THE LONG WAY HOME

The Long Way Home: The Chesapeake Diaries is the 6th in the Chesapeake Diaries series. This book was released in Janurary 2013. This a women's fiction/contemporary romance novel and can be read as a stand alone. Ellie's father and former fiance have been imprisoned for defrauding countless people out of their life savings and retirements. Now Ellie is forced to deal with the fall out. She lived in the lap of luxury all her life, but now the SEC has taken everything she ever owned and all her friends turned their backs on her except for Carly. So, now Ellie has come to claim an old house in St. Dennis that belonged to her great aunt Lilly and Ellie has inherited from her mother. The will states Ellie must live in the house for six months before she can sell the house and it's contents. So, Ellie moves in and starts to work fixing up the house so she can sell it as soon as the six months is up. Cameron has lived in St. Dennis all his life. He had a special bond with Lilly and always planned on owning her house one day. So, for the last twelve years he has taken care of the property. Now he finds out the house had been purchased and he's furious. But, when he learns of the circumstances he visits Ellie and works out a deal that when she gets ready to sell, it will be to him. In the meantime, Cameron has agreed to help Ellie fix the place up. Ellie keeps her identity secret from the people in St. Dennis for fear of being judged for her father's crimes. But, Cameron knows that something isn't right about Ellie. The facts just don't add up. So, he sets out to discover what secrets she keeps. As Cameron and Ellie work on the house, Ellie begins to feel a bond with her great aunt and her mother that she had never had the chance to feel before. She also starts to feel a bond with Cameron. This is a story about fresh starts, growing up emotionally , healing and forgiveness. Cameron has had a very hard time himself and understands that Ellie needs time to deal with her pain. The kind folks in St. Dennis embrace Ellie despite her father's sins and her lack of faith in humanity. There is a slight paranormal story going on in the background. The story  is slow moving and and it drags in some places. There just wasn't all that much happening. There was a big plot twist that took place toward the last part of the book, but that still didn't get the story rolling along any faster. The romance was about a 2.5 on the steam level and pretty slow moving. I did like the ultimate conclusion. Family, love, healing, and the peace the characters finally get leaves us with a postive feeling. I would recommend this book for those that like women's fiction with a mature romance and a fair amount of drama. Overall I would grade this one with a C. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

THE FIFTIES

This book has been re-issued several times. This copy was provided by Open Road Media and Netgalley. This a lengthy book that attempts to cover an entire decade. The fifties did indeed bring about a great many changes to our country. This book reminds us of how suburbia took hold, motel chains like Holiday Inn took off , as well as McDonald's. We revisited the cold war , McCarthyism, Eisenhower's administration, Korea, desegregation, television, music, the pill, popular actors and movies, bombs, Cuba, popular automobiles, and a lot of politics. For me personally, I enjoyed the chapters that focused on the roles of women and their growing dissatisfaction and the subtle brainwashing the popular magazines used to sell an image that was impossible to maintain. I also enjoyed the chapters on pop culture. Elvis, Marilyn, James Dean , Marlon Brando,  Lucy, and the infamous quiz show scandal. However, there were more chapters devoted to the H bomb, wars, and politics than anything else. While a lot of that was interesting, it did read like very dry history and I often found myself tuning out. I did enjoy most of the book and learned many things about the fifties I didn't know and I enjoyed the nostalgia as well. There are a few photos provided at the end of the book. Overall this one gets a B Thanks again to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital copy.

SCANDALOUS

Thanks to librarything , the publisher and author for the e-book version of this book. Set in the early 1990's,  Paisley is dead set on escaping the Manhattan high society pressures and rules.  Having spent the first seven years of her life in a hippie commune, Paisley never felt comfortable in the wealthy environment she spent the rest of her life in. Her  Aunt was the biggest influence in her life and now she was gone. Christopher Maitland is an "oak". Good looking, dependable, safe, and immune to scandal.  Until he meets Paisley. Paisley helps Christopher see how dull his life is. She has him feeling conflicted about doing what is safe and expected of him , or going against the grain and the stodgy , stuffy , old society expectations.  Paisley never intended to fall for Christopher. Now she must face her insecurities and still stay true to herself. This is not a full length novel. It's more like a novella. I believe this book was published in the early 90's by Loveswept, originally. Because of the environment the book is set in , the story seems timeless. The Christmas holiday backdrop provides contrast between the couple and their respective upbringing , and another layer of romance. An absorbing love story , very unique story. I tore through it in one afternoon. Overall an A .