Spirits, Spells and Caramel by Rachel Beattie

Veronica Swan is trying to be a private detective in a small town but her biggest case is to discover who is sabotaging the ex-mayor's pumpkin patch. Even with that simple case, she isn't making much headway.  As Halloween approaches, her friend plans a big party in the local diner.  All the town is invited, and everything is going great, until the ex-mayor is found, dead, in the back ally. Suddenly the sabotaged pumpkin patch seems much more sinister. Veronica works with the handsome sheriff, Seth Foster, to suss out suspects, look for motives, and find clues. 

This is a short, self-published cozy mystery, and it was OK.  The different personalities in the little town were interesting and...well...cozy.  I didn't realize when I checked this out that it is the fourth in a series, each of which is set at a different holiday. I was just looking for a Halloween themed mystery on Libby and it popped up. It didn't really matter. There didn't seem to be an overarching plot that was important to the story that I had missed by not reading the other books. The mystery plot was weak and the solution was revealed in a very cliche way.  I don't think in real life murderers confess simply because of an over active conscious. It didn't seem like the main character, Veronica, actually did much to solve the mystery or even encourage the confession.  She was just along for the ride. Still, the dialog was better than the last mystery I read, and it was entertaining enough that I finished it, even though I was reading it on my kindle rather than listening to it.  (120 p. 2025) 

Cowboy PI by Clair Poulson

 Ken Jensen has just completed six years as military investigator and is eager to start the next part of his life.  He wants to ride broncs in the rodeo circuit, but he knows that isn't a great long-term career plan. When a local private investigator, Dallas Walsh, offers to hire him as an assistant, he jumps at the opportunity.  Dallas is trying to investigate some cattle rustlers but their case soon turns into a murder mystery when a body is found at one of the ranches. Ken befriends a local waitress, Kamry, who is the daughter of one of the victimized ranchers, and soon romance blooms between the two young people. But life is not all a bed of roses. Soon the rustlers become more bold and Ken and Kamry find themselves dodging bullets. 

I started to listen to a different book, but I found it too heavy and depressing, so I turned to Clair Poulson.  I can always find an available title by Poulson, and the stories are predictable and nonoffensive.  I have written about Poulson before.  His writing is totally B- level, especially the dialog, but I find it fun that the settings in his books are in my home state, and are places I recognize. I also like the systematic way that Poulson characters work through a case, checking out all the suspects, going to their homes and interviewing them, carefully gathering evidence and working with local law enforcement. These books are written with a male POV and the romances are really simplistic. There is never any real relationship conflict, and both characters grow to care for each other at the same time and rate. Of course, there is always a happy ending, despite the body count. (240 p. 2022) 

When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin

Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent in Munich in 1938.  She becomes frustrated when her chauvinistic boss keeps heavily editing her articles, and giving her "softball" assignment.  During one of those assignments she meets Peter Lang, an American graduate student, teaching at the University of Munich and working on his dissertation in linguistics.  Peter is disillusioned by the depression in America, and sees the progress Germany has made since the end of WWI.  Evelyn is frustrated that he refuses to see the injustices perpetrated against the Jews until they hit too close to home. As violence escalates, they both realize that it is no longer safe for them in Germany, and decide to make a desperate escape. Evil forces pursue them, and they learn to rely on each other to make it through. 

This is the second book by Sundin that I have listened too, and it was also very good.  I think Sarah has earned her way onto my exclusive list of Clean Romance Writers. (congrats, Sarah!) I appreciated that in this book Sundin suggests why Germans would have been interested in Hitler and also how ex-patriot Americans could have been caught up in what was happening in Germany in the 30s on both sides of the issue.  I think she did a good job with the characters, especially Evelyn who had to struggle to get over her distrust of men due to abuses of past boyfriends. It was also fun to get a preview of Paul Aubrey who is the main love interest in the first Sundin book I read. I look forward to trying more Sundin books. (372 p. 2021)

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

 Hannah is embarrassed that she can't fit into the regency gown her mother bought her for her mother's book launch party. With the help and encouragement of her size-six sister, Hannah starts a crash diet and exercise program to try to lose 10 lbs. in 2 weeks. At the gym she encounters a workout instructor from her worst nightmares, the young and sexy Ronni Ward who seems to have had dalliances with every eligible bachelor in Lake Eden.  When Hannah finds the blond bombshell dead in the gym's jacuzzi, all Lake Eden's top detectives are taken off the case because of their "personal" involvement with the victim.  It is up to Hannah and her cadre of female helpers to find out who killed Ronni, in order to exonerate their dubiously faithful partners. 

I haven't listened to a Joanna Fluke novel is quite some time, and I enjoyed this one.  Yes, they are formulaic.  Yes, the story is formulaic, and Hannah's relationships with the two men of interest in her life are moving forward at glacial speeds, but the mystery plot is well enough crafted, and the characters of Lake Eden are, by this book eleven in the series, pleasantly familiar. I am not ready to go on a Hannah Swenson binge or anything, but listening to this book was a nice diversion during a busy week. (2009, 310 p.)

Snoop by Gordon Korman

Carter's parents are always telling him that he spends too much time looking at his phone or computer.  His screen addition leads to an accident and Carter is stuck at home for weeks with two broken legs.  During recovery, his parents take away his phone, but allow him to use his computer to join his classes via Zoom. He thinks he will go crazy until he discovers there is a website where he can watch live footage from the city's security cameras. Soon he caught up in the day to day drama he sees on the camera: a park mom with a bratty toddler, a couple of cafe owners playing tricks on each other in an underhanded feud and his school crush flirting with his arch enemy (ugh).  Then one day he sees something he can't easily believe, an endangered animal from another country running free in his small town.  He calls the police, and tries to talk to adults but no-one believes him.  How can a boy with two broken legs hope to stop a despicable crime ring if nobody listens to him?

I haven't read a Gordon Korman book is some time.  I have generally liked Korman's books, and this one is OK, but probably not my favorite.  It was a little too far fetched for me. Would a kid really get two broken legs the way he did? (I won't spoil by explaining more). Would a smuggling ring really be so inept that their animals kept getting out of their enclosures?  Would no one really not notice the smell from the building and not go to check it out?  I guess it is a fun story if you are willing to suspend belief, and I think a lot of kids would enjoy it, but it is not one I would recommend to my brightest students. (208 p. 2025)

Doing Small Things with Great Love by Sharon Eubank

 Sharon Eubank worked for Latter-day Saints Charities from 1998 until this year.  During that time she served on the Relief Society General Board, and has served as the director of Latter-day Saints Charities since 2011. She has seen how humanitarian aid efforts both work and don't work in a variety of settings and cultures.  This short non-fiction book acts like an introduction to humanitarian aid principles and includes exercises and thought questions at the end of each chapter.  Some of her main points are: it it is better to meet needs locally than from outside of communities, real solutions must be locally sustainable, it is wrong to think that you know how to solve someone else's problems, and sometimes well intentioned efforts have bad outcomes. 

