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Travel the road of imagination
REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY
Survival. Sometimes it starts with running away, until you stop running long enough to realize you've run to The Last Good Man by Kathleen Eagle. Savannah Stephens is back in Sunbonnet, Wyoming, with a mystery daughter and a haunting secret. As a breast cancer survivor, she exhausted her money from a lucrative modeling career and exhausted her spirit coping with the emotional toll of the disease. Now she must confront and heal her own pain and the fractured family relationships she left behind. Clay Keogh is determined to break through her barriers to learn the truth about her six-year-old daughter, Claudia, and the other secrets Savannah holds. Once her childhood friend, Clay wants to be more for Savannah now. Even learning that Claudia is the daughter of his half-brother Kole Kills Crow doesn't dissuade the strong-willed, rock solid "horseshoe man." Kathleen Eagle writes with a poet's poignancy that makes serious social issues resonate with the ring of humanity. The warmth of her writing here in The Last Good Man transcends genre labeling as it reaches the heights of what fiction should be: thoughtful, provocative, and ultimately satisfying.
By Kathleen Eagle William Morrow, $23 ISBN 0380978156
That gift is a grotto -- created within the walls of a stone barn as a sanctuary tribute to their love. The gift will come with one special addition -- the grotto's creator, April Woodward. A loving wife's well-intended plan has repercussions, though. How can Josh turn to another woman's arms while he's mourning the love of his life? Josh must also confront the competitor who seemingly will go to any length to take over the orchid farm he'd worked so hard to build with Joanna. Judith Gould tells a powerful story of love and loss and love that transcends loss in this one -- keep your hanky handy!
By Judith Gould Dutton, $23.95 ISBN 0525945482
For Troth Mei-Lian Montgomery, honor means carrying the news of her husband Kyle's death to his family back in England. But when Kyle himself re-enters her life, Troth confronts a man uncertain about the woman he's chosen in Mary Jo Putney's The China Bride. Kyle and Troth explore their own relationship amid the challenges of her bi-racial Scots-Chinese heritage. Set against a backdrop of historical China and England, Mary Jo Putney captures in exquisite detail the profound panorama of both cultures. And between those cultures, both Kyle and his China Bride must overcome the supreme challenge of their own emotional conflicts to be together.
By Mary Jo Putney Ballantine, $23.95 ISBN 0345433351
But as Fia spins a web of seduction, she discovers passion sets its own rules. Soon, she is as ensnared as Thomas. Connie Brockway's third story in the McClairen Isle trilogy rises to a crescendo note of wit and sizzling, confident storytelling that makes the McClairens a family you want to come alive on the page again and again.
The Ravishing One By Connie Brockway Dell, $6.50 ISBN 0440226309
Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her homes in Fargo, ND and near Nevis, MN.
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Gas prices crimping your vacation plans this year? Make your getaway to exotic places and times in the pages of these enticing summer romances.
Survival takes a different turn in Judith Gould's Time to Say Goodbye. Joanna Lawrence confronts her own mortality and decides to give her beloved husband, Josh, one final gift.
Long ago and far away
Fiery, feisty Fia Merrick will be tamed by no man. Especially not Thomas McClairen, in Connie Brockway's glowing McClairen's Isle: The Ravishing One. When Thomas McClairen kidnaps Fia, she decides to turn the tables on him.