"The Dream Diviner" by Charity Bishop

It's been a while since I read a Charity Bishop book, mainly because her last few books have been horror-ish fantasy and that is not my jam.  So I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her new historical fiction book, because I love her historical fiction.

The Dream Diviner does not disappoint.  It's the first in a new Biblical fiction series called The Claudia Chronicles that will fictionally explore the life of Claudia Procula, wife of Pontius Pilate.  Charity Bishop wrote a book about this same historical figure ten years ago, but realized she had a lot more to say about Claudia and wanted to delve more deeply into the world she inhabited.  Well, that's great news for all of us who enjoy Biblical fiction, because it means we have lots of good stuff coming our way, beginning with this book!

In this fictional imagining of what her life could have been like, Claudia is the illegitimate daughter of Roman Emperor Tiberius's wife.  Not his daughter, but his wife's daughter.  Tiberius likes her anyway, and his heir Drusus loves her like a full sister, so Claudia lives at the palace.  Drusus's wife Livilla hates Claudia, mostly because Livilla's son Gemellus loves Claudia more.  Claudia is kind, sensible, and warm-hearted, so it's not hard to see why her little nephew loves her... or why the resourceful and ambitious soldier Lucius Pilate grows to love her too.

Claudia often has disturbing dreams that obviously contain meanings about future events, but she can never decipher them in time to make the dreams useful.  She seeks out wise men and teachers of many faiths in hopes that they will help her interpret these dreams.  When she listens to a Jewish teacher, Avram, she realizes he could be the one to help her.  While seeking his guidance for interpreting her dreams, she comes to believe that the God he worships, Adonai, is the one true God.  She stops worshiping all the Roman gods she grew up with, but her decision comes at great cost.

Bishop excels at writing about palace intrigue and politics in a way that humanizes them and keeps me invested, and she uses that ability to great effect here.  I never got lost in who was conniving against whom, or which person was planning to trick which other person.  That's not always the case for me and books that involve a lot of that, so I think it's a testament to Bishop's writing that I remain engaged and unconfused.

Particularly Good Bits:

"If Adonai gave you these dreams, it is to call you to him, not to make you a seer for Rome.  He is a jealous God.  He will not share you with idols of stone."

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for mentions of illegitimate children and extramarital affairs, plus violence and a scene of flogging as punishment.  No cussing and no smut.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, but was not asked or required to review it.  All opinions are my own.

"Murder at Somerset House" by Andrea Penrose

The Wrexford and Sloane Historical Mystery series still has not disappointed me once.  These books are a continual delight, and I am collecting them up now so that I can reread them in the future because I know I will want to.

Murder at Somerset House is no exception.  To the quirky, blended family that Wrex and Charlotte have formed, we get a new addition: a preteen girl with a passion for raising and training carrier pigeons.  It may take her a while to grow accustomed to a family that includes a notoriously volatile Earl who dabbles in chemistry, an unconventional artist skilled at both the art of satire and the art of disguise, two former street urchins who love mathematics and art and mischief, and a biracial scientific prodigy... and all of whom have a penchant for pursuing truth and justice by solving crimes together.  Who wouldn't be daunted?  And who wouldn't love them?

As usual, the plot revolves around the cutting-edge science and technology of Regency England, this time with a healthy dose of Napoleonic danger added to the intrigue.  Spying, secrecy, and science make for a combustible combination, and no mistake.  Also, this may sound really weird, but the stock exchange played a vital role in this book, and I now actually kind of understand how trading stocks and bonds and such works, for the first time in my life.  That's pretty nifty.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Self-reliance -- the art of knowing how to think through problems and solve them -- is a fundamentally important skill to have in life" (p. 167).

"Taking joy in each other's passions is part of the bonds that tie a family together" (p. 250).

Henning let out a rusty laugh.  "Is there anyone normal in this family?"

"Heaven forfend," drawled the earl.  "They wouldn't last long" (p. 286).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for murder, violence, and some era-appropriate cussing.

"Scars of the Revolution" by Megan Soja

This third book in the Harbor of Spies series was the most tense yet. Also, it might have my favorite romance so far.  I definitely liked its romantic interest, the honorable and stalwart Isaac Harrison, best of all the series's menfolks so far.  

Libby had a girlish crush on Isaac when he was friends with her father years ago.  That crush has deepened into adult attraction, but she is uncertain if he sees her as a woman now, or still thinks of her as his friend's young daughter.  As for Isaac, he's a British officer in a highly respected military unit who finds himself uncertain if he is on the right side of the emerging conflict between Britain and America.

Spying happens, obviously.  Familiar characters from the previous books weave in and out.  And a plot that could have hinged on miscommunication instead hinges on honest communication combined with confusion over one's own duties rather than over someone else's intentions -- and I appreciated that A Lot.

Particularly Good Bits:

"I need busy hands, else my mind becomes occupied with worries better left to the Lord" (p. 62).

