The Hangman

Finished September 2

The Hangman by Louise Penny

This novella is part of a literacy imprint, Good Reads, aimed at adult readers. It also fits into the Chief Inspector Gamache series as 6.5 in the series. 

Set in the village of Three Pines in Quebec, a jogger discovers a man's body hanging from a tree in the woods. Both the jogger and the dead man are guests at the village Inn and Spa, a large older home that has been recently remodelled. 

Many questions arise. Did the two men know each other before coming to Three Pines. Why did either of them come to stay at the Inn and Spa? If the dead man was murdered, why did he write a note? 

This is an interesting addition to the series that I hadn't been aware of until recently and I was glad to come across it. I read it in a single sitting. 

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky

Finished August 30

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky: Indigenous Horror Stories by Alex Soop

This collection of stories by Blackfoot writer Alex Soop begins with his thoughts on what horror is, and a recognition of the indigenous culture of storytelling that he is drawing on. I liked the way he connected horror with everyday life. His tales draw on indigenous legends, indigenous reality, Canadian history, and common horror tropes to build stories that feel real, possible, and tied to their settings. Hauntings along the Highway of Tears, gatherings of ghosts that welcome a stranger, racism, bullying, gang mentality, residential schools, Wendigos and other paranormal creatures, despair, alcoholism, cursed objects, the foster system, and mental illness.

I found the stories captivating, but also thought-provoking. A great read. 

Polar Opposites

Finished August 10

Polar Opposites by Barbara Kellyn

This novella is one I picked up to meet a reading challenge and because it has a Canadian setting, Churchill, Manitoba. American magazine journalist Zora Dunn has been struggling with life in general and with writing since the death of her father a couple of months earlier. Her editor sends her to Churchill to do a story on polar bears, the disappearing sea ice, and how the community is adjusting to climate change. Zora has done a lot of research, but her intention is to see the situation for herself and to talk to locals about how they see things and how their lives are impacted.

She has been paired with a Canadian freelance photographer, Luke MacNeil. He has a great reputation as a photographer, but has an abrasive attitude and seems to enjoy getting under Zora's skin. For example, when she introduces herself to him, she says that her friends call her Zee, but he responds by calling her Zed, a reference to how Canadians say the alphabet, but also disrespectful. 

Luke is also facing a health issue that will impact his ability to do his job, and is dreading this loss. The job has brought them together, but how they react to each other and treat the people they interact with will impact the article overall.

I enjoyed the witty banter, but found that the novella format limited the character depth. There were a lot of local characters that seemed interesting that I would have wanted to learn more about. I also wanted more information on the issue that Zora was writing about included. 

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance

Finished August 1

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance by Kate Robb

I enjoyed Robb's first novel and was excited to see this one at my local library. I'm glad I picked it up as this is a definite winner. Set mostly in the small Ontario town of West Lake on Lake Huron, the main character here is a local girl, Julia (Jules) DeMarco. Jules works at the local retirement home, Sunnydale, as does her best friend Zoe. Jules had wanted to go to med school, and had taken her MCAT, but financial and family issues made that not an option for her. She loves West Lake, and has seen the influx of tourists and the introduction of more vacation homes in the nearby towns drive out local residents and small businesses, such as her favourite butter tart bakery. 

When one of the residents, Kitty St. Clair, dies, Jules is surprised to learn that Kitty left her a building in town. It used to be a dance hall, but has been sitting empty for years. When Jules comes across Kitty's diary from the months before she married a Toronto man, she begins reading it for clues to why Kitty left her the building. Instead, each time she reads a diary entry, she finds herself back in the past as she sleeps, existing there as Dotty O'Brien, one of Kitty's friends. Her first dream visit takes her to May 1949, where Kitty and Dotty go to the dance hall one night where Kitty hopes to meet Beau St. Clair, a young man from Toronto she's been corresponding with since the previous summer. She also sees a local boy, Knots, who works at the dance hall, and who is very interested in Kitty himself. 

