Category Archives: 2010

2010

by | April 18, 2011 · 8:59 am

Kathryn Magendie. Sweetie. Memphis, TN: Bell Bridge Books, 2010.

“You are the town person just like I am the mountain person. I showed you through the mountains, now you show me through the town.” -Sweetie

Best friends have a way of teaching each other lessons. Melissa’s life changed the day she met Sweetie, a unique and independent girl with “mountain spirit.” Over the course of a summer, Sweetie expands Melissa’s world beyond television and candy bars to the hills and Native American traditions of Haywood County, North Carolina. She helps Melissa slim down, control her stuttering, and develop more of a backbone.

Sweetie’s reputation around town, however, is that she is a strange girl with a questionable background. Her inability to feel pain is deemed especially odd; classmates make fun of her. Melissa also becomes the brunt of their bullying because of her friendship with Sweetie, but she is proud of her best friend. When Sweetie needs assistance saving her dying mother, Melissa steps in to guard her from the town gossips. But Melissa cannot protect Sweetie, and Sweetie disappears without a trace. Despite her confidant’s absence, Melissa will be forever aware of the magic of friendship.

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

1 Comment

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Haywood, Magendie, Kathryn, Mountains, Romance/Relationship

Tagged as ,

by | April 15, 2011 · 5:13 pm

Ellen Elizabeth Hunter. Murder at the Holiday Flotilla. Greensboro, NC: Magnolia Mysteries, 2010.

Both Ashley and Melanie are filled with happiness as this latest novel in the Murder in Wilmington Series opens.  Melanie is about to become the president of the North Carolina Association of Realtors, a post that she has long desired.  Ashley is a new mother, with twin boys who delight her and Jon and their extended family–Melanie and her husband Cam, half-sister Scarlett, and Aunt Ruby and her husband Binkie.  Family is much on Ashley’s mind, and she is tickled to learn that her sons’ pediatrician, Amy Wood, may also be kin.

Dr. Wood lives on land across the river in Brunswick County that has been in the Wood family for generations.  Ashley hopes to explore her kinship connection–and family tales of hidden treasure–when she helps Dr. Wood restore the house on the property.  But when Ashley and Jon’s first visit to the house is interrupted by an ugly confrontation between Dr. Wood and a neighbor, the reader is alerted to the fact that something is up.  That something involves animal cruelty, land speculation, dirty politics, and old documents that point to the truth about those stories of hidden treasure.  Melanie’s professional goals are put in jeopardy when she is connected to two murders, but once again the sisters emerge relatively unscathed in this cheerful, history-rich mystery.

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

Comments Off on Ellen Elizabeth Hunter. Murder at the Holiday Flotilla. Greensboro, NC: Magnolia Mysteries, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Brunswick, Coast, Hunter, Ellen Elizabeth, Mystery, New Hanover, Novels in Series

by | April 12, 2011 · 9:45 am

Ted Miller Brogden. Jigsaw. Charleston, SC: T.M. Brogden, 2010.

Cape Thomas is going through a mid-life crisis. He has just lost his job as a pilot, and the woman he has loved for over a decade is slipping further away from him. To make matters worse, Cape had a vision that he cannot shake. The image, of a woman holding a baby on his porch, has put him on a quest to find a former flame – and possibly his child.

Although finding someone from nearly twenty-five years ago will be difficult, Cape is up to the challenge. After all, the mission seems innocent enough. However, Cape soon finds himself involved in a dangerous situation. When he begins asking the wrong questions to powerful but unsavory people, everything that is dear to Cape is put at risk: a budding relationship with a beautiful woman, his flying career, and his honor. Will Cape realize the truth of his vision – and solve the puzzle – before it’s too late?

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

Comments Off on Ted Miller Brogden. Jigsaw. Charleston, SC: T.M. Brogden, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Brogden, Ted Miller, Coast, Suspense/Thriller

Tagged as

by | March 23, 2011 · 2:31 pm

Abigail DeWitt. Dogs. Davidson, NC: Lorimer Press, 2010.

Molly Moore, the daughter of a judge, grew up in a large home with four brothers and sisters. On the surface, her family exuded the suburban Texas lifestyle: wealthy, highly-educated, and on par with the Joneses. However, the Moore family was not as close others expected, and they fell apart when Molly was still an adolescent. The lack of compassion she received from her father and her desire to fit in led Molly to develop an unhealthy understanding of sex.

