Monthly Archives: May 2009

by | May 30, 2009 · 3:23 pm

Joan Medlicott. From the Heart of Covington. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

From the Heart of Covington continues the stories of Hannah, Amelia, and Grace, older ladies who share a house in the fictional town of Covington, NC. In this, the third book in the series, a close friend’s cancer impacts all of the women, but each has her own issues to contend with. Amelia furthers her photography career and takes a trip to New York. Grace volunteers at the local elementary school, deals with her son’s rocky relationship, and faces a diabetes diagnosis. Hannah is reunited with her estranged daughter and the younger woman, Laura, comes to live in Covington after she is seriously injured in a boating disaster.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | May 28, 2009 · 12:50 pm

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Delivers the Goods. New York: Viking, 2009.

That Hazel Marie! Miss Julia has become fond of her late husband’s mistress and the couple’s son, but Hazel Marie hasn’t always made it easy.  Miss Julia was scandalized when Hazel moved in with a new boyfriend, private detective J.D. Pickens.  Hazel and J.D. are each on the stormy side, and when J.D. has had enough, he leaves town.  Now Hazel finds herself expecting twins, and Miss Julia decides she must get the couple back together.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

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by | · 10:01 am

Clay Harvey. A Flash of Red. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996.

While Tyler Vance is in the drive-through for his local bank one day, a fleeing bank robber points a gun at him and demands he hand over his truck.  In that instant, Vance’s unique, deadly, and very secret military training takes over.  He shoots and kills the robber, not knowing that the dead man has some “family” ties to international drug dealers, gun runners, and racketeers.  Tyler’s life as a freelance writer, recent widower, and single father quickly turns dangerous as the mobster’s connections try to exact vengeance upon him.  He turns to friends, family, and old army connections for help surviving the attacks and keeping his son safe.  Author Clay Harvey, like main character Vance, lives in North Carolina and writes articles and books about guns.  A Flash of Red is the first book in Harvey’s series about Vance.

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

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1996, Harvey, Clay, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Suspense/Thriller

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by | May 26, 2009 · 2:07 pm

Thomas Fahy. The Unspoken. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2008

Jacob Crawley, leader of the Divine Path cult in Meridian, North Carolina, was an evil man who tormented six of the group’s children and prophesied that they would each be killed by the thing they feared the most.  Five years later epileptic Allison begins having seizure-induced visions of death and Harold–who was afraid of drowning–is found drowned in a tobacco field, far from any source of water.  Creepy!  The survivors, now teenagers, reunite to try to escape death.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Fahy, Thomas, Horror, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | May 24, 2009 · 9:50 am

Dixie Browning. Beckett’s Cinderella. New York: Silhouette Books, 2002.

The theme of family honor makes this a satisfying read for someone looking for an old-fashioned tale. Money has been a problem for Eliza Chandler Edwards.  As a married woman she had plenty, but only because her husband was scamming his investors.  (Eliza was an innocent bystander to this.)  As a widow (her husband was killed by one of his clients), she is poor as a church mouse, in part because she felt honor-bound to sell her home and personal goods to repay her husband’s victims.  When the novel opens, Eliza is living in Currituck County with her great-uncle Fred, helping him run a produce stand.  Just as Eliza tried to right her late husband’s wrongs, the wealthy Beckett family wants to make up for a wrong committed by a family member.  Patriarch PawPaw Beckett summons handsome grandson Lancelot to track down the last heirs of Elias Chandler, a business partner cheated by PawPaw’s father.  Eliza is suspicious of Beckett and the money he wants to give her, but they are clearly attracted to each other.  A hurricane and the arrival of someone from Eliza’s Texas days help move the plot along.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Currituck, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship

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by | May 22, 2009 · 10:00 am

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Hits the Road. New York: Viking, 2003.

Miss Julia can’t figure out what is wrong with her friend Sam. He is too old for a mid-life crisis and too young for senility, but he inexplicably shows up in her driveway one day wearing a leather jacket and riding a Harley. Although she can’t seem to wrap her mind around it, he also begins courting her in earnest: flowers, bad poetry, and calling “just to talk.” However, the real problem in this book is that Miss Julia’s housekeeper Lillian and all her neighbors are in danger of being evicted by their shady landlord. Miss Julia comes to the rescue by organizing a Poker Run motorcycle fundraiser, but must also dodge the unwanted attentions of the event’s biggest benefactor. This is the fourth book about the proper widow’s adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

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by | May 21, 2009 · 9:40 am

Betty R. Headapohl. By Love Renewed. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1987.

I’m writing this in late April, the time of the year when North Carolina is its most alluring.  Betty Headapohl puts that allure in print in this novel about a woman in need of renewal. Anne Duvall has been feeling numb since the death of her husband, but as soon as she arrives in the mountains outside of Asheville, she begins to come alive. The mountain scenery and the good, friendly folks all make her feel that she could make a home here.  And then there’s that handsome minister Jubal Turner.  There are no surprises in this Christian romance, just a satisfying story of love and healing.

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

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Filed under 1980-1989, 1987, Headapohl, Betty R., Mountains, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship

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by | May 17, 2009 · 10:19 am

Dixie Browning. More to Love. New York: Silhouette, 2001.

Can one week change everything?  Molly Dewhurst thought that a week on Ocracoke Island would help her take the first steps toward turning her life around. Get past her divorce, relax, loose a little weight. It was a reasonable “to do” list, but Molly has trouble focusing on her goals after she meets the handsome Rafe Webber. Their first meeting starts off rocky, but when they try to share the same cottage for a week, the relationship improves. (Of course)

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2001, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Hyde, Romance/Relationship

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by | May 15, 2009 · 10:13 am

Todd Johnson. The Sweet By and By. New York: William Morrow, 2009.

Few of us like to think about getting old, so old that we’ll have to move to a facility for the frail and elderly.  But who is there now–either living there or working to make life better for the residents?  This book tells us who’s there.  Todd Johnson gives us the voices of nursing home residents Margaret Clayton and Bernice Stokes. Margaret and Bernice still have a lot of life in them. They break the rules, stirring things up at the home and rattling the staff, but also earning the affection of their nurse Lorraine and Rhonda, a beautician who comes to the facility once a week.  Each woman, along with Lorraine’s daughter April, tells her story in alternating chapters.  Through their stories we see how interesting these “ordinary” women are and what a great balm true friendship can be.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Coastal Plain, Johnson, Todd

by | May 13, 2009 · 9:20 am

Sylvia J. Carlyle. Innocent, Ignorant, and Black. New York: Vantage Press, 1964.

This novel presents a very negative view of small town life at the beginning of the twentieth century. White men rule the town of Rivers Bend, and they are free to abuse their family members and the Black residents of the area.  When a young African American is accused of assaulting a mentally disabled White girl, he is promptly lynched.  The book follows the murderers over the next twenty years as their lives unravel. To a degree that is rare in real life, in this novel the guilty get their just desserts.

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

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Filed under 1960-1969, 1964, Carlyle, Sylvia J., Piedmont

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