True Devotion by Dee Henderson

True Devotion by Dee Henderson Trade Paperback: 327 pages Publisher: Multnomah First Released: 2000 Author Website

Source: Library

Description from Back Cover:
She was going to drown...

Lifeguard Kelly Jacobs watched the sun go down and knew time for her rescue was running out. The naval base glittered in the fading light, like a jewel she could not reach. The sea surged and pulled, stinging her with cold.

Until he came.

Navy SEAL Lieutenant Joe "Bear" Baker plucked Kelly from the raging sea when she had nearly given up hope. She'd known he would come--he was her best friend--and she clung for all she was worth to the safe haven found in his arms.

Then she said the wrong thing...

Kelly had already paid the ultimate price of loving a warrior. She had the folded flag and the grateful thanks of a nation to prove it. She didn't dare risk loving another man in uniform. But held close in Joe's arms, Kelly said the wrong thing, and their friendship suddenly hung in the balance.

Now they're both in danger.

The man who killed Kelly's husband is back and closer than either Kelly or Joe realize. They're about to discover that God is a refuge, because this time there may be no rescue...

Review:
This romantic suspense novel was a fast read. The characters were honorable, interesting, and engaging. I cared what happened to them, even to the 'bad' guy. The heroine is just as strong (in the non-physical sense) as the hero. Though Kelly is rescued by Joe, her own actions go a long way to making that rescue possible. (As in, the smart heroine doesn't do something extremely stupid and then stand helpless and in danger just so the hero can rescue her.)

The obstacles to the romance were realistic ones based on Kelly and Joe's past history with each other (rather than the artificial "if they'd just talk about it" misunderstanding variety).

Both Kelly and Joe are Christians and their faith is integral to their lives, but the book never gets preachy. It explores their struggles with their faith, specifically why God allowed Kelly's husband (who is also Joe's best friend) to die and Joe live.

The details about SEALs, their missions, and what their wives go through when they're on mission were very interesting and immersed me into their world.

There was some kissing, but no sex. I don't recall any cussing. Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One
They were going to drown.

Kelly Jacobs could already see the headline on the front page of the weekly Coronado Eagle newspaper: "Riptide Kills Teen and Lifeguard." The cold water had her by the throat. Six minutes had passed since she'd last seen the boy bobbing in the swells, and they were being pulled out to sea at a horrifying clip.

She had a lifetime of experience in the Pacific waters off San Diego, numerous rescues, but nothing like this. The water in early May, warmer than usual from La Nina, was still only sixty-seven degrees, cold enough to induce hypothermia. The swells dropped her four feet down in the troughs. If she didn't find the boy soon she wouldn't have the ability to get them back to shore. And this was a big ocean for a search party to cover in the dark--to her left the sun had already set and twilight was fading fast.

The riptide created by the conflux of ocean currents and the outgoing tide had formed late in the day with an explosive suddenness. When conditions changed, the riptide would fade as abruptly as it had formed, but whether it lasted a few hours or a day would not matter in the end. It was already on the verge of becoming deadly.

The fear of what was coming overwhelmed her. This fight to reach the boy was turning into a personal life-and-death struggle. The saltwater burned her throat and sent her gasping as another wave caught her in midbreath. To give up the attempted rescue to save herself, to let the boy drown-- It had been years since she had cared about something this much. She wasn't going to give up, and she wasn't going to fail.

Kelly strained to find a way to work with the waves rather than against them. The boy was here, somewhere near, and she was going to reach him. She thought about her husband as she fought the cold sea. Nick, did you die because you drowned? The Navy had never told her.

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale

Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? by Eleanor Updale Trade Paperback: 233 pages Publisher: Scholastic First Released: 2003

Source: Bought from Half.com

Back Cover Blurb:
London, 1875. When a petty thief falls through a glass roof while fleeing from the police, it should have been the death of him. Instead, it marks the beginning of a whole new life. The thief is sewn back together by a brilliant young surgeon, and before long he's become the chief exhibit at medical gatherings across the city. It's at one of these learned discussions that he first hears about an amazing addition to the London streets--the sewer system--and an idea begins to form.

The sewers are the perfect escape route for a series of daring robberies, and the thief is the only one with the ingenuity to pull them off. He takes on two identities--the wealthy, sophisticated gentleman Montmorency and his filthy, corrupt servant, Scarper. But Montmorency must constantly be on guard. His whole life is built on lies, and the slightest mistake could betray him...

Review:
This novel is a middle-grade historical adventure that will probably appeal to boys (and girls). Details of the time period are skillfully woven into the story, and the problems Montmorency faced came from the problems of the period.

