If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

In April 2002, Janine Latus's youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. 'Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved,' it read, 'but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...'

That same spring Janine Latus was struggling to leave her marriage--a marriage to a handsome and successful man. A marriage others emulated. A marriage in which she felt she could do nothing right and everything wrong. A marriage in which she felt afraid, controlled, inadequate, and trapped.

Ten weeks later, Janine Latus had left her marriage. She was on a business trip to the East Coast, savoring her freedom, attending a work conference, when she received a call from her sister Jane asking if she'd heard from Amy. Immediately, Janine's blood ran cold. Amy was missing.

Helicopters went up and search dogs went out. Coworkers and neighbors and family members plastered missing posters with Amy's picture across the country. It took more than two weeks to find Amy's body, wrapped in a tarpaulin and buried at a building site. It took nearly two years before her killer, her former boyfriend Ron Ball, was sentenced for her murder.

Amy died in silent fear and pain. Haunted by this, Janine Latus turned her journalistic eye inward. How, she wondered, did two seemingly well-adjusted, successful women end up in a string of abusive relationships with men? If I Am Missing or Dead is a heart-wrenching journey of discovery as Janine Latus traces the roots of her own--and her sister's--victimization with unflinching candor. This beautifully written memoir will move readers from the first to the last page. At once a a confession, a call to break the cycle of abuse, and a deeply felt love letter to her baby sister Amy Lynne Latus, If I Am Missing or Dead is an unforgettable read." 

A very difficult read at times. It's easy to see domestic violence from the outside and to say just leave if it happens . It's not always so easy to leave.

The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley

The narrator is Evelyn Roe. It is the end of WWII, and a family death has necessitated her taking over her aunt's farm on her own. She is 17, but suited to the work and the solitude. She finds a stranger half dead on the land, and he appears to be recovering from a burn with blurred features and pitted skin.

The stranger evolves over the next week into almost the twin of Evelyn. and Addie is "born".  Eventually Addie became her husband Adam .He had no past of which he was aware and while Evelyn certainly knew he was no ordinary human, neither of them knew exactly what he was.

This story the ordinary made extraordinary, all wrapped up in a wonderful, completely absorbing, and unexpected plot. Magical.The mystery of who what Addie/Adam is or where he came from is nec=ver answered.

I loved it. It was an 8/10 until the last 50 pages when it became a 10/10.

And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

This novel begins in 1952 as a father recites a bed time story to his young son and daughter during an overnight trek across the Afghanistan desert on their way to Kabul. The tale, we soon learn, tells the truth of the father's journey for desperate to provide for his new wife and growing family, the father has agreed to sell his daughter to a wealthy couple unable to bear their own in a deal brokered by their valet, his brother.

Abdullah returns to their village with his father but feels the loss of his sister keenly;
"She was like the dust that clung to his shirt. She was in the silences that had become so frequent in the house, silence that welled up between their words, sometimes cold and hollow, sometimes pregnant with things that went unsaid, like a cloud filled with rain that never fell."

but never relinquishes the dream of being reunited with Pari.

At just four, Pari quickly settles into her new life but it is the story of her adoptive parents - the wild, provocative Nila and her introverted and much older husband Mr. Suleiman Wahdati, that unravels next as witnessed by Pari's uncle, Nabi. A marriage of convenience it soon disintegrates when Wahditi suffers a stroke and Nila flees to France, her mother's birthplace, with Pari. Nabi is left to nurse his invalid employer, remaining with him even as the war begins to rage around them.

Moving then to Paris, America while never straying far from war torn Afghanistan, the fates of Abdullah, Pari, and those connected to them are slowly revealed. It is an emotional, poignant journey that weaves its way in and out of character, time and place.

A beautifully written, heartbreaking story of loss and loss and hope.

It was hard to follow at times as it jumped between different times and the point of view of each of the characters.

Brazen Bride by Stephanie Laurens

Major Logan Monteith and his four closest friends have been assigned to the task of beheading the Black Cobra - a villainous cult ravaging Indian villages - by taking down the cult's leader. When one of his friends sacrifices his life to secure a vital piece of evidence, Logan must carry a decoy copy of the evidence to England, while two of his friends do the same via different routes and a third carries the real thing. But the path to England, and the Duke of Wolverstone who is the mastermind behind Logan and his friends' trip, is fraught with peril. While battling Black Cobra cultists aboard a ship during a storm, Logan is tossed overboard and finds himself shipwrecked and suffering amnesia on the small island of Guernsey. Logan is rescued by the most unlikely of angels: the bold, beautiful Linnet Trevission. Linnet runs her realm like the Queen Elizabeth of old, but Logan finds that he will do anything to become this virgin queen's consort. But when his memory returns and duty threatens to tear him from Linnet, will Logan be able to convince this brazen woman that they can have a future together?


Adventure, romance and a lot  more sex than is usual in an historical romance. 

Allegiance of Honour by Nalini Singh

A staggering transformation has put the Psy, humans, and changelings at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: old enemies, new allies, wary loners.
 
But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten, and it threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: a child who is both Psy…and changeling. 
 
To find the lost and protect the vulnerable—and to save Trinity—no one can stand alone. This is a time of loyalty across divisions, of bonds woven into the heart and the soul, of heroes known and unknown standing back to back and holding the line. But is an allegiance of honor even possible with traitors lurking in their midst?

Another excellent book. Not a story featuring a particular couple but more one that has all the characters from previous books making appearances and finding out about where they are now.  Tied up a few loose ends from previous books and gave a hint as to where the story line might go next.

Protecting His Own by Cherise Sinclair

e-Book

Landscape designer, Beth King survived an abusive husband and built a new life for herself with the help of Master Nolan, the strongest, most protective man she has ever known. She loves him with all her heart, but the one thing he wants, she can’t give him. To her grief, the damage from her abusive first marriage means she can’t bear him children. 

As Beth and Nolan change their plans and pursue adoption, they're already imagining a baby girl in the nursery. But when two boys from the local domestic violence shelter see their mother taken to the hospital, they call Beth in a panic. Agreeing to care for them temporarily, Beth soon falls in love with the two adorable boys. 

Now Master Nolan has a new problem. How can he protect the children when their drug-addicted mother is released—and how the hell can he keep his sweet submissive’s heart from being broken when they leave? 

This was a continuation Beth and Nolan's story 2 years after their first book.  It was a lovely look at their life and relationship with a few glimpses into the lives of the other Shadowlands Masters and girls.  There were only a couple of scenes, one at home and one at the Shadowlands but it was still enjoyable.

Chickenfeed by Minette Walters

 A body is found in a chicken run . . . Based on the true story of the ‘chicken farm murder’ which took place in Blackness, Crowborough, East Sussex in December, 1924. Norman Thorne was found guilty of the murder of Elsie Cameron, but even at the time of his execution there were doubts about his guilt.  

Based on a murder which did actually happen in the nineteen twenties, this is an intriguing quick read where the characters are brought vividly to life.  I enjoyed it.