Has It Really Been Two Weeks Since I Last Posted?????

O Dopey Me!!  I can't believe it has been so long since I even thought about posting.  No wonder so many of you don't stop in anymore.  I offer my sincere apologies for not keep up -- just trying to find a new house, trying to get lots of other stuff done that will mean we must start packing up our junque, and I just didn't stay up with this blog.  I love to read all your blogs, but I haven't been good about doing my part in the So. California blogging community.  Anyway . . . I have been reading some really good books and one that has piqued my interest is timely for the Halloween observance that is just a couple of days away.  We have been enjoying all the decorations people are putting up on their homes, at schools and public buildings, etc.  Even the fellowship hall in our church now has lots of fun decorations and the congregation really had a good time with Halloween cupcakes after church yesterday as well as a yummy potluck complete with my favorite:  deviled eggs.

Anyway . . . back to the book . . . I found it online just recently and so I want to share it with you.

Jordan Cross has returned to Holiday, Montana after eleven long years to clear out her late aunt’s house, put it on the market, and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Soon, she finds herself facing the town that turned its back on her because she was different. Because being labeled a witch in a small town didn’t earn her many friends...especially when it wasn't a lie.

Matt Cooper has lived in Holiday his whole life. He's perfectly content being a bachelor alongside his four single brothers in a very small town. After all, the only woman he'd ever loved ran out on him without a goodbye. But now Jordan’s back and just as bewitching as ever. Can they rekindle their romance with a town set against them?

Lots of fictional characters have piles and piles of personality flaws and inner hang-ups, but few have to contend with the burden of magic that has been handed down from female ancestors.  Jordan is a woman who has borne the burden of being different and her responses to a community rife with prejudice has crippled her views of living, her choices of future endeavors, and entering into positive personal relationships.  Most of all, the man she has really loved all her life has been left behind because she has given power to mean-spirited, prejudiced, angry and hurtful people in her hometown who even after she returns are continuing to make her life miserable.   A simple display of her magic when she was five years old alerted the community that she was a powerful person in the making and small-minded people, especially members of their "ruling" family, took it upon themselves to destroy her and drive her away.

Many of us are thankful that there are places in the world where a live and let live attitude prevails.  That is not so in towns and communities like Holiday, Montana where the community has allowed a powerful and greedy family to run rough shod over them, all because there is no one with the gumption to stand up against this brother and sister who think the town is there to serve their interests.    Now Jordan Cross has returned and along with "finding herself" she is also finding that the old feelings between her and Matt Cooper are still very much alive.  But Matt has a mysterious problem that is eroding his sense of purpose about any future he wishes to have with Jordan.  In a way this novel is a mystery upon a mystery even while we agonize with Jordan as she searches for the inner fortitude to take a stand for herself.

Yes, these people are really irritating . . . any town that allows the prejudice and small-mindedness of their mayor and his family to be the predominant spirit should all be horse whipped.  But the truth is that such communities with their closed off thinking really do exist.  I have lived in some of them, and one recognizes the power that some families--the power they don't deserve nor have earned--to influence strongly the way a community responds to people who are different.  Matt and Jordan are irritating too, as they are reluctant to deal with their own inner questions.  But those of us who have worked with people with sizable piles of insecurities and fears from the past know that breaking through that kind of obstacle to positive living is often very difficult.  It was a testimony to the power of their early life connection that Matt and Jordan were able to have any kind of renewal at all in their relationship.

I found this short novel to be interesting on lots of levels, even though I was P. O.'d lots of times at the arrogance of the mayor and his sister.  I don't deal well with cruel, arrogant, manipulative, abusive people, whether or not they be real or fictional.  Yet I appreciated the loyalty and comradeship of Matt with his four brothers, their acceptance of Jordan's unusual powers, and even the willingness of one of the brothers to speak his mind in a loving and corrective way during a crisis.

I think it is a fun read -- not long and certainly not complicated.  But it will be well received by Carrie Ann  Ryan's fans as well as those who are in the mood for a story with family and friendship that stands against prejudice and meanness.  I give it a rating of 3.75.

This short novel was released by Fated Desires Publications in October, 2012 and it can be purchased at Amazon.com