“If I’d blinked, I would have missed it” is the opening line from “Learning to swim” by Sara J. Henry. Troy Chance didn’t blink but what did she see? Someone throwing trash off a passing Lake Champlain ferry, or a child sized doll or what she knew she saw, a small wide eyed human face.

Saving the child is just the beginning of a search for the answers, who would do this to a 6 year old child and why. Finding the answers and more would take her from the United States to Canada and back. This is the first book in the series.

– Carol Briggs

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It appears that prolific New York Times Bestselling author Nora Roberts is passionate about more than just writing. Her In the Garden trilogy – Blue Dahlia, Black Rose, and Red Lily – celebrate all things gardening.

Roberts is best known for her well crafted characters and relationships and here she doesn’t disappoint. In Blue Dahlia, we meet Stella Rothschild, recent widow, mother of two young boys, and the new manager at In the Garden nursery. We discover more about Roz Harper, widowed owner of the nursery and Harper House, a historic Tennessee mansion, in Black Rose. The main story in Red Lily surrounds Hayley Phillips, unmarried, pregnant, distant cousin of Roz, looking for a new start. The friendships that develop between the women are the highlight of the stories and, in my opinion, what Roberts writes best. But it wouldn’t be a “Nora Roberts” without romance – love blooms and there’s a Hero for each of our Heroines.

There is also an element of the supernatural in each of the stories. The mysterious and sometimes malevolent ghostly Harper Bride walks the halls of Harper House at night, singing lullabies. As their friendships and romances develop, Stella, Roz and Hayley must each face their own ghosts and that of the Harper Bride if they are to find happiness.

With the tie in to the supernatural, readers will be reminded of Roberts’ MacKade Brothers series: The Return of Rafe MacKade (1995), The Pride of Jared MacKade (1995), The Heart of Devin MacKade (1996), The Fall of Shane MacKade (1996).

Enjoy!  Sarah

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Cat’s table a novel by Michael Ondaatje.

“As always, Ondaatje’s prose is lyrical, but here it is tempered; the result is clean and full of grace”

Many stories have been written about journeys at sea, but it is less common to see such a journey combined with a coming-of-age tale. This is exactly what Michael Ondaatje has done in his latest book, THE CAT’S TABLE. This story, though fictional — and very imaginative— is drawn from Ondaatje’s own life; he took the very same voyage at the same age. Through a number of characters that our reviewer Harvey Freedenberg calls “colorful and enigmatic,” Mynah begins to learn about how the adult world works. Harvey says the book “is a tale Michael Ondaatje someday was destined to tell. It’s a pleasure for us, his readers, to share in that telling.”

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The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri.

“Barbieri’s mix of fairy tale and family drama in a picturesque seaside resort makes her third novel a terrific beach read.”

Nora Keane’s carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she — along with the rest of the world — learns that her husband, a prominent Massachusetts attorney general, has been cheating on her. Heartbroken and humiliated, Nora takes refuge with her maternal aunt on Burke’s Island in Maine, a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides.

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See the full reading list at bookreporter.com

City of lost souls by Cassandra Clare.

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

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The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Standing on the fringes of life… offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor…

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

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See the full reading list at goodreads.com

Are you my mother? : a comic drama by Alison Bechdel.

If you’re planning on skipping your next therapy session …

Bechdel’s Fun Home introduced many non-graphic novel readers to the genre, as she shared the story of her closeted father who ran the funeral home that he grew up in. Her latest is an unexpectedly better book in which Bechdel poignantly examines her relationship with her mother and her therapist.

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Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson.

If you wanna feel good about books while reading a book …
Winterson is already well known for her incredible novels. In this memoir, she tells the true story of being adopted and raised by very strict Pentecostal parents. Language is one way she survives, and much of this memoir is a love letter to literature.

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See the full reading list at Vulture.com

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter.

A dying American starlet arrives at a coastal Italian inn in the late ’60s, setting off a string of events that spans 50 years and half the world. Walter blends together a story of Hollywood, complete with fictionalized Richard Burton, et al, and a sleepy Italian village.

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Canada by Richard Ford.

When the parents of a Montana teenager rob a bank, he finds his life irrevocably altered and a new home in rural Canadian territory. Ford’s strengths at exploring the emotional crises of men have been on display since the Frank Bascombe novels The Sportswriter and Independence Day, which was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner award. Canada aims for a similarly emotional, epic arc.

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See the full reading list at Creative Loafing

Birdseye: The Adventures Of A Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky.

One of my happiest dinnertime memories from my 1960s childhood is of those nights when my mother would announce that she was “taking a vacation” from cooking. Out would pop the TV trays and a defrosted silver foil dinner of breaded haddock cut into two isosceles triangles, neon green peas and a smattering of tater tots. Yum. The dinner may have been Swanson’s but the man to thank is Clarence Birdseye…

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Crusoe’s Daughter by Jane Gardam.