I have often wondered when I have been part of a "service project" whether we the project really served the intended recipients, or merely made the "servers" feel good about themselves.  A lot of what Ms Eubank said in this book confirmed that fear. Although she gave lots of good suggestions about how to make humanitarian aid better, I did not really leave the book feeling motivated or encouraged about improving my own contribution to the world. Her approach seems overwhelming to me because of my insecurities and reserve. Showing people great love is hard because I never know if my efforts come across as caring or annoying.  I do feel grateful that the Latter-day Saints Charities is doing so much good work in the world.  (240 p.  2025)

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

 Lucie Girard, though American by birth, has studied as a ballet dancer in Paris since she was ten years old. When Nazi's descend on Paris, she makes the difficult decision to leave her position in the ballet and buy her Jewish friends' bookstore so they will have enough money to flee the country. She is initially charmed by a wealthy American industrialist who brings his daughter to the bookstore's weekly story time, especially when she finds out he is a widower. Then she discovers that his factory has agreed to make delivery trucks for the Germans. Lucie dislikes the invasion of the Germans so much she agrees to allow her bookstore to be a "mail drop" for the resistance movement.  After mourning his wife for two years, Paul Aubrey is surprised with the growing interest he feels in the petite American who owns the bookstore. She has made her feelings about his collaboration with the Germans abundantly clear, and he is unable to tell her that his cooperation with them is only a front to cover his own resistance activities. Can their mutual love for Paul's creative four-year-old daughter overcome the distrust they feel for each other?  As tensions between the French and the Germans rise, they can no longer deny that God has brought them together for a reason.

Here is a new Christian historical romance writer I decided to try out.  I am impressed, but I want to read one more book by her before I add her to my coveted "Clean Romance Writers" list. The story had good plotting and quite a bit of suspense near the end. The characters are charming and Sundin does a good job showing how the stress of working in secret for the resistance wears on them. The book wasn't based on any real story, and doesn't, I think, quite have the historical detail that other of the WWII novels I have read, but Sundin has a nice light touch with the religious elements. It is good enough that I am eager to try something else written by this author. (2022, 416 p)

Halloween Party Murder by Leighann Dobbs

 Juniper Holiday is know for throwing the best Halloween party around. As she and her goddaughter, Victoria, make the final preparations for the spook ally in the guest house, they check the casket they borrowed from the mortuary and discover it contains a real dead body.  Juniper resigns herself to calling the local inspector, Desmond Mallard, who is as handsome as a male model but as boring as dry toast. As he starts to investigate, Juniper, with the help of her ghost and werewolf friends, decides she wants to solve the mystery before Inspector Mallard does. Her motivations are twofold; bragging rights, and because she is one of Mallard's prime suspects. 

I picked this book while I was working on a long and tedious task and needed something new to listen to in a hurry.  I thought, how fun, a Halloween book. In the end, it was squarely in the B to B- range.  The dialog is awkward and there never is any explanation why, halfway through the book, we discover that Juniper speaks to ghosts and is friends with werewolves. It is labeled as the first in a series, but I wonder if there wasn't one before it that introduced these "little" details. The upside of the book is that it is really short.  It is self-published but somehow it is available in audio on Libby, so there is hope out there for you Amazon publishing writers.  It wasn't terrible and didn't have anything objectionable in it, so if you want a very fast, very shallow, Halloween themed book, go for it. (2022, 170 p) 

Legacy of Roses by Melanie Cellier

 Rosalie lives in a small village that is under a Legacy.  It was once the location of the story of Beauty and the Beast, and some power in the village wants to keep reenacting the story. When a minor royal moves into what was the Beast's castle, Rosalie, as the daughter of a merchant who had recently had a reversal of fortune, know that she is a prime candidate to play the female lead in the Legacy's reenactment. Her life is further complicated by an ex-boyfriend who suddenly shows us and sees a way to profit from the Legacy's attempts to get the prince, Dimitri, and Rosalie to fall in love. Rosalie doesn't want to get caught up in the story, and begs Dimitri to leave, but he has recently lost his other family members and has no where else to go.  Rosalie doesn't know what terrible thing will happen if she fights the power of the Legacy, but going along with is isn't a good option either, is it?

After I finished my last book I was at a total loss on what to read next. It occurred to me that I hadn't listened to a Melanie Cellier book for a while, so I searched to see what was available.  Cellier has an enviable challenge.  She writes fairytale retellings, but she has been so successful that she ran out of stories to retell.  This is a different approach to the genre, and it turned out well enough. This is the first in a series, but she just expects the reader to accept the concept of the Legacy. We don't know where it came from or why it wants to recreate stories. I wonder if she will explore that more in subsequent books in the series, or if we are just to accept it as an axiom, and read on from there. I am actually Ok with that. Not every author is as careful and tight with magic systems as Brandon Sanderson after all. :) It looks like the next one is a Cinderella retelling and the third is Sleeping Beauty.  I don't know if I will read either of them or not. (2024, 428 p.)

Great Courses: What Darwin Didn't Know by Professor Scott Solomon

Charles Darwin is famous as the father of the idea of genetic evolution, but there was a lot about evolution that Darwin didn't ever know.  In this 24 lecture series Dr. Solomon illuminates the discoveries made since Darwin's Origin of Species that have confirmed and expanded our understanding of how evolution really works in nature and in our lives. He starts by explaining the basic premises of evolution, and then explores how the field has expanded. He uses a lot of examples of how evolution has favored changes in plant, animal, and microorganisms. He ends the series by projecting how evolution will affect the future of both the biome and the human species. 

