Beyond the Checkered Flag

Author: J.D. Wylde
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing, 2013
Pages: 102
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Bobby Wayne Forsythe is a NASCAR superstar on the verge of greatness with the likes of The King and The Intimidator when an on-track accident leaves his career in jeopardy and his future uncertain. He returns to the home he owns with Lauren Foster-Forsythe, Wife Number 3. The only woman he's ever loved. And the only woman who has ever walked away from him - without a backward glance, leaving his heart broken. And a gaping hole in his soul that no other woman has been able to fill. And he's tried. A lot.

Lauren Foster-Forsythe is a country music sensation and the ex-wife of Bobby Wayne Forsythe. Theirs had been a whirlwind courtship; their marriage fairytale. Their life together perfect, until Bobby Wayne's deceit destroyed everything, leaving Laurent with bittersweet memories of what could have been. And a stately, centuries-old mansion on the shores of Albemarle Sound she still jointly owns with him. A home she needs to turn ownership over to him if she is to move forward. It's hard. It's the only home she's ever had.

With her career in chaos, her life in turmoil, Lauren returns to the stately house on the shore for one more visit. Instead of finding closure, she finds Bobby Wayne. Still hard-bodied, still white-hot sexy. Still able to make her heart race like no other man. Even when hope seems lost, buried in the rubble of bad choices and hasty decisions, sparks of attraction fly, tempers flare, but nothing revs like two hearts still deeply in love. Still wanting one more chance to cross the finish line a winner.

Review: I read The Journey by this author, and I'm still interested in reading more of her books, but the leading man in Beyond the Checkered Flag creeped me out. 

The book itself was sexy, but I couldn't get past the red flags that Bobby Wayne's character kept throwing.

Other Books by J.D. Wylde:
The Journey

Lessons in Chemistry

Author: Bonnie Garmus
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2022
Pages: 400
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's early in the 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Review: This was a hot book in 2022, hitting the best sellers list, popping up in multiple reading/book club facebook pages, and Barnes and Noble named it their Best Book of the Year. I wholeheartedly agree. From page one I was hooked. My only negative critique is that I wish it had a better ending. It was flimsy given the way the rest of the book was so cleverly written. I still give it 5 stars.

I'm looking forward to the on-screen adaptation. This will be great as a mini-series.

The Journey

Author: J.D. Wylde
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Press, 2021
Pages: 128
Rating: Recommend 

Synopsis: There are some who are blessed to hear the Divine voice. Stephanie Holmes is one who does hear. Like a modern-day Job, she is a reluctant traveler who follows an extraordinary path during a freak snowstorm that leaves her and her fiance, Daryl, stranded in the mountains of East Tennessee. On Christmas Eve, no less!

Oh, and is it mentioned, she is eight months pregnant?

Daryl Robard knows these mountains. From one side of the vast wilderness to the other. He grew up here. Wants to come back home, to live his life here with Stephanie. And that life - that future he desires - starts now. He's certain he cna find them shelter from the storm.

But Stephanie is reluctant to trust him or God. This is more than just a journey home. It's a journey of faith.

For both of them.

Review: I really liked this novella. The synopsis likens Stephanie to Job, but I also saw Mary, Jesus' mother in her, and in this journey. Wonderful modern-day nod to the Christmas story. 

I'm looking forward by reading more books from this local author.

Other Books by J.D. Wylde:
Beyond the Checkered Flag

The Bean Trees

Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Harper & Row, 1988
Pages: 232
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: It is the charming, engrossing tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer, who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a three-year-old Native American girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in seemingly empty places.

Review: Generally speaking, I don't love coming of age novels, but I see this one raved about in various book groups I'm in on social media. For a novel to stand the test of time like this, and be required reading in high school, I thought it must be worth reading.

It took me a second to realize very early on that at the heart of this novel are two women whose lives will eventually converge. 

One minor detail at the beginning of the novel, kind of threw the whole book off for me - a young woman is given a baby, just handed a baby one day and somehow everything works out. It felt unrealistic, even for a book set in the 1980s.

Christmas in Mustang Creek

Author: Linda Lael Miller
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Harlequin, 2021
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Growing up in Mustang Creek, Wyoming, Charlotte Morgan couldn't wait to escape to the big city. But with a job she doesn't love and sense of loneliness she can't shake, life in New York is less fabulous than she'd like to admit - especially now that veterinarian Jaxon Locke has left town.

Jax's move to Idaho to fill in dad's practice ended things with Charlotte just as they were getting interesting. But he didn't expect to miss her so much. So when Charlotte returns home to help care for the great-aunt who raised her. Jax is determined to get to Wyoming and do whatever it takes to win her back...and he'll start to giving her the most magical Mustang Creek Christmas of all.

Review: This was a super cute, and quick novel to read for Christmas. I'd read more by this author. I finished it Christmas morning while the novel itself ends on Christmas Eve. That was fun.

