Top Ten Tuesday: Ever After

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is a Valentine's freebie -- anything about romance, basically.  I'm choosing to share my top ten favorite romantic couples from fairy tale retellings!

I've linked each retelling title to my full review of that book in case you are curious about it, and also provided my movie-style rating and what fairy tale it is retelling.

1. Cori and Bender in A Little Beside You by Jenni Sauer (PG-13) -- Snow White and Rose Red

2. Princess Holly and Dominic Klaus in The Silent Night by Sarah Beran (G) -- Sleeping Beauty

3. Emmazel and Night in Emmazel by Kendra E. Ardnek (PG) -- Rapunzel

4. Snow and Chase in "Falling Snow" by Skye Hoffert (PG-10) -- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

5. Rosanna and Grik in The Goblin and the Dancer by Allison Tebo (PG) -- The Steadfast Tin Soldier

6. Beauty and Beast in Beauty by Robin McKinley (G) -- Beauty and the Beast

7. Rue and Robbie in Wait Until Tomorrow by Jenni Sauer (PG) -- The Steadfast Tin Soldier

8. Ella and Burndee in The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo (G) -- Cinderella

9. Enna and Anthony in A Little Persuaded by Kendra E. Ardnek (G) -- The Little Mermaid

10. Ellie and Cole in Corral Nocturne by Elisabeth Grace Foley (G) -- Cinderella

As well as being my entry for the Top Ten Tuesday linkup this week, this post is also one of my contributions to We Love Fairy Tales Week, a blog party I am hosting on my other blog.  Check out this post for more details, a fun blog tag, and links to all the posts from other participants!  Plus, I'm running a fairy tale-themed giveaway as part of the event, and you are welcome to enter that if you're a fairy tale fan too :-)

"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.

Top Ten Tuesday: Reading in a Winter Wonderland

Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Books On My Winter 2023-24 TBR List."  So, here are ten books from my to-read shelves that I would like to read by the end of February, 2024:

• Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love by Patricial C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack Jr. (graphic novel biography)
  
  
• Bluebird on the Prairie by Tasha Hackett (Christian historical fiction)
  
  
• The Bookish Bandit by Erica Dansereau and Britt Howard (Christian contemporary romance)
  
  
• Kling Klang Gloria by Jenni Sauer (cozy sci-fi)
  
  
• The Legend of Bass Reeves by Gary Paulsen (middle grade biography)

• The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham (Christian historical Christmas fiction)
  
  
• The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour (western)
  
  
• The Sky-Liners by Louis L'Amour (western)
  
  
• The Vanderbeekers Ever After by Karina Yan Glaser (middle grade contemporary)
  
  
• The Weight of Air by Kimberly Duffy (Christian historical fiction)

Have you read any of these?  Any of them pique your interest?  What books are you looking forward to reading this winter?

"The Witch at the Edge of the Woods" by Jenni Sauer

What a beautiful, big story wrapped up in a tiny novella!  I read nearly all of this book while at my daughters' gymnastics practice, and I kept getting tears in my eyes, refusing to cry, and then sneezing from the held-back tears.  By the end of the book, I'm pretty sure the other parents nearby thought either I had the plague or really bad allergies.  Oops!

Eva Behnam lives in a cottage at the edge of the woods.  She's not exactly a witch, she simply is from another race and world than the one where she lives now, and that Elassi heritage means she has powers that the people around her don't.  So, they label her a witch.

At the beginning of the book, Eva is reeling from the worst sort of breakup, the kind where you discover the person you loved was only pretending to love you, but actually using you for some purpose of their own.  By nature a healer, Eva is discovering that your own hurts are often the hardest to heal.  But, by reaching out to those around her and helping them heal, she finds the rest and balm she needs herself.

This book is a celebration of kindness, helpfulness, friendship, patience, and perseverance.  Although it hasn't eclipsed A Little Beside You as my favorite book by Jenni Sauer, I think it may be her most beautiful book yet, inside and out.  If there was ever such a thing as cottage-core sci-fi, this is it.

Particularly Good Bits:

"My mother always said in every situation, you have two options: to either help or to hinder.  There's nowhere in the middle to rest.  And I'd rather help" (p. 50).

...the thing she hated most about friendship was allowing her friends to make choices she knew were the wrong ones (p. 71).

