The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

Sophie O'Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect life with a beautiful home in an idyllic rural community. But Sophie soon realizes that life is now too quiet, and she's feeling bored and restless.

Then she meets Margot Banks, an alluring socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Sophie finds herself completely drawn to Margot and swept into her mysterious world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying. As Sophie's curiosity gives way to full-blown obsession, she slips farther away from the safety of her family and deeper into this nest of vipers.

When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and her life spiraling out of control.

REVIEW:
Elements of The Hunting Wives were excellent, but I just could not relate to the main character Sophie and her seemingly adolescent crush on Margot. Frankly, since Sophie actually spent two years of high school in this town, it would have made more sense to me if this had been an adolescent crush that she never resolved because she moved away, but the author clearly states she never knew this gang back in the day. He rapid descent into excessive drinking and adulterous behavior were bad enough, but once the high school football players made an appearance, I could no longer muster even a modicum of sympathy for Sophie who just made bad choice after bad choice until the denouement of the novel. The book was very well-written and all of the characters were fully drawn, I just didn't like any of them (except Graham, Jack, and Detective Flynn). Ultimately a frustrating read because of my distaste for Sophie and her actions.

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Wanted: Midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population six hundred. Make a difference against a backdrop of towering California redwoods and crystal clear rivers. Rent-free cabin included.

When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad, she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving—the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her. Realizing she’s made a huge mistake, Mel decides to leave town the following morning.

But a tiny baby abandoned on a front porch changes her plans…and former marine Jack Sheridan cements them into place.

REVIEW:
I read and enjoyed many of Robyn Carr's Thunder Point series, but didn't pick up Virgin River until after watching the Netflix show, and have to confess to being disappointed. Neither Jack nor Melinda are as engaging in the book as they are on screen (and I'm a person who always prefers the book to the movie! I didn't like the way Jack dealt with Charmaine, I didn't like how superficial the attraction between Jack and Melinda sometimes appeared, I didn't like a fourteen year old getting pregnant, and I didn't appreciate the entire way pregnancy and motherhood was fetishized in the book and its sequel. I was excited to have a whole long new series to read, but after the first couple of books, I'm not sure I can be in it for the long haul.

Misfit Match by Sydney Ann Clary

He had rescued her. Now she would rescue him.

At the age of twenty, Catherine Carr was at the mercy of her aunt and her three cousins. Treated no better than a slave and threatened with an odious marriage, Catherine decided to escape.

As it would happen, she was rescued by Marcus, the Earl of Barrington, whom she had always secretly loved. Marcus, scarred in the war, had returned to London only to be cruelly rejected by his fiancee, Catherine's cousin.

Perceiving marriage would answer to both their needs, Marcus proposed and Catherine accepted. Knowing he did not love her did not change her determination to free him from his bonds of bitterness. She would gladly have paid any price, never suspecting how great the reward.

REVIEW:
I picked up Misfit Match because I love another one of Clary's books (The Duchess and the Devil) and was hoping to find the same magic; sadly I did not. The book was a fine read with an interesting plot, but I just didn't find that same connection to the characters. I only finished it a couple of weeks ago, and already I have a hard time remembering much of anything about the specifics. Catherine's family was terrible but I thought Marcus could have done a much better job of rescuing her from them, and Catherine herself was too dithery for my taste. I also thought there was too much that went unsaid- this book would definitely have been longer to let us see Catherine and Marcus actually develop a relationship. An OK read but not one I'm likely to pick up again. 3 stars.

The Spy in Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine

book description TEXT
In the late 1970s, the National Security Agency still did not officially exist―those in the know referred to it dryly as the No Such Agency. So why, when NSA engineer Charles Gandy filed for a visa to visit Moscow, did the Russian Foreign Ministry assert with confidence that he was a spy?

Outsmarting honey traps and encroaching deep enough into enemy territory to perform complicated technical investigations, Gandy accomplished his mission in Russia, but discovered more than State and CIA wanted him to know.

REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this book for the history involved, but admit it made for a pretty dry read throughout. This particular infiltration was so technical that it was beyond my comprehension despite the detailed explanations provided. Perhaps a communications expert would get more out of those details – as a reader, I would have preferred a broader overview. I found it all fascinating to be sure, but hard to slog through at times.

The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths

Known as England’s Nazareth, the medieval town of Little Walsingham is famous for religious apparitions. So when Ruth Galloway’s druid friend Cathbad sees a woman in a white dress and a dark blue cloak standing alone in the local cemetery one night, he takes her as a vision of the Virgin Mary. But then a woman wrapped in blue cloth is found dead the next day, and Ruth’s old friend Hilary, an Anglican priest, receives a series of hateful, threatening letters. Could these crimes be connected? When one of Hilary’s fellow female priests is murdered just before Little Walsingham’s annual Good Friday Passion Play, Ruth, Cathbad, and DCI Harry Nelson must team up to find the killer before he strikes again.

REVIEW:
Though I usually enjoy the Ruth Galloway series, this offering was not up to the usual standard. The mystery itself wasn't as engaging and seemed to be wrapped up very quickly at the end. The focus of the book seemed more on the personal relationships but even there I found myself struggling to enjoy. I begin to tire of Ruth and her love for a man who cheated on his wife with her and now seems content to waffle between the two of them based on his mood. Frankly, I can't understand why either of these women is still so focused on gaining his love and approval. All in all a rather disappointing offering from a normally enjoyable series.

Nantucket Sisters by Nancy Thayer

When they meet as girls on a beach in Nantucket, Maggie McIntyre and Emily Porter become fast friends—though Emily’s well-heeled mother would prefer that she associate with the upscale daughters of bankers and statesmen rather than the child of a local seamstress. But the two lively, imaginative girls nevertheless spend many golden summers together building castles in the sand, creating magical worlds of their own, and forging grand plans for their future.

Even as Emily falls for Maggie’s brother, Ben, and the young women’s paths diverge, the duo remain close friends. Then the unthinkable happens: Handsome, charismatic, charming, and incredibly sexy Wall Street trader Cameron Chadwick upends both their lives and disrupts their friendship.

Struggling with the tough choices they must make and the secrets they must keep, the two young women discover that the road to love and fulfillment is full of bumps and twists. And while true love may be rare, Maggie and Emily find that friendship is even rarer—and more valuable still.

REVIEW:
I picked this book hoping for an enjoyable vacation read, and found myself only partially satisfied. I definitely thought the focus was more on the adult Emily and Maggie and their relationships with the other sex; more glimpses of the girls in childhood (perhaps including when they first met) could have given me a better understanding of the ties that bound them. The men in the book remain very two dimensional, even Ben and Cameron who are so intimately connected with both Maggie and Emily. I found the harping on the economic difference between them off-putting, as was Emily's sudden focus on being young and rich in Manhattan when she went out with Cameron. Ultimately, I was dissatisfied with the way both women hid the truth about their pregnancies from each other and their partners. There were some wonderful descriptive scenes that made Nantucket live for me, but in the end I was just dissatisfied with the quality of the narrative and the actions of the main characters.

The Rogue's Folly by Donna Lea Simpson

Lady May von Hoffen has been plagued all her prim young life by the scandalous behavior of her widowed mother and the licentious men she consorts with. When she finally finds herself free of her mother and in sole possession of Lark House, she relishes the sense of decorum and freedom it gives her. But the surprise discovery of the injured Frenchman Etienne hiding on her estate—the man who once rescued her from an attack on her virtue and the only man she’s ever been able to trust—turns her newly peaceful solitude into a maelstrom of bewildering thoughts and disturbingly passionate curiosity.

Etienne is a self-avowed rake, and even now is on the run from ruthless adversaries who accuse him of trying to murder a marquess and seduce his wife. Following a stabbing that nearly claimed his life, he finds sanctuary on the land of an unfamiliar estate, hoping to recover and evade capture. But when the lady of the house turns out to be none other than the lovely and innocent Lady May, his feels his heart stir even as his body is gripped by pain and the fear that she will renounce him.

