A Match Made In Heaven by Jeanne Carmichael

Serena Trevelyan and James, Viscount Lynton, had been meant for each other from the cradle. But James' mother had other, grander plans for her handsome son. When she sent him to the Continent, however, she discovered there were worse things than a marriage to Serena, for precious James fell into the clutches of a disreputable widow. Even after James returned to London things looked bleak for Serena, for he arrived with his widow in tow, and it seemed that nothing less than a miracle could restore him to the girl who loved him with all her heart. And miracles never happened... or did they?


 Light, fluffy nonsense but the guardian angels made it bit different to the average romance. 

Lovers' knots by Marion Halligan

This was described as a family saga, and while it did follow a family from 1931 to 2000, it was much more than that.  The writing was brilliant.  Soft and flowing and engrossing.  It was mainly set in Newcastle, but other places I know like Leura, Lithgow (described as grey and foggy) and Bathurst were mentioned.  It made the story more....real (?) being set in places I know.


An excerpt I like

'You could take a slice out of Alice's life at just about any point and find her reading. All her life she sewed and knotted, crocheted and embroidered, keeping the devil well and truly at arm's length with her busy hands, but a day without reading was a day without savour.

The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander

 Narrated by 94-year-old Mikhail Semyanov, a Russian immigrant now living outside Chicago, the novel travels back to the bloody days of the Russian revolution, when the entire royal family is imprisoned in Siberia, in a building known as the House of Special Purpose. There, the seven Romanovs-Tsar Nikolai, his wife Aleksandra, their hemophiliac son, Aleksei, and their four daughters-are confined with a small staff of attendants, including Leonka, the kitchen boy of the title, who may or may not be narrator Mikhail. 


I was quickly drawn into this well written novel. It reads like a true life adventure story. It's a tale of the murder of the Russian imperial family in 1918 in their place of exile in Siberia, told by one of the people who was present at the time. The plot ranges from revolutionary times up to the present day, and involves a deep, dark mystery: why were two of the bodies never discovered?
There are a few twists at the end, which gives the story a bittersweet ending. 

Phule's Company by Robert Asprin

The story is set in a technologically advanced society, but it's not so complex as to alienate you. Willard Phule, the main character, is an interesting guy to read about. Being one of the youngest megamillionaires in the galaxy, you wouldn't think he'd join the military. But he does... and not just any branch, but the Space Corps--the laughingstock of the military.


Light, funny, entertaining and enjoyably different. I will be looking for more in this series.  

Secrets of the Sea by Leslie Burbank

Book One is Lady Syren, set in Scotland in the Hebrides 1513. In Lady Syren we meet Syren who is a mermaid. She makes a wish that she may one day find a human man, one that will love her. She gets her wish when Kieran "The Black McLeod" is stabbed and dumped overboard by his enemy Captain Stewart. Syren rescues Kieran and takes him back to her home along the coast of Scotland and nurses him back to health. Kieran is a pirate and has been given the option by King James IV of Scotland of a pardon if Kieran marries. Kieran feels that his best chance of marriage would be to the lovely Syren. Only problem is he does not realize that she is a mermaid. Syren is allowed to walk on land during the day by transforms at nightfall back into a mermaid. Syren agrees to Kieran's marriage proposal only if he will take her to Siren Isle where it is fabled that a necklace that will give immortality to a human will also give a mermaid the gift of mortality. Syren wants to be human in the worst way. A deal is made but neither Kieran nor Syren is sure that they can trust one another. They are both drawn to each other but there is much that they both keep secret from each other. Kieran has also had everyone that he has ever loved taken from him so he is not ready to give his heart yet again. Eventually Kieran finds out that Syren is a mermaid, and by this time he has fallen in love with the beautiful siren. He will only accept marriage to her if she loves in him return. Of course she does but these to lovers must first triumph over the evil Captain Stewart and then there is the dangerous trip to Siren Isle that must be overcome before there can be a happy ending for these two people.

In book two, Lord Nerus,   Theodora Redman aka Red is a reporter for The Tattler, and her job is to debunk all things mystical and magical. Red is sent to Scotland to find out if the myth of the Finn Man is true or fiction. In Red's opinion this does not even require a trip but since the paper is paying for it she is willing to go. On her way out to the outer islands that make up Scotland her ferry is overtaken by a squall and she is washed overboard. She is rescued by none other then Finn Man himself. Nerus is held by a curse that he must marry a mortal in order to have his race continue. The last time he had a mortal on his island she jumped to her death after finding out her man of her dreams was indeed a merman. He is not willing to take another chance on that; problem is he finds himself totally drawn to Red in ways he can't describe. Red on the other hand feels that she is not the stuff of romance, and that no man in his right mind will be taken with her. She is the ultimate tomboy. Imagine her surprise to find herself attracted to the very handsome Nerus. After these two finally realize that they can't run away from their attraction to each other and give in to the wonder of what they feel Red finds out that the one thing she did not believe in is the one person that she has fallen in love with. Nerus sends her away because he does not want the mortal population overrunning his island, but finds that he can't live without his Red. As a result he goes back to the human world and tries to get Red back before he dies. Will she be willing to give up everything mortal to live in his world?


Light, fluffy, very silly romance. 

Just One Look by Harlan Coben

When Grace Lawson picks up a new developed set of family photographs,there is a picture that doesn't belong - a photo from atleast twenty years ago with a man in it that looks strikingly like her husband Jack.

Though Jack denies her suspicions,he disappears that night,taking the photo with him.

In the days that follow, plagued by doubts about her marriage and herself, Grace begins to realize that others are looking for Jack and the photograph - including one fierce, silent killer who will stop at nothing.

When the police won't help her, and neighbors and friends alike seem to have agendas of their own, she must confront the dark corners of her own tragic past to keep her children safe and learn the truth that might bring her husband home. 


An intriguing, complex but never confusing story.There are many twists and turns along the way with a nice surprise ending. It is an engrossing book and was very hard to put down. 

Touch The Dark by Karen Chance

Cassandra Palmer has been in hiding for three years since she escaped Antonio, the master vampire who raised her after he had her parents killed when she was only four. A gifted clairvoyant, Cassandra was Antonio's useful tool until she discovered his complicity in her parents' deaths and fled his estate. Tony has finally caught up with her, but he isn't the only one. The vampire senate is after her, too, and they've sent sexy vampire Tomas, who insinuated himself into her life by pretending to be an abused runaway, to watch over her. After Cassie and Tomas are attacked, he brings her to the senate. There she learns that the mages are gunning for her, too, as is the powerful vampire Rasputin, who is gearing up to challenge the senate. Cassie is in a race against time to save her own life and find out why so many want her dead. 


Being the first in the series there is a lot of world building going on and sometimes it interrupted the flow of the story.

The time-travel element also gave me a bit of a pause sometimes, working out who was when.

Mostly though I really enjoyed it and would be interested in any more that came my way.