Vegas Rich

Vegas Rick by Fern Michaels

This is the story of Sallie Coleman Thornton and her family. I have to admit that I was hooked from the start. The story is good as is the plot, but if you are looking to read this book to expand your mind or to make you a better person, it is not going to happen. This book is what I lovingly call Mind Candy.

It is one of those books that you read because you want to get lost in the world of someone else. You want to see what it is like to be rich, beautiful and loved.

The book starts in 1923 and spans into the seventies. We start with Sallie Coleman and see how she becomes the richest woman in Nevada. We watch as she does what she believes is right and struggles to make herself and the town she lives in a better place. Through her actions to better herself she meets her husband Phillip Thornton. The reader watches as their life together unfolds and how this effects their family.

Once the children have been born the book jumps to the Forties and WWII. It is at this point that we meet Fanny Logan who will some day become Fanny Thornton. We she how she grows into the woman that she is meant to be, and finds the love of the mother she never had in Sallie. We also see Sallie find the love of her life and watch as she continues to make Las Vegas a better place and keep control of her family.

The book will then jump into the Sixties and the Seventies where the second generation of the Thornton family takes their place in Las Vegas. We watch as Sallies second son Simon finds love and as Fanny comes to terms with falling out of love with her husband Ash. We see the children of Ash and Fanny come into their own, and what this means for the Thornton family.

A good book to be sure, it kept me hooked. This was not the first time I had read the book, but it was a wonderful read all the same. There were parts where it felt that the dialogue was a little forced or a little too staged. These little glitches were sprinkled throughout the book, but once the reader gets used to them, you hardly even see them. Ms. Michaels has developed characters that anyone would love to meet and wishes that they could. While not a classic, it is still a good book and one worth having on your bookshelf.

My Cousin Caroline

So once again I have journeyed into the land of the Darcy's. (This should not be a shock to anyone.) I have read the most recent book in Rebecca Ann Collins series My Cousin Caroline. This book is a compilation of the other books, just with a focus on Caroline Fitzwilliam and her family.

Some would say why would anyone read this book if it just a rehashing of all that has come before. Well it is not that. This time around the reader gets to see what drives Caroline and her family. You see her journal entries and and letters which have helped to shape her into the lady that she has become. You see what drivers her to be a good mother and wife.

You can see her shape into a very important part of her family and that the influence of Elizabeth Darcy is very much in place to make her the woman she is. Ms. Collins brings in her talent for relating what is going on with the times to the story. At times it can be a little like a history lesson, but it is entertaining all the same, and it is nice to see what motivates the characters of her story.