At the Stroke of Midnight

Finished September 7

At the Stroke of Midnight by Jenni Keer

This historical mystery is a fun and suspenseful read. It is 1923 and Pearl Glenham lives with her accountant father in a small town in England. He mourns his wife, and is fixated on the time she supposedly died, four minutes past ten, and doesn't seem to be interested in anything but his job. Pearl does all the domestic chores, submitting to his demands, and leads a quiet life. But her best friend Harriet is more adventurous and has always encouraged her to rebel against her father's expectations. Pearl also has a secret, that she also has developed a secret compulsion regarding time, and has a collection of timepieces that she has stolen over many months. She also has an obsession with water, and has taken up swimming, becoming quite competent.

Her father tells her that they have been invited to Highcliffe House, a country house on the Dorset coast for the weekend, and must go. He plans for them to travel there in two days so they arrive fresh, and seems to know how to get to the house, although he claims that it is for business and that he doesn't know the house or the host. The owners of the house, the English woman who grew up there, Lenora, and her husband, an American named Virgil Brockhurst haven't been seen in twenty years. They had spent time traveling when they first married, and had returned with a young child, saying that they intended to stay for some years, but disappeared again shortly after their arrival. 

Pearl had come across the invitation her father received before they left home and suspected that the contents implied blackmail coerced her father to accept the invitation. So she is watching what happens carefully. Once they arrive at the house, it soon becomes apparent that he has met the other two guests, although they all pretend they haven't. Besides the guests, one of them has brought her husband, an Italian man who knows no English, and there are two temporary servants, a young man named Ellery Brown, who is rooming offsite, and an older woman named Mrs. Dawson who is doing the cooking. After lunch, Pearl is able to escape the house and go down to the beach for a swim in the ocean. While there, she sees an unusually dressed man go to a cave she hadn't noticed before and then return to the path to the house. When she enters the cave she notes many odd items, seemingly overflow from the many strange collectables she'd seen in the house itself. As she investigated a curious clock with funnels that seemed to run it, she tripped and fell and a drop of the liquid in one of the funnels spilt and ran into her mouth. She immediately returned to the house and after an uncomfortably tense afternoon and dinner, retired to her room, awakening later to find smoke at her door and unable to escape the fire in the house. But after succumbing to the smoke she finds herself back in the cave in the afternoon, replaying the day she just went through. 

As she goes through this again and again, trying to change the outcome of the day, escape the fire, and make sense of what is happening, she is joined by someone else who gets caught in the same repetitive time period and the two join forces to find answers. 

This is a story of a young woman finding her independence, a story of romance and intrigue, death and second chances. Very enjoyable and I found myself eager to see what each new iterance of the day brought and what the truth of the circumstances was. 

The Everlasting

Finished May 21

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

This fantasy book tells an interesting story. In the country of Dominion, Sir Una Everlasting is the greatest historical hero, a young woman who took revenge on those who killed her own father after drawing a sword from the trunk of a tree. She was then recruited by a queen for whom she fought many battles, overcoming other threatening nations, and killing all the remaining dragons in the world. 

Owen Mallory is a boy who grew up in Dominion, playing in the woods and reading. He joined the military inspired by Sir Una Everlasting and came home a hero, but changed. He became an historian and when a fabled book about her last quest came into his hands he finds himself transported to her time and a motivating factor in the quest. 

Owen falls in love with Una, not the hero of tales, but the actual woman. She is a physically dominant woman and he is a scholarly man, and the gender roles blur here. Every time their story seems to end, Owen finds himself brought back to the same place in Una's life for a redo, asked to make the story better, the ending more climactic, the legend more legendary. 

But the woman behind this is one without empathy, without thought for the people. The people of Dominion, the people of the other nations Dominion wars with, the ordinary people whose lives are changed for the worse. Una and Owen begin to have memories of their stories and find themselves wanting to own their own stories and not be merely actors in the drama. 

This story speaks to the mindset of colonialism, the lack of empathy for others, and other dramas playing out in our world as well. A thoughtful story that caused me as a reader to pause and consider. 