As May nurses Etienne back to health and learns the truth of his supposed crimes, along with a much-needed education on the relations between men and women, a burning desire smolders between the two opposites, and soon they will be forced to trust each other and their feelings in order to save one life and two hearts.

REVIEW:
Another well-written Regency from Simpson, though not one that pulled me in as a reader. It became clear when reading that this must be part of a series, and I certainly felt the entire sub-plot regarding how the two main characters met depended on knowledge from a previous book to set into context. May was a judgmental and sometimes aggravating heroine; it was unclear to me at times what exactly Etienne saw in her. He was in may ways a delight of a hero, though once his whole story unfolded, I was underwhelmed by his dramatic determination to say May from herself. The dramatic tension of the situation (hiding Etienne from the law) helped isolate and pull the two together, though I for one think May would have had better success hiding him in the house and simply telling her servants to keep quiet about the whole situation. All in all this was an OK read, but not one of the best from this prolific author.

Talking After Midnight by Dakota Cassidy

Marybell Lyman is notorious for two things:
Her look. The wicked hairstyle, multiple piercings and practiced sneer that say: "Stay back—I bite."
Her voice. The syrupy lilt that's her bread and butter at Call Girls, the prim little town's flourishing phone-sex company.

Hunky handyman Taggart Hawthorn is mesmerized by the contradiction: such sweet tones inside such a spiky shell! He wants to know more about mysterious Marybell, to hear more of her sexy talk—all for himself.

But Tag's attentions, delicious as they are, have Marybell panicked. She's been hiding a long time. She's finally got a home, a job and friends she adores. She won't have it all snatched away by another stupid mistake—like falling in love. So when Marybell's past comes calling, she and the Call Girls will prove no one handles scandals like a Southern girl!

REVIEW:
This is one entry into a longer series that doesn't work particularly well as a standalone- at least for this reader. The characters are all too quirky and there are too many of them to take in all at once. It is hard for me to understand why Marybell went to such lengths to hide her identity, and harder still to understand how/why Tag's entire life went down the drain- perhaps these questions would be answered by reading the earlier books in the series. I also found the southern drawl exaggerated and sometimes quite irritating. And as for the Magnolias, I cannot imagine why anyone in town tolerates them. This book was just too over the top for me and I'm not certain I'll be looking for others in the series.

Never Tempt a Duke by Virginia Brown

He could not forgive her deception. She could not resist the desire they shared. When a scandal forces them to marry, their passions lead to dangerous secrets.

Deverell regarded his beautiful bride dispassionately. He had begun to think—hope—he could find in her what he’d never had before. That had disintegrated into ashes when she tricked him into marriage. Now, the wedding breakfast done, the revelry just beginning, she gave him a nervous glance from where she stood near the arbor. He returned her gaze, took note of the wreath of baby’s breath and pink roses atop her head, the Belgian lace train cascading from her shoulders and draping loosely over her bare arms before falling to the hem of her gown, and felt nothing. She was beautiful; fairy-like; virginal. Deceitful.

A changeling, he told himself. She’d undergone so many transformations since he’d first met her that he wasn’t certain who she really was. Except that now she was his wife. Deverell excused himself from Craven and strode to his bride; saw her instant wariness as he approached. The past fortnight had not endeared him to her, no doubt. Fitting enough, he supposed, since her actions had not endeared her to him either.

“So, my lovely bride,” he drawled, taking one of her hands and drawing her away from her companions, “I trust all has gone according to your wishes.”

Apart from the others, she tried to pull her hand free but he held it firmly. She flicked a glance at him from beneath her lashes, a maiden’s trick that had never worked on him. He’d had ample time to study the female strategy. Yet he had still been conquered by treachery. A galling admission of defeat.

“If it had gone according to my wishes, your grace,” she retorted, “I would be quite far from here, I assure you.”

