Ashley has slipped her little secret and now her friend Lou has gone back in time! Lou has an amazing adventure in the 1960's as she attends Woodstock. Will her life ever be the same after this time-travel journey? I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or time-travel. It is very well written.

Eileen Goudge has captured me with this trilogy. Carson Springs is a place that I would want to live. In this second installment, the story focuses on Gerry Fitzgerald and her family. It is a wonderful story of a mother meeting her daughter that was given up for adoption, the struggle to help her children understand, and of a woman wrestling with the idea of falling in love again. The characters from the first book are all present. The story picks up right where Stranger in Paradise left off. I can't wait for the third book.

Gerry Fitzgerald, a feisty, independent divorced mother raising two children in the beautiful valley of Carson Springs, California, has decided to find the daughter she gave up for adoption 28 years ago. She was impregnated while in the convent by the parish priest, and for many years has been consumed by guilt and emptiness. She finds her long lost daughter, Claire Brewster, who is now an attorney in northern California, engaged to be married to her childhood sweetheart, Byron, who is in his medical residency at Stanford Hospital.

When they finally meet, Gerry finds that Claire is more beautiful and successful than she could have imagined, but Claire is bewildered and conflicted because of the smothering parents who adopted her and are fearful of losing her to her real mother. Gerry's younger teenage daughter is jealous of the attention that Claire is getting from her mother. Justin was also shocked at hearing the news that he had another older sister and angry at his mother for keeping her a secret for so long.

After her brief introduction to her new family, Claire returns to her home and Gerry doesn't hear from her again for more than 6 weeks. She is afraid that Claire doesn't want to be part of their family. However, Claire was so impressed with Carson Springs and the people there that she decided to quit her job as an attorney, and go into partnership with her best friend by opening a tea shop in Carson Springs in a quaint Victorian home that she had spotted when she was in town.

Taste of Honey is filled with interesting and realistic characters, including the nuns at the convent where Gerry works, her current lover, Aubrey who is a world-class symphony conductor, her best friend, Sam who is having a late-in-life baby, Claire's contractor, Matt, and many other colorful locals. Claire is torn between two lovers, Gerry is denying the fact that she is falling in love with Aubrey, and Gerry and Claire are trying to forge a new relationship after many years apart.

I was thoroughly absorbed and engaged by this heart-warming story and look forward to more in this series set in Carson Springs.

Eileen Goudge has a gift of seeing into people's hearts and in this second book of the Carson Springs series she takes us back to this serene little town in California to visit with people who feel as real as our own friends.....Gerry Fitzgerald seeks a grown daughter she was forced to give up at birth. Even though she has two other children she always felt a void in her life.....After she found her daughter, Claire, she struggled to meld her family with Claire. Claire Brewster agreed to travel to Carson Springs to meet her "new family" and fell in love with the town and the people she met there......With the help of her friend, Kitty Seagrave, Claire left her "safe" job to start a new career in Carson Springs to the dismay of her adoptive family and her longtime love. She became torn between two loves.....This move has made her birth mother, Gerry very happy, but caused mixed feelings with her two other children......Gerry has been having a relationship with a famous symphony conductor, Aubrey Roellinger. Aubrey is a widower with loving feelings for his late wife. Gerry is divorced from her husband after a disappointing marriage. Both Aubrey and Gerry do not want to remarry, but agree to have a non-commited relationship....Gerry finds herself falling deeply in love with Aubrey and he with her. It took the near death of their freinds Sam, Ian, and their unborn baby in a car accident to make them realize that they need to give up their obsessions of the past and start to live in the present and go on with each other in the future for a full complete life......I can hardly wait for next book in this series.

This book absolutely broke my heart. Goudge is a great soryteller, though her overly descriptive tendency is a bit annoying. This is one of the first books I've ever read that had me so upset....even days after reading. I hate the fact of who gets to keep Brian in the end...and i realize, that that is because Goudge managed to brilliantly capture the power of the chidhood love.It made me ponder my own childhood love for days.i hate the way brian never mentions the coincidences of birth which, considering how close he was to both women, he must have known. Same birthday, year, hospital? hello? and how about the fact that all the baby bracelets were cut off when the fire started? I would have loved Goudge to offer some explanation as to how all the babies were identified....why didn't the santinis'ever wonder if some mistake had been made?
anyway, great story.i really want to read thorns of truth, but i was kinda hoping that brian would featured more in it with he and rose getting together eventually....i grieve for their lost love so.....

