Cruel Intent by J. A. Jance

Cruel Intent is the fourth Ali Reynolds book by J.A. Jance. In this installment Ali is busy remodeling her mansion, choosing a recipient for the Askins Scholarship, dealing with identity theft, and trying to prove her contractor is not the one who murdered his philandering wife. She's also trying to plan Thanksgiving dinner and helping her son not have his grandmother take over his wedding.

For the most part, Cruel Intent is standard murder mystery/thriller fare, but the ending was so intense that I couldn't make myself put the book down when it was time for bed. I look forward to the next Ali Reynolds installment, just as I like the J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady books.

Books I've read in 2009

The Sweethearts' Knitting Club by Lori Wilde
Miss Julia Delivers the Goods by Ann B. Ross
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Shortest Distance Between Two Women by Kris Radish
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
The Blood Ballad by Rett MacPherson
Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
The Divorce Party by Laura Dave
Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Chicken Soup for the Soul Celebrates Sisters by Canfield and Hansen
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson
Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
Blood Relations by Rett MacPherson
Murder Among Us by Jonnie Jacobs
Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat A Hair by Laurie Perry
Murder Among Friends by Jonnie Jacobs
Murder Among Neighbors by Jonnie Jacobs
A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff (ARC)
The Good Wife Strikes Back by Elizabeth Buchan
T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

Eternal on the Water

by Joseph Monninger

The Sweethearts' Knitting Club

by Lori Wilde is the story of love and redemption in a small Texas town.

Jesse Calloway has spent the last ten years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He is sure that he was set up on a cocaine charge by the sheriff's son, Beau Trainer. When Jesse gets out early, he heads home to Twilight, Texas to clear his name, get revenge on Beau, and reclaim his lost love, Flynn MacGregor. Unfortunately for Jesse, Flynn has just accepted Beau's fourth marriage proposal.

Flynn has spent the last fifteen years taking care of her family while her mother was dying, but now the family is doing well and Flynn is struggling to let go and get on with her life. Her mother's dream was to own a yarn store, so Flynn sets about trying to fulfill her mother's last request.

I love the Gilmore Girl references, and the members of the Sweethearts' Knitting Club are delightfully funny. This novel starts slowly and ends too quickly.

Truly, Madly by Heather Webber

Truly, Madly is the first in a promised series of books about Lucy Valentine, by Heather Webber; hopefully, it will not be the last.

Lucy's family owns Valentine, Inc., a matchmaking business in Boston. The thing is, the family doesn't so much match make as use their love-related physic ability to find the perfect love matches. Unfortunately for Lucy, a lightening strike when she was 14 zapped the ability to make matches, but left her with the ability to find lost objects.

When Lucy's father suffers a minor heart attack, Lucy gets roped into working at Valentine, Inc. While meeting with her first client she gets a physic vision of a dead body and sets out to solve the mystery with her hunky upstairs neighbor.

Truly, Madly is a quick read. It is a cozy mystery with a physic theme and the characters are nice people who are a little bit flawed. So basically, they are like all the rest of us mortals.