT ALWAYS by Nora Roberts

This was a fantastic, romantic story that I enjoyed very much.  The story revolves around three brothers who are restoring an old inn in Boonboro.  They are all described as hunks with values.  Beckett, one of the brothers, is featured in this story as he becomes involved with a girl, Clare, he fantasized over through high school. She however married her high school sweetheart who was later killed in war.  She has returned home to Boonsboro to raise her three boys with the help of family and friends.  Clare owns the local bookstore and  is being stalked by a psychotic man who also was a high school classmate.  The only part of the story that seemed off to me was the part of the friendly ghost that inhabits the old inn.  I encourage my Book Club friends to read this book now even though we won't be discussing it until June.  The second book in this series  (The Last Boyfriend) will be coming out in May and you will want to be ready to read it the minute it is on the bookshelves!

THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING by James Patterson

This story is a about a widowed teacher who decides to get married on Christmas.  She does not tell her children who the groom will be nor does she tell the groom himself.  Gabby has been asked by three men to marry them and she lets everybody, even the goom  in the dark until the wedding ceremony.  Although the author tries to portray Gabby as a giving, thoughtful mother, grandmother, friend, etc.  I found her to be just the opposite.  She made all the plans, etc. and did not think of the men she strung along or the wants of the groom. I did not care for this book and found the characters and the story to be unrelatable to anybody or situation I could think of.  The characters and the action was too contrived and I felt the book had been written just to be a source of income for the author.  I would not read it again.

THE SEARCH by Nora Roberts

Fiona, an avid dog lover and trainer, was once abducted by a serial killer.  She was able to escape but later he killed her fiance as a way to get back at her.  Years have passed and her abductor is in jail but a second abductor is now hunting down young women using the tactics of Fiona's abductor and this new abductor seems to be making a path to Fiona.  Fiona has become romantically involved with a wood craftsman, Simon Doyle, who becomes her protector.  While she is supported by the law, family, and friends Fiona is haunted by the new reports of the abductor and his exploits.

THE CHRISTMAS BUS by Melody Carlson

When finding out that their adult children would not be coming home for Christmas, Pastor Charles and his wife Edith decided to open their Bed and Breakfast home for the holidays.  A varied group of people rented all of the available roooms and arrived before Christmas to participate in all of the Christmas Valley holiday activities.  One guest even helped with the church's Christmas program.  A young couple on their way over a nearby mountain had to stop at the Bread and Breakfast because the bus they were driving had mechanical problems and they were not able to reach their destination.  The young couple were low on money and had to sleep in their bus because the Bread and Breakfast had no more room.  One particular guest, Olive, was quite cantankerous and annoyed the other guests but her disappearance at the end of the story gave the others much to think about.

BURNT MOUNTAIN by Anne Rivers Siddon

Even though online reviews of this book were not good I was hooked on reading BURNT MOUNTAIN when I read the synopsis on the book jacket. I love reading southern stories especially if they are based around Atlanta or Savannah.  This book has some neat twists and turns that keeps you reading clear to the very last page.  The main character, Thayer, is devastated by the death of her father as her mother does not really care for her. She does have a close relationship with her Grandmother.  She goes off to camp and as a tennager and falls in love with a teenage counselor at a neighboring camp. They are in love and have made plans to meet each other beyond camp. When Thayer returns home and finds out that she is pregant her mother takes her to the doctor and tricks her into an abortion. When he tries to contact Thayer, her mother tells the boy, Nick Abrams, that Thayer has moved away. She thinks he has forgotten her. They lose contact and move on with their lives.  They both marry other people but they find each other during some planning events for the Atlanta Olympics. Thayer's first husband becomes pshchotic - events happen---- and Thayer and Nick end up happily ever after.