As the dreams give Jules more knowledge of Kitty's circumstances, she also considers that the building, once probate goes through, may offer her a chance to pursue her dream of med school after all. When she finds out that a man from Toronto is in town looking to acquire the property for a condo development she is torn in two ways. The first is whether to sell for her own future, but draw the town into the real estate issues she's seen in nearby towns. The second is when she realizes that the man is one she has a past with. Two years earlier, she spent a night with Reeve Baldwin and never heard from him again. Can she trust him? Why is she drawn to him still? 

I enjoyed the characters here, seeing both Kitty and Jules deal with their dilemmas, and the other small town residents, both those in the retirement home, and the locals like Zoe, and Donny at the Legion, the centre of the town's social life. I got a real feel for the community and the way people look out for each other and are involved with their community. 

The romances between Kitty and her suitors, and between Jules and Reeve were well written and I could feel the attractions. Jules' and Zoe's friendship is also drawn well, and Zoe is a real character. A book that I found hard to put down. 

A Cold White Sun

Finished July 15

A Cold White Sun by Vicki Delany

This is the sixth book in the Constable Molly Smith series, set in the fictional town of Trafalgar, near Castlegar, in the mountains of British Columbia.  

At the beginning of March break, high school English teacher Cathy Lindsay is up early, looking forward to spending time skiing with her kids. She takes her dog for a walk and is shot dead by a skilled shooter. The police have little to go on, and cast a wide net looking for clues. Molly is on the scene soon after the crime occurred and gets involved in some of the questioning. 

We see a glimpse into her personal life as her relationship with her boyfriend Adam seems to be getting more serious and Molly is unsure about how she feels about that. She also sees her mother beginning a new relationship that involves someone from Molly's work and must deal with her feelings around that change. 

The victim's husband Gord is an IT consultant and their marriage hasn't been great lately, so he comes under scrutiny and has some things that he is hiding. We also learn that Cathy was having feelings for one of her fellow teachers Mark Hamilton, who has issues of his own as well. 

The lead on the case is Sergeant John Winters and we see his personal life as well. His wife Eliza is a retired supermodel and now owns a couple of art galleries, one locally. She has a relatively new employee, Margo, who has losses from her past that come into the plot. 

We also see Cathy's kids and the impact this loss has on them. 

I found the characters interesting and the plot compelling. An enjoyable read.  

Her Big City Neighbor

Finished June 27

Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau

This is the first book in the Cider Bar Sisters series, a series set in Toronto around a group of female friends. Amy Sharpe has inherited a house in Toronto from her great aunt. She takes the opportunity to leave her small Ontario town and go back to university for her masters degree in engineering. Her family has depended on her for a lot of things and they have trouble adjusting to her not being near them. 

In Toronto, she decides to take on a roommate to share her house, and finds one that shares the same name as her favourite fictional character. The roommate introduces her to her friends group and Amy fits in well with the diverse group. 

Amy really explores the city, visiting different areas of it and, since Amy is a foodie, she also explores the wide variety of food and drink available in the city. This is prominent in the novel, with mentions of restaurants, cafés, and bars along with descriptions of the food experiences. 

Amy also notices her next-door neighbour, Victor Lau, only a few years older than her and with a habit of sitting in his yard, and mowing his lawn shirtless. She makes friendly advances and the chemistry between them moves things along. Victor is quiet and keeps to himself, partly because he is still grieving the loss of a sibling. He is close to his sisters and mom who all still live in his hometown of Edmonton. 

There is a theme her of strong female characters, from Amy's grandmother and great aunt to her own generation. Amy works hard to ensure she doesn't fall into traps from the past where she was taken for granted in her relationships. 

A very enjoyable read, and my copy has a teaser from the next book in the series.  

