52. The Courage to Dream (Margaret Daley, Love Inspired)

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 252
Cutesy, better than some, but a bit unrealistic. Rachel Peters' flighty parents have left her younger sister and brother to be raised by an aunt. The aunt dies, and Rachel comes home to get to know her siblings and bring them back to New York with her. Rachel is a chef with dreams of starting her own business. She reconnects with Michael, her old love, since he is still in their hometown and his son and her brother are best friends. Of course, he is a practically perfect single father, and she is totally clueless. Of course they work out their differences, and she stays to run the restauraunt on the boat he is restoring.
12/31/04

Rating: * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 495
Why do I always do this? I get in the mood for fantasy short stories, but I am invariably disappointed. I don't "get" so many of them. And even if I "get" them, I usually don't enjoy them. If you consider yourself a literary snob, go for it. Otherwise, give this book a pass. Not one story worth commenting on.
12/29/04

Rating: * * * * * Read it!!! Alert for fantasy lovers.
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 487
This is without question the best book I have read this year. In the land of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, there is a magic called "The Tradition" that tries to force people to follow a certain "fairy tale" path. The problem is, not all fairy tales end happily ever after. It is the job of the Fairy Godmother to push "The Tradition" and keep this from happening. Elena is a failed Cinderella (the only available Prince is just a child!) who is offered a job as her Fairy Godmother's Apprentice. Then she meets a particularly hopeless Prince who needs to be taught a lesson... "You are as ill-mannered, as stubborn, and as stupid as an ass... So BE one!" Maybe I'm prejudiced, because I grew up loving fairy tales (my introduction to fantasy), and it's full of references to the stories I grew up with, but even if you had never heard or read a single fairy tale, the book would still be a great read. I mean, we are talking about Mercedes Lackey!
12/15/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 348
These are interwoven novellas of four siblings who were separated as small children as they are trying to find each other.
Heart Full of Love (Colleen Coble) * * * - Eden has spent her adult life as a foster mother. She has recently adopted two-year-old Katie. Now Josh, Katie's uncle, appears on the scene and wants his daughter's child, since she is his only relative. He hopes that if he helps Eden find her family, she will be more willing to give up Katie.
Ride the Clouds (Carol Cox) * * * - Crista has been bounced from foster home to foster home, and refuses to trust anybody. She has made a career as an efficiency expert. Brad has inherited a business he has no knack for, and desperately needs her help. He decides to help her find her family to try to help her find out why she was abandoned.
Don't Look Back (Terry Fowler) * * * - Angelina is a single mother and owns a pharmacy. She has finally found the perfect nanny in college student Melody. Then Melody's father Will moves to town, and feels she is overworking the girl. He opens a stained glass shop next door to the pharmacy. One day he has a customer named Crista who looks just like Angelina, even though neither woman can see the resemblance. When Crista calls in an order, he decides to do some research.
To Keep Me Warm (Gayle Gaymer Martin) * * * - Tim is a raising a handicapped son on a factory worker's pay. He falls in love with Julie, a nurse at the clinic where he takes his son, but feels she is too good for him because she has a career and doesn't "need" him. Eden tracks them all down, and the book ends with a touching sibling reunion right before Christmas--where the fascination they all have with balloons is explained by one last shared memory of their mother.
I like inspirational romance, but most end up disappointing me. I bought this book a couple years ago because it looked good, and I've been saving it ever since. It was worth the wait.
12/12/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 394
Twilla, a healer's apprentice, is ordered to join a bunch of young women who are being sent to a different land to marry the settlers. It seems only married men can survive the perils of the forest. Twilla and the leader's blind son Ylon escape to the forest where they are befriended by the forest dwellers. They become embroiled in an internal war, then join forces to keep the landsmen from cutting down the forest and strip mining the land. Tree hugger propaganda, but still a very good book.
12/8/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Pages: 341
The second book keeps up the momentum of the first. Fast, entertaining read.

Rating: * * *
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Pages: 309
A fun book, a fast read, and I can see why kids love it. The characterization is wonderful.
11/23/04

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 461
A book of short stories, either awesome or way beyond my non-literary comprehension. Except for the few mentioned below, assume my reaction was, "Huh?" and head scratching.
"Even the Queen" * * * *
Feminism has gone too far...or has it? A story about things that will never change.
"Ado" * *
Censorship gone too far. Cute.
"Spice Pogrom" * * * * *
A hysterically funny romp through language barriers. Every character gets exactly what he or she deserves.
"Winter's Tale" * * * *
A touching alternative history about Shakespeare's wife.
"Jack" * * * 
An intriguing look at London during the Blitz.
11/22/04

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 302
Worth reading only because it's a fast read and won't waste too much of your time and it's mildly interesting. Juliana is looking for a house to buy and when she is looking at a potential home, she finds a box of memorabilia. Friends of the owner meet and go through the box and reminisce. The story is about how this "ordinary" woman  had such an impact on so many lives throughout her lifetime. Very preachy.
11/13/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Mystery
Pages: 501
A well-known preacher hires Teri to find out what happened to his wife when she vanished five years ago. When she begins to search, she hears numerous stories, each one more wild than the last. But what really happened is even more surprising. A fun read.
11/11/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Mainstream/Romance
Pages: 521
Eve Benedict, famous movie star, hires Julia Summers, writer of celebrity bios, to write her authorized biography.  Only she knows too much and many people don't want it to be written. There is a romance between Julia and Eve's stepson Paul Winthrop, but it's almost incidental to the plot. It's Eve's story and the relationship between Eve and Julia and which of Eve's many enemies is threatening them that keeps you turning the pages. Worth reading.
11/9/04