"You are not alone.  And you don't have to ever apologize for hurting" (p. 83).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for difficult topics including infant loss/miscarraige, spousal abuse and child abuse (mental, physical, and emotional), and attempted marital rape (very obliquely referenced).  No cussing or smut, but some physical violence.

This has been my 44th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

Top Ten Tuesday: Indie State of Mind

I love that this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl focuses on Indie/Small Press/Self-Published Books!  As an author who has published both with the small press and self-publishing models, I am excited to see those get a chance to shine this week.

Although, technically, any press that is not affiliated with one of the "big five" (Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Hachette Book Group) is considered to be "independently published," I am focusing mainly on self-published books here, with a couple of very small press exceptions.

Here are my favorites:

The Beautiful Ones by Emily Hayse -- book two in the fantasy western Knights of Tin and Lead trilogy, which retells the King Arthur legend

A Little Beside You by Jenni Sauer -- a "Snow White and Rose Red" retelling with a scifi setting and lots of cozy vibes

These War-Torn Hands by Emily Hayse -- book one in the fantasy western Knights of Tin and Lead trilogy, which retells the King Arthur legend

Emmazel by Kendra E. Ardnek -- a fantasy story that weaves the fairy tale "Rapunzel" with the Jane Austen novel Emma

In the Glorious Fields by Emily Hayse -- book three in the fantasy western Knights of Tin and Lead trilogy, which retells the King Arthur legend

Isabella's Daughter by Charity Bishop -- the last book in the Tudor Throne series of historical fiction revolving around Britain's Tudor royalty

Song of the Valley by Britt Howard -- a sweet, heartwarming Christian romance set in modern-day Montana

Land of Hills and Valleys by Elisabeth Grace Foley -- coming-of-age historical fiction set in Wyoming during the Great Depression

Laertes by Carly Stevens -- a dark academia retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in 1920s Europe

The Goblin and the Dancer by Allison Tebo -- a retelling of the fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" changed up so that the jack-in-the-box character is not a villain

Have you read any of these?  Do you seek out indie books and authors, or read them if they happen to cross your path?

Top Ten Tuesday: Love Me Tender

Our Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl this week is a Love/Valentine's Day Freebie, so I'm listing off my ten favorite love stories.  They are:

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

2. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

3. Persuasion by Jane Austen

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

7. Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George

8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

9. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

10. A Little Beside You by Jenni Sauer

Do we share any favorites?  What did you choose to spotlight this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Reads of 2022

I had a wonderful reading year in 2022!  To celebrate it, I've rounded up my "Favorite Books of 2022" to share with you for Top Ten Tuesday today, since that's the prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl this week.

As usual, I'm actually sharing two lists here -- my top ten favorite new reads and my top ten favorite rereads.  Since about a quarter of my reading is rereading, and I tend to revisit my favorites a lot, if I didn't separate the lists, I'd mostly be sharing rereads and that doesn't seem fair to new reads, so... two lists it is!

My Ten Favorite New Reads:

1. Borden Chantry (PG) by Louis L'Amour -- western, mystery, lawman, amateur detective, straight-forward storytelling

2. A Little Beside You (PG-13) by Jenni Sauer -- low-sci sci-fi, fairy tale retelling, gentle bruiser for a hero, cozy vibes, lots of knitting and baking

3. In the Glorious Fields (PG) by Emily Hayse -- magical western, King Arthur retelling, truly heroic heroes and heroines, gorgeous scenery, trilogy (book 3)

4. The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden (G) by Karina Yan Glaser -- family, friendship, city life, gardening, multigenerational friendship, multiracial family, homelessness, found family

5. Isabella's Daughter (PG-13) by Charity Bishop -- history-based fiction, indomitable heroine, castle life, royalty, intrigue

6. Emmazel (G) by Kendra E. Ardnek -- fantasy, fairy tale retelling, Jane Austen retelling, cozy vibes, gardening, female friendship, talking cat

7. Song of the Valley (PG) by Britt Howard -- modern west setting, romantic, enemies-to-lovers, falling for your brother's best friend, horses, helping others

8. Cranford (G) by Elizabeth Gaskell -- shabby genteel cottagecore, female friendship, multigenerational friendship, cozy vibes, slice-of-life

9. Swallowdale (G) by Arthur Ransome -- adventurous kids, sailboats, exploring, camping, friendship

10. Laertes (PG-16) by Carly Stevens -- dark academia, Roaring Twenties, Europe, Shakespeare retelling, male friendship, supportive siblings

