Trail of Longing (Hot on the Trail, Book 3)

 

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS.

MERRY FARMER

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 1/11/15.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Dr. Dean Meyers was the most beautiful thing Emma Sutton had ever seen.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I read the first two books in this series back in 2015, and very much enjoyed them, and in 2020 I came across the next two books while browsing in a bookstore and snatched them both up. And as often happens, when I have so many different book series in progress, they then sat on my shelves until now.

I’ll admit that it took me awhile to really warm up to Emma. When the story opens, she’s madly in love with Dean, even though she’s never spoken to him. And when she does finally speak to him, she’s so shy that she can barely stammer out full words, much less a complete sentence. She was sweet enough, but her mother was a piece of work, shamelessly contriving to push Emma and Dean together and telling Emma she needs to “trap” Dean because he’s such a good catch. Much to Emma’s dismay and embarrassment, but to Dean’s amusement. He’s interested, and is willing to let Emma’s mother play matchmaker. Actually, I guess my taking awhile to warm up to Emma isn’t quite true – I liked her just fine, until her mother decided another candidate would be better than Dean, and Emma would not stand up to her. Dean was frustrated, and I was right there with him, while Emma kept insisting that her mother had been through so much that she couldn’t go against her wishes.

I loved Dean. He’s a doctor, and his tending to the other travelers on the wagon train was sweet and compassionate. After a tornado ravages the travelers and Emma’s ankle is sprained and swollen and painful, she and her mother and Dean and dropped off at a way station so she can rest and stay off her feet while they wait for the next wagon train to come along. And that’s when the trouble started. They join the next train, where Emma becomes good friends with another girl, Katie, and where she meets Russ, who went to medical school with Dean, was a surgeon alongside Dean on the battlefields, and who tells everyone that Dean was a deserter, along with lots of other stories. The speed with which Emma’s mother suddenly throws her lot in with Russ and begins pushing Emma to him and away from Dean was astonishing, and I began to hate her mother. That was the point where I also got exasperated with Emma for not standing up to her.

Then Emma and Katie are kidnapped by a couple of Indians, and Dean and Aidan, who has been in love with Emma practically his whole life, take off after them, while Russ refuses to go along, claiming he needs to stay behind to help protect the other women.

Needless to say, Dean rescues Emma, they declare their love for each other (and spend a steamy night in a cave), and everything is right with the world after that. Except that the two had Indians split up and gone in different directions, and when the book ends we still don’t know the fate of Katie and Aidan. Thankfully, their story is the next book, TRAIL OF DREAMS, which I am now off to get started on.

Goodreads Synopsis: Emma Sutton fell in love with Dr. Dean Meyers on the very first day of their journey west on the Oregon Trail. Dean is handsome, caring, and noble. If only she could tell him! But between her crippling shyness and the marital machinations of her mother, she despairs of ever being able to say what’s in her heart. When a sudden injury puts her in Dean’s hands, literally and figuratively, she hopes she might just have a chance with him…until a ghost from Dean’s past comes between them.

Dean Meyers is determined to make the long journey west to start a new life and leave the horrors of the Civil War behind him. He is charmed by Emma and amused by her mother, and can finally see peace in his future. But when an old colleague shows up to turn his world upside down, it’s all Dean can do to keep love, hope, and Emma from slipping away. All seems lost until Emma finds herself in danger and Dean is given a chance to be a hero…if he can reach her in time.

Love will give her courage to find her voice and follow her heart…

A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram, Book 1)

DARYNDA JONES

Stats for my copy: Kindle edition, St. Martin's Press, expected publication date 4/7/20.

How acquired: NetGalley.

(For the Goodreads synopsis, scroll to the bottom of this post.) 

My thoughts:  While I hadn't read Ms. Jones before, I am very aware of her popular Charley Davidson series, and even have books one and twelve of that series in my TBR. So when an email showed up from Netgalley about this book, the first in a new series, being available, I jumped on it.

It's one of those books that is filled with quirky characters and outlandish situations. Starting with Sunshine becoming the sheriff of her home town after winning an election that she had not even entered. Her friend and coworker, Quincy, tells her she killed it at a the debate. How...? Sunshine never does find out how her parents managed to get her elected behind her back, but she is still glad of the opportunity to move back to her home town, if only to investigate her own abduction when she was seventeen, of which she has very little memory, and the perpetrator was never caught.

