Category Archives: 2005

2005

Dixie Browning. First Time Home. New York: Silhouette Books, 2005.

Laurel Ann Lawless thought that her life in New York City was a good one–she had an enjoyable job with a professional fund raising company and her romance with her boss looked like it might be moving toward the altar. In a very twenty-first century plot twist, her world is turned upside down when federal authorities accuse her boss of funneling money to foreign terrorist organizations.  Suddenly Laurel has no paycheck, the boss doesn’t return her calls, and she is hounded by the media.  Laurel’s wise roommate, Peg, suggests that this might be a good time for Laurel to look at the land in Tyrrell County that Laurel inherited from her father.  North Carolina is a whole new world filled with a rich natural environment, different values, and lots of relatives.  To support herself, she takes a retail job on the Outer Banks and moves into an inexpensive rental that a cousin finds for her. After her relationship with her handsome landlord, Cody, starts to heat up, Laurel thinks that she just might stay in North Carolina.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Dare, Romance/Relationship, Tyrrell

Ellyn Bache. Daughters of the Sea. Banks Channel Books, 2005.

Veronica, Guy and their daughter Simpson have made a life moving from one beach town to another, always in search of a better climate or a better construction job for Guy. When Veronica decides she’s finished with the nomadic existence, she and Simpson move into the home of an old friend in Whisper Springs, Maryland. Simpson settles into their new life and begins a relationship with a local. Veronica’s friend Ernie’s health is failing and she appreciates the help of the younger women. Although the move was her idea, Veronica gets restless and begins missing the sea and her husband. Most of the story is centered on the three women in Maryland, but readers also get the occasional glimpse of Guy as he works in the film industry in Wilmington.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Bache, Ellyn, Coast, Dare, New Hanover

Dixie Browning. Her Man Upstairs. New York: Silhouette Books, 2005.

Bookstore owner Marty Owens thinks of herself as a practical, unemotional person. It makes sense to get her old house in shape, and since she’s too busy to do it herself, hiring someone else to do is the way to go.  What Marty doesn’t consider is how the gossip will fly when the contractor moves in, or how hunky Cole Stevens will get her heart racing.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Romance/Relationship

Michael Phillips. A Perilous Proposal. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005.

A Perilous Proposal follows the life of young Jake Patterson, a slave who flees for the north after fighting off his mother’s white attacker. After a stay with some Union army soldiers, he eventually finds his long-lost father in North Carolina and meets Katie and Mayme, the two young women who live at Rosewood plantation. Jake soon falls in love and wants to start a new life, but he is held back by anger and resentment from his past. In this, the first book in the Carolina Cousins series, the residents of Rosewood also face physical threats from intolerant men in the nearby (fictional) town of Greens Crossing.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Historical, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Phillips, Michael, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship

Victor L. Martin. For the Strength of You. Columbus, OH: Triple Crown Publications, 2005.

Sibling loyalties are strong in this novel set among drug dealers in Selma, North Carolina.  While Anshon was serving time in prison, his sister Tammy was shot and paralyzed.  Once Anshon is back in Selma, he searches to find out who shot Tammy. Tammy wants to help her brother by showing him how to make big money dealing drugs.  Anshon takes some, but not all, of his sister’s advice, and as the double-dealing unfolds, the bodies mount up.  This novel is well beyond a PG rating.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Coastal Plain, Johnston, Martin, Victor L., Urban Fiction

Jude Deveraux. Holly. New York: Pocket Star Books, 2005.

Concern with social status and money can keep a person from recognizing true love when it comes around. That’s the case with Holly Latham. Holly is rich and a bit manipulative. She loves old houses. She particularly loves Spring Hill, an historic house outside of Edenton that is adjacent to the similarly fine house of her great childhood love, Lorrie Beaumont. When her parents buy Spring Hill, Holly sees a way back into the Beaumont house and Lorrie’s heart. Even with her eyes on these particular prizes, Holly makes a detour into the arms of sexy Nick Taggert. Holly is quick to discard Nick, but Nick senses that Holly can be made to see the light. While Nick hangs around he uncovers things about Lorrie Beaumont that make him realize that Holly needs not just his love, but also his protection.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Chowan, Deveraux, Jude, Romance/Relationship

James Swain. Mr. Lucky. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.

Don’t you love it when a country boy makes good? Ricky Smith was nothing special in his hometown of Slippery Rock, North Carolina. One night in Las Vegas changed all that. After jumping from the balcony of a burning hotel, Ricky begins to burn up blackjack, roulette, and crap tables all along The Strip. Investigator Tony Valentine is hired by casino owners to discover the reason for Ricky’s incredible luck. Valentine follows Ricky back to Slippery Rock where he finds it’s hard for an ex-cop from New Jersey to blend in. It turns out that Ricky is not the only guy from Slippery Rock who has hit the big time, and Valentine is up against bigger challenges and greater dangers than he ever thought one little town could spawn.

This is the fifth Tony Valentine book; it is the only one set in North Carolina.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Suspense/Thriller, Swain, James

Diana Gabaldon. A Breath of Snow and Ashes. New York: Delacorte Press, 2005.

In the early 1770s, North Carolina’s Royal Governor Josiah Martin asks Jamie Fraser to help defend the colony against rebellion. Jamie feels conflicted, not only between his oath to the King and his belief in freedom, but also because his time-traveling wife, daughter, and son-in-law have told him that war is coming and will end in American independence. As in several others of the Outlander series (this is the sixth), his relatives provide him with personal as well as political foreknowledge, and Jamie hopes that he can prevent tragic events that will be reported in a 1776 Wilmington newspaper.

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

Comments Off on Diana Gabaldon. A Breath of Snow and Ashes. New York: Delacorte Press, 2005.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Gabaldon, Diana, Historical, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship, Science Fiction/Fantasy

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia’s School of Beauty. New York: Viking, 2005.

Miss Julia has always been the model of propriety, but she recently threw caution to the the wind and eloped, marrying Sam Murdoch at an all-night wedding chapel in Pigeon Forge, TN. Upon their return home, she has some difficulties settling into newly-married life, but these difficulties are pushed aside when she learns that her marriage might not be legal. Amidst worrying about whether or not she is living in sin (and how to keep anyone else from finding out), Julia agrees to teach etiquette to Miss S.W.A.T., Miss Detective Squad, and the rest of the Miss Abbot County Sheriff’s Department beauty pageant contestants. Miss Julia’s School of Beauty is the sixth book in the series of novels that focus on Miss Julia and her adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

Nicholas Sparks. At First Sight. New York: Warner Books, 2005.

The first time writer Jeremy March visited Boone Creek, NC, he met and fell in love with the town librarian, Lexie Darnell. Now their whirlwind romance and Lexie’s pregnancy is forcing big changes in Jeremy’s life. He leaves New York to move to the fictional town of Boone Creek, where he works on renovating a house, planning his wedding, and preparing for fatherhood. Meanwhile, his writers-block becomes more frustrating and a series of anonymous emails make him doubt the strength of his relationship. At First Sight continues the story started in Sparks’ True Believer.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Coast, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Pamlico, Romance/Relationship, Sparks, Nicholas