“Somehow, I doubt that, my sweet,” he said softly. He lifted her gloved hand to his lips as if to press a loving kiss to her palm and murmured, “I think you’ve had things your way far too long.”

REVIEW:
As much as I wanted to love this book, I just couldn't get behind the central romance between the two main characters. The book started strong with 17 year old American twins Nick and Alyssa conspiring to fool their new guardian in England. While Nick runs away to sea, Alyssa poses as a boy to save herself from being shuttered away in an oppressive religious school. Sadly, this portion of the novel is the most interesting; once Deverell discovers the deception, things head steadily downhill.

Deverell is not an appealing hero- autocratic and quick to anger, he unreasonably blames Alyssa for tricking him into marriage even though it is clear she is innocent. I simply couldn't understand how or why Alyssa was in love with him, other than the fact that she never recovered from her teenage crush. Alyssa never seemed to fully grow up and take a stand for herself which made her a little one note for my taste. I was especially disappointed that the initial closeness of the twins was quickly written out as Nick become a rather unappealing young man.

Characters aside, the mystery element was also a bit of a let down. The ancient family history was very confusing and never really fleshed out. Deverell's refusal to share his thoughts puts his wife in incredible danger toward the end of the book, and then he leaves her in danger for long hours simply to follow through on his plan? Not very well-done on his part in my opinion.

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst

In charming Verily, New York, Kate Seymour has a smashing success with Kinnections, the matchmaking service she owns with her two best girlfriends. But Kate’s more than a savvy businesswoman: She’s gifted with a secret power, a jolting touch that signals when love’s magic is at work. It rocked her when she picked up a strange volume of love spells in the town’s used bookstore . . . and it zapped her again when she encountered Slade Montgomery, the hot-tempered— and hot-bodied—divorce lawyer who storms into Kinnections demanding proof that playing Cupid won’t destroy his vulnerable sister, Kate’s newest client. The only way to convince this cynic that she’s no fraud, and that love is no mirage, is for Kate to meet his audacious challenge: find him his dream woman. Can Kate keep their relationship strictly business when her electrifying attraction nearly knocked her off her feet? Or has the matchmaker finally met her match?

REVIEW:
Despite an interesting plot and some great secondary characters, this book was a ho-hum read for me. The supernatural element was well-handled with just hints here and there, but nothing overwhelming. That said, I found Kate's fears and romantic past a bit hard to swallow. Nevertheless, it was the hero that really turned me off this book- I cannot imagine what possessed anyone to fall for this brash, arrogant, and obnoxious personality. He was a jerk from the start, and frankly didn't improve as the story progressed. He behaved like a horny teenager which I do not find attractive in an adult, and I wanted nothing more than for Kate to kick him to the curb. The Kate's mother and dog and business partners were the best characters in this book and are the only reason I'm giving it three stars.

The Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe

Matilda Geoffrey had risked it all for love.

She'd left Australia to be with Barry—the man who had swept her off her virtual feet. Now, wearing a wedding dress, she's alone on Main Street in small-town Wisconsin, and things aren't working out exactly as planned...

In town for his annual family visit, Marc Olsen had never seen a bride quite like Matilda—staring into a storefront window, holding a tottering wedding cake and looking desperately in need of a groom. He doesn't have many warm feelings for his hometown, but meeting Matilda just as she discovers she's been scammed by her online "fiancé" stirs something in him.

Matilda is not the kind of woman Marc imagined himself with, and Marc is anything but the romantic hero that Matilda has always dreamed of. But as unlikely circumstances throw them together, can they let go of their misconceptions and risk their hearts for love?

REVIEW:
I liked both Tildy and Marc, and enjoyed the idea of the contrast between Australia and small town America. What I didn't like was the heavy-handed approach the author took to hammering home that contrast at every possible opportunity. It was great to see Tildy acclimate to the town and the ways she was able to help out with the businesses and families there. I also like the sub-plot about the sheriff and Marc's sister. Marc was hardly likable at times, but in the end his story and motivations did make sense. All in all an enjoyable read- would have been four stars if not for the constant references to contrasts with life in Australia.

