*FAITH* by Jennifer Haigh

"It is the spring of 2002 and a perfect storm has hit Boston. Across the city's archdiocese, trusted priests have been accused of the worst possible betrayal of the souls in their care. In Faith, Jennifer Haigh explores the fallout for one devout family, the McGanns.

Estranged for years from her difficult and demanding relatives, Sheila McGann has remained close to her older brother Art, the popular, dynamic pastor of a large suburban parish. When Art finds himself at the center of the maelstrom, Sheila returns to Boston, ready to fight for him and his reputation. What she discovers is more complicated than she imagined. Her strict, lace-curtain-Irish mother is living in a state of angry denial. Sheila's younger brother Mike, to her horror, has already convicted his brother in his heart. But most disturbing of all is Art himself, who persistently dodges Sheila's questions and refuses to defend himself.

As the scandal forces long-buried secrets to surface, Faith explores the corrosive consequences of one family's history of silence—and the resilience its members ultimately find in forgiveness. Throughout, Haigh demonstrates how the truth can shatter our deepest beliefs—and restore them. A gripping, suspenseful tale of one woman's quest for the truth, Faith is a haunting meditation on loyalty and family, doubt and belief. Elegantly crafted, sharply observed, this is Jennifer Haigh's most ambitious novel to date."

*****Rate this 5/5. I loved this book, the best by Jennifer Haigh yet.

*WRECKER* by Summer Wood

"After foster-parenting four young siblings a decade ago, Summer Wood tried to imagine a place where kids who are left alone or taken from their families would find the love and the family they deserve. For her, fiction was the tool to realize that world, and Wrecker, the central character in her second novel, is the abandoned child for whom life turns around in most unexpected ways. It's June of 1965 when Wrecker enters the world. The war is raging in Vietnam, San Francisco is tripping toward flower power, and Lisa Fay, Wrecker's birth mother, is knocked nearly sideways by life as a single parent in a city she can barely manage to navigate on her own. Three years later, she's in prison, and Wrecker is left to bounce around in the system before he's shipped off to live with distant relatives in the wilds of Humboldt County, California. When he arrives he's scared and angry, exploding at the least thing, and quick to flee. Wrecker is the story of this boy and the motley group of isolated eccentrics who come together to raise him and become a family along the way."

*****Rate 5/5. I LOVED THIS BOOK. A novel about how people with their own problems and issues, baggage if you will, all come together and form a strong bond and a family together. This family that was formed is more true and more precious than people from an actual 'normal' family. The characters are all eccentric, but so very loveable and wonderful. I would have given this a 6 or a 7, it was that good, and I hated finishing it.

*THE PEACH KEEPER* by Sarah Addison Allen

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Chased the Moon welcomes you to her newest locale: Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be.
It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.
But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.
For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.
Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.
Resonant with insight into the deep and lasting power of friendship, love, and tradition, The Peach Keeper is a portrait of the unshakable bonds that—in good times and bad, from one generation to the next—endure forever"

***Rate this 3/5. I had to force myself to finish this book because it was so predictable. I loved Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen by this author but this book did not measure up. It seemed that the author attempted to throw a little 'magic' just to keep the reader interested but the plot was too contrived and predictable.

*THE ART OF DEVOTION* by Samantha Bruce Benjamin

A debut novel about a disturbing family history. In the first half of the 20th century, a wealthy family grows up on an enchanting island in the Mediterranean. Like most literary families with a perfect facade, this one hides some dark secrets. Sophie is a widow, raising her daughter Adora and her son Sebastian. Adora and Sebastian are unnervingly close, and their unnatural relationship is the source of whispers around town. Adora grows up to become the unofficial queen of the island, with all the summer families worshipping at her feet. She and her husband, Oliver, enjoy a gilded lifestyle and internal misery. Concurrently, Oliver's best friend, James, and his wife Miranda send their daughter, Genevieve, to the island each summer to stay with the royal couple. Adora and Genevieve become obsessed with each other, alienating Miranda and putting a now-elderly Sophie on alert. When a dashing young man enters the fold one summer, relationships become even more complex and mysterious, leading each unfortunate member of the cast toward ruin. The point of view shifts among Sophie, Adora, Miranda and Genevieve; unfortunately, the voices are indistinct and serve to blur a potentially creative narrative structure. As the family's history unfolds, secrets are revealed and each woman's deception, manipulation and misfortune are uncovered. (Kirkus Reviews)

