Eve's Daughters by Lynn Austen

What Would You Do If a Secret Was Causing Your Family to Crumble?

Is there a secret terrible enough that it should never be revealed, not even if it was tearing a family apart? For more than five decades Emma Bauer has kept one carefully guarding it with all her strength, and for more than five decades that choice has haunted her life and also the lives of her daughters and granddaughter. Is it too late for wrongs to be righted? Does Emma even have the strength to let the healing power of truth work in her family?

 i liked the way the story was told with each character telling her own story and the way in which one generations decisions influenced the following generation. I had guessed the mystery before it was revealed, but that didn't detract from the story at all.

Day of the Dragon by Rebecca York

Ramsey Gallagher is ~ 2 thousand years old. He is a mighty dragon shifter who has no idea of his heritage. He was found lost in ancient Italy by an elderly couple and adopted. But his life has never been easy. It is now the 21st century and Ramsey is trying to recover from a vicious battle with another dragon shifter from another dimension who tried to take over Earth. After the battle, Ramsey lost his ability to shift and many of his other magical abilities. He deeply mourns the loss and particularly wants to be able to shift again. When he hears of an archaeological find near the spot where he was found lost as a child he is galvanized to talk to the lead archaeologist. Ramsey wants to discover if there is a connection to his missing past and the possibility of a clue to return his powers.

What he finds is a surprisingly attractive female doctor named Madison Dartmoor. But before he can track her down at a conference he discovers her lecture is cut short and she is being abducted. Ramsey saves her and they find a real connection. But someone wants the good doctor and they are willing to kill to get her!

 Lots of action and adventure, a touch of mystery and a lot of steamy romance. 

Where are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark

Nancy Harmon had been found guilty in a California court of murdering her two young children, but she was released from prison on a legal technicality. Deciding to make a fresh start, to change her identity, she left San Francisco and sought tranquillity on Cape Cod.

Seven years later, Nancy is remarried and has two small children: five-year-old Michael and three-year-old Missy. Finally she feels that she has been able to reclaim all that she had lost. Then the nightmare begins again.

Lots of suspense and a few twists on the way to the surprise ending.. Good book, I didn't want to put it down.

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Global warming has caused the world’s oceans to rise and engulf 20% of the liveable landmass. On top of this massive earthquakes rocked the USA causing most of the eastern coast to fall under the rising water. People on Earth now live in hundred story apartment complexes and privacy is not a right it has to be paid for. This overcrowding has finally caused the world government to cast their eyes at the ocean; acres and acres of land on the seabed and no one using it. First scientists, and then pioneers are allowed to colonise a section of the sea bed called the BenthicTerritory – real frontier stuff.

This is the world that fifteen year old Ty and his sister are born into, they rarely go ‘topside’ and are happy living their life underwater. At the start of the book Ty is exploring and he hides in an abandoned sub to escape some sharks. There he meets Gemma, a topsider who is looking for her brother; she is a ward of the government and needs her brother’s signature to be released. Ty agrees to help Gemma as she has no idea about life under water, and at this point life gets harrowing for the twosome as a rebel group of ex-prison convicts who have been stealing cargos of crops are now directly sabotaging family housing.

 Action packed adventure with a mystery element and a touch of budding romance.

Very enjoyable read. I will be looking for the next in the series.

The Drowning Girl by Margaret Leroy

Young single mum Grace is drowning. Her little girl Sylvie is distant, troubled and prone to violent tantrums. The child psychiatrist blames Grace, but Grace knows there's something more to what's happening to Sylvie. There has to be.

It turns out Sylvie (aged 4) remembers her past life, so the life she is living with her mother, Grace, doesn't seem real to her.  Grace takes her to where she remembers and discovers that the life Sylvie is remembering is her previous life where she was killed as a child.  At the end Sylvie realises that that life is over.

Different to what I was expecting, but still an interesting read.

Howl at the Moon by Christine Warren

Noah Baker never wanted to betray The Others. But if his military commanders want him to covertly investigate a Lupine scientist--whose extraordinary research on sensory perception in werewolves could be used to develop werewolf-sharp senses in human soldiers--Noah must oblige. Even if it means deceiving the woman he desires the most.

Samantha Carstairs is the personal assistant to the Alpha of the Silverback Clan, and as best friend to the Lupine community's most brilliant scientist, she is privy to its most dangerous secret. Noah knows that Sam will never leak the scientific research…so he must find another way to get it, while keeping Sam close. But someone else is after Sam's secret. Who is the other spy infiltrating The Others? If their genetic secrets get into the wrong hands, all hell could break loose. Now Noah's true loyalty is put to the test as he fights to protect The Others--and his beloved Sam--and find the imposter…before it's too late. 

 I enjoyed this addition to this great series. Sam and Noah have chemistry and I liked seeing some of the couples from previous books. It was a reversal of most other paranormal in that she was the werewolf and he was human.

Slave Girl by Sarah Forsyth

From the age of three, the very people who were meant to be looking after and protecting Sarah Forsyth were sexually abusing her. Somehow she managed to overcome the hurt and heartbreak of a horrific childhood, and build a new and happy life for herself as a nursery nurse. Then, one day, Sarah spotted a newspaper advert for a job in a creche in Amsterdam. Thrilled by the prospect of a fresh start away from Newcastle and all the memories it held, she eagerly signed up. But within minutes of arriving in Amsterdam her life began to fall apart. There was no creche and no job: Sarah was a victim of sex-trafficking. Fed cocaine and cannabis, and forced at gunpoint to work as a prostitute in the red light district of Amsterdam, Sarah was turned from a young innocent English girl into a desperate and terrified crack whore. Riddled with fear about what her pimps would do to her if they caught her trying to run away, it took Sarah almost a year to find the strength to fight back and escape. But, unlike many of the girls that she was forced to live and work beside, she did get away. Sarah Forsyth is a survivor. This is her heartbreaking story.