Dr. Solomon lectures at a level that I, as a college graduate, was able to follow without much problem.  He uses a lot of interesting examples from nature that are amazing and sometimes bizarre. That being said, it was a little more dry than some of the Great Courses lectures I have learned.  Or maybe, I am just not as interested in the hundreds of species of ants as a I am about, say, the history of Europe. I think the lectures would have been more engaging if I had been able to see the visuals.  Still, I made it though 12 hours of it without feeling tempted to stop. This would be a good series to listen to if you were about to take a college biology class and wanted a quick brush-up on your science facts. (12 hrs. 2020)

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner

 Finn Connelly, dealing with grief over the death of his father, goes to a cemetery and kicks over a headstone.  He is caught, of course, and is given a choice.  His family can come up with the $2000 needed to repair the broken headstone, or he can commit to climbing all 46 high peaks in the Adirondack mountain range near his house in the course of one summer. He knows his family can't afford the $2000 so he agrees to the climbing challenge. He is not thrilled, at first, that he is required to take the pet dog of the diseased woman whose grave he vandalized with him on the hikes. Nor is he happy that he will have "hiking nannies" to go along with him on each hike.  During the summer, the time with caring adults, experiences in nature and time to process his father's death, heal him more than he could have imagined. 

This is a book I chose on a whim. I remembered that it got a lot of attention when it was published a few years ago at the end of the Covid Pandemic. I didn't realize when I started it that it deals with the long term PTSD that first responders to the 9-11 attacks had to deal with.  It ended up being a good way to reflect on that event just after its 25 anniversary. Messner is an amazing author. She has a really good pre-teen male voice, and Finn is sympathetic without ever being sappy. She also does a great job describing nature and the specific hikes mentioned in the book, Messner herself being a "46 Peaker." If you want a heart warming story of a boy dealing with loss, you can't go wrong here. (2023, 368 p.) 

Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer

Crocket Archer took over the care of his brother's spiritual welfare when the group of teenage boys were left as orphans. Now an adult, he is eager to audition to lead his own parish in Piney Woods Texas. On the way to his interview, his train is held up by bandits.  They aren't after valuables.  Instead they are there to steal the him.  They take him to the ex-train robber's home and present him as a present to his daughter, Joanna.  She is mortified by her father's actions, but shares with Crocket her dreams of finding a preacher for their towns long empty church. Circumstances conspire that convince Crocket that this is the destination God intended for him, and that he has a role to play in Joanna's life. Life's pathways are never smooth, and Joanna and Crocket have many bumps in the road to overcome before they reach their divinely appointed happy ending. 

Here is another Texas Christian romance by Karen Witemeyer about the Archer boys we were introduce to in the Short Straw Bride.  It is the book that I skipped when I read Full Steam Ahead, but even after reading this one I see no connection to that one. Because the love interest is a preacher, this story tends to be even more preachy than her other books but really, I don't mind. I enjoyed the side story of Joanna's father's path to reconciliation with God after a young adulthood of crime. Of course, Crocket and Joanna are endearing as well. Still, this is my third Christian historical romance in a row, and I am ready for something else. (2013, 515 p.)

The Best-Laid Plans by Sarah Eden

 Newton Hughes is getting pressured by his parents to find a suitable match and settle down as a gentleman of leisure. Ellie is getting pressure from her parents to make a match with Charlie Jonquil, since her older sister was unable to ensnare him the previous season. Neither Ellie nor Newton want to do what their parents have planned for them so they, with the help of Artemis Lancaster, plan to thwart their parent's plans by pretending to form an interest in each other. As they spend time in each other's company, they discover that they actually like each other.  Newton likes Ellie's intelligent (though reserved) wit, and Ellie likes Newtons' quiet loyalty. As their pretend romance becomes real, it attracts the attention and ire of their families, one member of which goes to great lengths to squash their growing attachment.

This is a cute short novel in the world of the Lancaster and Jonquil families. It follows the romance of secondary characters to the main novels, but gives the readers a healthy dose of characters they love from the original series.  I especially liked watching Artemis and Charlie interact, knowing what was going to befall them in Charming Artemis. I recently watched the Netflix series based on Seeking Persephone and love love loved it! I was happy to dive back into Ms Eden's delightful dynasties once again. (134 p. 2021)

Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer

Nicole Renard returns from finishing school to find her father in dangerously ill health.  He begs her to go to St. Louis and choose a husband that can be his heir in his steamboat shipping empire. Part of her dowery will be the legendary knife of the pirate Jean Lafitte that is famed to bring the owner good luck in business. Her father's most bitter rivals, the Jenkins brothers, are after the knife, and so Nicole is forced to take an unexpected detour to Liberty Texas and lay low for a while to evade their detection.  She assumes a false name and takes a job as a secretary to an eccentric, but also young and handsome, scientist, Darius Thornton, who has made it his life's mission to make boilers on paddle boats more safe. At first put off by Darius' single minded devotion to his research, Nicole gradually comes to respect, and then admire him for his good intentions and loyal heart. As that admiration turns into love, Nicole must decide between honoring the promise made to her father to find an heir, or follow her heart. 

This is the third in the series that started with the Short-Straw Bride, but I couldn't find any connection with the first two books except that they are all set in Texas. I just realized that might be because I never read the second in the series. But really, this book works just fine as a stand alone. As I have said before, I am a little embarrassed that I like Witemeyer's books so much.  As I was listening to this one I found myself purposely looking for jobs to do around the house that I could do while listening. It is not that she is that great of a writer, (though I think she has gotten better over time).  It is just that her books are such a lovely escape from everyday life. They make me smile, but also remind me what it means to be a committed Christian. If I ever met Ms Witemeyer in person, I would be seriously tempted to give her a hug. (508 p, 2014)

Great Courses: Ten Great What-ifs of American History by Adam Jotner

 Here is an interesting approach to studying history.  In these 10 lectures, Jotner suggests what might have happened if different pivotal events hadn't occurred in U.S. history. Several concerned military history.  Others were political in nature. The thing that was interesting was that in each case, there was one moment when things might have gone differently.  What if Kennedy hadn't been shot?  What if Theodore Roosevelt had? What if Lewis and Clark had been killed when they were attacked by two grizzly bears? What if that one guy hadn't gone back to the Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg  just in time to see the Confederates coming up the hill? What if Queen Isabella hadn't agreed to fund Christopher Columbus?  What if the Russian astro-engineer who put the first cosmonaut into space, hadn't died soon after? (et alii)The idea is that by looking at the contingencies, you come to see the importance and impact of critical moments of history. 