The pacing was very good. The characters were interesting and had depth. I felt Montmorency changed realistically. He's not a very nice person at first but, by the end of the story, he gains a conscience and a goal beyond indulging his desire for wealth.

There was no romance (so no sex or kissing), and I don't recall any cussing. Overall, I'd recommend this as "a good, clean fun" novel.

Excerpt: Chapter One
The pain woke him again. Not the constant throb that was so familiar he could hardly remember being without it. This was one of those sharp stabs from the wound along his thigh. Doctor Farcett had dug deep to get through to the shattered bone, and the layers of catgut stitching pulled as the torn flesh struggled to realign itself inside. After so many interventions by the keen young medic, Montmorency should have been prepared for the agony, but each time the aftereffects seemed worse, and the limited pain relief (alcohol and the occasional treat of an experimental gas) less effective.

The candle on the central table had burned almost to nothing: It must be nearly morning, but there was no sign of light through the bars high up in the wall. Montmorency knew there was no point in calling for the night guard. Marston, silent, still, and unsmiling, saw his duties in the prison hospital as strictly limited to preventing escapes. Never mind the fact that Montmorency couldn't even turn over in bed, let alone run away. He'd have to wait in the dark for the arrival of Nurse Darnley, a brusque but well-meaning woman who believed that bad people could be made good and that providing a sip of water to a sick criminal might help that process.

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce Hardback: 396 pages Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books First Released: 2008 Author Website

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Blurb:
The gold thread shimmers in the fading light . . .

It promises Charlotte Miller a way out of debt, a chance to save her family's beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, livelihood for her townsfolk, security against her sinuous and grasping uncle. It might even promise what she didn't know she needed: lasting hope and true love.

But at what cost?

To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past -- secrets and bonds ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte's mill, her family, her friends, her love . . . What do those matter to a powerful stranger who can spin straw into gold?

In her brilliant debut, Elizabeth Bunce weaves spellbinding fairy tale, spun with mystery and shot through with romance

Review:
This book is a re-telling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, though many of the details are different from the tale I read as a child. The story is set in a country on the verge of an industrial revolution, and the vivid details of the working of the mill bring the story alive. The other world-building details and the pacing are also excellent.

The characters are varied, interesting, and engaging. I found myself really caring about the characters, which was emotionally difficult since there was also a pervading feeling of pain, darkness, and hopelessness in the story. I kept feeling like the heroine couldn't possibly win out even though I knew she had to. The story did have a satisfying ending.

There was no explicit sex, though the heroine obviously has some because she has two children after she's married. There are ghosts in the story. The magic involved is folk superstitions--curses, hex symbols, corn dollies, and the like--but treated as if they were real. Overall, I'd rate this book "good, clean reading."

Excerpt: Chapter One
When my father died, I thought the world would come to an end. Standing in the churchyard in my borrowed mourning black, I was dimly aware of my sister Rosie beside me, the other mourners huddled round the grave. Great dark clouds gathered over the river, and I knew them for what they were: The End, poised to unleash some terrible wrath and sweep us all right out of the Valley. I let go my hold on Rosie's arm, for I was ready to be swept away.

Yet, somehow, I found myself still standing at the end of the service. I stooped and cast a handful of earth atop the casket, accepted a lily from the vicar, and joined the train of black-clad figures trailing back to the Millhouse--all the while wondering what had gone wrong. Surely at least the mill would mourn his passing, and I would find the old wheel splintered and cracked, riven from its axle, ground to a standstill in the wheelpit.

In the millyard, the old building stood as ever, casting its vast shadow over the house and grounds. Far above where the stones met the roofline, an old sign, so faded and weather-eaten as to be near illegible, spelled out STIRWATERS WOOLLEN MILL: MILLER & SONS, SHEARING. There was no Miller now, and there had never been any sons--just two half-grown orphan daughters, a crumbling ruin of a water-mill, and the mountain of debt it was built upon.

"Charlotte." The voice at my shoulder was gentle but insistent, and I turned to see Abby Weaver, big with child, standing beside me. The black gown I wore, twenty years out of fashion and so tight I could scarcely breathe in it, had been her mother's. Abby squeezed my arm and steered me into the Millhouse.

Over the Sea by Sherwood Smith

Over the Sea: CJ's First Notebook by Sherwood Smith Trade Paperback: 257 pages Publisher: YA Angst First Released: 2007 Author Website

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Blurb:
Clair traveled about looking for girls who needed a home. She even came to Earth, where she found CJ, who did not fit. CJ found herself not only taken to another world to live, but she became the princess—Clair's "left hand splat." One of her jobs as princess was to write down their records. Another was to serve as leader for the girls when Clair was busy learning to become queen.

