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)