Lace and Lies by Nancy Warren

 Cardinal Woolsey's Yarn shop has been chosen to be the site of a TV show featuring a celebrity knitter.  In the show Teddy Lamont will teach six knitters how to do his knitted lace patterns.  As the participants arrive, it is obvious to Lucy that there will be some issues.  One, in particular, is making the whole experience miserable for the rest of them.  Then she is found dead in Lucy's shop. Did any of the other participants have a reason to kill her, besides the fact that she was really annoying? Or maybe it was Teddy Lamont, or his stressed out producer.  Lucy and her vampire support crew are on the case.

I was tempted to not even blog about this book.  It really is just like all the other Vampire Knitting Club books (except the relation with Raef heats up a little). I once went to a class about how to construct an escape room game by starting with the solution and working backwards, adding clues and red herrings. I think that is what Ms Warren does.  She has a formula that she follows, that works well enough that I keep putting the next book on hold.  I promise, the next book I read will be more interesting. (214 p. 2019)

(note: I read and wrote this before the Madison biography but forgot to push the publish button.  That is why  in the Madison review I said I had promised to read something more interesting. )

James Madison by Richard Brookhiser

 James Madison was a founding father, a brilliant politician and the fourth president of the United States.  This is primarily a political biography of Madison following his career from the early days of the American Revolution to his death in 1836.  He was deeply involved with the crafting of the Constitution, and the fight for its ratification.  He helped form the (then called) Republican Party and was a supporter and protege of Thomas Jefferson. While president, he had to deal with the War of 1812. He was also a mentor to James Monroe, who succeeded him in the presidency.

As promised, a more substantial read this week.  This is a very interesting biography of one of early America's brightest political theorists. Brookhiser has clearly spent a lot of time researching the ins and outs of politics during the country's first 30 years.  It is interesting to see how much of the political machinations that we observe today existed in our government from the very beginning of the republic. Brookhiser even suggests that Madison and his compatriots were not above calling in shady characters to accomplish the "greater good." I was a little disappointed that the author focuses exclusively on Madison's public life, and only mentions his childhood and his marriage as it relates to his political activity.  It makes me want to find a biography Dolley Madison to get a more personal view of the man as a husband, step father, and extended family member. (304 p. 2011)

Short Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer

 On his death bead, Travis Archer's father made him promise he would protect his brothers and his land. Travis decides that the best way to do that is not to let anyone either come or go from the property. The one time he broke his promise was to help a young girl who accidently got her leg caught in one of his coyote traps. Meredith never forgot the young man who saved her the day she hurt her leg in the trap, so when she hears that men are planning on attacking his farm, she sneaks off against her parent's wishes to warn him. She is discovered in his home after dark, and her reputation is compromised.  Travis does the honorable thing, but can the two lost souls who barely know each other build a relationship of love?

Is it crazy that I really enjoy Witemeyer's Texas romances with all the western cliches like cowboy hats, horses, and riding the range?  I like them, what can I say.  I like the sweet romances and I like the Christian elements. Witemeyer does a good job of writing both funny and suspenseful scenes. Her characters are all pretty much the same, and her plots are formulaic, but the fact that they are predictable makes them a safe read when I am having a stressful week. (370 p. 2012)

Six Wishes by Sarah M. Eden

Felicity wants to give her older sister, who is dying of consumption, the chance to experience a London season.  Her sister has six things she wants to experience, and Felicity is determined to make them all happen.  William Carlisle is bored of London, but for personal reasons doesn't want to go home either, so he jumps at the chance to help an old friend make her sister's dreams come true. When Felicity's sister's health takes a downturn, William's growing regard for Felicity gives him the courage to face the grief he has been avoiding.  Felicity will be experiencing her own grief soon, but together maybe they can face their sorrows to make a bright future.

This is a short novella that I checked out to read on an airplane ride last week.  It is sweet and uncomplicated.  Sometimes I like the shorter novels better because the main characters don't have time to make stupid decisions that temporarily drive them apart, or if they do, they correct their mistakes quickly.  I have enjoyed almost all of Sarah Eden's books that I have read, and this is no exception. (2026, 102p.)