The girls had jobs too, as they discovered villains who thought it their business to take a kingdom away from a mere girl. From the shadowy Kwenz, a powerful mage with a very wicked past, to the usurper Glotulae and her son Prince Jonnicake, who in their ridiculous way were just as determined to boot Clair out, there were plenty of chances for adventure. And mystery, like why did kids from other times and worlds show up every now and then?

These are the early stories—how Clair found her gang of girls, and how "the M girls" developed the fine art of the Duel to the Pie.

Review:
Like Senrid, I think this story will appeal more to tweens and teens than adults. The kid heroes deal with their problems in very kid ways. The characters found clever ways to beat back the bad guys without using deadly force, which was fun.

Incidentally, we learn in this book how to pronounce many of the unpronounceable names also used in Senrid, but I wouldn't say reading Over the Sea otherwise made understanding Senrid easier.

This book is less polished than Crown Duel, but the writing is good and the story is much easier to follow than in Senrid. The pacing was good, the world building was very good, and the characters were very fun and interesting.

Incidentally, this book is really a series of sequential short stories about the adventures of the same characters (like a TV series) rather than a traditional novel. It's not problem, just an observation.

Overall, I'd rate this book as "good, clean fun."

Excerpt: Chapter One
In the beginning I lived on Earth.

Now, Earth is a big world, full of people, many of whom are happy and content and would never spend one moment thinking about other worlds, much less wanting to go to one.

Well, I wasn't one of those people.

I was eight years old, and I did not fit.

There was nothing dramatically wrong. Nothing what they called criminal in those days. Since that time I've met people--from several worlds--who were born into what anyone anywhere would call Evil and Doomed. Me, the first biggest problem was that I never really felt safe at home but everywhere else I went I felt like an outsider. Second, I did not like the things that everyone else seemed to like, or value what others valued. And what I liked and valued either got me laughed at, or punished.

So--third--I read a lot in order to find places in the imagination that weren't like where I lived, since I couldn't get free any other way. But almost every book I read, every adult I listened to--well, even kids--worked hard to convince me that "belonging" was my duty, and I ought to work hard to fit myself into the world I'd been born.

The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith

The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith Trade Paperback: 325 pages Publisher: Samhain Publishing First Released: 2008 Author Website

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Blurb:
Princess Flian finds herself the unwilling object of desire of three royals. Is the one she wants a villain—or a hero?

Waking up in a strange place, Flian Elandersi at first doesn’t know who she is. One wicked prince tells her she is secretly engaged to an even more wicked king who wants to marry her right away. But before that happens, yet another wicked prince crashes through a window on horseback to sweep her off her feet.

Memory returns, and Flian realizes that all any of them seem to want is her considerable wealth, not her pleasant-but-ordinary self. She longs to escape the barracks-like, military atmosphere and return to civilization and her musical studies.

Flian endures another abduction, this time in the middle of a poetry reading. Who is the villain? Prince Garian Herlester—languid, elegant, sarcastic? Prince Jaim—he of the dashing horsemanship? Or King Jason Szinzar, whose ambiguous warning might be a threat?

Flian decides it’s time to throw off civilization and take action. The problem with action is that duels of wit turn into duels of steel—and love can’t be grabbed and galloped away.

Review:
In many ways, this book seemed like a trial run for Crown Duel. There were many similarities, yet this book just didn't measure up in comparison. Even taken on it's own, it had a major flaw.

I did like many of the characters and the pacing was good. The world-building was pretty good, but I sometimes felt like the author assumed I understood things that this story didn't fully explain. She also occasionally and randomly threw in archaic words or phrasings that weren't needed. Despite this, I probably would have given the book five stars.

However, the main character, Flian, is very passive. The flaw in the story is that she never stops being passive or really acts on what she's learned to make a noticeable difference in her future. For example, she's kidnapped repeatedly, yet never sees a kidnapping coming even though the clues are all there.

Yes, she's nice and she's brave when it comes to her friends, but even she realizes she's always reacting to what other people do to her rather than acting to change things for herself. Even the few actions she takes are more of a reaction to other people's actions than a real effort to take control of her own future. She seems content to allow others to take action on her behalf, too, even in the case of winning the man she loves. (She intended to spend the rest of her life moping and feeling sorry for herself in that regard until others make an effort to fix the relationship for her.)

So, despite some wonderful elements, the book left me feeling a little depressed because of Flian's helpless view of the world.