Casually Yours

Finished March 23

Casually Yours by Vivian Jia Lac

This debut by Toronto writer Vivian Jia Lac is a winner. Set partly in Manhattan and partly in Oregon, the main character is only child Dani Tsai. Dani grew up in small town Silverpine, Oregon, in a house she and her father moved to after her mother returned to Taiwan to pursue her artistic career. Next door lived the Trans, a warm and rambunctious family who ran a local pharmacy. Their son Parker was the same age as Dani and the two became unlikely best friends. Parker was popular at school, always into sports, and became a local football star in high school. Dani was bookish, artistic, introverted, and has a passion for the idea of parallel worlds. Their families spent holidays together from the Fourth of July to Thanksgiving. Parker's mom, Cô Tran, was like a mother to her, much appreciated with the absence of her own mother. Parker's older brother Nathan went to university in Philadelphia and ended up settling there.

When they went to college, they went in opposite directions: Parker to the University of Oregon on a scholarship and later to San Francisco, and Dani to New York City. They stayed in touch until Christmas their sophomore year. Parker was supposed to come to New York for Christmas, but didn't show and basically ghosted her, refusing to respond to her, or even discuss what happened and why. 

Dani works for a magazine, Adagio, as a copy editor, but often writes freelance articles for it and other publications as well. She gets along with her co-workers for the most part and, as the book opens is looking forward to an interview for an online publication, for a contract 18-month position travelling through Asia, something her boss has already approved as a side gig as long as she meets her deadlines. 

After the dinner interview goes drastically wrong, Dani runs into Parker, in town for work as a sports marketing specialist, and the two reconnect. He even invites her to a gala his company is co-sponsoring that weekend. There, the evening takes a turn neither one planned for. 

Their casual relationship takes off from there. Regular meetups at his hotel suite and soon more. But whether it will last past his current New York-based assignment or not is unclear, and insecurities abound.

 I enjoyed the connection between the two characters, built from their past friendship, but with added passion. Shared memories, plus now secrets that just they know. Lac is great at characterization, and her dialogue is perfect. I got a good sense of even the less major characters of friends and family. A definite winner and an author I'll be looking for again. 

Ship of Dreams

Finished March 6

Ship of Dreams by Donna Jones Alward

This novel is set mostly aboard the Titanic. Two friends are at the centre of the story. Hannah Martin is married, but has found her husband distant since the miscarriage that almost killed her. She hopes accompanying him on this business trip will provide the opportunity to add life back to their marriage. She has asked her best friend Louisa Phillips, the unhappy and rebellious daughter of an earl, to accompany them. The two women plan to stay in New York City while Charles Martin travels west on business. But Louisa has another purpose to her trip. Her father has decided to force her into a marriage that she does not want. She grew up ignored or a target with him, and things haven't improved. She's directed her energy, and her money, towards fighting for women's rights and helping those less fortunate. But if she doesn't marry as her father wishes, he has told her that he will kick her out of the homes she has been living in, and cut off her money. She has a plan that we gradually learn, but it wasn't well thought out, and doesn't reflect well on her. 

She has also invited a man she's known socially on the trip as a side interest. She likes flirting with him and has led him to believe she might be interested in more. Reid Grey, the man in question has come, solely for her, and is definitely interested in Louisa. The author includes a few of the ship's travellers that were actually on the boat, from the feminist Margaret Brown, to the newly married Astors.

As the women interact socially with their shipmates, they also share the truth about their own lives, which proves emotional and enlightening. 

While Hannah tries to force a confrontation with Charles, Louisa finds that her problem may have an different solution that she hadn't expected. 

Alward has done her research and the descriptions of the ship and its amenities really bring the setting to life. The strong friendship between the two women is tested here, and the crisis of the ship itself changes so many stories. A really great read. 

A Bramble House Christmas

Finished March 4

A Bramble House Christmas by C.J. Carmichael

This is the sixth book in the series, Carrigans of the Circle C, but the first I've read. The main female character is Willa Fairchild. As the book opens, she and her six-year-old son Scout are travelling to Marietta, Montana for a much-anticipated winter vacation. The trip is a gift from her most recent client, Mr. Conrad. Willa has worked as a private nurse since Scout's cancer diagnosis, which also marked the end of her marriage. Scout is now cancer-free and looking forward to engaging in normal activities for his age. Conrad learned enough of Willa's story to also include her in his will, something his family is surprised at, and suspicious of. 

