Friends and Foes by Sarah Eden

 Philip Jonquil, Earl of Lampton is a gentleman who secretly works for the War Department.  One day as he is discussing plans to try to trap a Napoleonic traitor, a woman imposes on him, accusing him of taking her walking stick. Sorrel Kendrick deals with constant pain in her leg and hip ever since she was trampled by a horse two years earlier.  Her injury has dashed all her hopes of marriage and family, so she compensates with her sharp wit and tongue.  Philip and Sorrel end up being invited to the same house party for Christmas, and after another run-in proclaim war on each other.  Their warring devolves into flirting, and then to real attraction.  Just as a happy ending seems a possibility, Philips investigation throws both of them in mortal danger.

It is interesting that in the last period romance I read, A Beautiful Disguise, the woman overdresses and acts like a fashionista to cover up her role as a detective, but in this one it is the gentleman who dresses as a fop to cover up his investigative work. This book reminded me a lot, in concept, of The Scarlet Pimpernel. They are even set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Era. Of course, this one is not destined to be a timeless classic, but I enjoyed it well enough. The banter between Sorrel and Philip is entertaining, and I respected the fact that Sorrel is disabled, but still the love interest.  Good job being inclusive, Ms Eden.  This is the first in the series focusing on the Jonquil brothers, of which there are seven. I will probably end up reading more in the series. (269 p. 2012)

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

 A man awakens in the middle of a burned out patch in a meadow.   He doesn't know his name or where he is. He makes his way to a small peasant village and is captured by some of its residents. He finds pages from a damaged book and soon discovers that he has traveled to this land from another dimension. His memories of his past return slowly, and events in the small Medieval town become more complicated until he has to decide whether to try to return back to his own dimension or stay to help the privative people he is quickly becoming attached to.

This is one of Sanderson's few stand-alone books and was one of the four surprise books he wrote during the COVID pandemic.  One of Sanderson's great strengths is world building.  He always seems to find and interesting and novel settings and premises for his stories.  It was interesting to have the POV character slowly remember his past life and to see how his memories affected his opinion of himself.  One of the main conflicts in the book is the clash between modern society and primitive society. Despite all the technological advances of a future age, John, the main character, has not had a happy life, while the residents of the new dimension daily struggle just to stay alive, but seem to be happier.  This summary makes the book sound really serious, but there is plenty and humor and satire to be found.   I can see why so many of my family members enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books. (2023, 384 p)

A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White

 Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother, Yates, had an unusual upbringing in Edwardian England.  Their father loved amusements and supported a band of circus performers at their extensive estate.  His extravagant tastes in entertainment left Marigold and Yates financially bankrupt at his death, so used the acrobatic and performance skills they learned growing up to become secretive private investigators for the wealthy. Sir Merritt Livingstone works for the War Office and is investigating a leak in their organization that is giving Germany sensitive information. When a prolonged battle with pneumonia makes it hard for him to continue his investigation he hires "The Imposters"--the Fairfax's agency-- to help him. The investigation leads Livingston to Marigold's village, but Livingston doesn't know that the Fairfax siblings are "The Imposters". Can Marigold protect her identity, and her heart, while helping Livingston catch the spy?

The premise for this book, English aristocrats who are trained as circus performers, was a bit of a stretch.  It was an interesting premise, but I kept feeling like I had to suspend disbelief to make it work in my mind.  Still, I enjoyed the book.  I don't think there has been a single Roseanna White book I haven't liked.  I like that her characters rarely act stupidly.  I appreciate that she can come up with conflicts in a relationship that need to be resolved that don't result from repeated miscommunication.  I think to many of these clean romance writers depend on miscommunication too much to add the conflict in the relationship, and it is kind of the easy way out.  Coming up with a plot that involves real conflict that has to be resolved is trickier and White usually pulls it off brilliantly. (2023, 368 p) 

The Servant by James Hunter

 Mr. Hunter has couched his approach to leadership in a long, rather stilted story of a troubled businessman who attends a retreat at a monastery and, in a group session with five other stock characters, figures out the real road to happiness and success. His theory is based on principles found in the New Testament, specifically in Paul's chapter about charity.  He painstaking shows how living with charity toward both family and co-workers will improve leadership skills. 

I'm sorry,  I probably could have come up with a more positive summary than that.  I actually thought the James Hunter's ideas about being a servant leader where spot on.  In an introduction Hunter explains how happy and amazed he is that his parable has been so successful and well recognized in the business world.  If that is true, he has done a good work in the world. It is a good leadership handbook, but, alas, it is terrible literature. It was super painful to listen to. The conversations between the characters are totally unnatural and stilted. Different characters spontaneously spout quotes from a huge variety of sources, complete with accurate reference, and make wise and witty comments.  The characters, themselves, are paper cutouts: the hardnosed sergeant, the compassionate nurse, the world weary school principal, the cheery priest and the jaded businessman.  I would have enjoyed the book so much more if Hunter had just talked, straight out, about Servant Leadership, rather than trying to couch it in a totally fake story. Sigh. Still, I am not sorry I listened to it.  It gave me food for thought and some ideas about what I want to accomplish as the Management Round Table Vice Chair next year. (1998, 178 p.)