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish Volume 1

Finished April 13

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, Volume 1 (Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong) written by Xue Shan Fei Hu, translated by Yuka Mimi, illustrated by Ryoplica, Bonus Illustration by Kura, Cover illustration by Changle

This book came to my attention through one of my students, opening my reading world to a new subgenre, danmei, a Chinese romance between male characters. Here, the novel also employs an intriguing format where the narrator, Li Yu is a modern young man who wakes to find himself a fish, a carp, in the world of a book he'd recently read. (The Chinese pronunciation of the name sounds the same as the word for carp.) After a few terrifying adventures, he finds himself himself rescued by Prince Jing. 

Following that he makes two additional discoveries, the first of which is that he appears to be inside some sort of game. He learns this when he hears an announcement in his head that says that he has completed the first part of the 'Moe Pet System' main quest, and that he won't turn back into a human unless he completes the entire quest. The second discovery is that he is inside a recent webnovel that he'd read and he learns that the purpose of his existence here is to improve the tyrannical male lead's personality. 

As he learns how to be a fish, how to connect to his new owner, and how to navigate his way through the Moe Pet System, he also learns that there are side quests that he can take, that he can store things in his inventory, and that he can earn rewards, all of which are part of his expectations of a game system. 

He grows closer to Prince Jing and undergoes many more adventures, some of which change him, and some which give him different abilities. 

There is romance, but no descriptions of sex here, and the story is only the first part of a longer work, so it leaves you at a place where you want more. 

A very interesting and intriguing read that grew on me as I read it. Apparently the majority of readers of this type of book in China are heterosexual women, which is interesting. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Finished December 4

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot

This book is the first in the series names for this title. It is a book set in a small basement coffee shop in a back alley in Tokyo. The shop has existed for decades and there is a legend that the shop also gives customers the chance to travel back in time. 

In this book, there are four stories, each with a customer visiting the cafe with the hope that the legend is true and that they can make such a journey. But there are rules around these journeys: One is that the traveller cannot change the present, no matter what they do. Another is that you can only meet someone who has visited the coffee shop. A third is that there is only one place in the shop that you can sit to travel, and you must remain in that seat for the duration. A fourth rule is the limit of the visit, the time is takes from the coffee being poured until it gets cold. And the visitor has to drink all the coffee or they will be stuck as a ghost. 

The visitors here go back for various reasons, and we see all of these visitors in the introduction to the first story. Here Fumiko wants to go back to have a different conversation with her boyfriend Goru who recently went to work in America. 

In the second story, Kohtake wants to go back to before her husband Fusagi, who has early-onset Alzheimer's, forgot who she was. A staff member at the shop says that the reason Fusagi wanted to go back was to give her a letter, but that she can go back to get it herself. 

The third story is the story of sisters. Hirai runs a snack bar near the coffee shop. She came to Tokyo from the outskirts of Sendai, a city a few hours north of Tokyo, where her parents ran an inn. Her younger sister Kumi comes often to the cafe to try to meet Hirai, but Hirai won't talk with her. Hirai left because her parents expected her to take over running the inn and she didn't want to, and they eventually transferred their expectations to Kumi. When something happens to Kumi, Hirai knows that she wants to have that conversation with her sister that she's been avoiding. 

The fourth story shifts the conversations around travelling in time to contemplate travelling to the future and the difficulty of determining whether the one you want to meet with be there at the time you travel to. One of the coffee shop workers decides to do it, with the others promising to do what they can to ensure the meeting takes place. 

I liked the premise of the book, and the parameters around these travels in time. They are very different from what we often see in novels with time travel as a concept. 

A feel-good read that will appeal to a variety of readers. 

Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells

Finished December 22

Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells by Kelley Armstrong

This novella is part of the A Stitch in Time series where characters have access to a place where they time travel. Here, Rosalind Courtenay, her husband August, and their five-year-old son Edmund, have come to visit friends at Christmas. At their friends' home, Thorne Manor, there is a room where there is a spot where the house's family time travels often. The wife is from the present day, and the husband from Victorian Scotland, and they have lives in both time periods. Rosalind has recently returned to Victorian times after finding herself stuck in the future for a reasonably long time. So she is wary of that room, and of getting stuck away from her family again. 