Finn Conrad, his son, has given in to pressure from his family to find out more, and has booked into the Bramble House B&B under his professional name, Finn Knightly. He is a successful children's book illustrator. As he spends time with Willa and Scout, he learns more about them, and finds himself drawn to both of them. He also finds himself curious about his father's focus on Marietta, and begins to look more closely at the secrets in his own family history.

I liked both the main characters and found the plot believable. The setting is a real town, and is brought to life here, giving a cosy Christmas vibe. A light and enjoyable read. 

A Place of Pretty Flowers

Finished February 18

A Place of Pretty Flowers by Jerrod Edson

This short novel is beautifully written. The events take place within a week, and each chapter has the date at the beginning so the reader can see when it happened. Set in small town New Brunswick, the story begins on August eleventh at the cemetery where Kevin Finch, a young man who aspired to be a professional writer, but who hasn't tapped into real success yet, is to be buried. The funeral party is waiting, as the hole where Kevin's grave should be isn't dug, and they aren't sure what to do.

As we jump back a few days to August sixth, and other days in between, we follow the lives of people whose lives interact with Kevin's in some way. Besides his parents, Joan and Jerry, we also see Jeremy Wiggins, the son of the owners of the funeral parlour, who is driving the hearse with Kevin's casket in it, and his older sister Carol who prepared the body. We see Reverend Richard Grey and his wife, who are dealing with their own life challenges. 

There are also Joan's friends, who include younger members such as Carol and her partner Amy; Prin, a young single mother with a baby daughter Daisy; Sonia, a university professor; and Barb, similar in age to Joan, who has a strong rebellious streak. 

There are also the medical examiner at the local hospital, Dr. Edward Ramsey; one of the cleaners at the hospital, Irene Thorne; and Irene's husband Carl. Key to the action are gravedigger brothers Pete and Gabe Landry and the scheme they have going on the side. 

One of the stories is the wedding that Kevin was attending the night he died, with old acquaintances and his ex-girlfriend Kate, including his backstory with her.

And watching everyone is Detective Harry Ross and Constable Ladd. Harry is an old pro at police work, and Ladd is new, bright, and eager to learn. The title of the book comes from a comment Harry makes to Ladd about the cemetery, that it is a place with pretty flowers, but there is a lot buried beneath that façade, a statement that relates to the work they do. 

I really enjoyed this novel and was interested to see how everything came together and the stories of the people that go deeper than what those around them see. The story has real meat to it, and left me lots to think about.

The Deep

Finished February 14

The Deep by Mary Swan

This novella was originally published as a short story that won the O. Henry Prize, and is told through a series of short chapters that have a variety of narrators. The central characters are twin sisters, Esther and Ruth, who leave their North American home to volunteer in Europe during World War I. The narrators include teachers, school friends, family members, and acquaintances. 

The twins, throughout their lives referred to themselves as one, always saying 'we' and acting and speaking together. Their birth had a detrimental effect on the health of their mother, and although she lived for several years beyond the birth, she was confined to bed, and there is a sense that the twins are blamed for this by both their father and their older brothers, but more so their older brothers. 

As the war ends, and the women prepare to leave France, there is a situation where they acted as separate individuals, with both recognizing that and being unsure how to deal with it. It is obviously disturbing to both of them, and we see their actions following this. 

Yellowhead Blues

Finished February 7

Yellowhead Blues by R.E. Donald

This is the fifth book in the Hunter Rayne Highway Mystery series, and is set along the B.C. portion of the Yellowhead highway. Hunter is a retired RCMP officer that now works as a long-haul truck driver. He is on his way to Edmonton with a load when a man who has stopped coming the other way flags him down and asks for help catching a loose horse. The man, Leon, is a horse trainer and breeder coming from a cattle penning competition at Teepee Creek. He stopped when he saw a loose horse and then stopped Hunter before trying to catch it. The horse was scared and had blood on it. 

They managed to catch it and used Leon's dog Blue to track the trail back to where the horse came from, finding a badly injured man sitting with his back against the tree. He was near death and the two men, with no cell reception, decided to carry him on one of the horses back to the highway. 