The Vampire Book Club 1 & 2 by Nancy Warren

 In the first book we meet Quinn Callahan who is a middle-aged divorced witch from Seattle. When she misuses her magic, the Witch Council forces her to move from Seattle to a small town in Ireland.  There she takes over the home and bookshop of another witch, Lucinda, who has also left due to the wishes of the Council. Quinn is looking forward to a fresh start and has decided to keep her witch skills on the down low when she walks into her book shop for the first time and finds a dead body. The dead man's aura hangs around the shop and she feels compelled to try to solve his murder. As she begins to investigate she is surprised to find out that a group of Vampires meet in her shop once a week in the middle of the night to have a bookclub.  Frightened at first, she quickly warms to them and enlists them to help her investigation. (2020, 246 p)

In the second book Quinn is attending her first Irish wake for a man she barely knew.  The deceased's daughter begs her to help her dispose of her father's jumble of possessions by taking all the books he left behind. As Quinn goes through the books, she finds and old grimoire written in Gaelic. While reading through it whe accidentally releases a long-dead dark witch who used to live on the dead man's property. When there is another death, Quinn is once again thrown into a murder investigation, while simultaneously trying to decide what to do with the dark witch who seems determined to haunt her. Once again she rallies the help of the book-loving vampires to solve the mystery. (2020, 230 p.)

I have been enjoying the Vampire Knitting Club series, but end up waiting for weeks for the next of the series to become available on Libby. I decided to try this series by the same author.  It exists in the same world as the Vampire Knitting Club, and Raef even makes a cameo appearance in the first book. It is very much like the other series.  The main difference is that Quinn is a more experienced witch, so she is not struggling to learn her witchcraft like Lucy is. Still, like in the first series, there is a wealthy vampire that becomes someone of romantic interest to Quinn, just as Raef is to Lucy. Also, there is some tension between Quinn and the local coven due to Quinn's earlier indiscretion. The plot of the first book was a little weak with an all-too-convenient confession in the end. I thought the second plot was a little better, but really, these books are not enjoyable because of the clever mystery plots, but because of the cozy world building.  

The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee

 Everyone has heard of Christopher Columbus, but how many of heard of his sons, Diego and Ferdinand?  This book tells the story of Columbus' family from the point of view of Ferdinand who traveled with his father on some of his voyages, but later made a name for himself as a scholar and voracious collector of books and other print material. Ferdinand was too young to accompany his father on his early voyages, but served as a page in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella where he gained a good education. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage, but when Columbus died in 1505, Ferdinand began his life long quest to gather and catalog all the books, pamphlets, and printed pictures he could find.  Unlike other scholars of his age, he didn't focus on the classics or religious texts. Instead, he delighted to find lesser known texts, including printed newspapers, handbills, and writings from marginalized groups like the Moors and others. As his collection grew, he developed systems of organizing and cataloging the material that was ahead of his time.  He also became important in politics, since his study had given him a broad understanding the the workings of the world. Constantly fighting to keep the memory of his father alive, he wrote a biography of Columbus that became one of the most important sources for modern understandings of his life and accomplishments.

This is another book that was available on Libby as a celebration of the 250 anniversary of the founding of America. As a librarian, I found the story of Ferdinand's bibliophilia and innovative cataloging system very interesting. If the author is to be believed, Ferdinand's library was the forerunner of such library staples as card catalogs, indexes arranged by topic, and even placing books vertically instead of laying them down horizontally on shelves. I was also interested to hear how Ferdinand interacted with other famous people of the Renaissance and had a front row seat to important events like the opening of the Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo, and the formation of the Protestant reformation. That being said, the writing of this book is very academically dense, and I admit that at times I found myself tuning out. I am not sure how interesting this book would be to the general public, but it should be required reading for anyone studying the history of libraries. (416 p. 2019)

Emily's Tree by Lisa Washburn

 Emily's home life is less than ideal.  Her mother drinks, her grandfather sits in an armchair smoking and watching TV, and the whole house is a mess. The only light part of Emily's life is her love of art, and a recurring dream she has had since she was small, about a beautiful place with a tree and and kind woman. One day Emily has a fight with her family and flees the house. As she sits on a bench in a park two young sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints approach her and offer to buy her hot chocolate. That is the start of her journey from darkness into light.  She eventually goes to the local LDS church and meets the Baker family.  They are kind to her and ignore her worn out clothes and the smell of smoke the hovers around her.  In fits and starts, Emily comes to recognize the spiritual meaning of her dream and make her way toward a better life as a member of Christ's church. 

This is a new novel, self-published through Amazon, by a  LDS author who is the relative of one of my friends.  It is very heartwarming and earnest.  The story is sweet, if a little predictable, and the two protagonists are likeable and relatable. The transformation that occurs in Emily's life during the story reminded me of the changes in some of the people I saw who joined the church when I was an LDS missionary, though to my knowledge none of them had visionary dreams to help them along. It is a decent first novel and portends good things to come from this author in the future. (302 p. 2026)