Eileen Goudge, Garden of Lies (Signet, 1989)

This book was, upon its release, not just a sensation; it posted numbers that scandalized the publishing world. How on earth could a romance, of all things, sell like this? Almost fifteen years in the future, we can look back and snicker at our naïveté, of course. The last piece of the genre fiction puzzle gained respectability, and now Danielle Steel, Sandra Brown, and Nora Roberts sit atop the bestseller lists as comfortably as do King, Clancy, and Grisham. Steel was already on the brink of megastardom (and was, of course, a megastar in the romance world long beforehand), but most, if not all, other romance writers owe a great deal of their present respect in the world of modern literature to Eileen Goudge's debut novel.

Garden of Lies is the torrid tale of two girls switched at birth. After one's mother dies in a hospital fire, Sylvie, the mother of the other, switches the two babies in order to prevent her spouse from realizing her actual daughter is the product of an affair. The two girls, Rose (Sylvie's natural daughter) and Rachel (Sylvie's 'adopted' daughter), lead oddly parallel lives despite their vast gulfs in economic and social status. Through a series of coincidences, the two both end up in love with the same man, and the close ties both have to him threaten to reveal Sylvie's long-held secret.

The first thing to say about this novel, as any romance novel, is to benchmark it against the doyenne. And Garden of Lies is so much better than the works of Danielle Steel that they may as well not be on the same planet. Aside from the proofreading (I've never yet encountered a Danielle Steel novel that looks as if it had been proofread at all), Goudge seems to have turned her back on the cookie-cutter philosophy of genre fiction (simply stated, 'create character who fits plot, insert here'). Not that you haven't seen this plot and these characters before, but unlike most straight genre fiction, Goudge's characters are three-dimensional, they react to the plot as if they were actually reacting to it instead of doing what thousands of cookie-cutter characters have done before them, and when they emote, they're not giving us dialogue straight out of the pages of the scripts for The Guiding Light. Refreshing, to say the least.

This epic (and really, when a romance novel goes over 500 pages, it's acceptable to call it an epic, no?) has a whole lot going for it. It's probably best to have your suspension-of-disbelief mode set pretty high; there are a few 'okay, that's too coincidental' events, and the whole stretch that takes place in Vietnam is too pat. But by the time you hit either of the above, the novel is barrel-racing along too fast for you to stop and compare Goudge's jungle to, say, Lucius Shepard's, you only have time to hang on and enjoy the ride. A rollercoaster ain't a rocket, either, but it's still fun.

Garden of Lies has rightly carved itself a place in the history of the modern romance novel. Probably the best of the bunch I've encountered since the glory days of Stephanie Blake in the early eighties. Definitely worth your time if you're looking for a good, easy summer read. *** ½

Having only read one other book by Eileen Goudge (TRAIL OF SECRETS), she is in top form with this one. GARDEN OF LIES is one of the best books I've ever read. Although there are now many fiction novels about babies switched at birth, GARDEN OF LIES does not constantly dwell on that idea, but instead recounts their path in life from the time they were switched at birth into womanhood. It was wonderful to read how the girls grow up starting in the 1950's and continuing into the 1980's. Both Rachel and Rose had strength and tenacity, managing to withstand the horrors of war, lost love, deception and betrayal.

This is a book not to be missed. Even 10 years later, it's a timeless piece of fiction which goes great with a cup of tea and a warm blanket on the sofa! I'm now reading Ms. Goudge's long-awaited sequel, THORNS OF TRUTH, and anxious to read what happens with Rachel and Rose's children.