"It is not weak or insignificant to live a simple life, marked by everyday tasks that often go unnoticed, yet would be sorely missed should they cease to be done" (p. 252).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for wartime violence, descriptions of wounds and illness, sweet romance including lightly described kisses, a lot of yearning, and a scene in which a man appears about ready to assault a woman.  No cussing or smut.

This has been my ninth book read for my personal #RevolutionaryWarReads challenge.

"Setting Time Free" by Sarah Everest

Each installment in the Untouched serial series is more taut and exciting than the last!

Breaking Triviality was a fun adventure.  Sifting Through Chaos turned serious fast.  And Setting Time Free was so suspenseful that I read the second half of the book in one sitting!

In this third and final installment, modern-day teens Marit and Cas are still trying to help 1940s Dutch teen Anneliese and a few new friends survive in newly occupied Rotterdam.  The Nazis have overrun the city and are an ever-present menace.  Anneliese's new friend Bastiaan and his resistance buddies try to help Marit and Cas find the mysterious locket that could return them to their own time.  But there are enemies on all sides, more even than Marit and Cas really realize.

Even more so than Sifting Through Chaos, this book brought to life the heartbreak and horror of war.  There are on-page deaths and some realistic descriptions of the struggle to find food and remain humane in the midst of scrabbling for survival.

As a whole, this serialized trilogy is a thrilling, suspenseful adventure story for teens that I very much enjoyed.

This book releases on Tuesday, August 11. I was privileged to be selected to read an advance copy from the publisher, but I was not requested or required to review the book; all opinions are my own.

Particularly Good Bits:

It was as though someone had cut a hole in my stomach and pulled everything out, leaving me a hollow cocoon, my butterfly soul having flown off to chase the light of my handsome prince (Marit, chapter four).

It would have been easy to slip back into the fearful girl I had once been, but I was not that girl anymore.  I had walked through the fire and felt the devil nipping at my heels.  And despite all the evil we had witnessed, the words Betje had sent us off with rang true.  The Lord was with us, no matter how dark the night (Annelies, chapter eight).

He had stepped out of the pages of my life as quickly as he had entered them, leaving the story unfinished (Annelies, chapter seventeen).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for wartime violence, including on-page shootings and death.  No cussing or smut.

"Secrets of the Revolution" by Megan Soja

This second book in the Harbor of Spies series by Megan Soja did not disappoint!  It builds upon the first book, Spark of the Revolution, but could also be read as a stand-alone.  (But you do find out how the first book ends, if you care about spoilage.)

This book centers around William Abbott, older brother of the main female character of the first book.  His plans for the future entirely change with the receipt of a single letter, and he wholeheartedly embraces the Patriot cause as a result.  He stays in Boston and becomes a spy.

Along the way, he meets Hannah Pierce, who runs her aging father's apothecary shop.  Not only is she keeping her father's failing health and mind a secret, but she becomes involved in the growing Patriot spy ring as well.

And, of course, William and Hannah fall in love.

I especially enjoyed how many real historical people, places, and events Soja includes in this series.  And I appreciate how the Christian faith of both main characters grew and changed over the course of the book.  I liked book two even better than book one, and I'm glad I'm only halfway through the series, because that means I still have two books to look forward to!

Particularly Good Bits:

Silence hovered between them, begging to be filled (p. 29).

"Perhaps many memories hold a touch of the bittersweet, but I believe that makes them all the more precious.  They remind us of the experiences that shaped us.  And in recognizing how fleeting and fragile life is, they spur us on to fully live each day that God gives us" (p. 91).

It was not a failure to close one chapter of her life and begin another (p. 276).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for sweet romance including lightly described kisses, plus some descriptions of mild violence.  No cussing or smut.

This has been my 7th book read for my #RevolutionaryWarReads challenge!

"Sifting Through Chaos" by Sarah Everest

Book two in the Untouched series picks right up where book one (Breaking Triviality) left off.  That's a great thing about a serialized series -- you aren't left wondering what happened between books!  I appreciate that.

In Sifting Through Chaos, modern-day teens Marit and Cas have time-traveled back to 1940s Rotterdam right when the Nazis were overrunning the Netherlands.  They meet Annelies and her family (who were in the split-time first book too) and work together to escape the bombings and take shelter at the family's farm cottage outside the city.  But that cottage isn't meant for living in, and they must find another solution.  

Along the way, they've acquired an elderly woman and an orphaned toddler to care for as well.  That gives Sifting Through Chaos some found-family elements, which I always appreciate.  The bulk of the book is about figuring out how to keep these people safe while also searching for a way to get Marit and Cas back to their own time.

Marit has had a crush on Cas for years, and she finds her feelings growing deeper as she gets to know him.  Cas has a girlfriend back home in their own time, but they have been drifting apart for a long time, and he begins to wonder if he should break things off with her if/when they return to the present.  This is partly because he is developing feelings for Marit, but also because he realizes his girlfriend is not someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with.  Meanwhile, Annelies realizes she is falling for her knew Dutch soldier friend Bastiaan.  All of this is handled with believable teenage emotions and ways of thinking.

