December Reading List-Part Deux

I posted my November reading list with a December update on the 11th of this month, fully believing that I wouldn't have much reading time until after the New Year. Funny how things work out though, one of my dear holiday guests was kind enough to pass a lovely seasonal head cold along to me.

Although you may find this hard to believe (Re: The Grey Goose re-gifted Vodka Set post), I'm really not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Truly, I'd be hard pressed to complain about the miserable cold, as here I've been, snuggled up with my books, with the 'Poke bringing me copious amounts of honey sweetened tea, and kindly dipping his hands into the dishwater every night, so that I might crawl back into bed and read. Ahem, I meant to say--get my rest. Shhh, I think he and his dishpan hands may be becoming just a little suspicious...

The Promise
By Benita Brown

Eighteen year-old Marion Brookfield promises her father, on the night of his murder, that she will take care of her younger sister, Annette. Little does she know that this responsibility will turn her whole world upside down. Marion is kind and resourceful, but with very little money she struggles to look after her willful sister. When their wealthy landlord, Victor Bateman, proposes marriage... more here

Fortunes Daughter
By Benita Brown

Daisy Belle, a gifted singer from the Tyneside backstreets, is devastated when her baby daughter Rose goes missing. Little does she know Rose has been stolen and given to a wealthy woman who, tricked into believing she's an orphan, adopts her and renames her Rosina. Worse still it was all arranged by Daisy's ruthlessly ambitious agent Jack Fiddler. more here

(If you're a fan of Maeve Binchy and/or Catherine Cookson, I think you'll also enjoy Benita Brown.)

The Golden Compass (also published as The Northern Lights)
By Philip Pullman

Lyra Belacqua, a street-savvy and sassy little girl, takes the lead role. Raised and haphazardly educated by Oxford scholars, she has until now led a largely carefree and unconfined life. When her uncle, Lord Asriel, returns to Oxford from exploring in the North, he brings back word of strange events, mysterious Dust, and a photograph showing a city in the Aurora Borealis. His reports pique Lyra's insatiable curiosity and set in motion the wheels of her fate. more here

Standing on the Rainbow
By Fannie Flagg

Meet the unforgettable residents of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, in a story that captures the humorous and complex realities of ordinary people, including Neighbor Dorothy, a radio hostess, and her wayward son Bobby, the Oatman Family gospel singers, and hotshot salesman Hamm Sparks. more here

The Night Crew
By John Sandford

Anna Batory runs the night crew. Small, dark-haired, shy but tough, a Wisconsin farm girl on the streets of Los Angeles, she roams the city with her small band of video free-lancers in their truck from ten to dawn, looking for news: accidents, robberies, murders, demonstrations – anything they can shoot and sell to the local stations or the networks. It's an exhilarating life . . . until the day two deaths shake their world. more here

Mark of the Flame 
Yes, I even managed to fit in another read-through of my first manuscript. To toss or not to toss, that is the burning question...  
 
So, have you read any of these books? authors? Any cold remedies you'd like to share?