The Mad Wolf's Daughter by Diane Magras

Drest it the youngest child of a Scottish Medieval warlord.  Though a daughter, Drest has been taught alongside her brothers to be a brave and fearsome warrior. When her father and brothers are captured and taken to a nearby castle to await execution, Drest sets out on a quest to save them.  On the way she meets up with a young injured knight, Emerik, from the castle. At first she takes him along as a captive but as they share adventures they become reluctant allies. Whenever she finds herself in peril, she hears in her head the voices of her brothers and father giving advice and encouragement. As Drest and Emerik make the grueling overland trek to the castle, Drest hears disturbing things about her family's past and reputation.  Though filled with questions, she stays determined to save her family or die trying.

This book got a lot of attention when it came out in 2018.  Drest is the epitome a "strong girl" character.  She has awesome fighting skills, and "can do" attitude, but at the same time, gives in to compassion when her training has taught her to be relentless. Although an adventure story, the book has a lot to say about families.  Drest's family has a checkered past, but they have always supported her.  She has to come to accept their love, while forgiving their faults. I could see both girls and boys enjoying this book because of the non-stop action and adventure, and being delighted by the creative medieval name calling sprinkled throughout.  The book resolves, but only partially, and there is already a sequel.  (2018, 288 p)

A Lady Unrivaled by Roseanna White

Lady Ella, the younger sister of the Duke of Nottingham (from the previous book) is staying with Brook and Justin (from the first book).  While at their home she meets up with Justin's younger cousin, Lord Cayton, the once wayward, but now reformed widowed father of a little girl, Addy.  Ella is determined to rid her family from the threat of those who seek the Fire Eyes diamonds and enlists Cayton as a reluctant ally. As they work together, they start to realize their relationship might be developing into something deeper. Meanwhile, Kira Belova, a washed out ballerina and the mistress of one of the richest men is Paris, is sent by her lover to pose as a servant in the household of the evil Lord Rushworth to discover what has happened to the diamonds.

This is the final book in the "Ladies of the Manor" series and ties everything together quite nicely.  Whereas, in the two earlier books, the mystery of the Fire Eyes was almost a side plot, in this one it comes to the forefront so that White can bring it to resolution.  This book really has two main characters, Ella (and her relationship to Cayton) and Kira. While Ella remains her same, positive, reckless self, the real character development happens in Kira's story.  (spoiler alert!) She gradually comes to realize that her life "of sin" as a mistress, although it comes with wealth and comfort, can never bring her real happiness.

I have really enjoyed this series.  The way the characters rely in direction from God in many ways mirror's my own experience.  It is different from some other of the Christian fiction I have read before.  In the others, characters find inspiration from scripture verses that help them make important decisions, but in this series, the characters have come to recognize and respond to promptings from the Holy Spirit.  They don't always understand the follow the promptings perfectly, but they move forward in faith, and in the end they they can see how God was trying to guide them. I would imagine others would find it all a bit to goody-goody and preachy, but I really enjoyed it and look forward to more series by Ms White. (2016, 408 p.)

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Tristan Strong is feeling dejected because he lost his first real boxing match thereby failing to live up to his father's and grandfather's expectations. He is also struggling with grief because of the death of his best friend in a school bus accident. His parents decide he needs some time away, so they send him to stay with his grandparents.  The first day on their farm, he wanders into a mystical forest and breaks the top bottle on a bottle tree. As a result, he gets sucked into a world where the heroes of African and African American mythology are real.  He meets John Henry and Brer Rabbit.  Unfortunately, when he falls into that world, he leaves a tear in the sky that allowed an evil force to come in with him. He is tasked with a quest to find Anansi the Spider God and convince him to mend the tear and defeat the evil haint. 

This is part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.  It was interesting to read a book based on my own country's folklore.  I think Mbalia handled the material creatively, tying into the history of enslavement through cleverly chosen, (but not terribly subtle) imagery.  I could see teachers and kids really liking this one.  I could also see that it might stir up some controversy.  It is certainly an entertaining way to introduce children to a very difficult past.  (482 p. 2019)

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer

 Maurie-Laure goes blind at age six but her loving father carefully teaches her how to get around Paris by making a tiny model of her neighborhood that she can explore with her fingers. Werner lives in a orphan home in Germany with his little sister, but loves learning about science and electricity and hopes educating himself with allow him to escape working in the mine that took his father's life. As the two children grow up, they get caught up in the vicious winds of World War II.  Werner becomes a radio technician for the occupying German army in the same French city where Maurie-Laure and her father have taken refuge with a priceless jewel from the Museum where Maurie-Laure's father used to work as a locksmith. As forces outside their control drive the young people toward their fates, they struggle to keep hold of their humanity and sanity.

