Into the Wilderness - Sara Donati

Elizabeth Middleton is a spinster. She is 29, unmarried, with no prospects or interest in changing her fate in England. She lives with her father's sister and is rather well off. She is also strong minded and rather opinionated. She decides to move to America and live with her father in a little town in upstate NY called Paradise.

It is a move that will change her life.

When she first arrives along with her brother, Julian, she is surprised by the lack of comfort but soon learns that the people who live in Paradise prefer their way of living. They are helping to forge the new country as England's rule is no longer. The older folk don't forget it and the youngsters never have to deal with it.

She meets several eligible bachelors for, as fathers of the time tend to do, Judge Middleton wants to see her married to someone of his choosing. Elizabeth has other ideas and eventually runs off with a backwoodsman named Nathaniel Bonner who has grown up among the remaining Mohawk in the area. And that's just the first portion of the book.

It's a well written story. I like all the detail that Ms. Donati has included. I also am somewhat familiar with the area in which the story takes place so it's fun to see places I've been described as they used to be. It's the first in a series as well. I think I'm going to look for the rest of them.

Homeport - Nora Roberts

This may be one of my favorites of her standalones.

Dr. Miranda Jones is an archeometrist. She is a scientist that studies, authenticates, and restores various art pieces for public and private display. Art restoration and display is a family affair. Miranda and her brother, Andrew, run the Institute in Maine where they teach various classes and restore paintings in the labs as well as work as curators of the museum. Their father, Charles, prefers dig sites to family and is usually off. Elizabeth, the mother, moves to Italy and opens her own lab, Standjo, where she is engaged in authentication of new pieces.

It is on such a mission that Elizabeth contacts Miranda and orders her to Italy. In their family, there is no tenderness ... no care. Miranda is delayed as she is mugged in front of her house, an unusual occurence as she lives in a very small town. For those of you who don't live in a small town, something like that would never happen as there typically aren't enough people to rob or care about.

It is the start of a downslide for the entire family. Miranda gets to Italy and authenticates an original, undiscovered work of Michelangelo's which is later proven to be a fake. Andrew's drinking gets worse and worse. The Institute is robbed after Miranda's return from Florence by a retiring thief who also happens to be a gallery owner in NYC named Ryan Boldari.

He discovers that the statute he stole is also a fake and is bound & determined to prove that Miranda did it on purpose. Along the line, they figure out that someone is trying to ruin her and fall in love. It's a fun ride that takes us from New England's serenity to the bustle of Brooklyn and the beauty that is Florence.

Enjoy!