Dakota Home, by Debbie Macomber

The story picks up not long after the ending of the Dakota Born story. Lindsay & Gage are now married. Maddy, Lindsay's best friend, buys the Buffalo Valley grocery store & moves to town. She meets Jeb, a quiet, reclusive-type with a prosthetic leg, who she delivers groceries to. One night during a snowstorm she goes off the road and after running out of gas & nearly freezing to death, Jeb comes to her rescue. They end up spending several days together at Jeb's home during the snowstorm. After Maddy's return to her home in town, Jeb seems to want nothing to do with her, and Maddy is heartbroken, as well as pregnant. Lindsay & Gage are also expecting a baby. There's also Buffalo Bob, owner of 3 Of A Kind Bar, finally getting married to his on-again off-again waitress, Merrily. Merrily has kidnapped a severely abused child. She & Buffalo Bob plan to raise him as their own, until missing child flyers with his picture begin to circulate. What happens with that will most likely be answered in the third book, Always Dakota. There are a couple other weddings & engagements in the book as well.

Dakota Born, by Debbie Macomber

Buffalo Valley, North Dakota is a small (fictional) town that is slowly dying out. Then Lindsay Snyder arrives from Savannah, Georgia to visit her late grandmother's old home. She is offered a fill-in teaching position at the high school, which would've been closed down had she not taken the job. She is well liked by the high school kids & the rest of the town, including Gage Sinclair, a local farmer. Although there is much friction between them, they are helplessly falling for each other. Things start to brighten around the town as Lindsay's students put on a play at the old theater, have a Valentine's dance, and local business people are invited to the school to tell the kids about their careers. What I like most about this book is that it's a simpler kind of life, less crowded with technology, the kids are content with their one-room school, and the characters living in this town are warm and friendly. This book is the first of a trilogy, and I am reading the second book, Dakota Home, next.

One Fifth Avenue, by Candace Bushnell

Not my typical pick for a read, but this turned out to be entertaining. It's all about the residents of the One Fifth Avenue apartment building in Manhattan, the day-to-day 'struggles' of the filthy-rich and those around them. A lot of the characters were annoyingly self-centered and created plenty of drama, one standing out the most was Lola, a 22-year-old trying to stay in One Fifth no matter what she had to do or who she was involved with. There's also a famous actress, a screenplay writer, a book author, a hedge-fund manager, etc. I read through this pretty quickly, and while it passed the time nicely, there's not a whole lot of it that will likely stick with me for long.

Flesh and Stone, by Mark Miano

This is the second Mark Miano book I have read, featuring Michael Carpo. There is only one other book by him that I know of. Michael Carpo is a newswriter for Channel 8 News in New York City. A prominent art dealer is found frozen under the ice in Central Park, his face surgically carved into a scream. When Michael finds out that the murder victim was close to his ex-girlfriend, Karen, he meets up with her again for the first time in the six years since they had separated. Karen is a suspect in a fake sculpture scandal, but Michael cannot help having feelings for her once again. As Michael hunts down the killer he finds that Karen is more linked to the crime than he had first believed. He breaks into the suspected killer's barn & comes face to face with him, but not until after finding a ton of evidence. After escaping a near-fatal experience, he races back to the museum where Karen works to try & save her from the killer. This book was quite good, but I do think I enjoyed "The Street Where She Lived" a little bit better.

Bag of Bones, by Stephen King

Best-selling author Mike Noonan is devastated for four years after the unexpected death of his wife, Jo. He has anxiety attacks whenever he sits down in front of his computer & attempts to write. After having many disturbing nightmares, he decides to go to his lake cabin to try writing there. He hasn't been there much since the death of Jo, and learns that she was being quite secretive the last year of her life. He meets 3-year-old Kyra & her young mother Mattie, who is in the middle of an ugly custody battle with her very rich father-in-law Max Devore. He decides to help out Mattie by hiring a lawyer for her, which turns out to be quite risky. Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Mike is experiencing a haunting from former Red Tops singer, Sara Tidwell. A mystery begins to unfold throughout the story as Mike is haunted day and night by dreams and visions of happenings from 100 years earlier and the present day begin to intertwine until a tragedy happens. Mike does everything he can to save Kyra from her evil father-n-law's grip and learns back home that Jo had been uncovering unspeakable secrets from the past that are still affecting them now. This story was slow in a few parts but overall a good, interesting book.