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 645
It finishes the series with "The End," and it is unquestionably the end. That's a bonus in itself. I hate thinking I've read an entire series only to find out there is  yet another book coming out. Jack the baker's boy, Tawl the disillusioned knight, Melliandra of the destiny so strong it drags others into it, all follow through to their destiny. I'll admit, the origin of the prophecy was a little disappointing to me, but that isn't much. It's a simple and straightforward plot, and it works. I'll admit, I had hoped for quite the magic duel between Jack, Kylock, and Baralis, but the way the author handled it was more appropriate to the stories. Definitely a series worth reading!
10/25/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 598
This is not a first novel. You can tell. Jones does an excellent job of building on what she started. Jack the baker's boy, Melliandra the runaway lord's daughter, Tawl the disillusioned knight, even Nabber the thief-turned-Tawl's-second have fates entertwining. The vicious King Kylock is conquering his neighbors while Lord Maybor and Lord Baralis are negotiating his wedding to the equally-evil Catherine of Bren. Meanwhile, Melli is captured and sold as a slave...to none other than the Duke of Bren. Mayhem, murder, and a hint of romance. The very notion of laying out a plot this complex gives me a headache, but it makes for good reading!
10/14/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 552
This is a first novel. You can kind of tell, yet in other ways you can't. I haven't read the second book yet, so I'm still unsure how much is her style and how much is inexperience. It is ambitious, that's for certain. You have intertwining stories of Jack, a baker's boy, and Melliandra, daughter of the richest, most influential lord in the country who is to be betrothed to the heir to the throne with a feud between High Chancellor Lord Baralis and Melliandra's father,Lord Maybor, the adventuring of the knight Tawl and the pickpocket Nabber, and the scheming of Archbishop Tavalisk. And that's just the beginning. After the first few chapters, I managed to sort out who was who and became engrossed in the story. It's obvious who Jack really is and what part he plays, at least to a certain extent, but the scheming keeps a person turning pages and the characters are very well--sometimes almost too-well--drawn.
9/22/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 245
Not as good as the others, because the main character is Skeeve's bodyguard Guido. The queen plans an invasion. The army is very popular because every time she expands she lowers taxes. Guido and his cousin Nunzio are assigned to join the army and try to make them less popular with the civilians and thereby prevent a war. The problem is, no matter what they try, it turns out to be a good thing instead of disrupting things!
9/8/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 172
Some small-time swindlers use Skeeve's back door to escape the Bazaar. The management at the Bazaar says that Skeeve and Aahz have to either produce the swindlers or pay the fine. Aahz heads off into this Limbo of vampires and ends up getting framed for murder. Skeeve and friends come to his rescue.
9/2/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 170
Aahz is spirited away by his family. Massha wants to sign on as Skeeve's apprentice. King Roderick vanishes, and Skeeve has to take his place. Klah is threatened by the Mob and its Fairy Godfather. Skeeve fast talks them into relocating to the Bazaar. The Bazaar merchants hire Skeeve to protect them from the Mob. The Mob hires Skeeve to help them turn a profit. The Bazaar merchant puts him on retainer to make sure the Mob stays away. If this makes sense, stay far, far away from these books, because you're too close to the edge already!
9/2/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 202
Skeeve and Tanda go world-hopping in search of the perfect birthday gift for Aahz. The result? The strangest three-way game you've ever heard of, with the ugliest Trophy ever as the prize.
9/2/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 200
When I read this series the first time, I thought it was hysterical. I still think it's pretty good, although my taste in humor has become slightly more sophisticated over the years. When Skeeve's master is killed after playing a prank and removing the powers from a magician he summoned from a different dimension, Aahz, the other magician, takes on Skeeve as an apprentice, and together they go after the assassin. Along the way, they pick up an odd assortment of companions, including a baby dragon named Gleep who imprints on Skeeve. Warning: Puns abound!
9/2/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 247
The author is a personal friend, and I've watched her writing improve over her numerous books. I would have liked this one even if I didn't have a connection with the author. Kara is a too-serious psychologist who gave up her dream of being a musician because of family pressure to do the "right" thing and be a responsible oldest child. She meets Marcus, a R & B singer who appears to be a stereotypical "star," which she despises. (In reality, Marcus uses the benefits of his stardom to quietly support a philanthropic foundation he started and he surrounds himself with people to create the "family" he never had growing up an orphan.) Sparks fly, and it doesn't help matters any that Kara's younger sister Patrice is a major fan of his, and is everything Kara wanted to be and couldn't. Of course it all gets resolved in the end, and they all live happily ever after, but it left me with an unsettled feeling. I guess I took the story too personally and had trouble believing that Kara really was happy with her life and content to stay in the background and write songs and let her sister be the one to go on to be the star.
8/26/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 333
Luke Falcon is an FBI agent. Caroline Lane is a fifth grade teacher. They meet when Luke's cousin Mark marries Caroline's sister Sharon. They have been dating for a year when Mark, Sharon, and Sharon's son Benjamin all vanish enroute to a vacation cabin. Luke and Caroline work to find them, and then just when they think they have it all wrapped up, Caroline ends up trading places with Sharon as hostage, and there is a new search underway to find Caroline. Well-developed characters and interesting reading, though not quite on a par with the SEAL books.
8/23/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 350
This is a four-novella omnibus, based on a Gutenberg Bible.
Right from the Start (Cathy Marie Hake) * * * - Germany, 1715. Lorice's father has died and she discovers she has been betrothed from infancy to the son of their family's enemy, Gareth. She travels with her entourage and a neighbor to her fiance's to see if there is a severance document. There is not, and they marry and fall in love. The problem is, somebody is trying to kill or at least scare one of them. While I am against arranged bethrothals and subservient wives, Lorice is full of spunk and the story is hysterical.
A Treasure Worth Keeping (Kelly Eileen Hake) * * * - Regency England, 1832. Paige Turner (seriously!) and her father go about restoring libraries. They arrive at Stephen's home just as his mother is throwing a huge surprise bash to try yet again to get him engaged to one of the eligible ladies. Amid the festivities--where Paige is very much a misfit--Paige and her father and Stephen work in his library. Paige discovers a hidden room with the treasure of the Gutenberg Bible. Of course Paige and Stephen fall in love despite his mother's matchmaking attempts to hook him up with someone of his station. The author's bio says she recently graduated high school. I might as well put down my pen already!
Of Immeasurable Worth (Joan Croston) * * 1/2 - London, 1940. Ann helps her grandfather run an antique bookstore and restoration business in London. Peter is a frequent visitor, a college professor doing research, actually a cover for being part of a ring sneaking valuable books out of London before Hitler can get them. Ann's grandfather fears for both Ann and the family treasure, the Gutenberg Bible, so he works with Peter to get her and the book on the same ship he is sailing on. As the war approaches London, Ann and Peter are falling in love. Pre- and early-war torn London is fascinating, but once they get on the ship the story falls flat. A mysterious man tries to steal the disguised volume, Peter rescues it, and they apparently live happily ever after.
The Long Road Home (Joyce Livingston) * * - Present-day USA. Nick, a former troublemaker led to Christ by his parole officer Jacob and now a college senior falls in love with Angela, a hardened waitress. He is called to Ecuador, she can't understand and breaks it off, and they get back together. Jacob dies and leaves everything to Nick, including the Gutenberg Bible, which he is supposed to sell to make things right with a little church he trashed as a teenager. Angela is so moved she repents on the spot and they move to Ecuador and live happily ever after. Lame. Too bad it couldn't carry out the promise of the first two stories!
8/17/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
Another Laurel Glen book, fresh out this month. Not as good as the others--maybe they're growing old? Meg Taggart lost her one and only love in a war, leaving her pregnant. Evan Alton adopted him, then went back on all the promises he made about telling him about her and letting him find her. Now he is back in the picture. They have mutual twin grandchildren, and Jack's wife Beth lands in the hospital soon after the birth with a severe infection. Meg joins Evan at his ranch to help care for the babies. They fall in love but Meg thinks Evan loves the ranch more than her because he refuses to leave it and Evan thinks Meg doesn't want to be tied down because she loves to travel. Of course they reach a compromise and live happily ever after. It should be rated 2 1/2, but the third star is just because I've always liked Meg.
8/12/04

