Angel's Peak by Robyn Carr

Angel's Peak--
Angel's peak centered around the story of Sean Riordan and Franci. They dated several years ago, but broke up after a huge fight. Franci desperately wanted marriage and a family, and that was the last thing Sean wanted. He thought a family would hold him back from enjoying life, and he preferred to give his life to the Army. Right after they broke up, Franci discovered she was pregnant with Sean's child- a baby girl. However, she does not tell him because she doesn't want him to marry her out of obligation. Sean doesn't find out until 3 1/2 years later when he runs into Franci at a bar, and then manages to track her down at her house. After introducing Sean to their daughter, Franci realizes how much she really does love Sean and what an amazing father she is. And they get married.
Meanwhile, Noah and Ellie, who were featured in Forbidden Falls, also get married. They also buy this really run down house, and the day after their wedding, the pulled up at the new house to discover the community had come together and was helping them clean up the place. Both Noah and Ellie were new to the town, so this act of kindness by their new friends was definitely touching to them and made them feel like they belonged there.
Shelby and Luke also announce they are expecting their lst child.
Out of the first 3, Shelter Mountain was definitely my favorite, I can't remember which was my favorite out of the second 3, and I had THOUGHT Forbidden Falls was my favorite out of the current 3, but I think Angel's Peak may now be my favorite! I LOVE the Riordan family...I definitely can't get enough of them. I see so many more stories for future books....Maureen and George, Aiden (although he'll be covered in next month's book--Moonlight Road), the other two brothers-Colin and Patrick.
One of the things that I noticed, especially in this book was that Robyn Carr definitely has a way with words. I like how she words alot of things, just general expressions, that make me want to burst out laughing. I was even reading at work and several times wanted to burst out laughing. There were also a few moments that brought tears to my eyes. I feel that any book that can bring out that many different emotions is amazing.
I loved this storyline...particular reading about Rosie, and her newfound relationship with her dad, grandma, and uncles. And my favorite thing about these books is the amount of detail Robyn goes into when describing a place. I especially love when she describes the various houses being built.

finished on 1/26/2010

Not My Daughter- Barbara Delinsky

I really enjoyed this book. I have never been disappointed by a Barbara Delinsky book, and have found her books to be a nice break from the cutesy little romance books that take place in small towns. There's nothing WRONG with those books at all, in fact I love them, however, sometimes its nice to change things up a bit.

Not My Daughter was quite an interesting read. Four highschool seniors and best friends, Lily, Mark Kate, Jessica, and Abby make a pact to become pregnant, much to the shock and dismay of their parents. Lily's mom, Sue, also happens to be the high school principal, who's gone to great lengths to educate and try to prevent teen pregnancy. SHE also became pregnant at the age of seventeen, the same age these girls are now. When word gets out, the families of the girls try to keep the names quiet, as there is alot of opinions and controversy right from the start. This also puts Lily's mom in an awkward position, having her credibility questioned, both as a principal AND as a mother. Some feel that Sue has enabled past mistakes to repeat themselves. This also creates tension among the mothers of the four girls who are also friends, as well as each of the moms and their husbands. Lily's mom is actually not married, but has support from Lily's dad, and instead of struggling in her relationship with her husband, she struggles with her relationship with her mother, after just losing her father.

toward the end of the book, we find out that Lily's baby suffers from a condition called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, in which the kidneys appear outside the abdominal cavity. It is not known whether or not this baby will survive. So, on top of the tension in her position as principal, her anger over Lily's pregnancy to begin with, Susan must also deal with this, and support Lily in dealing with this as well. They are able to do surgery before Lily gives birth, and the baby ends up being fine.

We get to the epilogue and find out that Mary Kate and Jessica have also given birth; Mary Kate has a boy, and Jessica, a girl. We also find out that Susan has married Lily's father, Rick.

