A family affair the cabin
921137
The stories on what has happen. Finding true love and forgiveness in what you have done. There is more of it
3362394
Anderson Family watch out a new family is in town. Drew was on vacation and he accidentally run into Trinity. They have a world wind affair and she leaven to go home after she find out he lies too her. She having his baby what how. You love it
3449806
I enjoyed this book & the family in it. Not the best book I have ever read but the characters were interesting. I would read another book by this author. I appreciated that this was a clean book with no lurid sex scenes.
3918109
When Andi and Bruce Walker's father is reassigned to a new job out of state, the family has to leave New Mexico and temporarily move into their Aunt Alice's home in New Jersey. As if relocating across the country, starting at a new school and missing her friends weren't bad enough, Andi has to leave behind her beloved dachshund Bebe until the Walkers can buy their own house.

Andi has a hard time making friends at school, even though a girl named Debbie invites her to join in a playground game. After school, Andi spends time in Aunt Alice's sewing room, which has been converted into a bedroom for her. Whenever she is upset or lonely, she writes poems and sends them off for publication.

Bruce doesn't have it much easier in his middle school. He is small for his age, and some of his peers, especially Jerry Gordon, tease him and call him names. A boy named Tim befriends Bruce, but even Tim shies away when Jerry comes around.

Jerry is an only child and a bully. The Gordons are also Aunt Alice's next-door neighbors. Adults are disarmed by his charming ways and polite manners, but when they aren't looking, he is cruel and hateful. Jerry abuses his Irish Setter, Red Rover, who runs away one day after Jerry is especially mean to him.

One evening, when Mr. Walker comes home from work dripping wet because of the pouring rain, he pauses to dry off in the hallway. No one except Andi sees the scruffy dog scamper inside and dart upstairs. Andi says nothing, but after dinner she enlists Bruce's help to find her. They search upstairs for the stray and discover her in the closet of the sewing room, where she has given birth to three tiny brown puppies. Because of their aunt's allergies, Andi and Bruce must get the dogs out of the house right away and find a place for them to stay until they can get adopted.

The next afternoon Bruce passes an abandoned house with a FOR SALE sign on it. It is the house Tim has told him that Jerry vandalized by breaking out the back windows. After Bruce walks around the back for a better look, he comes up with a plan to save the strays and help rescue Red Rover.

With Andi's help, and the assistance of a few dog-loving friends, they convert the abandoned house into a hotel for dogs. Soon they have more canines --- and responsibilities --- than they can handle. And when all the guests start to get noisy, their secret hotel is threatened.

Based on Lois Duncan's 1971 classic novel, this new edition coincides with the release of the movie by the same name. This updated version is a lot like a favorite dog --- warm and friendly and sure to put a smile on your face. I wholeheartedly recommend it to middle-grade readers, especially those who love animals or have ever wanted a pet.

  --- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt
70017
Frannie and Larry and Jane Ann and Mickey are spending Christmas on the road to Texas.  Frannie's children made other plans for the holidays, so traveling with their best friends sounded like a great idea.

When a huge snow and ice storm hits in the middle of Missouri, the couples are lucky enough to find a camp ground.  They pull their motor homes and set up to make it through the blizzard.

Events bring the true meaning of Christmas home to everyone.  There is a bird, a dog and a stranger and all of them need help.

This is a lovely short story about the spirit of Christmas and the gift of family.
383761
Enjoyed the experience of the different types of characters and their families. The house and it's attraction to the families who occupy it will keep your attention.
1385534
This book takes off right where the first one leaves off.  Aunt Dimity hasn't been back to the little cabin since she was barred under a tree with the love of her life (well their rings anyway).  Our main character, Lori, is lonely and missing her husband (who has become a workaholic).  They have decided to take a second honeymoon in England when the adventure starts.  Lori shows up, Bill stays in the states to work, but Bill's father comes with her.  Out of the blue he disappears to dig up the true history on the Willis family and Lori must stop him, with the help of Aunt Dimity of course.  This book is a quick fun read with great characters and love is always in the air.
4033520
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (English Standard Translation) Hebrews 13:2

Nuri and Eddy, from 'Nice and Snow' by Clare London, are quite content with their lives in London, particularly since they are in love and together. With no serious issues from either family about them being a couple, they are free to attend the various family-oriented get-togethers. They are usually with Nuri's family because Eddy's parents are frequently out-of-town. Being with Nuri's family is wonderful; the happiness, the food, the feeling of warmth and love mixed among the normal family craziness. It makes Eddy long to have a Christmas like that with his parents. Nuri loves his family even though they are a bit much at times with his brothers loving to tease Eddy and Nuri too if they can get by with it. His mother welcomes them with open arms, only wanting happiness for her son whatever form it comes in. She expects him and Eddy to attend family functions just as much as anyone else. Nuri likes London, particularly because Eddy is there, but sometimes he misses his father and longs for the happiness he felt in his homeland when he was young.

