Fireproof by Eric Wilson

Fireproof by Eric Wilson Trade Paperback: 312 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson First Released: 2008

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Blurb:
Inside burning buildings, Captain Caleb Holt lives by the firefighter's adage: "Never leave your partner." Yet at home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules.

Growing up, his wife Catherine always dreamed of marrying a loving, brave firefighter...just like her father. Now, after seven years of marriage, she wonders when she stopped being "good enough."

Countless arguments and anger have them wanting to move on. As they prepare for divorce, Caleb's father challenges him to commit to a 40-day experiment: "The Love Dare." Wondering if it's even worth the effort, Caleb agrees, for his father's sake more than for his marriage.

Surprised by what he discovers about the meaning of love, Caleb realizes that his wife and marriage are worth fighting for. His job is to rescue others. Now Captain Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever...rescuing his wife's heart.

Review:
This book is a "Christian Romance" novel, though it's not typical of the category. The romance is portrayed accurate to real life and is mainly from the male point-of-view. I think men would find the book as interesting as women would.

The book isn't terribly preachy and is more a "this character happens to become a Christian" than a "listen up, readers--if you aren't Christian, you ought to be and here's how!" Unless you are vehemently anti-Christian, the Christian content probably won't annoy you.

Because the novel is based on a movie, the novel isn't as deep as it could be. However, it's a lot better than I expected. The pacing was very good. The world-building (of the fire house and hospital) was good. The main characters were interesting. They acted and changed in realistic ways. This book is about loving when the other person rejects you and acknowledges that repairing a broken marriage isn't an easy deal.

There was no cursing that I noticed it. There is kissing and some off-screen sex between husband and wife at the end. I'd rate this as "good, clean fun."

Excerpt: Chapter Two

[Chapter One is more of a prologue, so I'm skipping it.]

Caleb Holt, rookie and recent hero, had been given orders to find the hose stretcher. What was a hose stretcher, though? He searched the fire engine high and low for the seemingly non-existent object, ducking his head into compartments and running his hand along every inch of the truck.

That's when Catherine Campbell strolled into the bay, the captain's daughter and his pride and joy.

Eighteen. Brunette, with natural highlights.

Catherine wore a summer dress, with a red mini-sweater tied off above her thin hips. The slight curve of her brown eyes was simultaneously alluring and friendly. "You must be Caleb."

"Uh, well..."

"Unless you're going under a different name now," she goaded.

"Caleb. Yeah, that's me."

"Thank you for what you did. Saving my dad like that."

He shrugged that off. "You're Catherine, right?"

"Word spreads fast."

"Your father's proud of you. He has a picture of you in his office, but I never realized that you...Well, now I guess you're just more..."

"More what?"

"Uh, you're older."

She grinned. "Yeah, I wish he'd put up my new picture instead. I was, like, what, fourteen in that one?"

"You looked like you were just a girl."

"Just a girl?"

"Well, you know, not all grown up."

"And now look at me." A smile played over her lips. "All grown up."

Caleb tried not to stare and shout a rousing Amen!

The Naming by Alison Croggon

The Naming by Alison Croggon Trade Paperback: 492 pages Publisher: Candlewick Press First Released: 2002

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Blurb:
Maerad is a slave in a desperate and unforgiving settlement, taken there as a child when her family is destroyed in war. She is unaware that she possesses a powerful gift, one that marks her as a member of the School of Pellinor. It is only when she is discovered by Cadvan, one of the great Bards of Lirigon, that her true identity and extraordinary destiny unfold. Now she and her mysterious teacher must survive a journey through time and place where the dark forces they battle stem from the deepest recesses of otherworldly terror.

Review:
This book is an epic fantasy, the first of a planned quartet. The novel is supposedly a young adult book, but I suspect that adults would be more willing to stick with it to the end. Much of the book is very slow in pace. The middle sections are mainly a travel log describing the places Maerad and Cadvan travel through. The level of detail is much, much more than is needed and only slows already un-tense sections even more.

The author occasionally uses some odd word choices (perhaps because she's Australian), but everything is understandable.

Despite the level of detail, the world-building was only okay because much of the time the main characters are in the wilderness or not interacting with other people. I was left feeling like I didn't know or understand the world very well. Cadvan, the teacher who is supposed to enlighten Maerad (and the reader), keeps putting off his explanations. I'm left knowing a great deal about the landscape, a bunch of intricate but insignificant objects (furniture, etc.), and some ancient history, but very little about the current history and politics which are supposedly driving the character's actions. [Note: Some of this information is included in the 21-page Appendices.]