Okay, this has got to be every bored suburban housewife's ultimate fantasy--hot young hunk falls inexpiicably in love with the most ordinary woman in the neighborhood! She's not particularly witty or charming or confident. She's never been anywhaere or done anything--so aside from a mother figure, what does sexy YOUNG Ian want with her? She likes to bake and sew and play bridge; she wants a man who'll curl up and watch Masterpiece Theater with her--wow! Sounds like Saturday nite at the retirement home! Toss in a bag of Depends and you have one sexy package. Her tastes in music, pastimes (honeymoon bridge, for crying out loud!), manner of speaking and attitudes all add up to OLD. I found myself wondering if she was 48 or 68! The author gives Samantha attributes that never come through in her character; she describes her as being high-spirited and humorous, but we the readers never SEE it. Ms. Goudge contradicts herself in many places. She says Samantha felt unlovedby her late husband, who made her feel like she was the only person in the world. Huh? Her sister can't imagine this earth mother sewing curtains. Huh? Samantha and Ian are supposed to be in love, she's insulted when other sugest it's ony about the sex--yet that's all they ever do when they're together. They spend less than one-fourth of the story together, and all he wnats to do is have sex with this gal who doens't seem to know which end is up in this regard, but they're madly in love. Huh? And ona final note...Ms. Goudge, an artist WOULD know the difference between peach and pink!!!

After becoming a devoted fan of Eileen Goudge with her first novel Garden of Lies. I could not wait to get started with her latest. Stranger in Paradise was a joy to read from beginning to end. I cannot wait for the 2nd book in this trilogy to come out. She took me to a place called Carson Springs and into the lives of Samantha Kiley and her two daughters. On the day of her daughter Alice's marriage to Wes, none are aware how much each of their lives will be changed by this event. Widowed for 2 years Sam finds love where she least expects and upsets both the community where she lives and the relationship she has with both her daughters. This leads them all down the path to growth and understanding. This story has it all. From family conflict, love and mysetry it grips from the beginning to the end in hopes that it all will come together and the end is no disappointment.

Eileen Goudge never disappoints her readers. She delivers well-written, engrossing books about characters you come to feel are friends. STRANGER IN PARADISE offers all this and something more--an inside look at small-town California life--which is very different from life in L.A. or San Francisco. I especially enjoyed the bee keeping nuns and the descriptions of the lush countryside. Thanks, Eileen, for another great read. Can't wait until the next book in this series.

I love Eileen Gouge's style and characters. In my opinion, and I have read them all, this is the best book Eileen has published. I couldn't put it down. It was not entirely predictable. There were interesting twists and turns, tangled families, certainly more mystery and excitement than usual. I could relate to the people; they were "real." I loved this book. I recommend it to anyone who loves Eileen's style, and to anyone who likes a mystery that is not gory or violent, spiced with love and romance. This is a five for sure. Eileen this is sure to be your best selling work.

I really enjoyed this book. It is my first experience reading an Eileen Goudge book, and I was impressed. This was the perfect summer book, nothing too deep or confusing going on. It centers on a young mother, Noelle, trying to win back custody of her 5 year old daughter whom her husband has kidnapped. Her husband, Robert, then goes on a ruthless campaign to portray her as an unfit mother, and he even stages several things to further that impression. Along for the ride are Noelle's long divorced parents, Mary & Charlie, who despite being divorced for roughly 30 years still have very strong feelings for each other, her ailing Grandmother Doris, whose very strong opinions she seldom keeps to herself, and her half sister, Bronwyn, a sort of teenage Nancy Drew. All in all a good story, that ultimately centers on love between mother, daughters and sisters and also letting go of past hurts to open oneself up to love again. I would definitely recommend it.

Just finished reading this great book, and want to reccommend it to everyone. Eileen Goudge has the ability to involve all her readers in her interesting plots and unique characters. Caring about what happens to each person, and hoping that things will work out well, you will find yourself rapidly turning pages well into the night. Love, family relationships and family quarrels, as well as long-ago deaths of significantly important townspeople of Burns Lake will involve the reader from the very beginning.All the "townies", from the youngest Emma to the oldest Doris, become people you want to know. Even the villians are worthy! Read and enjoy this and all of Goudge's books- they are among the best

Imagine the shock of getting ready for your parent's 40th wedding anniversary only to recieve a call from your sister telling you that your mom shot your dad. The ensuing developments push all your petty personal concerns out of the way as you struggle to deal with the reality of your parent's marriage and splits your family. Daphne, Alex and Kitty, throughout the course of this novel realize what really matters in their life. They come to realize that each of them had their own disillusions about their parents and that they really weren't perfect. That realization forces the sisters to re-examine their current situations, and accept that blood really is thicker than water. I enjoyed reading this book. The situations that the sisters were placed in rang true for some, and a little hackneyed for others. There weren't any REAL surprises, especially if you have read other books by the author. But for a quick escape from your own life, this is probably a book for you.