Nuri and Eddy are headed home in Nuri's cab when they spy a rather rotund bearded man dressed as Santa Claus sitting on a park bench, very much alone. They engage him in conversation, trying to see if he needs help. The man tries to brush him off but Nuri and Eddy are insistent about at least giving him a ride to a shelter or somewhere else where he can be warm and comfortable. During their cab ride, the older gentleman pulls out a flask and takes a few swigs. He offers it to them but they both refuse. As the ride continues, he tells him that his name is Santa and he fell out of his sleigh and needs to go meet them at a specific place. They figure if Santa is that engrossed in the jolly old man himself, they need to humor him. As the conversation goes on, they are amazed that this man knows an awful lot about them, including Eddy's morbid fear of Santa Claus and Nuri's homesickness. For their kindness, Santa grants them each one wish, just for this Christmas. They drop him off at the assigned pick up place for him and say good-bye, not sincerely expecting their promised rewards but they make a wish anyway. On this day of miracles, will they be blessed with one? Or was it merely the good intentions of an old man to whom they showed kindness?

This is an endearing Christmas story featuring Nuri and Eddy, a strange, but wonderful pair, giving me a bit more insight into their lives and families. If anyone deserves a wish to come true, it's these two. Fans of the series will love this one. Thanks, Clare, for putting hope and goodwill into a short, but delightful story.  Originally published at Rainbow Book Reviews.
980294
This is an interesting story about family relationships in a non-traditional family.  There is more to life than a mother, father, and two children.  The neighbor across the street is an intrinsic part of this story.  Her outlook certainly changes throughout the story but she still has a long way to go.
1298593
A family kind of Christmas story. Makes you wonder what your parents have in store for you....Surprises come in all kinds of packages.
3418728
Nigel Strangeways, struggling to make awkward tea-time conversation with his old-fashioned uncle and aunt Lord and Lady Marlinworth, is relieved by the sudden intrusion of his former guardian, younger and livelier uncle Sir John Strangeways, Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner,  hoping for a cocktail.  He doesn't get it (Lord Marlinworth disdains such "American beverages"), but he does succeed in enlisting Nigel's help in a delicate situation..

Fergus O'Brien, a famous aviator now retired, has recently rented the Dower House at Chatcombe, the Somerset country home of the Marlinworths.  Since moving there O'Brien has received three mysterious threatening letters: an unknown person intends to kill him, for unknown reasons, on the Feast of St. Stephen, the day after Christmas.  He has asked Sir John to recommend an amiable, intelligent private investigator who can identify the source of the letters, and prevent his murder, without disrupting his quiet country life. Sir John has told him about his detective nephew, and O'Brien thinks he would be perfect.  He's planning a Christmas house party, and hopes Nigel will be his guest.

Knowing O'Brien's popular image as a war hero, daredevil flyer, and all-round free spirit, Nigel is surprised to find him a rather small, vulnerable, philosophical person, obviously far from well, seemingly close to death and resigned to the inevitable.  Still, O'Brien fears the threat of murder, having set himself one last important task to complete.  He is designing what he believes will be the war plane of the future, but fearing his plans will fall into the hands of a foreign government, he has kept the crucial details safe inside his own head.  Though his personal feelings now incline towards pacifism, he expects there will always be wars, and the nation with the best planes will win.

He admits he has made more enemies in his adventure-filled life than he can name, but his suspicion is that the author of the threatening letters may not be an enemy but someone he considers a friend.  This is why he needs a detective at his Christmas party, to observe the people he feels closest to, including his heirs, and determine, before it's too late, if one of them means to kill him.

The morning of St. Stephen's Day Nigel awakens to an unusual silence. Overnight the ground has been blanketed by snow.  Nigel's plan had been to check on his host during the night in the wooden hut where he often slept (gratifying an austere taste acquired in wartime), but Nigel has slept late and unusually soundly.  By this time O'Brien himself is normally out feeding the birds.  Nigel rushes out to the hut, finding the aviator shot through the heart, a revolver beside his dead hand.  Nigel is devastated to have failed the man who had so quickly earned his deep respect and affection.  It looks like suicide, but how could it have been?

