In the Bag by Kate Klise (2012)

As light and fluffy and delicious as cotton candy, this is a novel told from four perspectives: A mother and daughter traveling to Paris, and a father and son traveling to Madrid to work on an art installation. A glass of spilled wine, and two similar looking bags lead to a note left in a carry-on, mixed up bags, surreptitious email conversations, faking sickness, and planned meetings in Paris and Barcelona.

Dishy and light and fun, with realistic, charming characters.  Klise will definitely be an author I'll keep an eye out for again. 

Wallflower in Bloom by Claire Cook (2012)

A lovely novel--from the author of Must Love Dogs--about a woman who works for her famous guru brother and campaigns to be on Dancing with the Stars instead of him.   She has an extremely close, sometimes uncomfortably so, family and the familial relationships are realistic and touching. I love that she's pretty self-obsessed, which is a fine line to take with a character, and tricky to make a character like that both realistic and likeable, but Cook pulls it off beautifully.

Along with her own personal struggles, this is an interesting exploration of the inner workings of celebrity life (on a number of different levels). I loved this line by her dancing partner, Ilya, who is trying to get her out of her funk:  "He shrugged. 'Whatever comes at you, it's all energy. You have to take it and make it work for you. My best dances come from that place.'"  A great, realistic novel about a woman in transition with just enough humor to make it endearing as well. 

Carry the One by Carol Anshaw (2012)

A strange, meditative, but quite engaging, novel. 

A group of friends and family are involved in a car accident that results in the death of a young girl. This is not a "I Know What You did Last Summer" sort of novel, but more a novel that takes this crucial act as the springboard for following these friends and the paths their lives take after the incident. Explores their work and artistic lives, and their romantic lives as well.

Lovely, with some wonderful writing on life. I loved this quote, as divorced Carmen rejects a man who hasn't even approached her yet:

"The social road ahead looked like a bleak highway, post-apocalyptic, overblown with dust, gray and lifeless except for mutants popping up here and there." 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (2012)

Fascinating young adult novel about a young woman working as a secret agent who is captured by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France, and her friend, a pilot working with the civilian air force.

Divided into two parts, the first unfolds as a written confession, but all is not as it seems. The second follows the pilot after crash landing in France. Gripping, suspenseful, and chilling, this is a great story of friendship, but also of parts of World War II that we don't necessarily always hear about.