Sifting Through Chaos doesn't end on quite as much of a cliffhanger as Breaking Triviality did, but it definitely makes me eager to read book three, Setting Time Free, which will release in August.

This book releases next Tuesday, July 14. I was privileged to be selected to read an advance copy from the publisher, but I was not requested or required to review the book; all opinions are my own.

Particularly Good Bits:

So many crushed dreams were scattered around my feet (Cas, chapter nine).

...there was just no right way to tell a three-year-old phoenix she would rise from the ashes and become the best, warmest, most understanding grandma a girl could ever ask for (Marit, chapter twenty-one).

Tears of defeat threatened to overflow, but a surprising defiance welled up inside me.  I wouldn't give the enemy the pleasure of stealing my hope (Annelies, chapter twenty-eight).

My entire world had been shuffled into ruin and nightmares (Annelies, chapter thirty).

Minutes ticked by to the steady rhythm of our feet (Cas, chapter thirty-five).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for wartime violence and an incident where a German soldier attempts to haul away a teenage girl and rape her (the word 'rape' is not used, but his intentions are clear, as is her growing fear of what could happen).  No gore, no bad language, and no smut.  

"The Fighting Ground" by Avi

Well, that was different.  I'm not entirely sure I liked The Fighting Ground, but I definitely found it interesting!  Especially the idea behind the format of the story.  Instead of having chapters, it's broken up into sections by time, each section relating what happens every five minutes or so.  Depending on your reading speed, that can make this feel like it's happening in real time.  That was a nifty conceit.

The book focuses on a thirteen-year-old boy, Jonathan who aches to join the Patriots and fight against the British.  His father was wounded in the war and has come home to recover, but Jonathan doesn't see his father as a hero.  He sees him as a boring and tired adult who doesn't want Jonathan to have any fun.

So, Jonathan seizes his chance when there's an opportunity to borrow a gun from a neighbor and go fight some Hessians in the neighborhood.  Except the skirmish he ends up taking part in has little glory or excitement.  It's noisy and confusing and scary, and Jonathan decides he has had enough of war.  Unfortunately, the war has not had enough of him.  Before he finds his way back home, he faces some terrible people and learns some uncomfortable truths about himself and about war.

This is probably not a book I'll keep on our shelves.  But I think it was a timely thing to read right before the 250th anniversary of our nation's birthday.  It's a good reminder of the toll that the war took on ordinary people of all ages, and of the fact that war isn't glorious or fun -- it's dirty and dangerous and uncomfortable and scary.  For me, that's a good reminder of how much respect I owe those who choose to serve our country in the military, both now and in the past.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-10 for several cuss words, a scene of battle and bloodshed, and lightly described encounters with death and dead bodies.  This is a middle-grade book, but some younger readers may find it too scary or disturbing.

This is my sixth book read for my #RevolutionaryWarReads challenge that I've set myself.  You may notice I've made a new graphic for this challenge... and I probably will need to make another new one before the year is over, because I keep acquiring more books about the American Revolution!  This will do for right now, though.

Top Ten Tuesday: Summertime TBR 2026

This week, our prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is Books on my summer 2026 reading list.  Here are ten books I really would like to read this summer!

I'm including publication years and genre tags for them as found on Goodreads, since I haven't actually read any of these yet.

The Dogs of War by Emily Hayse -- 2025, new adult, fantasy, coming-of-age

The Fighting Ground by Avi -- 1984, middle-grade, historical fiction, American Revolution

Lady Agatha Speaks Her Mind by Elisabeth Aimee Brown -- 2026, young adult, fairy tale retelling, fantasy

The Lady and the Loyalist by Stephanie McRae -- 2024, Christian, historical fiction, American Revolution

The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katherine Green -- 1877, classic, mystery, detective fiction

Major Fireworks by B. R. Goodwin -- 2024, Christian, clean romance, humorous

The Secret of Sarah Revere by Ann Rinaldi -- 1995, young adult, historical fiction, American Revolution

Secrets of the Revolution by Megan Soja -- 2025, Christian, historical fiction, American Revolution

Serve Love Mend by Jenni Sauer -- 2026, YA, Shakespeare retelling, fantasy

Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose -- 2006, non-fiction, American Revolution

Do you have books you want to get read this summer?  Have you read any of these?

"Of Pastries and Vengeance" by Amber Lambda and Lydia Mae

Another great addition to the Games of Greed and Ruin series!  Of Pastries and Vengeance focuses on one character from the first book, One Must Die, plus adds a new character, while also expanding the world in which the series is set.

If you read One Must Die, you probably remember Maple, the sweet baker whose peach scones gained her several friends, though they didn't convince quite everyone in the deadly Sky Manor game that she was a good person. As I recall, several people were sure she was not as pure and uncomplicated as she wanted to appear.