Rating: * * * 1/2
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 250
A new Laurel Glen book! I think I missed the one before it, but it didn't harm the story. Alexandra Leighton is fleeing an abusive marriage. Adam Boyer has retired from the SEALs to raise his teenage son Mark after his ex-wife and her husband are killed in an accident. They become acquainted when Xandra begins working with his troubled son. Despite the bad blood between the Leightons and the Boyers and assorted complications including the interference of Mark (who thinks his dad should marry his Aunt Skyler--Xandra is his friend) the return of Xandra's abusive ex-husband, they fall in love. Not as humorous as the other Laurel Glen books, but very much worth reading.
8/11/04

Rating: * * 
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
I bought this book back in January, and I'm not sure why. I guess I was in a reading mood and I like to read about tough women trying to make a go of ranching on their own. This book does have that. Dani has been betrayed by a man she thought she loved who just used her and stole her writing. Then her father dies and leaves her the ranch and a mountain of debt, which she is determined to clear. Lucas is a new doctor, filling in, and not sure he wants to settle down. They meet at tryouts for a play Dani  has written and is producing for a fundraiser for the church. There is the quaint matchmaker town matriarch Miss Blessing, with her almost psychic (God-given) ability to know what to do. While they are falling in love, Lucas is trying to decide if he can commit to the town, and Dani is trying desperately to hang onto the farm. There is a slight mystery over some of the debt that is never satisfactorily resolved--just a red herring--that could have saved the book if it had been worked with. It was mildly cute, not a major waste of time.
8/9/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 350
Awesome book! Darcy is a former CIA agent, retired to a farm in North Dakota. She comes back to duty as a favor to a friend (and to her partner), and ends up victim of an assassination attempt at the same time other agents are killed two days before the September 11th attack occurs. She is reactivated to go after a man who knew 9/11 would happen, and who was profiting by terrorist attacks around the globe. Sam is a SEAL. They meet by accident at his best friend's wedding where Darcy is undercover and the assassination attempt occurs. Sam is first drawn into the fray, then the SEALs are sent to deal with the terrorists the CIA is hunting down. What I like best about Henderson's books is that she allows her female characters to be every bit as smart as the males. Early on in the book, Darcy assures Sam that if she is in disguise, even he would not know her, but he doesn't really believe her. My favorite scene in the story is where she is meeting with her Russian counterpart/friend Sergey, and she ditches the other operatives. Sam totally freaks out when she vanishes, and is still searching after her meeting is done and she is sitting mere feet away from him. Then--in typical male fashion--he gets mad at her for taking off on her own, not understanding that, unlike the SEALs where the team is everything, sometimes a spy has to go it alone. I also liked that, other than telling Sergey it had better be worth the official reprimand she's going to get, she admits she's not used to having somebody worrying about her, but she never apologizes for following her own judgment, and she never suffers any repercussions for it. You know she would do it again without a qualm. And my second favorite part was toward the end of the book where she thinks Sergey has been killed. They find his empty boat, with a note for her in the code they were trying to break--reminding her that he's hard to kill. It was such a good book, I wish I had the next one!
8/4/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 338
This one did what the previous book didn't quite manage. It really got into the work of Navy fighter pilot Grace and pararescue jumper Bruce. They are trying to establish a relationship between the demands of their two careers, and this thread weaves through their adventures. And then Grace is shot down, and Bruce has to rescue her, and she may never fly again... This book is more like what I have come to expect from Henderson.
7/22/04

