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Book Review: The Collector of Burned Books

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The Collector of Burned Books
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance

When the Nazis invade Paris, they also take over a library full of books that were banned in Germany. The man sent to catalogue and update this and other libraries in Paris is Christian Bauer, who is only a Nazi officer as a means for survival. Corinne Bastien, a neighbor of the library and regular frequenter, makes herself a target of Christian and some of his Nazi compatriots when she sneaks into the library to try to recover some secrets she’d left behind. But Christian doesn’t want to cause problems for her any more than he does anyone else. Will he be able to stay true to his beliefs when his superiors push for destruction?

I was excited to read this book, because I read and loved White’s The Imposters series, set in Edwardian England, and I enjoy WWII fiction. However, it felt a little off to me. Corinne was a pretty terrible resistance worker, leaving evidence sitting around and drawing so much attention to herself. By the end of the book, the Nazis involved felt a little too much like an idealized version of what I’m used to, both in fiction and non-fiction. I actually hoped for information in an author’s note explaining why White made some of the choices she did—factual evidence or anecdotes to explain why most of the German soldiers and authorities in this book are, frankly, more polite and forgiving than how they’re usually portrayed, but there was nothing. It just felt somehow like the stakes and consequences were lower than they should be, given the setting.

On the plus side, Christian is a very sympathetic male hero. My favorite moments in this book are related to his story. I appreciate that his faith and devotion to his homeland require him to walk a thin line between going along with the Nazi Party and doing what he believes is right. And yet, he questions whether he is sinning when he lies to protect a life. I’m not sure I would agree with the line drawn here in answer to that question, but I also can readily admit that none of us knows for sure what we would do in this kind of situation. The main characters in the book are Catholic and observe various practices that are extra-biblical at best. This is probably not the best platform to go into detail or start a debate, but I think some people would appreciate knowing this information in advance. Overall, the book fell short of my expectations, but I think many people would easily overlook the things that brought the rating down for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tyndale House Publishers for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Beauty in the Least

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Beauty in the Least
McGee and Me! #12
by Bill Myers & Robert West

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian fiction

This was my least favorite book in the series, which is a shame, since it’s also the last, leaving me on a not-so-high note. It just doesn’t have the same feel as the rest of the series. The entire family is so put out by these visiting foreigners, and I’m not really sure anyone learns much of a lesson in the end. The father and son duo provide the only real heart in the story, and it’s overall pretty brief. Considering all of the growing Nicholas has done throughout these books, I just think he should be beyond the petty, immature behavior he displays here—or at least that he should get past it a little more quickly. So sadly, I wouldn’t recommend this book on its own, but the rest of the series is still great. These books may not be easy to find anymore, but if you do have the chance to read any of them or procure them for an 8-10-year-old child, I recommend it.

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Book Review: Mary Anne Saves the Day

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Mary Anne Saves the Day
The Baby-Sitters Club #4
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

Mary Anne was the character I most identified with in this series. She’s quiet, shy, and doesn’t like conflict. And she makes a new friend by sort of falling into it, which is about the only way I ever made new friends in school too. Her character grows a lot in this one book, as she confronts not only her fighting friends but also her over-protective dad. The fight between the members of the BSC is unfortunately very realistic for the age they are. Of course, as an adult, I wanted to sit them all down and make them stop being stupid, but I’m sure when I read it originally, I sided with one or another of the characters. Also as an adult, I feel like it’s a bit of an overreaction to take a kid with a fever and no other symptoms to the emergency room unless the kid had some kind of pre-existing medical condition. Overall, though, this was a fun book to re-visit.

Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: Cloaked in Beauty

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Cloaked in Beauty
by Karen Witemeyer

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance

Scarlett Radcliffe is heir to a fortune left to her by her late father. But her father’s brother wants the inheritance for himself and is willing to kill to get it. To keep her safe from her uncle, Scarlett’s mother sends her away from the age of 6 until her 21st birthday, when she will be able to fully inherit the fortune and hopefully give her uncle no more cause to pursue her. When that time comes, Pinkerton agent Philip Carmichael is sent by Scarlett’s mother to bring her home safely.

It was difficult to find much to like about this book for me. A lot of it is personal preference, the most glaring one being that the romance was far too big a part of the plot and steamier than I prefer, especially in Christian fiction. I’ll address that last part first for others who are like me and want to know about this kind of thing before deciding to read a book. Other reviewers will call the romance sweet and clean, and I’m not disputing that there was nothing graphic or even all that physical involved. But the bulk of the plot seemed to consist of the author finding ways to put the two main characters (physically) close together so they could “notice” each other and have flutterings and such. I’m not going to go on at length about this, but I will just say that I was left with the feeling that the author really wanted to write mainstream romance but was stuck writing Christian romance for whatever reason and so skirts as close to the line as she can get away with. This may seem harsh and is probably completely untrue, but some scenes are close to the line, at least in my view. And even beyond those issues, physical attraction is not the same as romance. To me, it usually just means that the author doesn’t really know how to write real chemistry and connection between two characters and has to resort to physical sparks and even lust.

