The Perfect Gift by Sarah Bennett

 

A perfectly engaging romance with several funny scenes and endearing characters.

The Cowboy's Forever Promise by Elsa Winckler

 

Wowza! This story is hot and spicy from the get go-bar meet hook up in Spokane with no names exchanged to an “Oh, no, it’s you” in Marietta. Crazy thing is neither Addy nor Carson want any relationship. Plus, she works as a decluttering guru and he is a messy guy. Can chemistry combined with a very strong pull overcome their hangups? 

The Cowboy's Reckoning by Jeannie Watt

 

Terrific cowboy romance coupled with underhanded crimes on a Montana ranch. The ranch is being leased by sisters and the new owner, by way of an inheritance, is seriously considering selling it. Damages to the ranch begin to happen out of the blue at the same time as a sale is being considered. Lil, the rancher, starts to make Jordan, the rancher, rethink selling. Theirs is a slowly developing relationship, which I enjoy. The mystery of the crimes keeps you guessing until the end.

I'll Be Home for Christmas by Helen Rolfe

 

Relationships, frayed or stretched to the limit, are the heart of this story. Sisters with a long term estrangement are finally forced to see each other after several years. A daughter with a wedding days away is struggling with doubts, some of them caused by her clingy mother. The Swiss Alps are the background for this wonderful family novel.

Escape to Lighthouse Cove by Kate Hewitt

 

A wonderful cozy romance that will tug on your heartstrings. The sadness of both Grace and Noah slowly begins its re[air, helped along by her silent six year old, Jacob, and Noah’s home caretaker, Isaiah. Progressing along, starting and stopping is love on an isolated Maine island.

Falling for Peach Tree Bluff by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 

A touching and romantic cozy romance of three sisters and their mother all at difficult times. Ansley, the mother, is shocked when her husband proposes a move. Caroline falls for a famous actor to the chagrin of her almost ex-husband. Slone, pregnant, is trying to deal with several long delays in her home renovation. Emerson wants to be pregnant to no avail. The tightness and closeness of the sisters’ and mother’s relationships drives this delightful story.

Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult

 

I found this to be an incredible novel tracing the decisions of mothers and daughters and how broken links can often be repaired. At the center of the story  is postpartum psychosis, a mental illness that rarely but does affect women. It is what drove Eloise Ambrose to abandon her two month old daughter and disappear, seemingly lost in the rubble of the twin towers disaster. The story traces her life, the life of her daughter, and the events of her daughter’s husband as the story unfolds.

True to the topics Ms Picoult often chooses, postpartum psychosis is not widely known, even though it is devastating to its victims. Please do not skip the author’s note as it contains valuable information as well as how she developed the story.