Water, stone, heart by Will North

A newly divorced architect goes to Cornwall for a stone-building class and comes alive. The place, Cornwall, becomes another well drawn character in this novel. Heartwarming.

The Castaways, by Elin Hilderbrand

Four couples on Nantucket have been friends for years, until one couple dies in a boating accident. Hilderbrand peers under the surface to see what's really been going on between them. Beach read for people who stay on the sand.

Real Life & Liars, by Kristina Riggle

Max and Mira are about to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary and all three of their children come home for the party, but the first thing we learn about Mira is that she still smokes pot at 65. Then we find out she's just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mira is a wonderfully drawn character, very much her own self. The author tells the story from different viewpoints so we get to know all the members of the family. For a first novel, this really stands out.

Still Alice: a novel, by Lisa Genova

What is having Alzheimer's disease like, from the point of view of the person who has it? This fragile story has a hard-hitting impact. Alice Howland, a 50-year-old Harvard professor, finally goes to the doctor to find out if she's in menopause, because she's had a few episodes that don't make sense to her. Early onset Alzheimer's disease, is the diagnosis. The scientist in her carefully observes herself. She makes a daily to-do list on her Blackberry, including asking herself five questions, with a note to herself on what to do if she can't answer those questions. She watches the effect that her behavior has on her husband and children. Both personal and objective, this novel will haunt you. I'm recommending this book to everyone.

Don't look twice, by Andrew Gross

Detective Ty Hauck (from The Dark Tide) is in the gas station with his 13-year-old daughter when a shotgun is fired through the plate glass window. Dead is a federal prosecutor. The action never stops, even when the killer is found. Gross is a co-author with James Patterson and has developed the right ingredients for a real page-turner.

Mounting fears, by Stuart Woods

Another in the series about Will Lee, now President of the United States, and his wife Kate, now CIA Director. A group seizes a missile site in Pakistan; a vice president has cancer; affairs are covered up and uncovered; the elusive Teddy Faye is discovered in Panama City. Another great suspense story from Woods.

Terminal freeze, by Lincoln Child

A story from frozen Alaska; scientists find something buried in ice that looks like a sabre-toothed tiger. A documentary team flies in to film the unveiling of the corpse, but instead the thing defrosts itself and becomes what it was when it was flash-frozen: a killing machine. Blood, gore, and ice trucking - what fun!