And they were right.  Maple has a big secret: she may bake delicious cinnamon rolls and peach scones and other bakery delights now, but she was once a notorious and feared member of the city's underground no-holds-barred prize fighting circles.  Not only that, but she believes her father was murdered during one of those illegal fights.

Maple meets Rory Evander, a brand-new law enforcement officer who is intent on capturing a killer.  No matter who that killer may be.  Rory and Maple team up, albeit with reluctance on both their parts, and begin hunting for clues.  And start to develop feelings for each other in the process, as you might expect.

Since I love a good murder mystery, I really enjoyed this.  There were enough surprises to keep me guessing and enough clues to keep me satisfied.  I look forward to seeing where these two characters end up in the next book.

Like the other books in this series, this is Christian fiction, though the Christian themes are maybe a bit less overt in this than in some of the books.

This book WILL make you hungry...

Particularly Good Bits:

I cringed.  This guy was going to stick out like a burnt tea biscuit (p. 31).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for scenes of hand-to-hand violence and non-gory descriptions of murder.  No smut and no cussing.

"On Living Stone" by Heather Kaufman

Another breathtakingly good book from Heather Kaufman!  Are we surprised?  We are not.  Are we happy?  Ecstatically so!

On Living Stone tells the story of Salome, mother of Jesus's disciples James and John.  Like the first two books in this series, Up from Dust and Before the King, this book focuses on a real woman who appears in the Biblical record, but imagines what her life could have been like.

Salome's mother died when she was young.  Her father was a skilled stone mason, but grief drove him to become an alcoholic for a time, though an accident brought him to his senses.  Through all of that, he was a kind and loving father, however.  Salome's mother's best friend tried to help guide the preteen girl toward becoming an upright woman, but Salome's own grief often made her desperate to get away from everyone and be alone in nature with only her beloved dog as a companion.  She resents her mother's best friend at times, and struggles to find her own friends and a sense of belonging in her world.

Eventually, Salome has to grow up, whether she wants to or not.  Like the rest of us.  She marries Zebedee, a strong and gentle fisherman she has known all her life, and they have two sons, James and John.  Salome struggles with motherhood at times, especially while enduring what we would not call post-partum depression, but she is overall a fiercely loving protector for her sons.  When her sons begin to follow a new rabbi named Jesus, she has many reservations, but eventually comes to believe that Jesus is who he says he is: the Messiah.  

Like all the best Biblical fiction, On Living Stone doesn't seek to try to replace the Bible in readers' minds, but rather shows us the world in which the Biblical accounts take place so we can better understand the people, places, customs, and lifestyles in the Bible.  Heather Kaufman masterfully opens that world to readers while always pointing them to the Bible as the ultimate authority on everything to do with God and his saving grace.

(From my Instagram)

Particularly Good Bits:

We follow a rabbi whose steps extend beyond the grave (p. 10).

He wrapped long arms around me until I was completely surrounded by his sturdy embrace.  He was the steady beat of a drum, a warm cloak on a dark night, a spoken word of comfort into a lonely heart (p. 64).

"God alone knows the future.  He only asks that we walk uprightly in the present day" (p. 83).

"Salome, I may not understand what you're going through, but I don't have to understand in order to love you" (p. 121).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some scenes of non-gory violence, discussion of depression, and gentle mentions of a husband and wife anticipating or enjoying the marital bed.  No smut; no cussing.

"Breaking Triviality" by Sarah Everest

Are you fascinated by abandoned places?  I know many people are, including me.  I love looking at photos of them online, and even have several coffee table books about specific kinds of abandoned places, such as Old West ghost towns.  But I've never had the temerity (or good opportunity) to explore inside abandoned places... except one.  Which I'll share photos of at the end of this post.

Three of the characters in Breaking Triviality by Sarah Everest are "urban explorers" -- they like to explore abandoned buildings.  While some people enter abandoned places because they want to hide a criminal activity, or because they want to deface someone else's property with spray paint or whatever, urban explorers are different.  They're usually motivated by curiosity about the past, or by the thrill of seeing places that are rarely entered by others, or simply by the desire to explore.  

Marit and Zander's parents encourage their teens to plan adventures.  For Marti's 17th birthday, their parents let her plan a trip to the Netherlands to meet a famous urban explorer called Cas so he can show them around some amazing ruins in Rotterdam.  Marit and Zander have Dutch heritage, so they are eager to learn more about the land of their forebears.  Plus, Marit has had a crush on Cas for a long time, thanks to his YouTube videos.