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 329
This should have been five stars, being a Dee Henderson, but it was missing...something. It was too short for the story it told, too interesting to cram into this few pages. The story itself was very realistic, though, and she has done her homework about the SEALs. Kerry's husband Nick was a SEAL, killed three years ago saving his commander and now Kelly's best friend, Joe. Now Kelly and Joe have started dating, but an interesting new man, Charles, and his charming teenage son, Ryan, have entered the picture. And the man responsible for Nick's death is back, and Kelly is in danger. Henderson treats the story differently than most adventure writers would, but it is very much Henderson!
7/13/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 367
I don't know if this will be the last of the Vorkosigan saga, but, if it is, the ending is a good one. Miles and Ekaterin are just finishing up their honeymoon and in a hurry to get home to the twins they left "cooking" in replicators when Emperor Gregor calls on Lord Auditor Miles to find out why the "quaddies" (genetically engineered humans with their own world) have impounded a Komarran merchant ship--and not just any merchant ship, but one belonging personally to Emperor Gregor's Komarran bride Laisa's family. We have the ongoing tension between the Barrayarans and Komarrans, prejudice between "downsiders" and "quaddies," a lot of bureaucracy, biological weapons, and nobody seems to know why the Cetagandans are all upset at Barrayar and about ready to start a war. Miles discovers that one passenger has captured a Cetagandan Star Creche child-ship bound for one of Cetaganda's outlying planets...and made it look like Barrayar's fault. Miles has to recover from infection by a biological weapon, smooth things over for the Barrayans and the Cetagandans, satisfiy the quaddies' bureaucracy, and get home in time for the birth of his babies.
7/8/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 534
Miles wants Ekaterin, and has a clever plan to woo her. Ekaterin is being badgered by more suitors than she can handle, but she just wants to be not married for awhile. Mark wants whatever Kareen wants. Kareen doesn't know what she wants. And Ivan just wants to get to keep the girl for a change... Only Lady Donna, the lady he has in mind, wants a change of her own--a sex change. And everybody wants Emperor Gregor's wedding to go off without a hitch. Regency romance meets science fiction... Defies description, but it's absolutely hysterical.
7/3/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 366
Back to Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, now an Imperial Auditor. He tags along with Auditor Vorthys to investigate a space accident on Komarr, and, of course, ends up with more than he bargained for. They end up staying at Vorthys' niece's home, because her husband works in the terraforming project that was damaged, and Miles finds himself falling in love with the beautiful Ekaterin as they work to unravel an extremely well thought out plot against Barrayar.
6/24/04