When her young son goes into the future alone, she and her husband follow, and have an adventure of their own that brings them closer to each other, and initiates curiosity about their cultural past as well as about the technology of the future. 

This story also brings in a paranormal aspect as Edmund has the ability to see ghosts, and more than one appears in this story.

I haven't read any of this series, but this definitely has me interested reading more.

A Rip Through Time

Finished January 8

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

This book is the first in a series and one that definitely has me wanting more. 

Mallory Atkinson is a Vancouver homicide detective. As the story begins, she is in Edinburgh at the bedside of her dying grandmother. She takes breaks from time to time to vent her grief through distraction and activity. She goes for coffee or for a run. 

One evening, on a run, she hears a noise that might be someone in distress, and finds herself fighting off an unknown assailant in an alley in Old Town. She loses consciousness and awakens in a bed in a townhouse in New Town. She soon discovers that she is now in the year 1869 and seems to be in the body of a housemaid, Catriona Mitchell. She has no idea how this happened or how to return to her own time. 

As she learns her surroundings, she discovers that she has been lucky in the household that she has ended up in. The master of the house, Duncan Gray, is a trained doctor with a strong interest in forensics and a business as an undertaker. He is also a man of colour, and thus faces discrimination and barriers. The mistress of the household, Isla Ballantyne, his sister is a forthright intelligent woman with a scientific bent of her own. As she finds out more about the real Catriona, she is less impressed. The girl seems to have a criminal mind and bad judgment. 

Mallory, in Catriona's body, soon finds herself drawn into the cases that Duncan, with the help of his friend police detective McCreadie. Not only may she be able to help, it may relate to her own story and time. 

I really enjoyed getting to know Mallory and Isla. The male characters of Duncan and McCreadie are starting to be developed more towards the end of the book, and I look forward to seeing more of them. Mallory is an interesting character, intelligent and curious. She longs to return to her own time, and worries about whether Catriona is in her body, and if so, what havoc she is creating. She can't help but be interested in what is happening where she is though, and trying to learn more and help without creating ripples that may cause things to change in time. 

Definitely a page turner.

In a Holidaze

Finished December 10

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

This Christmas romance novel has Maelynn (Mae) Jones reliving her Christmas vacation over and over as things go wrong. Every year her family gets together with 3 others at a cottage to celebrate Christmas. The families are the college friends of her parents and this tradition is so important to everyone that her family continues it even after her parents got divorced a few years ago. 

Mae has long had a crush on the oldest son in one of the other families, Andrew, but has never said anything to anyone about it. As the book opens early on the morning of December 26th, Mae realizes that she drank too much eggnog the previous evening and had a make-out session with the younger brother of her crush, one that she has long been friends with, but never felt any sexual interest in. She doesn't know how to fix this and when it appears that others know, and that more things are going wrong, she feels even worse. 

As her family drives back to the city to catch their flight home, she makes a plea to God to show her what makes her happy. Next thing she knows a vehicle is coming at theirs, and she blacks out. When she awakens, she is on a plane and it is December 20th. And she is reliving the past few days. 

As she makes different choices, the same outcome ensues, with her back on the plane heading for Christmas vacation.

This repetition has her looking at her life with more clarity, evaluating her options and choices and taking a chance on being her real self instead of the people pleaser that she has long been. 

This is a refreshing and uplifting read (in the opinion of another people pleaser) and one that is definitely a great fit for the season. I enjoyed Mae and seeing her develop into the woman that she is. 

The Dream Daughter

Finished January 20

The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

This book grabbed me right away with its premise. The book opens in 1965, when Caroline (Carly) Grant is just starting her career as a physical therapist. Her supervisor is debating assigning a new patient with a broken ankle to her, but is concerned about his mental state. Her decision is preempted when the young man, Hunter Poole, sees her across the room and calls out, asking for her to work with him. The two get along well, and share some interests. She's intrigued by his ability to know songs that have just been released. But Carly knows that he and her sister would have more in common.