Again, I really enjoyed this book. I wanted to strangle the girls on several occasions, yet at the same time, I could relate to how they were feeling. I was alot like them at that age, and when I was in my early 20s, I desperately wanted a child right then. (Now, I have gotten older, I still want children, I just value my freedom and SLEEP too much to have them now). The girls WERE very self-centered to go through with this, but thats really how kids that age are. And, I was honestly surprised to see how the parents reacted, I was surprised to see them so angry, I thought for sure they'd come to terms with this right away and forgive, and coddle their daughters from that point on, but instead they stayed mad. Jessica's mom didn't even want to see her.

At first I didn't think this storyline was very realistic, not so much teen pregnancy (because we all know that is VERY realistic), but more so the idea of the pregnancy pact. In the end of the book, it mentioned a smiliar case in Massachusetts that happened in 2008, where 17 girls made a pact to become pregnant. (I am now trying to google that news story for more information).

I can see how some people who prefer more "realistic" storylines may not like this book, because even though there are a high number of teen pregnancies, pregnancy "pacts" don't seem to happen very often. I, however, read to ESCAPE reality, and it really doesn't matter to me how realistic or unrealistic a book sounds. I read books based on the storyline, and also based on the authors who write them.

finished this book on 1/17/2010
Book #3 for 2010

The Sweethearts Knitting Club- Lori Wilde

This was the first book I read by Lori Wilde, and DEFINITELY not my last. I had seen this in Borders recently, and of course the title caught my eye, but the fact that it was a story about a group of friends was an added bonus! I guess there really wasn't as much about the knitting group as I thought it would be. It was more focused around the Flynn/Jess/Beau triangle (I was on Team Jesse). Flynn and Jesse have been friends since highschool. Beau has also been envious and resentful of Jesse, and even had him arrested on graduation day. 10 years later, Jesse is finally out of prison and learns that Flynn and Beau are engaged. Flynn and Jess meet for the first time in 10 years, and after awhile Flynn realizes it's Jesse that she wants, not Beau.

The Sweethearts are a group of ladies who knit together. Flynn's mom, who passed away a few years ago was also in the group, and the ladies sort of took Flynn under their wing after her mom died. It was also Lynn's dying wish for Flynn to open a yarn store, which she names Lynn's Yarn Barn. It happens to be in the old theater on the floor above Jesse's Motorcycle Shop.

Luckily, this book is first in a series. The next book, the true love Quilting Club comes out in April 2010 and I'm excited to read that one. I hope We will hear more about Flynn and Jesse. She also has a 3rd book coming out around Christmas time about a Cookie Club, and another one about a gardening club coming out later. The other series of hers I want to read is the Wedding Veil Wishes series.

Date Finished: 1/6/2010 12:53am
book 2 for the year

Catching Up

Well I see I am behind yet again. Sadly, in 2009 I read only 54 books. In 2008, I read 73 books. I was hoping to surpass that and get to 75. DIDN'T HAPPEN! I blame that fully on FACEBOOK! I wasted way too much of my life on facebook this past year. In 2010 things are going to be very different! I joined a 100 book challenge on Shelfari. I started this on December 26th, so I have until 12/26/10 to read 100 books. I am going to pace myself and try to read 8-9 books each month. I already finished one..Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr. It was a great book and I can't wait until next month. Robyn introduced some new characters in this book. Ellie, Noah's assistant. She was a former stripper (which I think added some "spice" to the storyline) and she was a CRACKUP! I really hope we'll be seeing more of her in future books, maybe even read about her and Noah's wedding! There was also quite an interesting storyline between Paul and Vanni. Paul's ex-girlfriend got pregnant, and tried to fool Paul into believing the baby was his. Paul found out the truth, after they'd broken up. NOW, the girlfriend was killed and in her Will, she stated that she wanted Paul to raise her daughter. This caused some tension between Paul and Vanni, but they worked it out, and little hannah became part of their family for good.

Right now, I'm reading Lori Wilde's "The Sweethearts Knitting Club". More on that later....SOOOO happy to be out of my reading slump!