The Geekish Reader

Title:   Second Chance Cafe Author:   Alison Kent Genre:   Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction Pages:   358 Published:   March 2013 Publisher:   Montlake Romance Source:   NetGalley Buy Link:   Amazon Synopsis: Growing up, Kaylie Flynn was shuffled from foster home to foster home before being welcomed into Winton and May Wise’s family. It was May who taught Kaylie the comfort of home, and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie. Years later, May leaves Kaylie the money she needs to open her own café in the charming Victorian house they once shared. Now back in Hope Springs, Kaylie’s determined to finally make all her dreams a reality—and unearth answers to lingering questions about her past. Soon, however, Kaylie’s carefully laid plans take an unexpected turn. The house needs far more work than she realized, and Tennessee Keller, the carpenter Kaylie hires, is proving to be a very handsome and very unneeded distraction from her quest ...

Title:   The Giving Quilt Author:   Jennifer Chiaverini Genre:   Contemporary Women’s Fiction Pages:   336 Published:   October 2012 Publisher:   Dutton Source:   Publisher via NetGalley Buy Links:   Amazon Synopsis: “Why do you give?” asks Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson Cooper in The Giving Quilt , the New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s artful, inspiring novel that imagines what good would come from practicing the holiday spirit each and every day of the year. At Elm Creek Manor, the week after Thanksgiving is “Quiltsgiving,” a time to commence a season of generosity. From near and far, quilters and aspiring quilters—a librarian, a teacher, a college student, and a quilt-shop clerk among them—gather for a special winter session of quilt camp, to make quilts for Project Linus. (In real life, Chiaverini has long been active in this charitable organization, dedicated to providing handmade quilts and blankets to child...

Title:   Prince Korasoff's Road Map Author:   Gervase Shorter Genre:   Contemporary Fiction, Romance Pages:   188 Published:   September 2011 Publisher:   Gervase Shorter Source:   via Author Where to buy:   Amazon Synopsis: Edward is compiling a technical bibliography while Albertine works on her doctoral thesis. They glance up to find they are looking into each other’s eyes. Shyly they both look away. It seems the attraction they have started to feel for each other will come to nothing but then Albertine’s friend Tabitha steps in, determined to stage manage their romance with unforeseeable consequences. This was an interesting read.  Edward is a widower, who has decided it’s time to move on his in life.  While he loved his wife, he is lonely and with the encouragement of his daughter and son in law he signs up for an online dating service to meet someone.  He greatly admires a young woman he sees several times a week at the libr...

Title:   The Story of Beautiful Girl Author:   Rachel Simon Genre:   Contemporary Fiction Pages:   346 Published:   May 2011 Publisher:   Grand Central Source:   Publisher Where to Buy:   Amazon Synopsis: On a stormy night in small-town America, a couple, desperate and soaked to the skin, knock on a stranger's door. When Martha, a retired schoolteacher living a safe and conventional life, answers their knock, her world changes forever. For they are fugitives. Lynnie, a young woman with an intellectual disability, and Homan, a deaf man with only sign language to guide him, have escaped together from The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, a brutal institution where people with disabilities are left to languish, shuttered away from the world. In a moment of despair, they reveal that Lynnie has a newborn baby. But, moments later, the police bang on the door. Homan escapes into the darkness, Lynnie is captured. But just...

Title:  The Wedding Quilt Author:   Jennifer Chiaverini Genre:    Contemporary Women's Fiction Pages:   336 Published:   November 2011 Publisher:   Dutton Adult Source:   NetGalley Synopsis: Sarah McClure arrived at Elm Creek Manor as a newlywed, never suspecting that her quilting lessons with master quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson would inspire the successful and enduring business Elm Creek Quilts, whose members have nurtured a circle of friendship spanning generations. The Wedding Quilt opens as the wedding day of Sarah's daughter Caroline approaches. As Sarah has learned, a union celebrates not only the betrothed couple's passage into wedlock, but also the contributions of those who have made the bride and groom the unique people they are. Thus Sarah's thoughts are filled with brides of Elm Creek Manor past and present-the traditions they honored, the legacies they bequeathed, and the wedding quilts that contain th...