The Cake Therapist Judith Fertig’s first venture into fiction stays well within the realm of baking: the protagonist is an innovative baker who uses her somewhat mystical ability to associate flavor preferences with emotions and experiences to evoke transformative responses in those who eat her confections. The story shuttles between a contemporary timeline with Neely…
Author: Penelope Gordon
Sherry Thomas
Sherry Thomas s The Fitzhugh Trilogy Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas is the second book in an intertwined trilogy telling the stories of twins Fitz and Helena and their older sister Venetia over a period of more than eight years. In this book 19-year old Fitz, Eton student turned impoverished earl, marries 16-year old…
Carly Phillips
Cross My Heart Cross My Heart is a contemporary romance with skullduggery and redemption to drive along the plot. The reading by Marie Caliendo works well for the central couples but is a little off for the older characters, especially the mothers. The hero and heroine have been emotionally static since they were separated in…
Kristen Callihan
Darkest London series Regency romance thrillers with paranormal elements. Firelight I liked the story – but I would have preferred the heroine to be a little less invincible and a little more trusting; and the hero to be a little less like Beast. Callihan makes creative use of the restrictions of the couple’s secrets in…
Katie Lane
The Overnight Billionaires The conceit of this series by Katie Lane is that three extremely hunky Beaumont brothers working to charm their way out of the Southern bayou, inherit shares in a San Francisco-based lingerie business (French Kiss), decide to run the company instead of selling out, and fantastically succeed in both business and love. …
Catherine Coulter
Contemporary Thrillers Power Play (2014) by Catherine Coulter and read by MacLeod Andrews and Renee Raudman had some likeable and despicable characters but with an overly burdened plot (or should I say “plots”?) and mystical elements (most notably a villain capable of instant hypnosis), this audiobook was just okay. I did like the reading; having…
Food Tidbits
Lunar New Year dishes. The 100 pleats on a chef’s hat are said to represent all the ways you can cook an egg. Waffle House has its own record label: Waffle Records.
Mudd Pi
Living With Meaning
When Meaning Has Waned Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Musings on California’s new doctor-assisted suicide law – San Francisco Magazine 2016 February 11. Does It Dignify? God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet
Fern Michaels
When the Snow Falls is a collection by Fern Michaels, Nancy Bush, Rosanna Chiofalo, and Lin Stepp connected by couples finding romance in snowy climes. The library has this filed with the Christmas books but the stories didn’t have much to do with the holidays. I most related to Fern Michaels’s story, more for its…