Tangled Roots (G G Vandagriff)

Accompany Alex on her attempt to unravel a family tree that proves to have more branches than she bargained for, not to mention a murderer, a misappropriated fortune, and a family secret someone is willing to kill for! As she grapples with this unwieldy job, she is also trying to learn to get to know her mother, whom tragedy separated from her as a teenager. A recent convert to the Church, she is still trying to trust God and discover the true essence of forgiveness. On top of all these issues, she also has serious conflicts in matters of the heart. Should she marry the charming Englishman Charles, who courts her so exquisitely, or the down-to-earth Daniel who knows her better than anyone?

Poisoned Pedigree (G G Vandagriff)

Once again, the author has managed to weave geneology tightly with the skeletons in the closet to create a murder mystery that will draw the reader into its plot. ...Poisoned Pedigree is as pleasant a way to spend a couple of hours as a murder mystery can be."-- Jaymie Reynolds, AML Review
Kerry McNee, a famous singer and songwriter, has enlisted the help of professional genealogist Alexandra Campbell and her sidekick, Briggie, to explore the star's pedigree. At the age of 37, Kerry wants to marry and have a family, but she is terrified by childhood memories that include whispers of a family curse and "bad blood." The investigation leads to a remote town in the Ozarks and a strange woman known as the Keeper, who seems to know secrets that no one else will share. But when the Keeper is suddenly murdered, Alex and Briggie are left to piece together the mystery from a 200-year-old scrapbook — a collection of writings that also includes cryptic references to the lynching of a Mormon missionary in the 1800s. Author G. G. Vandagriff combines mystery, suspense, and romance in this page-turning thriller!

I absolutely loved this book. I am a big family history junkie, so the genealogist work in this story was fun to follow. I was unable to put the book down once I started reading, because the murder mystery kept you in suspense. I need to get the other books from this series. I wish I would have known it was a series, so that I could have read them in order. It doesn't really matter because each book is a different genealogical case so it can be its own story also.

Eyes of a Stranger (Rachel Ann Nunes)

On the first day of her new life, Tawnia McKnight finds herself in Oregon, her fifth state in ten years. Another new job, new friends, a heartache left far behind. Maybe in Portland she can at last find what she is looking for. Maybe she can even forget Bret Winn. But when a tragic bridge collapse rocks the city, Tawnia is thrust back into the life of the man she thought she'd never see again. Then Bret introduces her to the eccentric Autumn Rain — a stranger with inexplicably familiar eyes — and Tawnia finds herself drawn into a web of confusion and deceit. Autumn's suffering over her missing father seems to be real, but there is much that cannot be explained. Will Tawnia find what she is looking for, or will everything she is beginning to care about slip once again from her grasp?

The Wednesday Letters (Jason F Wright)

Jack and Laurel have been married for 39 years. They've lived a good life and appear to have had the perfect marriage. With his wife cradled in his arms, and before Jack takes his last breath, he scribbles his last "Wednesday Letter." When their adult children arrive to arrange the funeral, they discover boxes and boxes full of love letters that their father wrote to their mother each week on Wednesday. As they begin to open and read the letters, the children uncover the shocking truth about the past. In addition, each one must deal with the present-day challenges. Matthew has a troubled marriage, Samantha is a single mother, and Malcolm is the black sheep of the family who has returned home after a mysterious two-year absence. The Wednesday Letters has a powerful message about forgiveness and quietly beckons for readers to start writing their own "Wednesday Letters."

I loved this book. It was a lot easier to read then the last one I read of his. I think the ending was perfect and the letters were a great touch to the story.

Recovering Charles (Jason F Wright)

Luke Millward is a man who does not know he is lost. His girlfriend loves him, his career is going well, and every night he falls asleep knowing that his life is good and meaningful. Only when the past reveals its twisted smile in a phone call and a disconnected voice asks him to come find his father in post-Katrina New Orleans is Luke compelled to find out what kind of man he truly is.
With the recent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina looming in the background, Wright's new novel hovers delicately between the reality of the hurricane's catastrophic damage to the city of New Orleans, and the intertwined lives of a few holdouts remaining in the city. As the broken residents hunt for survivors, successful New York photographer Luke Millward arrives to search for his missing father, Charles, a former architect who has long been absent from Luke's life. This New York Times bestselling author cuts deeply into the soul of New Orleans residents, and weaves a touching, if somewhat sentimental, tale of paternal love and emotional resurrection. Luke's personal journey to New Orleans reveals much about his father's recent life, including his recovery from alcoholism, a fascinating and mysterious fiancée, a revived musical career, and a group of intensely loyal friends who make it their personal mission to reacquaint Luke with his father.Effectively employing flashbacks to Luke's idyllic childhood, the slow deterioration of his relationship with his father is played out in touching vignettes, leading up to the suicide of Luke's mother following an inconsolable bout of depression. In his distinctively abrupt style, Wright easily describes his father's emotional turmoil soon after his mother's death: "My father clung to his complicated, braided rope of faith. He said one day Mother's soul would surface again . . . " His father's subsequent plunge into alcoholism becomes the basis for Luke's inability to commit to his longtime girlfriend, as well as the motivation that drives his career ambitions as a Manhattan photographer. Wright has previouslypublished three novels, The James Miracle, Christmas Jars and The Wednesday Letters, and is also a well-known political/social editorialist. In Recovering Charles, mystery and romance readers will be hooked on Luke's puzzling search and his encounter with an exotic mystery woman while in New Orleans. Readers favoring realism will suffer Luke's pain through aptly described recollections of his childhood. With a harsh dose of reality, Wright is accomplished in his use of imagery, as his descriptions of New Orleans are often graphic and moving. His plethora of New Orleans characters are intriguing and occasionally puzzling, if not particularly inspiring. In a surprising twist, the unexpected conclusion leads Luke to a place he never imagined, and leaves the reader with much to ponder.

I had a hard time with the first half of the book, because it kept jumping from the present to the past and I was having a hard time keeping the stories straight.

Echoes (Erin Grady)

Tess Carson isnt worried when her irresponsible sister, Tori, vanishes from her remote California town. But when Tess arrives in Mountain Bend to look after Tori's daughter, she realizes there is more to the disappearance than mere flight of fancy. Her sister's boss is dead - and Tori is the prime suspect...

Tess turns to an unlikely ally to clear her sister's name - the dead man's son. But Grant Weston is haunted by his own familial demons, making Tess wary of his true intentions - and suspicious of his connection to Tori.

And there is something else haunting Tess. Something forcing her to experience strange, terrifying hallucinations of another time and place. Now, the only way for Tess to discover the truth about her sister - and about Grant - is to confront the secret that binds them together through time itself...

All in all, this story was quite good and kept you turning the pages. When the book was finished it did leave some questions left unanswered which was a little frustrating. They dont deter from the story though. Maybe she'll answer those questions in a sequel.

Dear John (Nicholas Sparks)

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.