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Books to warm your holidays
REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY
Immigrant Dora Schottlan's children, Jacob and Ruthie, establish the two strands of family. Jacob leaves family and heritage behind to begin the line traced through sons in remote Wyoming. Ruthie's generations of daughters survive without their men in New York. Neither family strand is aware of the other until the bombing of a video store in Jackson Hole brings journalist Lauren Miller west to the realm of FBI agent Charlie Blair. Alive with eloquent, fluid language and salted with fitting doses of earthy humor, Isaac's newest novel is a triumph. She ennobles this saga of an American family as Charlie and Lauren unite to learn about themselves, family, and what it means to be an American. Red, White and Blue is a transcendent celebration of the American experience -- at its most joyous and most sorrowful. In the telling of one heritage, Isaacs offers a treasured gift to Americans of every heritage.
By Susan Isaacs HarperCollins, $25, ISBN 0060176083
HarperAudio, $25,
Miracles happen at Christmastime, as Marilyn Pappano proves with the tender, tragic struggle for renewal in Some Enchanted Season. Maggie and Ross started out deeply in love, striving for the pinnacle of success. But along the way, they lost each other. Now, in the tiny town of Bethlehem, Ross hopes that Maggie will heal from the accident that nearly killed her the previous Christmas Eve. But as they rediscover their love, each is haunted by that last Christmas. What, Maggie wonders, has she forgotten? What, Ross fears, will she do when she remembers? Some Enchanted Season is a heart-tugging story that convinces you that the greatest miracle is love.
By Marilyn Pappano Bantam, $5.99 ISBN 0553579827
Seasonal suspense In Margot Dalton's Third Choice, a child is killed while building a snowman, and the prime suspect is a seemingly perfect family man. As she investigates the crime, Detective Jackie Kaminsky struggles with commitment to her relationship with rancher Paul Arnussen. Jackie's skepticism about Carly Stevenson's unwavering loyalty to her husband is reinforced by Jackie's own troubled childhood. Dalton delivers a delicious smorgasbord of relationships and suspense.
By Margot Dalton Mira, $5.99 ISBN 1551664410
Olivia Sherwood's family loyalties -- to the memory of her father, murdered by a gypsy, and her sister, Emily, devastated by the tragedy -- are tested by her growing bond with Dominic. The villagers' intolerance toward gypsies translates into contempt for Dominic, adding to Olivia's dilemma. Bigotry and intolerance may transcend cultures as James and Isaacs demonstrate this month, but both authors prove that through individual relationships, hate can be overcome by love. A profound message in any season.
By Samantha James Avon, $5.99 ISBN 0380786095
Servitude comes in many guises, as Lady Sophie Barrington discovers in For All Eternity when she must accept a maid's position at the country estate of the Marquess of Beresford. Nicholas Somerville, the Earl of Lyndhurst, spotted Sophie and was determined to marry her. Escapades stand in the way, but the course of true love must have its perils. Author Heather Cullman's sparkling Regency teems with winsome women and provocations primed for a thoroughly delightful story.
By Heather Cullman Topaz, $5.99 ISBN 0451408144
Enamelist Anna de Limoges creates glorious works of art in The Shielded Heart by Sharon Schulze. And in the telling of Anna and Norseman Swen Siwardson's love story, Schulze offers up her own artistry with an evocative sense of place and history and strong characters, worthy of meeting.
By Sharon Schulze Harlequin Historical, $4.99 ISBN 037329042X
Sandy Huseby reviews and writes from her homes in Fargo, North Dakota, and near Nevis, Minnesota. She is online at Shuseby@aol.com.
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Drawn into the crucible of militant hate, two long-separated strands of a remarkable Jewish family reunite in Red, White and Blue by Susan Isaacs.
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O little town of miracles
The vicar's daughter is reduced to working as a maid at Ravenwood, yet one other is considered even lower by the community -- the Earl himself, gypsy bastard Dominic St. Bride, in One Moonlit Night by Samantha James.
Regency sparkler
Medieval chronicle