A Simple Wedding by Leigh Duncan

Jenny is the personal assistant to a Academy Award winning actress, Kay, who also happens to be her cousin.  When Kay gets engaged to her equally famous co-star, she sends Jenny to make the arrangements  Heart's Landing, a small town dedicated to making every bride get her ideal wedding. Kay makes Jenny promise to pretend to be the bride and hide the identity of the real couple getting married in order to avoid the paparazzi. As Jenny starts to interact with vendors, she develops friendship relationships with many of them, but especially with the baker, Nick, who has agreed to do the wedding cake. Sparks of attraction fly, but both try to suppress their feelings because Nick thinks Jenny is engaged. Things get even more complicated when Kay changes her plans, and Jenny is left to try to make excuses to all the vendors for difficult last minute adjustments. 

After finishing the Great Courses series, I decided to try something much lighter, and went with a contemporary clean romance.  I hadn't read anything from this author before and I didn't realize when I started that this book is published by Hallmark, and is very much like a Hallmark movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, I didn't end up liking the book very much.  The main thing that drove me crazy is that, with all Jenny's problems there was such a simple solution, but she wouldn't take it. In my mind I kept shouting, "Just tell the guy the truth, that you are arranging someone else's wedding."  But no, even though her bratty cousin was being totally manipulative and inconsiderate, Jenny stuck to her promise to impersonate a bride and keep her cousin's secret. Not only was it frustrating, it didn't really fit her personality.  It felt like the author was making her character do something out of character in order to make the plot work.  I am afraid Ms Duncan is not making it on my Favorite Clean Romance Writer's list. (2020, 300 p)

Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee

 Sebin (they/them) is a tiger spirit on one of the planets in the Thousand Realms.  He idolizes his uncle who is the commander of a Space Forces, they apply for space academy as soon as they are eligible. On the same day Sebin receives his acceptance letter, the clan leader receives a notice that Sebin's uncle has been accused of treason and is in hiding. Tiger Spirits have fierce loyalty to their clan, but when Sebin is called to choose between loyalty to his family and to his new commander and his new friends in Space Forces, it is not an easy choice to make.  He has always looked up to his uncle and has assumed he was wrongly accuse, but what if his uncle is not as honorable as Sebin always thought he was?

This is the second in the series that began with Dragon Pearl.  I liked that one when I read it clear back in 2022 and had decided to put the next on hold right away, but I guess I didn't.  When I finally listened to this one I must admit I had forgotten much of the story and characters of the first one and was a little lost starting out. B
y the end I had figured everything out and enjoyed the book, if not as much as Dragon Pearl, at least decently well.  The world building is interesting as is the magic structure, which is based on Korean mythology.  Sebin is a believable and sympathetic 13-year-old trying to live up to his family's expectations. That said, I thought the fact that Lee made Sebin non-binary and always referred to them as "them/they" was a little distracting.  Really, their sexual orientation had no bearing in the plot at all.  It seemed like it was only included in the book to pander to a publisher's pressure to create more LGBTQ literature. (256 p. 2022)

Great Courses: Great Minds of the Medieval World by Dorsey Armstrong

Dr. Dorsey is from Purdue University and has done several Great Courses videos on Medieval History.  In this one she focuses on 12 people who made great intellectual contributions during the middle ages. She groups them into categories.  First she talks about the early church fathers like Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory.  She then talks about other great Catholic philosophers like Bede, Thomas Aquinus, and Bernard of Clairvaux.  She spends several lectures talking about Moslem and Jewish scholars of the middle ages, and then finishes up with people who made contributions who were not religious leaders.  She is very knowledgeable, and has a pleasant presentation style. She covers the subject's lives mostly, but also touches on their main ideas and values.  

You who are my regular readers know that I love this kind of stuff.  When I was in college I studied Latin and Greek, but the time period I was most interested in was the early medieval period.  I had heard about almost all the people she talks about in this series, but it was fun to get more details about their lives, and to be reminded about their accomplishments. There were a couple I hadn't heard about before, particularly some of the people in her last section about late medieval nonreligious leaders. I kept hoping she would mention Peter Cantor, who was the person I did my honors thesis about, but no luck. (He was more like a tear two historical personality.) Listening to the Great Courses classes really does take me back to my college years.  (24 1/2 hour lectures, 2014)

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman

 Frances Wynn was an American Heiress who married an English Count in need of her money.  He was unfaithful and eventually died of a heart attack in his mistress's bed. Luckily, the prenuptial agreement allows Frances to keep her inheritance despite all her in-laws' attempts to seize it to bolster their failing finances. With a title and an fortune she decides to move to London where she is enlisted by her mother to host her sister, Lily, and sponsor her first London season.  As Lily starts to acquire potential suitors, there is also a rise of thefts among their social circle.  At the same time, an anonymous letter is sent to the police accusing Frances of murdering her husband. Luckily, she has a dashing next-door neighbor who happens to be her best friend's brother who is willing to help Frances investigate her husband's deaths, her sister's suitors (are they only fortune hunters) and the local thefts. 

After reading a couple of teen and tween fantasies it was fun to get back to my most frequently visited genre, clean historical romance.  This is a new author I haven't read before, and I ended up liking it pretty well.  The pacing is a little slow, and there are not the trilling instances of peril we found in Brentwood's Ward , but it suited the mood I was in.  Frances is clever and doesn't make the stupid mistakes some women characters in historical romances make.  The love interest, George Hazelton, is supportive and protective, but doesn't really play the role of "knight in shining armor."  They are more like a team and he allows Frances to take reasonable risks. This is the first of a series, so they are just starting their relationship.  I also thought Freeman did a decent job with portraying the complex social structure of the Ton. I will certainly be reading the second in the series at some point in the future. (2018, 272 p.)

Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston

 Amari Peters is back for her second summer at the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations, this time as a Junior Agent.  Her hopes for a fun summer with friends is soon dashed when a Merlin and other Bureau leaders are caught in a time bubble, and a magician hating wraith takes his place. Soon Amari is suspected of causing the time freeze, and turns to the illegal League of Magicians for help. She is dismayed when they divulge their plans to go to war with the Bureau and want her to be their leader. When she refuses, they choose someone much more dangerous, and to prevent all out war, she must compete against him in the Great Game. Meanwhile time is running out for her brother who is still under a curse, and for all the "unwanted" magical beings being targeted under the new Bureau leadership.  What is a 13 year old magician to do?

I enjoyed the first book in this series, but was a little disappointed that this one was so much like that one.  The plot was almost the same.  She is still trying to save her brother. She is still fighting against prejudice from above and below, and she still has to try to pass a series of magical tests in order to get what she wants.  It is an interesting magic system and the characters are drawn well enough that I finished the book.  Now I am trying to decide if I will read the next in the series when it comes out.  I am in the same place with this series as with the Spoken Mage series by Melanie Cellier.  Actually, they are very similar books, both about a girl with unusual powers overcoming prejudice to save the world. I don't feel super compelled to finish either series, but I probably will. (432 p. 2022)

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

 Tress lives as a window washer on an island surrounded by a green sea of spores. Her best friend, Charlie, is the son of a duke who pretends to be a gardener.  Her home is not perfect but she is content, until one day the Duke sees Tress and Charlie together and fears they are falling in love. The Duke whisks Charlie away to find him a royal bride, but when the Duke returns, he reports that Charlie has been taken by the Sorceress of the Black Sea. Although timid and polite, Tress decides she must try to rescue Charlie. She stows away on a ship and then falls in with some pirates. Faced with challenges including a cruel captain, dangerous spores, and mutinous shipmates, Tress gradually changes from a timid maiden to a force to be reconned with. 

Brandon Sanderson is hugely popular and successful as an author, and I am a little embarrassed to admit that up until this week I had only read his Alcatraz series. When this book came out with his four secret books that he wrote during the pandemic, I decided it would be a good first to try of his books written for teens-adults.  It was a lot of fun, and had a little of the same flavor as the Alcatraz series.  There was a big dose of silliness, and quite a bit of philosophizing, but that just made it more entertaining. The characters were diverse and interesting and the world and magic system were totally original. There were some characters in the book that were clearly from other books he had written in the same literary universe, and I felt a little adrift because I didn't know their backstory. He did include enough information that it didn't ruin the story not to know where they came from. My daughter assures me that some of his books from the Cosmere are more serious and gritty than this one.  Maybe some day I will read them.  As for now I am well pleased with this first taste of the Sanderson legacy.  (384 p. 2023)

Chalice by Robin McKinley

Mirasol lived a quiet life, keeping her forest and tending her bees until the day she was called upon to be Chalice to the new master of the Willowlands.  The new master had been human once, the second son of the old master, but had been sent away by his brother to train as a fire elemental priest. Now that he has returned, he lives partially in fire and partially in the world.  Most of the people are afraid of him, but Mirasol can sense that he is slowly making connections with the land lines that run under and through the Willowlands and they are starting to heal after years of neglect from his older brother.  It is now the Chalice's job to help the circle of elders to see that the new master is not only the best, but the only choice they have to make their home whole again. 

After reading What the River Knows, this book was a breath of fresh air.  The characters are interesting and sympathetic,  and they grow and develop over the course of the story. The magic system is also interesting, original, and stays (mostly) consistent through the story.  The characters succeed because they are trying their hardest to do what is right, even when their tasks seem hopeless. There is nobility, friendship, and sacrifice for the greater good. My only complaint is that I think she tied the end up a little too fast. She maybe needed one more chapter to show that the happy ending we were all hoping for made sense in the world she had built.  Still, I really enjoyed this book and affirm my belief that Robin McKinley is one of the great clean fantasy writers. (2009, 272 p.)

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

 17 year old Inez lives with her aunt and cousin in Buenos Aires half of the year while her archeologist parents work at digs in Egypt. Inez's aunt tries to raise her as a proper 1800's aristocrat, but Inez is too interested in the magical objects her parents bring back from their excavations. When Inez receives word that her parents have disappeared, she abandons all propriety and boards a steam ship to Egypt.  Once there, she confronts her uncle and his infuriatingly handsome but often inebriated assistant Wit. They try to send her home on the next boat, but she evades their efforts and is soon caught up in the shadowy world of the Egyptian artifact trade. Her uncle is sometimes harsh, and sometimes kind. Wit is both annoying and charming, and they are both hiding something. Inez does not know whom to trust. 

I can't remember why I put this book on hold.  I think a patron recommended it to me because she knew I read historical romances.  On Good Reads people either hate this book or love this book.  I must admit I am on the "hate" side of the scale.  I didn't hate it, but I thought it was a bit of a slog.  For one thing, it is ridiculously long.  It would have been a better book if it had about 1/3 edited out.  Secondly, there was absolutely no character development.  The author was clearly caught up in the setting and plot, and forgot to make the characters interesting. Third, the magic system was a bit shaky.  Ibanez seems to be making it up as she goes along, and it isn't internally consistent. Lastly, the ending, after 17 hours of meandering narrative, was a totally unsatisfying cliffhanger.  I considered giving up on the book 4 hours in, but I didn't have anything else in my cue that was available. I kind of wish I had.  (416 p. 2023)