Another  tale in the Montgomery saga.
590484
Nellie Grayson was her family's slave, so belittled that she turned to food for comfort.  Jace Montgomery, finally recovering from his wife's death in childbirth, has come to town to visit cousin Kane Taggert and his  wife, Houston.  Jace is immediately taken by Nellie, seeing a beautiful  woman, not a fat, frumpy old maid.  He must fight Nellie's loyalty to her  family and their machinations to keep Nellie at their beck and call.  Complicating the matter is a deceased woman's gift of three wishes to  Nellie in an attempt to win her way into heaven.

Although the "fairy  godmother" seemed out of place in the beginning, her importance to the  story soon makes sense.  A visit with the Montgomerys and their extended  family is always a pleasure, but to have a plus-size heroine who is admired  by the hero is wonderful.  Having her lose weight seemed silly and wrong.

UPDATED FROM REREAD Aug 2011.

Based on the recent news of Jude Deveraux being scammed out of twenty million dollars, I felt like I should revisit one of her older books.  I chose Wishes as I remember being pleased with the idea of a plus-sized heroine who got her man while heavy, not after losing her excess weight.  This was actually the very first Deveraux book I had ever read.

Nellie Grayson was her family's slave, so belittled that she turned to food for comfort.  Jace Montgomery, finally recovering from his wife's death in childbirth, has come to town to visit cousin Kane Taggert and his wife, Houston.  Jace is immediately taken by Nellie, seeing a beautiful woman, not a fat frumphy old maid.  He must fight Nellie's loyalty to her family and their machinations to keep Nellie at their beck and call.  Complicating the matter is a deceased woman's gift of three wishes to Nellie in an attempt to earn her way into Heaven.  Unfortunately those wishes only make Nellie's life worse.

I liked the story originally and still do, but my view of it has changed somewhat over the years.  I found the whole "fairy godmother" bit to be unnecessary.  Much of what happened could have happened even without the three wishes complicating the situation.  Where I once loved Nellie, upon rereading it, I find her to be without a speck of backbone and not only has blinders on where it concerns her family, but goes out of her way to not see anyone as they really are.  That said, I might still recommend the book to someone who has never read any of Jude's books before.  Especially since there is only one real sex scene, one that isn't too graphic compared to some of her later books.
4012204
Still another great story by James Lee Burke. He tells a good story with characters are well known to me so as to nearly be old friends. His stories are believeble even when they involve talking to the Confederate dead.
935315
This another Henry and Emmy Tibbetts mystery.  Patricia Moyes provides an interesting background for Inspector Tibbetts to work in, and Emmy gets to come along for the ride!
1235366
It is a well told story and fun follow-up to the earlier Grumley book. A "great" read no, but if a third book comes out with these characters, I'll make a point of reading it.
1589976
MacKeyla's story is continued in this third book in the series, opening where the last book left off, with her rolling in the gutter at the pain of being close to the evil book everyone's looking for, the Sinsar Dubh.  Someone is also mailing her bits of her murdered sister's diary, for unknown reasons.  The various factions continue to court Mac, the death-by-sex sidhe, V'lane, and disturbingly, the Lord Master, and in a love-hate way, the order of Sidhe-seers, and seemingly indifferently, the enigmatic Jericho Barrons.  Also interested in her is Christian MacKeltar who works in the Ancient Languages Dept. of Trinity College, and less pleasantly, detective O'Bannion who suspects her of murder.  Yeah, a lot of people (many of them luscious men, but some quite the opposite) want a piece of Mac.  It's something she needs to deal with.  Along with the shadow creatures that are growing bolder, her continuing distrust of Barrons and her greater distrust of almost everyone else...

Lots of all-out action and mystery.  If you enjoyed the previous books (and you really should start at the beginning, even though the author kindly supplies a summary of what is going on as an introduction to the main story), you should enjoy this one.  But don't look for the completion of a main story arc in this book and don't look for answers to most of the questions that have been brought up thus far.  Things are still going to get even more confusing and crazy before anything like answers or a resolution occurs.  And if you thought the last books' endings were rather too much like cliff-hangers, you'll think again regarding this one.

Personally, I am still curious enough about Barrons and V'lane to want to find out more, so I will continue to read.  I was tiring a little of Mac, who is feisty to the point of insanity, loving the power of eating fae a little too much (ugh!) and playing everyone off against each other; letting Barrons shelter and mentor her, but still ready to double-cross him at the drop of a hat just because he doesn't tell her all his secrets and even though she's obviously attracted to him.  After three books of the same, I'm not sure how long I'll continue to find Mac all that sympathetic.  In a way, this makes the ending of this book a little easier to take, although it's really not a good thing.
1366395
Another Alexander McCall good book. His stories are to be followed. Interesting way to look into another persons strife from the beginning..
4756553
From the below to the top of Newelen, this story weaves a tale that would make any reticulator envious.
Beck shows the prodigious ability to tell a story that brings her characters to life, while employing a strategic onslaught that would have Machiavelli second guess his own tactics on the battlefield.
Looking forward to the next adventures in this series.
4725355
The book moves along nicely. You have to suspend reality in the description of battle scenes and go with the flow in the telling of this saga.
3412511
Another in the series.  I like these stories--good characters and dialog.  Not entirely believable, but who cares?
2667759
Another story set in a world waiting to appear. You will enjoy this one if you're into such tales. I am!
3308439
Folly and Glory, book four of McMurtry's Berrybender Series, continues the saga of the foppish English family and their hangers-on through the mountain man American West.

This book is both thinner and less well developed than book three of the series.  The Berrybender gang start with their genteel imprisonment in Spanish Santa Fe and end up -- much reduced through cholera, Indian attacks and other ghastly means of death -- at the end of the story.  I won't give it away, but there is a much reduced cast, new players, surprising relationships and improbable outcomes.

The story is gritty, with lots of hardship and a portrayal of how nasty and short frontier life could be.  Historical figures populate this book (Sam Houston, Kit Carson, Jim Bowie, the Bent  Brothers), but are used rather loosely and not constrained by their actual lives.  This isn't a problem, their appearance certainly adds flavor to the story.  Purists may mind that some of the famous die in the book decades before they did in real life, but their use to flavor the story is consistent with McMurtry's approach to this whole whimsical series.

While this book still hangs on Tasmine's whims and management of the story, she is much less a commanding and energetic figure.  Occupied by children, bereaved by the death of a lover whom she couldn't quite reach in life anyway, still bewildered by her husband Jim Snow, the Sin Killer, Tasmine hasn't the energy to cause the entire encampment to rotate around her axis as she did in the previous books.  Her sisters come somewhat more to the fore as do some new characters introduced in this final installment.  The way the Berrybender crowd reacts to circumstance and meets life with their unusual expectations continues to propel this story forward.

As with the other books, Folly and Glory is an entertaining read.  In retrospect, this series feels like a long comic strip rather than a Lonesome Dove type of deeply developed novel.  While not a great or memorable read, it is entertaining and enjoyable.
1294864
siliconhillbilly here.  I borrow Mamie's account sometimes.

Craven writes good stories.  I liked this post apoc tale.
1152751
Another wonderful story from one of my favorite story tellers. This series started off slow for me but it just keeps getting better. I am looking forward to the Dukes story in the next installment.
2452872
Enjoyed the camaraderie of the ladies and their loves, Montgomery brothers. Also enjoyed the community building and Lizzies history and involvement.
2593574
This is a part of a continuing saga. I can't wait until the next book comes out.
570501
This was a good read if your a Macumber fan, which I am.
Good read and continues with the Macumber series.
334488
Another good tale. I'm looking forward to the next one.