The Mistletoe Secret by Richard Paul Evans

     Dear Universe, 
        Is anyone out there?

      Richard Paul Evans has written another holiday novel about two lonely people who are looking for love in this, the third book of "The Mistletoe Collection."
      Alex Bartlett has found himself alone and lonely after his wife, Jill, left him for another man.  Alex was a salesman for a company called Traffix, which sells traffic management systems for transportation departments. His position requires him to spend a lot of time away from home and he believes it has taken a toll on his marriage.  Alex has two best friends, Dale and Nate, and they encourage him to explore online dating. After joining an online dating service, which doesn't work out well at all, Alex notices a blog, "Dear Universe, Is anyone out there?" He finds himself falling for this sensitive, vulnerable woman whose feelings mirror his own. Thinking no one is reading her blog, she writes about her most personal feelings, especially her overwhelming loneliness.  Alex finds himself reading the blogs posted by LBH daily and is looking forward to reading her next one.  He's reading her posts in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Alex decides to find out more about this blogger.  Following a trail of clues LBH has laid, he discovers that she lives in the small town of Midway, Utah.  He decides to go to Midway, Utah, just after Thanksgiving to find this person.
     After arriving in Midway he discovers that all the information he has to go on is this woman's initials. Instead, he finds a woman named Aria, a waitress at the Mistletoe Diner, who encourages Alex in his search while serving him pie and some much-needed sympathy and companionship.
     In the end Alex does find his blogger LBH, and it becomes complicated because he can't get his feelings for Aria out of his mind. Alex has traveled to Midway, Utah to find one woman and now he has two. Which one will he choose?
    "Dear Universe, Is anyone out there?" Yes, there is always someone out there, don't give up!

The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s long-awaited seventh novel, The Buried Giant he once again defies reader expectations by venturing into new territory.  The Buried Giant, labeled by some as “fantasy” fiction, is nothing like Ishiguro’s previous works.  Fans of Remains of the Day will be pleasantly surprised to find his newest novel to be nothing like that modern classic, yet equally compelling.  The novel opens on what appears to be, at first glance, a typical medieval village, where two of its oldest inhabitants have grown increasingly anxious to set out on a journey to visit their son.  It soon becomes clear, however, that something insidious is afoot, as the villagers seem to easily forget matters that aren’t immediately at hand: missing children, quarrels, former neighbors.  In fact, the old couple can hardly remember what it was that drew their son away from his ancestral village.  Was it a quarrel, something they said?  Despite this fog that seems to cloud their memories, making their past together (both good and ill) seem hazy, they are determined to seek out their son.  This journey begins to take on the flavor of a quest as they meet not one, but two brave knights, encounter a mysterious boatman, malicious pixies, ogres, and at first avoid, then later seek out a dragon’s lair.  This is a beautifully written novel that shouldn’t be genre-bound.  Fantasy enthusiasts and literary connoisseurs alike will be equally drawn in by this page turner.  In fact, I think I will blame a recent sunburn on its potential to make one’s own surroundings fall quickly and solidly away.

The Mountain Between Us

Charles Martin has done it again...written another superb book. In The Mountain Between Us, Martin takes you on a journey with Dr. Ben Payne and Ashley Knox, strangers who were scheduled for the same canceled flight. Minutes later, they are together on a small chartered plane, heading home; she for her wedding and he to his work as a Dr..

The story unfolds when the pilot dies midflight over "one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States" and crash-lands the plane at 15,000 ft elevation and 50 miles from any civilization. No wheels, no wings, Ben and Ashley, injured but alive, must battle the elements, a mountain cat or two, find food, not freeze to death, and somehow get themselves off the mountains.  Don't be fooled; this is not just a story of survival, though I love survival stories! But it's also a story about mountains.... personal mountains, and specifically Ben's mountain. A mountain he must climb, conquer and hopefully descend!

The Mountain Between Us is well written and holds you til you finish. Matter of fact, I finished this book, sitting outside on a warm, VERY warm, Sunday afternoon...... in the elements! It only seemed right to do so. I was accompanied by a sparrow wetting it's wings in a nearby bird bath, three lazy cats sprawled out on my lawn sleeping soundly and letting the bird bathe, and a best-friend Border Collie, eyes on me, sitting at my feet.  There was a delicate breeze that made it all lovely and bearable as I spent time with Ben and Ashley who were not having a lovely time in their own brutal elements.  I survived the heat; Ben and Ashley, they..... Well! You read it yourself!

Charles Martin also wrote When Crickets Cry and Where the River Ends. Both worth your time. The Mountain Between Us is the June 2012 selection for the Delphi Public Library Faith-Inspired Book Club!