My Ten Favorite Rereads:

1. The Blue Castle (PG) by L. M. Montgomery -- transformation, new life, beautiful nature, cozy cottage, island life, happily ever after

2. The Eyre Affair (PG-16) by Jasper Fforde -- book-based fantasy, literature love, alternate universe, Jane Eyre, quirky humor

3. The Long Goodbye (PG-16) by Raymond Chandler -- hard-boiled mystery, male friendship, brooding atmosphere, dark vibes, private detective

4. Kidnapped (PG) by Robert Louis Stevenson -- Scottish Highlands, escape scenes, male friendship, mismatched buddies, political intrigue, reclaimed inheritance, adventure galore

5. Bloodlines (R) by Jan Burke -- triple timeline, hard-boiled mystery, intergenerational friendship, mentors, amateur detective, Irish-American characers

6. The Beautiful Ones (PG) by Emily Hayse -- magical western, King Arthur retelling, truly heroic heroes and heroines, gorgeous scenery, trilogy (book 2)

7. Lost in a Good Book (PG-16) by Jasper Fforde -- book-based fantasy, literature love, alternate universe, Miss Havisham, quirky humor

8. These War-Torn Hands (PG) by Emily Hayse -- magical western, King Arthur retelling, truly heroic heroes and heroines, gorgeous scenery, trilogy (book 1)

9. Loving Isaac (PG-13) by Heather Kaufman -- parenting, autism rep, hesitant romance, turtles, abusive past relationships, sisterhood, Midwestern vibes, strong Christian faith

10. Ophelia (PG-16) by Lisa Klein -- medieval, historical fiction, Shakespeare retelling, first love, young adult, coming of age, secret marriage

Okay!  I hope that gives you some idea of what each of these twenty books are about -- maybe even got you interested in reading them.  Have you read any of them?  What were your favorite books this year?  Do tell!

Top Ten Tuesday: Getting Cozy

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Cozy Reads."  I love cozy books, so it wasn't hard to come up with ten favorites... it was hard narrowing the list down to ten!  But here they are, with a few cozy attributes for each and the titles linked to my full reviews.

1. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery -- cottage, winter, fireside reading, cats, book lovers, nature lovers, small town, slow-burn romance

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen -- seaside, friendship, family ties, homebody, bookish discussions, second-chance romance

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -- bookworms, letter-writing, island life, community, found family, gentle romance

4. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery -- farmhouse, found family, nature lovers, friendship, girlhood, small town, flowers

5. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim -- Italian villa, flowers and nature, self-discovery, friendship, sunshine, fresh air, vacation

6. Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery -- cottage, baking, cooking, reading, writing, family reunion, fathers and daughters, friendship, small town

7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen -- seaside, book lovers, dancing, drawing, carriage rides, young love, old houses

8. Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright -- abandoned houses, sunshine, cousins, friendship, secrets, small town

9. The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay -- bookshop, small town, friendship, family ties, books everywhere

10. A Little Beside You by Jenni Sauer -- waffles, baking, friendship, found family, sisters, knitting, gentle romance

How about you?  What are your favorite cozy reads?

Top Ten Tuesday: What Would Belle Read?

This week's Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is a freebie!  That means we get to choose our own topic, which is always fun.

A friend recently sent me a reel on Instagram listing books that one bookstagrammer thought Belle from Beauty and the Beast would enjoy.  I didn't know any of the books they listed, so I decided to do my own list, based on these lyrics from her song at the beginning of the movie:

Oh, isn't this amazing?

It's my favorite part because -- you'll see --

Here's where she meets Prince Charming,

But she won't find out it's him 'til chapter three...

Obviously, Belle wants to read books that involve sweet romances where the characters don't fall in love immediately, but take a while to get to know or even to like each other.  So, I made my own list of ten books I think she would like.  All titles are linked to my own reviews if you want to know more about them!

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery -- Doctor tells shy, withdrawn woman she is dying.  Woman sets out to live as much as she can in the time she has left and gradually falls in love with someone she supposedly shouldn't.

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster -- Young woman is granted scholarship to go to college, with stipulation she must write letters about her progress to unknown benefactor.  Falls in love with man who is more than he seems.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis -- Girl falls in love with frog who is actually royalty, but also her father's enemy in this fascinating YA fantasy book that combines ever so many fairy tales into one heady mix.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -- Young governess falls for employer who has dark secret that might separate them for ever.

Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge -- Two sisters move to Texas, open tea shop, fall in love in this retelling of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell -- Young woman moves to the city with her impoverished parents, clashes with wealthy man over every subject possible, learns lessons about life.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- Two sisters fall in love with two friends, but it takes the whole book for them to actually get together for good.

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster -- Conventional young woman touring Italy meets an unconventional young man, shares enchanted moment, parts with him, then meets him again back home in England.

Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George -- Determined young woman spends summer at cousin's house, sparring verbally with another house guest in this retelling of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.

Yesterday, or Long Ago by Jenni Sauer -- Two friends sneak into royal ball, dance with handsome guys, fall in love, discover handsome guys are actually really important men in this gender-swapped "Aladdin" retelling.

"Rook di Goo" by Jenni Sauer

As much as I loved Rook di Goo the first time I read it... I loved it even more this second time through.  The first time, it was my introduction to Jenni Sauer.  Now, I've read three more of her books.  The first time, I didn't know if I could trust her to give me a happy ending.  This time, I had the joy of already knowing the ending, and being able to trace how she set it up.  The first time, I didn't know I would become an actual Gibbs fan when I read Yesterday or Long Ago, and I found him kind of meh in this one; this time, I found him endearing.

Although A Little Beside You remains my favorite Sauer book, this one really is a close second.  El's journey from disillusioned military deserter to fierce and loyal team member is just... beautiful.  It is.  The fact that this is also a Cinderella retelling is secondary for me, because El's story is so much more interesting than that.  Yes, the Cinderella elements are there, but they're... not the point, you know?

The point is that broken people have worth and purpose.  That hurting people can find healing.  Joy and friendship and love are not reserved for the whole and healthy.  And I LOVE that message.  Fiercely.  It's exactly what God offers to us when he says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."  And when the Isaiah says, "A bruised reed, He will not break, and a smoldering wick, He will not extinguish."  And the Psalmist, when he says, "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."  There's so much depth of truth to this book, bearing out Biblical truths even though it's set in an imaginary sci-fi world and the words 'God' and 'Bible' and 'Jesus' don't appear.

Anyway, totally love this book. So much.

(From my Bookstagram account...)

Particularly Good Bits:

Cyrene was advertised as a melting pot, but most knew it to be a dumping ground (p. 2).

"Ginger says I have an eye for seeing lost things, and I guess you could say that's true" (p. 73).

She would die down here, suffocating in her own cowardice because she was too afraid of standing up for what was right and facing the consequences.  And the worst part was she wasn't sure which fate was worse (p. 130).

Tulle and lace, wrapping every woman in the room up like a package (p. 217).

Hadn't her ancestors been willing to die for what was right?  Hadn't they thought fighting oppression more important than preserving their own lives?  Hadn't they laid down their lives for truth and justice to prevail?  Revolutions weren't fought by people who played it safe (p. 345).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence and trauma regarding remembered  acts of war.  No cussing, no smut, no other questionable content.

"A Little Beside You" by Jenni Sauer

Well, I have a new favorite Jenni Sauer book.  And a new favorite Jenni Sauer hero, heroine, and sidekick.  Make space in my heart, everyone from the previous books, because Bender and Cori and Meg get a lot of room there now.  Especially Bender.  My goodness, Bender.

Bender, Bender, Bender, Bender, BENDER!

Bender is a literal hitman for a gang/mafia group called the Bears, as in, he hits people very effectively when his bosses tell him to.  He's a hulking giant with the kind of massive fists and grim glower that scare people without him even having to touch them.  His favorite pastimes include knitting, stargazing, and drinking tea with friends.  And if that last sentence seems to contrast very irrationally with the one before it, then you may be discovering why I love Bender.  Gentle giants are some of my favorite characters, every time.  And a guy who breaks other people for pay, but yearns to leave that life because he hates it -- you're basically describing a hot fudge brownie sundae to me, folks.  Give me a spoon so I can eat him up.

And then there's Cori.  She learned how to treat wounds and injuries from her father, how to help people without regard for how they got their injuries, and how to stand up for herself and her sister.  But what she needs to learn is how to let someone else stand up for her too.  Enter Bender.  They each spend most of the book vying for the chance to care for the other person, which is so delightful, it makes me bouncy.

Plus, there's Meg.  Cori's little sister who has never yet met a problem that tea, baked goods, and an understanding smile won't alleviate.  But she's not so naive that she thinks those will solve every problem -- she realistically knows they will help, but they aren't a magic potion that will fix everything.  I might like Meg even better than Cori, even though she's not the focus of the book.  

I suspect (and very much hope) Sauer will write us a book about Meg one of these days because her Evraft books intersect in such delightful ways.  Like how this one hooks up to Yesterday or Long Ago to explain how Bender got tickets to a ball for his sister Amya!  I love how the Evraft books each stand on their own, so they can be read in any order, but they flesh each other out a little here and there too.  I probably love that because I've been doing exactly the same thing with my Once Upon a Western books ;-)

A Little Beside You is a retelling of "Snow White and Rose Red," which is a fairy tale I haven't read for decades, so I didn't do a lot of dot-connecting between the book and that story.  But I'm sure there are a lot of connections I just wasn't aware of!  Sauer always spins fairy tales in such a cool way with her books.

Particularly Good Bits:

He told himself he didn't care what people thought; it was a badge of honor he wore, an armor to protect himself (p. 7).  (AKA the moment I grabbed Bender and wrote my name on the bottom of his boot so people would know he was mine.)

Hot water cascaded over her and she let it wash the blood and the memories away together (p. 12).

Bender strongly suspected she'd have happiness no matter what, because it seemed that was just the sort of person she was.  Like sunshine wrapped in a human (p. 86).

"If you wanted to move halfway across the galaxy, I'd pack my things today" (p. 302).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for physical violence, injuries, blood, etc.  What Bender gets paid to do is ugly, and Sauer doesn't hide that.

This is my first book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProjecto2022!

"Wait Until Tomorrow" by Jenni Sauer

The Steadfast Tin Soldier and Rapunzel are two of my favorite fairy tales.  So a novella by Jenni Sauer that melds the two, set in the same universe as Rook di Goo and Yesterday or Long Ago?  Totally my jam.

Rue is what would have been called a "taxi dancer" a hundred years ago, here on earth.  She works at a disreputable dance hall, paid to dance with the men who frequent it.  Rue is an orphan, alone in the big city, exactly the sort of helpless young woman that others prey on.  She doesn't like being pawed at by an endless stream of bad dancers, but it's better than working Upstairs.  Just what the Upstairs girls do is never specified, but it doesn't have to be.

When Rue is attacked in the alley behind the dance hall, Inspector "Robbie" Robrecht investigates the crime, but he seems more interested in talking to Rue than in the hopeless impossibility of finding an unknown assailant in a city full of strangers.  Gently, gradually, Robbie and Rue get to know each other.  But when Rue's employer decides to give her to the dance hall's bouncer instead of moving her Upstairs, Rue runs.  And Robbie follows, hampered by his prosthetic leg, but faithful and determined.

I love that I can trust Sauer to deliver a happy, hopeful ending.  Although the original Steadfast Tin Soldier ends with fire and death, the author finds a logical way to subvert those that leaves me with a satisfied smile.

Particularly Good Bits:

He was too good for the galaxy, and that meant he was galaxies too good for her (p. 43).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for inexplicit mentions of men's hands roving over a woman, a frightening attack, lots of chasing and danger, and a pretty scary ending.  Nothing actually objectionable, but not really something for elementary school kids either.

This is my 29th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

"Yesterday or Long Ago" by Jenni Sauer

This book made me so happy :-)  It is the perfect sort of springtime book, where even when serious things happen, you have the solid sense that everything will work out just fine.  It's basically a gender-flipped Aladdin retelling, but it's also just it's own sweet thing, and I loved it.

My favorite thing about Yesterday or Long Ago is how it revolves around a friendship between two young women, Rinity and Amya, who are completely loyal to each other.  So often, female friendships in fiction get used to set up tension when they both like the same guy, or one of them gets more successful at her job than the other and jealousy breaks up their friendship.  But none of those sorts of clichés happen here -- hooray!  Instead, Rinity and Amya are kind, considerate, and truthful with each other.  Sure, they do disagree at times, but "will they stay friends?" is not a plot point at all, and I loved that.

