January 2013 - Rachelle

When Laura Ayers and David Baskin secretly marry, it is a match made in heaven. She is a former model turned entrepreneur, while he is the Boston Celtics basketball sensation. But tragedy strikes on their Australian honeymoon when David never returns from a swim in treacherous waters. As Laura struggles with her grief, events unfold to make her question David's mysterious disappearance. She begins to uncover a conspiracy of past and present that slowly destroys all those involved. Coben weaves a delicate web of intrigue that throws alternating suspicion on each person Laura trusts. A fast-moving thriller with a rapidly twisting plot that keeps readers in suspense until the final page.

MEETING DATE:  Sunday, January 27th at noon at The YARD HOUSE.   Everyone but Jan and Rachelle attended...both of them were sick.   Nice lunch and everyone there (except Erin) had read the book and liked it. 

Christmas 2012

DECEMBER - Nancy - KISSING CHRISTMAS GOODBYE by M. C. Beaton

Christmas Meeting:  Sunday, December 30th (time will be announced later) at Nancy's home
Everyone is to bring a $10 or less gift (something that is a favorite of theirs) for the annual  choose/swap.  Nancy will let us know if she needs any food..but I think bringing appetizers was suggested?

The indestructible Agatha Raisin, still at the top of her game in her darkly droll 17th whodunit (after Love, Lies and Liquor), is feeling woefully middle-aged after hiring Toni Gilmour, an endearing U.K.-style Nancy Drew full of teen energy and charm. As Toni takes over the pet recovery end of the sleuthing business, Agatha looks into a mysterious letter from Phyllis Tamworthy, the rich matriarch of the Manor House in the idyllic Cotswolds, who suspects family members of plotting to kill her before she can change her will to disinherit them. Agatha and her friend Sir Charles Fraith attend Phyllis's 80th birthday party, only to see the lady keel over, poisoned by hemlock in her salad. Digging into Phyllis's past yields an even darker mystery. Bestseller Beaton's dry wit enhances Agatha's struggles with aging, men and her most challenging case yet. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NOVEMBER - Janice - DAKOTA HOME by Debbie McComber

Meeting Date:  Lunch on Sunday, November 25th

Buffalo Valley has found new life. People have started moving to this town—people like Lindsay Snyder, who came as a teacher and stayed, marrying local farmer Gage Sinclair. And now Lindsay's best friend, Maddy Washburn, has decided to pull up stakes and join her in Buffalo Valley, hoping for the same kind of satisfaction. And the same kind of love… Jeb McKenna is a rancher, a solitary man who's learned to endure. Maddy—unafraid and openhearted—is drawn to Jeb, but he rejects her overtures. Until one of North Dakota's deadly storms throws them together… Those few days and nights bring unexpected consequences for Maddy and Jeb. Consequences that, one way or another, affect everyone in Buffalo Valley.

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Everyone but Rachelle met first at Chang Bros (but it was closed), so we went across the street to Rudy's for Mexican lunch.  Sounded like everyone liked the book, but felt the ending was rushed.   Nancy's sister Eileen joined us for lunch.

OCTOBER -Erin-The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

Meeting:  Monday, October 29th at 1:00 p.m.

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.

Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

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Everyone made the meeting at Cafe Delicias in Rocklin. 

SEPTEMBER - Jan - MINDING FRANKIE by Maeve Binchey

When Noel learns that his terminally ill former flame is pregnant with his child, he reluctantly agrees to take care of the baby girl. Along with the help of a caring network of friends, family and neighbors—including Lisa, his broken-hearted classmate, and Emily, his American cousin—Noel adapts to his new responsibilities But when a nosy social worker decides to get involved, she threatens to ruin their unconventional but special arrangement. It will be up to Noel to persuade her that everyone in the neighborhood has something to offer when it comes to minding Frankie.

Everyone but Janice attended as Jan served Shepherds Pie and biscuits. Yum. 