This was an interesting romp through US history. I was familiar with all the events he discussed, but I learned new facts about each one that helped me see their importance in the broader picture of history.  I thought Jotner made good points and plausible guesses of alternate outcomes except for his lecture on the Salem Witch Trials.  He posited the if the Salem Witch Trials hadn't turned out so awful, laws about how witches were tried wouldn't have been challenged, and people might still be tried for witchcraft or Satan worship even today. That seemed very implausible to me because there are precious few left in the US that believe in God, let alone Satan and witchcraft. Beside that one, the rest of the lectures were affective in showing that the gate of history turns on very small hinges.  (6 hours, 2025)

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

 In this second installment of the Emily Wilde series, Emily has obtained tenure at Cambridge and is using the resources there to try to find a nexus, a place that might have a kind of backdoor to Wendell's realm.  On Wendell's birthday, his stepmother and the usurper of Wendell's realm, sends fairy assassins.  Luckily Emily has found a probable location for the nexus and they jump on the train and head toward the Austrian Alps. They reluctantly take with them Emily's niece and research assistant, Ariadne, and the prickly department chair of druidology, Doctor Rose. As the search for the nexus progresses, Wendell becomes progressively ill until they realize that he is suffering from slow acting poison. Emily must race against time and made odd alliances in order enter Wendell's realm in search for a cure. 

I enjoyed the first in this series and I enjoyed this one as well. Fawcett has such fun world building and has populated the story with a dazzling array of mythical creatures. Fawcett has clearly done research about local folklore in Europe as many of the traditions she mentions are historically accurate as well as being imaginative and amusing. Emily's asp-y personality is the perfect foil for Wendell's blasé aristocracy. Ariadne's and Dr Rose' personalities are also well developed and entertaining. This is a fun choice for teen or adult fantasy readers. (2024, 386 p.)

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

 John Green's book, The Fault in Our Stars, and his subsequent books made him a very wealthy man.  He decided to use some of his wealth to do good. He began campaigning for better health care in Africa, and one time while he was visiting Sierra Leone, he met a young patient in a tuberculosis hospital named Henry.  The young man was pleasant and charming, and Green was instantly taken with him. That motivated Green to investigate why tuberculosis, which is preventable and treatable, is still one of the deadliest diseases in the world, killing over a million people every year.  As he researched he discovered that tuberculosis has influenced history in unexpected ways for centuries.  It was connected to the beginning of WWI and the settlement of New Mexico. TB patients in the 1800's were considered glamorous and some thought TB gave suffering artists greater creativity. Now that a cure has been found for the disease, only groups of people too poor to afford the complex treatment involving multiple antibiotics still die from the disease. Green's research caused him to face the sobering truth that prejudice and privilege are the main causes of TB deaths in the world. 

This book caught my attention, not only because of the fame of the author, but because I had my own brush with TB when I was a child. I never contracted the disease, but was identified as a carrier when I was in first grade and went through a year of treatment which included taking pills and getting chest x-rays to prevent me from either developing TB symptoms or passing the disease to others. It was interesting to compare my experience with TB treatment to the experiences of people in developing countries discussed in the book. Green is an engaging writer and the book is very interesting.  I know a nonfiction book is good when I repeatedly tell my husband about it during dinner or when we are out driving. Readers should be aware that Green is no unbiased historian. His purpose is to promote more equitable health care for all people.  I hope his book fulfills his hopes. (2025, 198 p.)

Circle of Spies by Roseanna M White

In this third installment of the Culper Ring Series, Marietta Hughes is a young widow who can't wait to get out of mourning so she can marry her diseased husband's brother.  She is a mistress of society, and an accomplished flirt. The Civil War is nearing it's end, and even though she married a southerner, her parents and grandparents are part of a spy ring that is trying to protect President Lincoln. When rumors fly that a secret Confederate society is plotting his assassination, and that Marietta's brother in-law/fiance is behind the plot, Marietta starts seeing a new side to both her beloved, and herself. Slade Osborne is a Pinkerton who has been tasked with doing a deep infiltration of the organization that is plotting against the President.  As he becomes a confidente of Marietta's soon-to-be-fiancé, he is tasked with being Marietta's body guard.  As they are thrown together, both Marietta and Slade discover that each is more than they seem, and that together they are both better and stronger than they were alone.

I guess I have been reading a lot of Roseanna M. White lately.  This series has been interesting and fun, but suffers a little from the same things I complained about in her fantasy series.  She spends too much time with her main characters just talking, kissing, and telling each other how wonderful they are.  Of course the books need romantic scenes, (they are romances after all) but I think Ms White could get by with about half the number of tete-a-tete scenes than she writes.  I think it is partially due to her editor.  Ms. White has become successful enough that her editor doesn't feel like she should be strict with her.  But she should.  Even the best writers need a strong editor! This book was enjoyable enough, but it could have gone from a B to a B+ with the right editor. (368 p. 2014)

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

At the beginning of the book, Sybil Van Antwerp is a 72 year old retired law clerk. She is divorced, lives alone, and write letters as a way of organizing her life and relationships. The book is a collection of the letters written to and from a wide variety of people, from her children and friends, to famous authors and statesmen. The letters unfold her life and through them the reader begins to see that even though Ms Van Antwerp seems strong and put together on the outside, inside her soul is plagued by  wounds so deep she feels incapable of facing them. Over the course of the next six years, people come into her life, friends speak the hard truth to her, she is able to help someone she once harmed, and finally claims the full life that had ever before been denied to her. 

I can't remember who recommended this book to me, but I want to thank them.  There is a reason that this book has sold over 2 million copies in one year and is on almost everyone's award list.  It is lovely and sweet. It makes the reader want to go out and reconcile with an estranged friend, or write a letter to a family member.  It is especially appropriate for older readers, and gives hope that even in the later years, wrongs can be righted, and there is hope for a fuller life.  I expected the author to be older, but she is only 40.  I don't know how she had such insight into the emotional journey of aging. Anyway, if I ever meet her, I will shake her hand. (304 p. 2025)

Fathomed: Awakened Mer Novellas by Roseanne M White

 This is a collection of three novellas set in Ms White's Awakened Mer world. Each tells the love story of characters mentioned in the longer novels. 

In Captivated, we learn the story of King Seidon's parents. Brenn is being pressured to take over the kingdom of Daryatla but feel insecure about her new roll.  She goes to visit her cousin who rules the Mer People.  When she arrives she discovers that the kingdom under the sea is in the middle of a coup.  She must escape with the help of an old love interest, Atlas. Can their flame reignite in the midst of war?

Celebrated is a Christmas novella where Electra has been ruling in the undersea kingdom for decades. Over that time she struck up a deep friendship with Arden and Seidon's High Gardian, Ryder Mallow.  They have gotten into the habit of escaping the holiday celebrations early to talk and enjoy the view of the ocean depths together.  But as their friendship turns to love, they can't see how they can be together.  Ryder can't leave the Daryatlians, and Electra needs to rule the mer people. Only a holiday miracle could tear down the walls that keep them apart. 