Bianca Morrison, a RCMP Constable, was the first officer on the scene, shortly after the ambulance arrived. Bianca is from Quebec, and has felt isolated as a female officer. She hopes that she will get a chance to participate in this case. 

A couple days later Hunter gets a call from Leon, who has been arrested for the murder of the man they found. Hunter is pretty sure Leon is innocent, but he'd had an interaction with the man before, so there is history. As Hunter digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding the crime, he asks Bianca for help and gets his dispatcher El to find some of the people he wants to talk to as well. 

I found this mystery quite interesting, with lots of possible suspects. I liked seeing Hunter's personal circumstances, as well as learning of Bianca's experiences with the RCMP. Leon's dog Blue was an active player, and an engaging dog as well. 

False Impressions

Finished December 16

False Impressions by Sandra Nikolai

This is the first book in a series featuring a ghostwriter and investigative crime journalist. Megan Scott and her husband Tom's marriage has been more stressful lately as their efforts to have children have been unsuccessful. Tom travels a lot for work, and is off on another trip as the novel begins.

Megan is starting a new project as a ghostwriter for investigative journalist Michael Elliott, and when they realize they knew each other years before, they begin to develop a friendship as well.

When Tom goes off for a retreat, Megan doesn't have any concerns until police arrive at her door telling her that he and his female companion are dead. The discovery of his infidelity at the same time as his death is confusing for Megan emotionally, and she relies heavily on Michael for support. 

It also puts her under suspicion for his murder, and the ties between her and the crime continue to grow. The police seem to have their minds already made up, and Michael and Megan begin their own investigation to find the truth. 

I enjoyed the premise of the novel and the plot. As the book began, some of the dialogue seemed stilted and awkward, but that improved as the book went on. While it took me a while to get truly interested, I was glad I stuck with it. A good read.

Lady with Chains

Finished December 1

Lady with Chains by Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman

This is a novel that is a combination of two stories. One is the story of the unnamed lady of the title. It is not said in so many words, but my impression was that the lady was one of the nobility imprisoned during the French Revolution, that then found herself on the docks and brought onto a ship to the new world. She does seem to be a lady that was imprisoned and mistreated, and then unexpectedly freed and placed on a ship to Quebec. 

The second story is of Virginie, a young woman of Quebec who meets Victor, a soldier, at a dance. He plans to claim a piece of land and build a house on it, to marry and have children, and to live a good life. Virginie agrees to marry him, and finds herself making her way through a blizzard to the cabin he's built, and things go horribly wrong on the journey. Virginie finds herself plotting revenge against Victor, intending to poison him. She waits through the winter and intentionally doesn't speak to her husband at all, but keeps her plan in her mind. She finds herself strengthened by the idea of the Lady with Chains, who persevered despite the terrible things that happened to her. 

It is a strange novel, with a flavour of the wilderness of Canada, as well as some of the bureaucracy, and there are surprises along the way. 

Sunshine and Spice

Finished November 15

Sunshine and Spice by Aurora Palit

This romance is set in Kelowna. We see the story from two points of view, the main female character Naomi Kelly and the main male character Dev Mukherjee. Naomi has her own brand consulting business, one she started after working in a larger corporate firm for several years. I wasn't familiar with this business, but it seems to cover a lot more than I would have thought. She proposes a reuse or redesign for space, and works with a construction contractor to bring it to life. It seems to involve a lot of elements of interior design. The story opens with her preparing for a bid on a job, the redesign of what has been for many years a bazaar run by an Indian family, carrying a wide variety of merchandise and rather cluttered at the moment. The owner lost her husband a few months ago and is now ready to face moving forward. 

Dev is the owner's son, who has recently moved back home from Penticton. He hasn't told his mother that he resigned from his job as a corporate accountant to pursue a different dream of his own. But his mother uses his presence to move forward with a different plan, finding him a wife. She hires a matchmaker looking for an Indian bride. She doesn't mind if the woman isn't Bengali, but Indian culture and its practices and traditions is important to her. 