21. The Scarlet Thread (Francine Rivers)

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational 
Pages: 462
The book begins with Sierra Madrid's husband Alex calling her to inform her that he had accepted a job in California and a real estate agent was coming by to look at the house that day. She is stunned. She had no clue he was even thinking of changing jobs. She runs to her mother. Her mother is not at all sympathetic and tells her it's time for her to allow Alex to follow his dreams. And so Sierra and Alex and their kids Carolyn and Clanton  move to California to an apartment that she hates, and Alex loses himself in his work, never coming home. Eventually he decides they need to buy a house, and Sierra's decorating skills aren't good enough, they need to hire a professional decorator. And so he runs roughshod over her wishes once again. She finally makes a few friends at the local country club, and he tells her she has to get a job to pay the bills. Then Sierra learns that her mother has cancer. She tries to call Alex, but he is in a meeting. She asks his secretary to give him a message, which she does, but he never returns her call. When he comes home late that night and demands to know why she's packing, she says, "You'd know if you'd have returned my call." He replies unapologetically, "I figured if it was really important, you'd call back." And so she goes home for a month till her mother dies. Alex comes home for the funeral, but leaves the next day, not at all interested in comforting her. Finally she figures out he is having an affair, and they split up. She tears out of work all upset and almost gets in a wreck but she's stopped for speeding by a Christian policeman who invites her to church. She starts to attend his church, becomes a Christian, and begins to realize it's all her fault. Even when she and Alex begin to work things out again, he never really apologizes, but she feels guilty. When she learns the highly-educated Elizabeth who he had the affair with has a hard background, she even feels guilty for that! If she hadn't been so inconsiderate, Alex would have never had an affair with Elizabeth, and she wouldn't have gotten hurt. At that point, I about threw the book across the room. It's mixed in with the diary of a pioneer, but not enough to really get into that story. In the end, Sierra realizes if things hadn't gone the way they had, she would have never become a Christian, so even the affair was God's Will. Sounds to me more like free will and man's choice, not God's Will! Don't waste your time. I've wasted too much effort in writing about this book already.
6/12/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 462
Miles finds himself stuck on Barrayar after complications from his cryo-revival get him booted out of ImpSec. He loses it all--Admiral Naismith, and, he feels, himself as well. His not-as-stupid-as-he-likes-to-seem cousin Ivan forces him to come back to life. His friend Duv Galeni (Mirror Dance) finally finds a love interest, and loses her--to Emperor Gregor himself, after Miles introduces them. During the chaos of dealing with one love-besotted friend, one love-lost friend, and the planning of a royal betrothal, Simon Illyan, Chief of Imperial Security, collapses when his experimental memory chip crashes. Miles grew up with "Uncle Simon," and is upset that nobody is allowed to see him. He goes over the head of General Haroche, the temporary head of ImpSec, to beg Emperor Gregor for an Imperial Auditor to accompany him to see Illyan. Instead, Gregor appoints Miles as a temporary Imperial Auditor, assigning him to investigate the treatment and investigation of Illyan's situation, making him basically one of the most powerful people on Barrayar. (Yes, he thrives on it!) The first thing Miles does is have the surgeons yank the eidetic memory chip, and part of the story is Illyan having to relearn after 35 years how to remember like a normal person. Miles brings him home with him, and soon learns that Illyan and Ivan's mother Alys Vorpatril have more than just a friendship going on. (Ivan is horrified, of course.) Miles discovers that the chip has been sabotaged, and continues his investigation. He is framed, but quickly cleared. Then Duv Galeni is accused, and acting Chief of ImpSec Haroche offers Miles his heart's desire if he will just close the investigation. He can have Admiral Naismith and the Dendarii Mercenaries back. All he has to do is sacrifice his friend, a minor official in ImpSec, who he knows has to be innocent despite the evidence, and he can have back everything he lost. He chooses to follow the investigation through to the bitter end to clear his friend and discover the real saboteur, but not without some major soul searching. Of course it ends happily ever after. Simon Illyan is well and finally enjoying retirement, and even learns to fish. Gregor and Laisa are officially engaged. Duv Galeni finds a new love. And Miles is rewarded with the perfect position for himself, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, and turns over the Dendarii Mercenaries to Elli Quinn.
6/3/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 560
Miles' clone Mark poses as Miles one more time, in an attempt to free the clones on Jackson's Whole. He almost succeeds, gets himself and "his" people kidnapped, and Miles comes to the rescue. In the ensuing disaster, Miles gets killed (well, more or less) and his cryochamber gets misplaced. Mark goes back to Barrayar, meets his family, and launches a search for Miles. During the process, he finds himself. This is really Mark's story, as he goes from a clone created and raised with only one goal in life, to "become" Lord Miles Vorkosigan, to becoming his own person, with personality and strengths very different from Miles. I didn't like it at first--I wanted to read about Miles!--but it soon grew on me.
5/26/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 338
While visiting Earth to do repairs on his ships, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is kidnapped and replaced by his clone in a complicated plot within a plot within a plot. The clone's complication is that his people did not realize that that Lord Miles Vorkosigan is also Admiral Naismith. Miles' complication is that, technically, according to his forward-thinking Betan side of the family, this clone is legally his brother Lord Mark Pierre Vorkosigan, and his mother would have his hide if anything happened to his brother! Besides, it's been a lonely life for Miles, and he kind of likes the idea of having a brother. Except how can he rescue his brother when he's busy trying to kill him?
5/13/04

Rating * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 311
Some of the best novellas I've ever read, wrapped in a framework. Miles Vorkosigan is flat on his back in the hospital after another bone replacement surgery. Illyan, the head of Imperial Security, takes advantage of his confinement to demand answers to some of his more outrageous expenditures, because his father's enemies are accusing him of misappropriating imperial funds. Each explanation is a novella.
"The Mountains of Mourning"
I read this first in Young Miles. Miles--himself a "mutant"--is sent to investigate the murder of an infant under his father's protection. Miles needs to determine the murderer and make an example of him or her. It has the best ending I have ever read. When Miles finishes his investigation, he stops by the infant's grave before leaving:

Miles had sworn his officer's oath to the Emperor less than two weeks ago, puffed with pride at his achievement. In his secret mind he had imagined himself keeping that oath through blazing battle, enemy torture, what-have-you, even while sharing cynical cracks afterward with Ivan about archaic dress swords and the sort of people who insisted on wearing them.

But in the dark of subtler temptations, those which hurt without heroism for consolation, he forsaw, the Emperor would no longer be the symbol of Barrayar in his heart.

Peace be to you, small lady, he thought to Raina. You've won a twisted poor modern knight, to wear your favor on his sleeve. But it's a twisted poor world we were both born into, that rejects us without mercy and ejects us without consultation. At least I won't just tilt at windmills for you. I'll send in sappers to mine the twirling suckers, and blast them into the sky. ...

He knew who he served now. And why he could not quit. And why he must not fail.

"Labyrinth"
How do you lose half a shipment of very expensive armaments? Miles, as Admiral Naismith with his Dendarii Mercenaries, is sent undercover to rescue a genetics scientist from a corrupt planet where he has been doing genetic mutations on demand. Of course it can't be that simple. They meet a "quaddie," a "natural" mutant (as opposed to genetically modified) and his Captain Bel Thorne falls head-over-heels for this beautiful musician Nicol, and creates an incident when her "employer" threatens to offer a genetic sample of her to his competition. They flee back to the ship, and Nicol escapes and joins them. Then the scientist appears as scheduled, only he informs them he has "misplaced" some very important genetic samples, and he refuses to leave without them. He explains that they are stored in the one remaining "monster" of a failed experiment to create a breed of warriors. He wants Miles to rescue the samples and be merciful and kill the monster. Miles agrees, is captured, and thrown to the "monster," who turns out to be a genetically-modified 16-year-old girl. Of course Miles has to rescue Taura...