The Best Man by Kristin Higgins

Faith Holland left her hometown after being jilted at the altar. Now a little older and wiser, she's ready to return to the Blue Heron Winery, her family's vineyard, to confront the ghosts of her past, and maybe enjoy a glass of red. After all, there's some great scenery there...

Like Levi Cooper, the local police chief—and best friend of her former fiancé. There's a lot about Levi that Faith never noticed, and it's not just those deep green eyes. The only catch is she's having a hard time forgetting that he helped ruin her wedding all those years ago. If she can find a minute amidst all her family drama to stop and smell the rosé, she just might find a reason to stay at Blue Heron, and finish that walk down the aisle.

REVIEW:
Though I liked the underlying story here of a girl returning home to the site of her ultimate humiliation (getting left at the altar in front of essentially the whole town) and falling for the guy who was responsible for that humiliation, I found it impossible to love this book because the heroine was just so annoying. Faith acts like a flighty adolescent rather than an adult who channeled adversity into personal growth, and frankly I think Levi could do better. I also found the subplot about her father to be absurd- no one is so unaware of being the focus of another person's matrimonial aims. This would be a decent beach or snowstorm read, but isn't likely to spark a desperate desire to read more by this author.

The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

The Honorable Miss Mary Cynster always gets what she wants. As the last unwed Cynster of her generation, she is determined to remain in charge of her life and of the man she will marry. At the very bottom of her list of potential husbands is Ryder Cavanaugh, the daring and devastating Marquess of Raventhorne, an overwhelming and utterly unmanageable lion of the ton. But destiny has a different plan.

Ryder needs Mary as his wife, not just because she is delightful, fiery, and tempting, but because he values all she could be. When fate and circumstance hand him the chance, he claims Mary as his marchioness...only to discover what he truly desires is not just to take her hand in marriage, but to capture her heart.

REVIEW:
This book is apparently the 20th in this series, though I have not read any of the previous offerings. Sadly this book is simply too long and frankly overblown. I found myself skipping over the love scenes because they were laughably absurd. The supernatural subplot of the necklace got barely any time, and the supposed mystery was no mystery at all- it was clear from the first attack on the hero just who the culprit must be. It a shame really because I liked both Mary and Ryder and think they were a good match given their independence and commitment to preserving it. The relationship certainly seemed to be an equal partnership but unfortunately reading this book simply became a chore as it droned on and on. Maybe better for those who already love the Cynster family; I however won't be rushing out to pick up others in the series.

To Make a Match by Liana LeFey

The spirited Lady Victoria Lennox longs for a husband, but she cannot wed until her prickly older sister, Amelia, becomes a wife—and Amelia seems intent on driving away all potential suitors. To avoid becoming a spinster, Victoria concocts a plan: a carefully arranged scandal will compel Amelia to marry. And to bait the trap, who better than the dashing Lord Julius Cavendish?

Yet Julius has little interest in stubborn Amelia. Victoria, on the other hand, he finds irresistible. Determined to make her his own, Julius adds a new twist to Victoria’s plan: his friend Lord Withington will act as Victoria’s decoy suitor, distracting Amelia from the very real courtship happening under her nose. All might be well, were not Withington immediately smitten with Amelia. He sees how tender and protective she is beneath the frosty facade.

As the perfect plan goes perfectly awry, each sister finds herself publicly betrothed to the wrong man. Can they undo the damage in time to make the perfect match?

REVIEW:
This books was a severely over-complicated story that made little to no sense as it unfolded. I couldn't find it in myself to like either Victoria or Amelia, and certainly think the author missed the opportunity to make both sisters appealing by slightly modifying their presentation. The two heroes were more appealing, but frankly deserved better than the comedy of errors they found themselves embroiled in thanks to Victoria's machinations. I finished it because I started it, but I can't say I really enjoyed it.

