The Princess Fugitive by Melanie Cellier

After Ava's plans to marry Prince Maximillian of Arcadia and then take over his country fail, Ava returns home to Rangmeros in disgrace.  Little does she understand how far she has fallen from grace in her family's eyes until she narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.  With the help of a trusted guard she escapes to the woods. After joining a merchant caravan for a while, Ava goes in search of the High King to beg him to help her regain her rightful place. Once she finds him, however, her life changes more than she could have imagined. 

Cellier calls this a "reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood," but the connection to the old fairytale is pretty minimal.  There are references to wolves, woodmen, and grandmothers, but they occur mostly in dreams and metaphores.  With very little tweeking it could easily have been made to be a retelling of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.  That said, this is a fresh and fairly original kind of Princess story.  At the beginning Ava is a mercinary puppet of her crewl father.  During the course of the story she graduatlly changes to becoming the kind and benevolent ruler her kingdom needs.  I don't know if the author intended, but it also has subtle Christian undertones.  I think I liked it even better than the first in the series and look forward to reading more.  (336 p. 2016)

When Mercy Rains by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Suzanne Zimmerman was pushed out of her mother's home, and their conservative Amish community, when she was found to be pregnant outside wedlock.  She never returned home, but stayed true to her roots by becoming a nurse in Amish mission hospital.  She tried to do her best as a single mother, and her daughter grew up to be a well mannered and spiritual young adult.  19 years after leaving, Suzanne is called back home to take care of her mother who has become a paraplegic. Her daughter, eager to meet the family she has never known, begs to come with her.  Most of Suzanne's family do not know the real reason Suzanne left, and none know the true story that has kept Suzanne separated from her family and community all these years.

So, there is a whole subgenre of literature based on ultra-traditional religious groups like the Amish and Mennenites. We have at least two rather lenghthy series in my little library in the Religious Fiction section, so I thought I would try one out.  It is a sensitive look at a family trying to heal old wounds.  I kept expecting there to be a romance, but there isn't one.  The pacing is a little slow, but I appreciated that the author aknowleged that deep family rifts don't heal over-night.  It was an uplifting read, but not a very gripping or exciting one.  I am not sure if I will read another one soon.  (2014, 334 p)

Who Was: Six Scientists and Inventors (various authors)

 This is a compilation (available on Overdrive) of six of the popular children's Who Was biographies of famous scientists and inventors.  This collection has biographies on Neil Armstrong, Marie Curie, Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, Jane Goodall, and Steve Jobs. Hat's off to the publisher that started this series of Biographies, that are long enough for reports, but written in an engaging enough way so that young readers can actually get through them. Each covers the high points of the subject's careers, but also tries to suggest a little about personality. I must admit I learned some new facts about these amazing people.  For example, I didn't know that Jane Goodall was not trained as a scientist when she started studying the gorillas.  I didn't realize that Steve Jobs was more the idea and marketing man behind Apple, instead of a technical innovator.  After having read several adult books in a row, it was kind of pleasant to read something simple and interesting.  (2016, about 6 hrs listening time total)

Sweet Masterpiece by Connie Shelton

Samantha Sweet is a average looking, 50-something who works for the government, but dreams of owning her own bakery.  One day as she is cleaning out an abandoned home for the USDA she meets a dying woman who gives her a strange, roughly carved box.  When she touches the box it glows slightly, feels warm, and infuses her with energy.  She needs all the energy she can get when later that week she gets mixed up with a mystery surrounding the death, (possible murder) of a famous artist. As she tries to untangle fact from fiction in the case, she finds herself getting tangled up with a handsome police detective. 

This was kind of an odd little mystery.  It is definitely in the "cozy mysteries" genre, complete with detailed descriptions of Samantha's baking exploits, but the supernatural element adds a bit of novelty. The main drawback is that Samantha is not above a night of fairly casual sex, but there is no description of the event, so that, at least is good.  I am still debating whether to read any more in the series. (2010, 244 p)

Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate

 Rill Foss and her four siblings live with loving parents on a houseboat on the Mississippi in the 1930's.  On the night her mother goes into labor with twins, a police officer catches Rill and her sisters and brother and take them to the Tennessee Children's Home Society.  They think they are just staying there until their mom gets back from the hospital, but there is something much more sinister going on. 

Two generations later, Avery Stafford is being groomed to replace her father, whose health is failing, as a state representative. She meets a woman during a nursing home photo op that looks very much like her grandmother, and has a picture of her grandmother as a young woman.  As Avery starts to investigate the uncanny coincidence, she starts to unearth secrets about her family's past that some may wish to keep buried. 

This book was on the top of the e-book charts a few years ago. It is a well written and intriguing historical fiction based on an actual scandal.  Hundreds of children in the 1930's-1950's were stolen from their poor families and groomed and then sold to wealthy families.  Those who were unsalable were often just killed.  Wingate resists the temptation of painting the wealthy families as evil or wicked because they participated in human trafficking.  Often the adoptive families were just as much victims of the Society's deceit as the children were. Nothing is black and white, and it is the complicated nuance that makes the book fascinating and compelling. Part mystery, part tragedy and part romance, there is good reason it was such a hit (2017, 342 p.)

