The Crumbly Old Castle

Finished July 3

The Crumbly Old Castle by B.E. Baker

This women's fiction novel follows three women as they travel and consider their lives. The women met as children at riding school and horses are still in all their lives. Since they became adults they've taken a vacation together every year, often within the United States, but this year they have a Irish vacation planned. While they all grew up in Florida, only one of them still lives there. Vanessa married Jason, a guy she met when looking for a job when she was in college, got an accounting degree and supported Jason as he agreed to buy his brother out of the construction equipment business they would inherit from their father. When Jason died a few years ago and then Covid hit, she struggled to keep afloat, accepting help from his brother Jeremy who still works for the business. She has three children. 

Samantha married, but didn't have children. She still lives in Florida where she works as a nurse practitioner, trains horses, restores and resells properties with her husband, and is generally happy with her life. 

Natalie lives in Texas with her husband and five children. She is very involved in her children's lives, is highly organized, and works part-time managing social media for several small businesses. So it is a surprise to her when she arrives at the airport to find that she is a day early for her flight. She is embarrassed at this lapse from her usually planning, but decides to return home. She finds her husband in bed with another woman, although her presence wasn't noticed by them, and she leaves immediately. In shock, she stays at a hotel near the airport and goes on a rage-induced clothing shopping spree. 

Samantha's husband makes an unreasonable ultimatum just before she leaves and she finds herself questioning her life as it is. 

For Vanessa, the last few years have been rough, with her husband's unexpected death, keeping the company afloat, and her oldest son's injury derailing his sports goals and sending him to drug abuse. He's been in rehab three times, and she gets a call just as she's leaving that he's been caught again at school. Her husband's brother Jeremy was going to be watching the kids and the business while she's gone, and although she's worried, he assures her that he will deal with her son's drug abuse situation as well. 

Once in Ireland, it doesn't take long before they confess their situations to each other, and determine to make the most of their trip. From visiting historic sites, to engaging in new experiences from hawking to attending hurling games, and of course horseback riding, they find the support they need from each other and from new friends they make along the way. 

When Natalie and Vanessa find even more betrayal in their lives, the consider their futures and what they really want for themselves and their children. 

I really enjoyed the Irish experiences they had, and the friends they made as they travelled. I also found these characters interesting. My only criticism is that they end of the book seemed rushed, with lots of details either skimmed over or not even mentioned. I couldn't help but wonder if the book was originally intended to stop earlier in the story and the author was convinced to take the story forward within this first book in the series. I do plan to read the second book to see what happens next. 

There are hints at future romances for these women, but with their lives undergoing other unexpected disruptions, that's not a priority.

Fates Divided

Finished November 4

Fates Divided by Jules Bernard

This is the first novel in the Halven Rising series. Set partly in our world and partly in a Fae world called Tirnan, this is a novel that brings the worlds together in an interesting way. Elena is enjoying college, studying chemistry, and becoming friends with her roommate Reese. Her mother left shortly after she was born, and her father died in a farm accident, but she is close to her cousin and grandmother. When she turns eighteen, odd things begin to happen. She sees a classroom where one doesn't exist and her senses seem more acute. When a group of tall blondes take her into an academic area she's not seen before and tell her that she is half-Fae (Halven) and needs to help them with a cure to a deadly disease killing Fae, she is overwhelmed. 

Then she meets Derek, a student who was offered a research opportunity to come to this college, who also has some unusual skills. She finds out that he is also Halven, and he's protective of her in terms of the Fae, who only seem to want what they think she can do.

As Elena discovers who her mother is and feels that going to the Fae world will be the only way to accomplish the task she's been given, she finds that the Fae themselves are divided but most of them seem to agree that Halven are inferior and undeserving of life. 

As Elena and Derek collaborate, others work to come between them and gain power for their own purposes. 

This novel is fast-moving with lots of characters and no clarity on who can be trusted. This series progresses in the combined worlds with each book, but each book is also a stand-alone story around a couple. The world-building is detailed enough for the plot without getting caught up in the details. 