That's what half of the book is about, because this is a split-time novel.  The other half is about a Dutch teen named Annelies who lives in Rotterdam in 1940, right when the Nazis are first occupying the Netherlands.  We get to see her living in and visiting buildings that, in the present day, those urban explorers are wandering around as abandoned spaces.  Annelies's mother has died, her father is at a loss as to how to deal with the invasion, and her brother is angry about everything, but especially about not being allowed to join the Dutch military.  Some Dutch soldiers are quartered in their large home, and Annelies makes friends with one of them, bonding over a dangerous situation he helps her with.

And, at the very end of the book, time travel enters the picture.  I quite enjoy time travel stories, so I am excited to see what happens to these teens next, in both eras!  Sarah Everest draws realistic teens who are more than halfway to adulthood but still sometimes do heedless or immature things, like all the real teens I know.  The urge to show off for someone you have a crush on, the inner conflict between trying to find out if someone likes you and not wanting to know just in case you'll get rejected, the desire to be seen as capable and mature even when you're not sure if you're either one -- those all made these teens feel very real and likeable.

Also, I'm half Dutch, so I really loved all the Dutch words, food, and history woven into the book!

This is the first book in a trilogy of Christian YA novellas, and it releases next week, June 16.  I was privileged to be selected to read an advance copy from the publisher, but I was not requested or required to review the book; all opinions are my own.

Particularly Good Bits:

But for some reason -- only understood by every single girl who has ever met their semi-celebrity crush in person and been one hundred percent overwhelmed by how exactly he met every expectation -- I couldn't make my mouth form words. (Marit, chapter one)

A shiver zipped through my body, but it was the good type, like when a song is so entirely right on every level that the hairs on my arms stand on end. (Marit, chapter six)

For the life of me, I had no idea how, in one day's time, I'd gone from being a politely behaved young lady to sneaking out of my house without permission during a war, making friends with the neighborhood witch, aiding an enemy soldier, and flirting with a young man I barely knew.  (Annelies, chapter twelve)

Her cool palm reminded me of an old saying of my oma's about how cold hands represent a warm heart. (Annelies, chapter nineteen)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some scary wartime scenes, light descriptions of a wartime wound, and a tense chase scene.

Now, about that ruin I have explored!  It's called the Chapman-Beverley Mill, and it stands beside a highway at the edge of my county here in Virginia.  It was a grist mill built in 1742, and it ground grain to make flour for the US Army for every war from the American Revolution on through Desert Storm... and then some villainous villain set fire to it in 1998 and burnt the whole thing down.  Except its stone exterior.

The mill site is currently closed to visitors because they are doing some stabilization and restoration to the structure, but we have visited it a couple of times, years ago, when it was open and you could just wander around inside the mill, plus a couple of outbuildings.  (How long ago?  Well, the two little tykes you see in the above photo are now 14 and 16...)

It's so amazing to see this piece of history in person, even though knowing that it could still be operational and useful breaks my heart.  

I don't have lots of photos from this that don't show my kids' faces, but here's one -- I'm stepping in through that doorway where you can see my husband standing in the second photo, and he and two of our kiddos are already inside.  

Obviously, we weren't exactly doing "urban exploring" because this place was open for people to check out when we went there, with a parking lot and signs explaining the history of the mill, what different buildings and objects were used for, and so on.  But it's the closest I've come.

"The Gatsby Gambit" by Claire Anderson Wheeler

I picked this up at the library on an absolute whim, and it ended up being exactly the book I needed to read last week.

The Gatsby Gambit is kind of an alternate universe retelling of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  In this world, Jay Gatsby has a kid sister and is friends with Tom and Daisy Buchanan.  The kind of friends that are randomly staying at his mansion for a few weeks in the summer while their own mansion across the water is having some renovations done.  

Jay, the Buchanans, Nick Carraway, and Jordan Baker all come across is slightly nicer versions of themselves from Fitzgerald's book.  Daisy and Jordan have the ability to be kind if they want to.  Jay is a little less aloof and a little less unbelievable... and it feels comfortable to call him 'Jay' and not 'Gatsby.'  I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I can't figure out another way to say it.  I think of this Jay Gatsby as Jay, and I think of the original Jay Gatsby as Gatsby. Nick Carraway is very similar to his original self, though maybe a bit more patient.  And Tom Buchanan is... still a lout.  Still a womanizer.  Still a self-satisfied snob.  

As for Jay's little sister Greta Gatsby, she is a delight from beginning to end.  She's all finished with finishing schools at last and ready to step out into the adult world, only she discovers that having been screened and sheltered from the adult world maybe wasn't so entirely bad after all.  Because the adults in her world are not always up to good things.  Sometimes, the ones she loves most are behaving very badly indeed, and she had just been unaware.  And others might have the kinds of dark secrets in their past that come to light violently and permanently.

All in all, this is a stylish and smart murder mystery tangled up in a coming-of-age story, Roaring Twenties-style.  The historical details were fabulous, the characters were sharply believable, and the book never felt like it was capitalizing on the fame of a classic so much as exploring a "what if?" in a natural and fun way.  It explores issues of the day such as classism, ableism, and sexism without pouring too much of our modern mores into the mix, and also deftly scrutinizes cruelty, infidelity, family, and romance.

