Monthly Archives: June 2010

by | June 25, 2010 · 1:40 pm

Bethany Campbell. One Track Mind. Toronto: Harlequin, 2009.

Halesboro has seen better days.  In its heyday the racetrack in town was part of the NASCAR circuit, bringing crews, spectators, and publicity that made the businesses on Main Street thrive.  Lori Garland’s family owned the track, and Lori was the unofficial town princess. Kane Ledger was a poor boy, from a troubled family; he left Halesboro under a cloud, without even finishing high school.

My how things change.  In his final years, Lori’s father made some bad business decisions.  He lost the NASCAR contract, and the track became rundown.  Lori quit her job as a schoolteacher to try to save the track, but she can’t make a go of it.  In steps Kane, now a successful lawyer and sports agent in Charlotte.  He buys the racetrack and hires Lori to run the track for a year.

Lori and Kane have a history together (after all, this is a romance novel), but their attempts to work together are clouded by more than the high school romance that was squelched by her parents.  Vandalism at the track is becoming a common occurrence and it’s getting more violent.  Also, the town has suddenly come to the notice of outside investors who are trying to buy up downtown real estate and the nice mansion on the hill.  Lori wonders if Kane has anything to do with this, and if he is somehow getting revenge on her and the town. Before the novel ends, all the pieces fall into place.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Campbell, Bethany, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship

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by | June 24, 2010 · 5:05 pm

Wendy Etherington. Raising the Stakes. Toronto: Harlequin, 2010.

Evie Winters and Jared Hunt saw each other all the time when they were growing up.  Their parents were good friends and the extended Winter and Hunt families gathered for holiday meals, summer cookouts, and life’s small and large events.  Evie–a tall girl with a talent for math–had a crush on Jared, but Jared was a boy who taste ran to cheerleaders and prom queens.  Evie once confessed her love for Jared. Even after he rejected her, the two kept up a friendship on the phone and via email.

As the years passed, Evie established herself as an accountant in New York. Jared stayed in North Carolina and parlayed his skill tinkering with machines into an impressive career as an engine builder for NASCAR teams.  The years have been hard on both families–deaths, job losses, and worse–but the final blow for Evie’s mom comes when her younger son is accused of murder.  Evie takes a leave from her job in New York to come home and help her mother cope.

Evie finds temporary work analyzing the accounts for the FastMax racing team, one of the teams that uses Jared’s engines.  Evie’s cost-cutting measures at FastMax jeopardize Jared’s contract with the company and create distrust between the old friends even as a romance blooms between them.   Just when it appears that business matters will not stand between the lovers, family secrets threaten their happiness.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Etherington, Wendy, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

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by | · 10:15 am

Nancy Gotter Gates. The Tommi Poag Mysteries.

Tommi Poag is a cheerful fifty-something woman who is trying the make it on her own after her husband leaves her for a younger woman.  After decades as homemaker, she now works for a small insurance agency and lives in a little condo in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Because Tommi has a big heart and curious nature, she quickly gets involved in the troubles of others.  It turns out that Tommi is a good, if unorthodox, investigator. Her investigations cause her to bump into her ex, but Tommi is making new friends as she solves crimes large and small.

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Filed under 2000-2009, Gates, Nancy Gotter, Guilford, Mystery, Piedmont, Series

by | June 21, 2010 · 11:08 am

Tim Myers. Soapmaking Mysteries.

Ben Perkins is comfortable in his position at Where There’s Soap, the family-run soap-making business. He works with his mother and siblings, and he gets to know his clients in Harper’s Landing, North Carolina well. However, strange events happen in this quiet town, and they all have connections to the Perkins family. Ben’s relatives trust him to get to the bottom of all of these mysteries, which usually have potential to affect them and the store negatively. As he juggles clearing the Perkins family name and solving the crimes, Ben looks for love. Although content with his life, shake-ups keep things interesting for Ben and the reader.

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Filed under 2000-2009, Myers, Tim, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Series

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by | June 17, 2010 · 12:25 pm

Kay Salter. Twelfth Summer. Beaufort, NC: SoundSide Publications, Inc., 2008.

Sarah Bowers’ father has just been called to serve in World War II. To give the rest of the family a diversion, her parents decide that Sarah, her mother, and her brother should live with her grandparents in Beaufort, North Carolina for the summer. Although at first Sarah is disappointed to leave the bustle of Raleigh, she learns to love the sight and the smell of the salt marshes as well as the kind coastal natives. Surrounded by her adoring grandparents and new acquaintances, Sarah finds many adventures in Beaufort that she could not experience in Raleigh. For example, she and her friend, Porter, find themselves stranded on Piver’s Island in the middle of a storm – and an air raid drill. As the Bowers cope with the temporary absence of her father and their sacrifices amid the ongoing war, Sarah discovers what is truly important in life: family.

This is the first novel in the Sarah Bowers Series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Carteret, Children & Young Adults, Coast, Historical, Novels in Series, Salter, Kay, Wake

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by | · 12:24 pm

Gordon Bennett. The Old Man’s Plan. Davidson, NC: Lorimer Press, 2010.

