Reading Goals Behind and Ahead

I like goals.  Even when I don't reach them.  Last January, I set a few reading goals for the year, and I finally have a few minutes to look over how that all worked out.

I wanted to read 55 books.  I read 68!  Huzzah!

I wanted to read at least 12 classics for my fourth Classics Club list.  I read 15!  Sweet!

I also wanted to read at least 12 books about people who are substantially different from myself.  And I read 16!  Yay!

I also chose 25 books I wanted to read in 2025, some of them rereads and some new reads.  I read 7 of them.  Epic fail.  Didn't even read 1/3 of them.  Sigh.  Oh well.

Now, time for my 2026 reading goals!

I want to read 13 books about or set during the American Revolution in 2026 to mark our nation's 250th birthday.  I'm listing them under #RevolutionaryWarReads on Instagram, if you are curious.  I hope to do a post just about that pretty soon.

Once again, I aim to read at least 12 classics and 12 diverse books.

And I'm setting my overall goal at 55 again because I know that will keep me reading but not daunt me.

Have you shared any reading plans or goals for 2026?  If so, drop me a link in the comments so I can see what you're planning!

"Woman in Shadow" by Carrie Stuart Parks

It's been a few years since I read any books by Carrie Stuart Parks, and that feels foolish of me, because I enjoy her writing a lot!  Time to do some catching up in 2026, I think!

Woman in Shadow is a stand-alone Christian suspense mystery about a woman who has PTSD and lost a limb due to a violent crime incident in her past.  Part of her therapy for working through her trauma involves going back out into the world and learning how to use her forensic linguist training and skills to help others again.  She is sent to help a ranch resort near Yellowstone National Park figure out if someone is sabotaging their work, and why.

She uncovers some dark truths, both about the dangers at the ranch and about her own past.  By shedding light on them, she's able to stop something really sinister from happening, and also able to heal emotionally and mentally from burdens she was forcing herself to carry.  She also gets a friends-to-maybe-more-in-the-future side story with a local law enforcement officer who has his own troubles to get through.

I really loved how the main character's training as a forensic linguist helped her navigate the new surroundings she gets dropped into, and also helped her figure out who to trust, who was hiding things, and so on.  I also really liked her character development -- there was no "instant healing," but rather a steady progression toward doing better with things, with stumbles and natural pauses.

My book club read this for our autumn book, and we all loved it!

Particularly Good Bits:

"The mountains marched into the distance like a stack of torn paper, each layer lighter than the previous one, ranging from deep viridian to soft lavender (p. 24). 

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for memories of violence, non-detailed descriptions of some pretty horrible deaths and injuries, and a lot of suspense and peril at the end.  No cussing, no smut, no detailed gore.

"Rowan Farm" by Margot Benary-Isbert

Rowan Farm is the sequel to The Ark and continues the story of the Lechow family as they attempt to build new lives and a new home in post-war West Germany.  Informed on the author's own knowledge and experiences after WWII, these two books show the chaos and ruin of Germany after WWII, but also the courage and hope of the people who work together to make the country fit for life and love once more.  

The youngsters from The Ark all live at Rowan Farm by this point, and have acquired some new friends.  Margret and Matthias, the two oldest Lechows, both have some romantic misadventures, though one of them does find love and start making plans for a future marriage by the end of the book.  This book is a little less funny than the first one, but instead feels more poignant and contemplative.  That feels very natural, because most of the Lechow children are pretty well grown up by the end of it.

As you might expect from a book about life in post-World War II West Germany, many struggles are portrayed here.  A new schoolmaster comes to town, a veteran who lost an arm in the war.  He and his pupils try to build a home for displaced veterans out of an old farmhouse and meet with a lot of opposition.  Other war veterans come through the story, all weary and burdened with doubt and dread and remorse.  Some new characters are escapees from Communist East Germany.  

The book never discusses Nazis or the cause for the war, only the helpfulness of American occupation troops in getting Germany back to being good and productive again.  Benary-Isbert was German herself, and wrote the first draft of The Ark while sharing an apartment with two other families in West Germany after WWII.  Both it and Rowan Farm were completed in the USA after she moved there with her husband in the 1950s.