The characters were not uninteresting, but the reader is kept at a distance from the main characters (and their secrets) until the end. Then, they get interesting! Unfortunately, I'm not willing to slog through the over-descriptions again (since the next book appears to also be mostly a travel log) on the hope the characters will stay interesting.

I also felt betrayed by the last two pages of the book. The book sets itself up as a clear "good v.s. evil" story. Yet at the end, Cadvan (a TruthSeeker who can see when a person is lying and can force a person to say the truth even when they don't remember it themselves) says that truth is relative and can change from person to person. On the final page, Maerad sees a vision that makes her conclude that evil is not only necessary but is beautiful. This goes against everything the author established in the previous 465 pages.

All that said, if you like slow, "fat" books, then you probably will enjoy this book. There was no sex or cussing. The magic in this world is basically normal speech but in a special, true language (which is sometimes written out for the reader and then translated). Overall, I'd say this is "a clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One
For almost as long as she could remember, Maerad had been imprisoned behind walls. She was a slave in Gilman's Cot, and hers was the barest of existences: an endless cycle of drudgery and exhaustion and dull fear.

Gilman's Cot was a small mountain hamlet beyond the borders of the wide lands of the Inner Kingdom of Annar. It nestled at the nape of a bleak valley on the eastern side of the mountains of Annova, where the range split briefly and ran out, like two claws, from near the northern end. Its virtue, as far as the Thane Gilman was concerned, was its isolation; here he could be tyrant of his domain, with nothing to check him.

It was a well-defended fortress, though no one came to attack. At the cot's back was the stone cliff of the Outwall, the precipice cutting sheer some thousand feet from the Landrost, the highest peak in that part of the range. Around the cot were walls of roughly dressed stone, rising to a height of thirty feet from a base twenty feet wide. They tapered to four feet at the top, enough room for two men to walk abreast. At the front were stout wooden gates, which eight men or a wagon could enter with ease. The gates were barred at night and most days, except for hunts and when the hillmen came in their big wagons to trade goods, salted meat, cheeses, and dried apples for swords and arrows and buckets and nails.

About a hundred and fifty souls lived there: the Thane Gilman and his wife, who had been beaten to a shadow after bearing him twelve children, of which five still lived, and his henchmen and their women and bastards.

Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix Trade Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Aladdin First Released: 2004

Source: A friend gave the book to me

Back Cover Blurb:
Luke Garner, an illegal third child, spent his first twelve years in hiding. For the past four months Luke has lived among others, using the identity of Lee Grant, at the Hendricks School for Boys. But just as things are finally starting to go right, Lee's little brother Smits arrives at the school and Luke finds himself caught in a tangle of lies that gets more complex with every passing day.

Can Luke trust Smits to keep his secret? And can he trust Smits's menacing bodyguard, Oscar?

Review:
I suppose this would qualify as a science fiction middle-grade book. The premise is that, due to famine, the president has become a dictator and has passed a law that couples can only have two children. Luke is a third child and lived most of his life in hiding. Several books back, he was given the identity of a legal boy who died. Now this boy's parents regret giving use of their son's name to another, and Luke is in danger of being forced back into hiding.

The world-building was okay. The pacing was good, and Luke and Smits were interesting. (The other characters were very sketchy, but these two boys were the main characters.) There was no sex, cussing, or magic. Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One
"Hey, L.! Mr. Hendricks wants to see you!"

Such a summons would have terrified Luke Garner only a few months earlier. When he'd first come to Hendricks School for Boys, the thought of having to talk to any grown-up, let alone the headmaster, would have turned him into a stammering, quaking fool desperately longing for a place to hide.

But that was back in April, and this was August. A lot had happened between April and August.

Now Luke just waved off the rising tide of "ohh's" from his friends in math class.

"What'd you do, L.? Have you been sneaking out to the woods again?" his friend John taunted him.

"Settle down, class," the teacher, Mr. Rees, said mildly. "You may be excused, Mr., uh, Mr..."

Luke didn't wait for Mr. Rees to try to remember his name. Names were slippery things at Hendricks School anyway. Luke, like all his friends, was registered under a different name from what he'd grown up with. So it was always hard to know what to call people.

The Thief Taker by T.F. Banks

The Thief Taker by T.F. Banks Mass Market Paperback: 325 pages Publisher: Bantam Dell First Released: 2001

Source: Bought from Half.com

Back Cover Blurb:
June 1815. When Henry Morton is called to the scene at Portman House in Claridge Square, the Bow Street constable finds a man dead in a hackney coach--ostensibly of asphyxiation. He was Halbert Glendinning, a gentleman of unsullied character. Then why was he seen frequenting one of London’s most notorious dens of iniquity? And why has the driver of the coach vanished into the night?

