I've read several enjoyable novels over the past few weeks. Here are just a few.

Mr. and Miss Anonymous

By Fern Michaels

Kensington, 2009, $24

The prolific Fern Michaels scores with this novel about Lily and Sam, college students who meet by chance at a fertility clinic where they are making donations in order to help pay college tuition. Something seems odd about the clinic, and they discuss it, but go their separate ways.

Even though 20 years have passed, neither has forgotten that chance meeting, and when Sam runs into Lily at an airport, the attraction is still there. As they sit and talk, a news story comes on about two missing teenage boys, one of whom looks uncannily like Sam.

Sam, now a wealthy businessman, and Lily, who owns her own shop, believe there is something going on linked to that fertility clinic and the supposed "school" the boys have run away from -- and they are determined to find the boys as well as the secret behind the school and clinic.

Michaels can be counted on for a suspense-filled story.

Heartbreak Cafe

By Penelope J. Stokes

Berkley Trade, 2009, $14

I loved this heartwarming (and sort of heartbreaking) story about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while having an affair with another woman.

Dell Haley, married for 32 years, must now find a way to make a living without much in the way of education and training. Her friends convince her to open a restaurant because she is well-known for her cooking.

The little cafe is a beacon of light for the whole community, but Dell does struggle with the financial end of things -- and she can't help but wonder who among her friends has betrayed her.

Here's a Hallmark Channel movie if there ever was one!

Love Is a Four-Legged Word

By Kandy Shepherd

Berkley Sensation, 2009, $14

This romantic comedy would also make a good movie.

Tom O'Brien, a rising star at a prestigious law firm in San Francisco, finds himself with a dog as a client. Brutus is a very rich dog, for his master has left him a multi-million dollar estate. And named as the dog's guardian is Madeline Cartwright. A professional chef, Madeline treated Brutus' owner like a grandfather.

She had no idea that she might possibly benefit in some way and would have taken the dog even without the money, but Tom has a hard time coming to terms with that. But that doesn't stop him from being attracted to her.

This book offers an easy, enjoyable read.

The Accidental Bestseller

By Wendy Wax

Berkley Trade, 2009, $15

Mallory, Tanya, Faye and Kendall met 10 years ago at a writers' conference. They became fast friends as well as published authors. Each is dealing with issues at home, but none has shared their problems with the others, especially Kendall, who has a bad case of writer's block.

When they all get together at a mountain cabin to help Kendall, they end up collaborating on a novel, never realizing that the book will become a bestseller -- and out will come the secrets they've tried so hard to hide.

Wax, a former television broadcaster, has written six previous novels.

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com or 693-2475.