I read Rowan Farm out loud to my kids over the past couple of months, and it marks a first for us -- we started reading it immediately after finishing The Ark.  Usually, I read a different book in between books in a series, but none of us wanted to wait to get to this book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-10 for discussions of death, loss, and suicide.  That all happens off-page, but is discussed by the characters.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This has been my 38th book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"Forget Me Knot" by B. R. Goodwin

Sometimes, when I have a very busy and stressful week or so, I want to read something short, bright, and perky.  This past week was overstuffed, and so I read Forget Me Knot because I knew it would make me smile and keep me interested, but not stress me out by being really suspenseful or anything.  It delivered everything I wanted: nice characters I'd like to be friends with, a cute little town I'd like to live in, and a sweet-but-not-sappy romance.  

There aren't a lot of authors that can get me really invested in a book that has a romance-driven plot, simply because I prefer plot-driven romances, on a whole.  B. R. Goodwin pulls it off handily, and I totally trust her to strike the right balance between romantic and realistic.

Forget Me Knot is about a young woman named Dinah who moves to a small Georgia town to be closer to her widowed sister and niece.  Dinah opens a pretzel shop and starts to fall for Jack, the guy who owns and operates a flower shop next door.  But Jack has a very complicated life because he has (SPOILER ALERT!!!) a split personality thanks to a traumatic head injury.  B. R. Goodwin doesn't offer any simplistic or unrealistic solutions to the inherent difficulties that presents, and I really appreciated her balanced and open-eyed look at that.

Particularly Good Bits:

Sometimes, when someone grieves, just allowing them to talk about their loved ones in their own time is the best offering (p. 61).

"No, Dinah, it sucks.  It's okay to say it sucks.  Grief isn't measured with time.  There aren't rules for how long you're permitted to miss someone, and pretending that you don't will only hurt more in the end" (p. 170).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for a LOT of gushing about how attractive a man is, women talking about their ovaries reacting to a man, some kissing and caressing, and just generally being more romantic than a younger teen is going to enjoy anyway.  Nothing smutty -- you can't even call it "closed-door" because Dinah and Jacks are both committed to waiting for marriage before having sex.  But I also wouldn't hand this to my young teen daughters.

"A Rose in West Egg" by Storm Shultz

This book was such a fast, fun read!  I love stories where people get to go inside a book and experience it a little bit, whether it's the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde or even movies like Austenland where a person is only kind of pretending to mimic an experience from a book.  Or even the movie Inkheart, where things and people from books get out into the real world.

In A Rose in West Egg, a librarian named Rose has always wanted to go on some kind of big adventure.  Not that she doesn't love her life as a librarian, but she's shy and lonely and a bit bored.  Also, she has alopecia and often worries she will never find a guy who doesn't care that she wears wigs.  

During a big library party to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rose ends up accidentally sliding inside the book itself.  She narrowly escapes getting murdered, meets a handsome but irritable detective who's hunting a serial killer, and finally finds her way back out of the book.

And if you're saying to yourself, "I've read The Great Gatsby... what serial killer?!?" then you are realizing what Rose realized, that there is something wrong going on inside the book, and she might be the only one who can fix things because she's from the real world.  And besides, if she goes back inside the book, she might meet up with that nice detective again...

This was a total treat for me as a lover of literature.  Rose has a fresh, upbeat, and softly quirky personality that made me like her so much.  And I really liked the message of needing to share the Good News of God's love and forgiveness to all people, including those who do not want to hear it at all.

I'll definitely be rereading this fun book!  I'll be adding the paperback to my shelves as soon as it releases.  Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.  I was not asked to provide a review, positive or otherwise.  All opinions here are my own, and freely given.

Particularly Good Bits: 

He smells like cedar soap and something comforting that I can't place yet.  I relax a little.  I mean, would a murderer smell like cedarwood?  Possibly, I suppose.  I don't think stores ban crazy people from buying nice soap.

"It's not failing to ask for help."

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some mild violence, alcohol use and abuse in the Gatsby world, scenes where an old woman is injured and then taken to the hospital, discussions of murders, and mental illness that results in violence.  No smut or bad language.

"What You are Looking for is in the Library" by Michiko Aoyama (translated by Alison Watts)

This may be the most unique book I read this year.  And I never would have heard of it if not for Joel G's review on I Would Rather be Reading.  Thank you again, Joel, for bringing it to my attention!