This book is about three sisters forced to face a terrible reality. There mother has just killed their father. She is refusing to say what happened. She only states that it was not an accident and it was not self defense. The sisters all have different reactions and different theories on the murder. And all are dealing with different relationship problems of their own. Daphne cannot forget an old flame. Alex is struggling to raise her daughters and make peace with her ex husband. Kitty is involved with a younger man and her quest for a baby is driving them apart. The book explores all of this along with the murder. Goudge is very talented in creating true to life characters and chilling scenes. What she needs to work on is the pace of her books. They have a tendency to be slow. Certain scenes are given too much explanation where it is not needed. If you can be patient, you will find this book to be a treat. If you take note of the clues in the book you will find out why the murder took place before it is stated in the book.

This book is a treat, a treasure, a charm! I couldn't get over how good it is! I've read all of EG's books in the order in which they were written (which means I haven't read "The Second Silence" or that bee-keeping nun series yet). This is the best of all so far! EG's writing style has improved (even though it was already excellent). With a combination of a good writing style and a good plot, this book was wonderful! EG has changed a little in this book, it was a little different from her previous books. It is the new and improved EG! Other than this book, I loved "Garden of Lies" and "Thorns of Truth" the best. One thing, however, that I do not like about EG, is that she is way too prolific and has way too much descriptive detail (she's doing a little better now, this book was a little shorter). It seems that she has replaced a lot of that descriptive detail with similes and metaphors, which I love. I have to be honest: when I first started "One Last Dance", it was boring, I had to put it down. I picked it back up months later, I think I was on Chapter 5 by then. It took me a few more chapters before the book started picking up. When I was about halfway through the book, it started getting good, and then better and better. It got to where it was hard to put down! Before it started getting good, though, I kept saying this is the last EG book I'll ever read, it is so boring, but I'll continue reading it, and I'll probably only give it 1 or 2 stars. But after the middle of the book, it got so good. All the pieces started fitting together. There were a couple of nice little treats in the book (I can't tell you what they were, don't want to ruin it for anyone.) The last half of the book was so good, I have to give it 5 stars. I was especially impressed with the infinite family love and devotion. The book had mostly happy endings. I was sad for Lydia and how she had to end.

Gerry Fitzgerald is moved to revisit her past when her best friend, Samantha Kiley becomes pregnant. Suddenly, she needs to find the child she gave up for adoption thirty years ago, when she was a postulant nun and could not keep the child. This has been a haunting secret from her family, and learning it shocks and angers her two nearly grown children, each of whom are dealing with their own painful situations. Gerry's firstborn is not all that thrilled with meeting her either, but does so anyway, defying her own family.

The road ahead of each player in this excellent drama is rocky, to say the least. Matters of the heart, both romantic and otherwise plauge them as the newly found families learn to love one another and deal with romances. New love and new life await, but so do pain and danger.

**** Not classified an inspirational romance, this novel still has profoundness that will appeal to the Christian audience, despite occassionally strong language and sexual tensions. However, like Andrew Greeley or Nelson DeMille, Ms. Goudge has succsessfully realized in her writing that Christians do not live in a whitewashed world and have flaws and issues just the same as secular people. ****

I am a recent reader of Goudge, and I thoroughly enjoyed Garden of Lies. Her characters and plot were woven into a wonderful story of family and betrayal. However, after only 2-3 chapters of Thorns of Truth, I felt that Goudge had let me down, mainly by not really offering anything "new." I can understand a need to fill a new reader in on the story up to this point, but she did this throughout the entire novel, which I found to be very distracting. Her original characters could have stood alone in this book had she dealt with their lives differently. I had hoped for more interaction between the sisters and the mother but it seemed as if even Goudge was afraid of the confrontation! If you have not read any Goudge novels before, you'll enoy this one. If you have read Garden of Lies, then be prepared for a bit of a letdown.