"The Borders of Infinity"
Miles infiltrates a POW camp and uses their meal rations to drill them in preparation for rescue. Of course, first he has to get everybody to work together instead of trying to kill each other...
5/6/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 302
More Lieutenant Miles Verkosigan than Admiral Miles Naismith this time, Miles and his less-than-intelligent cousin Ivan Vorpatril have been sent to Barrayar's former enemy Cetaganda on a diplomatic mission to honor the late empress. They are attacked when they go to leave the shuttle, and Miles spends the rest of the visit trying to figure out what's going on. During the attack he ends up with an ancient artifact of Cegatanda which gets him involved in a plot against Cetaganda. Meanwhile, somebody is playing pranks on Ivan and him, pranks that turn into assassination attempts. And all the Barrayaran embassy wants is for Miles to stay out of trouble for a change...
5/5/04

Rating: * * * * *
Genre: SF
Pages: 838
This book doesn't have the depth of the previous omnibus of the first two volumes of the Vorkosigan Saga, but it doesn't need it. It stll rates as a lister because I loved it, even if it doesn't have the universal appeal. Now, this book is what I expected of Bujold. It's funny and "over the top," with a larger than life protagonist, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, handicapped son of Cordelia Naismith and Lord Aral Vorkosigan. All Miles wants is to be a good officer and work his way up the ranks and earn his dad's respect. What really happens is he flunks out of officer academy, goes to visit his grandmother on Beta and accidentally starts a mercenary fleet, gets put in the academy as a "punishment" where they discover he has "a little problem with subordination," gets stuck on an Arctic-style outpost where he leads a revolt against a sadistic commander, gets dumped on Imperial Security because no other commander wants him, runs into runaway Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, rescues him from an assassination plot, reacquires the Dendarii mercenary fleet, and thwarts an interstellar invasion. All before he turns 21. Yes, it is a page-turner. All 800+ pages are not action-packed, but action-crammed.
5/2/04

Rating: * * * * * Read it!!! Alert
Genre: SF
Pages: 596
I read one of Bujold's books previously (Ethan of Athos), so I thought I knew what to expect. I expected a hysterically funny, touching, fast-reading adventure, light SF novel. I did not expect a love story. I  thought it was about adventure, and it was, but it was even more about love. Love between Cordelia Naismith, an Expeditionary Force captain from a progressive, modern planet, and Aral Vorkosigan, a warrior lord from a backwards planet recovering from a devastating war, who should have been enemies except for mutual honor from the start. The love of a high-ranking officer for his people. The love of a brain-damaged soldier for the one woman who considers him a hero, and for the beautiful daughter that he has chosen to raise. The love between a disabled war hero and a "serving woman" aka bodyguard who, despite her skill, has never been allowed to be a solder because of her gender. The love between an old, retired, ultra-conservative soldier and his progressive-minded son. The love between said soldier and his even more-progressive daughter-in-law. The love of a mother for her unborn child, and her determination to allow him to survive at any cost. And, lastly, the reluctant love of an old man for the handicapped grandson he swore to disown if his son allowed him to be born. And, yes, there is indeed plenty of adventure and laugh-out-loud parts! And the rest of the series is about the adventures of the disabled Miles Naismith Vorkosigan making his own place on a warrior planet where "imperfect" people are normally disposed of at birth. It can only get better!
4/20/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 308
Margaret inherits the family old beach house in Maine. After their daughter Aislinn died, her husband Robin disappeared, so Margaret comes to the beach house to get her life together. Once there, she becomes wrapped up in the mysterious death of her sister Norma Ann, her strange cousin Donna, and Bradley, the mentally-handicapped boy next door. She makes friends with Roland, a writer who tells the story of the captain's wife the house was built for, and Chris, a cop-turned-P.I. who helps her figure out solve the family mystery and falls in love with her in the process. Margaret has to choose between this new love or rebuilding a life with her husband. The ending is satisfactory, but sad in a way. And you know that it will be, because both men love her, and both men are very likeable.

Rating: * * *
Genre: Mainstream/Romance
Pages: 366
OK, now I see what Nora Roberts is all about. At one point I was so grossed-out over one incident I was about to toss the book, but I continued reading, and two pages later I was laughing hysterically. I'm not sure what genre this is. It's a romance. It's a mystery. It has a touch of horror. Jack Mercy has this humongous ranch in Montana. When he dies, he leaves it equally to his three daughters by three different wives with the stipulation that they live there for one year, or else it all goes to charity. There was no purpose to that. He was just that mean. Willa, the youngest, grew up there only because her mother died before he could throw her away. She loved her father desperately and spent her life trying to please him. That he still left her only a third shows how he didn't regard her with any more interest than her sisters despite it. Lily, the middle daughter, has left an abusive marriage but is being stalked by her ex who won't accept that she is no longer "his." She takes to the farm, looks on it as a haven, and promptly falls in love with Willa's half brother Adam. Tess, the oldest, is a Hollywood screenwriter with no interest in being stuck out in the boonies, but wants the money. Their father has also assigned the "cowboy lawyer" Will and the next-door (well, next ranch over) neighbor Ben to oversee the ranch for the first year. He didn't credit a mere woman, even Willa, with the brains to run the outfit. Plus, he has always been determined to marry Willa to Ben to join their spreads, and is still trying to control her from beyond the grave. Some of the humor comes from Tess's battle to learn ranch life (very much against her will). The rest of the humor comes from Willa and Ben's ongoing love/hate relationship and Tess's attempts to turn Willa into a lady. It's well-written, but I didn't like the horror, and the ending doesn't work for me.