The story then jumps forward five years. Carly married her childhood sweetheart Joe Sears, and moved with him to North Carolina as he enlisted in the military. But he was recently sent to Vietnam and was killed there. Carly is pregnant, and is getting her baby tested as there seem to be some issues. She is staying with her sister Patti, and her brother-in-law Hunter and their young son. 

When Carly's baby turns out to have a heart defect that will prove fatal after birth, Hunter reveals his secret to her. He has time traveled from the future, and he can send her into the future to get an operation that may save her child's life. Carly doesn't believe him, until he predicts some events that happen. And she remembers other things that have illustrated future knowledge over the years. And she determines to go into that future and try to save her baby's life. 

Carly is a strong woman, one who's taken on a career in her own time, and one who can think on her feet. She will need all of these attributes as she jumps to April 2001 and connects with Hunter's mother to get the help she needs to survive in that time and the paperwork she will need to get her medical assistance. 

As we see Carly face choice after choice, connect to the various people she meets from Hunter and his mother, to the hospital staff, the staff at the residence she stays at, and others, we see her caring nature, as well as her confidence in her own abilities grow. 

There were times that I wanted to put the book down as I was wary of the way the plot was heading, and times when I felt for Carly in her situation. This is a story of hope, of faith, of strength, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Vintage 1954

Finished March 20
Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain, translated by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce

This light novel has an interesting premise, time travel from wine made from grapes affected by an alien spacecraft. It's way better than that sounds.
Back in 1954, Pierre Chauveau saw a UFO. It appeared suddenly above his vineyard, stayed for a while, then suddenly disappeared. He was not the only one to report a sighting that year. No explanation for the phenomenon was ever discovered. In 1978, he opened a bottle of wine that he had laid down from that vintage, and shared a little (as he always did) with his German shepherd. The next morning, the two of them set off for work at the winery, but never arrived.
The main story begins in 2017, where a group of people get together for an impromptu celebration at an apartment building. They are all living there, some temporarily like Bob Brown, an American staying in an Airbnb on a long-planned trip to Paris, missing his wife Goldie who is in a coma in hospital back home in Milwaukee, and who was supposed to be with him. Others had recently moved into the building, like Magalie Lecoeur, a restoration specialist who took over a former carpet shop on the ground floor and used the former sixth floor storeroom as her apartment. Julien Chauveau, great-grandson of Pierre, also recently moved in to a small apartment in the building. Julien is a barman at the famous Harry's Bar, and has always been fascinated by his ancestor's story. Hubert Larnaudie, on the other hand, has lived in the building his whole life. It was his family who originally built it in 1868, and gradually sold off bits as they needed the funds. He retains a lot of pride in the building and its fixtures and accoutrements, and has recently raised the issue of the security of the cellars, many of whose shutters are broken leading to some recent burglaries. When he goes down to the cellars to check on them, he is drawn back into memories as he finds the myriad of items his family has stored over the years. One of them is a bottle of 1954 wine. When he gets locked in the cellars, he cries out for help, and it is Bob, arriving at the apartment, who hears his call for help. As he sends Bob to Magalie for assistance, Julien is also there, and after releasing Hubert and securing the cellars temporarily, Hubert invites them up to his apartment to share the bottle of wine.
When they awake and venture out the next morning, they find themselves in a bright sunny Paris, and each only gradually realizes that it is 1954. And then the adventures begin as they find each other and try to figure out how to get back to their own time.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar

Finished November 16
Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar by Olga Wojtas