Tiff Wicker works at a social service agency in Charlotte, helping people with troubles connect to the help they need.  But Tiff has her own problems.  She can’t pay her bills. When an acquaintance introduces her to a man who will lend her some money, she quickly finds herself in over her head.

Frank Kakasic is someone Tiff notices at the park near her home.  He’s a bit odd, and not as good with his dog as Tiff is with hers.  When Frank shows up at Tiff’s agency, Tiff sees a lonely old man.  Tiff thinks he needs help and maybe a few friends, but Frank senses that it is Tiff who is in trouble.  When Tiff is unable to get out of the loan shark’s grip, Frank puts together a plan to free her.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Bennett, Gordon, Mecklenburg, Piedmont

by | June 14, 2010 · 2:32 pm

Ellen Block. The Language of Sand. New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, 2010.

After losing her husband and young son in a devastating house fire, Abigail Harker’s life changes forever.  Everything precious to her has been taken away, and she finds that without her family she cannot resume her life in Boston as a lexicographer.  Abigail’s husband spoke fondly of a small island in North Carolina – Chapel Isle – that he visited when he was a boy, and she decides to move there for a year to feel closer to his spirit.

After making the long drive from Massachusetts to North Carolina, Abigail’s first tour of Chapel Isle is daunting.  The ferry lands at a dock that is eerily unstable, and the property that she rents – a cottage and a lighthouse – is in abysmal condition.  Getting to know the locals is also difficult because most people, although curious about her, appear to be standoffish.  And there is the ghost that “looks after” (or haunts) the lighthouse and whose noises unsettle her daily.

Abigail must make a new life for herself on Chapel Isle while grieving the premature loss of her old life.  Although this is an unbelievably difficult task, over time she gains loyal friends and interesting memories on the island – and new strength.  Abigail, always inspired by words, uses her experiences on Chapel Isle to create a new vocabulary that redefines her life and allows her to survive.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Block, Ellen, Coast, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | · 2:29 pm

Tim Myers. Lighthouse Inn Series.

With a setting as unusual as a lighthouse in the mountains of North Carolina, it is not surprising that strange things happen there. The lighthouse is the focal point of Hatteras West Inn, the hotel run by Alex Winston in Elkton Falls. Although Alex would like to keep the atmosphere quaint at the inn, a series of murders has given the destination some undesired attention. Along with his friend and housekeeper, Elise, Alex must get to the bottom of the mysteries occurring at Hatteras West if he is to stay in business. With bizarre guests and a police force that is not interested in his input, Alex’s quick wit allows him to solve the cases and to save the inn’s reputation.

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Filed under 2000-2009, Mountains, Myers, Tim, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Series

by | June 11, 2010 · 9:24 am

Drew Perry. This Is Just Exactly Like You. New York: Viking, 2010.

In some ways this is a story we’ve all heard before: seven or eight years in, a marriage is on the rocks.  But the particulars of this novel make the story fresh and engaging.

Jack and Beth aren’t quite opposites, but their responses to the difficulties of life are quite different.  Beth, a college professor, likes to plan, prepare, keep things orderly.  Jack is not a planner, and he can be downright impulsive.  He also doesn’t finish things.  The last straw for Beth is when Jack buys the house across the street.  Now there are two houses for him to tinker with–another house that can have a plywood wall and half re-done kitchen.

Jack and Beth have long been friends with one of Beth’s colleagues, Rena, and her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Terry.  When Beth leaves Jack and their autistic son, she moves in with Terry.  Jack and Terry are still friends, and the two men even continue to with their occasional business deals.  Jack soon drifts into a relationship with Rena, a woman who does nothing to check Jack’s crazier angels.  As Jack juggles his business, his son whose development takes a sharp turn for the better, and his relationships with Beth, Rena, and Terry, he begins renovating the new house–and its yard. Jack’s vision exceeds his expertise, and disaster at the new house is just barely averted.  Both Jack and Beth learn something in their time apart, but as they reconcile the reader is sure that there will still be some misadventures ahead.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Guilford, Perry, Drew, Piedmont

by | · 9:19 am

Tamara Leigh. Leaving Carolina. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2009.

Piper Wick (formerly Pickwick) has built a nice life for herself in Los Angeles.  Her public relations firm has a lot of politicians and Hollywood people as clients, and one professional relationship, with Colorado Congressman Grant Spangler, has recently turned into a romance.  Piper has no interest in returning to her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, a place she fled twelve years ago.

Piper returns only because Uncle Obe, the odd ball of his generation (as Piper is of hers), has drafted a new tell-all will.  Uncle Obe plans to make amends for financial shenanigans, tax evasion, and non-support of two illegitimate children.  Making amends will reduce the inheritance of the surving family members.  Piper doesn’t care about that, but she is alarmed when she learns that Uncle Obe plans to reveal one of her teenage misadventures.  Back to Pickwick she heads, to dissuade him.

Like most of her family members, she blames Uncle Obe’s newly-found conscience on the influence of his godson, Obediah Axel Smith.  Piper sets a private investigator to find out about this Smith character, but as she spends time in Pickwick she finds herself attracted to him and to the righteousness that he urges on her.  When Piper starts thinking in a new way, small town Pickwick and her crazy family don’t seem so bad.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Leigh, Tamara, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship

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