Category Archives: Iredell

Iredell

Michele Summers. Find My Way Home. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2014.

findmywayhomeJust three weeks before interior designer Bertie Anderson is supposed to move from Harmony, North Carolina to a new job in Atlanta, Georgia, Keith Morgan appears looking for a designer to fix up the big Victorian he just bought. Getting the chance to work on this house has always been a dream of Bertie’s. She didn’t even know someone had bought the property. Staying in Harmony to do this renovation looks even sweeter when Francesca Balogh, Bertie’s surrogate aunt, offers Bertie a $150,000 bonus for getting the work done in three months. Bertie could use that money to help Dwelling Place – a charity that builds homes for those who cannot afford to do so on their own. Even though Bertie must turn down the Atlanta offer in order to complete this new job, she still plans to move out of Harmony when the Victorian house is finished. Bertie never expected to find herself falling in love with the owner, Keith, and his ten-year old daughter Maddie.

Keith Morgan is a retired pro tennis player who has given up the fast-paced Miami life in order to provide his daughter, Maddie, with the best environment, which is how he ended up in the small town of Harmony. After the death of his wife in a car accident–she was driving drunk– Keith sought to lose himself in the fast life filled with partying and women. However, his mother’s sister, Francesca Balogh, threatened Keith with an ultimatum. Keith must straighten up for Maddie or Aunt Franny will fight for custody. Since Keith’s lifestyle choices have been plastered all over the media, Aunt Franny stands a good chance of winning a custody battle.

Aunt Franny may have given Keith a kick-start, but he also wants what is best for Maddie and knew a change was needed. However, Aunt Franny takes it too far when she demands that Keith find a wife and mother for Maddie in three months. The whole town has heard the news and every lady in the town is after Keith. In travels to Raleigh, Keith believes that he has met the perfect mother for Maddie; Gail is sweet and loves children. So why can’t Keith keep his mind off of one seductively gorgeous interior designer? Keith has had the seductive, fashion forward type before in his first wife and he’s not looking to add a “Betty Boop” look-alike into the mix.

Everyone in Harmony, including his own daughter, can see what a catch Bertie would be for Keith. Nevertheless, Keith denies it all, even when Bertie admits her love for him. Will Bertie be able to complete her dream renovation while feelings for her client burn unrequited? Does Keith have the sense to see the gift that is staring him in the face, or will he ruin his chance at the perfect family?

Find My Way Home is the first novel in the Harmony Homecoming series. A series that is shaping up to be a look into how home definitely can prove to be where the heart is, in more ways than one.

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

Comments Off on Michele Summers. Find My Way Home. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2014.

Filed under 2010-2019, 2014, Iredell, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

Sarah Martin Byrd. The Color of My Heart. Greenville, SC: Ambassador International, 2013.

color heartHow well do we know our neighbors?  How well do we even know our own family?  Laura Carter loves her husband, Cam, and although she knows his father Monroe is a hard, racist man, she treats her father-in-law with respect.  Laura accepts the fact that Cam, an accountant, has to help his father with his farm, and she does not object when Cam goes out at at night to assist his dad.  Laura believes that she and Cam are a team, and that together they can weather any storm.

Laura’s belief is put to the test in more ways than she could have imagined.  Laura has always known that she was adopted.  At her birthmother’s request, it was a closed adoption–Laura has never know anything about her birth family.  As The Color of My Heart opens, Laura’s birthmother, Nelda Brinson, is dying and Nelda’s grandmother makes the fateful decision to contact Laura.  Nelda and her Me-Maw live so close by that Laura can visit them, and in doing so she finds out that her mother and her people are African Americans.  As Laura, Cam, and their daughters are adjusting to that fact and getting to know their new family, their older daughter Larkin becomes pregnant.  The baby’s father is her long-term boyfriend, a boy whose father is a good friend of Cam’s father and who shares his racist views.  Sarah Martin Byrd weaves these three strands together in multi-generational story that contains history, horror, cruelty, compassion, and uplift.

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

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Filed under 2010-2019, 2013, Byrd, Sarah Martin, Davie, Iredell, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational, Rowan

Cotton Ketchie. Little Did They Know. Davidson, NC: Lorimer Press, 2009.

