Need some cozy winter reading?

When I was on my way back from the West this summer I stopped in Asheville NC to visit my long lost friend Lindsay, to take a breather from the road and to eat something that wasn't Crackerbarrel (not that there's anything wrong with that...) While I was there I discovered Asheville as being a very beautiful little city, sorta like Burlington but with a more dense downtown, and from what I saw, a lack of the sprawl we're starting to develop (Williston, s. Burlington) Lindsay told me about the different venues, a lot of country and bluegrass gets played - and then took me to her little bungalow (which is truly the best one word to describe it) which she shared with her lovely girlfriend, and another couple. They took me and A (who made the trip with me) to the grocery store, and for a walk along the banks of the swannanoa river that ran through the Campus of Warren Wilson college. It was a gorgeous Carolina day, and people were swimming in and walking their dogs, and I can remember thinking that I was so over joyed for Lindsay that she had found a place of her own, where she could be happy. We all went back to the bungalow, which sat on a hill, with other small houses (apparently this used to be a very poor, black area, and now is a very poor white and black and yellow and brown area...) and had a stunning view of downtown Asheville. We set out to making a very healthy, delicious meal the first I had had In a few weeks, afterwards we sat out on their backporch, listened to the radio and drank beer after sweet cold beer.

what was the point of this story... Oh yeah, the book... the next morning when we woke up to hit the road again, I found a copy of this book sitting on the kitchen table with a little note stuck on it, telling me that I should take it, cause it was great reading - Emily (Lyndsay's girlfriend) had just finished it and love it. There was an inscription in it that read. "For Tanner and Adrienne: yah for Magic!" So I took it, and started reading it when I got back into Burlington, but alas, I put it down as I do many books in the summer, not for any disinterest, the book is amazing, but just because, hey it's summer time.

But now it's the winter, almost - and I'm eyeing my 1000+ page copy with growing interest, and thinking that soon will be the time to crack it back open and continue. And I guess, this is my recommendation to anyone out there that enjoys a really good yarn - they say it's "Harry Potter mixed with Jane Austin" I couldn't really say that is completely true, but if your a Potter fan like I am, and enjoy holing up on really cold nights and letting your imagination take you someplace fantastic and far away - I think this is a pretty safe bet.