Very interesting read about a very brave woman.

Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks

The life of 31-year-old trophy wife Wynter Morrison suddenly changes course when her husband announces one evening that their marriage is over. Emotionally devastated and desperate for a change of scenery, Wyn moves to Seattle where she spends aimless hours at a local bakery, sipping coffee and inhaling the sweet aromas of freshly-made bread. These visits bring back memories of her long-ago apprenticeship at a French boulangerie, and when offered a position at the bakery, Wyn quickly accepts -- hoping that the rituals of baking will help her move on.

Working long hours among the bakery's cluster of eclectic women -- Linda, the irascible bread baker; earth mother Ellen and her partner Diane; and Tyler, the blue-haired barista -- Wyn awakens to the truths that she missed while living the good life in Hancock Park.

Soon Wyn discovers that making bread possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power, helping her to rediscover that nothing stays the same... bread rises, pain fades, the heart heals, and the future beckons. 

A nice, feel-good read with some very tasty recipes scattered through it. 

Lover's knot by Emilie Richards

In a cave in the Shenandoah National Park, two bodies are discovered, wrapped in the tattered remains of a lover's knot quilt. In Washington, D.C., Isaac Taylor inherits a nearly identical quilt from a grandmother whose name he never even knew.

After narrowly escaping death, newspaper journalist Kendra Taylor retreats to a cabin nestled in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley to heal and sort out her feelings about her troubled marriage. The land was bequeathed to her husband by a maternal grandmother he never knew, and the cabin has been abandoned for years.

As she is welcomed into the rural community of Toms Brook, Kendra becomes curious about an heirloom lover's knot quilt, which is another piece of Isaac's unexplored past. The unusual quilt clearly has a story to tell, and Kendra is convinced that helping her husband connect with his roots might help him reconnect with her, as well. At first Isaac's reluctant visits to the cabin only underscore the difficulties in their marriage. But as circumstances force them to piece together a new relationship, Isaac discovers that the history of a family he's never known might hold the key to his future.

A nice feel good read. I like the way the stories of the past and present are linked by a quilt.
Makes me want to try quilting.

Wicked Nights by Gena Showalter

 Leader of the most powerful army in the heavens, Zacharel has been deemed nearly too dangerous, too ruthless—and if he isn't careful, he'll lose his wings. But this warrior with a heart of ice will not be deterred from his missions at any cost…until a vulnerable human tempts him with a carnal pleasure he's never known before.
Accused of a crime she did not commit, Annabelle Miller has spent four years in an institution for the criminally insane. Demons track her every move, and their king will stop at nothing to have her. Zacharel is her only hope for survival, but is the brutal angel with a touch as hot as hell her salvation—or her ultimate damnation? 

 I liked Annabelle and Zacharel. I enjoyed the brief appearance of a couple of the Lords. Another good book from Gena Showalter, but not as good as her Lords of the Underworld series.  The sex scenes lacked her usual excellent writing and were rather perfunctory and lacking in description and imagination.

Wedding Ring by Emilie Richards

For Helen, Nancy, and Tessa, three generations of Henry women, quilts truly represent the fabric of their lives. Using scraps of feed sacks, wedding gowns, and baby clothes, matriarch Helen has chronicled her family in the hundreds of quilts she's made. Helen is now a recluse beset by an irrational paranoia that induces her to hoard everything she can, and her bizarre behavior motivates her daughter, Nancy, and granddaughter, Tessa, to spend their summer cleaning out their Shenandoah Valley homestead. For Tessa, the project is a way to avoid facing the tragedy of her young daughter's death, and the toll it is exacting on her marriage. For Nancy, returning to the house where she grew up forces her to confront the questionable circumstances of her own marriage and motherhood. 

A mother, daughter and granddaughter have the opportunity to learn about each other as people, rather than just "mother", "daughter", etc. Quilts are a large part of the story and they add to it .

I enjoyed the way that some of the story was told through the story of each quilt.

Mad Maria's Daughter by Patricia Rice

Abducted by a highwayman on the way to her Aunt Agatha's estate, beautiful and fiery tempered Daphne Templeton refuses to be afraid of this dashing rogue, and is even filled with desire when he sweeps her into his arms.

An enjoyable, light romance.

Close Contact by Katherine Allred

 GEPs just want to have fun . . .

A Genetically Engineered Person and self-proclaimed "party girl," Echo Adams loves her diplomatic job entertaining alien bigwigs for the Galactic Federation. But the Bureau of Alien Affairs has discovered she's much more than she thinks—that a rogue scientist endowed her with skills and psi abilities dwarfing those of common GEPs. And suddenly Echo's luxury life is over, replaced with a far more dangerous one: a special agent expected to not only chase bad guys but eliminate them.

Echo hates being stuck on Madrea—a planet of technophobes off limits to Federation visitors—hunting for a stolen quartz crystal with a powerful alien life form embedded inside. She despises the Bureau's restrictive rules—especially the one warning her away from the dangerously seductive commander of the king's army. And if she doesn't learn how to use her alleged super-psi powers soon, her partying days—in fact all of her days—will be over for good.

The 2nd in this Sci Fi romance series and another enjoyable read.