Consecrated is the longest of the novellas, almost long enough to be a stand-alone novel.  In it we are introduced to the desert kingdom of Soltierra which is a matriarchy, and its brother kingdom of the Calm Water Mermen. Lucianna is the crown princess of Soltierra, but struggles to perform her magical responsibilities of directing underground water to the surface to water their oasis in the desert.  Koa is the leader of the Calm Water Mer that we met in an earlier story.  He despairs of ever meeting someone who is his equal to help him rule is tenuous kingdom.  When Lucianna comes in her mother's place to an annual ceremony with the Calm Water Mer, sparks fly between the two leaders, but can Lucianna ever leave her kingdom to be with the man she has grown to love under the sea. 

All three stories have the same basic plot.  There is a lonely monarch, an unlikely match, and a happy ending.  It was mildly satisfying to see the backstory of some of the characters in the full length novels.  All are very religious like the series as a whole but the holiday one was particularly cheesy. It is literary candy but I enjoyed them. I checked them out for a vacation read, and it was just right for the airplane and hotel room. (312 p. 2026)

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

 In this 5th installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Percy has finally turned 16 and his time has come for the final battle between the Titans and the Olympians.  As the Olympians battle Typhon as he advances across the country laying waste to all in his path, Percy and Annabeth fear that his tirade is only a distraction.  It is up to the half bloods to defend Olympus in New York City.  Meanwhile the great prophecy hangs over Percy's head. One decision will decide the outcome of the battle, but which decision?  Can the future of the known world really lie in his adolescent hands?

During this series, Riordan has spun out so many plot threads, that he spends the entire book reeling them in.  To his credit, he does an admirable job of it while still making the plot engaging, the action scenes exciting, and occasionally injecting some major doses of humor. He really is a great writer, and I remember, back when this series was first coming out, when the circulation of the Percy Jackson books outstripped the Harry Potter Books.  I wonder why there has only been the two Netflix series based on the books.  Now that the kids that grew up with the series are in their 30s, maybe some movie company will pick them up and do a major series of movies on them. (2009, 400 p)

Aflame by Roseanna M. White

 Princess Valkyrja is considered merely ornamental.  She does not have the control over her blessed gift that her brother, the heir, and her sister, her greatest critic, have. Her father, the king of Fjordlandi depends on his two oldest children to maintain the order in the kingdom that makes the Fjordlandians the ruling class, and the Thanes, the peasant class. He also oppresses a hidden element of the community, the Daemons, whom he enslaves to control the geothermal forces below his kingdom. The king's carefully constructed hierarchy is literally blown apart by a terrorist bomb, and Valkyria finds herself as the new heir. In the aftermath of the explosion, she becomes acquainted with a Thane, Nick, who is a believer in The One. He begins to teach Valkyrja the faith that has been forbidden by her father, and she comes to see that her father, whose approval she always sought and never attained, was really a tyrant. Can she, the weakest of the royals, find the strength to undo all the wrongs her family had committed for centuries?  Not without her new friends, and her new faith.

This is the second in the series that began with the Awakened.  It occurs in the same world as the first book, but 150 years later.  None of the characters from the first book play an active role in this one, though the characters refer to them at times. This book had some of the same problems that I complained about in the first book.  The alpha-couple spend an inordinate amount of time encouraging each other. The religious elements are really heavy handed. And yet, by the end, I have to admit I was into the story.  The final action sequence was intense, and the final resolution satisfying. White also included hints for what the next in the series will be.  I will probably read it. (338 p. 2026)

Great Courses: Effective Editing by Molly McCowan

 An essential part of becoming a good writer is embracing the process of editing what you write.  In this 13-lesson course, Ms McCowan walks the listener through the different kinds of editing, and discusses each in detail. She emphasizes the importance of doing the editing process in the correct order, from big picture to granular, and gives helpful instructions and examples of each stage. She ends the series with a class on "what's next" which explains what to do with your manuscript after you have done all the editing you can do.

I am currently writing a short children's novel for my grandchildren, and decided to listen to this course to give me suggestions about my editing process. It was super helpful and it made me want to go back and edit some of the similar novella that I have written for them in the past.  I think a lot of her advise is conventional wisdom and would be familiar to anyone who was serious about writing, but for me, who  has never had a creative writing class, it was really good information given in an accessible format. I am planning on listening through it again next time I am about to start an writing project. (5 hrs. 2021)

The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh

 Kelsey Worthington, an aspiring editor living in New York, wakes up one day in the hospital.  She had been hit by a car while on the sidewalk, and had a concussion. While in the hospital she meets another patient, Georgia Tate, a cosmetics mogul. Ms Tate is facing kidney failure.  Ms Tate is brusque and abrasive, but when Kelsey leaves the hospital and returns to her hum-drum job, she keeps feeling that she needs a vacation and that she is fated to take Ms Tate with her. That begins the summer of "Yes." Kelsey is determined that she and Ms Tate are supposed to really live life by saying "yes" to all the things they were too afraid to try before.  As they spend time together, Kelsey comes to realize that much of Ms Tate's off-putting behavior is due to regrets related to her family, a family that includes a very handsome and very nice estranged son, who is just Kelsey's age. Perhaps,  along with saying yes to sea food, and road trips, she will also be brave enough to say yes to love.

One of my co-workers recommended this book when she found out that I enjoy clean romance.  This totally fits into that category, but it also has a strong message about the importance of overcoming fear to live life to its fullness. The relationship between Kelsey and Ms Tate reminds me a lot of the relationship in "The Devil Wears Prada," so much so that I can't believe it wasn't one of the author's inspirations. The book suffers a little because Ms Tate's son, the love interest, is just too perfect.  He isn't as bad as the Richard Paul Evans male protagonists, but close. He is incredibly handsome, creative, successful, and volunteers teaching classes to children at the local community center. Authors need to learn that a man doesn't have to be perfect to be loveable. Still, if you are looking for a clean, feel-good read, this isn't a bad choice. (2024, 504 p.)

The Battle for the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

 In this fourth book of the Perseus Jackson series, Percy continues his quest to discover and thwart Kronos' plans to take over Camp Half-Blood, and then Olympus.  Percy and Annabeth discover an entrance into Minos' Labyrinth on Half-Blood Hill. Kronos wants to use it to invade the camp and destroy the demigods before he attacks Olympus. Minos knows that the only way to navigate the Labyrinth is with Ariadne's ball of magic string, and he will stop at nothing to get it.  The Annabeth is called to lead a quest to enter the Labyrinth, fine to Daedalus, and convince him not to help Kronos. If they can help Grover in his search for Pan, and save Nico from the evil influences of the underworld, all the better.

