"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman

Once in a while, I like to pick up a book to read that I've never heard anything about.  I like to browse the library stacks, pulling off books and reading their dust jacket flaps until I find one that interests me.  That's how I found this book.  Yes, I've read things by Neil Gaiman before, but I'd never heard of this particular book of his.  It looked and sounded interesting, so I checked it out and read it.

I'm not always a huge fan of magical realism.  I mean, sometimes I am -- I'm an ardent devotee of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and the Harry Potter books.  But a lot of times it doesn't work for me.  Well, this is one of the times that it totally did.  This is a short book, but so jam-packed with flavor and atmosphere I gobbled it up as quickly as I could.

The protagonist recalls things that happened when he was seven years old.  He met some magic-wielding women who lived at the end of his lane, he accidentally let an evil being into the world, he dealt with the aftereffects of that evil being's presence, and he survived it getting cast out of this world again.  Somewhere along the way, he grew up.  A lot.  But remained seven and still a little boy in many ways too.

Gaiman's descriptions and way of weaving magic in to the real world were astonishingly wonderful.  I'm so glad I pulled this book off the shelf last week.

But despite the fact that the main character was seven when most of this happened, this is NOT junior fiction.  Definitely YA.  Please keep that in mind.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for scenes where a 7-yr-old witnesses two adults engaged in adult activity (not described explicitly, but what they're doing is very obvious), scary scenes, and suicide.

"Tales from Alegaesia: The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm" by Christopher Paolini

It's been a decade since I read Eragon by Christopher Paolini, though not quite long since I finished the Inheritance Cycle, but it's definitely been a minute or two since I visited Alegaësia.  I very much enjoyed the series as a whole -- it's one of the few fantasy series I've been able to get really into -- so it was a big treat to discover this new book at Walmart while on vacation!

This book has three short stories bound up within the framework of Eragon and Saphira helping to build the home of the new Dragon Rider training academy.  Eragon is struggling with his new duties, and each of these stories teaches him something that will aid him in his work.  Of the three, "The Worm" was my favorite, though I enjoyed all three of them.

The cover says "Tales from Alegaësia: Volume I" which makes me super hopeful that there will be more like this!  Also, now I want to dive back into the series, so I'm bumping them way up my re-read list (which is entirely in my head and subject to change at my slightest whim, like the fact that I just joined an IG read-along for War and Peace that starts in about a week, but whatever).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for fantasy violence and peril.

"The King's Players" by Charity Bishop

This series just keeps getting better and better.  And that's saying something, because The Usurper's Throne and The Welsh Gambit were totally engrossing and enjoyable.  But The King's Players made me truly care about some of its characters, not just observe them, and that makes it a cut above, in my opinion.

This book is all about King Henry VII and his loyal, ruthless, wily enforcer, Sir Thomas Lovell (#youlikemebecauseimascoundrel), who are trying to discern if Sir William is a traitor like his brother, the Duke of Suffolk, or if he's innocent and just wants to live a peaceful life with his new wife, the much-older Lady Keelyn.

Into the mix come a troupe of actors seeking a new patron.  One of them falls in love with a local girl who serves Lady Keelyn.  Also, people die.  Also, there's a shipwreck.  Also, there's an assassination attempt.  Like the two preceding books, this book moves at a fast pace and I didn't want to put it down to do mundane things like fold laundry or make supper or go to sleep at night.

(From my Bookstagram account)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for some off-page lovemaking, spouses appreciating one another's appearances in a sexual way, people talking about illegitimate children and mistresses, a little mild cursing (I think -- I can't remember specific instances, I just feel like there was some), and scenes of violence and suspense.

"A Worthy Rebel" by Jody Hedlund

I have mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand, I like the message it conveys:  that you don't need to try to be like other people in order to be important.  But on the other hand, it's a lot more focused on romantic feelings than I generally enjoy.  It's not quite my flavor of tea, if that makes sense.

Beautiful, delicate Lady Isabelle runs away from the cruel man her stepmother wants her to marry.  Cole Warwick, a handsome woodcutter, rescues her. 

Actually, that's what I especially didn't care for in this book:  how much emphasis the author and the characters put on physical appearances.  I don't mean the sexual attraction, which can happen between non-beautiful people too, but the fact that both Isabelle and Cole were very, very pretty to look at, and they knew it.  Long hair, delicate features, and a pleasing figure for one, and a strong jaw, tousled hair, and bulging muscles for the other.  Like, I get that this is written for teens, but... it felt too shallow, like it was pandering to looks-obsessed teen girls.  And reinforcing the idea that to be a hero or heroine, you ought to look like a cover model.

Anyway, the story itself was a nice look at class conflict, duty versus desire, and learning to trust God to bless you in all circumstances.  There was too much emphasis on good works for my taste -- the idea that if you try really hard, God will bless you for your efforts, which is not what I believe, personally.  But the writing was fast-paced, and I enjoyed it about as much as I enjoy any romance-centered book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for violence, including violence against children and non-graphic torture, as well as a lot of swoony scenes where people felt heat pooling inside them or felt sparks shooting through them because of how someone looked at them, etc.  And quite a bit of kissing.  It's teetering on the edge of "clean reads."

"The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart" by Susanne K. George

So, y'all already know that I dearly love Elinore Pruitt Stewart's two collections of letters, Letters of a Woman Homesteader and Letters on an Elk Hunt.  They're flavorful and fascinating and fun.  And the fact that they're mostly based in fact is just sooooooo cool to me.

