A Year with Geno by Annette Drake

A Year With Geno.  Annette Drake. Baskethound Books.  June 2014. 415 pp. E-Book. ASIN #: B00L5XKU92.

Caroline Taylor has enough troubles with her unreliable ex-husband coming and going when he pleases, constantly disappointing her sons who sense he really doesn’t want to be with them.  His girlfriend makes things even worse.  Now Caroline finds out she’s going to be evicted because her landlord wants to move back into the house.  During her many dead-end attempts to find a decent place to visit she meets Air Force Sgt. Geno who seems to always show up just when she desperately needs help!  Eventually she agrees to rent his basement, with very clear rules so that neither encroaches upon the other’s space. That’s when the subtle passion rings and misunderstandings as well!

Geno’s ex-wife is living with a beer-slugging, crude boar.  While she has glimmers of his true personality, she seems blind or perhaps it’s the old story that she has nowhere else to go and no one else to take care of her. Her treatment of the children she had with Geno is also severely lacking.

No spoilers here.  Suffice to say that Caroline’s bully ex-husband is about to pose a serious challenge to her custody of their boys and Geno’s ex-wife gets dumped by her loser boyfriend only to reappear as a challenge to Caroline’s presence in Geno’s home.  Caroline will survive the bumps in her quest for a peaceful, loving home for her boys in the middle of this Eagle River, Alaskan community.

This is a simple story with a romantic edge constantly being thwarted by misunderstandings and ex-spouses whose sensitivity skills seem primitive, to say the least.

It’s worthy of note to see how the author writes in the voice of a male so well.  Geno is masculine but with an edgy sensitivity that entrances and frustrates Caroline. It takes a fine balance to achieve that mix which adds to the intrigue of this slowly sparking friendship and more.

A Year With Geno is a nice romantic read that will satisfy those who love a good old-fashioned passionately growing fire spiced with some credible family drama!

Celebration House by Annette Drake

Celebration House.  Annette Drake. Tirgearr Publishing.  November 2013. 156 pp., 1469 KB. ASIN No.: B00E9DXK3I.

Carrie Hanson is dying, but you’d never know it as she moves to Lexington, Missouri from Seattle, Washington after having received a heart transplant.  The new heart isn’t working so well but she’s determined to stay in Missouri where she is planning to purchase an old 19^th Century mansion in desperate need of repairs, in fact it needs to be totally remodeled.  When Carrie arrives at Stratton House, not only does she find it in such need of repair that she wonders if she can afford it but she also discovers that it’s haunted.  For Carrie has a most unusual skill of being able to see, hear and talk with ghosts.  If you’re looking for the usual “ghost scares the dickens out of residents” story, forget it!!!  Carrie meets Colonel Stratton who is a curmudgeon owner who thinks he can frighten Carrie out of living at “his” home. No spoilers here!

This is the story of Carrie’s dream come true, despite the fierce disapproval of her sister in Seattle and the initial obstacles of her new home.  Add to the characters a sexy guy, Major Stewart, a former Civil War soldier, who falls in love with Carrie but is unable to do anything about it.  And we can add to the mix that Carrie will be joined by a friend who will help her in the tough period of this remodeling project, a friend who carries her own stilted love past but who just may meet someone who is everything she ever dreamed of, which is all for the better.

Carrie wants Stratton House to be a place where people can live the best days of their life, whether that be a wedding, birthday party, celebration of a great event, etc.  In the process, Carrie meets other ghostly creatures, who learn to love her and she them and they help her to achieve her dream, allowing Stratton House to truly become the historical mansion it was meant to be and teaching its visitors to respect and honor the place they are enjoying for one or a few days.  The reader comes to care for all of them and is glad for the encounter!

Carrie was a cardiac nurse before she received her own transplant, so she knows what’s happening.  And once again, no, you can’t possibly predict what is going to happen at the end of this lovely novel – ha!

Enjoy every page of this delightful, romantic, poignant, funny and special novel.  Annette Drake is a very talented writer who knows how to tell a charming yet intriguing story and compliment of compliments, never overdoes it and so it’s all phenomenally credible! Highly recommended!