After quitting Harvard to become a maid, Molly becomes pregnant. On a whim, she decides to move to the mountains of North Carolina to raise her child. While there, she finds happiness and peace, again as a maid, living in a trailer with her son. This serenity is interrupted when a car driven by her father kills her former best friend’s daughter and later when her father dies of cancer. In these trials, Molly must reexamine her father’s life and their relationship to find a deeper meaning for herself.

Although most of this novel is set in Texas and Massachusetts, Molly seems happiest in North Carolina.

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

Comments Off on Abigail DeWitt. Dogs. Davidson, NC: Lorimer Press, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, DeWitt, Abigail, Mountains

Tagged as

by | March 11, 2011 · 9:47 am

Jessica Beck. Sinister Sprinkles. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010.

It’s early December, time for the April Springs Winter Carnival.  Mother Nature has cooperated this year by providing an early snow.  The carnival is on track to be a big success–until a woman is murdered right in front of city hall.  The victim is Darlene Higgins, a local hairdresser and the woman who broke up Suzanne Hart’s marriage.  Suzanne is immediately considered a suspect, but her alibi is rock solid–half the town saw her tending the booth she set up outside of her donut shop.  With Suzanne in the clear, police suspicions turn to Suzanne’s ex-husband, Max, who has disappeared.  Suzanne’s feelings about Max are complex, but she has enough residual affection for him that she doesn’t want him railroaded for Darlene’s murder.

It turns out that Max is not the only local who is missing.  With help from her friend Grace, and George, a retired policeman, Suzanne searches for Max and the missing woman, while simultaneously investigating Darlene’s relationships.  A series of snow storms slow down their progress.  During the storms Grace stays with Suzanne, and some of the nicest scenes in the novel  are the dinners that Grace shares with Suzanne and her mom.  (As with the other novels in this series, Suzanne’s relationships get equal time with the mystery.)  Although Sinister Sprinkles deals with such troubling topics such as financial abuse of the elderly, blackmail, and internet scams, the tone is always light, and the book is an enjoyable read.

This is the third novel in the Donut Shop Mystery series.

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

Comments Off on Jessica Beck. Sinister Sprinkles. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Beck, Jessica, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Tagged as , , ,

by | March 4, 2011 · 3:34 pm

Carl Kenney. Backslide.Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing, 2010.

Backslide picks up where Kenney’s earlier novel, Preacha’ Man left off.  Simon Edwards is living in Dallas with his love, Jamaica, and teaching at a seminary.  Simon should be happy, but he feels uneasy with his decision to leave the ministry.  He knows that he is succeeding at the seminary, but he senses that this is not what God wants him to do.  When a phone call comes from Calvin, a former member of Simon’s church, asking Simon to come start a new church, Simon returns to Durham, North Carolina.

Simon throws himself into creating the new church, but success is not a sure thing.  Many of the same forces and individuals who fought Simon in his earlier ministry are still around, and Simon has to learn to move beyond bitterness and earlier definitions of success.  He also has to reconsider his feelings for some of the women in the church.  Simon is without Jamaica, who has stayed in Dallas for her work, and some of the tension in the book comes from Simon’s struggle with their relationship.

This is a slower-paced, more introspective book than Preacha’ Man.  As Simon reflects on his situation, he considers insights from modern theology as well as the Bible, adding depth to the story.

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

Comments Off on Carl Kenney. Backslide.Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Durham, Kenney, Carl, Piedmont

Tagged as ,

by | February 28, 2011 · 5:18 pm

Dixie Land. Deadly Beauty. Kernersville, NC: Alabaster Books, 2010.

Diana thought her troubles were over when Ashley Marsh was sent to a mental hospital at the end of Deadly Company.  Free from Ashley’s threats, Diana is able to build a happy life in Greensboro, North Carolina with her new husband, Lance Cassidy, and his two daughters. The girls, Kelli and Kasey, are lively youngsters.  Kelli, a kindergarten student, becomes instant pals with the teaching assistant in her classroom, Miss Marisa.

Marisa is a warm-hearted but insecure young woman.  She is under the spell of her friend Sara, but Sara has become Marisa’s friend so that she can get close to the girls and take Lance away from Diana.  Yes, Sara is Ashley, and she will not stop until she eliminates her rival and claims Lance as her own.  Ashley manipulates Marisa, Lance, the girls, and even Diana.  Diana and Nora, Lance’s boss, sense that something is off about “Sara”, but it takes evidence from Marisa to bring their fears into focus.