What You are Looking for... is a collection of stories about people living in Japan who are all seeking something.  Tomoka is looking for a more fulfilling job.  Ryo is trying to find a way to make his childhood dream come true.  Natsumi is searching for a better way to balance motherhood and her career.  Hiroya feels like his life has no purpose or goal.  Masao needs to figure out who he is now that he has retired.  One by one, they end up at a neighborhood library, where a memorable librarian gives them unusual book recommendations that help them find their way to what they're seeking.  And she also gives them each a little felted talisman, because the librarian likes felting.

Each story unfolds at a leisurely pace, but there's nothing wasted here.  Like a haiku, details can be sparse, but that means what we do see is carefully chosen for maximum meaning.  The stories build on each other a little bit, with a side character from one showing up in another, and so on.  They are interconnected marginally, not closely.  

Reading this book was a slow and gentle pleasure, like sipping hot tea or savoring very dark chocolate.  If you love character studies, the movie Love Actually (2003), or learning about other cultures, you might enjoy this too.

Particularly Good Bits:

There are so many things to do, but I won't make the excuse that I have no time anymore.  Instead, I will think about what I can do with the time I have.  One day is going to become tomorrow (p. 117).

It's weird how ideas keep springing into my head now, as if a stopper has been removed.  Yet when I had all the time in the world, I never had a single idea.  I didn't even feel like drawing (p. 235).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some occasional bad language.  No smut or violence.

"A Run at Love" by Toni Shiloh

Even though this is my first time reading a book by Toni Shiloh, I think I'm going to start a new tradition of reading one of her books the week of Valentine's Day every year.  (But also here and there in between when I feel like reading some really good, romantic Christian fiction.)  I had such a great time with A Run at Love -- due in no small part to the book revolving around horses, but also because Shiloh balanced the character development and the pacing and the plot so well.  

I've mentioned before that I don't care for romance-driven plots, but I do love plot-driven romances.  This was the latter, and I really enjoyed it.  Even though it's the second book in a trilogy, and I have not read the previous book, I never felt lost.  So well done!  I'm looking forward to finding the other two books!

In A Run at Love, Piper McKinney is battling her worries over breaking away from her parents' very successful and high-profile stables to start her own racing stable.  She's also dealing with a lot of stress from always feeling like she's in a spotlight because she's one of the few African-American racing stable owners.  Not to mention, she was adopted from Africa when she was a toddler... by a white couple living in a small Kentucky town that is pretty much entirely populated by white people.  Piper isn't insecure about her race, knowing her true worth comes from being a child of God... but sometimes she worries that people are paying more attention to the color of her skin than to her potential-champion race horse, Dream.

Piper's also battling her attraction to her best friend, Tucker Hale.  What she doesn't know is, Tucker is also expending extreme energy battling his own attraction to her!  And just when I was beginning to think, "Please don't let this author spin this unrequited love thing out any longer!" they admitted their feelings, and spent the rest of the book as a couple.  Whew.  

Piper buys Dream as a colt and hires Tucker to train him hoping they can enter Dream in the Kentucky Derby.  They win some races.  They lose some races.  And then a huge scandal erupts around Piper's parents' racing stables, and not only is Piper's future in horseracing in jeopardy, but her future with Tucker might be too.  Together, they need to rely on God to help them survive and even thrive in the midst of so much chaos.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for lots of swoony kisses and flirting and hand-holding, but nothing more.  Piper and Tucker were both committed to never getting into a situation where they could be tempted to "anticipate their wedding vows," as the Victorians would put it.  No cussing, no violence, but some discussions of sick horses needing to be euthanized that could be problematic for sensitive or young readers.  

"The Lilies of the Field" by William E. Barrett

I loved this book even more the second time through.  Its simplicity, straightforwardness, and gentleness impressed me so much the first time I read it, and now I've added "feels like an old friend" to that list of reasons I love it.  I hugged this book more than once while reading it.

This is an uplifting and hope-filled story of how kindness can dismantle boundaries.  Black handyman Homer Smith does a day's work for a group of German refugee nuns in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, insists there's no way he will build a chapel for them, and then their faith and humility and ready friendship touches his heart, so he builds their chapel for them.  That's the whole story right there -- like I said, very simple.  And yet, so complex.  

I had my 6th through 12th grade literature class at our homeschool co-op read this, and we had a wonderful discussion of how the characters both reflected and refuted stereotypes of the 1960s, when the book was written and set.

