Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie


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Discover One Woman’s Road Back to Real in “The Girl I Used to Be’

The Girl I Used to Be (Bookouture, 2021)

By Heidi Hostetter

Women’s Fiction

All that glitters is not gold in this delightfully captivating of story of one woman’s inner search for and journey back to her true self. There are plenty of pitfalls along the way. Lots of obstacles to navigate. Like a full-time jerk who’s a part time hubby (to put it charitably). Lost friends. Fake “friends.” A humble past Jill ‘s been told to not just forget, but to erase and be ashamed of. Also enough tangled webs, betrayals and duplicity to make Shelob look like a piker.

But in the end, friendship, solidarity, personal fortitude and a refusal to be pressed into someone else’s artificial, pre-fab mold win out. Lots of intrigue and unraveling along the way.

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Warm Up Your Winter With ‘Aunt Ivy’s Cottage’

Aunt Ivy’s Cottage (BookoutureDecember, 2020)

By Kristin Harper

Romance/Woman’s Fiction

Romance and mystery collide in this cozy ‘beach novel’ about loss, love, second chances, and family secrets.

Thirty eight year-old Zoey Winslow arrives at her aunts’ home on Dune Island at a loss. Several losses, in fact. First her parents divorced. Then they both died.  Then she lost her beloved sister Jess to cancer.

Nearly bankrupted by bad investments made by her ex-boyfriend, a “financial planner,” Zoey’s also recently lost her job as a librarian. She comes to Dune Island and Hope Haven to care for her ailing Aunt Sylvia and Sylvia’s dearest friend, Zoey’s elderly Aunt Ivy.

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