Lord St. Claire's Angel by Donna Lea Simpson

Celestine Simons was of good family, but an untimely death and a shortage of funds forces the homely spinster to take a position as governess at the estate of Lord Langlow and his wife. Never one to bemoan her change in fortune, Celestine is content to spend her days raising and overseeing their children, knowing in her heart she will never have any of her own.

Lord St. Claire Richmond, Langlow’s brother, is a rogue and seducer, content to while away his days pursuing pleasure—and driving his brother and sister-in-law mad by reducing their female staff to lovelorn fools with his flirtations. When he learns on his annual Christmas visit that the drab Celestine was hired as governess solely to thwart his dalliances, he devises a scheme to both stir her heart and spite his family’s interfering ways.

But as his game unfolds, the cunning St. Claire discovers this conquest may be more challenging than expected when the thoughtful and intelligent Celestine begins to fire an ache in his own heart. And what began as an amusement to give the plain, timid miss an innocent thrill is turning into much more, as St. Claire realizes she may be the one giving him the thrill—and teaching him in a way only a governess can that real beauty lies beneath the surface and that true love is often found where you least expect it.

REVIEW: Though the rake falling in love with a plain governess is something of a trope, there were enough differences here for me find the story appealing. Celestine is not a beauty, and is in fact almost disabled by crippling arthritis. She suffers and has to work through the pain because she has little choice- I feel few Regencies highlight the terrible plight some women at the time faced, especially those in reduced circumstances forced to find a way to earn a living in a harsh world. I was prepared to cheer for Celestine to find love and someone to care for her, but I think she deserved better than St. Claire. Ultimately, the hero came across as too selfish and narcissistic for my taste- he set out to seduce her for sport, not caring at all what that might mean for her precarious place in his brother's household.

In the end, Celestine was the only character I was able to enjoy in this book; everyone else was selfish and heartless in my opinion, a disappointing fact given how eager I was to read this book. 3 stars because it is well written even though I didn't like most of the characters.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Book description:
As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

This book was just strange for me.  I read and was caught by haunting quality of the prose, but somehow kept expecting more in terms of the actual action.  The story was sad and disturbing and yet the characters just seemed quietly accepting throughout.  When the book ended, I felt like it was just a quiet sigh of resignation- and somehow, I kept expecting there to be some actual action or condemnation or something.  I don't know- I didn't really enjoy the book, but I can't stop thinking about elements of it.

His Majesty's Hope: A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal

Book description:
World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope. After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now an elite member of the Special Operations Executive—a black ops organization designed to aid the British effort abroad—and her first assignment sends her straight into Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very heart of the German war machine. Relying on her quick wit and keen instincts, Maggie infiltrates the highest level of Berlin society, gathering information to pass on to London headquarters. But the secrets she unveils will expose a darker, more dangerous side of the war—and of her own past.

This is the third installment in the Maggie Hope series, and I suspect will be the last I read. Though this book is nowhere near as derivative as the 2nd, there were moments at the end where I was once again pulled into the TV series Alias. This book is certainly darker than the first two, but is also less realistic which is saying a lot. Too many coincidences for my taste undermine what could have been a decent WWII thriller. After a strong opening, this series has settled into a formulaic treatment which robs it of the spontenaiety and quirkiness which made it so enjoyable in the beginning. Recommending this series to fans of Maisie Dobbs does them a grave diservice as Maggie has none of the depth of character and intelligence that make Maisie and her stories so compelling.

Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of Our Age by Jonathan Keats

Book description:
According to Vasari, the young Michelangelo often borrowed drawings of past masters, which he copied, returning his imitations to the owners and keeping originals. Half a millennium later, Andy Warhol made a game of "forging" the Mona Lisa, questioning the entire concept of originality.