Martita, I Remember You

Author: Sandra Ciscernos
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021
Pages: 51 (combined English/Spanish is 128)
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a writer in the cafes of Paris. Instead, she spends her brief time in the City of Light running out of money and lining up with other immigrants to call home from a broken pay phone. But the months of befriending artists in the metro, sleeping on crowded floors, and dancing the tango at underground parties are given a lasting glow by her intense friendships with Martita and Paola. Over the years the three women disperse to three continents, falling out of touch and out of mind - until a rediscovered letter brings Corina's days in Paris back with breathtaking immediacy.

Review: I was three books shy of my reading goal for the year, when I picked this thin book off the shelf at my library. I figured at 51 pages, I could get through it no matter what it was. I recognized the author because a decade ago I read another book by Ciscernos, The House on Mango Street, which I loved.

Told largely in letter format, this short novel was transportive, and it made me want to visit Paris. Now in my mid-forties the friendship, history, and years since these women first met was relatable. 

Once Upon a Christmas

Author: Lauraine Snelling / Lenora Worth

Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Steeple Hill Books, 2010
Pages: 256
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Romance blooms between Blythe Stensrude and Thane Davidson after their dogs tangle leashes in the park - until Thane becomes guardian to his three-year-old niece. Blythe doesn't think she's mother material, but how can she refuse Thane's request to give a neglected little girl the best Christmas ever?

"Twas the Week Before Christmas - Upon arrival at her grandmother's Louisiana plantation for the holidays socialite Elise Melancon is confronted with a shocking request - her grandmother wants her to "reform" a handsome young man so he can date another woman! Perhaps Elise will discover that life's greatest gifts don't always come in a box.

Review: This is two novellas in one - The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and 'Twas the Week Before Christmas. I don't know that I really loved either. I know my own life experiences play into my feelings about the relationship of the couple in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. I was willing Blythe to walk away. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas was just too. . .something, improbable maybe. Furthermore, it felt really dated with undertones of societal class. It's also worth noting that I struggle with novellas and short stories because there isn't time for character or plot development. I should avoid these since I tend to judge them for what they actually are.

Home Sweet Christmas

Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 400
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Until Camryn Neff can return to her "real" life in Chicago, she's in Wishing Tree to care for her twin sisters. She's not looking for forever love, not here. But handsome hotelier Jake Crane is temptation she can't resist, so she suggests they pair up for the season. No golden rings, no broken hearts. At his side, she sees her hometown through Christmas-colored eyes. The cheer is cheerier, the joy more joyful. She thought she had put her future on hold. . .maybe her real life was here all along, waiting for her to come home.

New in town, River Best is charmed by Wishing Tree's homespun traditions and warmhearted people. When she's crowned Snow Queen, she's honored by wary. Dylan Tucker, her king, seems like the stuff of sugarplum dreams, but she can't shake the feeling that he's hiding something. As they perform "royal" duties - tasting cookies, lighting trees - Dylan's good humor and melty kisses draw her to the brink of love. But she can't let herself fall until she uncovers his secret, even if her lack of faith means losing him forever.

Review: This is the follow-up to The Christmas Wedding Guest, and I think I liked it even more than that one. I wish Dena and Reggie played bigger roles in this novel, but the new cast of characters make for fun reading on their own. Perfect seasonal choice.

Other Susan Mallery Novels:
The Friendship List
The Sister Effect
The Christmas Wedding Ring

Wishing Tree Series
The Christmas Wedding Guest
Home Sweet Christmas

Mischief Bay Novels
The Girls of Mischief Bay
The Friends We Keep
A Million Little Things

The Christmas Wedding Guest

Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Fiction / Christmas
Publisher: Harlequin, 2021
Pages: 432
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The Somerville Sisters believe in love, but they've lost their faith in will happen for them. Reggie hasn't been home since the end of the world's shortest engagement. When her parents decide to renew their vows, she buffs up her twinkle to help with the Christmas wedding. Unexpectedly, Toby, her first love is back too, and the spark between them shines as brightly as ever. In the spirit of the season, will they let go of past hurts and greet the new year together?

Done waiting for the one, Dena is pregnant and on her own - on purpose. But then a gorgeous, sad-eyed songwriter checks in to a room at her inn. Micah, unable to write since he lost his wife, finds inspiration in Dena's determination to be a mom. One snowflake-speckled kiss and he's a goner. But Dena is afraid to believe that a rockstar could fall for a cookie-cutter small-town girl like her.

As the Christmas wedding draws closer, these two sisters just might unwrap the most treasured gift of all - love.

Review: It's been a long time since I read a Susan Mallery book, but I enjoy this author. Super cute Christmastime novel despite some repetition. I'd love to see this novel as a Hallmark movie.

Other Susan Mallery Novels:
The Friendship List
The Sister Effect
The Christmas Wedding Ring

Wishing Tree Series
The Christmas Wedding Guest
Home Sweet Christmas

Mischief Bay Novels
The Girls of Mischief Bay
The Friends We Keep
A Million Little Things