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rabck from Bumma's book distribution; good story, although you knew what that there was going to be a happy ending. Lily, a caberet singer in Boston, was targeted in incorrect allegations in the press. Her Catholic Cardinal friend was issued a public apology by the press days later, but she had to leave town to escape the media and settled back in her old hometown of Lake Henry. The local newspaperman, John, used to work with the reporter who started the slander, and wants to uncover why he did it, the unethical workings and bring him down. In the background are strained family relationships for both John and Lily. The mystery of why kept me guessing until almost the very end. And you knew that Lily and John would sort of mend their fences with their families and wind up together. ( )

I've had this book on my reading pile for awhile and I kept setting it aside. For some reason, as the majority of my reading is at night before bedtime, I generally tend to shy away from hard cover and trade paperbacks due to the size and weight. But since it was vacation time, I decided to take this one with me and what a delightful reading surprise. This book is absolutely beautifully written - the vocabulary an artistic display and the story current beyond expectation.

The biggest surprise was in Chapter 18, when John is in the newsroom office..."Satisfied that Lily was being protected, he returned to the office with the small bits of news he collected and added them to the file for the next week's paper. He worked for a while on the cover story, which was the accidental shooting of a three-year-old child in Ashcroft the day before and, legislatively, the use and abuse of guns." I read these words and instantly flipped again to the copyright page and could hardly believe my eyes to view (c)1999 and to know that in 2013 - 14 years later we continue to see these headlines and the conversations continue without any end of violence in sight. How utterly sad.

Please understand that the storyline is not based on those few sentences. But for me, it heightened the storyline and the author's clarity in writing such a timeless story - that can be appreciated by all readers regardless of age, sex, socioeconomic background, etc. I wish with all my heart that this would be a mandatory read for every journalism major on a global venue. Thank goodness for vacations when we take the time to read outside of our normal comfort zones. There are unexpected treasures everywhere if you take the time to open the covers. ( )

A great story & a well written book that was hard to put down.
I was sad to read 'the end'! ( )

Good book to read at the cabin, while spending a week there. Good easy read. Better than most romance novels, in that there was a bit of mystery and intrigue. It also refers to a controversial topic of honesty in the media and the question of sensationalism. ( )