I read this years ago when it first came out, but had forgotten a lot of it. I enjoyed listening to it again and being reminded why these books areso successful. Riordan is so good at creating a fun world that blends the modern with the ancient, and characters that are really endearing. He also has a great blend of action and humor and I found myself laughing out loud several times during the book. If you haven't read them in a while, this series is worth a re-visit (400 p. 2008)

The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander

 Lucian is an accountant in a palace in ancient Greece. When he discovers that the of the king's overseers have been cheating the king out of great amounts of money, he knows he must flee or they will kill him.  In his flight he meets up with a donkey, who is really a poet that has been enchanted.  The donkey, Fronto, helps Lucian escape and together they start an epic journey to try to get Fronto restored to his human form.  On the way they meet a young prophetess of the Lady of Nature who is being hunted by the evil king. She believes that the Lady will be able to restore the donkey's true form. As they journey together they encounter many peoples and survive many harrowing adventures. 

I have long been a fan of Lloyd Alexander, but had never read this book.  It was published in the 1990's, and I don't think anyone would publish it today. It reads like something written by Tolkien or Lewis, and the plot reminded me a bit of some of the Shakespeare comedies. The writing is lyrical and I enjoyed it very much. I also liked how he mirrored the Greek mythological and epic stories, without copying them exactly.  Parts of the story suggested Odysseus and the Trojan war, but with an folkish tone instead of an epic tone. They are almost like what the original story of the Odyssey might have been before they it was embellished by professional a professional story teller. There were also hints of the story of Hercules, and of Jason. It was fun to be listening along and then realizing, "oh, that is like the story of the Minotaur" or "Oh, they are talking about the siege of Troy." It is very clever.  There was one thing that bothered me and would make me hesitate to recommend the book to a child.  All during the story the donkey is called a "jack ass" and there are a lot of jokes suggesting that Fronto is a jack ass in more than just physical form. I was raised in a home that was conservative enough that we wouldn't have been allowed to use the term "jack ass" so it was unsettling for me to hear it every few lines of the story. (288 p. 1995)

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

 In Satellite City, Cosmo lives in a home where corporations use orphaned boys to do product testing. It is a tortured life, and Cosmo is always looking for a chance to escape. When his chance comes, he is severely injured and left for dead, but is saved by a group of young vigilantes when they discover that he has the same talent to see supernatural creatures as they do. Being part of the "Supernaturalists" is as perilous as the orphanage, but in the group Cosmo feels a sense of family for the first time. Their leader Stefan, is determined to exterminate the "parasites" that killed his mother, but no matter how many of the little green creatures they kill, they seem to reproduce exponentially. When the huge corporations find out about their group, things get so complicated it is hard to decipher right from wrong and the good guys from the bad.

This is a YA Sci-Fi from the author of the Artemis Fowl series. It has very interesting and vivid world building and the characters are delightfully troubled and complex. The plot reminded me a lot of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card but maybe a little less dated. Both Colfer and Card have the ability to aim a magnifying glass on both current social issues and deep philosophical questions and turn them into fast-paced YA fiction. The book ended with an opening for a sequel, but I guess it never happened, though there seems to be a graphic novel version of this book that was published in 2012. (2004, 273 p.)

In Pursuit of Jefferson by Derek Baxter

 In the early 2000's Derek Baxter was feeling stifled by his job as a lawyer. He had been interested in American History as a student, and was intrigued when he found out about a short book by Thomas Jefferson that was a travel guide for Americans in Europe.  Over the course of 8 years, he and his young family endeavor to recreate some of Jefferson's experiences in Europe by visiting places he went and trying things he did. At first it is fun to go to France's wine country and sample fine wines, or go to England and visit famous gardens, but as Baxter continued to try to better understand Jefferson, he kept running into the fact that, although Jefferson was a champion of liberty, he depended on enslaved workers to maintain his lifestyle. This book is a record of the Baxter families effort to not only come to know Jefferson, but also learn more about the people who were robbed of their freedom so that Jefferson could become a famous founding father. 

Here is another book on the America 250 list.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The writing is candid and engaging. Some of Baxter's adventures in Europe are fun and funny. When he has to wrestle with the stark reality of Jefferson's shortcomings, instead of flinching, he leans into it and accepts the challenge of taking on tough issues. I love that he includes his children in his wrestle as they visit the slave quarters at Monticello and learn about Jefferson's children with Sally Hemmings. I think the book is a good model for white people to start to be aware--and help their children be aware--of the role that enslaved workers played in the early history of the United States. (416 p. 2022) 

Whispers from the Shadows by Roseanna M. White

 Lady Gwyneth Fairchild is forced to flee England when her father is betrayed.  Anticipating the attack, her father, a general, arranges for her to travel to America to say with the Lane family in Maryland. Gwyneth is confused by the decision, since the British are currently at war with the Americans. Thad Lane finds Gwyneth a broken woman, haunted by her family tragedy and fearful that the perpetrator with seek out and kill her next. He treats her gently, and with time she begins to feel safety in his presence. As they grow closer she begins to realize that Thad and his parents are not what they seem on the surface.  As the War of 1812 approaches their doorstep, Gwyneth has to decide where her true loyalties lie.

This is the second in the Culper Ring Series. I read the first back in 2024, and liked it, so I am not sure why I waited so long to read this one. I enjoyed it as well.  Gwyneth is the most broken of any of White's heroines I have read so far and she does a good job of portraying her trauma.  Thad is a wonderfully solid counterweight to her brokenness. I also enjoyed how White incorporates Gwyneth's drawing as a tool of healing and also as an apt plot device. I have recently read a book about the war of 1812, so was happy to see that White grounded the story within real historical events. As in the first book, the Christian elements are a little heavy handed, and the cover is similarly lame, but I can handle that. (352 p. 2013)

Heart on the Line by Karen Witemeyer

 Grace Mallory escaped to Harper's Station after watching her father get gunned down because he had found a will that would destroy the fortune of a wealthy mine owner. Now Grace is the keeper of the deadly will and keeps a low profile as a telegraph operator in the all woman settlement. Her one male social interaction is with another operator whose identification letter is A. Amos Bledsoe has more brains than brawn and favors a fastidious suit and tie to buckskin. He is enchanted with his last evening conversations with the operator from Harper's Station. Even though he doesn't know her age, appearance, or even her name, operator M has captured his interest with her wit and intelligence.  Then one day, while they are conversing, Mallory receives a warning from another station that the man who killed her father has found out where she lives. Amos jumps into action travels to Harper's Station and is quickly arrested by the settlement's marshal, and only permanent male resident. He quickly establishes that he is Grace's telegraph pen pal and they put their considerable brain power together to try stop the man who will do anything to keep the will from getting to the estate lawyers. 