Forged explores art forgery from ancient times to the present. Jonathon Keats profiles individual art forgers and connects their stories to broader themes about the role of forgeries in society. From the Renaissance master Andrea del Sarto who faked a Raphael masterpiece at the request of his Medici patrons, to the Vermeer counterfeiter Han van Meegeren who duped the avaricious Hermann Göring, to the frustrated British artist Eric Hebborn, who began forging to expose the ignorance of experts, art forgers have challenged "legitimate" art in their own time, breaching accepted practices and upsetting the status quo. They have also provocatively confronted many of the present-day cultural anxieties that are major themes in the arts. 

Keats looks at what forgeries--and our reactions to them--reveal about changing conceptions of creativity, identity, authorship, integrity, authenticity, success, and how we assign value to works of art. The book concludes by looking at how artists today have appropriated many aspects of forgery through such practices as street-art stenciling and share-and-share-alike licensing, and how these open-source "copyleft" strategies have the potential to make legitimate art meaningful again. 

I love books about art forgery, and so was very excited to receive this one to review. Unfortunately, my initial excitement soon wained when it became clear this book didn't really seem to have a central cohesive premise. I definitely enjoyed the in depth look at some renowned forgers (I would have like some illustrations of the art in question but I read a review copy so this may have been addressed in the final for sale version), and I found myself suprisingly sympathetic to the idea that great forgers are still great artists if they are creating new works rather than just churning out multiple copies of the Mona Lisa. 

The book is scholarly in tone and certainly presumes some familiarity with the language of art criticism. Though I enjoyed everything I read in the book, at the end I found myself questioning why the book was written because there just didn't seem to be an underlying thesis. Perhaps a longer work would have allowed the author to more fully develop his themes; as it was, I was left feeling unsatisfied as a reader.

Vanity Fare: A novel of lattes, literature, and love by Megan Caldwell

Book description:

Molly Hagan is overwhelmed. Her cheating husband left her for a younger blonde, her six-year-old son is questioning her authority, and she’s starting a job as a copywriter for a local Brooklyn bakery.  She doesn’t need the complications of a new love. But the bakery’s sexy British pastry chef is determined to win her heart. And there is his intimidating and oh so irresistible business partner...who happens to have a secret that might prevent Molly from getting her own Happily Ever After.

Molly and her 6 year-old son Aidan are struggling to find their footing six months after husband and father Hugh left, but the struggle becomes more acute when his company implodes and Molly is left with the need to find a job fast to keep a roof over their head. As Molly learns to trust herself and to forge a new path, she also of course finds love again.

This story of one woman's journey to find herself after her husband leaves her for a younger woman doesn't break any new ground, but is an enjoyable weekend read. At times I found myself very irritated by Molly who surely should have seen some of her troubles coming. Aidan is a delightful character, certainly a better choice to spend a life with than any of the men Molly is involved with throughout the book. At times quite enjoyable, at time quite frustrating, this is an OK chick lit offering.

Sugarhouse: Turning the Neighborhood Crack House into Our Home Sweet Home by Matthew Batt

Book description:
When a season of ludicrous loss tests the mettle of their marriage, Matthew Batt and his wife decide not to call it quits. They set their sights instead on the purchase of a dilapidated house in the Sugarhouse section of Salt Lake City. With no homesteading experience and a full-blown quarter-life crisis on their hands, these perpetual grad students/waiters/nonprofiteers decide to seek salvation through renovation, and do all they can to turn a former crack house into a home. Dizzy with despair, doubt, and the side effects of using the rough equivalent of napalm to detoxify their house, they enter into full-fledged adulthood with power tools in hand.

I picked up this book because of the promise of a story about rehabbing a house and a relationship one project at a time. Unfortunately, the book just isn't really that focused on house projects which was disappointing for me. There is a lot of backstory, and a lot of details about Matt's dysfunctional family, which though interesting, didn't seem to relate at all to the story I thought I would be reading. Most of the house projects are glossed right over (apart from Matt's attempts to self-justify at Home Depot) which I found disappointing. The book is funny but the narrative uneven, and ultimately this isn't a story about a house which is why I wanted to read it. It also isn't a story about a relationship because there is a lot more here about Matt's grandfather than his wife. The book was a quick read but ultimately unsatisfying read.