This book won a Pulitzer prize in 2015, and for good reason.  The writing is stunning! The plot is so well crafted and the characters are deep, complex and very human. Doer unflinchingly puts the reader into the heart of WWII Europe both physically and emotionally. It is the best book I have read, from a literary standpoint, in a very long time.  

That said, it was a little hard to read. It is so realistic that I felt the heaviness of the character's lives and struggles, and it made me feel depressed and hopeless all week. I am a bit of a literature wimp I guess. Or more accurately, I enjoy escapist literature, but escaping to the middle of WWII is no picnic.  Still, even with the emotional weight it brought, I didn't once think of not finishing it.  It really is amazing.  (2014, 544 p)

The Reluctant Dutchess by Roseanna M. White.

 Rowena Kinnaird is the heiress of a Scottish Earldom, and in line to be the wife of the next Kenneret clan leader.  But her intended is not the ideal suitor she had imagined, and since her mother's suicide, her father has also become abusive. In walks the Brice Myerston, the rock solid Christian friend from the first book in series, and now the Duke of Nottingham. Following promptings from God, he rescues Rowena, and they start the slow hard process of trying to get to know and love each other.  Meanwhile, Brice is still the owner of the ill fated red diamonds, and Lady Pratt, now widowed, is still determined to make them hers.

This is the second in the series that started with The Lost Heiress.  I liked that one, and I think I may have liked this one even better.  Brice is just such a nice guy.  He listens to and follows spiritual promptings, even when he doesn't understand them and when they are asking him to do something hard.  He is kind and patient and unselfish. Rowena is also a well drawn and interesting character.  I think she is believably traumatized and her response to Brice and their situation, and how long it takes her to come to trust him, is realistic.  One of the highlights of the book is the reader of the audio version.  She slips easily between Rowena's Scottish accent and Brook's French accent.  I was most impressed when she did Rowena trying to talk like an English aristocrat, but still sounding like a Scot. 

Like the first in the series, the plot about the diamonds was really just a side story to tie this book to the first.  It is a little more integrated into this book's plot, but still not much.  I guess the author just needs a device to make the stories feel like a series instead of stand alone books. (2016, 400 p)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 Nora is having a very bad day.  She loses her loser job, and her cat dies. She decides there is no reason to go on living, so she takes an overdose, and ends up in the Midnight Library.  It is a library full of books, each of which is a different version of her life if she had made different decisions in her life. She can visit the different versions of her life and stay as long as she likes.  As she starts to life hop, she discovers that many of her regrets were not well founded.  

I don't know if I am even allowed to blog about this book because I didn't get through it.  I made it about half of the way through, but I found myself dreading hearing the next chapter (I was listening to the audiobook version) and I thought to myself, "I have so many other books I would probably like more than this one, so I will just quit."  I originally put the book on hold because it has in the top five most requested books on Overdrive lately.  I could see why some people could like it.  It was probably comforting to people with lots of regrets.  The message seemed to be that even if your life sucks now, it probably wouldn't have been much better no matter what you did.  Actually, that is overly harsh.  Nora is learning valuable life lessons with each life she experiences, and I have confidence she will finish the book in a much better place emotionally.  The reason I stopped reading it was that each chapter is like a nightmare.  She finds herself suddenly in a situation where she is expected to know things and be able to do things she doesn't know or isn't able to do.  In one life she arrives right before she is supposed to give a talk to thousands of people.  In another she is supposed to sing in a rock band but doesn't know the song.  It made me feel so stressed for her, it wasn't enjoyable to read. I was tempted to just jump ahead to the ending, but I am not that kind of reader. 

So if you make it to the end, and it turns out to have such a wonderful ending it is worth slogging through the nightmare chapters, please let me know.  (304 p. 2020)