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Science Fiction/Alternate History
Pages: 465
Sheri S. Tepper is not for everybody, although I think The Gate to Women's Country should be required reading. Whether you agree with her views or not, I can guarantee she will make you think. I love her books when I'm in the mood for something "deep." This takes place in America in 2000, sort of an alternate history. The ultra-radical right wing is coming into power, determined to put women back in their "place." They are headed by the Alliance, a political party based on the superiority of men. Women everywhere are being oppressed. Caroline is a semi-retired lawyer, and her daughter asks her to defend a girl who discarded her baby in a dumpster. Babies are discarded every day, but the Alliance has decided to make Lolly Ashaler an example to further their cause. As Caroline begins to prepare her defense, she enlists the help of her five college friends, and the six of them end up searching for what is behind the Alliance. The answer is mind-bending and way out there, but she makes it work, and the ending is the only possible one for the story. 
3/31/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Mystery
Pages: 311
Glynis' friend Kim disappears and she hires Teri to find her. Meanwhile, Glynis is becoming deeply involved in a "Christian" chat room that of course is really a cult. (I'm not giving anything away--it's blatantly obvious from the start.) Negative... The stereotypical 30-something old maid who lives her life entirely online and withdraws from the "real" world. Positive... They got the technology right. The last "evil chat room" book I read was supposedly current, but had an Apple IIe on the cover and the story wasn't much better.
3/20/04

Rating: * * * *
Genre: Inspirational
Pages: 305
It doesn't preach. It trashes the hell-and-damnation way I also was raised. It teaches the difference. It's a mystery, sort of. A gothic, sort of. Mostly it's a family story with lots of misunderstandings and heartaches that need to be healed. Sharon Colbrook is a well-known mystery writer. She inherits a house on the beach in Maine from an eccentric Aunt Katie that only she adored. She inherited jointly with her brother Dean, who has disappeared and not been heard from in 25 years. She and her husband Jeff travel to Maine and get wrapped up in all the mystery. Meanwhile, their daughter Natasha returns from Ireland to recover from a broken heart, and shows up on their doorstep. Her father, Mack, is slowly learning the error of the rigid way he was raised and raised his chidren. Natasha strikes up a close friendship with the delightful Cos, Aunt Katie's boyfriend of her latter years. And then there is Doreen, the skittish maid, and her overprotective brother Russ. Between them all, they piece together a story of horrendous treatment because of religious zealotry and solve an old murder. A lister? I'm not sure. But, oh, so close to being one!!!

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 318
Hope Reardon had one love in her life, Michael Flanagan, but his father was an arsonist, a "barn burner." Michael is accused of setting a fire at her father's, and, even though he was with Hope at the time, even her father prefers to believe his family's reputation over her witness, and they are run out of town. After many years, Hope eventually gives up and marries Ezra Underwood, a young widower, in a loveless match that produces her two-year-old son, Timmy. The story begins seven months after Ezra has been killed in the War of 1812. Hope and Timmy are living with her in-laws and their good-for-nothing son Joel. The Reardon Valley men return from the war, with Michael Flanagan, who was with Ezra when he died and has a package from him with letters to each of them. In Hope's, he apologizes for not treating her right, expresses his gladness that he will soon be with his first wife, Becky, his one true love, and says, "My gift to you is the messenger." Hope and Michael have never stopped loving each other, and plan to find a way to be together, while Joel--who has always coveted anything that belonged to Ezra--schemes to drive Michael out of the valley again and force Hope to marry him. The story is about Michael "proving" himself in the valley and both Hope and Michael learning to forgive their parents. Forgiveness is the theme of the story, but there is such a strong thread of love running through it. Not just romantic love, but love for family and neighbors. I think that's what I enjoyed most about the story.
3/11/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 318
Max Bremmer has returned from his adventuring all shot up after being ambushed, crippled and upset at losing his chance at joining the Lewis and Clark expedition. Belinda Gregg and her parents live away from the settlement, having been chased off from their previous homes by church zealots who accused her mother of being a witch because of her bouts of insanity. They have a gorgeous home beyond what potters could afford because Felicity's father pays Chris handsomely to keep her away from their plantation so nobody will know about her problems, but they live in isolation. Max Bremmer sees Belinda returning home after getting medicine to hopefully help her mother after one of her bouts, and is captivated by her beauty. He tells his father about her, and he knows who they are, and guesses that if she was alone, they need help. Rolf and Max head out to her place, and Rolf prays and helps calm her mother, and the family realizes that the Bremmers have seen them at their worst and are not judging them. Seeking an excuse to visit his "lady of the river" again, Max returns in a few days with more herbs he hopes will help her mother. He invites her to dinner, and her parents practically push her into accepting, which begins their slow joining of the community. Everything is on its way to a happy conclusion when Max's mother learns about Felicity's "madness" and throws a fit over Max marrying her and possibly having "tainted" children. There is upheaval, and misunderstandings, and learning afresh that sometimes one just has to trust God's will. The characters are real, and far from perfect, forever falling and picking themselves back up and learning from their mistakes. That's what sets Ms. Crawford's books apart from much of the other inspirational romance I read.
3/9/04

Rating: * * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 321
Sabina Erhardt has been gambled away by her stepfather--at a huge revival meeting. Her mother tells her to run away rather than marry the brutal gambler who has won her. She befriends the Clay children, Philip, Howie, Delia, and cute/feisty little Sammy, who stow her away in their wagon. When their father, widower Baxter Clay, discovers her, they convince him to let her go West with them to their home in Reardon Valley to help care for them. Of course she falls in love with him and he falls in love with her, but he is determined to marry the classy and educated Amanda to provide a "proper" upbringing for his kids. Amanda wants nothing to do with the farm and betrays Sabina to her would-be husband, Clay buys him off, her mother and (reformed) stepfather track her down, and they all live happily ever after. It's actually a very good book, despite the predictability. I also liked her first trilogy, The Reardon Brothers.
3/4/04

Rating: * *
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 249
Straitlaced and strict Logan Napier is guardian for his 10-year-old twin nieces Brittany and Bethany. He hires free spirited stained glass artist Sandra Bachman to tutor them. She learns the value of being responsible and how she really did owe her dad for paying for the teaching education she never wanted in the first place. He doesn't learn a whole lot from her. The twins decide to play matchmaker. Yep, another adorably-precocious-children-playing-matchmaker story. The Parent Trap was good, but it's been done to death since.