Beautifully written, as befits the work of a Poet Laureate.  A much more coherent, organic story line and Nigel's character more professional and credible than in his first mystery, published a year earlier.
4471197
The family continues to work as a team handling problems and people they meet. There is a strong theme of morality, with soul-searching decisions. So the struggle continues, seeming so realistic you feel like you ate there with them.
4918370
Lots of fun with the grandson and it brings back a lot of memories. Plus I love watching my son play with his son and build the cabin.
4841801
Jenny is going out with Dan's best friend. When Dan and Jenny get trapped in a cabin due to a snowstorm their mutual attraction is revealed. Sounds cliche but the characters are so believable and the sex is so hot. You will enjoy this short story  and then you will seek out the rest of the Jenny and Dan story.
3662766
Part of the mantainance is a excellent replament to eliminate the odors in the cabin. Replace it!! Most of the time people don't change but is very important.
1376649
`Where could she hid it?  It wouldn't do to have her daughter come across it.  Not that Pix was nosy, but she sometimes put Ursula's wash away, so the Sheraton chest of drawers was out.  And the blanket chest at the foot of the bed that had been her grandmother's was out, too.  Pix regularly aired the contents.  There wasn't much furniture in the room.  Some years after Arnold died, Ursula had removed his marble-topped nightstand - the repository of books, eyeglasses, reading lamp, alarm clock, and eventually pill bottles - replacing it with a chaise and small candlestick table, angled into the room  It felt wrong to go into bed during the day, but she wanted a place to stretch out to read and, increasingly, to nap.  Somehow the chase made her feel a bit more like a grande dame than an old one.  There was a nightstand on her side of the bed, but her granddaughter, Samantha, often left little notes in the drawer and might notice the envelope.  Ursula always saved the notes - bits of poetry Samantha liked or just a few words, "Have sweet dreams, Granny."  Generally Ursula did.  Her days had been good ones and she felt blessed.  Arnold, the two children, although Arnold junior lived in Santa Fe and she only saw him and his wife during the summer in Maine and on her annual visit out there.  Three grandchildren, all healthy and finding their ways without too much difficulty so far.  But you never know what life will hand you.  She stood up, chiding herself.  The six words - "Are you sure you were right?" - had entered her system like a poison, seeping into the very marrow of her bones and replacing her normal optimism with dark thoughts.'

Ursula Rowe has a problem.  Someone is sending her notes pertaining to something that happened years before when her brother Theo was still alive.  The notes threaten to tell her family about Theo whom her family doesn't even know existed.  When she was young, her parents never talked about him and Ursula never found the right time to tell her own family that she had a brother.  This is something she can't handle alone so she decides to solicit the help of her daughter Pix's best friend Faith Fairchild.

Faith finds Ursula's story quite intriguing and will do whatever needs to be done to help but she too is faced with her own family problems.  Her husband, the Reverend Tom Fairchild has been "accused" in so many words, of dipping his hand into one of the church funds.  It appears that there is $10,000.00 missing and only he has access to the account.  As for Pix, she has gone to Charleston to meet her son's new in-laws and help plan for the wedding.  But she adds to Faith's building plate of problems by admitting that she recognized the bride's father.  He turns out to be someone she met while in college and that the over a weekend party, the 2 got to know each other "very" well.  Problem is, she recognized him but he apparently didn't recognize her.

So in The Body in the Gazebo, I found Faith with her plate full in trying to solve everyone's problems as well as comfort those who needed comforting.  But, being the true friend and the creative person she is, she can handle just about anything.  See, she isn't like her husband, seeing only the good in people.  And that's just part of what made The Body in the Gazebo such a fun read.  Oh, did I forget to tell you, Faith is also a caterer?  Throughout the book you will find her preparing different dishes for different events with the treat of the recipes for her dishes being given at the end of the book!  Being a cook myself, this made a good read even better.
533479
Paige is taking her entrepreneurial ideas for party planning to a whole new level by accepting a job with Ace - an ex-bandmate from a popular singing group - up at his mountain cabin. If she can manage this party successfully, it'll allow her name to get out there and her business to grow through other famous celebrities. However, now that she's on her way to the isolated cabin in the mountains she doesn't think she's thought this through all the way. Not only did her ride not show up, but she is stuck planning a party with someone that isn't so very fond of Christmas or decorating. Aside from making the arrangements she believed would create the best mood for the party and ordering hors d'oeuvres, she learns that a blizzard is on its way uninvited and may hold up all the guests from arriving on time. With very little else to do with herself, she and Ace start growing closer as they spend the day together. But, when all the guests start showing up, will Paige be able to separate her feelings for Ace and turn things around in her favor professionally?