Particularly Good Bits:

Their smiles made him welcome and Homer felt immediately at ease with them.  They did not have any color line; he was just people to them (p. 15).

He had a prayer in his own heart when he accepted food.  Nobody took food for granted when he was a child.  It wasn't always easy to get and a person learned to be thankful when it was there (p. 37).

He looked at them and his heart lifted.  These were people who needed something that he had to give (p. 60).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's a lovely, clean, uplifting book.

"Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile" by Kristiana Gregory

I picked this book for my 3rd-5th grade literature class at our homeschool co-op to read because I am focusing on the importance of settings this year.  I'm having the class read books set in a variety of places and times so that we can see how books expand our horizons, and how a book's setting can impact the story itself.  But I hadn't read this myself before, I'd just heard good things about this Royal Diaries series, so I had to read it first to be able to lead discussions in class.

This was a solidly entertaining and informative look at what life could have been like for Cleopatra VII when she was between the ages of 12 and 15.  She was one of several daughters of the Pharaoh, and although I knew she would eventually be the queen of Egypt, that future wasn't at all assured, according to this book.  Over the course of several years, she navigates some tricky political and social situations, including an extended visit to Rome and a burgeoning attraction to this cocky dude named Marc Antony.

This was a fast read, and I feel like I got a good taste of life in both ancient Egypt and pre-empire Rome, which was really cool.  The historical details were fascinating and very naturally woven into the texture of the story.  I was especially intrigued by Cleopatra's friendship with Theophilus, a young Jewish scholar, and how much of the Jewish religion was explored here, as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian religions.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for murders (including stabbings, chokings, poisonings, and snakebite), drunkenness, and descriptions of crucifixion and gladiatorial games.

"Streams to the River, River to the Sea" by Scott O'Dell

I loved this book as a teen.  I loved this book again now.

Streams to the River, River to the Sea is a fictionalized account of Sacagawea's life.  It begins with a fictional description of her life beginning as a pre-teen when she is captured by an enemy tribe and literally groomed to become the chief's son's wife.  A half-French trapper named Touissaint Charboneau wins her in a gambling game and decides to make her his second wife.  Shortly before she gives birth to their first child, the Lewis and Clark Expedition shows up at the village where Sacagawea lives.

From there on, the book mostly follows the known account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but tells it from Sacagawea's perspective.  

Things I particularly love about this book:

+ the extremely well-researched depiction of American Indian life

+ getting to see a real-life adventure through the eyes of a young woman

+ Sacagawea herself.

Things I'm not so fond of in this book:

+ the portrayal of Sacagawea as a young teen, maybe 14 or 15 -- she was actually more like 19 at this point in her life

+ the portrayal of romantic feelings between Sacagawea and William Clark -- they're not historically accurate, they're based on a novel from the early 20th century that has since been debunked by historians as having fabricated a lot of things, including the supposed romance between Sacagawea and William Clark

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for a non-detailed depiction of childbirth, cruelty to animals, and for the portrayal of domestic abuse.  No bad language or spicy scenes, but does contain some frontier violence.

"King of the Wind" by Marguerite Henry

It's funny -- I remember this being one of my favorite books as a youngster... but I only remembered the first third or so of it.  As far as I could recall, the whole thing took place in the Middle East, but that's not true at all!  Most of it takes place in France and England.  Huh.

King of the Wind tells a fictionalized version of the life of the Godolphin Arabian, a horse whose bloodline runs through a huge number of race horses right down to modern day.  Both Secretariat and Man O'War came from his line, if that means anything to you.

In this book, a stable boy named Agba raises an orphaned Arabian colt he calls Sham in the stables of a capricious sultan.  Sham is faster than any other horse in the stables, leading Agba to nickname him King of the Wind.

The sultan decides to send some stallions to King Louis XV of France as a gift.  He chooses Sham as one of the gift stallions, and Agba gets to be one of the stable boys who accompany the horses.  They arrive in France looking terrible after the long voyage, and King Louis XV has Sham used as a cart horse.  One thing leads to another, with Sham being sold from one owner to the next, used for menial jobs and never valued for the race horse he ought to be.

