Ella Dubose, a 70-something Southern lady, has been a Charlotte resident for almost a half a century, but she left some part of her heart in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.  When her younger children start to pester her about her her driving and her health (they thinks she’s getting senile), Ella takes off for a small inn at Myrtle Beach.  There she reflects on her early life in South Carolina, especially her relationship with the man who might be the father of her eldest son.  She summons that son to join her at the inn.  Will she have the courage to tell him about her early life, or will the prospect of a romance with another guest at the inn turn her mind to happier things?

Most of the action in this novel takes place in South Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: November 2nd, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Villas, James.
Comments: none

Botanist and garden shop owner Peggy Lee is having a bad time of it.  The worst drought in North Carolina history has killed the business at Peggy’s shop, The Potting Shed, and Peggy’s parents have moved to Charlotte, forcing Peggy to hide boyfriend Steve’s live-in status.  Because business is so slow, Peggy agrees to go with her mother on an artifact dig.  Instead of finding old pottery shards and bones, they uncover a fresh corpse. The “dead geriatric socialite” (the indelicate words of the first policeman on the scene) is one of the most esteemed members of the Shamrock Historical Society–and the aunt of the police chief.  The ladies want to know what’s happened, and so does the Charlotte power structure. When it appears that the victim died from ingesting yew berries, Peggy knows she has to get involved.  The book includes tips for successful gardening when water is in short supply.

This is the fifth novel in the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: September 13th, 2009 under 2000-, 2009, Lavene, Jim and Joyce, Mecklenburg, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont.
Comments: none

This three-in-one collection tells the love stories of three women living in three very different times across the state.  Lauralee Bliss’ novella, Journey to Love, begins in London, where Beth Colman has just buried her father.   With nothing left for her in Britain, she sets out for America in 1650 with Judith, her sister, and Mark, Judith’s husband.  The trio is trying to solve the mystery of their ancestors who were some of the original settlers of the lost colony of Roanoke, but Beth is looking for more.  Guided by her strong faith, and the hardy John Harris who knows the country well, she just might find love during the journey.

In Lynn A. Coleman’s Corduroy Road to Love, Ida Mae McAuley is strong, single woman with a brilliant mind for business living in 1830s Charlotte.  She’s caught between the affection of two men, both of whom are hiding something.  Ida Mae must use her keen sense to figure out who she’ll trust with her heart.

Tamela Hancock Murray tells the story of a Drusie, a small town singer in the 1930s in her novella The Music of Home.  Drusie is happy and successful in Sunshine Holler – she’s engaged to the love of her life, Gladdie Gordon, and sings at Church on Sunday with her sister.  When Drusie is given the chance to risk it all and enter showbiz, will Drusie leave her mountain home and loved ones behind?

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: September 4th, 2009 under 2000-, 2007, Bliss, Lauralee, Coast, Coleman, Lynn A., Dare, Historical, Mecklenburg, Mountains, Murray, Tamela Hancock, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

When the rich, young, self-indulgent Francis (Frank) Ravenel returns to his family plantation north of Charlotte, he expects to be master of all he sees.  He is is not prepared for the changes that occurred during his absence–the charming Irish lawyer and financier Dermott McDermott on the next plantation, the Irish overseer McDermott has recommended to Ravenel’s mother, or the overseer’s beautiful daughter, Katrine. Katrine is sweet, wise, with a subtle sense of humor, and an independent streak.  Frank’s self-confidence is shaken when he finds himself falling in love with Katrine.  The ups-and-downs of their relationship are the meat of the novel.