Three Hours in Paris

Finished June 14

Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black

This novel is set during World War II, and begins in June 1940 with Kate Rees, a ranch woman from Oregon who is also a prize-winning marksman, is in Paris in an unoccupied apartment across from Montmartre, waiting to shoot Hitler. After a couple of chapters, we go back to the fall of 1939, where we learn that Kate is married to a Welsh man. They and their young daughter are living where he is stationed in the Orkney Islands. She works at a munitions factory as a tester, shooting rifles to ensure they work as they should. Her marksman skills get noticed and the government offers her a job, but she isn't interested. When an enemy bombing mission kills her husband and daughter, she initially gets lost in her grief, but by early June, she finds herself wanting to do what she can to defeat the man who took her family from her. So she calls the number of the man who made the previous offer to her. and finds herself offered a different job, this one top secret, and she must sign the Official Secrets Act before being told anything about it. 

Because of the timeliness of her mission, she is given a very sped up version of the usual training. One of her lessons emphasizes the acronym RADA, which stands for Read the Situation, Assess possible outcomes, Decide on options; Act on your decision. This is something she returns to repeatedly while on mission. 

When Kate misses and kills another man she finds herself on the run, and unknown to her, one of the reasons she is on this mission is because someone is compromised and the team she is associated with in France has had several members discovered and killed. As she follows what clues she has and makes the way around the city looking for help to get back to England, she must rely on her intuition and quick thinking. She also begins to suspect that she was never meant to succeed, and think about what that means. 

I found this book almost impossible to put down, as I had to know what happened to Kate. There is a man of Paris on the endpapers that shows all the key places that Kate either thinks of going to or actually visits. The pace is fast and the minor characters intriguing in their own ways. One of the characters that we see a lot of is a German police officer that is assigned with finding the would-be assassin and capturing her. Part of the novel is from his viewpoint, and we see that he has his own struggles as well. Excellent plot, with a character that I really cared about. 

The Sweetest Dream

Finished December 16

The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing

This novel takes us from the early 1960s through the late 1980s, following generations of one family and their friends. We see relationships, both intimate and friendly, come and go, and we observe how the political landscape changes over time. 

In the early part of the book, the main character is Frances Lennox, a divorced woman, who sacrifices her own dreams to support her children, Andrew and Colin. Her ex-husband, Johnny, is deep into communism, travelling and speaking about his politics not just across the country, but internationally. Johnny's mother Julia had tried to give money to Frances when he didn't pay maintenance, but Frances found work and managed. Both boys agreed to go to schools funded by Julia, Andrew to Eton and Colin to St. Joseph's. It was only when Frances realized how much their living situation was resented by the boys, that she agreed to move into Julia's house, with Julia living on the top floor and them having the rest.

Frances soon found herself catering to more people, as the boys friends and girlfriends, ex-friends and girl-friends came to meals and some ended up moving in. 

The reader can see how Frances is resigned to her situation, and keeps Johnny at a distance as much as she can, but accepts whoever of the younger generation appears at her table, and even those young African men that Johnny brings as young communist idealists. She deals with the issues of the time, rebellion against her generation, rebellion against traditional expectations, experimentation with drugs, the sexual revolution, and more. She even deals with the added presence of Tilly (Sylvia) the daughter of Johnny's second wife, when she is moved into the house. 

The later part of the novel follows Sylvia as she goes to Africa as a doctor, working in a remote community and trying to help the local people who are starved for medical, and educational assistance. The country she goes to, Zimlia, is a fictional one, but has strong parallels to the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. 

The writing is so good, and the story interesting. The only issue I had with the novel is that there are no chapters, just occasionally a few blank lines, indicating a change in time, setting, etc. For me, as a reader, I like to have a feel for when I can make a pause in my reading and the lack of chapters in a book is something I find personally frustrating. 

That aside, this is an amazing read, with so much depth, both of characters and of setting, that it is worth reading. It immersed me into the story. 