Naomi is Indian, but hasn't been brought up in the culture. Her parents relationship wasn't approved of, and the young couple moved away. Her father moved on when she was just a toddler, and her mother married a local man in the Alberta town they lived in. Naomi is very close to her stepfather, sharing a love of sports with him. She isn't as close to her mother, who is into yoga and meditation and changes her other interests regularly. She has had no contact with her father or other relatives.

When Naomi's plan to remake the space as a family-run café is approved, and she and Dev run into each other while he is trying to escape a meeting with a potential wife, the two decide to help each other. Dev will help her on cultural aspects of the design and introduce her to Indian culture locally. She will pretend to be his girlfriend when they encounter any potential wives. Dev hopes to outlast his mother's plans. 

As they spend time together, they grow closer, but there are still barriers with Naomi's upbringing and Dev's family.

I enjoyed learning more about Indian culture and Naomi's business work, and I liked the plot. Dev definitely needed to grow a bit more backbone when it comes to his family, and Naomi needs to feel less insecure about her cultural knowledge. I liked the Canadian setting and reading a new author. 

6:40 to Montreal

Finished November 9

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk

This locked room mystery is quite the page-turner. The narrator is Agatha, a woman who wrote a mystery book featuring a yoga instructor that became a best seller. Now, she's trying to work on a second book, but is coming up short on ideas. She's also been undergoing cancer treatment and as a result has been stuck in a depression. Her husband Teddy has given her a gift of a business-class, round-trip ticket from Toronto to Montreal by train, thinking that she can use the uninterrupted, mostly internet-free journey there and back to write. She's a little disappointed in the gift, which doesn't even include a night in Montreal before returning, and she has planned something on her own that he isn't aware of.

It a day of a winter storm, and by the time Agatha gets down to Union Station the snow is coming down quite intensely. The attendant, Dorcas, seems professional and friendly and then gets distracted by the task of teaching an intern the basics of the job. Agatha is one of the first people on the car, and notices a mother and young adult son, Vivien and Rupinder get on because they are seated in the emergency exit row, and Dorcas explains the emergency procedure to them. 

The car isn't full, yet an older man, Finch Weatherby, sits beside her and tries to get her to give up her seat to him. She takes an immediate dislike to him, and that only increases as he makes some loud phone calls that are abusive and demeaning to the person on the other end. A couple other people get on, but Agatha has been distracted by Finch and doesn't really notice them.

She still has trouble focusing on writing and finds her mind going in other directions. When the train suddenly stops and all but emergency power goes off, the passengers begin to ask questions and worry about how long they will be stopped. When they discover that one of the passengers is dead, they begin to suspect each other. As the passengers begin to get more anxious and the tension increases, they find even more to worry about and tensions continue to build. The doors on their car have been locked in the emergency and they can't move away from each other. 

Fast-moving and dark, this novel offers lots of twisty elements. 

Did one of them kill the passenger, and if so, why? 

Moon of the Crusted Snow

Finished October 22

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

This is the first book in The Whitesky Saga, a post-apocalyptic series and is set in a small Anishinaabe community in Canada's north. It is approaching winter and the small community first experiences the loss of their internet service and then the loss of communications with the outside world. They don't know what is going on, what caused these outages, or how widespread the situation is. They learn a bit more when two members of the community who have been away at college manage to return, and by then, the leaders of the community have already begun plans to conserve what they have and to ensure everyone in the community is taken care of.

When new visitors arrive, the community has to decide how much to trust them, and how to include them in their plan. This novel takes place over that winter, and we see the situation as it affects children, elders, and those who didn't learn the skills of survival from the elders. We also see couples come together and couples come apart under the stress. Families take on new roles, and people spend their time in different ways, some adjusting better than others. 

This is an interesting tale, of a group of people that already have a strong sense of community, one that most communities today no longer have. It makes one start wondering how the rest of the world is dealing with similar issues and how one would respond in these circumstances.

The author is Anishinaabe himself and that brings authenticity to the book that affects how I read it. Scary, sad, and yet somehow hopeful. 