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

Comments Off on Dixie Land. Deadly Beauty. Kernersville, NC: Alabaster Books, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Guilford, Land, Dixie, Piedmont, Suspense/Thriller

Tagged as

by | February 18, 2011 · 11:18 am

Toby Tate. Diablero. Norcross, GA: Nightbird Publishing, 2010.

The Death Defier, or Diablero, is a creature who once was human but who acquired magical powers that allowed it to escape death.  But maybe death is a better fate than to live as a death defier–a collection of bones and will, memories and hate. The diablero is a creature who takes its energy from the living things it kills.

When some strange deaths occur on Ocracoke Island and in the Great Dismal Swamp, newspaper reporter Hunter Singleton is assigned to the story. Investigating the murders brings him back into contact with his estranged wife, Lisa, but also with his old friend, Jason Summerfield, a museum curator in Pasquotank County.  Summerfield tells Hunter the legend of Blackbeard’s involvement with the black arts and the strange circumstances of the pirate’s death.  Meanwhile, in Virginia, an antiques dealer makes a pact with a diablero that sends the creature back to the Carolinas where Hunter and his allies try to end the killings. This is a tale of magic, greed, betrayal, and revenge.

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

Comments Off on Toby Tate. Diablero. Norcross, GA: Nightbird Publishing, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Coast, Horror, Hyde, Pasquotank, Suspense/Thriller, Tate, Toby

Tagged as ,

by | February 4, 2011 · 5:04 pm

Vicki Lane. The Day of Small Things. New York: Dell Books, 2010.

In the remote mountains of Dark Holler, North Carolina in 1922, a girl is born to a bitter mother who vows to keep her last child all to herself. Least, as the girl is called, grows up with very little affection from her mother and few interactions with others. Neighbors are told that she is a simple child, and she learns neither to read nor to write.

When Granny Beck, her maternal grandmother, comes to live with Least and her mother, light is cast upon Dark Holler. Granny Beck secretly teaches her skills to the girl and captivates her with old mountain stories and Cherokee legends. Granny Beck tells Least that she has magical “Gifts and Powers” to save herself and to protect others. As Least matures, she feels a kinship to the Little People (Yunwi Tsunsdi). However, some people are suspicious of her Gifts and Powers; they see them as contrary to Christianity. Luther Gentry, Least’s sweetheart, is one of those doubters. When the two marry, Least promises to part with her old life, which includes her magic as well as her cheerless name. She becomes Birdie Gentry and, for once, lives in a home of unconditional love.

When she is an elderly woman of eighty-five, she is faced with a difficult choice. A relative is in trouble, and her Gifts and Powers are needed – fast. Miss Birdie must weigh the promise she made to her husband and to herself so many years ago against the safety of a young boy.

Interspersed throughout the novel are images of artifacts from Birdie’s life, including hymns and advertisements.

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

Comments Off on Vicki Lane. The Day of Small Things. New York: Dell Books, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Lane, Vicki, Madison, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Yancey

Tagged as ,

by | January 21, 2011 · 5:07 pm

Sherry J. McFarland. Second Chance at Happiness. Raleigh, NC: B-About-It-Productions, 2010.

Nina, Tracy, and Amanda have been friends since college.  When this novel opens, the women are married and living in Raleigh.  Luckily, their husbands are compatible and the three couples often socialize and travel together.  A trip to Atlanta–for a fun day at Six Flags and an evening at a Beyoncé concert–reveals that Amanda’s marriage is shaky. Her long-suffering husband, Darnell, has had enough of Amanda’s indiscriminate flirtatiousness.  At Darnell’s insistence, the group cuts the weekend short and leave Atlanta late at night.  The crisis in Amanda and Darnell’s marriage pales in comparison to what happens next.  With Amanda at the wheel, the van overturns, killing Amanda and Darnell, and two of the other passengers.

Nina and Bryan survive, although each has lost a spouse.  How they accept the tragedy and move forward with their lives is the heart of this book.  The network of family and friends, especially Nina’s mother, comfort and support the two survivors, and work also helps them move past their pain.  By using chapters featuring different characters points of view, the reader understands the struggles and strengths of each one.  Bryan is the first to find strength in his faith, but as the book concludes that strength has spread to Nina and her mother, and even Nina’s shallow friend, Nicki.

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

Comments Off on Sherry J. McFarland. Second Chance at Happiness. Raleigh, NC: B-About-It-Productions, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, McFarland, Sherry J., Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship

Tagged as ,