This is the second in the series that started with No Other Would Do.  I have read a bunch of Witemeyer's Texas romances, and it was refreshing to experience one where the hero isn't a tall, strong, silent cowboy. Amos wears glasses and rides a bicycle instead of a horse. I am glad that Witemeyer acknowledges that a man doesn't have to be high-testosterone to be attractive. Amos and Grace are an adorable couple, both pushing against their own timidity and reserve to be the hero the other needs. If you are a Witemeyer fan like I am this is certainly one you won't want to miss. (2017, 336 p) 

Unraveled by Julie Daines

 Bronwyn tries to avoid the stares and repulsion she sees in other's faces when they see her crippled legs. One day a fey creature called a gray lady comes to visit her and gives her a pair of shoes that make her legs straighten and appear whole. Her mother is so excited she arranges for her daughter to go to the capital city to be presented at court. At court she meets the handsome prince who is instantly taken by her beauty.  She also meets and old friend who knows she is normally crippled. He tries to discourage Bronwyn from accepting the Prince's advances, warning her that she can't keep her secret from the Prince forever,  but who can resist being courted by the most eligible man of the kingdom? Perhaps if the Prince comes to love her enough, he won't mind when he finds out she is not what she seems. Perhaps.

I need to look back at the other books I have read by Daines.  I must have liked them because I put her on my "clean romance writers" list.  This one, however, I could barely get through.  I almost quit several times, and only made it through so I could write this review and say how much I disliked the story. Bronwyn is a stupid, silly girl who keeps making bad decisions. She keeps stacking lies on lies even when she knows that once she tells the prince the truth it wouldn't go well. She is also not very nice to her other friends.  She lets them suffer so she can continue to enjoy her royal suitor's attentions and she's rude to everyone who is trying to help her. I think the premise of the story could have worked if she had tried to come clean earlier in the story but have been trapped into the lie by other circumstances, but she keeps coming back to a bad situation even after she has a chance to escape. I know stupidity is pretty common in the world, but I personally never want to read it. (192 p. 2014)

Sticks and Stones by Sarah Mlynowski, Laren Myracle and Emily Jenkins.

 In this second book in the Upside Down Magic series, things seem to be looking up for Nory.  She and Bax start having tutoring sessions with the Kitten Ball coach, and he recruits Nory for the team. She starts to make friends with some kids at school not in the Mixed-up Magic class. Meanwhile, strange rock centered magic keeps happening at the school, and everyone blames Bax. Bax knows he didn't do it, so the Mixed-up Magic kids work together to try to find out what is really happening.

I read the second book in this series because I wondered if it had the "Shadow" magic that shows up in the Net Flix series.  It doesn't. I think the Shadow Magic is a "made for TV" addition, to make the story more visually interesting. I enjoyed the book, though. There is a lot of humor, but also a few things to think about. It is a cute series for early novel readers. (208p., 2016)

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

 Hannah Swenson is busy whipping up treats for the county fair when she is asked to be a judge in the baked goods competition. She enjoys the challenge, but then one of the other judges ends up getting murdered.  Hannah can't resist getting involved in the investigation, even when her handsome police officer friend warns her away.  Her attentive dentist friend has fewer qualms and together with her sisters and mother, they try to discover the culprit. 

After reading the last Vampire Book Club I wanted to read book from the same genre that was better written.  The Hannah Swenson cozy mysteries are not great literature but they are certainly better than the Vampire Book Club series. There are actual clues and suspects that Hannah investigates with the help of family and friends. Of course, the final scene finds Hannah in mortal danger from which she is saved by one of her boyfriends. It is formulaic, but a fun read. (384 p. 2011)

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown

 In 1942 there is a vibrant community in the Bethnal Green neighborhood of London despite the war and frequent bombing. When the bomb sirens go off Nellie, age 18 and her family go into the yet unfinished tube station which has been converted into a bomb shelter. One of her best friends, Billy is a air raid warden, and her other best friend is Billy's sister.  Billy would like a more serious relationship with Nellie, but his hopes are shattered when Nellie meets a handsome American airman, Ray. As their relationship progresses, Ray gives Nellie hope of fulfilling her dream to leave Bethnal Green and see the bigger world. But then a terrible tragedy strikes. Nellie is left reexamining her relationships and ambitions. With all that the war has taken from her, will Nellie every have the chance for a happy life?

This is a charming and heartfelt historical fiction based on an actual event in the history of London's WWII days.  It is written and read by Millie, Bobby Brown, the actress who played Enola Holmes on Netflix, and also stared in Stranger Things. You always wonder if a book by a celebrity author will be any good, but this one was.  The writing isn't going to win a Pulitzer, but it was good enough.  The story deals grief and loss during war times, but emphasizes that love and community is what gets you through tragedy. Brown states that the story is "inspired" by her own great grandmother's experience, but doesn't go into detail about how much of the story is biographical. I think that probably her grandmother was in the tragic experience featured in the book, but I am guessing the rest is fiction. I am also guessing that a ghost writer helped Brown with the prose.  Still, this is a book I will be recommending to my friends who like WWII fiction. (320 p. 2023)

In Want of a Knife by Nancy Warren

 In this fifth installment of the Vampire Book Club series, a movie producer has come to Ballydehag wanting to make a porno version of Pride and Prejudice. At the same time Jane Austen, now one of the undead, shows up in town and asks for help to stop the production. Quinn Callahan is at first start-struck by meeting her favorite author and determined to help her any way she can, but when the producer of the film turns up dead, can she be sure that her literary idol was not the killer?  Of course there are other suspects and motives, and it takes all Quinn's supernatural friend's help to discover the truth.

I keep reading these, and they just aren't very good. I knew who the killer was going to be in the first chapter, but the author didn't have Quinn even consider the true culprit until the last two chapters.  It was an entire book of red herrings. The only redeeming quality about books in this series is that listening to them takes absolutely not emotional or intellectual effort on my part. It is about as engaging as elevator music in a department store.  Still, sometimes that is exactly what I am looking for in a book, so I will probably read more. (226 p. 2023)

More Than Words Can Say by Karen Witemeyer

I was a little disappointed by the 
cover.  She is supposed to be 
more plump than this. 