Lifelike by Sheila Nielson

 Although only 16, Wren has already had a rough life.  She had been battling Leukemia, and had gotten to the point that no further treatments would prolong her life, when her family was in a car accident and were all killed.  Now she is living out her last months with an eccentric aunt who has just purchased an old Victorian mansion that has been converted into a doll museum. The museum is a popular tourist attraction, both because of the dolls and because it is rumored to be haunted. As soon as Wren arrives at the museum she learns about a young man, Xavier, who used to live in the house, who has accused of murdering his niece before dying, himself, in a terrible fire. Wren senses the ghosts in the museum, and begins to believe that Xavier's ghost is benevolent. As her connection with Xavier's ghost grows, she goes on a crusade to prove that he was the innocent victim of a different malevolent force.  Unfortunately, that evil force also haunts the museum, and wants to stop Wren from learning its secrets.

This is Ms Nielson's third teen fiction, and, like the others, is great fun to read.  Wren is, despite all her trials, a plucky character who faces ghosts, and her own mortality, with aplomb.  I really like Wren's voice. She sounds like a real teen and you can almost hear her roll her eyes sometimes.  Like any good suspense writer, Nielson intersperses the tense scenes with funny ones so the story doesn't get too intense too soon.  I think teens who liked her earlier books, and also those who like other clean paranormal romances will enjoy this one.  (2020, 338 p.)

The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier

 Allyssa grew up as a woodcutter's daughter with 4 brothers.  At 17 she decides to leave home and get a job with her aunt who lives in the country's capital and runs a prosperous inn.  On the way, however, she gets lost in a storm and ends up coming across the royal family's winter palace.  At first they think she is a lost princess, and invite her to sleep in a special "princess chamber"  but she soon informs them of her true status. They keep her on as a companion and playmate for the two 11-year-old princesses.  Life with the royal family isn't all fun and games, and there is even danger from those who would like to see their small kingdom gobbled up by a stronger neighbor.  To keep the country safe, prince Maximilian must make a marriage of alliance. Allyssa comes to be torn between her desire to help the royal family she loves, and her urge to flee a growing attraction to the man she knows she can never have. 

I just stumbled across this one when I was trying to find a new book  to read in a hurry.  It turned out to be pretty good.  I have read a lot of fairytale-retellings, but very few about the story of the Princess and the Pea (this is not a spoiler, it tells you as much in the preface).  Cellier does a great job with it, focusing on the court intrigue and character development, with only a small hint of any magic element. I loved the fact that in the end it is Allyssa's intelligence and willingness to do the hard research that saves the day. Plus, the romantic relationship develops over a matter of months, not in one day or a week. Cellier has written a bunch of other fairytale-retellings.  I definitely plan to read more. (333p. 2016)

What Once Was Lost by Kim Vogle Sawyer

Christina Willems has taken over running the poor farm in late 1800's Kansas.  When the farmhouse catches fire, no one is hurt, but Christina scrambles to find homes for herself and the residents until the house can be rebuilt.  The last child to find a home is the blind boy, Tommy.  The only one who will take him in is the handsome but reclusive mill owner, Levi.  As Christina's problems multiply she is surpized to find that Levi steps in to help out.  She wonders what has made him a loner, and marvels at how Tommy blooms with a positive male rolemodel. As one challenge follows another, Christina wonders if the poor farm will ever be rebuilt, and her life return to normal.  She also begins to wonder if she wants it to.

Ok, here is another historical Christian romance.  I would say it was above average.  Yes, it is sappy and meladramatic, but the writing is pretty good otherwise and the characters are likeable and believable. No world class bronco riders or crazy rich English dukes here.  I think I need to put Ms Sawyer on my prefered historical romance writers list. (359 p. 2013)

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

 Alex Cross is a detective with the Washington DC Police Department.  Just a he is about to join his family for a traditional reading of the Christmas Story in the book of St Luke, he gets called into work to handle a hostage crisis.  A man who used to be a high-powered lawyer has come back to the home of his ex-wife and is threatening her, her new husband, and his kids.  Alex hates missing Christmas with his family, but knows he has the skills to try to talk the guy down.  Then later Christmas night, there is a terroist attack on a train station.  Alex has to make some tough choices to save Washington DC from an unspeakable crime.

After reading Ali Cross, and seeing how Alex Cross is portrayed as a decent and even religious man, I thought that I might read an Alex Cross book and see if it is cleaner than the other adult Patterson books I have tried to read before.  So... it was a little better than some other Patterson books, but it is no "cosy mystery" by any measurement. It still has depictions of aberrant sex, child abuse, both physical and psychological, and a pretty high body count.  The way it differs from other Patterson books I have attempted to read is in the degree of detail.  It mentions these things, but there are no lengthy descriptions of either ludeness or wading through oceans of blood.  Also, Cross is portrayed as a decent, religious, family man who struggles with the wickedness he sees in the world.  Still, I probably won't be revisiting the series. (2016, 320 p)