It was a long time to wait for the sequel to Garden of Lies (one of my personal favorites), but well worth it. Thorns of Truth picks up the story of Rose and Rachel many years later in their professional and personal lives frought with problems, decisions, joys and triumphs. It was interesting how the author wove their history into the story; a reader wouldn't have to read "Garden" necessarily to enjoy this book, but he/she would miss the wonderfully written introduction to this strange yet endearing family. The character of Sylvie throughout is just amazing - she continued to keep her SECRET until death is imminent and finally eased her conscience by devulging her past and acknowledging her child and ultimately breaking the hearts of her other child and her grandchildren. How they came to grips with the revelation and how they became stronger persons for it was interesting. Sylvie touched them all. I was sorry when I finished reading it, but I don't see it as final. The relationships of Drew and Iris, Eric and Rose, Brian and Rachel, Mandy and Robert and the ensuing problems in their lives could lead to a third book and I certainly hope this happens. Are you listening Eileen?

Over four decades have passed since that hospital fire led to the switching of two newborns. Now forty-six, one of the switched babies, Rose Santini Griffin, is deeply grieving the loss of her husband by burying herself in her work. Her oldest son, Drew, is engaged to Iris, the daughter of Rachel MacClanahan. Rachel is the other switched baby during that fire.

A guilt-laden Sylvie is dying. She is the biological mother to Rose who switched the infants, and raised Rachel as her own. She has hidden her transgression from everyone, including her spouse. Outside of Sylvie, only Rose knows what happened during the confusing hospital fire. She has vowed not to reveal what she knows because she does not want to hurt her friend Rachel. However, knowing that she is dying, Sylvie feels compelled to reveal the truth, but hesitates for fear of what it will do to everyone she holds dear.

The sequel to GARDEN OF LIES, THORNS OF TRUTH, holds up to the quality level of the first novel. The continuation into middle age of the two criss-crossed women is brilliantly described due to the strong characterizations, including the secondary players. The story line is a classical tear jerker that requires a fresh towel for every fifteen pages (a handkerchief is not big enough for all the weeping). Readers will gouge on Eileen Goudge's gut wrenching, heart warming tale.

Harriet Klausner

This book was charged with the barely controlled emotions of Ellie, Kate and Skyler. It was exhausting to read of these women who were frequently on the verge of fainting. The male characters were poorly developed and served only as props for these self centered women.

This was the first book I've read by Eileen Goudge. It was a pretty good read although at times I found it easy to put the book down, but it kept my interest pretty well when I was reading it. The plot was somewhat interesting, but I found that it was very predictable. I thought there were too many details, particularly in the horse riding, although that was the basis of the story. I just skimmed through some of these detailed parts. The book was a slow read but it wasn't bad enough to deter me from reading another book by Ms. Goudge.

I loved this book. I thought it was thoroughly entertaining. I think the readers who didn't like it were trying to read too much into it. It's not a masterpiece. It's simply a book that a reader can get lost in and enjoy. I do agree with the reader that said that the male characters were poorly developed. I also hated the fact that Tony had to do all of the chasing. However, this is fiction. Purely enjoyable fiction.

This was my first Eileen Goudge book, and I think the general premise and story is pretty good. I also liked most of the main characters, but I also got frustrated with the repetition and indecisiveness of those characters. I believe this could have been an equally good, or better, book and been two-thirds as long. (I do hestitate to say something like that because I have great respect for writers' autonomy and integrity.)

Eileen Goudge is particularly good at descriptions--her house and garden descriptions here are wonderful. Her character development of Cordelia Truscott is also excellent. Cordelia is ultimately the strongest and bravest character in this book, and it is fitting that it ends with her.

Although I wasn't totally taken in by this book, it was still a good read. I think it had some good points in it about society, and made me think a lot . . .If you want to read a book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for someone who started college late in life, fell in love too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to understand a loved one who is. . .A gift to be cherished forever.

This was one of the most interesting books I have read, and my first I've read of Eileen Goudge. I wasn't disappointed.
The story is really very sad as the father had had an affair long ago that he had never talked about; and in that affair, he'd had a child, unbeknownst to his wife until after he died. The beginning of the book captures your attention right away with a tragic event, and moves forward from that point on. A lot of family difficulties and situations arise in this book that make it great to read and hard to put down.