I have to say that this book was a disappointing read. It was chosen for a book club kit on a whim as the main character's name was similar to mine and she was a librarian. Blurbs compared it to the works of Jasper Fforde, which I've enjoyed.
My book club read it, and we were universally disappointed. The main character, Shona was not likeable, and her backstory was missing. So we didn't understand how she came to time travel, nor why, nor what her role back in modern-day Scotland was. There was a lot of reference to the book The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as a book that was anathema to Shona and Miss Blaine, but no real details of why.
Shona is on a mission in 19th-century Russia, but she doesn't know the details of the mission, nor does she know exactly what year it is. She may have been able to learn by listening more closely to the people she meets, but instead tries to use clues from various practices and inventions to narrow down the time period. There is a note at the end that says there are clues in the book that one can follow to find out the year, but frankly none of us in my book club could be bothered.
We didn't find the purported humour that was supposed to be present in the book either. Most of us were annoyed by the superior attitude that Shona showed, particularly as she didn't measure up in her actions. She seemed rather full of herself.
The book seems to indicate that it is the first of a series, but I'm not interested in reading more in this line.
On the positive side, it was a quick and easy read and we all finished the whole book. One of our members commented on the translation issues that Shona had when speaking Russian and using various phrases that didn't translate to mean what she wanted, and felt this was an insight into the nature of language and idioms.

So You Created a Wormhole

Finished December 7
So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel by Phil Hornshaw & Nick Hurwitch

This guide is for a situation that doesn't actually exist, but is supposed to occur in the near future. The possibility of time travel has come true, and many people are doing it for many reasons. This guide offers some advice for those who plan to engage in this activity.
The book begins with warnings against reading the book. The authors purport to be representatives of the Qualified Users and Negotiators of Time Travel Universal Ministry (QUAN+UM). They discourage the increase in the number of people engaged in time travel, especially by those unprepared, and they are worried about ill-prepared time travellers making serious mistakes that will affect the present and future, not to mention the past.
Once they've assumed that you are reading it anyway, it continues with a welcome and introduction to the details of time travel. They go on to show that the ideas that you may have about time travel may not be realistic.
The third chapter is on time machines, how to build them and destroy them. The fourth chapter talks about potential paradoxes and what they could mean for you. The fifth chapter deals with the complexities of existing in different times, engaging with other time travellers, or even yourself.
They go on to discuss the necessity of fixing a timeline if you have screwed it up, something that is expected to be done. Included here is a timeline of time travel events.
The next section of the book deals with survival in different times. It begins with an overall introduction and then is split into sections of time: Prehistory; Dawn of Man; Empires; Middle Ages; Industry; Computers; Robots; Space Travel; and the End of Time.
Each of this has sections that help you identify the time from your surroundings, things to bring, things that happen during this time; creatures and people you might encounter and how to best deal with them, how to repair your time machine should that be necessary, and how to blend in.
The book ends with some information about the Ministry.
I found it an amusing read, with references to various books, movies, and TV shows that have had elements of time travel in them.

The Scribe of Siena

Finished November 29
The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer

The book centers on neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato. Beatrice's mother died given birth to her, along with her twin sister. She was raised by her brother Benjamin, who was 17 at the time. He did a fantastic job, and the two remained extremely close. Benjamin was an historian, but also a scientist, and he was researching the Black Death and why it took a greater toll on Siena than any other area in Italy. Beatrice was already planning to take some much needed vacation and visit him in Siena, when he died suddenly. She is determined to continue his research in honour of him. When she gets to Siena, she finds herself finding a place for herself there. When not buried in research, she explores the city and makes friends with a neighbouring family. When she comes across the diary of a painter who lived in the same time period as the outbreak of the Black Death, fresco artist Gabriele Accorsi, she is drawn to his words, and when she finds one of his paintings that contains an image of a woman with her own face, she is struck by the connection. As her immersion in the past becomes stronger, she finds herself suddenly transported to the Siena of 1347, and extremely grateful for the skills in language and history that she learned thanks to Benjamin.
As she makes a place for herself in this foreign world, she continues her brother's research as best she can, meeting some of the players in the books she's been studying. Meeting Gabriele Accorsi himself is almost more than she can believe, and as she finds a real life connection with this strong-willed but gentle man, she also finds that her life and actions are not always within her control.
For those who love time travel and romance, with a touch of intrigue, this book is a winner. Highly recommended for readers who loved The Outlander and Discovery of Witches. I could hardly put it down.
Like Discovery of Witches, the author knows her history and uses real life historical characters and events to bring the story to life.