AUGUST - Linda - FALLEN by Karin Slaughter

There's no police training stronger than a cop's instinct. Faith Mitchell's mother isn't answering her phone. Her front door is open. There's a bloodstain above the knob. Her infant daughter is hidden in a shed behind the house. All that the Georgia Bureau of Investigations taught Faith Mitchell goes out the window when she charges into her mother's house, gun drawn. She sees a man dead in the laundry room. She sees a hostage situation in the bedroom. What she doesn't see is her mother. When the hostage situation turns deadly, Faith is left with too many questions, not enough answers. To find her mother, she'll need the help of her partner, Will Trent, and they'll both need the help of trauma doctor Sara Linton. But Faith isn't just a cop anymore--she's a witness. She's also a suspect. The thin blue line hides police corruption, bribery, even murder. Faith will have to go up against the people she respects the most in order to find her mother and bring the truth to light--or bury it forever.

Karin Slaughter's most exhilarating novel yet is a thrilling journey through the heart and soul, where the personal and the criminal collide, and conflicted loyalties threaten to destroy reputations and ruin lives. It is the work of a master of the thriller at the top of her game, and a whirlwind of unrelenting suspense.

There are many copies available in the Placer County Library system, even audible version on CD there.   Meeting at The Grill on August 27th. Erin, Rachelle and Frances were unable to attend.

JULY - Frances - THE BROKER by John Grisham

THE BROKER by John Grisham
Meeting Date:   FRIDAY, July 20th at Noon - New & Final date and time!!! is....
MONDAY, July 30th at 11:30 at PRIMOS (corner of Sunset Blvd. & Fairway in Rocklin)

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

JUNE - Rachelle - Fury by Robert Tanenbaum

In Brooklyn, a female jogger is brutally raped; the assailants are convicted and later exonerated by the Kings County DA. Now the guilty are filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city of New York, the police, and the two Brooklyn Assistant DAs who tried the case. Caught in the glare of the media-frenzy, Butch Karp may be blinded to the lethal maneuverings of a terrorist cell plotting to bring the city to its knees by striking Times Square on New Year's Eve. But the destruction begins far below ground, in the subway system -- where Karp's family may become their first victims....

MEETING DATE:  11:30 A.M. on Monday, June 18th at Primos in Rocklin

Everyone by Jan (?) and Rachelle (out of town) attended.  Nancy's sister Eileen joined us as well.  Erin, Janice and Nancy were determined to read the book, but most everyone agreed there were too many characters to follow.

MAY - NANCY - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Monday, May 28th

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

All 7 of us met at Nancy's home at noon on Memorial Day.  Nancy had food leftover from their 40th anniversary party and we had a long, quiet discussion about The Hunger Games.  Everyone but Rachelle (who's been inundated by work) has read the book or seen the movie. 

APRIL - JANICE - The Edge of Town by Dorothy Garlock

Monday, April 23rd

The Edge of Town
by Dorothy Garlock

First love is sweet for a fresh-faced country girl in bestselling author Garlock's latest romance, set in 1920s Missouri. Since her mother's death, lovely Julie Jones has cared for her farmer father and five siblings. She dotes on her family, but she also dreams of the day a worthy love will come and whisk her away. When Evan Johnson, the son of the Joneses' despised neighbor, Walter, comes home to take over his father's farm, he proves a pleasant surprise. The handsome young WWI vet has a college education, and is nothing like his drunken, abusive father. Julie worries that he'll never notice a country girl, but Evan falls fast for her and her lively, tight-knit family. The course of true love does sport a few bumps: a neighbor's pretty sister, Birdie, and her daughter come to visit and Birdie sets her cap for Julie's father, Jethro, managing to stir up plenty of trouble. Meanwhile, local lawman Corbin Appleby is stalking a rapist who has been preying on the young women of the county for years, and who hovers frighteningly near the Jones family. A secret Julie has kept for years threatens the lovers' happiness, too, but trust and justice win the day in this heartland romance. Garlock's dark and incongruously graphic rape subplot seems out of place in an otherwise charming story, but her sprightly dialogue and convincing depiction of family farm life rescue the tale.

Everyone but Jan (granddaughter's play) and Rachelle (sick) met at ON THE BORDER where we had Happy Hour appetizers.