 Zacharias Hamilton is happy to be free from family responsibilities. He has a good job, a good friend, and good sticky buns for breakfast each morning. When his favorite female baker's shop is threatened, the only way to save it is for her to get married, and Zach can't imagine her marrying anyone but him. In Abigail Kemp's mind, the marriage is just a business deal, allowing her to keep her bakery, and giving Zach free room and board. She considers herself--plump and independent--as not worthy of the romantic attentions of a tall, strong, handsome man like Zach. He sees it differently. It doesn't take long before convincing her to be his wife in reality is his highest priority, but first he needs to find out who is trying to ruin Abby's life, and stop them.

It is a common trope in historical romance, for a couple to get married first and then gradually fall in love.  It is a sweet theme and Witemeyer does it well here. There is good chemistry between Zach, the strong silent type, and Abby, who is delightful, but doesn't know it. One thing I appreciate about Witemeyer, is that when the main characters have a misunderstanding she doesn't let it draw out for chapters and chapters.  They resolve it quickly by actually talking to each other, and most the the time is spent with them confronting exterior threats together rather than bickering between themselves. If you had told me 10 years ago if I would be a regular reader of Texas cowboy historical romances, I wouldn't have believed you.  But, there it is. (358 p. 2019)

A Study in Death by Anna Lee Huber

 This is the fourth in the Lady Darby Mystery series. Lady Kiera Darby is preparing for her upcoming marriage to inspector Sebastian Gage. The wedding preparations are stressful, as is her commission to paint a portrait of Lady Drummond. She suspects that Lady Drummond is the victim of spouse abuse, but doesn't know what she can do about it. Then Lady Drummond is found dead in her home. The physician rules her death as natural, but Lady Darby suspects that she was murder. Her husband's family is not pleased as she jumps into the case, trying to find justice for her fallen friend. When the number of possible suspects grows, so does the tension between herself and Sebastian. Is she willing to pursue the case to the end, even if it costs her own future happiness?

This is another well crafted mystery by Ms. Huber.  She is good at creating both clues and red herrings so that the final solution is not obvious.  The relationship between Kiera and Sebastian vacillates between being steamy and cold.  I guess the author has to write it this way to maintain a dramatic tension, but it made me feel a little frustrated. If they can't even get along while they are engaged and still enjoying the first flower of their amore, how will they ever survive marriage?  Still, it was entertaining enough that I finished it, even though I was reading it instead of just listening to it (I checked out the print version to take on a vacation.)  (336 p. 2015)

Upside Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins

 Nory's father is the head master of a very prestigious magic school, and her older brother and sister are both star students in the school.  When it comes time for Nory take the qualifying test for the school, she fails dramatically. Her embarrassed father arranges for her to go to a different school where they have a program for kids whose magic is "upside down." There Nory finds friends and an emotionally supportive teacher but still longs to be normal and able to go home and be with her family again.  She and one of her newfound friends create a scheme that will allow them to test out of the special class, but it requires her to box up most of her inner life in order to fit in.

I checked out this book because Netfix has a new series based on it.  I remember it being fairly popular when it fist came out. I also noticed it on the Pride Month book list in June.  It is a short book for primary grade readers, but I can see why it would be on an LGBTQ list, even though it never mentions gender identity. It is all about the social pressure to be "normal" and how it encourages children to deny their real self. It is a good message for anyone who feels different, not just those with gender identity issues. The same yearning to be socially acceptable drove me to anorexia at about the same age as the Nory character. The writing is good and there are plenty of humorous scenes where Nory and the other kids in her class try to control their as-of-yet-uncontrolled magic. I think a lot of 3rd and 4th grade kids would enjoy it. (208 p. 2016) 

Yours is the Night by Amanda Dykes

Orphaned as a teen, Matthew raised himself and his younger sister in the stables of a race horse farm where he found work as a stable hand. When WWI begins, Matthew enlists, and his sister become nurse. Both end up in France where Matthew's commander recognizes in him the qualities of a true leader.  They are in trenches near the Argonne forest, where Mireilles had always lived with her father and grandfather.  When the war encroaches on Mireilles sheltered life, Matthew and his band rescue her right before she falls behind enemy lines.  In a rare moment of sentimentality, their commander allows Matthew and two companions to escort Mireilles and the important documents she holds, to Paris where Mireilles might have relatives. On the way, shared joys and trials bond them in ways that nothing but a war, hard fought, can. 

Here is yet another historical fiction by Amanda Dykes.  The style of the writing and general tone is the same as her other books. It is perhaps a bit more somber because of the backdrop of WWII but Dykes manages to balance the darkness of war with the hope of faith and friendship. Dykes clearly did a lot of research to get the setting of the novel authentic. The characters are well drawn (and well read by the narrator) and each makes their own journey of self-discovery. At one point Dykes leads the reader to believe that one of the main characters has died, but since I had read her other books I was pretty sure she would pull out a happy ending.  I will be reading more from Dykes, but I need a rest from the thickly layered emotions of her literary style. (368 p. 2021)

Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes

 Mercy Windsor has fled Hollywood because of a scandal not of her making and runs to the only place she felt she might belong. She knows her best friend doesn't live there anymore, having suffered a tragic early death, but she still hopes the secluded Colorado mining town will still give her needed seclusion. When her friend, Rusty Bright, was still alive, they had sworn to each other that together they would try to find a lost treasure rumored to be in the hills surrounding the town.  Mercy is determined to fulfill their dream and use the money to help the struggling town that Rusty had loved so much. Mercy doesn't expect the warm welcome and support of the townspeople that help her discover something more valuable than any hidden treasure.

Since I enjoyed the book All the Lost Places by the same author, I decided to try another. I ended up liking this as well, so I have added Ms Dykes to my illustrious "Clean Romance Writers" list. The book has plenty of heart break but it primarily hopeful. I guess I wouldn't call it a romance, since the primary relationship is between the two friends, but there is a nice secondary romance that adds a dollop of sweetness.  Like the Lost Places book, this book jumps back and forth between time periods, the past  being primarily represented by excerpts between the pen pal letters written between Rusty and Mercy. Rusty has an indominable personality that is fun to read.  Another fun thing about the book is that we get to see a cameo of Victoria and Daniel from the Lost Places book. They don't play a role in the plot, but just step in and take a brief bow.  (384 p. 2024)