Much of the dialogue was quite amusing, with quips being tossed back and forth between the characters like a volleyball, while Sunshine and her deputies race against the clock to find a missing teenager who had premonitions of her own abduction and murder for years. I sometimes got a little confused as something would come up from Sun's past. For instance, one minute her childhood rival and bully Hailey is snarling insults at her, and the next they're hugging in a coffee shop storeroom, followed by a short info dump to explain their situation, although I'm still not completely clear on why the two women have to pretend to hate each other when anyone else is around. Plus there was just soooo much going on, like dozens of tiny little side plots. Despite that, I like the author's writing and the story was engaging for the most part. And when Sunshine and her daughter finally had a heart to heart, no more secrets, talk about what happened to Sunshine when she was seventeen, I cried right along with them.

While Sunshine is apparently surrounded by handsome burly men, Levi of course stood out from the others. An enigma, who I'm sure we'll learn more about as the series progresses. I have some theories about him, and I loved the conversation between them when she went to his house to thank him for something and ended up standing beside his bed interrupting his nap to talk to him.

If this review comes across as my feeling a bit ambivalent about the book, I guess I am a little, but the bottom line is I did get quite caught up and raced through the last quarter or so, and I look forward to the next book. And definitely need to get a start on the Charley Davidson books.

Goodreads synopsis: Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, its strong cups of coffee—and a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff—an election her adorably meddlesome parents entered her in—and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of it's reminding Sunny why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that trouble at her daughter’s new school and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and Sunshine has her hands full.

Enter sexy almost-old-flame Levi Ravinder and a hunky US Marshall, both elevens on a scale of one to blazing inferno, and the normally savvy sheriff is quickly in over her head. Now it’s up to Sunshine to juggle a few good hunky men, a not-so-nice kidnapping miscreant, and Doug the ever-pesky flasher. And they said coming home would be drama-free. 

Christmas in Winter Hill

MELODY CARLSON 

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 9/3/19.

How acquired: Revell Reads Blogger Program.

First line: Krista Galloway didn't usually second-guess herself, but as she slowed down the U-Haul truck on the outskirts of Winter Hill, she was assaulted with some serious doubts.

My thoughts: Definitely Hallmark movie material, and that's a good thing! This slim hardback (164 pages) is a sweet feel good story. Krista and her young daughter move from Phoenix to Winter Hill, Washington, where Krista is starting a new job as the city manager. Krista is a realistic portrayal of a single mother trying to provide a better life for her daughter. She's not a fan of Christmas, which I often feel quite bah humbug about myself. Her reasons are much different than anything I could come up with though. Emily, on the other hand, loves the holiday season and is so excited to live in a town that goes all out to celebrate Christmas. I loved the relationship between the two, and how wide eyed and earnest little Emily is. And I enjoyed seeing Emily strike up such a friendship with teenage Anna. And of course, watching the friendship blossom between Krista and Anna's father.

I thought this was going to be a romance, and while there is some romance, it's definitely more about Krista and Emily starting this new life. Which was fine, it was quite enjoyable and I breezed through it in a couple of days. And the ending, oh gosh, I was literally crying. It almost makes me want to live in Winter Hill, except that I hate snow and cold weather. But it might be worth it to be a part of such a wonderful community!


Goodreads synopsis: Krista Galloway is not a fan of Christmas. After her rough childhood in multiple foster homes, the holiday season just brings too many bad memories to the surface. But when she accepts a job as a city manager in the mountain town of Winter Hill, Washington, Christmas is part of the deal. The small town is famous for its Christmasville celebration, something that the city manager . . . well, manages.

As she tries to make her tiny new apartment feel like home for her and her eight-year-old daughter, Emily, Krista begins to wonder if this move was a mistake. She doesn't always feel welcomed in the close-knit town, and Emily continually wonders, "Where's the snow?" Can a friendly stranger and his family help restore Krista's Christmas spirit before the big day?

Bestselling author Melody Carlson invites you to spend this holiday season in a town you'll never forget--and never want to leave. 

Versions of Her

ANDREA LOCHEN

Stats for my copy: ebook, Red Adept Publishing, LLC, 7/23/19.

How acquired: Gifted to me from the author.

First line: Kelsey was running late, of course.

My thoughts: What a lovely story! You know how you start reading a book, and it's enjoyable, and you're thinking it'll be at least three stars, probably four. And then somewhere, you're not sure exactly where, it becomes a five star book, and you're not even half finished. The writing started out solid and flowing rather effortlessly and then became enveloping as time passed unnoticed.

Sometimes she wanted to physically shake the hope out of him until he was as empty and barren as she was.

It's a wonderful character study. Two sisters, complete opposites, with distance, both physical and metaphorical, between them, who seem to have little in common yet are united in grief as they both still mourn the loss of their mother four years earlier. They have fond memories of summers spent at the family lake house, which their mother bequeathed to them. But the recent tenants have moved out and the house stands empty, and Melanie has decided it's time to sell, and while Kelsey doesn't really agree, she grudgingly goes along with the plan.

