JOY FOR BEGINNERS (Erica Bauermeister)

Erica Bauermeister has again succeeded in producing a memorable novel, this one centering on a breast cancer survivor's challenges to her wonderful network of supportive friends to take the plunge and follow their individual dreams.  After a successful 18-month battle with cancer, Kate is encouraged by her daughter to take a white water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon.  After beating death, Kate isn't sure that risking death in the rapids is something that she really wants to do, so she can't quite make up her mind whether to face her terror and take the trip with her daughter or not.  Does she really need to prove something to herself at this point in her life?  With the encouragement of her seven good friends, most of whom helped her through the terrible months of chemo, Kate decides to accept her daughter's challenge, but with one condition.  Each of her friends must also complete a personal challenge decided by Kate.

By now you may be dismissing this as just another "women friends help each other straighten out their lives" novel (not that there are anything wrong with those!), but Bauermeister has created something unique here.  The challenges seem simple: for restless Daria, learn to bake bread; for Sara, wife and mother of three, take a trip by herself; for Marion, get a tattoo; for widow Hadley, build a garden; for Caroline, get rid of her husband's books; and for Ava, the only friend who was not there to help Kate during her illness, complete a 60 mile walk for breast cancer.  Like School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners is built as a series of related stories with individual chapters devoted to each woman's process of completing her challenge, stepping out of her comfort zone.  At the end I just wanted more and I think you will, too.

THE NANTUCKET DIET MURDERS (Virginia Rich)

Eugenia Potter lacks the abrasiveness of Agatha Raisin and the sass of Stephanie Plum, but she could probably give Miss Marple a run for her money!  You may know that this is the third in the Eugenia Potter series, published in 1985, and that after Virgina Rich's death Nancy Pickard continued the series with The 27 Ingredient Chile Con Carne Murders.  Widowed Arizona rancher Eugenia Potter arrives in Nantucket for a reunion with her old gang and is surprised to see that nearly all of them are newly svelte and decidedly more glamorous than the last time she saw them, thanks to a diet guru who has set up shop on the island.  When two "accidental" deaths occur, Eugenia becomes suspicious of the charismatic diet doctor, Tony, who is raising funds for a diet clinic and whom friend Gussie seems to be considering as a potential fourth husband.  Those who enjoy technology and lots of fast paced action might want to pass on this one, but if you enjoy a good old-fashioned mystery you should consider giving it a try.  The unraveling of clues near the end leads to a surprising, but very logical and well-thought out, ending.  It all made perfect sense and the Nantucket references will be especially relished by anyone who has spent time on the island.

HEAT WAVE (Nancy Thayer)

Verdict: Very enjoyable book, covers a whole range of emotional ups and downs very well, a little too much "romance," a few loose ends.  Nancy Thayer presents life on Nantucket beautifully.  I feel like I understand the seasonal ups and downs, the cultural climate, and the everyday challenges of living on an island.  The characters are well-drawn and, for the most part, likeable.  Even Maud, who steals her best friend's husband, elicits some sympathy, as would a real-life friend caught up in trying to fight an attraction to an inappropriate man.

Carley Winsted is widowed suddenly at the age of 32 when her husband, Gus, suffers a fatal heart attack.  Overcome by grief, she must support her two daughters, 12-year-old Cisco and 5-year-old Margaret, financially and emotionally.  Her equally grief-stricken in-laws, both members of Old Nantucket familes, offer to take in Carley and the girls, but she chooses instead to turn her home (mother-in-law Annabel's family home) into a Bed & Breakfast called the Seashell Inn.  Due to some very bad investments in recent years, Gus has left his family almost penniless.  Carley's 2 best friends, Maud (long divorced and with 2 sons) and Vanessa (married to pediatrician Todd but unable to conceive a child) offer psychological and emotional support until an unthinkable betrayal tears apart the 3 friends.  Carley also cautiously enjoys the attentions of Wyatt, a partner and friend of Gus and his father, worrying about how the girls, her in-laws, and the community might respond to a new man in her life (and her bed!).  Overall, I enjoyed this more than Beachcombers, finding the characters more appealing and more realistic.  Things might be a little bit too predictable here, but you will enjoy the ride so much that you won't care!

A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT (Jeanne Dams)

I just can't get enough of Jeanne Dams' Dorothy Martin.  This series put the "cozy" in "cozy mystery" and Dorothy is a charming and realistic sleuth.  Her relationship with second husband Allen (she was widowed when she moved to England) is comfortable and passionate but tempered by the aches and pains of late middle age.  She has the intelligence of Miss Marple and, like the author, just a little quirkiness related to hats.  In this novel Dorothy and Allen are invited to a beautiful country estate for a Guy Fawkes celebration, where the worst storm in years knocks down centuries-old trees, decimates the garden, and cuts off power and communication.  Of course, a body is discovered after the storm.  To any mystery lovers delight, the skeletal remains are found entwined in the roots of an uprooted tree, so the death is not recent. Who is the body and who buried it under the tree?  Who else will turn up dead?  Of course we know that Dorothy and Allen will figure it all out!  This is a traditional country estate mystery and you won't be able to put it down.  It was a joy from the first page to the last!

SUMMER RENTAL (Mary Kay Andrews)

Three lifelong friends, Ellis, Dorie, and Julia, rent a house on the outer banks of North Carolina for the month of August from the mysterious Mr. Culpepper, and a landlord who communicates solely through email.  In truth, "Mr. Culpepper" is Ty Bazemore, who is desperately trying to hang on to his family home (foreclosure is scheduled for September) and deal with the breakup of his marriage.  He also lives over the garage on the property.  Ellis, Dorie, and Julia have problems of their own (in addition to the dilapitated state of their rental home).  Ellis has been fired from her job, Dorie has been betrayed by her husband, and Julia is a successful model dealing with aging and avoiding commitment to her longtime love.  Add to the mix Maryn, a mysterious stranger on the run from her abusive, well-connected husband, who rents a room from the trio.  All five people are at a crossroads, looking at changes, good and bad, in their lives.  Sometimes a month by the sea is the best prescription!