There are some small uses of standard fantasy magic, but no sex or cussing. Something that might be a concern for some readers is that two couples (all minor characters) are homosexual, and these couplings are treated as acceptable and normal.

Overall, I'd rate this book "mostly good, clean fun."

Excerpt: Chapter One
I woke up.

By the time I'd drawn one breath I realized that if I'd had anything else to do, I ought to have done it. My head ached before I even tried moving it. I decided not to try. Some experiments just aren't worth the effort.

So I closed my eyes and drifted, hoping for a dream to slip into. Then the squeak of a door and footsteps banished the possibility of sleep.

I turned my head--yes, it did hurt worse to move--and almost panicked at the fact that I couldn't see anything until I remembered that my eyes were still closed.

Oh.

That's how bad the headache was.

Eyelids up, then. An old woman looked down at me, her hair hidden under a kerchief, her countenance anxious. When our eyes met, relief eased her brow.

"Ah. So glad you have rejoined the living, child. Don't worry none. My husband's gone straight to them't should know, and you'll be taken care of proper."

I tried to talk, but it came out a groan. So I tried again, making an effort not to move my head.

"Thank you..." Ho! It worked! Though only at a whisper. I added, "Don't know who 'them' is...but if you think 'they' should know...I won't argue." It took some time to get that out, and though I was trying to be reasonable, the poor woman was looking more anxious by the moment. "Uh, what happened?" I finished.

"You do not remember?"

"No." Could be this headache... Where am I? I thought--or tried to think--but the process was like trying to chase fireflies in fog, only it hurt. "Uh." I made another discovery. "I know it's going to sound somewhat scattered, but I can't seem to place who I am, either."

"Those knots on your head would account for it," she said in a soft, soothing voice. "I've heard o' that. Don't worry none. Your memory will return."

Dead Water by Ngaio March

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Dead Water by Ngaio March Mass Market Paperback: 220 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks First Released: 1963

Source: Bought from library sale

Back Cover Blurb:
Faith healing can be fatal.

When intrepid octogenarian Emily Pride inherits an island, and the miraculous properties of its "Pixie Falls" healing spring, she is shocked by all the vulgarity. The admission fee, the Gifte Shoppe, the folksy Festival, the neon sign on the pub, all must go! But local opposition runs high, death threats pile up, and Miss Emily's old friend Superintendent Roderick Alleyn arrives just in time to discover a drowned body and a set of murder motives that seem to spring eternal.

Review:
This author's style is compared to Agatha Christie's. In my opinion, they are very similar in how the mystery is shaped and the clues hidden. If you haven't read a lot of Christie's novels, the solution to this mystery might even surprise you.

Luckily, the characters were enjoyable so I enjoyed reading the book even though I had the murderer correctly chosen within pages of the body showing up. And, of course, it's always fun to figure out the why's and see that you're correct.

I read this book with two other people. Neither of them identified the murderer until near the end of the book, though one correctly guessed who was the Green Lady before the end of the prelude. As in, the answer to the mystery puzzle is easier than some books but not necessarily completely obvious.

The pacing was good, though there were enough misspellings-to-imitate-dialect to make reading slower and difficult in spots. There is little cussing and no explicit sex. For those who don't like paranormal, let me assure you that the "Pixie Falls" don't actually have a pixie living near them.

Overall, I'd rate this book as "good, clean fun."

Excerpt: Chapter One
A boy stumbled up the hillside, half-blinded by tears. He fell and, for a time, chocked and sobbed as he lay in the sun but presently blundered on. A lark sang overhead. Farther up the hill he could hear the multiple chatter of running water. The children down by the jetty still chanted after him:

Warty-hog, warty-hog
Put your puddies in the bog
Warty Walter, Warty Walter
Wash your warties in the water.

The spring was near the top. It began as a bubbling pool, cascaded into a miniature waterfall, dived under pebbles, earth and bracken and at last, loquacious and preoccupied, swirled mysteriously underground and was lost. Above the pool stood a boulder, flanked by briars and fern, and above that the brow of the hill and the sun in a clear sky.

He squatted near the waterfall. His legs ached and a spasm jolted his chest. He gasped for breath, beat his hands on the ground and looked at them. Warty-hog. Warts clustered all over his fingers like those black things that covered the legs of the jetty. Two of them bled where he'd cut them. The other kids were told not to touch him.

He thrust his hands under the cold pressure of the cascade. It beat and stung and numbed them, but he screwed up his blubbered eyes and forced them to stay there. Water spurted icily up his arms and into his face.

"Don't cry."