The Dark Half, by Stephen King

At age 11, two things happened to Thad Beaumont. He received praise for a story that he entered in a contest, and, after terrible headaches & seizures, had something removed from his brain that the doctors called a tumor. Now he is in his late 30s, married, father of twin babies & author of several books. His more successful books were written under the pen name George Stark. In 1989 he decides to bury the pen name & go back to writing as himself. Soon he becomes suspect in several murders, where his fingerprints are found. Thad knows he didn't do it, but has a good idea who it is: George Stark, a man who never was. George calls Thad on the telephone & demands that he begins writing another George Stark novel or he & his family will not survive. At first, Thad is very reluctant to do so, but as the story goes on & the deadline is reached, he agrees to meet with George to start a new book. George convinces him of this by kidnapping his family & holding them at Thad's lake cottage. By now he has discovered that George is some part of his own twin, who died before Thad was born & was removed from his brain during the operation when he was 11. Throughout the story, thousands of sparrows land near & around Thad's location whenever there is trouble. These sparrows are now surrounding the lake cottage as George & Thad are inside writing. George doesn't know about the sparrows, but Thad does. He realizes that he is the commander of them. They fly into the windows by the thousands, smashing into the house, flying up to Thad's office where he & George are, while Thad's wife, kids & the local sheriff wait downstairs. The sparrows peck at George until he's not much more than a skeleton, then carry him off to the end of the earth, leaving the family safe behind.

The Amateur Marriage, by Anne Tyler

Michael and Pauline meet in 1941 at the grocery store his mother owns & they begin dating, just before Michael goes off to the war. After an injury at Special Training, Michael is sent home & he & Pauline get married. They have three children, one of which at age 17 leaves home & never returns. In 1968 they receive a phone call from a relative asking them to go to San Francisco to pick up the grandchild (named Pagan) that they didn't even know they had. Their daughter is recovering from drug problems & they don't get to see her, but they take the grandchild back home with them & raise him from that point on. Michael & Pauline just can't seem to get along, they never have in fact, and on the night of their 30th wedding anniversary, they split up. After the divorce Michael remarries, but Pauline stays on her own. 29 years after her disappearance, the daughter shows up at her brother's house looking for the rest of the family and inquiring about her son. This story covers the 1940's all the way through the 1990's, and it is interesting to see how the different family members grow and develop.

A Patchwork Planet, by Anne Tyler

This book is about a 30-year-old guy named Barnaby, divorced with a 9-year-old girl that he sees once a month on a Saturday. He works for a place called Rent-A-Back, where he goes to the homes of the elderly & disabled to help with chores & heavy lifting. He meets a woman named Sofia on the train, and they begin dating. Because of his juvenile-delinquent past, his parents don't trust him. There are many interesting characters to meet, including many of the Rent-A Back customers. When his girlfriend tries to cover for a crime he did not commit, he begins to realize that things aren't so perfect in their relationship. Despite his past, he has become a man that people can trust.

Saint Maybe - by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler has long been a favorite author of mine. In this story, Ian Bedloe, who lives with his family in Baltimore, feels responsible for the death of his older brother. He begins attending The Church of the Second Chance, where it is suggested that he take care of the three children that were left behind for his atonement. The book covers more than twenty years of family life, each chapter describing the thoughts and experiences of a different family member.

Northern Lights by Nora Roberts

After his partner in Baltimore is killed in the line of duty, detective Nate Burke takes a job as Chief of Police in a small Alaskan town. He meets Meg, a bush pilot whose father disappeared sixteen years earlier. His body is discovered frozen in the mountains with an ax through his chest. As Nate begins to investigate the murder, a series of crimes begin to happen in town. The killer is still nearby and despite the townspeople's opinions that he is wasting time, Nate uncovers the mystery & arrests a prominent citizen for multiple murders. I was sure I knew the killer throughout the entire book, but once again was surprised by Nora Roberts.

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts

Reece comes to Wyoming after a tragic event that shattered her life in Boston. Not sure if she will stay, she picks up a job as a short-order cook at a diner & rents the apartment above it. Then on a hike in the mountains, she witnesses a murder. No one in town believes her except the handsome local writer she begins seeing. Strange things start happening & Reece believes that someone is trying to get her to leave town. This book is an exciting thriller. There is a lot of action going on throughout & a side-dish of romance as well. I liked this book enough that I picked up another Nora Roberts story for my next read.