The Lost Letter by Mimi Matthews

 Sylvia Stafford was one of the jewels of London society and Sebastian Conrad was the second son of an earl destined for a career in the military when Sylvia caught his eye. Serious and socially awkward, it was hard for him to pursue Sylvia, but right before he was to ship off to India, it seemed that their relationship had advanced to an understanding.  Soon after he left, Sylvia's father committed suicide and Sylvia was forced to become a governess to support himself.  Meanwhile, Sebastian was seriously wounded in battle, and came back to England with a severely disfigured face. Both were living in quiet unhappiness when Sebastian's nosey sister convinced Sylvia to come and visit at her brother's estate. Can they overcome the tragedies of their past and have a hope for a brighter future?

I chose this as a filler book while I was waiting for some books I have on hold to come in. This is the first book I have read by Mimi Matthews, and I was pretty happy with it.  It is a very standard Victorian romance, but it is clean and decently written. I appreciated the fact that neither main character acted stupidly, though there was some frustrating miscommunications.  The story isn't very complex, a pretty standard Beauty and the Beast motif, but it is short and enjoyable enough that I put Ms. Matthews on my Clean Romance Writer's list and will probably try reading something else by her sometime in the future. (2017, 242 p.)

Great Courses: Charlemagne by Philip Daileader

Charlemagne is one of the historical figures that looms larger than life.  His father was a successful ruler, Pepin,  King of the Franks, but Charlemagne was able to expand his inherited kingdom to include almost all of the continental Europe. After his brilliant military victories, he instituted educational and civil reforms that have positively impacted Europe ever since. In this 12 lecture series, Dr. Daileader looks at Charlemagne's life and impact in several different categories, including his military successes, his leadership in the Carolingian Renaissance, his religious reforms and others. He finishes with a lecture about how Charlemagne's legacy has lived on into the modern day.

I have listened to several different Great Courses lecture series lately about the middle ages in Europe.  This is partly in preparation for my planned trip to Europe in the fall. I have enjoyed all the Great Courses classes I have listened to, but I must admit that is one wasn't my favorite.  It may be that I wasn't really in the mood for it, but it seemed a little more dry than the one I listened to about Italy or the one I listened to about the history of the Levant. I did learn a lot of new facts about Charlemagne and Europe in the Middle Ages.  For instance, I am embarrassed to admit I had always thought of Charlemagne as French since his name sounds French, but he was actually more German than French. I was also interested in the section about how he managed his family and his dynasty.  When I listened to the history of Italy, one of the big problems with Italian medieval leaders was that they had a hard time establishing heirs. Charlemagne seemed to manage his own dynasty better than most. I also found it interesting that one of the reasons Charlemagne was so successful is that Europe just happened to have several years of really good weather during his reign, increasing crop output and decreasing plague. This isn't a bad introduction to an impressive historical figure, but, as I said, a little bit boring in its presentation. (12 hr., 2023)

City Spies by James Ponti

 Sara Martinez is in Juvey because she hacked into the New York City foster care system to expose the corruption and abuse at her foster home. She is about to be sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention center when she is saved by a man who recruits her to join a elite group of teens who work for MI6. After a hasty training, Sara, now called Brooklyn, Cat, Rio, Paris and Sydney are off on a mission to protect an eccentric philanthropist from assassination by an powerful terrorist group. Posing as a high school students at an international climate control competition, they soon discover there is much more at risk at the conference than just one man's safety. 

This is a new book on the Battle of the Books list this year.  There have been a lot of "spy school" stories in the past.  It is interesting that Stuart Gibbs gives one of the "blibs" on the cover, since his Spy School series is one of the most well known and one that I liked the most. This one is OK.  The kids are likeable, and the plot has some good twists to it.  Everything is a bit over the top.  I don't think anyone, let alone a 13-year-old girl without any computer education, could do the kind of hacking she is supposed to be able to do.  There are some plot problems, too, but I don't know if kids would pick up on them. The story is fast paced and fun, so I am not that disappointed that it is on the Battle of the Books list this year. I may even read the next in the series some day. (2020, 384 p)

The Many Assassinations of Samir, Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri

 A young orphan flees from some angry monks from a monastery where he had been working as an errand boy.  He is saved by a traveling merchant, Samir, who buys him from the monks for the value of six lengths of cloth. Samir calls the boy Monkey, since he wears a monk's robe, and together they travel along the Silk Road with a caravan of interesting tradesmen and women. Monkey soon figures out that his new master is not always honest in his transactions, and as a result, there are a lot of people who want to kill him.  Monkey has to decide how far he will go to help Samir in hopes of winning his own freedom. 