Agba manages to stay with Sham through all the changes of ownership, and acquires a cat friend called Greymalkin along the way.  Agba is mute, and horses and cats don't talk, so the story gets told without loads and loads of dialog -- and it works beautifully.  Eventually, Sham gets sold to the Earl of Godolphin, and finally is recognized for the valuable horse he originally was.  Now, the real history of this horse, known as the Godolphin Arabian, is not quite so complicated or so fraught with misery, but most of what Henry adds is there to emphasize the theme of a person or a horse's true worth sometimes being hidden or unrecognized.

Gotta say, I suspect that much younger me probably read the whole book once or twice, but reread the first third over and over and over, when things were all going really well and both Agba and Sham were happy and valued, and that's why I remembered that part, but had forgotten the rest.  And I did still like that part best :-)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some depictions of cruelty to horses, mentions of a sultan having people beheaded, and a sequence involving jail.  Nothing too grisly or horrible, but might be hard on readers younger than 8 or 9.

This has been my 30th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling

Zowie!  Is this book ever wonderful!  In fact, it's probably in my top 3 for favorite new reads this year so far.  I laughed, I cried -- it moved me, Bob.

Thirteen-year-old Aven was born without arms.  So, she doesn't really miss arms.  Her adoptive parents have taught her how to do just fine getting through life using her feet and her ingenuity.  So, the only thing she really misses right now are her friends, because her dad just got a new job that means they've had to move from Kansas to Arizona.  His new job running a struggling Wild West theme park is pretty cool, and Aven thinks she has uncovered a small mystery involving a locked building, a missing photo, and a pretty necklace half buried at the foot of a giant saguaro cactus.  

Slowly, Aven makes new friends: first, a boy with Tourette's Syndrome, then a boy who struggles with being overweight.  Eventually, she finds acceptance and even friendship with some of the so-called "normal" of kids at school, too.  The theme park finds some new energy and life, and Aven solves her mystery.

Throughout the book, Aven displays compassion, humor, and tenacity.  She's got a really upbeat attitude, without being gratingly perky, and her perseverance is inspiring.  I was really excited to learn that there's a sequel, too!

Particularly Good Bits:

Seriously, people, you're not fooling anyone.  Just keep staring -- it's okay to be curious.  Everyone is (p. 60).

But there are a lot of hard things in life.  Who would I be if I gave up when things got hard? (p. 223).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a little tiny bit of rude humor -- there's a boy with Tourette's Syndrome who says "chicken nipple" all the time, and Aven mentions that people like to ask her how she wipes after using the bathroom when she has no arms.  She refuses to explain.  It's very mild and totally age-appropriate, so I wasn't bothered.  I doubt most kids would be.  

No bad language, and no inappropriate content.

This is my 20th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Midnight Show" by Sarah Pennington

This is such a fun book!  A fantasy version of the 1920s, with magical beings, speakeasies, jazz music, and so on.  AND it's a retelling of my favorite fairy tale, Twelve Dancing Princesses!

Popular singer Dayo Temitrope can't figure out why her dancing shoes are worn through every morning, and why her feet are covered in blisters.  She doesn't dance that much during her nightclub act, and she certainly doesn't go out dancing with her admirers enough to wreck her feet so badly.  So, she hires private investigator Bastian Dennell to figure out what's going on.

Bastian is excited to get to work for such a famous singer, especially since he's already a fan of hers.  But her case takes darker and stranger turns as he goes along, involving enchantments, disguises, and missing people.  But it all comes to a happy conclusion, and I am excited to read the next book in the Bastian Dennel series!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some intense scenes and possibly frightening imagery.  No cussing, smut, or gore.

This is the 19th book I've read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin (again)

I have a rule for myself: I have to wait five years between rereads of The Westing Game.  I've had that rule since I first read it 30ish years ago, and I have stuck to it!  This rule is born of me reading it twice in quick succession and realizing that much of my enjoyment of the book comes from the quirky surprises it contains.  When I remember what is coming, it's less fun for me.

This time, I read it aloud to my family.  My son had read it several times, my oldest daughter had read it five years ago and didn't remember it, and my husband and my youngest daughter had not read it at all.  We had the jolliest time experiencing this book together!  We now have several new family in-jokes because of it.