He opened his eyes directly into the sun or would have done so if she hadn't stood between: tall and greenish, above the big stone and rimmed about with light like something on the telly so that he couldn't see her properly.

Eliza's Daughter by Joan Aiken

Eliza's Daughter by Joan Aiken Trade Paperback: 343 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark First Released: 1984

Source: Netgalley, review copy from publisher

Back Cover Blurb:
A Young Woman Longing for Adventure and an Artistic life...

Because she's an illegitimate child, Eliza is raised in the rural backwater with very little supervision. An intelligent, creative, and free-spirited heroine, unfettered by the strictures of her time, she makes friends with poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, finds her way to London, and eventually travels the world, all the while seeking to solve the mystery of her parentage. With fierce determination and irrepressible spirits, Eliza carves out a life full of adventure and artistic endeavor.

Review:
This book was not at all what I expected. First, the events in this book occur after the end of Sense and Sensibility. The Eliza of this book is the daughter of Little Eliza and Willoughby. The future painted in this book for the Sense and Sensibility heroines is possible, but I really didn't feel it was probable considering how S&S left the characters.

The author gives the heroes and heroines of S&S rather dismal futures and makes them into petty, weak, spiteful, jealous people. Not to mention that several of these characters where given physical characteristics (like a deformity) not mentioned in S&S.

So I ignored that this book was supposed to be a sequel to S&S. In that case, the writing is good, though the pacing was slow for the first 30 pages. The author obviously thoroughly researched the time period, and the vivid details immersed me into the characters' world.

The characters were all interesting and varied. Eliza, our heroine, seemed determined to rush head-long into ruin by continually making poor decisions. Though she makes a show of staying respectable, she seems to feel like she's fated to end up like her mother (pregnant, unmarried, and abandoned). This really isn't a romance book.

There are no explicit sex scenes, but some readers might not be interested in reading this book because Eliza does end up pregnant, unwed, unattached, and satisfied with that state of things. Overall, I'd rate this as a good book.

Excerpt: Chapter One
I have a fancy to take pen in hand and tell my story, for now that I am arrived, so to speak, at a favourable hilltop, a safe situation above water level, I may look back on such mires, floods, tempests and raging tides as I have encountered with a tolerably tranquil eye; besides, my history should serve as a guide (or at least afford some diversion) to those who may be at present less favourably placed.

While, as to the dark that lies ahead, who can chart it?

In short–and without further preamble–I’ll begin.

I have no information as to the circumstances of my birth, or even in what county that event took place; indeed I doubt if there is any record of it.

My first memories are of the year 1797, when I must have been, I believe, about three or four years of age, and, from the circumstances of my life, already a shrewd and noticing child. As an infant I had been, I heard, somewhat frail and puny, and with the unlucky blemish that caused me to be scorned by some and feared by others. My foster-mother, Hannah Wellcome, having at that period several boys in her care greater in size than myself, and fearful that, among them, I might receive some fatal injury (thus depriving her of my foster-fee) daily dispatched me with a halfpenny, from the time that I could walk, to the vicarage and the decidedly questionable custody of the parson, Dr Moultrie. With the halfpenny I bought three cakes at the village baker’s for my dinner; and Dr Moultrie, to keep me from plaguing him with questions, for he was a slothful old party given to drowsing away many of the daylight hours in his chair, lost no time in teaching me to read, and turning me loose in his library. There, having run through such tales of Tom Hickathrift, Jack the Giant-Killer and Gold-Locks as remained from the days of his own children (long since grown and gone), I was obliged to munch on more solid fare, Goldsmith’s History of England, volumes of the Spectator, the plays of Shakespeare, and much poetry and theology, besides Berquin’s Ami des Enfants and some simple Italian tales (in consequence of which I acquired a readiness and taste for learning foreign tongues that has later stood me in good stead).

There was one volume that I read over and over, The Death of Arthur it was called, and I found the tales in it of knights and battles, Sir Beaumain, Sir Persaint, Merlin the enchanter and King Arthur himself, most haunting; they held sway over my mind for weeks together. But alas! one day, absorbed in the tale of the death of King Hermance, I dropped a great blob of jam from the tart I was eating on to the page of the book. When Dr Moultrie discovered this, he gave me a terrible beating, after which I could hardly crawl home, and he locked the book away; I never laid eyes on it again.

However, to his credit, it must be said that finding me an eager pupil Dr Moultrie was prepared to emerge from his torpor for an hour or two each day to instil in me the rudiments of Greek, Latin and Euclid, besides a thirst for wider knowledge.

But I run ahead of my tale.