Another thing I loved was how Rinity used storytelling to calm herself down, to get herself through stressful situations, and even to explain herself to others.  I identify strongly with that habit.  Also, Amya sews, and so do I, so that was a fun connection for me too.

Both girls fall in love with men far above their social station, and trying to figure out how to tell the men the truth about where they come from is the biggest problem they have for a while.  But then Rinity gets tangled up with a shady man who claims to know who her real father was, something she's always longed to know, and everything gets pretty worrisome for a while... but, like I said, you always have a sense that things will end well, which makes the darker parts not too dark.

(My photo from my Instagram account.)

This is not exactly a sequel to Sauer's debut novel Rook di Goo, but instead takes some side characters from that book and has them be love interests, antagonists, and secondary characters here.  The two books take place in a shared universe, but can be read independently.  So it's a little bit like how characters from one of my Once Upon a Western books will pop up in later books and stories too.  I like interrelated stories like that :-)

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and was in no way obligated to review it.

This book will be released on May 12.  If you want to know how and where to pre-order it (and receive some pre-order swag!), please check out the author's blog for that info.  Even though I got to read an ARC, I'm ordering a physical copy myself because I know I'll want to reread it, and I want it on my shelf.

You can add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads right here.

Particularly Good Bits:

She fought to keep her words a hiss, keenly aware that they were in the Library and the books wouldn't like it if she yelled (ch. 4).

She couldn't just keep reading books and pretend reality didn't exist (ch. 15). 

She pushed that hope away, though she knew that wasn't how hope worked.  It was a pesky thing that had a habit of sticking around far longer than she wished and refused to be killed no matter how hard you tried.  It was tenacious as ivy and twice as stubborn (ch. 27).

She wasn't a girl in a storybook.  People often assumed she didn't, but she did know the difference between reality and stories (ch. 29).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some perilous moments and lots of kissing.  But sweet and innocent kissing, nothing racy.  No bad language; very mild violence and peril.

This is my 16th book read from my TBR for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

"Rook di Goo" by Jenni Sauer

Do you like stories that revolve around "found families" at all?  That's one of my favorite storytelling devices, or themes, or what have you.  And Rook di Goo has one.  A delightful found family that the main character stumbles into and is embraced by.  Eventually.

Cadet Elisandra Elis has deserted.  She's run from her military duties, overwhelmed by things she's done under orders.  Haunted by them, even.  She winds up on a rustbucket of a ship captained by someone more important than he seems, and together with her new friends/family, she ends up saving a lot of lives.

And, it's a Cinderella retelling, too.  Plus, one of the best explorations of anxiety and PTSD I've read.  No easy fixes or platitudes or "just think happy thoughts" nonsense here, but instead the sensitive and realistic treatment of what it's like to live with a mind broken around the edges.  Astonishingly good, really.

You probably have gathered that I don't read a lot of sci-fi. I like to watch sci-fi, you understand.  But I don't read it much.  And that's for the same reason that I generally prefer to watch fantasy rather than read it.  I don't like description-heavy writing.  I don't like long passages about what worlds look like or how magic or tech words, or explanations of political and monetary systems.  Worldbuilding doesn't interest me greatly, so when I can just see things on a screen instead of having to read about them, I'm happier.

BUT.  I do like some sci-fi, just like I enjoy some fantasy.  And I enjoy them for the same reason I enjoy other books -- if they have characters I care about.  And if a sci-fi or fantasy book can give me characters I love and show me their world through the eyes of those characters instead of just telling me about them, then I will very likely dig that book.

And Rook di Goo does exactly that.  It first gives me a handful of characters to care about, then slowly unfolds the world they live in by showing it to me through their eyes and as they interact with it.  I dug it so much.

(Mine from Instagram)

Particularly Good Bits:

She wasn't sure if she should be flattered or annoyed that he seemed to think she always had some sort of master plan in her head.  She usually did, if she was being honest, but they took work to come up with, and the assumption made her feel a little taken for granted (p. 99).

"Surrender is not the same as compliance," the man said, crossing his arms and looking sullen (p. 118).

If you couldn't feel at home where you always had, then were was home supposed to be? (p. 216)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: a soft PG-13 for violence.  No cussing, no racy scenes, and no gore, but quite a lot of remembered violence and some in-story too, including violence that results in the death of children.

This is my 31st book read for #TheUnreadShelfProject2020.