Chief Warrant Officer Sam Blackman lost a leg in the Iraq War and, after testifying in Congress about the treatment of veterans, was sent where they figured he wouldn’t be able to cause any more trouble: Asheville, NC.  He is almost finished with his rehab when a local woman visits him and offers him a job with her security company.  She promises to visit again, but is murdered before she can do so.  After her death, a diary written by 12 year-old Henderson Youngblood in 1919 is found hidden in her apartment … and Sam’s name is on it.  Sam leaves the VA hospital and begins his civilian life by helping the deceased woman’s sister investigate the modern crime and its connections to a death in the diary.  This is the first book in de Castrique’s series of mysteries featuring the Sam Blackman character.

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

Posted: June 12th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Buncombe, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, deCastrique, Mark.
Comments: none

This beautiful book is written in the voice of Joseph, a high school boy.  When the novel opens, Joseph is living in a homeless shelter with his mother who has multiple addictions.  It’s shocking to Joseph that he and his mother have fallen so low, but at least the shelter is near a good high school.  At school, Joseph finds supportive adults, a few new friends, and a chance to show his talent on the tennis court.  Joseph’s parents are divorced, and his father is in service in Iraq.  His father does what he can to help, and an aunt offers him a home, but Joseph wants to stay by his mother’s side to save her from her worst impulses.  As the novel progresses, Joseph finds his way to a better life.

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

Posted: December 11th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Durham, Moses, Shelia P., Piedmont.
Comments: none

This is one of those stranger-comes-to-town tales, but since it’s a Nicholas Sparks novel, it’s also a romance.  Logan Thibault is a veteran who believes that a photograph that he found in Iraq is his lucky charm.  When he comes back to the states, he searches for the woman in the photograph.  She is Elizabeth, a divorced mom living in Hampton, near the North Carolina coast. Elizabeth’s grandmother runs a dog training facility in town, where Thibault soon gets a job.  Thibault, a veteran of many battles during his years in the Marines, has his demons, and his interest in Elizabeth can be misconstrued.  Elizabeth’s ex-husband, Keith Clayton, sets out to discredit Logan.  The conflict between Thibault and Clayton builds, putting Elizabeth and her son Ben in danger.  In a raging storm the men battles for their lives, and for Ben’s.  Thibault’s dog, Zeus, helps to save the day.

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

Posted: November 25th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Coastal Plain, Romance/Relationship, Sparks, Nicholas.
Comments: none

The women of the Hand family live in the post-9/11 world. Winifred had the invitations printed for a December wedding in Raleigh, but her fiancé died at the World Trade Center. Her cousins Louise and Olivia are there to help her, but their lives are soon touched by the war in Iraq. Each woman suffers and each has to find a way to carry on. Family ties, female friendship, the strength of tradition, and a willingness to begin anew contribute to the characters’ ability to endure. The Iraq War creates the context within which this character development takes place. Although the Hand family is from North Carolina, much of the action takes places in Washington D.C. and Oklahoma.

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

Posted: July 30th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Gilchrist, Ellen, Piedmont.
Comments: 1