Crusoe’s Daughter is Gardam’s own favorite among her novels and Gardam reigns as my personal favorite among off-beat female British writers: she melds the desolate humor of a Stevie Smith and the crumpet-y settings of a Barbara Pym.

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See the full reading list at NPR books

Countdown by Deborah Wiles.

The first in a trilogy, this novel is about an 11-year-old girl and her family in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Photos and other artifacts from the time period add to the book’s appeal.

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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

Set in the 1960s, this novel is unusual in that it focuses on the Black Panther movement in the context of one African American family and the summer three sisters, who have been raised by their father and grandmother, visit their mother in California where she is involved in the Black Panther movement.

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See the full reading list at about.com

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

I hadn’t read a thriller since high school, but this book came so highly recommended that I had to read it. It certainly didn’t disappoint. This tale of the aftermath of a woman gone missing will keep you up reading all night just so you can get to the very satisfying, very chilling ending.

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Who will run the frog hospital? : a novel by Lorrie Moore.

A cult classic in which a woman recalls a teenage summer spent working at an amusement park with her boisterous, beautiful best friend. It’s a breeze to get through, but the language is lyrical.

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See the full reading list at huffingtonpost.com

Acacia by David Anthony Durham.

Acacia (Anchor, 2004, reprinted 2012) is an excellent choice to suggest to fans of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. (Not the least of the reasons for doing so is that all three books in this trilogy are published and available, the first two in paperback editions.) When Acacia, their homeland, is invaded by their longtime enemy, the Mein, the four children of the royal family of the Akaran dynasty are forced to run for their lives.

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The Way Men Act by Elinor Lipman.

Of all of Elinor Lipman’s wonderful novels, my favorite remains The Way Men Act (Washington Square Pr., 1993). Because Lipman adores her characters, it’s impossible for readers not to love them, too. After she returns to the New England college town where she grew up, Melinda LeBlanc works in her cousin’s flower shop, takes up old friendships, and falls in love with a man apparently uninterested in her, all the while trying to get along with her mother and live down a high school reputation as a “bad girl.”

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See the full reading list at libraryjournal.com

Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr Spencer Johnson.

Dr Spencer Johnson knows how to get through to people who are resistant to change. And he does that simply by relating the parables of four mice in their search for cheese. This motivational book can easily be applied to personal as well as professional relationships, goals and failures.

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Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Elizabeth Gilbert has mastered the art of writing memoirs. If Eat, Pray, Love wasn’t brilliant enough, she topped herself with Committed. This book discusses in great detail the tradition and history behind marriage. She intricately weaves this information with the situations she experienced herself while tying the knot.

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See the full reading list at tribune.com

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

This novel gives us a feisty protagonist in cancer-stricken Hazel, who falls hard for fellow cancer patient Augustus Waters. The way these two characters speak to each other is both ridiculous and charming, and you’ll find yourself rooting for their love to flourish. Be warned, though: You’ll need half a box of tissues to get through the ending.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The plot takes Nick’s character — a Midwesterner — into the lavish yet tragic world of his Long Island neighbor Jay Gatsby. Remember the symbolism of the green light at the end of the dock? If you don’t, it’s time to read this one again.

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See the full reading list at patch.com

Trouble: A Novel, by Kate Christensen.

It’s wonderfully written, full of vivid details about tastes and smells and what it’s like to be totally out of your element, in a new place, and a new life.

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Ladder of Years: a Novel, by Anne Tyler.

Delia Grinstead, a housewife from Baltimore walks off the beach, in her swimsuit, with a tote bag and five hundred dollars, away from the husband and children who’ve taken her for granted, and off to wrestle with her own painful history, and make a new life of her own

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See the full reading list at ew.com

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, by Jeni Britton Bauer.

Jeni Britton Bauer writes of home-made gourmet treats to cool you during the heat of summer. Her creative, innovative, and nuanced recipes are inspired by the ingredients available any given day at the market. Try the goat cheese and roasted cherries.

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The Last Chinese Chef, by Nichole Mone.

Nicole Mone’s book is a literary and gastronomic delight. A food writer, struggling with grief, is sent on assignment to China to research a young American-born Jewish-Chinese chef.

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See the full reading list at azcentral.com

The Next Best Thing, by Jennifer Weiner.

Shy TV writer Ruth lives with her grandma in L.A. Then she lands a deal for her own show, and has to fend off divas, dilettantes, and other downsides of dreams coming true.

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Little Night, by Luanne Rice.

Years ago, coming to the aid of her sister got Clare banished from her family. Now Clare’s niece steps into the breach, hoping to bring about reconciliation. A classic Rice page-turner.

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See the full reading list at goodhousekeeping.com