While Sir Nathaniel Conant, the chief magistrate at Number 4 Bow Street, accepts the official verdict of accidental death, Morton is certain that Glendinning was a victim of foul play. With the help of actress Arabella Malibrant, one of London’s most celebrated beauties, he embarks on his own discreet inquiry. And as the upper circles of London society close ranks against him, Morton races to unmask a killer whose motives are as complex and unfathomable as the passions that rule the human heart.

Review:
This historical mystery is set in 1815. Henry Morton is a Bow Street Runner (a.k.a. cop) who works with his mistress to solve both a murder and a theft. Most of Morton's problems stem from the "thief taking" system in place at the time, and the world-building of the historical time period is excellent.

The pacing was good, and the characters were interesting. The sex all occured 'off page.' Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One

Morton had all but finished dressing, and was basking in the glow of warmth and well-being, albeit moderated by a few stinging bruises, that followed his remarkable evening at Jackson's [boxing club].

"Mr. Morton...sir?" a voice said breathlessly.

Morton looked up to find a boy, gasping in the doorway as through in the throes of an asthmatical convulsion.

"Henry Morton, yes."

"I've run all the way, sir..." the child managed. "'Tis Mrs. Malinbrant...Asks that you come directly." A few desperate breaths were needed. "I'm to say 'tis most urgent, sir. Most terrible urgent."

Morton tossed aside a towel. "Nothing has befallen Mrs. Malibrant, I hope?"

"Oh, no, Mr. Morton. 'Tis the gentleman, sir. The young gentleman who just arrived at Lord Arthur's." The boy straightened a little and shook his head. "He appears to be dead, sir. Most thoroughly dead."

King's Property by Morgan Howell

Queen of the Orcs: King's Property by Morgan Howell Mass Market Paperback: 302 pages Publisher: Del Rey First Released: 2007

Source: Bought from library sale

Back Cover Blurb:
Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant's army and his brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess.

Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war, escalates--amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss--Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.

Review
I guess I'd call this "dark fantasy" since there is little hope throughout the book. It's also not a book I, personally, would give to anyone under 15 years old. The book clearly implies, though never actually states, that Dar was raped repeatedly by her father and both Dar and a young girl come very close to being raped on several occasions. While most of the sex, rape, brutality, and killing occur 'off screen' and none of it is explicit or gratuitous, the horror and danger of her surroundings is nearly unrelenting.

Understandably, Dar doesn't trust men and doesn't really like them. I was a bit turned off by the apparent "all men are scum" message but, near the end, it becomes quite clear that Dar doesn't hate all men--just the ones that really are scum.

That being said, all of the characters were very interesting and realistically drawn. The story was suspenseful, and the world-building was excellent. Overall, I'd call this "a good, clean fun" novel for grown-ups.

Excerpt: Chapter One
Dar walked alone down a mountain path, bent beneath a load of firewood. The trail she followed hugged steep rocky walls that blocked the morning sun, so the air and ground still held the night's chill. Nevertheless, she walked barefoot and wore only a tattered, sleeveless shift with a rag to cushion her shoulders. Dar moved quickly to keep warm, but the sound of a distant horse stopped her short. None of her neighbors owned one, nor did anyone in the tiny village beyond the far ridge. Only strangers rode horses, and strangers often brought trouble.

Dar listened. When the hoofbeats died away, leaving only the sound of wind in bare branches, she continued homeward and arrived at a hollow devoid of trees. Its stony ground had been prepared for spring planting. At the far side of the hollow lay the only building--a rude hut, built of rocks and roofed with turf. The horse was tied nearby. Dar was considering leaving when her father's wife emerged from the low building with a rare smile on her face. The older woman called out. "You have visitors."

The smile heightened Dar's wariness. "What kind of visitors?"

Dar's stepmother didn't respond, except to smile more broadly.

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale Trade Paperback: 317 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA First Released: 2004

Source: Bought from Amazon

Back Cover Blurb:
Enna's brother, Leifer, has found the secret to an extraordinary power--to make fire without a spark. It's an ability that could be used for good...if he can control it. But Enna can't decide if it's a power she wants for herself or one that should be extinguished forever. And when their home country of Bayern goes to war, the choice becomes unbearable. Enna never imagined the warm, life-giving energy of a fire could destroy everything she loves, but now she must try to save Bayern and herself before fire consumes her entirely.

