I finished the Costa Book of the Year Award winner, The Tenderness of Wolves last night . It reminded me a little of Cold Mountain, a wilderness adventure filled with interesting characters and rugged landscapes. British author Stef Penny’s fiction debut is written with confidence as she deftly weaves together a story of love and suspense set in the late 1800’s in Northern Canada. When voyageur Laurent Jammet is found brutally murdered in his cabin we embark on a tale of pursuit. Pursuit of a murderer, of love, of loyalty, of simple respite from the harsh realities of winter in the frozen tundra of the Canadian Frontier. The writing is clean and crisp, and although I did find myself getting confused occasionally as the plot line and characters shifted (this may have been due to my attention span and the plot line of my own life which is rather complicated right now), I’m putting it on my Good Reads list for this summer.

The Department of Lost and Found is the debut novel of magazine writer and fellow blogger, Allison Winn Scotch. I zipped through it in a couple of days last week while sitting out on the deck enjoying the long summer evenings. It’s a character driven story about a workaholic young career woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis stuns the thirty year old Natalie Miller sending her on a journey of self-discovery that includes a list of lost loves and a comical fascination with Bob Barker and The Price is Right. Heartwarming without being maudlin, The Department of Lost and Found is a triumph and I look forward to reading this talented authors next novel!