Thanks to Will North my next vacation may be to the coastal villages of Cornwall. I loved this book from the very beginning and I rushed through it in the way a fast moving river makes its way to the sea, much like the rivers did in the catastrophic flood of Boscastle depicted in the novel. I loved North’s reverence for the natural world and how he incorporated the magic of the region with its folklore, witchcraft and piety for the community as a whole. The “heart” of this story is its characters, the inhabitants of Boscastle and those that come to live there to rebuild their lives. This novel builds up to its climatic ending as surely as one builds the walls of stone that crisscross the rugged landscapes of this part of the world. Its perfect for that afternoon when you want to get away from the drudgery of everyday life but be prepared to read late into the night because you won’t want to put this book down.

Valley of the Lost by Vicky Delany has all the elements of a good mystery, a beautiful setting, quirky characters and a murder; however, it was more like being lost in the "valley of the lost" than reading about it. Delany introduced over 20 characters in the first 30 pages and unlike other writers in her genre; she did not give enough background for the reader to pick up the story line or provide a desire to return to the first novel for more more details. I wish Delany had spent more time fleshing out the main characters of Molly Smith or Sgt. Winters than racking up some peculiar body count where the author with the most characters in a novel wins. There were just too many holes in the plot to make it an entertaining read.

From the opening pages of How Far is the Ocean from Here, there is a sense of desperation and desolation. Its characters, as well as its landscape, are haunted by broken dreams and unfulfilled desires, living ghosts of lives that might have been. Each disconnected from their families and in search of anyone that they can relate to. Susannah Prue, a surrogate mother who runs away "to think things out", is so well crafted that you do not know whether to love her or hate her. Amy Shearn's writing drives you to find out how they got to this place. Her words, stark yet beautiful like the southwest desert in the novel, build an environment where these people can finally come together through fate and a shared longing to belong. This truly is a remarkable first novel and I look forward to more from Amy Shearn.

I wish I had liked The Commoner more. John Burnham Schwartz obviously did his homework on life on both sides of the Japanese Imperial Walls. His writing creates exquisite snapshots of the culture and mores of a society in a time of recovery and change. However, it is in the details that the story gets bogged down and allowed me to set aside the novel during this busy time of year. I am glad I stuck with the novel, being rewarded with a less than traditional "happily ever after" ending to a novel that reads, at times, like a fairy tale.