The basic plot is this: when paper products mogul Sam Westing is murdered, he leaves his money to whoever can win the Westing Game he has set up.  Players of the game all live in a new apartment building, though they didn't realize their living there was all a part of Westing's pre-death plan to get them to play.  As friendships form, alliances collapse, and families learn important things about each other, the tension mounts to see who will decipher all the mysterious clues and win the Westing Game -- and millions of dollars.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some discussion of corpses and murder, bombs, broken limbs, and an accident that results in disfigurement.  No cussing.

"Road Trip Rescue" by Becca Wierwille

What a lovely book!  I was utterly enchanted by this middle-grade book about a girl trying to find her missing dog.

Kimmy's dog Bo disappeared two years ago.  When she finds a photo in a magazine that looks just like him, she begs her parents to take her to see if that dog in the magazine really is Bo.  Her parents can't take time away from their dairy farm, but Kimmy's Aunt Skylar decides to take Kimmy on a road trip with a stop at the place where Bo might be living.  

The road trip gets longer and longer, with various stops and adventures along the way, and with extra people joining it along the way.  Kimmy does finally find the dog from the magazine.  I won't spoil the book by telling you whether the dog is Bo or not.

Kimmy was born with one full arm and hand, and one "little arm" that ends just below her elbow.  Over the course of the book, she learns that not all strangers stare, not all people who stare are being intentionally rude, and not everyone thinks that her "little arm" makes her a freak.  Most importantly, she learns the power of the forgiveness, and that you can forgive people whether or not they apologize to you.  

This is Christian fiction of the best kind, with characters who strive to live out their faith and act according to what the Bible teaches.  They read the Bible and they attend church, too.

I plan to have my elementary literature class at our homeschool co-op read this book this year.  It's so good!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  A good, wholesome, heartwarming story.

This has been my 18th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"Ruthless" by Candice Pedraza Yamnitz

The novella Ruthless is a prequel to Unbetrothed, which I reviewed here a couple years ago.  It focuses on Cottia, the mother of Unbetrothed's heroine, and her late teen years when she was an assassin.  I kid you not!  She is held in a sort of thrall by an evil man who makes Cottia use her magical talents to kill people on his orders.

Cottia is desperate to leave this lifestyle.  She believes her master when he says that if she can kill a certain person at a big party and use is death to start a war, he will release her from fealty to him.  But Cottia discovers her powers are useless against believers in the Ancient One, this fantasy world's version of God.  Slowly, Cottia begins to believe she may be able to be freed from her master if she puts her trust in the Ancient One.  A handsome and extraordinarily kind prince is instrumental in her coming to believe this, and in helping Cottia break free.  This is kind of a how-they-met story, rather than a love story, which I found a lot of fun.

Like Unbetrothed, Ruthless is set in a fantasy world that has a Latin flavor, not a Germanic or Nordic one.  Although this is a prequel, it stands alone perfectly fine and would be a great introduction to this world for new readers.  I liked the fast pacing of this novella, and how much character development for Cottia it held.  I could have used more development for the prince, but I know Yamnitz is working on a sequel to this, so I expect we will get to know him better in that.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for fantasy violence, assassinations, perilous situations, and deaths.

"Murder at the Serpentine Bridge" by Andrea Penrose

Did I worry that, when the two main characters of the Wrexford and Sloane Historical Mystery series got married, the books might take a, shall we say, salacious turn?  I did.  But, they didn't!  Yes, there are a few on-page kisses, and a brief mention of enjoying the pleasures of the marital bed, but that's it.  Whew.  This series continues to be a delight!  My only sorrow regarding it is that my library doesn't have the next couple of books in the series!  Boo!  But, honestly, I have been considering buying copies of the series for myself.  I know I'm going to want to reread them!  And I don't want to trust the library not to get rid of them when they decide they aren't popular enough to keep on their shelves, as that has happened several times with mystery series I enjoy :-(

In Murder at the Serpentine Bridge, a brilliant inventor is murdered, his body dumped in the river.  He was working on a secret, dangerous project, and his plans for it are nowhere to be found.  The Earl of Wrexford and his wife, Lady Charlotte, become increasingly involved when they take the inventor's orphaned nephew under their care.  Their adopted sons, Hawk and Raven, befriend the lonely boy and nickname him Falcon.