Follow Me Down

Finished October 22
Follow Me Down by Julie Hearn

This novel has been sitting on my shelves for a while and it came to the top of a pile when I was doing some reorganizing. The story takes place in East London, where twelve-year-old Tom and his mother have come to visit his grandmother. Tom's been here once before, nearly ten years ago, but he has some memories from that time. One of the things that he remembers is the dark basement and a crack across it, a crack that widens and that allows him to jump it to another time. He remembers a fairy girl named Astra. And now she is calling to him again.
This time when Tom reenters that world, he is nearly a teenager, and mature for his age. He recognizes that Astra is in danger and tries to think of a way to save her. There is a lot going on that Tom doesn't understand, but what he does understand makes him fearful for Astra and his other new friends.
Back in his own time, Tom observes the discomfort between his mother and grandmother. His mother has recently survived a bout with breast cancer and his grandmother seems to be of the school where such things are not discussed. Tom cares deeply for his mother, and knows her regimen and diet, and tries to do what he can to support her. He doesn't want to be here in London and he thinks his mother is facing a losing battle in trying to connect more deeply with his grandmother, but as Tom becomes more involved in Astra's situation, he finds himself needing to stay to see his plan through.
A tale of history and magic, of greed and exploitation, of people just trying to survive despite physical handicaps they have no control over. A fascinating read.

The Tourist

Finished January 2
The Tourist by Robert Dickinson

This science fiction thriller is set around an incident happening in the 21st century in England. Spens is a young man working for a tourist resort for travellers who have come from the future to visit this time and place. It is apparently an open secret that these visitors are from the future and they exert a certain control, perhaps through threats, that no one interferes with them.
Workers like Spens have some knowledge of what happens in this time period, but not complete knowledge and there is some suspicion that they are purposefully not told everything. Spens is supposed to take a group by bus to a local mall, where they can roam individually for a few hours. On their trip back to the resort, the bus will get in a minor accident. All the tourists know this and have chosen this particular trip for the additional excitement of the accident.
However after everyone gets back on board after the accident, one tourist is missing. This was not something that Spens was told was going to happen, and he does not know what it means.
Spens interacts regularly with a female guide from another resort, Li. They often sit with each other at the mall while waiting for their groups to finish, and sometimes go out after work.
Spens also knows his own future to a certain extent. Knows that he is sent back soon for a breach of protocol and he wonders if this incident is related to that.
As Spens tries to find his missing tourist, with the help of a security officer at his own resort, he also is helped by a relatively new guide from another resort, Edda. Edda seems to have additional skills and knowledge and proves quite helpful
He briefly meets someone he knew at school, but who has obviously taken a different path, and is now much older than Spens. He wonders how much he is supposed to share with authorities about this.
The chapters move back and forth between Spens in the 21st century, an unnamed older man that the reader suspects to be Spens later in life, the missing tourist, and another female voice at an indeterminate time.
I found the chapter changes a bit confusing, as I wasn't always sure who the speaker was and what time they were in. The story is one of shadows and mirrors, no one sure what is real, what is fake, what is manipulated and what is accidental. Is there a conspiracy? Can one change the future by taking an action in the past? What really happened on earth? Lots of questions. Few answers.

Rings of Passage

Finished April 12
Rings of Passage by Karla Tipton

As the novel begins Anise Wynford is leaving the house in Massachusetts she has recently learned she inherited from her late father, a man she barely knew. Someone seems to present and nervous, she runs from the porch, putting on the ring she found in the house. She falls, dreams of being in a suit of armor on a horse in the middle of a battle and when she awakens she doesn't recognize her surroundings. As she is rescued by a horseman, she loses consciousness again, and wakens again in a bed in a stone room, and gradually realizes that she has been transported to another time and place. She is now in England in the time of Richard III.
We also see this story from Richard's point of view, as he too dreams of a dark-haired woman before rescuing that woman, Anise, from a place near his castle. Richard is still mourning the loss of his wife, yet feels strangely drawn to this woman. He is preparing for a challenge to his kingship, and while Anise is aware of the history, she wonders if she dares to alter it.
As the feelings between the two grow, and the role of the rings both Richard and Anise possess becomes known to more people, they must make decisions that affect each other and possibly the future.
This is a story of love, fate, and has a touch of fantasy to it with the magic of the rings and their origin. It is a story of intrigue and treason, of plots and battles. It is also a story of romance and passion.