Twice in a Blue Moon

Finished October 18

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

This book is told in two short time periods fourteen years apart, in chronological order. When Tate Jones is eighteen, her grandmother takes her to London for a much anticipated trip. Her grandmother and mother run a cafe in a small California town. Her grandmother has planned their days out, cramming in as much as she can from museums and galleries to plays. 

On their first day, they meet Sam and Luther, a grandson-grandfather pair from Vermont, who are also on a much anticipated visit. Sam is a little older than Tate, at twenty-one. The four get along well, and do some things together, but Sam and Tate connect more strongly, and after once unplanned meeting in the hotel's courtyard late in the evening, Tate is sneaking out after her grandmother falls asleep to meet Sam. They lie in the grass, look at the stars, and share personal information. Some of Tate's sharing includes things very few people know about her, but she is sure that she can trust Sam with her dreams and sorrows. Sam lets her know that he is worried about Luther's health, and about his grandmother Roberta, who doesn't enjoy air travel, and who stayed home. 

The connection ends abruptly when Sam and Luther leave without goodbyes. The next day, Tate is swarmed by media as she exits the hotel for the day, and her grandmother quickly calls in assistance. With the media knowing things that she's told Sam, including her father's identity as a Hollywood film star, Tate is both sad and mad at the betrayal. 

Fourteen years later, Tate is now an actor herself, and has signed on to a movie where her father also appears in a supporting role. When Sam appears on set, she is shocked, and doesn't know how to react. She needs to talk to him, but she finds her emotions confusing. The tension is already high as Tate and her father haven't had much of a relationship over the years, despite what the media has been told. 

The story is all told from Tate's viewpoint, and while I could relate to the ease of falling in love as a susceptible young woman in her situation, the adult Tate is more controlled and less relatable. The story also lacks the humorous banter that usually appears in Christina Lauren romances, and has a more serious feel to it.

It was an enjoyable read, but not one of this author pair's best. 

This Poison Will Remain

Finished June 25

This Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds

This is the 11th book in the Commissaire Adamsberg series. Here Adamsberg is summoned back from Iceland for a case and is soon missing his son who stayed on there. He is at first dealing the case that recalled him, a hit and run death of a woman that has some subtlety to it, but that is dealt with fairly quickly. During that case, he has become aware both through the attention one of his staff, Voisenet, to some deaths due to a spider, one that is not typically deadly. This captures his attention, and he begins to gather information on the deaths himself. 

He also begins to realize that one of his own men is actively working against him, and applies himself to that puzzle. 

The spider case is quite interesting, and one that takes him from Paris to the south of France, where the deaths have occurred. He looks for links between the victims, and finds an interesting name that links the spider to some of the victims. As he looks deeper, he discovers other deaths that seem suspect when the link between the victims is known. He soon realizes that the group of men who are potential victims is narrowing with each death, and he puts some effort into protecting those remaining. 

He encounters and begins to consult with an amateur spider specialist, and finds her to be very helpful as the case progresses. 

As usual with this series, the unusual mental connections that questions that Adamsberg comes up with really make the story and are key to the plot. The side stories here, from the initial case, to the attempted betrayal of one his men, to the crime against another staff member, and to his own buried childhood memories all link through a common theme. 

This is a book that I read in small pieces as Vargas always leads me to go down other rabbit holes from her use of connections, quotations, and analogies. 

I also liked the appearance of one of the characters from a different, although linked series, Mathias from The Three Evangelists and a new connection to a character I love from Adamsberg's team. 

Always an educational read, this was also an interesting set of puzzles. 

Glaxo

Finished September 13
Glaxo by Hernán Ronsino, translated by Samuel Rutter

Ronsino is said to be one of the best modern writers in Argentina. Here, Glaxo is the name of the small town where the actions of this short novel take place. There are four parts, each told from a different point of view and at a different time, but all related to the same events and how they affected people's lives. 

The first part is told by Vardemann in October 1973. Vardemann has home from prison, and is working in his father's barbershop. He knows that he wasn't guilty of the crime he went to jail for, but he doesn't know what really happened. He sees his childhood friend Miguelito, ill and with little hope of recovery, and he watches as workers come and remove the train tracks that served the town. 

