Several years ago, my mom was addicted to this series by Susan Wiggs. It's set in a small town on Willow Lake, so it fits my current Booklikes-opoly prompt perfectly. The series alternates between winter and summer, so I picked this one because it's one of the summer books. 

Susan Wiggs, Debbie Macomber & Robyn Carr all specialize in this sort of series - romances which feature one specific couple that is part of a small-town ecosystem, with each book focusing on one pairing. The first one I read was Macomber's Cedar Cove series, which I read for years, although I think I petered out around book 5 or 6.

I stumbled on Robyn Carr's Virgin River series when I bought a cheap omnibus for my kindle, in the early days. It was either the first 3 or 4 entries in the series, which has now been adapted for television. I ran out of steam on this one, too, but it's been adapted for a Netflix series that looks pretty entertaining. 

The things that make these series charming are also the things that make them annoying. The small town setting is charming, but the books are universally centered around a couple finding love, as required by the genre conventions. Usually, they are white and heterosexual. They are frequently previously unlucky in love and can be a little bit older (widows, widowers, divorced parents, and single career women rethinking their lives are all staples)- these aren't the typical historical romance, where the female half of the coupling is usually very young. Like a Hallmark Christmas romance, this relentless centering of coupledom can become wearisome. They also aggressively tap into nostalgia for a small-town Americana that never really existed - and if it did exist, it was only available to a select (read: white, heterosexual, affluent) few.

What I like about them is the sense of community that they can demonstrate. They are basically soap operas, in book form, with long-form story telling. This intrigues me. They generally lack the moral complexity and dimension that would be required to make them really interesting, though. There is very little actual poverty - which you would find in a real small town. There is "picturesque" poverty - like the plucky, single mom who can't afford to buy her gorgeous teen daughter the newest and most popular fashions and has to scrape by, but always has soft, beautiful hair and a perfect teeth.

The problems featured in the books are usually easily resolved in one book - the stalker who follows the pretty new resident to town; the abusive ex-husband who needs to be dispatched by the hero; the angry step-child who just needs to be won over by the new, and better, companion, the financially troubled bakery that needs the marketing talents of the ad executive who has opened an office in town. Everyone is always very attractive. I can't help but wonder if a series that took a more complicated look at a small town would even sell, although I think I would be much more interested in that sort of thing.

This is a long post and I'm just rambling now. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish this book or not.

This weekend I downloaded three contemporary romances from OverDrive. Two I read in about 24 hours each; the third I DNF at the 9% mark. I think I got my reading mojo back. Today I went to volunteer at the library (something I haven't done all March because of adult taskings); after, I decided to browse the fiction side for a change. 

I came home with 12 books (8 adult fiction titles, 1 middle grade that will fill a PS prompt, 1 graphic novel) plus I still have four books coming to me via ILL. In my defense, I was left unsupervised in a library.

Here's what I brought home:

1. George by Alex Gino (the MG for PS prompt)

2. Paper Girls (Book One) by Brian K. Vaughn et al (collects the first 10 issues)

3. Death on Tap (Sloan Krause Mystery #1) by Ellie Alexander

4. Once Upon a Spine (A Bibliophile Mystery) by Kate Carlisle

5. A Perfect Proposal by Katie Ffjorde

6. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

7. Dark Harbor (Stone Barrington Novel) by Stuart Woods

8. The Miner's Lady (Land of Shining Water #3) by Tracie Peterson

9. One Wish (A Thunder Point Novel) by Robyn Carr

10. Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

11. Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

12. Night Road by Kristin Hannah

The lightkeeper by Susan Wiggs
Starts out in 1886, Jessie Morgan is the lightkeeper and he feels a disturbance in the air and then notices something has washed up on the shore.
He then notices it's a female body, a pregnant one and the town soon learns of her living there as the doctor has been to visit. They figure out where she came from and help her recuperate.
We also learn of Jessie's past, his two best friends Emily and Granger and how things change forever one night...
Love hearing of the mermaid quilt and apples-we've always loved the huge apple when in WA.
Liked learning what hsi job is at the light house. I recall visiting the area ourselves and enjoyed the day. They do come together and with fears her married man will come for the child Jessie marries her.
One woman with many children comes with others from town to congratulate them and Mary has an idea of how she can remain in town and make money to survive on....
Mary tells him the man's name of the babys father and it sends Jessie into a deep dark world. He will get revenge on Granger this time, who's now married to his sister and she's miserable...
Sex scenes as they draw closer to one another and just want to survive the winter long months.
Granger appears to his wife who's at the cottage with Mary and David and they all leave together...Jessie can follow what happened with Anna's scent of gardenias and he gets in the boat to take care of them all. he can make it happen as the gale gets stronger and the light is out...
From NLS for my BARD player.

Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs
Camille Adams, a photographer and I love hearing about her craft.
The film is Malcolm Finnemore's and he has a very old film strip that he wants digitized. She loves the challenge.
While doing the work the call from ER that her daughter, Julie is there and she's on her way...her doctor husband had died in the water...
Story also follows Finn, history professor in Provence, France who's a volunteer with historic cemetary-chronilogging things left on headstones.
He's looking for his father still when his sister came across the unexposed film of things his dad had taken...
Interesting what draws them together and the link they have...
Love hearing of the locations and all the photography things all the mystery things they find and investigate.
This book is so much more detailed than the authors other works I've read-like her style but this takes the cake and icing. So much research has gone into this book and story is told in such a nice way.
Conflict with weight and interesting how the grandfather is the one to console his granddaughter from his own experience.
Book goes back in time to her father's parents growing up in France during the war and what they have to do to survive.
Problem for me is going back to the past and then forward to the present and future, several times. Wish it just had started in past and brought us up to date.
Not sure which section I like the best as they are all woven together.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).