A Pair of Docks

Finished March 28
A Pair of Docks by Jennifer Ellis

This novel is the first in a series titled The Derivatives of Displacement. Siblings Simon, Abbey and Caleb are close, particularly the twins Abbey and Caleb. When Abby sees Simon packing a backpack and heading off into the forest, she knows something is up. This is not usual behaviour for her older brother. She seeks out Caleb and the two follow him. They watch him stop at a tree, do something on the ground and then disappear. They are startled, and go to investigate, finding some stones on the ground there. As they touch the stones, they too are drawn out of their present-day world into a scene of clean building, a lake and spaceships. When they catch up to Simon, the three young people ad lib their way through encounters with people in this world, and are surprised to catch a glimpse of someone they know from present day.
Abbey is the most hesitant of the three about going through the stones, worried about being unable to return, and about what they may encounter.
Back home, the three plan for another visit, but when the go, the world they enter is one of a vast desert with sand dunes in every direction. What does this mean, and what is it about this world that makes Abbey feel ill.
Back home, Mark, a neighbour who lives up the hill with his mother and who has Asperger's is also concerned about their going through the stones. The reader gradually learns what unsettles Mark about this, and about other players in this gate through to future worlds.
This is a story about possibilities, about learning who you are and what you are capable of. A very interesting series that will appeal to many. Simon has computer skills, Abbey is a science geek, and Caleb is more creative. A good mix of skill sets for the challenges they encounter.

Ysabel

Finished December 15
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

I've had this on my shelf for years, but when I finally picked it up, I couldn't put it down. The book takes place in Provence, France, and the narrator is 15-year-old Ned Marriner, a Canadian whose father, Edward, is a famous photographer. His dad is taking photos for a book, and with Ned's mom, Meghan, working with Doctors without Borders in the Sudan, Ned has been taken out of school to join his dad.
Along with Ned and his father are his father's super-organized assistant Melanie, and two other crew, Greg and Steve. They are renting a house in the hills above Aix-en-Provence, where two local women are working for them cooking and cleaning. Both are named Vera.
On the first day in Aix, when Edward is setting up to take photographs of the cathedral, Ned goes inside. And here, things are set in motion for an experience that will change Ned's life forever. First he meets a girl his age, Kate, who is an exchange student from the U.S. staying with a local family for the year. The two of them encounter a strange man, and they find him both threatening and intriguing.
Ned also finds himself feeling the presence of this man in a strange way, and he begins to realize that something within him has changed. When a family member he has never met appears, drawn by his new feelings, he finds himself happy to accept her assistance in understanding what is going on around him, and what he seems to have become a part of.
When Ned and Kate are drawn to an ancient site, suddenly things get very dangerous and one of Ned's group is transformed into an ancient presence, perhaps never to return.
As Ned shares his understanding of the ancient story that their group has been drawn into, it will take all of them to find a way to change the story and make a new ending to the ancient tale.
I found the whole story fascinating, and really liked the characterization of him. He felt like a real young man in his reactions and thoughts. Definitely a new favourite.

Beautiful Goodbye

Finished January 31
Beautiful Goodbye by Nancy Runstedler

This children's novel follows young Maggie who has recently lost her father. Maggie is still filled with grief over her loss. Their family has moved across town to a less expensive house and Maggie's mother seems to be working all the time. This means Maggie must babysit her younger brother Cole.
One Saturday when Maggie's best friend Gillian is visiting, she decides to explore the attic in the old house. Gillian discovers a Ouija board, and the two girls decide to try it out by asking a few questions. After all, it is only a game isn't it? The board leads the three children on an adventure they would never have expected and changes them all.
I remember having a Ouija board when I was young, but have no idea what happened to it. I liked this story for what it said about grief and how life goes on despite it. It is also cool that the author is a librarian.

