Gap Creek

Fiction by Robert Morgan

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author states in the afterword of this book that he has been telling the story of his maternal grandparents in their first year of marriage around 1900. The book follows Julie and Hank, aged seventeen and eighteen respectively, as they try to start their married life in a little house in Gap Creek, South Carolina. 

It’s a really wonderful story with great characters. The hardships that the couple, especially Julie, faces, are so big as to seem almost insurmountable. It’s amazing to think of the things our ancestors had to overcome. 

Summer’s Child

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

One very early morning on a North Carolina beach, eleven-year-old Daria Cato finds a newborn baby, alone and barely alive with its placenta still attached. She wraps it in a shirt and takes it directly to her mother, an action that saves the child’s life and gives Daria a baby sister named Shelley.

Twenty-two years later Shelley is all grown up and longing to find out where she came from. She sets off an investigation with the help of a local TV celebrity, but what will they be able to uncover after so long?

This was a great story with memorable characters and some amazing surprises.

I also read recently by this author: The Bay at Midnight

Keeper of the Light Trilogy

Keeper of the Light, Kiss River, and Her Mother's Shadow

Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of all of these stories is Annie Chase O'Neill; her character strongly impacts all three of these novels in some way. 

The interesting thing though, is that Annie herself is dead in chapter one of book one. The first book is about Olivia, the doctor who tried to save Annie, and the next two books take place about ten years later and focus on Annie's children, Clay and Lacey, respectively. 

All of these were really great books. They could be read stand-alone, but I'd recommend reading them in order to avoid spoilers.

I also read recently by this author: The Good Father

The Good Father

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Travis and his four-year-old daughter Bella are living in his van and really hurting for money, and so he makes a desperate move. He trusts a stranger to watch Bella for him while he takes a sketchy-sounding job promising a big payout for one night's work. Will this gamble pay off? Is Bella going to be okay? And how did Travis get in this situation anyways?

All questions were answered by the end of this exciting story filled with wonderful characters.

I also read recently by this author: The Midwife's Confession

The Midwife's Confession

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, a midwife called Noelle kills herself with an overdose of stockpiled medication. She leaves behind a short note for her best friends Tara and Emerson, asking them to take care of her garden, but she gives no reason for her drastic actions. Emerson in particular feels compelled to ferret out the cause, and it turns out that Noelle had secrets even her best friends didn't know about.

The book is called The Midwife's Confession, but I find it interesting that Noelle doesn't actually confess to anything. Instead, it's more like a detective story in which the secrets are slowly revealed. I think another good title would be Secret Sisters, but maybe that would give too much away.

This was a really good story with great characters.

I also read recently by this author: Secrets She Left Behind 

Secrets She Left Behind

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the sequel to Before the Storm, although the cover doesn't identify it as such. DEFINITELY read that book first, because this one gives away the ending to that one.

In this story, seventeen-year-old Keith Weston is still struggling to recover from multiple injuries caused by a church fire over a year ago. Then his mother disappears on the same day the person responsible for the fire is released from prison.

This was a very exciting story with some surprises.

Before the Storm

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Andy Lockwood is fifteen years old, but he seems younger. This is because he has developmental delays from FASD (fetal alcohol syndrome disorder.) But he still wants to fit in and be a normal teenager; that's why he goes to a youth lock-in at the local church. Then the church catches on fire, and Andy's unusual way of thinking helps him find a way out of the building and help save some of the other kids. Things turn dark, however, when it's discovered that the fire was deliberately set, and Andy is accused of arson.

This was a really good book with great characters. There were several surprises in store as well.

I also read recently by this author: Fire and Rain

The Last House on the Street

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story centers on a place: the end of Hockley Street in Round Hill, North Carolina. In 1965 it's just a wooded area down the road from Ellie Hockley's family home, and in 2010 it's the site of a beautiful new house that architects Kayla and Jackson Carter built together. But Jackson dies before he and Kayla can ever move in. Then disturbing things begin to happen in the new house...

Is the place haunted in 2010? What happened there in 1965?

This was another great read from Diane Chamberlain!

I also read recently by this author: The Stolen Marriage

The Stolen Marriage

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.audible.com

In late 1943 Tess DeMello of Baltimore, Maryland, has everything going her way. She's almost finished with nursing school and she's engaged to her childhood sweetheart Vincent. But events conspire to derail her plans, and in May of 1944 she's in Hickory, North Carolina, instead of standing in front of St. Leo's Cathedral in a white dress. And she's married to another man...

This was a great story with wonderful characters, as I'd expected from Diane Chamberlain.

I also read recently by this author: The Silent Sister

The Silent Sister

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I've been enjoying Diane Chamberlain's books recently, and this one was as good as I expected.

At the beginning of the story, seventeen-year-old accused murderer Lisa leaves a suicide note for her parents and disappears, leaving her yellow kayak frozen in the icy river. More than twenty years later, her sister Riley is trying to sort through the family home after their father's death, and uncovers some things about Lisa she had never known.

That sounded convoluted when I wrote it, but reading the novel was not at all confusing. This was an exciting book with good characters and a surprise ending.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I also read recently by this author: Pretending to Dance

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wiles

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book begins in 2006 with Corrine Bailey, a young woman with a slightly controlling fiancé and an estranged relationship with her mother. Then it goes back in time to the titular character, sixteen-year-old CeeCee in 1977. 

The way these two women are connected is surprising, and the story will keep you interested!

I also read recently by this author: Big Lies in a Small Town

Big Lies in a Small Town

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jesse Williams, a successful modern painter with a passion for helping the young struggling artist, has recently died. In his will, he sets instructions for the restoration of a late-1930's WPA mural that he wishes to be installed for the opening of  his new museum. But he has very specific instructions about the mural that he wants his daughter to carry out, one of which involves getting a young woman released from jail to do the work.

The story goes back and forth between 1939, when the mural is first being painted, and the restoration of the mural in 2018. It's a good book with some surprises in store! 

I also read recently by this author: Necessary Lies

Where the Crawdads Sing

Fiction by Delia Owens

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/
I've been hearing about this book for a while; everyone seems to love it. Well, I finally read it, and I admit to loving it too.

At the beginning of this novel, a little girl called Kya is abandoned by her mother in the marshlands of North Carolina. Years later, the body of a local young man is discovered in the area. Are the two events connected? The story moves forward on both timelines to connect the dots.

I really liked this book and the characters.

The Summer Girls

Fiction by Mary Alice Monroe.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was nice light read about three half-sisters who visit their grandmother at her beach house in South Carolina.

I enjoyed reading it. It's the beginning of a series, apparently, but I'm not sure if I'll follow up with the next book.