The Umbrella House

Finished October 5

The Umbrella House by Colleen Nelson

This children's book is not only entertaining, it also teaches a bit about American social history, a movement that I was not aware of previously. The Canadian author lived in New York City for a few years, and was interested in the real Umbrella House history and wove it into this story set in the present day. Umbrella House was an abandoned apartment building that the city took possession of, and tried to make unliveable for any squatters. The city filled the drain pipes with concrete, tore holes in the roof and created barricades to access. In 1988 people began living in the house regardless. They began fixing it up to be liveable, and at first used umbrellas to protect against the water coming in through the holes in the roof, giving the building its name. In 2010, they legalized the building as a low income coop. 

In this story, big developers threaten the building once again, and the book shows how housing has an impact on community. Many of the original tenants were artists and this book shows the impact of art as well.

I enjoyed the stories around the two middle grade kids at the center of this novel, both tenants of the building. Roxy lives with her grandmother, one of the original tenants, and her friend Scout lives with his two mothers, more recent tenants. They also run an e-newsletter about the community, with Roxy writing, and Scout doing graphic art. Part of their story is a competition involving a short video, and Scout has also had a teacher recommend a residential summer school to advance his art skills, which he can apply to for free attendance.

I liked the passion of both the kids and adults and the relatable story about affordable housing in urban areas, one I've seen friends and coworkers struggle with. 

A great read. 

A Five-Letter Word for Love

Finished October 5

A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James

I really enjoyed this unexpected romance. Emily has dreamed of a creative career in a bustling city, with a group of close friends that she confides in and spends time with outside of work, but she hasn't fully identified what exactly she wants to do, and so, for the moment, she is house-sitting for friends of her parents. The house is in small town Prince Edward Island, and she's managed to get a job as receptionist at a local garage. She tries to keep in touch with friends from college but feels increasingly that they've moved on.

She decides that it is time to invest in her life, and tries a number of things, from making a date in nearby Charlottetown on an online dating site to volunteering at the only museum in town, one about barrel-making. As she gets to know the staff and volunteers at the museum, she begins making friends, and she finds herself coming up with creative ways to promote the museum.

When her elderly neighbour needs assistance, she finds herself starting a side business of senior care, and when she plays her daily Wordle at work, she learns that one of the mechanics also plays, and may not be as boring as she thought, although John is definitely car-obsessed, and part of the local racing community.

As Emily puts herself into her community, she finds she gets a lot more in return than she expected, but some of her efforts beyond the community also bear fruit for her, and she finds the life she wanted is a real possibility. 

I liked the character Emily, with her energy and ideas, and her uncertainties for the future. I was like that when I was her age too. She is a caring person, curious and open, and I appreciated the changes that she went through as she connected with people. This is a story about a woman figuring out her life, not just her love life, and I really wanted to see what happened with her life.

The King of Montréal

Finished August 21

The King of Montréal by Daniela I. Norris

This is an interesting alternative history novel. It is 1800, and Louis-Charles, the Dauphin of France, has ended up alone in Montreal at the age of fifteen. He had been smuggled out of jail in Paris and transported to the countryside to live with family friends, but when he began to look too much like his father as he grew up, they decided for his safety and the safety of the family he was living with to send him, with his tutor as an escort, to America, where he would go to the secretary of the late Benjamin Franklin and stay there. It would be up to him whether it was ever safe for him to show himself and return to France as king or live his life abroad. 

Unfortunately, the ship he was on was shipwrecked in a storm, and he was rescued by Basque fishermen and dropped off in Montreal. He lived on the streets, and tried to make enough money to hire an indigenous guide to take him to his destination in the U.S. He found himself making both friends and enemies, and his education and bearing shows as he navigates the unlikely place he has found himself in. 

This is a novel aimed at young adult readers, and with the main character being fifteen, that makes sense. It introduces readers to elements of history that are well-researched and incorporate real history as much as possible while giving the Dauphin a future that he didn't have. I really enjoyed this novel, and the way we get into the thoughts of the main character. 

Recommended for teens that like history, unexpected heroes, or a touch of romance.