Shadow of Night

Finished November 19
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

This is the second book in the series that began with A Discovery of Witches.
It takes up where that one left off. Diana and Matthew are now in 16th century England, landing in Matthew's home in Woodstock. They have travelled to have the time for Diana to develop her abilities and learn more about herself, away from the immediate threats to the couple in the 21st century. But there are threats to them in this time as well. Another purpose of their trip is to find Ashmole 782, the book Diana was able to call up once in the Bodleian but that has eluded them since. Their travels here take them back to Sept-Tours, to London, and to Prague. Diana is in danger from other creatures, and from powerful humans, and Matthew and his relations must work diligently to keep her safe.
Diana encounters more members of Matthew's family, and begins to make friends of her own. Some of these friends are those Matthew introduces her to, and some are ones she meets herself. Part of the purpose here is to learn more about her skills, and that means meeting witches who can help her and teach her. This is accomplished, and Diana learns the true nature of her witch abilities, the reason she has trouble learning spells, and the way to direct her skills to best effect. Most of the witches she meets are of the time, but she does encounter another time-walking witch that she spends time with.
The couple also find the trail to Ashmole 782, and learn more about this mysterious work, the cause of the missing pages, and some of its nature.
But their presence creates changes in history and Matthew's relatives in the present try to contain these effects as much as they can.
Using many real historical figures, Harkness brings history to life while also furthering the personal adventures of the couple. Meeting kings and queens, writers and thinkers, the two move in interesting circles.
This book will leave you eager for the next installment.

Children's Fiction

Finished March 13
I couldn't sleep so I sat up and read a pile of kid's books I've been considering for gifts. And they were all winners!
I started with The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean. This book follows a young boy in France, who has been told that he won't live until his fourteenth birthday. He has lived his life praying and following strict guidelines. As the day of his fourteenth birthday approaches, he breaks away from his life, taking on the persona of a variety of others as he runs from his supposed destiny. From ship's captain, to delicatessen worker, to journalist, to telegram boy, to the foreign legion, he finds himself friends, allies, and adventures. A great tale of belief, self-reliance, and perception.
Next up was When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. This tale follows Miranda a young girl in New York City. Miranda lives in an apartment with her mother, and helps her prepare to compete on a game show. Strange things start happening in her life. Her friend Sal gets punched for no apparent reason by a boy in their neighbourhood, the spare key for Miranda's apartment goes missing, and then she gets a mysterious note. It asks that she do something to save her friend's life. At first Miranda is confused and then scared. As another note comes to her, she begins to wonder if she can do what it asks. Along the way, Miranda makes new friends, and learn new wonderful things. A tale that was delightful.
The third book is Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. Here, Caitlin and her father are trying to come to terms with the sudden violent death of Caitlin's older brother Devon. Caitlin has Asperger's, and she has trouble reading other people's emotions and finding the appropriate response. She works with a counselor at her school who helps her find ways to improve her skills. As she looks for ways to deal with her own grief and loss and help her father deal with his, she becomes engrossed with the idea of Closure and works toward a way of finding it. A wonderful story that lets you inside Caitlin's head to see what someone with Asperger's experiences, and how their unique outlook can affect those around them. A wonderful story.
The fourth book I read was a Canadian fantasy book, Nieve by Terry Griggs. Nieve lives with her parents in a small town near a larger city. Her parents are professional weepers, hired by those experiencing loss or sadness. Her grandmother follows the old ways and has taught them to Nieve. When some of the people in town disappear, including Nieve's best friend Malcolm, she gets worried. Nieve finds strange weeds that start to grow everywhere and a duo, Wormius and Ashe, who arrive in town trailing a cloud of darkness. The darkness spreads everywhere and more and more people go missing. Nieve finally is able to go to her grandmother who shows her how to help her community overcome the darkness that is threatening to destroy them. From evil injections, to spirits, to magical footwear, Nieve finds new friends, strength in herself and great adventure. A very interesting tale of good versus evil.
A very productive night!