The next part is told by Bicho Souza in December 1984. As a young man, Bicho was a friend of Vardemann along with a couple of other guys that all hung out together. The showing of an old movie from that time has brought back memories for him, when Vardemann used to pretend to be Kirk Douglas and Miguelito pretended to be John Wayne and they would have a shoot-out in the street after the movie was over. Another friend that he meets for lunch has recently seen a woman from their past, the wife of an older man, but whom they all lusted after. She talked to him and told him her reasons for leaving town so many years ago. 

The third part is told by Miguelito Barrios in July 1966, when he sees Vardemann return from prison. He thinks back a few years to when he often rode horses with an older man, Folcada. Miguelito's father was a horseman and he was killed accidentally when breaking a horse. Miguelito worked for the railway, unloading the cargo and delivering the parcels that came off the train. He thinks of his interactions with Folcada and how first Folcada's wife and then himself left and never came back. 

The fourth part is told by Folcado in December 1959, about his relationship with his wife, his suspicions, and the actions that he took based on them. 

As we see the stories all come together at the end, we see what a fantastic writer Ronsino is. A brilliant novel.

A Perfect Waiter

Finished July 25
A Perfect Waiter by Alain Claude Sulzer, translated by John Brownjohn

This book is set in two time periods, the earliest begins in the summer of 1935 and goes into the following summer. The second time period is three decades later.
The waiter that is the main character is Erneste and he works at a grand hotel in Switzerland. He has no aspirations beyond this career and behaves with perfection in his role. He is unfailingly polite, quiet, and observant enough to anticipate needs. In 1935, he is nineteen years old, and a new young staff member has arrived, Jakob, from Germany. Erneste is smitten, and Jakob notices and the two begin a love affair. They share a room in the staff quarters of the hotel, and soon share a bed. Erneste is careful not to show his feelings elsewhere, treating Jakob with the quiet friendly manner he treats the other staff. When the season ends, Jakob returns to Germany and Erneste to Paris, each promising to be back the following summer. In 1936, Erneste arrives at the hotel first and settles in. When Jakob arrives, he seems less ardent, but Erneste explains it away, and their affair continues. But Jakob is noticed by another person, this time a guest, also from Germany. Julius Klinger is a famous writer, who has spoken out against the rising Hitler in Germany, and when his words have no effect, he is looking to leave Europe for the United States.
The second time period has Erneste still working as a waiter in Switzerland at a hotel, when he receives a letter from the United States from Jakob. It is not the reconciliation that Erneste has dreamed of, but a request for help. Despite Jakob's betrayal of their love, Erneste is still compelled to submit to Jakob's wishes, and when he does, he learns more of his lover than he imagined.
This is a tale of love, one that happened during a brief time with great passion and was then left as a memory of a great love of Erneste's youth. Erneste is a perfect waiter in more ways than one, as someone else observes. This is sad, and one feels for Erneste as he deals with the truth of the man that he held strongly in his memory, and still cared deeply for.

The Prince and the Pilgrim

Finished February 25
The Prince and the Pilgrim by Mary Stewart

This book is set mostly in medieval England in the time of King Arthur.
Alice is a young woman whose mother died when she was born and whose father has made repeated pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to a shrine in Tours. While in Tours the two find themselves involved in a coup and they help someone make their way out to safety.
Alexander is a young man whose mother escaped with him from a threat from a family member. As he grew to be a man, it wasn't until an unexpected meeting with someone from that past that his mother apprised him of his parentage and the revenge she expected him to some day enact. But he felt an urge to make a move more immediately and sets out on a quest. The quest leads him to a court where he finds himself drawn to a powerful woman, but still trying to return to his quest.
At one point, the paths of Alice and Alexander cross, and both of the lives improve.
I enjoyed this story, but didn't find the depth of many of her other books that I've read. I did like the strength and intelligence of Alice and how she held her own, even in a the time she lived in.