Many women like being part of a group–the monthly book club, the weekly dinner group, the daily walking crew.  But how well do we know the women we spend time with?  The once five, now four, women of the Wednesday Night Club always eat at the same restaurant in Mooresville, but when Carmen suggests that the group go to a winery in the Yadkin Valley for dinner, the other women go along.  Carmen is the newest member of the group and a bit of a hard-charger, but Joanie and Gail have no reason to question Carmen’s plans. Debbie knows what a dirty-dealer Carmen is since Carmen is carrying on with her husband, but Debbie Seacrest has not shared that sorrow with her friends.

Carmen has met her match in Kevin Seacrest–they are two people with a thirst  for the good life and a ruthless streak.  Together they hatch a plan to kidnap the other women in the dinner group and then demand ransom from Gail’s wealthy husband, James Caldwell.  James suspects trouble right away and enlist the help of his friend, Jake McLeod, whose late wife Kitt was once part of the dinner group.  Although James and Jake push the authorities to act quickly, they are no vigilantes.  They work closely with the police, including Iredell County detective Marci Meredith.

Even though Kevin Seacrest’s behavior leads the authorities in the right direction, Gail, Joanie, and Debbie spend several harrowing days on the run from Carmen and a fierce and murderous accomplice.  During that time the women depend on each other for their very lives. The women draw closer, and each woman comes out of the experience with a clearer sense of what is important in her life.  During the days of searching Jake and Detective Meredith are attracted to each other, and this plot line is merged with the capture of the last kidnapper in a satisfying ending.

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

Comments Off on Cotton Ketchie. Little Did They Know. Davidson, NC: Lorimer Press, 2009.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Iredell, Ketchie, Cotton, Piedmont, Wilkes, Yadkin

Sandi Huddleston-Edwards. Roy’s Sandman. Charlotte, NC: CPCC Press, 2009.

Roy’s Sandman follows the family introduced in Huddleston-Edwards’s earlier book, Richard’s Key. All the children figure in the novel, but the story centers on the narrator, Roy.  Roy is deeply affected by his brother Richard’s death at the orphanage in 1947, but he goes on to build a life and a family of his own.  Roy’s relationship with “Sandman,” his oldest daughter carries the story forward into the new century.  Readers of the earlier novel who are eager to know what happened to these orphaned children and their mother will find their curiosity satisfied in this new work.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Durham, Guilford, Huddleston-Edwards, Sandi, Iredell, Piedmont

Sandi Huddleston-Edwards. Richard’s Key. Charlotte, NC: CPCC Press, 2007.

A mother is unable to raise her six children after her husband dies in the summer of 1940. Years later, two of her sons reflect on the family’s life immediately before and after their dad’s death and the later years of their childhoods spent in a North Carolina orphanage.

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

Comments Off on Sandi Huddleston-Edwards. Richard’s Key. Charlotte, NC: CPCC Press, 2007.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Huddleston-Edwards, Sandi, Iredell, Piedmont

Judith Minthorn Stacy. Betty Sweet Tells All. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

Four generations of Sweet women are held together by the unflappable Betty Sweet of Poplar Grove, N.C. Her daughter Maggie causes a stir by running away from her husband and family, while Betty’s mother, Mama Dean, continues to wreak havoc in the house. In the course of dealing with her wacky family, Betty’s own life takes a significant turn when she begins spending time with Poplar Grove newcomer Charlie Love, who has charmed Betty with his English accent.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Iredell, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Stacy, Judith Minthorn

Judith Minthorn Stacy. Maggie Sweet. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

When Maggie Sweet discovers that her husband has spent the family vacation money on a pair of cemetery plots, she’s not happy. With her twin daughters nearly grown and her husband pretty much on auto-pilot, Maggie reflects upon a life lived largely for others and decides that it’s time to do something on her own. When an old high-school boyfriend shows up in town, Maggie finds the old flames renewed, especially as he encourages her to pursue her dream to work as a cosmetician at the local Curl & Swirl. The novel is set in the fictional western North Carolina town of Poplar Grove, possibly based on the author’s hometown of Mooresville.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Judith Minthorn Stacy. Maggie Sweet. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Iredell, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Stacy, Judith Minthorn