Rating: * * 1/2
Genre: Mainstream
Pages: 465
Back a couple years ago when this book first came out, it was hotly discussed at the book club I occasionally attended. People either loved it or hated it because it was so different from his other books. Grisham is an excellent writer, and this was a page-turner like all of his books. If that's all you're looking for, you won't be disappointed, but don't expect it to be like his other books, because it isn't. The plot in a nutshell: Man vs. the elements and man is losing. Of course man is losing--we're talking about farming! The story is told through the viewpoint of seven-year-old Luke Chandler, as his parents and grandparents, a bunch of Mexicans, and a bunch of hill people race to harvest the cotton crop. Throw in a couple murders for spice, resolved in a manner appropriate for the area, and a minor mystery that's figured out almost as quickly as it's discovered. It's interesting enough--I would have given it a solid three stars except for one major thing. It's told as sort of a "coming of age" story, and the things Luke thought and felt and did would have been much more appropriate for a twelve-year-old than a seven-year-old. I know seven-year-olds, and no seven-year-old would act the way he did! I found that extremely jarring, and it kept pulling me out of the story. I knock off half a star for that alone. He could have made the kid twelve and made no other changes, and it would have worked. The other thing I didn't like was that it was too realistic. A friend of mine likes to say that real life is depressing enough, and she certainly doesn't want to read about it, because she reads to escape reality. While I have never lived on a cotton farm, I grew up on a grain farm, and it's just as bad. Granted, we lived a bit above the "romantic" poverty level of the characters in the story, but the life is the same. If the crops are good, the market is flooded and prices drop. If the crops are lousy, prices are sky high, not that it does the farmer any good. A tornado, a hailstorm, or even rain at the wrong time can wipe out an entire year's labor and income. You borrow money to buy seed, and pray everything comes together so you can pay it back at harvest time. If you're really lucky, you have something over to live on till next spring when you borrow against the next potential crop. I've lived that life. I really didn't need to read about it!
2/18/04

Rating: **
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Pages: 335
Four-novella omnibus.
Tarnished Silver (Lisa Tawn Bergen) * * - Stained glass artist Jemma Stuart comes to small-town Iowa from New York to restore some windows in an old church and falls in love with the pastor. It's actually a decent story, despite being fluff. I thought it was fascinating to get a peek into a fascinating career with which I am totally unfamiliar. The down side... Why, when writers write about small town life, do they have to make it this "idyllic" place to live, with all the stereotypical elements of small town life? The author starts the book by having Jemma notice a sign for a cornhusk craft show, and she thinks now she knows she's in a small town. But this craft show never surfaces in the story--she apparently just mentioned it because, well, Iowa...small town...corn... You know. But my first thought was, "This is taking place in spring! Where are they going to find cornhusks?" So all it did was jar me out of the story and make me wonder if the author really did her homework.
Twice in a Blue Moon (Barbara Jean Hicks) * - Widow Cait Reilly and widower Jack Van Hooten were childhood best friends, but went their separate ways. Both had very happy marriages but lost their spouses. Jack comes home to visit younger sister Bonny who is Cait's current best friend. Cait and Jack meet up and fall in love. Bonny gets jealous, setting the stage for a book with her own story, and despite a few minor mishaps Cait and Jack get married and live happily ever after. Not much of a plot, tries too hard to be funny. (Although I couldn't help laughing once or twice.)
Texas Two-Step (Jane Orcutt) * * * - Molly Fuller comes home to hear her Great-Aunt Electra's will and end her marriage to Clay only to find out her great-aunt has left the house to both her and Clay but if they don't live together there for six months, it is to be razed. Actually, the story is rather sweet, despite the small-town stereotyping.
The Boy Next Door (Suzy Pizzuti) * - Lucy Burns and Trevor Bacon grew up together in a duplex. Trevor returns home and they discover they have always loved each other, but, reather than admit it, they try to match each other up with assorted weird characters. I think it's supposed to be funny, but I was underwhelmed.
2/10/04

Rating: * * * * * Read it!!! Alert for fantasy lovers.
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 531 (I will subtract 200 for my page count, because I started it last year)
Sequel to Shadow Moon and Shadow Dawn. The trilogy is the sequel to the movie Willow, and does not disappoint. This trilogy is definitely on my Best Books List! You need to read all three books. Get to know Thorn Drumheller (aka Willow) and Elora Danan all grown up. The trilogy starts when Elora Danan turns one year old, then fast-forwards and continues on from when she is a spoiled rotten, bratty, 12-year-old, who is, after all, supposed to be the savior of their world! Follow her life as she grows up and becomes un-bratty (with a little help from the faithful Thorn) and becomes an incredible young woman. The ending of the book (and the trilogy) is unexpected and, yet, totally expected. In other words, absolutely perfect. Very satisfying.
2/1/04

Rating: * * * 
Genre: Inspirational Romance 
Pages: 250
One of her better books. Standalone historical romance. Faith is a Shakespearean actor with a traveling troupe. Her daughter has a heart condition and she is told she will not live unless they stop traveling. Faith talks the enigmatic Drake into hiring her as housekeeper at his ranch. Subplot is a cute romance between clueless female bronc buster Gertie and "Doc" Rick, a recovering alcoholic.
1/15/04