THE VERY PICTURE OF YOU (Isabel Wolff)

Predictable plot?  Perhaps, but Isabel Wolff's latest novel is also predictably enjoyable, a relaxing read with appealing characters and an intriguing premise.  Gabriella (Ella) Graham's life was irrevocably altered at age 5 when her father, John Sharp, deserted her mother for another woman and disappeared abruptly from their lives. Now 35 and a successful portrait artist, Ella has a loving adoptive father, Roy, and a younger sister, Chloe, who is seeing Nathan Rossi, a handsome Italian- American currently living and working in London.  Ella's mother, Sue, is a former ballerina whose last performance before a broken ankle ended her career, was as the tragic Giselle. 

Ella has good memories of her early childhood along with unresolved issues related to her loving father's abdication to Australia, and when she suddenly receives a text message from him she resolves to avoid stirring up old hurt feelings by ignoring his suggestion that they reconnect.  Sue is in the midst of planning Chloe and Nate's wedding while Ella, painting Nate's portrait, finds herself battling inappropriate feelings of attraction to her future brother-in-law.  In the midst of Ella's emotional confusion, her mother, always controlling, insists that John Sharp should be relegated to the past and not forgiven for his destruction of his family and betrayal of his wife and daughter.  Wolff adds a couple of nice, but not entirely unexpected, twists to the story that set it apart from your typical chick lit and the addition of step-by-step details about Ella's portrait painting methodology (along with several related sub-plots) will be of interest to anyone that enjoys art.

THE YEAR EVERYTHING CHANGED (Georgia Bockoven)

I wasn't sure when I started this novel that I really wanted to read it (too many other good books lying there waiting to be opened!), but I changed my mind once I got into the story.  Four half-sisters, ranging in age from 49 to 23, learn of each other's exisitence when the are summoned to a meeting with their father, Jessie Reed, who is terminally ill.  Two of them, Elizabeth, the oldest, and and Christina, the youngest, have bitter memories of thier father's disappearance from their lives and hesitate to reconnect with him.  One of the middle sisters,Ginger, was put up for adoption by her famous mother and raised by two people that she always believed were her biological parents, while Julia grew up with a bitter, unpredictable mother who committed suicide when Julia was at her senior prom. 

While Bockoven's novel is not groundbreaking literature, she tells an interesting story, alternating the points of view of each of the sisters as they come to terms with their father's reappearance in their lives, his eventual death, and each other's existence.  In today's world of broken families and casual liasons, their journey through this emotional minefield is probably not all that unusual.  I won't tell you how it all turns out, but I think that if you are a fan of women's literature you will enjoy reading this and finding out for yourself.

AS THE PIG TURNS (M.C. Beaton)

I am sad to say that I abandoned this latest Agatha Raisin mystery after just a few chapters.  I love Agatha's abrasive personality and all of her neighbors and colleagues in the Cotswolds, especially Mrs. Bloxby, but I could not get past the image of Agatha realizing that the pig roasting on the spit at a local fete was actually human.  Local cop Gary Beech, who has had run-ins with many locals, including Agatha, is not well-loved in the area and his tattoo looks very similar to that on the "pig's" haunch.  His incredibly beautiful ex-wife Amy hires Agatha to investigate her former husband's disappearance.

I think that Beaton has a wonderful cast of characters with Agatha, Roy, Charles Fraith, the Bloxbys, and the many and sundry other people who live in the area surrrounding the village of Carsley, where Agatha has settled since taking early retirement.  I wish, however, that Beaton would slow down and fill in a few more details.  I have to admit that her writing style in this particular series, which is very different from the laid-back practicality of her Hamish MacBeth series, does match Agatha's personality, which is an acquired taste.  Agatha's jealousy and tendency to leap to negative conclusions and run roughshod over people and events that hold neither interest nor advantage for her is offset by her loyalty and lovesickness, but I would enjoy a more developed sense of the relationships between the various characters in the series.  Obviously, I would also prefer a different plot than the one she offers in this novel.  If you read the whole thing please feel free to comment and let me know how you liked it!

WORMWOOD (Susan Wittig ALbert)

Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series is one of three very well-written, researched, and detailed mystery series that also include  the newer Darling Dahlias (1930 Alabama gardening club) and her historical Victorian-Edwardian mysteries written with her husband under the name of Robin Paige (forensics enthusiast Sir Charles Sheridannd his Irish American author-wife Kate).

In Wormwood, China is invited by friend and fellow herbalist Martha Edmond to help with a series of workshops at Mount Zion Shaker Village in Kentucky.  After a series of family tragedies, China is grateful to accept her friend's offer to relax and regroup while learning about the Shakers' medicinal and culinary herbs.  Of course, China manages to uncover both a murder and some serious financial shenanigans at the village, which is now a spa.  Albert cleverly weaves together past and present in two tales of murder, intrigue, and lust for money, using the Shaker settlement and family history as the common threads tying the two stories together.  Recipes and  various herbal remedies add and extra special something to this already great mystery!

