Victoria Brown's novel, Minding Ben, was a joy to read. I enjoyed reading about the young Grace's journey from the island of Trinidad to her life in New York City. Arriving in New York City in the late 1980's, merely 16 years old, Grace manages to carve a life for herself as a nanny to the rich as a step toward her own life goals. This book reminds me of The Help, in that it allows for a long look into the treatment of "the help" and the interactions between the different nannies as well as the relationship between the employer and employee. Beautifully written, fully engaging and with characters you want to cheer on, this book is for anyone who wants a refreshing change.

As the mother of an adopted son, I often envisioned my child in the position that Wrecker was left in life. At 3 years old, the only person he ever loved was incarcerated. An uncle and mentally handicapped aunt "rescue" him and try to raise him. Or did he rescue them? Wrecker is the magnetic force that combines a random group of people who band together to raise him and love him. In the process, they grow to love and accept each other, warts and all! While the "family" Wrecker ends up in may not be conventional, the book deftly makes us realize love is all that is really needed to make up a family. Love is all that is needed to make all the difference in the world in the life of a child. This is a finely worded, uplifting book and a great story. I would recommend it for anyone wanting a change of pace!

Loved it. Annabelle is the person you sit next to at the ballgames, watching your kids. She is the mom who remembered to bring cupcakes when you are scrambling to get your kids to school at all. And Annabelle is a woman living in a marriage fractured by her own careless, thoughtless and impetuous affair. I found her character believable as she tries to live her life in spite of her betrayal to her husband. I can empathize with her romanticized version of the man she lost 26 years before.

I waited, spellbound, as she found Jeremiah unexpectedly again and all the repercussions this has on her family once again. This is a true picture of marriage, both good and bad, love in its best and its worst form. I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone (but especially those women of a certain age - like myself - whose past and present don't always seem to line up). Good reading, tell Ms. Dawson to bring us more!

I started The Year of the Flood with high expectations, a little too high. While I will say it is certainly a very unique book I personally found it hard to like the characters. I did enjoy Ms Atwood's ability to create fictional "blended" animals and there were times I had to look words up just to verify that some things mentioned did not, in fact, exist is this world. The futuristic world was well described - though not one I would ever wish to occupy!

Ms. Atwood has a beautiful way with words and lots of little "gems" of wisdom within the book. (example: Hunger is a powerful reorganizer of the conscience. Another is "hunger is the best sauce". Possibly my favorite "What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question". But for me it was a struggle for me to finish this book (looking at some of my popular suspense novels sitting on my shelf didn't help!) I would only recommend this book to very a select readership.

Valley of the Lost has an unusual cast of characters, from an aging hippie mother to a young female officer who still lives at home , victim that no one know anything about and an infant left at the scene. That being said the characters never seemed quite fleshed out to me. I usually become attached to the characters while reading a book but that never happened with this book. The plot had some good twists but didn't flow. I would read this book if it was the only one I brought on a plane otherwise I would look for something else to read.

Time of my Life is a nicely written book of "what ifs" that many women face. What if I chose a different guy? What if I didn't have this child or this job? Do our choices ultimately matter or does how we handle our choices matter more? I enjoyed this somewhat lighthearted look at the road not taken. Ms. Scotch gives us a fun story wrapped around the premise that sometimes what really needs to change is us.I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a quick read with a little twist!

Killer Heat is one of those riveting books that makes you want to ignore your family, skip your job and stay up until midnight reading to the very end! Linda Fairstein has consistently proven herself to be a top-notch suspense author in the vein of Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs. Her plotlines are fast-paced but believable and her characters are richly drawn and endearing. Well, not the bad guys! Linda does an excellent job of keeping us guessing until the end. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read!