The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club

Finished February 10
The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings

Lacy Evans has returned to her home town from the big city with her life feeling broken. She made some bad judgements there, and she lost her business and her fiance. She also still has a huge debt hanging over her due to the betrayal of the man she thought she could trust.
She can't handle living with her parents, so she takes an apartment that comes with a resident cat, one that doesn't seem to like her much at first. But she finds old friends, and a job that she can enjoy, and begins to settle in. Coffee shop owner Jacob Tyler seems different from the charming but flirtatious boy she knew, maybe partly due to his military experiences. Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Scott seems friendly, but what is going on with his marriage?
Lacy begins to get to know these people from her childhood as an adult, and finds more beneath the surface than she thought. When one of the locals noticed a need and responded to it with an offer of assistance, a group was formed, the Warm Hearts Club. The members identify needs and work together to meet those needs, whether it is for the basics of life, a little respite for a tiring caregiver, or a new way forward for someone who's been stuck in a rut for far too long. Lacy joins this community and finds herself considering a future in town, but her past has a way of coming back after her, and she might be in more trouble than she realizes.
I liked how every chapter had a quote at the beginning from one of the characters in the book. It gave me more insight into some of the more minor characters in a charming way.
A nice read.

My Husband's Sweethearts

Finished June 20
My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher

Six months ago, Lucy discovered her husband Artie was cheating on her. When she confronted him about it, he confessed to other infidelities, one's she hadn't known about. Lucy left, throwing herself into her work as an auditor. Lucy's mom thinks that she's made a mistake, and she's been trying to get Lucy to come home. The latest news is that Artie is very ill, and dying. Lucy doesn't really believe this is true, after all Artie is older than her, but not that old, only in his fifties, and he's been sending her love notes and flowers no matter where she travels. But she decides to go home and see.
And she finds that it is true. Artie is dying. And she isn't sure what to do. Artie throws a challenge to her, one she thinks he doesn't believe she'll take on, but she does. She starts to call up the women he's been involved with, both before her and during their marriage, and invites them to visit.
But Artie has been keeping other secrets. They've always kept their money separate, and so Lucy is even more taken aback to find that Artie has been sending money to a woman for decades, to pay for a son that he supposedly fathered.
As Lucy connects with the people who've been in Artie's life, she finds a surprising mix of people, and some of them she connects with in interesting ways. A core group develops that includes two women that Artie has been involved with, along with Lucy's mom, and they work toward bringing Artie to an understanding of the effect that he's had on the lives of others.
This is a story of betrayal, of love, of the connections that people have. It is a story of loss, and of new beginnings. I enjoyed it.

The Light Over London

Finished Feb 5
The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

This novel has two timelines. As the book begins, Cara Hargraves meets her boss Jock at the house one of Jock's clients wants them to go through the contents of. This is a relatively new job for Cara, as she makes a new start on her life following her divorce. She's moved to the small town her grandmother lives in, and taken a job with an antique dealer. She's studying most evenings to learn about antiques and isn't really interested in a relationship yet. When she finds an old diary from World War II in a tin in the house, and the owner isn't interested, she asks to keep it to track down the story behind it and perhaps the family of the diary writer, and gets permission.
The second storyline follows the writer of the diary, Louise, a young woman from the country, aching to move away from the life her mother has planned for her. She has a dream of going far away and of studying math at university, but her family situation didn't allow her to go beyond high school. As the diary begins she meets a man at a dance and begins a relationship. This small step of independence gets her brave enough to make another move and enlist as a female volunteer in the ATS. After training she gets assigned to a position with the anti-aircraft guns.
Cara knows only the initials of the diary writer, and has a picture of her in uniform, recognizing it as the same uniform her grandmother wore in the war. This makes her curious about her grandmother's past as well, something her grandmother has always been reticent about. Cara finds that her new neighbour, a history professor, is helpful in her search, and she begins to come out of her post-divorce depression.
As we see both of the women take steps in their new lives, and find their way forward, with the help of friends, we also see Cara unravel a bit of her own past.
I enjoyed this book