Falcon inherited a title and property from his late father, but is not of age to manage his inheritance, and he has another uncle, his father's brother, who is supposed to be managing his estate.  But that uncle resents Falcon for a variety of reasons, not least because Falcon is a "quadroon," one quarter black and three quarters white.  His inventor uncle was Falcon's mother's brother, half black himself, but highly respected by most in England's scientific circles. 

The inventor's murder is not race-related, but greed-related, as unscrupulous bad guys want to sell off his plans for his dangerous invention to the highest bidder, no matter whether or not the highest bidder is an enemy of England's.  But the varying attitudes of Regency England toward black people do come into play.  As usual, Penrose includes actual historical events in her book, and there is a note at the back explaining which events are real, and which characters are inspired by or based on real people.  Because I love learning about history, I always appreciate that aspect of these books very much.

Particularly Good Bits: 

"None of us can sail a ship alone.  We need friends aboard to help us steady the keel and keep a firm hand on the tiller when the weather turns rough" (p. 173).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for murder, children in grave danger, brief on-page kisses, and the aforementioned sentence in which Lady Charlotte thinks about having enjoyed her bedroom activities with her first husband, but not so much as with her second.  The line is as vague as my description of it.

"The Vanderbeekers Ever After" by Karina Yan Glaser

Well, I can now officially say I wholeheartedly love this entire series.  I'm sad that it has come to an end, but I'm happy it went out on such a beautiful, love-filled note.

This book is more serious than the previous books in the series, though some of them got plenty serious in places.  But this one is heavy in lots of different parts, and the whole story has a more serious flavor.

Not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but treat it like it is if you haven't already heard about what happens in this book.  Laney Vanderbeeker is diagnosed with leukemia early in the book, and the bulk of the story centers on her stays in a children's hospital getting treated for cancer.  As a result, Aunt Penny and Mr. B keep wanting to postpone their Christmas wedding, but Laney holds onto the promise of their wedding as something to look forward to throughout her treatments.  

While there are plenty of fun and cute and even funny moments in the book, Karina Yan Glaser never treats Laney's illness lightly.  She explores how scary a life-threatening illness is not only for the person who has it, but for every family member.  Much kindness and love is shown to Laney, but not every child at the hospital has a family like the Vanderbeekers.  And not every child at the hospital has cancer that has a high survival rate like leukemia.  Glaser never lets the book get too grim, but she keeps it realistic too.  Any reader who has watched a loved one suffer with cancer is going to feel seen here, and find understanding.

The book does end on an upbeat and hopeful note.  But I wouldn't hand this one to kids under 10 who are very sensitive or easily upset.  

Particularly Good Bits:

Laney tucked that memory into her heart, another reminder that the kindness of strangers could brighten any day (p. 60).

Love came in all forms, whether it be from hugs or words or gifts or food (p. 148).

Everyone had their own story filled with joys and hardships -- no one was spared from pain (p. 360).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some heavy topics and the off-page death of a side character.  Parents should consider whether or not their kids can handle all that before letting them read it.

This has been my 9th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"Kling Klang Gloria" by Jenni Sauer

I think this may be Sauer's best book yet.  Certainly, it is her most complex book yet.  Kling Klang Gloria is a follow-up to Rook di Goo, meaning it is book two of the War on Taras series.  It reads fine as a stand-alone, but you are going to enjoy the last section more if you have already read Rook di Goo.  And, since that last section is my favorite part of the book, overall, I definitely do recommend you read the first book first.

And now you're like, um, Hamlette?  Jenni Sauer has like five other Evraft books out too?  Which you have also reviewed?  How is this book two?

I'm so glad you asked!  This is book two because it is the second book in the War on Taras series, which takes place in the Evraft Galaxy.  The other books take place there too, and they sometimes involve characters who were in these books.  And that's about as much explaining as I can do.  I suggest visiting Sauer's website or connecting with her on social media to learn more.  Or just read the books and figure it out!  That's what I did ;-)

Anyway, Kling Klang Gloria starts out as a Sleeping Beauty retelling of sorts, then morphs into a King Thrushbeard retelling.  Princess Zariya wakes up from a cryogenic sleep and discovers her planet, Taras, has been overrun by their enemies.  The palace where she grew up has been leveled and the capitol city razed.  What's left of the Tarisian population is scavenging for survival and avoiding the occupying troops as much as they can.