Review:
This book is a sequel to a "fairy tale re-telling" book, but it isn't based on a fairy tale. The story is a bit darker than "The Goose Girl." Everything feels out-of-control and morally murky. For example, Enna must decide whether she should use her fire-talking to kill enemy soldiers (she decides it's not right or smart to do so but does it anyway because she feels she has to). Though the reasons for her actions were convincing, I wasn't comfortable with how often Enna chose to do what she knew was wrong. (Note that she does do what is right in the end.)

The pacing and world-building were good. The characters were engaging and changed realistically throughout the book. The romance in the story develops slowly. There are a few kisses, but no sex. I don't recall any cussing. Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One
Enna let the fire burn out.

She was not used to this duty. For the three years she had lived and worked in the city, the hearth had been the hall mistress's responsibility. And when Enna had returned to the Forest a year ago at the onset of her mother's illness, her mother had continued to tend the fire. After her mother's death in the spring, Enna had become the mistress of this little forest house, but with a garden to tend, wood to chop, and a brother, a goat, and chickens to feed, she often forgot the fire.

It was not hard to do. A fire in a kitchen hearth was a quiet beast.

Of course, Enna thought, she would overlook the coals on a night when her brother and, more important, the flint in the kindling box were out wandering in the deep woods. So she walked to the house of her nearest neighbor, Doda, and borrowed a spade's worth of embers in her milking pail. She struggled home, gripping the hot handle with a rag and the end of her skirt.

The embers drew her eyes. They were beautiful, pulsing red in the bottom of the dark pail like the heart of a living thing. She looked away, and the orange coals stayed before her eyes, burning its image over the night. She tripped on a tree root.

"Ah, ah," she said, trying to regain her balance and keep the hot pail from touching her of spilling to the ground. She cursed herself for the hundredth time that night for being so careless, sought out the dark outline of her house, and headed for it.

"Strange," said Enna, blinking hard to clear her vision. There appeared to be a light in her window, and it was getting brighter. Enna ran through the yard and looked into the open window.

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander Trade Paperback: 310 pages Publisher: Harper Collins First Released: 2005

Source: Bought from Amazon

Back Cover Blurb:
Emily agreed to wed Philip, the Viscount Ashton, primarily to escape her overbearing mother. Philip's death while on safari soon after their wedding left Emily little grief, for she barely knew the dashing stranger.

But her discovery of his journals nearly two years later reveals a far different man than she imagined--a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who apparently loved his new wife deeply. Emily's desire to learn more of her late husband leads her through the quiet corners of the British Museum and into a dangerous mystery involving rare stolen artifacts. To complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond matrimony into darker realms...

Review:
This book is a historical mystery set in the later part of Queen Victoria's reign. Though this book and the second book can be understood quite well when read out of order, information given in the second book does somewhat spoil the suspense in the first book. For maximum reading pleasure, I'd highly recommend reading this book before A Poisoned Season.

The world-building in this book is excellent. The problems Emily faces flow out of the historical culture (i.e. the story isn't simply a modern mystery occurring in a historical setting). The characters are interesting and change realistically throughout the book. There is kissing, but no sex. I don't recall any cussing. Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.


Excerpt: Chapter One
Few people would look kindly on my reasons for marrying Philip; neither love nor money nor his title induced me to accept his proposal. Yet, as I look across the spans of Aegean Sea filling the view from my villa's balcony, I cannot doubt that it was a surprisingly good decision.

The Viscount Ashton seemed an unlikely candidate to bring anyone much happiness, at least according to my standards. His fortune, moderate good looks, and impeccable manners guaranteed that hapless females would constantly fling themselves at him in the hope of winning his affection. They missed his defining characteristic, ensuring that he would never pay them more than the slightest polite attention: Philip was a hunter.

I mean this, of course, literally. Hunting possessed him. He spent as much time as his fortune would permit pursuing wild beasts. The dignified (although I would not choose to describe it so) English hunt amused him, but he preferred big game and passed much of his time stalking his quarry on the plains of Africa. He could be found in London only briefly, at the height of the Season, when he limited his prey to potential brides. The image he presented could be described as striking, I suppose. He played the part of daring adventurer well.

My encounter with the dashing viscount began as such things typically do, at a soiree. I found the conversation lacking and longed to return home to the novel that had engrossed me all morning. Philip differed little from other men I met, and I had no interest in continuing the acquaintance.