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)