Their discovery of the hidden closet, and how it leads them to glimpses from their mother's past, came a little bit out of left field, and I absolutely loved it. While I realize other reviewers may have already given it away (I did not read any reviews before I picked up the book), I don't want to say anything more about that aspect of the story, as I'd like other readers to have that plot twist take them unawares the way it did me. Believe me, it's worth it.

And of course I have to mention Sprocket, Kelsey's dog, who is a supporting character in his own right. What would life be without a dog?

She watched Sprocket rolling in the grass on his back with joyful abandon. That was why people loved dogs. Dogs embraced life and savored every second of it, no matter if it meant looking like a total dork.

I cried a couple of times on this journey with Melanie and Kelsey, and when I finished the last page I sighed with happiness and contentment. I'm planning a trip to Barnes & Noble this weekend, and I'll be looking for Ms. Lochen's other books while I'm there.


Goodreads synopsis: On the surface, Melanie Kingstad-Keyes’s life is the picture of success. She’s a tenure track professor at a prestigious university and has a perfect husband. But a recent miscarriage has left her reeling and her marriage tenuous. Selling her family’s Lake Indigo summer home, which she hasn’t visited in fifteen years, feels like the perfect distraction from her problems. Now, she only needs to persuade her younger sister, Kelsey, to go along with her plan.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Kelsey Kingstad bounces from one doomed relationship to the next as she struggles to jumpstart her adult life. Carrying the guilt of her mother’s untimely death, Kelsey is reluctant to let go of the Victorian house filled with memories of her mom and their childhood.

When the sisters find a mysterious hidden door, Melanie and Kelsey discover that they can directly view their mother’s younger years and learn all the secrets she never shared with them. Delving into her memories is fun at first, but Melanie and Kelsey quickly uncover difficult truths, throwing their own life choices into question and making them wonder if they ever truly knew their mother. Visiting the past may help them find closure, but the cost could be steeper than they realize. 

The Taste of Air

GAIL CLEARE

Synopsis from Goodreads: A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams’s well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can’t fathom why she would be so far from home.

After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother’s side. There, she discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met.

When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother’s lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Red Adept Publishing, LLC, 2016

How acquired: Received from the author

My thoughts:  When the author contacted me and offered this book to me, I was a little leery, as two of the last three books sent to me by authors I'd ended up DNFing because I just did not enjoy them and couldn't get into them. But I crossed my fingers and accepted, and I am so glad I did.

The narrative, all in third person POV, bounces around between adult sisters Nell and Bridget in the present, and their mother, Mary, at different times in her life. Nell receives a phone call that her mother is ill and is hospitalized in a small town in Vermont. But her mother lives in Massachusetts, in a senior community where staff are supposed to check on her from time to time. So why was she in Vermont?

When Nell arrives in Vermont, she learns that her mother owned a lakeside cottage, still has her car but with Vermont tags on it now, has a dog, and has neighbors who appear to be very close friends. While Nell is visiting her mother's hospital bedside and meeting her mom's friends, her older sister Bridget is making plans to divorce her husband while trying to get a flight to Vermont.

The story has a very coming-of-age feel to it, despite the fact that Nell and Bridget are in their 40's. As the sisters begin unraveling their mother's secrets, they also begin coming to some realizations about their own lives. Meanwhile, the chapters that focus on Mary give us, the reader, some insight into her character, and we learn things about her past that the sisters don't know or have not yet discovered. It was an interesting balance, as it sometimes put us a step ahead of Nell and Bridget.

The only sour spot for me was in Bridget's quest to find the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. 

“Many years later,” Bridget said quietly, “I found out I would probably never have any more children. It was the punishment I earned for giving her up.”

I work in the adoption field, and seeing adoption portrayed negatively, well, when I read lines like that I just cringe. I have to remind myself that it was different times than now. I'm still not sure if I like the way that subplot played out in the end or not. It isn't feasible that an adoption could happen that way today, at least not with the agency I'm with, but I guess thirty years ago it could have.

When Nell and Bridget finally figure out the biggest secret, which the reader will have already learned from reading Mary's chapters (and when I was pretty sure I had it figured out I got kind of an icky feeling which I can't explain here without giving away too much plot) it seemed to suddenly come to them a little quickly, but I was sure glad they finally knew the complete truth. You grow up thinking you know your mother, and sometimes you forget that she had a childhood and a life before you came along. It made me wonder not only about my own mother, but also wonder what my daughters would think about my life if, for instance, they came across my old diaries and learned things about me that I've never told them. Things I probably won't ever tell them, not necessarily because they're bad things, but just because they're in my past.

Overall, I very much enjoyed the book and was happy with the way everything wrapped up. A quite engaging story.