Gables of Legacy : The Guardian (Anita Stansfield)

Over the past few years, Tamra Banks, a confused, new convert from a troubled family has blossomed into a faithful Church member. Friends, family history, a mission in the Philippines, and the sacrifice of all she knows bring about this change. But stability in life does not mean stability in love. And now, Tamra is faced with her greatest challenge.
Tamra moves into the home of Michael and Emily Hamilton, a couple from Australia she met during her mission. The Hamilton's son, Jess--burdened by the guilt of being involved in an accident that killed his brother and sister-in-law--believes that life is no longer worth living. And though Tamra at first finds Jess brooding and harsh, she cannot deny her attraction to him, because she sees who he once was, and who he could become. Living in his ancestral home, sharing the stories of his family's history, Tamra begins to connect with Jess, and a cautious love develops between the two. Jess's depression runs deep, however, and the day is fast approaching when he may choose isolation over marriage, and a permanent end to his pain.
Join best-selling author Anita Stansfield in her thrilling new series, Gables of Legacy. Volume One, The Guardian, is an exhilarating story of triumph over despair, of ancestral connection, and of the decisions that could mean the difference between eternal love or bitter tragedy.

This is one of the many books in the Byrnehouse-Davies & Hamilton Saga. I have read 4 of 14 in this family story. You can either read them in order or separately. I really enjoy this families story. I know Brittany has also read some of their stories also.

Life is Hard, Food is Easy (Linda Spangle)

Does a conversation with your mother drive you to consume a gallon of ice cream? Have you ever eaten a whole bag of chips and wondered “How did that happen?” In Life Is Hard, Food Is Easy, Linda Spangle, R.N., M.A., explains why emotional eating dooms all your dieting efforts. Over the past 15 years, Linda Spangle has helped thousands of clients learn to cope with their emotions, thereby allowing them to lose weight successfully and keep it off — permanently.
In Life Is Hard, Food Is Easy, Spangle shares her fool-proof method for beating emotional eating — the method that accounts for her clients’ 90% success rate! Spangle reveals how you can cope with your feelings of frustration, boredom, or loneliness, and offers her proven step-by-step program to stop your emotions from interfering with your eating habits. These 5 simple steps teach you how to identify the emotional void the food is attempting to fulfill and empower you to break your self-destructive behavior.
According to Spangle, your weight-loss success rate increases dramatically only when your emotional coping skills become stronger and incorporated into your daily life. So before you devour another bag of M&M’s, learn Spangle’s 5 mental exercises and free yourself from the emotional cravings that sabotage your weight-loss efforts.

If you suffer from emotional eating or eating because you are bored, this book has a lot of helpful exercises to teach you how to get around these troubling situations. I learned a few good things to think about from this book.

Redneck Cinderella (LuAnn McLane)

Raised by her widowed father, Jolie Russell could keep up with any man—that is, until wealthy and sexy land developer Cody Dean struts into her life.Cody buys the Russell farm with an impossible-to-refuse multimillion-dollar offer, then relocates Jolie and her dad to the Copper Creek Estates. But the country club atmosphere isn’t ready for Jolie’s kind of country. As her two worlds collide, Jolie wonders how she can ever hope to capture Cody’s heart without giving up her grits.

This novel was funny and sexy at the same time. A good read.

(some sensual scenes)

City of Bones (Cassandra Clare)

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .
I enjoyed this story. I was a little disappointed in the ending but I'm looking for to the next book in the series.

The Padded Girdle (Lester T Nielsen)

Most people would consider two terminal illnesses in one home enough trauma for any family to deal with. Add in the death of a baby, the bite from a brown recluse spider, three major heart surgeries, a daughter losing sight and hearing on one side of her head, a son being run over, having his head crushed by a drunk driver, losing three homes to medical expenses... well, that would just be cruel and unusual. But it's only the beginning. Find out how one family copes with their latest diagnosis... yet another terminal illness for Linda and Jeremy. A disease so rare, that only 300 people in the entire world have been diagnosed with it in the past forty-five years! Yet all this cannot keep the smiles from returning to their faces, and their spirits from soaring heavenward. This is a must read for anyone who loves hearing about the greatness of the human spirit! Includes CD.

This book makes you realize someone out there is always fighting a bigger battle than you are, Live life one day at a time and to always look for the positive. I don't know if this is a book I would pick up at the library just ro read, because it is a documentary of this womens life, but I was given this book for free and decided why not. It was an okay read.

Anchors Aweigh (Kathleen Bacus)

Ahoy Mateys! With her grandma wedded and bedded (eeow!) Tressa Jayne Turner is looking forward to the weeklong cruise that follows. Good food. Warm beaches. Romantic sunsets. A swashbuckling ranger-type, Rick Townsend, who shivers her timbers. Nothing can take the wind out of Tressa's sails this time.

Nothing except this Love Boat's the Titanic. For one thing, it's a lo-cal "biggest loser" cruise. For another, Tressa's bad-boy faux fiance and his marriage-minded aunt are stowaways, and Tressa's barely got her sea legs before a dastardly murder plot bobs to the surface. It's a foul wind that's blowin' -- and not from the exercise-obsessed passengers. Add one whale of a Bermuda love triangle, and Tressa knows just how Captain Jack Sparrow feels when the rum is gone.

I love this Calamity Jayne series! I've never laughed so much until I found this author. I've never been embarrassed so much for a character! Sometimes you just want to say "Keep your mouth shut Tressa" and yell " Why would you do that?"

Why would she avoid yummy Rick Townsend so long? Obviously the woman is missing a few screws upstairs!

As High As The Heavens (Kathleen Morgan)

Heather Gordon has enjoyed the privileges of sixteenth-century Scottish nobility her entire life. Despite this comfort and ease, she yearns for a more fulfilling existence. Her prayers are soon answered - though not quite the way she expected.

Duncan Mackenzie has never known a life beyond the rugged Highland countryside. When a daring rescue is planned to free Mary, Queen of Scots, Duncan finds he is the key to unlocking the fortress where she is imprisoned. But first he must shed his rough Highland ways and learn to behave as a fine gentleman - something only a member of the nobility can teach him.

Heather and Duncan find themselves drawn together against their better judgment to complete this daring rescue. But in the close quarters of Duncan's remote Highland cottage, there is more stirring than political rebellion. Deceit, betrayal, and unexpected love draw you into this gripping story.

It wasnt too bad. I had no problem putting it down though, so the story didnt catch me and hold me like I prefer a book to.