Particularly Good Bits:

Sometimes she felt--oh, it was such a tricky thing to put into words!--this suspicion that the world was not quite the world she read about.  That she was still being... protected from things.  Not by Jay exactly, not by anyone in particular, but by some invisible, insidious buffer (p. 30).

Ladies, certainly, were not supposed to question things.  Ladylike meant gracious, and gracious meant accepting (p. 85).

"She wanted everyone to think she was happy; she wanted to look happy.  That was something she knew how to do much better than actually being happy.  Poor old Daise has been told how to look and what to feel for so long, I think sometimes she hardly knows how to locate a feeling of her own" (p. 96).

"I never wanted to marry a romantic.  They're dangerous.  They fall out of love with you the minute you turn out to be human, and then they blame you for being a disappointment" (p. 15).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for a lot of veiled discussion of adultery and sexual activity, some period-appropriate bad language here and there, murder, and one person's memory of something violent happening in the past.

"The Least" -- My New Story in "Sparkler"

Are you or someone you know on the hunt for clean fiction that is appropriate for teen readers?  If so, then you definitely need to check out Sparkler, a brand-new online magazine!  Sparkler is devoted to connecting readers in search of clean YA fiction with authors who write exactly that.

Authors like me :-)

In fact, I have a flash-fiction story in their debut issue, which dropped today!  It's all about a young man striking out on his own who has taken what he was told is a shortcut, and he finds something unexpected along his chosen trail... something that forces him to make a difficult decision.  It's called "The Least," and you can read it right here. 

My short story is historical fiction, a cozy Christian western just like you'd expect from me :-)  But there are lots of genres represented in this magazine, including fantasy, contemporary, and sci-fi.

"Spark of the Revolution" by Megan Soja

What a lovely book!

Spark of the Revolution follows a young British woman named Patience who arrives in Colonial Boston in 1773, escorted by her brother William.  Their mother has died, and Patience is eager to be reunited with her father, who has been living in Boston ever since an injury meant he was unable to continue making his livelihood at sea.

Patience is shocked to discover that her father has remarried already, and now she has a stepsister as well as a stepmother.  She struggles especially much because she was hoping that she and her father could grow closer as they grieved for her mother and adjusted to their new life together, but now he has already moved on and seems to not be interested in getting to know her better.

Will finds work at a Boston printing office and makes friends with some young men who are secretly part of the Sons of Liberty organization leading the boycott of Britain's taxes on tea and so on.  One of his new friends is Josiah, a blacksmith who catches Patience's eye as well.  Josiah is struggling with his Christian faith and with loneliness.  Will and Patience bring friendship and eventually love into his life, and Josiah grows and changes the most of anyone over the course of the book.

While there is a romance central to this book, the themes of sibling friendship and family love are basically just as strong as the romance, and I loved that.  The historical details of pre-Revolutionary Boston are fantastic, and "seeing" the Boston Tea Party happen made me bounce with joy.  The writing is fluid and enjoyable, and the characters are delightfully believable and real-feeling.  I'm so glad there are two more books out in this series already, and a fourth coming before the end of the year!

Particularly Good Bits:

But it had been a decade since she'd spent more than a handful of months at a time in her father's company, and nearly three years since she had seen him at all.  Not enough time to plant any new memories in the garden of her heart (p. 22).

The whole of Boston seemed poised and tense, like a barn cat crouching low and steady, barely twitching her tail before she pounced on her prey (p. 138).

"Each day is one the Lord has made, a gift from Him that we give back by living in obedience and trust.  To know tomorrow is His place, not ours" (p. 185).

Mama would forever be a part of her, woven tightly into the fabric of Patience's life, and as time passed and the sharpness of the pain dulled, the joy of those memories grew and flourished (p. 295).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some discussions of violence, though it is pretty well kept off-page.  No cussing; no smut.

This has been my third book read from my #RevolutionaryWarReads list!

"Sitka" by Louis L'Amour

Basically, Sitka is an origin story for the state of Alaska.

I'm not even joking.

Jean LaBarge grows up in the swamps of Pennsylvania before heading off into the wilderness and ending up a young man on the California coast.  He spends a lot of time on sailing ships.  He gets big and tough and true-hearted, like all the best L'Amour heroes.  He keeps in touch with his childhood best friend, who stays in the East and becomes an important politician.

And he obsesses over Alaska.

Now, having been obsessed with Alaska myself since I was 11 years old, I understand that last bit.  There's something kind of magical about even just the name.  Alaska.  

I actually bought my copy of this book while in Alaska last August.  (I bought it in Skagway, not Sitka, but that doesn't matter.)  It took me thirty-four years to get there -- quite a bit longer than it takes Jean LaBarge.  He gets there while it still belongs to Russia and helps to open up to the possibility of Russia selling it to the United States.  He also spends several months crossing Russia from the Pacific to the Atlantic.  He falls in love with a Russian princess, with a sort of classic Medieval courtly love, since she's already married to a really great guy.  He makes enemies and defeats them.  Lots of really exciting stuff happens in the best style of L'Amour's sweeping epics.

