Category Archives: Hawkins, Karen

Karen Hawkins. Talk of the Town. New York: Pocket Books, 2008.

Divorce is not what Roxie Treymayne expected. After discovering her husband’s affair with his law partner, she is determined to go a little bit wild. She spent years playing the perfect Raleigh country club wife, and now Roxie wants to be who she really is. Roxie transforms her prudish look with a tattoo, a navel ring, revealing clothes, and a bleach blond ‘do. She is ready to start over in some far-away city when she gets the news–her mother has suffered a mild heart attack and Roxie is needed back home in Glory, North Carolina.

Roxie does not plan to stay in Glory for long, but bumping into Nick Sheppard, the new sheriff, makes her consider staying even after her mother recovers. Although Nick spurned Roxie in high school after a brief romance, the two still share a mutual attraction, and the tension is thick whenever they are together. In the meantime, Roxie has taken over her mother’s volunteer activities, which includes spending time with the three-member Murder Mystery/CSI-Watching Club at the local assisted living center. The club’s trio thinks that they are on to a real-life murder mystery, and Roxie helps with the investigation. Fortunately, this means that she and Nick begin seeing more of each other and building their trust in one another.

Although Roxie never imagined moving home, she finds happiness, love – and a little bit of suspense – in Glory, North Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Buncombe, Hawkins, Karen, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship

Karen Hawkins. The Glory NC Books.

 

Glory, North Carolina, might seem like the typical quiet Southern town, but much happens there to keep life interesting. While many who grew up in Glory could not wait to move to bigger cities like Raleigh or Atlanta after their high school graduation, some find themselves back home after a few years away. Two siblings, Mark and Roxie Treymayne, returned after their mother’s illness. Although they planned to be back just temporarily, they have found reasons to stay. Mark and Roxie have discovered worthwhile careers at Roxie’s new newspaper business, The Glory Examiner, and entertainment in antics of a group of local geriatric crime-hunters. Most exciting for the siblings, though, is the fact that they have both found passionate, loving relationships–Mark with Susan, a reporter and Roxie with Nick, the sheriff. As it turns out, you can go home again.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2010-2019, Buncombe, Hawkins, Karen, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship, Series

Karen Hawkins. Lois Lane Tells All. New York: Pocket Star Books, 2010.

Susan Collins, editor-in-chief of The Glory Examiner, loves her home town.  She knows everyone and everyone knows and trusts her.  They remember her calm confidence when she was the voice on the line for the local 911. Susan’s dad is a bit of a problem, but now she has a new worry–the accountant who’s been brought in to make the paper profitable. Mark Tremayne is that accountant–a recently divorced man who has sworn off women but who has come back to Glory to help save his sister’s investment in the paper.  Mark and Susan do not see eye-to-eye on how to save the paper, but when Mark looks at Susan, or she looks at him, sparks of desire fly.

The interactions between Susan and Mark will remind readers of those great television series Remington Steele and Moonlighting, but neither of those shows had the zany and endearing characters who populate this novel.  Susan’s poker buddies (all men) are full of wit and advice, and a trio of octogenarians who have watched too much CSI are determined to solve all the crimes in town, real or imagined.  But it’s not all charm and romantic tension; beneath the cheerful surface of the town there are problems.  Someone had a hand in the till of a church’s main fundraiser, and Susan’s dad is slipping into a serious drinking problem.

This is the second novel by Karen Hawkins set in the fictitious town of Glory, North Carolina.  The first novel, Talk of the Town, was published in 2008.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Karen Hawkins. Lois Lane Tells All. New York: Pocket Star Books, 2010.

Filed under 2010, 2010-2019, Hawkins, Karen, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship