"Of Clockworks and Daggers" by Sarah Everest

This is the second book in the Games of Greed and Ruin series -- the first was One Must Die, which Sarah Everest co-wrote with five other authors.

Of Clockworks and Daggers follows the adventures of Zenith, a young assassin-for-hire whose beliefs about his entire existence are challenged when he meets a mysterious fellow assassin who has a dangerous offer for him.  Zenith has been trying to live an honest life ever since the events at the mysterious sky mansion in One Must Die.  He's also been trying to help support the orphanage run the Jessie, the young woman he is falling in love with.  But he gets sucked back into his old life, and more is jeopardized than just his relationship with Jessie. 

This book ponders some pretty deep issues, like being the adult child of abusive parents, how to deal with the wrong in your past when you want to change for the better, and personal sacrifices big and small. It starts a little slowly, but builds to a really thrilling climax.

I really like the steampunk world of this series, a sort of Dickens-meets-H.G. Wells vibe with some fantasy twists here and there.  I'm looking forward to more of this series, including the next book, which drops in October!  

Particularly Good Bits:

Something about the pretentiousness of lawyers who live a life bending the law to fit the needs of their benefactors makes them believe they're untouchable.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some violence, memories of child abuse, thieving, and a scary sequence involving fire.

"The Summer of Yes" by Courtney Walsh

While I wouldn't really call this "Christian Fiction" (though it is marketed as such), it's certainly clean and uplifting.  Characters do vaguely mention the Bible and praying a couple of times.  But for it to be Christian Fiction, I would want to see a lot more active faith on the part of the characters, and that should somehow be involved in their character arcs.

However, it's a really fun book the way it is. Kelsey is a wannabe book editor working as an assistant at a big NYC publisher, and getting hit by a car one morning completely changes her life.  Not because she is injured -- she's basically fine -- but because she briefly shares a hospital room with Georgina, a middle-aged Girl Boss who just wants to be left alone to die of kidney failure in peace.  But Kelsey is bad at accepting "no" for an answer, and a buddy comedy ensues.  The kind where the main characters don't like each other very well (think Lethal Weapon, with Danny Glover as Georgina and Mel Gibson as Kelsey) but end up bonding over a lot of mishaps that the audience finds very funny.  

Also, there's a romance, because Georgina's estranged son is hot, and Kelsey is cute, and this is a cute summer book.  But the main focus is the reluctant friendship between Kelsey and Georgina. 

I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed it a lot and will be hanging onto my copy.

Particularly Good Bits:

My life rolls out in front of me like an art film that nobody understands (p. 14).

Independent doesn't have to mean alone, right? (p. 34).

She's practically bouncing up and down, wearing her excitement like a fancy new party dress (p. 85).

But then it occurs to me that where one lives so often determines how one lives (p. 157).

"If you learn nothing else from my life, learn this.  Don't wait to love the people you love" (p. 363).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for discussions of dying, kidney dialysis, the car accident and resulting injuries, etc.  No cussing or smut or violence.

"Chase the Legend" by Hannah Kaye

Chase the Legend by Hannah Kaye is a fantasy retelling of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.  It's about a young woman signs on with a crew hunting a legendary dragon.  She makes new friends, faces new and old fears, and finally comes to terms with the fact that she's been fleeing her future as much as her past.  

It's a good shipboard adventure story, and the characters are unique and entertaining... but I never quite connected to any of them.  That might be just a me thing, as I have come to realize that I often just don't like extremely obsessive characters, and everyone in this book has some kind of obsession, obvious or not,  damaging or not.

Particularly Good Bits:

The lights of Edgewater floated in the fog like lost ghosts, wandering the night with no hope of shelter (p. 35).

"But you can't love someone hard enough to convince them they're worthy of love, not if they refuse to believe it themselves" (p. 152).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for scenes of peril and some scary moments.

"Midsummer Mysteries" by Agatha Christie

I did it!  I read all four of these season-themed Christie collections in four consecutive seasons!

It's the little things in life, amiright?

The short stories in this volume include stories about Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Mr. Quin, Tommy and Tuppence, and Mr. Parker Pyne.  Plus a story or two with none of them.  I've grown so fond of Pyne and Quin that I have actually picked up collections of stories about only them, because I'd like to read more!

I'd say my favorite stories in this are "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Rajah's Emerald," which happen to be two of the stories with no famous detectives in them.  I also really liked "The Oracle at Delphi" and "The Incredible Theft."

I most definitely did NOT like "The Idol House of Astarte," which was creepy.

I just learned that Harper Collins is doing two more collections similar to this: Capital Christie and Country Christie, and now I want those too.  So far, it seems like you can only buy the former in the UK, and the latter won't be released until September.  I will probably wait until September and then see if I can't order them both from someplace like Waterstones that ships to the US.  Or maybe they'll have them in the US by then too.

Particularly Good Bits:

The book she took with her to read was not the excellent one on Grecian Art recommended to her by her son but was, on the contrary, entitles The River Launch Mystery.  It had four murders in it, three abductions, and a large and varied gang of dangerous criminals  Mrs. Peters found herself both invigorated and soothed by the perusal of it (p. 165, "The Oracle at Delphi")(I love that last line because that's what good mysteries do for me, too.)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for crimes such as murder and abduction and theft, and the sorts of violence you might expect Agatha Christie to write about.  No rubbing gore in the reader's face, in other words.  There are a handful of mild curse words, and some very polite dialog mentions about people having romantic affairs, etc.

This has been my 41st book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"The Grump's Bodyguard" by Latisha Sexton

You know how I like plot-driven romances, but I'm not a fan of romance-driven plots?  This is definitely one of the former.  

Clover's parents are famous movie-makers, and she moved to Colorado to get away from their glitzy, hectic Hollywood life.  She's a book editor, she battles anxiety, and she just wants to be left alone.  But when someone from her parents' life has a mental break and comes after Clover, the quiet and safe life she's built for herself is shattered.  She agrees to let her parents hire a bodyguarding service to protect her until the danger is past.  

Enter Thor, ex-military bodyguard built like a movie star and scarred inside and out from his past.  Obviously, Thor and Clover are going to fall in love.  I think the thing I liked best about the whole book was how staunchly they refused to act on their growing feelings while Thor is her bodyguard, since a romantic relationship would be completely inappropriate at that time.  

This is a clean and sweet Christian romance.  You can't even call it "closed door" because Clover and Thor don't seek a sexual relationship with each other, but instead choose to date chastely while considering marriage.  There's a lot of yearning and desire expressed on-page, but never in a steamy way that could lead a reader astray.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for danger, lots of noticing physical attractiveness, and one night accidentally spent together (in which it is very clear that the couple never even made out, much less made love).  Probably fine for older teens.

"The Souls of Lost Lake" by Jamie Jo Wright

Oh my.  This was very creepy.  So creepy, I almost quit reading it about halfway through because I was afraid it was going to give me nightmares.  But I decided to read a couple more chapters, and then eerie and creepy things started getting real-life explanations, and I went ahead and finished the book.  It turns out that all the ghostly and creepy things were totally explainable and due to secret human activity, and there were no hauntings.  There definitely were horrible murders in the past, and those were hard to read about, but they weren't what was creeping me out anyway.

This is one of those split-timeline books where you have one storyline going on in the present day, and another in the past.  The present-day story is about a young woman named Arwen who lives at and works for a Christian camp in the north woods of Wisconsin.  She is helping with a search for a missing little girl who disappeared near the camp.  In the process, she digs up a lot of information about her own past.

In the past story, it's the 1930s, and there's a young woman named Ava Coons whose whole family was killed in a bloody and terrifying way when she was a child.  Their bodies disappeared, and her family home burned to the ground -- only Ava escaped, and she was covered in blood and dragging a massive, bloody axe when she was found by people of the small Wisconsin town nearby.  Even though Ava had no memory of what happened to her family, and clearly was too small and weak to even heft the axe she was dragging, many people still thought she killed her family.  A decade later, a person from that town is killed with an axe, and many people want Ava arrested for the crime.  About the only person who believes she is innocent is a new minister who isn't very well known in the area yet.  Ava starts to fall for him, even while trying to figure out how to prove she isn't now and never has been a killer.

The burned-down Coons cabin also plays into Arwen's story, and she lives near the small town where Ava grew up after her family died.  

I devoured this book in three days because I absolutely had to know how everything turned out.  I've been assured by some friends that the rest of Wright's books are not this creepy, so I think I will try another, one of these days.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for creepiness, discussions of murder victims, lots of innuendo, and scenes of a child being in peril.  I would not hand this to any of my teens to read, to be honest.  But it's also not really R-rated.

"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.

"Sinister Spring" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills and Midwinter Murder, this is a collection of short mysteries by Agatha Christie that all take place in a particular season.

Hands down, my favorite short story in here was "The Girl in the Train," which was funny, quirky, and exciting all at the same time.  It made me think alternately of P. G. Wodehouse and F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is no mean feat!

I also very much enjoyed "Have You Got Everything You Want?" (I'm becoming a Parker Pyne fan) and "The Soul of the Croupier" (I'm also becoming a Mr. Quin fan).  

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for various crimes such as murder and theft, and attendant mild violence.

This is my 37th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Before the King" by Heather Kaufman

Like in Heather Kaufman's previous book, Up from Dust, the main character of Before the King is a woman from the New Testament.  Joanna is only mentioned a couple of times in the Bible, so we don't know very much about her.  We know she was one of the women who discovered that Jesus's tomb was empty on the first Easter Sunday (Luke 24:10).  We know she was wealthy and helping to support Jesus's ministry, and that she was married to Chuza, "the manager of Herod's household" (Luke 8:3).  That's about it.

From those clues, Kaufman has built a fictional heroine of uncommon beauty and deep faith.  In this book, Joanna grows up the daughter of a prominent Sadducee, moving in important Judean circles.  She has a sister who suffers from seizures, and tragedy strikes them both more than once.  Eventually, Joanna enters into a marriage of convenience with Chuza, a proselyte (non-Jewish believer in the coming Messiah) who has a high position in King Herod's government.  

When Joanna meets Jesus of Nazareth, her life is transformed inside and out.  Repeatedly, she goes to listen to this new Rabbi, supporting His ministry with her own money and growing to believe He is the promised Savior.  Because her husband is an important part of Herod's government, we get to see some of the events of Holy Week up close, both before Christ's crucifixion and after His resurrection.  Which made this the perfect book to read around Easter!

Kaufman's writing continues to delight me.  Her characters are nuanced, complex, and believable.  Her meticulous research makes the place and time she writes about come to life in the most engrossing way!

Although I didn't love this book quite as much as Up from Dust, it's still going to end up one of my top new reads for the year, I'm sure.  And the only reason I didn't love it quite as much is that I didn't feel as much of a personal connection with Joanna as a did with Martha -- I promise that is a personal thing, not a reflection on this amazing book.

Particularly Good Bits:

I am an ordinary woman whom God chose to put in extraordinary places.  Any strength to be found in my story is His alone (p. 9).

"Remember this, Joanna.  What people think changes all the time.  What is true never changes" (p. 56).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-16 for tasteful discussions of a woman desiring her husband.  Chuza proposes a celibate marriage to Joanna; she accepts, but later grows to love him and desires a consummated marriage.  Mentions of longing and desire are all tasteful, all within the context of a marriage, but may make younger readers confused or uncomfortable.

"Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow" by Jamie Erickson

I read this book in little snacks and nibbles over the past month or so.  I liked it a lot, and am adopting a few ideas from it into my own home life and hospitality outlook.  

Every now and then, I read or flip through a book about hygge and discover I'm already filled with an innate desire for a hygge home.  But I still often find a new idea or way to finetune the cozy comfort of my house.  This book had more such new insights than most because it showcased how creating a comfortable home environment that fosters belonging is a way to share God's love with others, and I appreciated that new angle.

There were a few places I disagreed with Erickson's theology, but I expected there to be, and they weren't enough to detract from this book's usefulness.

Particularly Good Bits:

Reshaping an atmosphere can never permanently reshape a heart.  But it can help, especially when paired with the hope of Jesus (p. 17).

Hospitality, thriving relationships, well-being, a welcoming atmosphere, comfort, contentment, and rest--these are the markers of hygge.  But they're also qualities seen in the first Garden home and exhibited by Jesus (p. 17).

Dinner time has been a conduit for sharing celebrations, service, and sorrow.  None of the meals started as interventions or "sharing circles."  They were just meals.  But intentional hospitality around the table provided the pause necessary to allow others to share in ways they otherwise wouldn't have (p. 35).

Hyggelig hospitality doesn't preclude tidying up or putting your best foot forward.  It just means you don't have to feel the need to sterilize your life and wipe out every evidence of brokenness from your home.  It means you don't have to secret your real self and your real messes away.  It encourages you to share your whole self so your guests feel comfortable enough to do the same (p. 49).

We no longer begrudge the monotony of a routine life because hygge compels us to find the extra of each ordinary moment (p. 79).

...knowing and caring are two different things.  You can know about a lot of issues, but you cannot care about them all equally.  No one's shoulders are wide enough for that.  If you do attempt to carry it all, you'll end up physically, emotionally, and financially unable to carry any of it (p. 101).

For those who are in Christ, well-being will be fully restored.  Until that time, may you and I follow His example by caring for ourselves, not selfishly or indulgently, but in a way that enables us to care for others (p. 103).

Hygge is comfort in moderation.  It is a rational voice that declares, "If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still have the same amount of snow" (p. 132).

Through our Western eyes, we're quick to call the dirt of this life filthy or ruin, forgetting that it was by dirt that the Master Potter made us in the Garden all those years ago.  It is by dirt and snow that life continues to renew and grow.  In praying that God takes away the struggles of this world -- the dirt and snow--we're also unwittingly disregarding the comfort that lies on the other side of every discomfort we face (p. 133).

Hygge favors the ordinary and familiar.  It is unpretentious and imperfect and encourages satisfaction in everydayness (p. 154).

We are rest-avoidant because, at some point, some well-meaning someone had us all believing that the central aim of our lives is to be useful to God, but it's not.  We're meant to glorify God.  That's our purpose.  The end (p. 176).

Every time we invite others into our house, we have an opportunity to make them feel right at home.  We help heal those whose home lives are anything but homey and make room for those who don't know where they belong (p. 197).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Totally appropriate for all ages.

"Crack the Stone" by Emily Golus

Prepare yourself for something very shocking.

I like this retelling of Les Miserables better than the original book by Victor Hugo.

Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE the story of Jean Valjean.  But, you may recall, Hugo's book wearied me when I reread it a couple years ago.  The endless digressions, specifically.  

So I loved how Emily Golus kept her book's focus on the main character in this retelling.  Valshara was a condemned goblin who makes a miraculous escape from her captors and ends up caring for a human child and learning what love, kindness, sacrifice, and truth mean during her ensuing adventures.  And we don't wander off to make sarcastic jokes about famous rich people no one knows about, or rhapsodize on the true meaning of loyalty, etc. 

And I loved the giant elephant.  Very much.

Particularly Good Bits:

For the first time since I could remember, I could rest.  But I didn't remember how (p. 14).

Such is the power of love.  It's that small, trivial thing that the powerful sneer at and the selfish keep at bay.  But allowed its course it will topple evil, transform cities, melt stone hearts, and bring the dead -- like me -- back to life.  No water can quench love, and no river can sweep it away.  For does not the universe itself run on Love? (p. 229).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence, scenes of peril, and child abandonment.

"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 Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball" by Elisabeth Aimee Brown

This book is an absolute hoot!  Also, it made me hungry, particularly for cheese.  Repeatedly.  I already eat a lot of cheese, but I definitely was craving it more often than usual while reading this.  I hear this is a common side-effect of reading this book.  Brown probably should get a subsidy from the American Dairy Association for it or something.

This is basically a screwball Cinderella story.  Hester doesn't want to go to the Commoner's Ball to dance with one of the princes, she just wants to go so she can attend the banquet and get a really solid meal for once.  She's loving life in her country's capitol city, aside from the way everything costs way more than it did back home on her family's pig farm, how many rude and unpleasant people are around, and the fact that her only job prospects tend to involve sewing for hours and hours and hours.  But she's gradually saving up enough money to move her aging parents to the big city so they can stop working hard on their pig farm and start enjoying city life too.

But, of course, she ends up running into both Prince Hughbert and Prince Lucas at the ball.  And being pursued by both of them, though she's really not interested in either one.  At least, not at first.  It's pretty obvious which one she does like, and who she will end up with, but the fun comes in getting there.  

And it definitely is fun.  This is a quirky book that made me laugh aloud repeatedly, sometimes in public.  

However... I hated Prince Hughbert.  Loathed him.  It took me rather a long time to finish this book because, every time he showed up, I would have to put the book down.  Hugh is a trickster character, and I do not do well with tricksters.  Loki in the MCU?  It took me 5 movies to stop hating him, and then his Disney+ show ruined everything and made me hate him again.  Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation?  I avoid his episodes like the plague.  Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream?  I would gladly fast-forward through all his scenes.  I Do Not Like Characters Who Make Things Difficult For Other People Just Because They Think It Is Funny.

This is not a judgment on Brown's writing!  This is purely a personal bugaboo that I have with a character archetype.  Most people do not have this issue with tricksters, judging by Loki's legions of fangirls.  So most people will probably gobble this book up in like 5 hours instead of taking more than a week to read it.  Despite me wanting to slap Hugh, throttle him, and duck tape his mouth shut, this will still get 5 stars from me.

Particularly Good Bits:

"People were meant to rely on each other.  Life is more than bargains" (p. 193).

"How did you fit all of those in one pocket?" I ask.  That's the sort of coat I need.  My cloak's pockets are irritatingly small (p. 252).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some innuendo involving repeated jokes and mentions of the fact that Hester's landlady thinks she intends to seduce one of the princes at the boarding house.  No actual smut, no bad language, no gore, no real violence.  But that running gag makes me not rate this totally family friendly.

"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.

"Midwinter Murder" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills, this is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie that are all set in a specific season.

I'd previously read only one story in this, "Christmas Adventure," which stars Hercule Poirot.  He's in several other stories, and there are also some with Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, and some other semi-regular characters of Christie's.

Aside from that one, which I like a lot, my favorite stories were "The Manhood of Edward Robinson," which had a lovely twist, and "The World's End," which delighted me with the way it ended.

The subtitle to this book is "Fireside Mysteries from the Queen of Crime," and these stories are absolutely as cozy as that implies.  I'm really glad I picked up all four of these seasonal Christie collections, and I'm looking forward to the spring and summer editions!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for murder, mild innuendo here and there, and a couple instances of mild cussing.

This is my 35th book read for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Hey, Jude Carpenter" by Storm Shultz

This is such a sweet middle-grade retelling of Romeo and Juliet! It's set in a small town that has two Baptist churches. There was a split in the congregation ten years earlier, with Jude's family on one side and Mona's on the other.

Jude Carpenter's family run a dairy farm, and it's in financial trouble.  Not to mention, his older brother just broke up with his girlfriend.  Things are getting pretty stressful.  But there's a bright spot in his life: his new friend, Mona.  But his mom doesn't like Mona's family, so she tells Jude to un-friend Mona.

Mona Montgomery loves to read, sing Beatles songs, and help people.  She was best friends with an older cousin until that cousin goes to college, and now Mona is pretty lonely.  She has fun hanging out with Jude, though, and dearly wants to help his family keep their farm.

This is such a great look at the power of God to heal divisions and lift up heavy hearts.  Martin Luther once said that every Christian is meant to show the face of Jesus to those around them, and that is just what Jude and Mona do -- their friendship and kindness has a powerful influence on their families, even though they're "only" middle-schoolers!

There's a tiny bit of romance in this, with Jude and Mona talking about maybe wanting to date when they are older, and they do hold hands and exchange a cute and awkward little first kiss.  Their relationship was entirely age-appropriate and godly.  But if your kids aren't quite interested in the opposite sex yet, they might not love that part of the book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's good and lovely and sweet and wholesome.

"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.  

"A Study in Scarlet" (Manga Classics) by Arthur Conan Doyle (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Julien Choy (art)

FINALLY!  The Manga Classics folks are releasing new titles again, and the fact that their first new release in several years is a Sherlock Holmes novel fills me with absolute glee.  Especially since they are promising more Holmes mangas to come.

Y'all know I am a devoted Sherlockian.  I've loved the canon since I was in my very early teens, and I have read quite a number of pastiches and watched a lot of movies and shows based on the characters and books.  I can be a bit picky about how Holmes and Watson are portrayed -- Watson needs to be intelligent, Holmes needs to have an inner core of kindness and decency, and their friendship needs to feel genuine.  Happily, this manga version of A Study in Scarlet hits all those notes.

One thing I especially liked was how young they portrayed Holmes and Watson.  They should be in their mid-to-late 20s, and I think they hit that range really well.  Watson should be just a trifle older than Holmes, but less world-weary.  Mrs. Hudson is shown to be younger than I usually see her portrayed, but I don't recall anything in the canon talking about how old she is, so it's entirely possible she's not middle-aged or beyond the way she is usually cast in film adaptations.

Doyle's original novel is basically split into two halves, and I think Crystal S. Chan did a great job here of making the story feel more like one whole narrative instead.

Oh, and this manga is in full color!  The previous Manga Classics books have been black and white, so this is a really interesting and fun change.  I wonder if it's only the Sherlock Holmes titles that will be in color, or if their upcoming release of King Lear will be as well?

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a couple of old-fashioned cuss words and for discussing murder, including showing dead bodies and people being killed.  Nothing too gory.  Polygamy gets very briefly mentioned too.

"The Midnight Blizzard" by Mary Mecham

Awwww, this was exactly what I wanted to read during the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Sweet, funny, upbeat, and cozy.  And with lovable dogs galore!

Noelle has no intention of trying to get the prince to fall in love with her.  She wants to spend the week of the future-wife-finding-balls and parties searching the castle for any trace of her father's will, which has disappeared.  She's quite sure her father would have left her his estate so he could continue his work helping mages get more equal rights.  

In this kingdom, mages are people who can do magic, and ordinary people are suspicious and distrustful of mages.  Mages and non-mages can't marry, and mages aren't even able to attend most schools.  Noelle and her father were working together to change all that, but his death may have derailed all of that.

Noelle's stepmother ditches Noelle and her dog Kodiak in the middle of the forest, where they're attacked by wolves.  Kodiak is injured protecting Noelle, but they're both rescued by a handsome mage named Jack and his team of sled dogs.  After getting Kodiak to a healer, Jack takes Noelle to the castle.  While he helps her try to find her father's will, the two of them start falling in love, but marriage between mages and ordinary humans is forbidden, a law Noelle's father was trying to get reversed before he died.

This is a Cinderella retelling with a Christmasy twist, though it's really more wintery than Christmasy.  It's the first thing I've read by Mary Mecham, but I am sure it won't be the last.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some kisses and yearning.  No smut, no real cuss words (just fake ones like "by holly"), little violence (there's that wolf attack, and at least one slap).  I let my 13-yr-old read it as soon as I finished it, and she thought it was really fun, though it did have a bit more romance than she prefers.  That makes sense, since it's a young adult book, and she's not a young adult yet.

"Snowhawk" by Deborah Koren

I spent the whole of this book terribly worried for all my favorite characters that I'd grown to love dearly during Balefire... and the ending was wonderful.  More wonderful than I ever hoped.

Whew!

The refugee Rain needs to learn all she can about the magical relic she wields.  Former palace guard Reece Railey takes on the responsibility of leading and caring for a whole city and its people.  Count Lenzky tries to use his newfound magical powers to help others instead of always for his own gain. 

And as for Orin Balefire, new king of Estera?  He is trying desperately to appease his new allies while angling for more power.  Meanwhile, his sister Kora Snowhawk is missing, presumed dead, and the people of Estera are fighting amongst themselves as Orin's control of the kingdom wavers.

And it all has a happy ending!  Miraculously!

(from my Instagram account)

I think the thing I loved best about Snowhawk, aside from the happy ending, is the theme of every person being able to work toward making things better for those around them with whatever skills or resources or materials they possess.  It's only by working to help others that they truly are able to change their own lives and circumstances for the better, and I loved that message.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Rumors?" Rain smiled.  "Rumors can do the work of an army" (p. 233).

Reece looked around at the citizens packed into the main floor of the lodge.  It was going to be a long night.  The closest ones looked at him, wide-eyed.  He knew he should say something.  Make a little speech, encourage them.  Tell them it was going to be all right.  But he was too cold and tired for lies (p. 317).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-16 for violence and torture, including repeated scenes of people being burned or threatened with burning.  No smut, no actual gore, no cussing, but still a bit much for younger teens.