It took me six months to read the first 60 pages of this book, and three days to read the last 250.  Make of that whatever you want.

Particularly Good Bits:

It gleamed there on his calloused palm, heavy as sin in the heart of a man.  "If that isn't gold, what is it?" (p. 55).

To a fool time brings only age, not wisdom (p. 78).

It was a pity, he reflected, that the men of good will are so poorly armed, for at times it was a handicap not to hate (p. 169).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some brawling and other non-gory violence, some references to bawdy houses, alcohol consumption by adults, scenes of children in peril, and mild innuendo about men's intentions toward women.  

This is my first book read and reviewed for my fifth Classics Club list!

"Or Give Me Death" by Ann Rinaldi

Whoa.  How is it I've never read an Ann Rinaldi book before?  I guess our small-town library must just not have had any of her books, even though her first book was published the year I was born, because I would have devoured everything of hers I could find.  Historical fiction has been my jam for as long as I can remember, and I read all the historical fiction in the teen section of our library.  Sometimes repeatedly.

Well, you can bet her books are going to show up on this blog after this.

Or Give Me Death is a novelizational look at several very hard years in Patrick Henry's family life, seen through the eyes of two of his daughters.

Did you know Patrick Henry's first wife battled mental illness?  Did you know the family had to eventually lock her up in a suite of rooms they set up in the basement so she couldn't harm the children or herself?

I mean, this sounds like something out of a Charlotte Brontë novel.  Except it's totally true.  While reading Or Give Me Death, I kept looking things up and discovering that, yup, that new-to-me sad or strange fact was true.  Over and over.

The first section of the book is told from the perspective of Patrick Henry's eldest daughter, Patsy.  It begins in 1771, with Patsy gradually realizing her mother is mentally unstable and becoming dangerous.  It shows how much weight descends on Patsy's shoulders as she has to take over mothering her younger siblings and running the household.  She grows up very quickly once they have to confine her mother Sarah, and marries young.  She and her new husband take over running the family estate because Patrick Henry is often away either practicing law or debating revolutionary things with other important leaders.

The second half begins in 1773 and is from the perspective of a younger daughter, Anne.  Anne resents how bossy Patsy has become, resents being told she must grow up and stop living as a carefree child, and resents how many secrets she must keep for the various members of her family.  She has to grow up too quickly and suddenly, but unlike her sister, she has a harder time resigning herself to this.

I felt a lot of sympathy for both sisters, and wished often in the second half of the book that Rinaldi had not made Anne quite so stridently antagonistic toward Patsy.  They are both enduring a really hard reality, as are the rest of the members of the family.  I'm not sure how much of the sibling discord is factual, though I do know that there's a note at the end from Rinaldi saying that Patrick Henry and his family left very little by way of a paper trail, so she had to work mostly from things written about them by their relatives and friends and contemporaries, and extrapolate a lot from what would be common parts of life in Colonial and Revolutionary Virginia.  

While I found the sibling antagonism less than pleasant at times, I still very much enjoyed this book.  And I didn't find that antagonism unrealistic, I just... would have preferred less of it, because then the characters would have been happier, and I generally just want characters to find ways to be happy!  But that's not always realistic or feasible.

Particularly Good Bits:

Dark, unexplainable things happened all the time in the outlands of Virginia (p. 7).

"Ah, we all could do with a little divine vengeance at breakfast," Pa said.  "What better way to start the day?" (p. 51)

When do you keep a secret, and when do you tell?  Do you tell the truth, knowing it will hurt someone?  Or tell a lie to keep from hurting them?  How much does keeping it inside cost?  Eventually it will come out, won't it?  And hurt the person you are trying to protect, anyway (p. 117).

"Our family is broken, Anne.  It happens betimes with families.  So what we must do is know that while other families get to enjoy the whole, we can only enjoy the pieces.  But don't hold them too close.  broken pieces have edges and can hurt.  Look outside the family for your happiness" (p. 164).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some non-gory violence, scary scenes involving children in peril, descriptions of madness and mad behavior, talk of ghosts and 'second sight,' and a horribly cruel death inflicted on a slave girl (off-page and lightly described, but thoroughly awful).  Definitely a teen read, not for kids.

This has been my first book read from my #RevolutionaryWarReads list!

"A Heart Adrift" by Laura Frantz

I wouldn't exactly say that A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz is a retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen.  But I wouldn't exactly say it's NOT one, either.  Both are second-chance romances involving a capable but rarely understood woman of good family and a sea captain who might make decisions a little too hastily sometimes.  The main characters in both have a best friend who is widowed and runs a business and knows all the local news.  There's only one vain and self-centered sister here, as opposed to two in Persuasion.  And the main character's dad is actually a good and wise father in this.  But there certainly are a lot of similarities.