FIRST FAMILY (Joseph J. Ellis)

We have been listening to this wonderful recounting of the marriage of John and Abigail Adams on audio.  Fortunately, both my husband and I enjoy history, otherwise we would never have made it through more than half the book during 2 five hour drives (to visit a friend in the Finger Lakes region of New York State and back).  We did intersperse our listening with conversation, meals, Zac Brown, and Jason Castro, which helped!  I plan to finish off reading the print version of the book.

Ellis based most of this in-depth investigation of the Adams marriage and family life on correspondence between the couple, filling in with information gleaned from other writers (like Thomas Jefferson), historical records, and other sources.  Neither John nor Abigail were considered especially attractive, but they fell passionately in love and married in 1764, when Abigail was 19 and John just shy of his 29th birthday.  Their union was a true partnership, personally and politically, and they were best friends as well as lovers.  Their marriage produced 6 children of whom only one, John Quincy Adams, achieved true happiness and success.  Daughter Abigail (Nabby) made difficult marriage and died of breast cancer at age 48, Thomas and Charles died of alcohol-related problems, Susanna succumbed to a childhood illness, and Elizabeth was stillborn.

First Family holds a wealth of fascinating insights into the Adams' marriage and family life during their 54 years of  marriage.  Did you know that John Adams' mood swings may have been attributable to a thyroid condition, that Abigail nearly fell in love with another man during one of John's long political stints away from home, or that son Charles was assumed drowned when the ship he was scheduled to sail on from England was lost during the journey from England to America?  Abigail only discovered that he was alive, having taken a different ship, months later when he showed up unannounced at the family home in Massachusetts!

It's hard to imagine in these modern times of email, Skype, and video chat that a couple could spend months and years apart, or away from their children, with only occasional letters to sustain the relationships.  The Adams left a valuable legacy of correspondence that makes me wonder about the possibility of future research into the lives of today's leaders.  Will biographers of the Obama's and Bill Gates have access to their personal thoughts and emotions  or will they have to rely on hearsay, historical records, and old issues of People Weekly?

THE LANTERN (Deborah Lawrenson)

Set in a crumbling old mansion in Provence, The Lantern is a true gothic novel.  Eve and Dom are newly in love and have settled in at Les Genévriers, an isolated estate in the south of France, surrounded by lavender fields and numerous relics of the past.  The estate was owned by the Lincel family and has been vacant since the death of Bénédicte, the last surviving daughter, a few years before.  With the home literally crumbling around them, Eve and Dom embark on their life together, planning renovations to the house and grounds and indulging themselves in their hobbies, creating a world just for the two of them.  Eventually, though, Eve finds herself uncomfortable with their isolation and begins to long for social interaction.  She also harbors increasing suspicions about Dom's past and what happened to his former wife, Rachel, who seems to have disappeared without a trace and about whom he refuses to speak.  When two bodies are discovered buried on the grounds of  Les Genévriers, police try to link Dom with the disappearances of several local women and Eve wonders if her own life might be in danger.

Lawrenson does a superb job of interweaving Bénédicte's story with Eve's through her beautiful prose and lovely imagery.  As the reader is transported through Bénédicte's life it becomes less and less clear what is reality and what is not.  Is Les Genévriers haunted?  What about the "ghosts" that visit Bénédicte and the "visitors" that she observes in her house, or the shadowy figures and unexplained noises that seem to pervade Eve's consciousness?  What about the lantern, the symbol of love that figures in both Eve's and Bénédicte's stories?  Lawrenson's debut novel will leave the reader wanting more.

FAREWELL, MISS ZUKAS (Joe Dereske)

This is the 12th and last in Jo Dereske's wonderful Miss Zukas series.  If you are familiar with the series, you know that Miss Wilhelmina (Helma) Zukas is a prim and proper 30-something librarian who is fiercely loyal to the principles of Library Science and extremely organized in her life as well.  She might sound a little obnoxious, but her appeal lies partly in her ability to use her valuable "librarian skills" to solve crime.  Her slightly hard edges are also softened considerably by her quirky friends and family and her ongoing romance with Police Chief Wayne Gallant.

When Helma's elderly Aunt Em's apartment is burglarized one of the perps ends up dead after mysteriously falling over the apartment's balcony with Em's TV.  Did Em push him?  What about the carving knife found on the floor?  Was he working alone or did he have an accomplice who might have wanted him dead?  Aunt Em, whose memory is failing, can't give much information except that a beloved box carved by her father is missing, so Helma sets out to investigate.

Avid readers will especially enjoy the local authors subplot and annoying library staff members.  Everyone who loves a good mystery will be sad that this is Miss Zukas' last hurrah, but the series is wrapped up nicely at the end.  Who knows, Miss Zukas may pop up again!  Author Dereske has changed her mind about continuing it before!