This is one of the Newbery Honor books this year.  I must give the committee credit for choosing something original and unique.  The setting is interesting; the Silk Road trading route in the middle ages. The author includes a note in the end explaining what the Silk Road was and how much of the setting and the ethnic groups represented were based on history.  The thing that makes the story really work, though,  are the characters of Samir and Monkey. Samir is a trickster character, but a loveable one.  He always has a good story to tell, and sometimes shows surprising willingness to forgo an advantageous trade to help someone out.  It is fun to watch Monkey slowly switch from being a self-righteous monk's apprentice to learning the art of the bargain, and, when needed, the hasty escape. I can't say I was as impressed with this book as I was with the other Newbery Honor I read recently, Simon Sort of Says, but I do appreciate that it wasn't just another social issues book. (2023, 224 p.)

The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake

 When Nora was a small child, she was the only one of her family to survive a pandemic.  Taken home by the doctor who found her, and taken in by his housekeeper, she is raised as the doctor's ward. Dr. Croft is a leader in his field of surgery, and Nora soon learns that the only way she can get his attention is to be helpful to him as he works.  As the years pass, she learns so much from watching him that she becomes useful to him in his clinic, and even during the clandestine dissections he does in the dead of night. Neither Nora or Dr. Croft care that by helping him she is breaking all Victorian convention, and even the law. They don't care, that is, until Dr. Croft takes on a young doctor as an apprentice. Daniel Gibson at first can't understand Nora's role in the household. Once he does, he is at first appalled, then curious, and finally impressed with Nora's knowledge and skill. He understands better than even Croft the need to keep what she does a secret, but a late night emergency forces things out into the open.  Can their budding relationship survive the outrage they face from society?

This is not your Hallmark style historical romance. The author seems to enjoy describing the most gruesome Victorian medical practices she can include with vivid detail. Definitely not for the medically squeamish. If you can stomach descriptions of amputations, and mothers hemorrhaging in child birth than the rest of the book is really quite good.  The characters are fully drawn and the historical setting is fascinating. I was especially interested when the doctor is first introduced to ether as an anesthetic.  He gets very excited about the new substance, but doesn't know what to do with it, so he ends up using himself and Nora as test subjects. I also liked the fierce rivalry between opposing factions in the large teaching hospital. I enjoyed the book, but I must admit all the bloody medical scenes did disrupt my sleep this week.  Nevertheless I am not opposed to reading more from this author. (384, 2021)

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

 Gwenda has moved to England after having grown up in New Zealand.  Her husband, Giles, has tasked her with finding a home for them, and she is drawn to a little town in the country.  She finds a home and is surprised that it feels familiar.  After moving in she starts having memories of that very home.  Some are positive, but a few are very disturbing.  They team up with Miss Marple, and soon discover that Gwenda had actually lived in the very house she has purchased for a year with her father and stepmother. As they dig into Gwenda's past, they begin to believe that Gwenda's stepmother did not run off with a lover, as many believed at the time, but was, instead, murdered.  Which of the men from the poor woman's life committed the evil deed?

I was delighted to find a Miss Marple book that I hadn't read before. Miss Marple is my favorite of the Christie sleuths. The plot is nicely constructed, and the ending decently surprising. Christie is the master of red herrings, and is so good at dropping minor details that end up being major clues. The characters are not very dimensional, but the cleverness of the plot, and Miss Marple's charming personality makes up for it. There are reasons why Christie's books have never gone out of print. (1976, 256 p.)

Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

 Simon and his parents have just moved to Grin and Bear It Nebraska, near the large radio telescope. The town is a national radio quiet zone but Simon is glad none of his class mates have internet.  If they did and if they googled his name, Simon's biggest secret would be out and people would start acting all weird around him.  Simon makes friends with a girl named Agate who wants to fool the scientists at the radio telescope into thinking they are receiving a message from outer space. Simon goes along with her just because it is so nice to have a friends who doesn't know his secret. Simon is still dealing with trauma but Agate seems to understand that some things act as triggers for him and tries to support him when he has a panic attack. How far is Simon willing to go to keep his secret and make Agate happy, and what will it cost him?

This was one of the Newbery Honor books this year, and the award was well earned.  The books is a hearty mix of both humor and tenderness. Bow does a great job of portraying two vulnerable kids who are trying to get through life, and find it is better to do it together.  She also writes some really funny scenes that break up the heaviness of the topic of dealing with trauma. I also liked that fact that both Agate and Simon has two supportive parents.  That is so rare in middle grade fiction.  She also shows how Simon's near death experience traumatized his parents as well as him. I will be recommending this to kids who like stories like Wonder and Fish in a Tree. (2023, 320 p)