And, since Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel, I didn't mind that at all!

A Heart Adrift begins in 1755, during what we now call the French and Indian War.  Esmée Shaw spends her days running the chocolaterie her mother founded in York, Virginia, decades earlier.  Her father runs the coffee shop next door.  Both are closer to the waterfront than some snooty genteel folk deem proper, while others are perfectly happy to run the risk of rubbing elbows with seafarers in their quest for famous Shaw chocolates.  

This book made me crave chocolate a lot.  Be warned.

Esmée's sister Eliza is married to a wealthy and influential man with a title and a fine estate and a fancy house in Williamsburg.  She's not pleased at all that her sister is unmarried and runs a shop.  So common!  So quaint!  So much work!  Also, Eliza is pregnant with her first child and convinced that this solidifies her place at the center of the entire world.

Ten years earlier, Esmée turned down a proposal from the man she loved, Captain Henri Lennox.  She still loves him.  He still loves her.  But, at the time, she was absolutely certain that she could never be happy if married to a sea captain who had to leave her all the time.  You see, her father was an admiral and was rarely home when she was growing up, and she saw how hard that was on her mom, and so on.  

Anyway, there's a war on, with the French trying to take over the British colonies in North America, and the Governor of the Virginia Colony wants Captain Lennox to become a privateer and take the fight to the high seas and stop the French from landing so many troops and generally scuttle the French plans.  All Henri Lennox wants to do is build a lighthouse and marry Esmée and be a lighthousekeeper.  But duty calls, etc.

Everything works out very nicely in the end for the main characters, despite the best efforts of the French navy, random scurrilous rogues, a smallpox epidemic, and even (sometimes) Eliza.  

I really loved that this book was set in Williamsburg and York (now Yorktown) because I spend a LOT of time in Colonial Williamsburg, so the characters could be like "I was walking down Duke of Gloucester Street and passed the Raleigh Tavern," and I would be like, "YES!  I have been there!  I know what that looks like!  I know what a spring morning and a fall afternoon and a winter evening feel like there!"

The characters were really well-drawn, and the historical details were almost uniformly delightful.  (Except the use of the term "bluestocking" as slang for "women who think too much," which I don't think was common until about 30 years later.  But that is my only real quibble!!!!!!!)  The love story was paced just perfectly -- we did NOT have to wait nearly 400 pages to get misunderstandings sorted out and come to our senses and so on!  I was a big fan of that.

I am not sure I have ever read adult historical fiction that took place during the French and Indian War before, and that was an absolute treat.  I will definitely be reading more of Laura Frantz's books.

Particularly Good Bits:

The only certainty about life was its uncertainty.  Only God stayed steadfast.  Only the Almighty could walk her through life's many changes.  And when she felt overwhelmed, like now, she simply had to look back to see how faithful God had been, did she not?  The heartaches and closed doors of the past had made the present more beloved (p. 250).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG.  No cussing, no smut, but a little on-page violence and threat of assault against a woman.  Some lightly described kissing, too.

#RevolutionaryWarReads in 2026

I mentioned earlier this month that I am planning to read at least thirteen books about or set during the American Revolution this year, one for each of the original thirteen colonies.  That feels like a really fun way to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday all year long!

Several people have asked if I would share my list of books I plan to read, and so I am doing exactly that in this post.  I will also be posting about this from time to time on my Instagram account and using the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarReads when I do.

I made one change from the plans I originally set forth in graphic you see above because I discovered that one of the books I planned to read (A Heart Adrift by Laura Frantz) actually takes place in the 1750s, not the 1770s.  I'm reading that right now anyway, and really enjoying it!  But it won't count toward my challenge.

Here are the books I currently plan to read:

Fiction

1. The Lady and the Loyalist by Stephanie McRae (Heart of the Revolution, book 1)

2. The Hero and the Patriot by Stephanie McRae (Heart of the Revolution, book 2)

3. Heart of the Revolution book 3 by Stephanie McRae (releases later this year)

4. Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi

5. Spark of the Revolution by Megan Soja (Harbor of Spies, book 1)

6. Secrets of the Revolution by Megan Soja (Harbor of Spies, book 2)

7. Scars of the Revolution by Megan Soja (Harbor of Spies, book 3)

8. Harbor of Spies book 4 by Megan Soja (releases later this year)

Non-Fiction

9. The Greatest Lawyer That Ever Lived: Patrick Henry at the Bar of History by George Morrow

10. Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin

11. Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War by Tim Rowland

12. The Swamp Fox, Francis Marion by Noel Gerson

13. Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose

I already own copies of all of these, except for those two unreleased books, so this will also be a good exercise in reading things off my TBR shelves!

Are you planning to read some books about the American Revolution in 2026?  Have you read any of these?  Let me know!