Elinor Lane was a prominent novelist at the beginning of the twentieth century.  This novel, published a few months after her death, was the #2 bestseller of 1909.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: August 31st, 2009 under 1900-1909, 1909, Lane, Elinor Macartney, Mecklenburg, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

Paul Shannon, a Marine veteran, returns home to Hartsboro (a fictionalized Charlotte) at the end of World War II.  Paul had always liked to party and run around, but the war has changed him.  Things at home have changed too.  Unbeknown to Paul, his mother has died and his brother Jim has abandoned his young wife and child in the family home.   Paul moves into the house with his sister-in-law and they soon fall in love.  Jim’s return creates a crisis.  The novel has psychological depth; it’s also a window on social mores of the mid-nineteenth century.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: August 28th, 2009 under 1940-1949, 1946, Mecklenburg, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Sims, Marian.
Comments: none

Webster (Web) Daniels’ life is a little down in the dumps lately; everything, from his advertising job to his golf game is a bit off. When the newest hire at Hay/Biggs/Pender Advertising, Richards Thomas III, is about to land the huge $20 million account of Ichi-ban Golf, Web finds himself employing the help of a new found ‘friend’ and his special golf balls. Aristotle Mann recently joined Web’s country club as the new golf pro. Aristotle brings with him some unique teaching tools, most of all golf balls that assure the player a par for the course. Once the rivalry between Web and Richards inevitably boils over, everything is left to the outcome of a winner-takes-all game of golf. Web requests the assistance of Aristotle and his magic golf balls to tip the odds in his favor. Of course this type of golf ball does not come at a small price: Web soon learns just how much his win will cost. It seems this time the Devil stopped off in Charlotte on his way down to Georgia.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: July 2nd, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Humor, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Thompson, Wille.
Comments: none

Kenya and Maurice were high school and college sweethearts, but they broke up after she caught him in bed with another woman. Now, nine years later, Maurice is the star player for the Super Bowl-winning Carolina Panthers and Kenya is a successful lawyer in Atlanta. When Maurice’s cheating, gold-digging fiancee leaves him at the altar, he heads to the Bahamas with his brother to escape the media. Coincidentally, Kenya is at the same resort, celebrating her promotion and her upcoming move back to North Carolina. The two reconnect while on vacation, but things are much more uncertain when they return to Charlotte.  It seems that after their respective experiences, Kenya can’t trust Maurice and Maurice is having trouble trusting any woman.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: June 11th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

While Tyler Vance is in the drive-through for his local bank one day, a fleeing bank robber points a gun at him and demands he hand over his truck.  In that instant, Vance’s unique, deadly, and very secret military training takes over.  He shoots and kills the robber, not knowing that the dead man has some “family” ties to international drug dealers, gun runners, and racketeers.  Tyler’s life as a freelance writer, recent widower, and single father quickly turns dangerous as the mobster’s connections try to exact vengeance upon him.  He turns to friends, family, and old army connections for help surviving the attacks and keeping his son safe.  Author Clay Harvey, like main character Vance, lives in North Carolina and writes articles and books about guns.  A Flash of Red is the first book in Harvey’s series about Vance.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: May 28th, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1996, Harvey, Clay, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Suspense/Thriller.
Comments: none

Medical examiner Tempe Brennan never gets to take a break! She is back in North Carolina and planning on taking her first non-family vacation in years (with her Montreal detective-boyfriend, Andrew Ryan), but those plans are ruined by the appearance of a string of bodies that may be connected. The first is a baby found in a drug dealer’s house, and then human and bear remains surface while she is at a pig pickin’ with her daughter. A small plane crash and the discovery of more human and bear bones increase the mystery. Brennan’s dog features prominently in this novel, the 6th in the Temperance Brennan mystery series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: May 12th, 2009 under 2000-, 2003, Mecklenburg, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Reichs, Kathy.
Comments: none

Caprice Johnson, a second generation police officer, will tell you that it was the cold weather that drove her out of Chicago, but it really was a broken heart. Her man, Damien King, just wouldn’t be true, so Caprice left Chi-town for a job as a police officer in Charlotte. Her new work partner, Nathan Wallace, is smart, fit, friendly, and maybe the type of honest, faithful man that Caprice has despaired of ever finding. Tough cases and Caprice’s reluctance to begin a new relationship are obstacles enough on the road to romance, but there are additional challenges to face. Nathan’s brother, Cordell, is a petty criminal who has moved on to bigger things. Caprice’s old love, Damien, moves to Charlotte to start a new business and woo her back. When Damien is murdered, Caprice is the number one suspect. Suspended from the force, she tries to unravel the mystery of Damien’s death and her complicated feelings for Nathan.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: January 30th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Hodges, Cheris F., Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none