Zariya is welcomed back by the only remaining royal guard, Thrush, who has faithfully waited all these years for her to awaken.  Together, they set off across the planet, looking for safety and purpose, basically.  Slowly, Zariya learns what happened to her planet and her people, and she slowly picks up clues as to Thrush's past, too.  Woven throughout the book are flashbacks to how and why Zariya was frozen and what her life was like beforehand.

Zariya was viewed as a spoiled and nonsensical girl all her life, treated as if she did not have a mind or will of her own and should just be a pretty puppet.  The only person who ever understood her was a boy named Arian, her only friend, but the two drifted apart as they grew up, leaving Zariya bereft and confused more than once as Arian stepped farther and farther away from her.  Zariya loves to fix things with her hands and has a genius for mechanical things, but struggles to understand social expectations and emotional cues, which makes me assume she is meant to be somewhere on the autism spectrum.  Maybe?  

Thrush starts out didactic and gruff, but mellows as he starts to trust Zariya and protect her because he wants to, not because it's his duty.  The two grow close and begin taking hesitant steps toward a romantic relationship, but this is more a coming-of-age story than a love story.  Their romance is sweet and very slow-burn, and I liked it a lot.

Particularly Good Bits:

Funny, that living scared her more than dying did.  But she had gone to so much trouble to survive, that was exactly what she intended to do (p. 18).

People were minefields of emotions and social constructs Ziya had never learned to read no matter how hard she tried (p. 267).

They weren't perfect.  Neither of them.  But maybe they could be imperfect together (p. 395).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some intense situations, violence, fake marriage as a cover story that involves Zariya and Thrush sharing a bed (innocuously) multiple times, and some mentions of menstruation and tampons that might not be something younger readers would appreciate/understand.  There's no cussing, no smut, and no gore, but there are brief mentions of someone having been tortured and several instances of hand-to-hand combat and other acts of violence.

This is my 6th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Legend of Bass Reeves" by Gary Paulsen

Funny thing: I thought I had read this book before.  I assigned it to one of my homeschool co-op classes to read for this month, remembering it as an exciting recounting of Bass Reeves's adventures as a U. S. Marshal in the Old West.  I started reading it this week to have it fresh in my mind for our discussion next week... and discovered I had actually only read the last 50 pages or so before.  About half of the book is actually about Bass growing up in slavery in Texas.  Then it explores why he ran off to Indian Territory as a young man, and how he found friendship and belonging there among the Creek tribe.  Only the last third is about his career as a lawman.

The book is fictional in that Paulsen writes about Bass's life as if he was writing a novel, with all kinds of situations and dialog that are supplied by the author.  Historians really know very little about Bass Reeves's early life growing up in Texas, so a lot of that is filled in based on typical conditions and experiences of that time and place.  The subtitle of the book is Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West, which gives you an idea of how this is a blend of real and imaginary things.

It's actually a deeper, richer book than I remembered... but also a bit sterner stuff than I would ordinarily have assigned to my 3rd-thru-5th-grade class.  I don't know if the reading level is above them, but there's some content here that I might have shied away from for them, such as a handful of bad words, mentions of torture and massacre (very lightly described, but could be really hard for very sheltered or sensitive kids to read about), and a pretty serious look at life as a slave.  (There's also a whole introduction that I would just advise most kids skip, to be honest.)  It does address the kinds of racism that Bass faced, and did an okay job pointing out that black, white, and native peoples all had different prejudices that worked against their getting along together.  It felt a little heavy-handed with that once or twice, but overall I think it was a really fair and sensible depiction of the era.

Anyway... class time next week could be interesting!  Happily, most of the kids in that class are into books like Goosebumps, so I don't think they'll find it scary.  And none of them are what I would consider quite sheltered.  We shall see how it goes!  I do know one of the nine-year-olds was about half done with it when I bumped into him earlier this week, and when I asked him what he thought of it, he said it was really interesting and not hard to read.  SO... it will probably be fine.  But I have definitely learned my lesson about relying on my memory about books I haven't read/reread within the last few years!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for the aforementioned scattering of bad language, as well as non-detailed descriptions of torture and massacre (naked dead bodies and scalpings are mentioned, along with vague description of mutilation, such as referring to "people being cut up").  The word 'rape' is used once in the book, but not defined, and the word 'prostitute' is used in the introduction, but not defined. 

Because it turns out I actually hadn't read most of this book before, I am counting it as my first read for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge this year.