Cheryl's Book Nook

A surprise trip to Barcelona with her boyfriend, Jake, seems like the perfect antidote to Grace Sawyer’s current woes. The city is dazzling and unpredictable, but the biggest surprise for Grace is discovering who arranged and paid for the vacation. Carrie Ann wasn’t just Grace’s foster sister. Clever, pretty, and mercurial, she was her best friend—until everything went terribly wrong. Now, as she flees an abusive marriage, Carrie Ann has turned to the one person she hopes will come through for her. Despite her initial misgivings, Grace wants to help. But then Carrie Ann and Jake both go missing. Stunned and confused, Grace begins to realize how much of herself she’s kept from Jake—and how much of Carrie Ann she never understood. Soon Grace is baited into following a trail of scant clues across Spain, determined to find the truth, even if she must revisit her troubled past to do it. Mary Carter’s intriguing novel delves into the complexities of childhood bonds, the corrosive weigh...

What Inspired “ Sunnyside Blues ” Mary Carter "Sunnyside Blues" to me, at heart, is a book about belonging, and the yearning to find a place you can call home. I know I still have this longing in me. I've moved a lot in my life, and I've never settled down (for long) with a husband and kids. Sometimes I have a yearning for the “life I didn’t live” and I try to imagine what it would be like. Other times I think I’d be terrified to be tied down like that. So I can always see both sides of the fence, and at any given time I think I’d prefer one over the other—always wanting to experience everything at once—I think that’s what drives me to write. But I think even people who do settle down still feel restless and lonely at times. There's a lot of pressure in life to answer the big questions: Where will I live? Who will I marry? What's my dream job? I also liked the idea of bringing together two characters who didn't really want to be with each other, but for on...

I want to thank Mary Carter for sending me a copy of her book to review. Twenty five year old, Andes Lane is a free soul. She has never stayed in one place for very long, always on the go. As much as traveling around the world sounds like fun, Andes is ready to settle down and find a place she can call home. Andes just may have found that place. in Settle, Washington. She comes upon an flyer, advertising for a houseboat for rent. Andes goes and checks out the houseboat. The owner Jay tells her that the boat will be unoccupied after the fourth of July but after Andes criticizes the condition of the place, Jay doesn't want to rent to her. As if getting off the wrong foot with Jay wasn't bad enough, she has to also contend with his ten year old son, Chase. Chase hates Andes and he makes sure she knows it. Andes currently has no other place to go. She tried to find a way to make it up to Jay. The only way to do that is through Chase. Jay gets arrested, leaving Chase in Andes...