Well, this is a combination biography of Stewart and a collection of MORE of her letters.  It shows just how much care she put into crafting her writings, more than I'd realized, but also highlights her brave pioneer spirit.  Yes, she consciously wrote many of her letters specifically to reach a wider audience than just the person the letter is addressed to.  Yes, she mixed fiction with facts when recounting some things.  Yes, I like her and her writing even more after learning more about her real self.

I've read a few negative reviews of Stewart's books that seemed like those people felt somehow cheated or deceived by her writing because she did write things specifically for publication.  As if her letters were no longer as true, or that they couldn't trust her.  I don't see her writing that way at all.  I now view her letters as almost like blog posts.  I write my blog intending for many people to read it.  When I recount real-life events like going to a live show, I'm not making up that I went to the show.  But I'm consciously crafting my words.  I'm adopting a bit of a persona -- I might not use the same words and descriptions when telling the story in a private letter to a close friend as I will when writing it up for my blog.  I'm writing as Hamlette, just as she was writing as the Woman Homesteader.  I think her readers in the day understood that, just as you, my blogging friends, understand that.  

Anyway.  Stewart had an amazing, adventurous life.  She chose to share that lifestyle with others through letters both public and private, and the fact that we can read those letters today fills me with joy.

Particularly Good Bits:

To get away from every one is a blessing to be eagerly seized some times and I was deeply enjoying cave man freedom (p. 154).

I must warn you, though, that I cannot be a lady.  I'm just me.  I cannot put on airs (p. 164).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for descriptions of illnesses, accidents, mild violence, and general hardships.

This is my tenth book read and reviewed for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge!

"Olivia Twist" by Lorie Langdon

This is such a cute, fun book!  I mean, it's not cute in the fluffy-kittens-and-chirping birds way, but it's just filled with adorable people who happen to be stuck in some pretty dire situations.  The people are cute and adorable, even if everything going on around them is desperate and dangerous.  Does that make sense?

Basically, it picks up where Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens ended, sorta.  It's hard to explain.  It uses the story of Oliver Twist as its backstory, only it turns out that the orphan called Oliver was actually a girl named Olivia disguising herself as a boy to stay safe on the nasty streets of London.  Once she finds a home, then her disguise ends and she can grow up into a young lady.  Except she still disguises herself as a boy and goes out into the streets to help care for other street kids.

And then one day, she runs into a guy now called Jack who used to be her friend the Artful Dodger.  Sparks fly.  Lots of sparks.  The "I want to punch your face until my hand turns numb" kind of sparks AND the "I want to kiss you until I can't breathe" kind of sparks.  Which made this kind of the perfect summer read for me, because I'm way more willing to read about romantic sparkage in the summer than I am any other time of year.

There's all this plot stuff about Olivia getting engaged to this other guy, and Olivia trying to protect some street kids from a big baddie, and Jack trying to steal things because of reasons, and this Big Bad trying to ruin their lives because they're in his way.  But I know when I re-read this one day, I'll be reading it for the characters, not the plot, as they're what I liked so very much.

Particularly Good Bits:

Olivia blinked up at Max and wished she didn't have another's kiss to compare his to (p. 120).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for a lot of kissing scenes, some violence, and some innuendo.  This is leaning toward the adult side of Young Adult while still hovering on the outward edges of Clean Fiction.

"The Edge of Over There" by Shawn Smucker

I think this book would have been easier to get into if I'd read the book that precedes it, The Day the Angels Fell.  But I haven't.  And I didn't have time to go find and read that one first because I was reading this for the INSPY awards and I was on a deadline.  So the first hundred and fifty pages felt like I'd never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer before, and somebody grabbed a random disc from season 5 of the show and made me watch it by myself, with no friends or internet to fill in background info for me or even explain what in the world was going on.

However.  I did eventually wrap my head around this book's worldbuilding and, by the end, it did make sense.  And I liked it a lot.  More for the writing than the story itself, though I did enjoy the story.  It actually reminded me a lot of Buffy and Angel, which are some of my favorite shows (though, when I started watching Buffy, I had friends to explain stuff to me during the commercial breaks, as I joined the fandom when season 4 was airing).

Basically, there are angelic and demonic beings trying to help and hinder people on earth, and there's a problem with the demonic ones trying to raise trees that will make humans sorta immortal, and there are some semi-immortal humans who created a sort of purgatory world halfway between this earth and eternity.  And some teens have to try to stop them.

Does that make any sense?  Sigh.  I'm really bad at explaining Buffy too.  Can I just say that this book was cool, and I enjoyed it once I got into it?  Smucker has a very lyrical, evocative writing style that I definitely liked.  Oh, and my fellow judges and I chose it as the winner for the YA category for the INSPY Awards this year!

Particularly Good Bits:

We want things to stay the same, but the roads between "now" and "back then" are always changing, and by the time you manage to return home, if you can ever find your winding way, you realize it was never actually yours, not forever (p. 23).

Time stumbles under the weight of deep sadness (p. 68).

"Maybe children are the only ones brave and true enough to save the world" (p. 118).

"Words should only be used as a last resort, a final attempt to communicate when all else has failed.  They are unsteady ground.  Words are nothing more than manipulated air" (p. 150).

Cemeteries are the one place on earth where people can stop talking whenever they want and no one will press them for more.  Which makes sense, since cemeteries hold so much unfinished business (p. 161).

"Stories will do that if we let them.  They'll work their way inside, to the deepest parts, and they'll live there, and they'll change us" (p. 360).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for danger, violence, suspense, and scary imagery.