Books from the Backlog - July 30

Books from the Backlog is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books. It is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks.

To join in, visit the weekly link at Carole's blog to enter the link to your post. Then spend time visiting some of the other posts.

Happy Thursday. The week is almost over. Are we even paying attention anymore?

Jean Stone started our local writing group. That's how we met. She has since moved out of the area, but she returned in 2018 for a book reading of A Vineyard Christmas at our local Barnes and Noble when the publisher released it.

The fourth book in the Vineyard series is due out next year.

This week's neglected book

In the midst of a Christmas blizzard: A baby on the doorstep.

It's taken a long time and a little heartache, but Annie Sutton is finally following her dream of living on Martha's Vineyard. She fell in love with the island's singular beauty while using it as a setting for two of her novels. In her cozy rented cottage on Chappaquiddick, she's settling in for her first Vineyard winter--complete with a fierce nor'easter on the way, forecast to bring high winds and deep snow. But the blizzard also brings something unexpected to Annie's front porch: a basket, encircled by a ribbon, containing a baby girl. The note reads: "I named her Bella, after my grandmother. Please help her, because I can't."

Adopted as a child, Annie is grateful for wonderful parents who raised her as their own. Yet she also hopes to spare little Bella the feelings of abandonment that still haunt her. And so, rather than take the baby to the police, Annie decides to keep her and try to find the birth mother, giving her a chance to change her mind.

But it's not easy keeping a secret in a close-knit, island community, especially amid the bustle of Christmas. Before the holiday ends, there will be revelations, rekindled hope, and proof that families--the ones we are born into and the ones we claim for ourselves--are the gifts that truly matter . . .


What do you think of this novel? Would you read it? Have you read any Christmas stories yet this year?

Books from the Backlog - July 23

Books from the Backlog is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books. It is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks.

To join in, visit the weekly link at Carole's blog to enter the link to your post. Then spend time visiting some of the other posts.

Well, it's been a while since I participated in this meme. What a great way to feature books that have been in your TBR pile for longer than the time between your cat's rabies shots.

This book I bought off a local author and teacher at a conference we attended. I planned to review it, but there never seems to be enough time to pick up a book in a genre I'm not totally invested in. Fantasy and Sci-fi tend to be on the lower end of my list. Gasp! I know. I will go hide from the virtual tomatoes.

This week's neglected book

Eighteen years after the infants Kai and Mahri DuBois were separated and taken from La Foret de Chenes for their own protection, they are called to return. Appointed as Paladins, they receive their first charges from the Elders. The twins must overcome the devastating act of treachery that tore their family apart, restore the integrity of the treasure they guard, and beat back the encroaching evil of La Famille DeMauvaise.

Does this book interest you?

Books from the Backlog - May 7

Books from the Backlog is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books. It is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks.

To join in, visit the weekly link at Carole's blog to enter the link to your post. Then spend time visiting some of the other posts.

This week's neglected book

Three lives are bound by a single book . . . and the cleansing waters of Molasses Creek.

Having traveled to the ends of the earth as a flight attendant, Ally Green has finally returned to the Lowcountry to bury her father as well as the past. But Vesey Washington is still living across the creek, and theirs is a complicated relationship--he was once her best friend . . . and also part of the reason she's stayed away so long. When Ally discovers a message her father left behind asking her to quit running, it seems her past isn't through with her yet.

As Ally's wandering spirit wrestles with a deep longing to flee again, a young woman on the other side of the world escapes her life of slavery in the rock quarries of Nepal. A mysterious sketchbook leads Sunila Kunari to believe there's more to her story than she's ever been told, and she's determined to follow the truth wherever it leads her.

A deep current intertwines the lives of these three souls, and a destiny of freedom, faith, and friendship awaits them all on the banks of Molasses Creek.


I think I won a copy of this book when it first came out. It sounds like something I would be interested in since I enjoy books where a character's past plays a prominent role in the plot. It's not calling to me right now, though. I'll see how things go. This might end up being donated.