The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Laurens

Neville Roscoe, notorious and enigmatic, lives resolutely outside society, bound only by his own code of honour - until challenged by his desire for the one woman he cannot have. Miranda Clifford is a lady imprisoned by rigid respectability - until tempted by a passion beyond her power to deny. Flung together in peril, through danger and intrigue, they discover a love impossible to ignore ... or keep.

I always enjoy Stephanie Laurens books. Romance, family saga and a good mystery twist. 

The Paris Option by Robert Ludlum

A fiery explosion shatters a laboratory building in Paris. Among the dead is Emile Chambord, one of the leaders in the global race to create a molecular - or DNA - computer. Unfortunately, Professor Chambord kept the details of his work secret, and his notes were apparently destroyed in the fire. Then suddenly US fighter jets disappear from radar screens for a full five minutes and there's no explanation; utilities cease to function; and all telecommunications abruptly stop, with devastating consequences. This is not the work of a clever hacker - only the enormous power and speed of a DNA computer could have caused such havoc. Covert-One agent Jon Smith flies to Paris to investigate. Following a trail that leads him across two continents, he uncovers a web of deception that threatens to re-shape the world for ever  

Car chases, gunfights, explosions and international intrigue make for an exciting mix. 

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets to the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder - would they be better off staying in this place forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it. 

Adventure, mystery and romance all add up to an enjoyable, quick read.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the small rural English village of Edgecombe St Mary where he values the proper things that Englishmen have treasured for generations - honour, duty, decorum and a properly brewed cup of tea. The Major takes pleasure in his well-organised and rational life until he finds out that his patronising son, and the kind yet interfering ladies of the village, seem to have their own, rather special plans for him.

It takes news of his brother's death, though, to open the Major's eyes to Mrs Jasmina Ali, the village shopkeeper, and confound all those carefully laid plans. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But although the Major was actually born in Lahore, and Mrs Ali in Cambridge, village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as a permanent foreigner. 

A most unlikely hero, Major Pettigrew finds himself contending with irate relatives and an outraged village before he comes to understand his own heart. 

Life in an English village as you would imagine it. A multilayered story mainly around Major Pettigrew falling in love with a Pakistani widow, Mrs Ali.  The relationship is disapproved of by all, his son, her family and the village busy-bodies.  There are also bits about Mrs Ali's nephew and the clash of growing up up fairly traditional Pakistani while being born an living in England, not quite fitting in anywhere.

An enjoyable, light read.  I loved Major Pettigrew's dry sense of humour.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone in a remote area called Saltmarsh near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants - not quite earth, not quite sea.

When a child's bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help. Nelson thinks he has found the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing ten years ago. Since her disappearance he has been receiving bizarre letters about her, letters with references to ritual and sacrifice.

The bones actually turn out to be two thousand years old, but Ruth is soon drawn into the Lucy Downey case and into the mind of the letter writer, who seems to have both archaeological knowledge and eerie psychic powers. Then another child goes missing and the hunt is on to find her. As the letter writer moves closer and the windswept Norfolk landscape exerts its power, Ruth finds herself in completely new territory - and in serious danger.

I loved this book and could not put it down. Interesting characters, great twists and turns in the mystery. 

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

"When Molly Wizenberg's father died of cancer, everyone told her to go easy on herself, to hold off on making any major decisions for a while. But when she tried going back to her apartment in Seattle and returning to graduate school, she knew it wasn't possible to resume life as though nothing had happened. So she went to Paris, a city that held vivid memories of a childhood trip with her father, of early morning walks on the cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter and the taste of her first pain au chocolat. She was supposed to be doing research for her dissertation, but more often, she found herself peering through the windows of chocolate shops, trekking across town to try a new patisserie, or tasting cheeses at outdoor markets, until one evening when she sat in the Luxembourg Gardens reading cookbooks until it was too dark to see, she realized that her heart was not in her studies but in the kitchen.
At first, it wasn't clear where this epiphany might lead. Like her long letters home describing the details of every meal and market, Molly's blog Orangette started out merely as a pleasant pastime. But it wasn't long before her writing and recipes developed an international following. Every week, devoted readers logged on to find out what Molly was cooking, eating, reading, and thinking, and it seemed she had finally found her passion. But the story wasn't over: one reader in particular, a curly-haired, food-loving composer from New York, found himself enchanted by the redhead in Seattle, and their email correspondence blossomed into a long-distance romance.

In A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg recounts a life with the kitchen at its center. From her mother's pound cake, a staple of summer picnics during her childhood in Oklahoma, to the eggs she cooked for her father during the weeks before his death, food and memories are intimately entwined. You won't be able to decide whether to curl up and sink into the story or to head straight to the market to fill your basket with ingredients for Cider-Glazed Salmon and Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots."

I loved Molly's writing style and will be checking out her blog. Before this book gets passed on I will taking a copy of some (many) of the recipes. When Brandon moved to live with her her brought with him his clothes, a special bowl for tossing salad and 40 types of vinegar.  He takes making pickles VERY seriously.

Storm and Grace by Kathryn Heyman

World-famous freediver Storm Hisray hits Grace Cain like a bolt from the blue. Instantly smitten, she abandons her life in the city to follow him to his idyllic Pacific island. There he teaches Grace the ways of the deep, and she learns to sink to unimaginable depths on one single breath. As their world narrows to the two of them, she learns, too, the exquisite pleasures of her body--but also that Storm hides as many secrets as the sea.

As he pushes Grace further and further beyond her limits--both in and out of the water--her resistance grows, but so does Storm's need to control her. With a secret of her own to protect, Grace starts to realise that she is in deeper and more dangerous water than she has ever imagined possible. 

Haunting story.  Grace was obsessed with Storm.  Storm was gradually revealed as an abusive (insert naughty word here).

Storm ended up killing Grace because she was going to leave him. Storm later died in a diving accident.  Not often I'm pleased to see the death of a main character.

I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but found it easy to put down.

Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

When shy and secluded author Sara Fielding ventures from her country cottage to research a novel, she inadvertently witnesses a crime in progress—and manages to save the life of the most dangerous man in London.

Derek Craven is a powerful and near-legendary gambling club owner who was born a bastard and raised in the streets. His reputation is unsavory, his scruples nonexistent. But Sara senses that beneath Derek's cynical exterior, he is capable of a love more passionate than her deepest fantasies.

Aware that he is the last man that an innocent young woman should ever want, Derek is determined to protect Sara from himself, no matter what it takes. But in a world where secrets lurk behind every shadow, he is the only man who can keep her safe. And as Derek and Sara surrender to an attraction too powerful to deny, a peril surfaces from his dark past to threaten their happiness . . . and perhaps even their lives.

Together they will discover if love is enough to make dreams come true.

Historical romance. Rather unbelievable but entertaining.  Alpha hero, shy submissive heroine.