Take Two: A Romantic Comedy (The Jilted Bride Series)

By Whitney Gracia Williams / Genre: Humor, Contemporary Romance / Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars (46 reviews)

Melody Carter is New York’s harshest movie critic, but she’s always had a soft spot for romantic comedies—especially the ones where the “groom to be” ends up leaving his “bride to be” at the altar for the “real love” of his life.

Unfortunately, at her own wedding, the three hundred thousand dollar wedding of her dreams, she finds herself playing the very character she never thought twice about: the jilted bride. Hurt and confused, she seriously doubts she’ll ever find love again. Will a chance encounter with an unlikely suitor erase her doubts?

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Coming Home

By Laurie Breton / Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance / Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (99 reviews)

The year is 1974, and aspiring songwriter Casey Bradley is just eighteen years old when handsome, charismatic singer Danny Fiore sweeps into her life and turns it upside down. The first time she looks into Danny’s turbulent blue eyes, Casey is ready to toss aside her entire future for a man who will almost certainly break her heart.

Together with guitar wizard Rob MacKenzie, Casey writes the songs that catapult Danny to a fame beyond their wildest imaginings. But life with Danny isn’t what she expected. The road to success is loaded with land mines, and rivers of darkness flow through her troubled marriage. Every time Danny breaks her heart, it’s Rob who picks her up, dusts her off, and glues the pieces back together.

It isn’t until she suffers an unimaginable loss that Casey begins to question who she is and what she really wants from life. As she searches for herself amid the wreckage, she discovers the bittersweet truth that the choices a woman makes at thirty can differ vastly from those she made at eighteen.

COMING HOME is a poignant story about the seasons of a woman’s heart, and the roundabout route we sometimes have to take to get to where we’re meant to be.

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Hostile Witness

By Rebecca Forster / Genre: Mystery & Thrillers / Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (745 reviews)

When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships create a combustible and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth is uncovered it can save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both.

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Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days

By Tim LaHaye / Genre: Religious Fiction / Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars (2383 reviews)

An airborne Boeing 747 is headed to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun.

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The Ghosts of Varner Creek

By Michael Weems / Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thrillers / Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (421 reviews)

At 87, Solomon “Sol” Mayfield is taken on an otherworldly journey to discover what really happened to his family. Sol has been able to see ghosts ever since his mother and sister mysteriously disappeared when he was a child. When he dies in a nursing home in the second chapter of the novel, it’s only the beginning of his story. He’s reunited with his sister, Sarah, who reveals family secrets he was never able to learn while he was alive. The novel flashes back to 1909, when Sol was 12 and Sarah was 13. The day after Sarah’s birthday, Sol wakes up to find that his mother and sister are gone. Many in their small town of Varner Creek, Texas, assume that Sol’s mother, Annie, had finally had enough of his abusive father, Abram; others suspect foul play. Abram blamed Annie for Sarah’s Down syndrome and for trapping him in a small town by becoming pregnant at 14. Sent to live with his Aunt Emma and Uncle Colby, Sol is visited one night by what appears to be Sarah’s ghost. Is his sister dead? If so, who killed her? And what about their mother? Sol sets out to find the answers, some of which are not revealed until decades later. Weems’ story unfurls slowly, at a pace that feels consistent with life in a small Texas town. He has an impressive knack for dialect, and regional accents and idioms help bring the characters into vivid relief. Also, Sol’s self-deprecation and world-weary charm make him an instantly likable narrator. While it’s easy to get pulled into his story, the narrative sags a bit in the middle when the reader is given a thorough history of how Sol’s parents met, which doesn’t feel entirely necessary to the main story. When the final mystery is unveiled, however, the solution is sufficiently unexpected if not completely shocking.

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