*****Rate this 5/5. This books shows the dark side of love: Obsession and that what you see is not necessarily what you get. Some pay a very high price for the people they want in their lives.

*MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL* by Diane Fanning

"When news broke of three-year-old Caylee Anthony’s disappearance from her home in Florida in July 2008, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy across the nation. The search for Caylee made front-page headlines. But there was one huge question mark hanging over the case: the girl’s mother. • Why did Casey Anthony wait one full month before reporting her daughter missing? • Why were searches on chloroform and missing children found on her computer? • Why did she go out partying with friends less than one week after Caylee disappeared? As the investigation continued and suspicions mounted, Casey became the prime suspect. In October, based on new evidence against Casey—her erratic behavior and lies, her car that showed signs of human decomposition—a grand jury indicted the young single mother. Then, two months later, police found Caylee’s remains a quarter of a mile away from the Anthony home. Casey pled not guilty to charges of murder in the first degree, and she continues to protest her innocence. Did she or didn’t she kill Caylee? This is the story of one of the most shocking, confusing, and horrific crimes in modern American history."

*****Rate this 5/5 I thought that the author presented the case as it should be presented, without forming judgement or blame. The facts themselves point to the horrific story of this sweet child's short life. There were several times when I would weep and have to lay the book down, unable to continue......it is so tragic. I only hope that when all is said and done that there will be justice for the unforgotten one in all of the media blitz, Caylee Marie Anthony, who deserved a better life.

*CLEANING NABOKOV'S HOUSE* by Leslie Daniels

“I knew I could stay in this town when I found the blue enamel pot floating in the lake. The pot led me to the house, the house led me to the book, the book to the lawyer, the lawyer to the whorehouse, the whorehouse to science, and from science I joined the world.” So begins Leslie Daniels’s funny and moving novel about a woman’s desperate attempt to rebuild her life. When Barb Barrett walks out on her loveless marriage she doesn’t realize she will lose everything: her home, her financial security, even her beloved children. Approaching forty with her life in shambles and no family or friends to turn to, Barb must now discover what it means to rely on herself in a stark new emotional landscape. Guided only by her intense inner voice and a unique entrepreneurial vision, Barb begins to collect the scattered pieces of her life. She moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov, author of the controversial masterpiece Lolita, and discovers a manuscript that may be his lost work. As her journey gathers momentum, Barb deepens a connection with her new world, discovering resources in her community and in herself that no one had anticipated. Written in elegant prose with touches of sharp humor and wit, Cleaning Nabokov’s House offers a new vision of modern love and a fervent reminder that it is never too late to find faith in our truest selves." ****Rate this 4/5. A light read that was at times poignant and touching and also incredibly funny when you least expected it

*A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES* by Deborah Harkness

"In Harkness's lively debut, witches, vampires, and demons outnumber humans at Oxford's Bodleian Library, where witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her. Against all occult social propriety, Bishop turns for protection to tall, dark, bloodsucking man-about-town Clairmont. Their research raises questions of evolution and extinction among the living dead, and their romance awakens centuries-old enmities. Harkness imagines a crowded universe where normal and paranormal creatures observe a tenuous peace. "Magic is desire made real," Bishop says after both her desire and magical prowess exceed her expectations. Harkness brings this world to vibrant life and makes the most of the growing popularity of gothic adventure with an ending that keeps the Old Lodge door wide open. "

*****Rate this 5/5 Over 5oo pages of witches, vampires, daemons, history lessons, lyrically described food and wine, beautiful locations. I Loved This Book!