MARCH - Erin - A Web of Evil by J.A. Jance

MEETING DATE: Sunday, March 18th at lunch

Fired from her dream job as a Los Angeles new anchor and still recovering from the truth about her cheating husband, Ali is content to lick her wounds far away in Sedona, Arizona. But before she can leave the past behind, she must return to L.A.: her ex, Paul, is in a hurry for a divorce so he can marry his very young, very pregnant fiancÉe. But the day before the final proceedings, Paul's bound and broken body is found in the Palm Springs desert. Ali finds herself the sole heir to his wealthy estate - and the prime suspect in his brutal murder. As the evidence piles up against her, she must navigate a torturous path strewn with danger - and bodies - to expose the real cold-blooded thriller.

Everyone but Rachelle met at a small bistro for lunch to discuss the book. Everyone read the book and liked it.

FEBRUARY - JAN - A STOLEN LIFE - Jaycee Dugard

MEETING DATE: Sunday, February 19th





When Jaycee Dugard was eleven years old, she was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. She was missing for more than eighteen years, held captive by Phillip Craig and Nancy Garrido, and gave birth to two daughters during her imprisonment. On August 26, 2009, Garrido showed up for a meeting with his parole officer; he brought Jaycee, her daughters, and his wife Nancy with him. Their unusual behavior raised suspicions and an investigation revealed the tent behind the Garridos’ home where Jaycee had been living for nearly two decades. A Stolen Life was written by Jaycee herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, compelling narrative, she opens up about what she experienced—and offers an extraordinary account of courage and resilience.

Everyone met at Jack's Urban Eats for lunch and discussed the book

JANUARY - Rachelle - A Vision in White

Meeting Date: Sunday, January 22nd for lunch

Nora Roberts - VISION IN WHITE****

Childhood friends, Emma, Laurel, Parker, and Mackensie operate a wedding planner company named Vows. Each has their own specialty: one creates beautiful wedding cakes, one arranges floral arrangements, one handles the books, and one is a photographer. Together they are able to unite people on their most joyous occasions. The first character we learn about is Mackensie. Mackensie is a renowned photographer and her works have been featured in some of the top magazines. Despite being an integral part of the wedding business, Mackensie, doesn't pursue a husband and doesn't see herself ever getting married. This lack of interest might be due, in part, to her mother, Linda. Linda has had numerous marriages and uses her daughter as a shoulder when things go wrong. All that changes with a chance meeting with Carter. Carter is the brother of a soon to be bride. Nora Roberts is a master at developing characters and it should be no surprise that Vision in White, follows the same formula. Her ability to blend emotions with the background settings is another of her amazing talents. The wedding business, Vows, almost feels like an additional character and the struggles each of the friends endure make this a novel not to be missed. It is fun, engaging, and flows like a gentle river.

Everyone but Rachelle gathered and had lunch at Dennys in Rocklin. Rainy day.

2012/13 BOOK ROSTER and CHRISTMAS MEETING LOCATIONS

2013 Book Selections
January - Rachelle - PLAY DEAD by Harlan Coben



2012 Book Selections and Christmas Meeting Roster

January - Linda - VISION IN WHITE by Nora Roberts
February - Jan - A STOLEN LIFE by Jaycee Dugard
March - Erin - WEB OF EVIL by J.A. Jance
April - Janice - THE EDGE OF TOWN by Dorothy Garlock
May - Nancy - THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
June - Rachelle - FURY by Robert Tanenbaum
July - Frances - THE BROKER by John Grisham
August - Linda - FALLEN by Karin Slaugher
September - Jan - MINDING FRANKIE by Maeve Binchey
October - Erin - THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
November - Janice - DAKOTA HOME by Debbie McComber
December - Nancy -  KISSING CHRISTMAS GOODBYE by M.C. Beaton

 

CHRISTMAS MEETINGS - PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE:
1998 - Nancy
1999 - Erin
2000 - Jan
2001 - Linda
2002 - Janice
2003 - Jennifer
2004 - Rachelle
2005 - Jan
2006 - Linda
2007 - Janice
2008 - Nancy
2009 - Janice
2010 - Erin
2011 - Rachelle
2012 - Nancy
2013 - Frances
2014 - Linda
2015 - Erin
2016 - Rachelle
2017 - Janice