Now for the rest—the plot was fairly predictable and the characters were one-dimensional. I’d be hard-pressed to tell you a single flaw that either of the MCs had, other than maybe them both being stubborn, but even that trait is shown more as a strength than a weakness. The villain is ultimately an unnecessary, replaceable cliché, and I think that, had more time been spent on the rest of the plot and less on the time the two MCs traveled together, the story and characters could have been more fleshed out. This book, and the series it’s part of, is billed as a fairy tale retelling. I don’t read a lot of retellings, and I did see a lot of allusions to the two fairy tales mentioned (“Little Red Riding Hood” and “Sleeping Beauty”)—though much more the former than the latter—it didn’t seem like what I’d call a retelling. That didn’t bother me or affect my rating, but I thought it was worth mentioning. 

I don’t like to write reviews like this, and I did give the book 2 stars, mostly because the characters do trust God pretty unwaveringly in the story and because it just doesn’t feel like a 1-star book. But I was fairly bored during most of the middle and ended up doing a LOT of skimming. I wouldn’t personally recommend this book, but if you are not bothered by the things I mentioned in my review, please check out the link below to read the positive reviews and decide if this is a book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Stellar English

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Stellar English
by Frank L. Cioffi

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Grammar guide / sci-fi story

Part grammar guide, part sci-fi novel, Stellar English was a very different kind of read. For a few years after high school I often consulted a grammar guide I was given by my high school AP English teacher, and I definitely only opened it when I needed to remind myself of certain grammar rules while writing. (I guess books like that are pretty obsolete now, when one can simply look online for answers to grammar questions, assuming that one cares enough about their grammar to ask a question.) In some ways, this book reminds me of that guide that I had, but where that guide used sentences from other published works, this guide’s example sentences were written to form a new work of fiction—the story of an alien invasion on Earth.

Understandably, I never read the entirety of the grammar guide I got in high school. However, Cioffi seems to have a strong desire for people, even in our present age of the internet and AI, to have a good grasp of grammar, so the sci-fi narrative throughout the guide is intended to entice a reader to read through the entire book, not just look for info on an as-needed basis. I read the book as intended, though I have to admit to skimming some of the grammar section when the information was something I feel I have a good grasp on. Still, I picked up a few helpful tidbits and felt justified in having ignored the “don’t end a sentence with a preposition” rule that I have long felt makes little sense to follow so strictly anymore. The somewhat conversational tone made the grammar part of the book not as tedious as it might sound.

As for the narrative told in the example sentences, it is easy to follow and overall a brief, somewhat shallow story. Aliens land on Earth, and the focus is more on the human reaction to the perceived invasion than on the aliens themselves. At times the pace is very slow, and at times it jumps ahead quickly. Considering the nature and context of the story being told, I can’t really fault the pacing choices though. The story of the invasion and the aliens themselves were inventive, though a little less exciting in the end than I might have hoped for. And there was some unnecessary political commentary in the story that bugged me a little. Overall, though, the story did its job in giving me a reason to read through the book in its entirety (minus some skimming). Anyone who is interested in improving their grammar or simply in reading a unique take on a grammar guide or a sci-fi story should considering picking up a copy of Stellar English.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Murder in Mesopotamia

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Murder in Mesopotamia
Hercule Poirot #14
by Agatha Christie
read by Anna Massey

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

Not my favorite of the Poirot stories I’ve listened to so far. A lot of it is personal preference, though, like the jarring change in narrator, which probably wouldn’t have been an issue if I wasn’t listening to the audiobooks and used to male voices. The setting and background situation in the story, an archeological expedition in Iraq (or something like that), could have been interesting, but it was pretty meagerly used. The resolution to this story was a little bizarre and not very believable. And man, did it feel like it took a really long time for Poirot to actually appear in the story (though this isn’t the first one that I felt that way about). Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t live up to my favorites in the series so far.

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Book Review: The Truth About Stacey

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The Truth About Stacey
The Baby-Sitters Club #3
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

I have to admit that the storyline of Stacey trying to break out from under her over-protective parents didn’t resonate much with me. That’s probably because I’ve never been in the same situation as either a child or a parent. I suppose some would say my mom was overprotective, but it was in a very different way and I didn’t feel particularly bothered by it at the time. The side plot about the competitive agency interested me a little more, especially since I knew that of course the BSC would come out on top. Their reactions may have been a bit immature, but hey, they’re 12-year-olds, after all! Sometimes they talk or act older than that, but it’s nice to have a reminder that they’re still…well, immature.

Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: The Boxcar Children

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The Boxcar Children
Book #1
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Phyllis Newman

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I know I read at least the first book in this series when I was younger, but I don’t remember much after that. Truth be told, apparently I didn’t remember the first one very well either, because…(spoiler alert, but hey, the book is about a century old) I really thought the kids would live in the boxcar for more than just one book. Clearly my memory is faulty, not that that’s a surprise to me. But I digress…the story is sweet, but boy was this a different time. Nowadays, if there was an older man who set up an event because he liked to watch teenage boys run…he’d probably be arrested. I don’t mean to say that the man in this book had any ill intent, but it’s certainly something no one would include in a book these days.

I liked all the different kinds of ingenuity the kids employed to set up their home and give it some semblance of normalcy, from their dishes to the “refrigerator.” And though at least one adult they meet is heinous, at least other adults are kind and compassionate, so it avoids that trope of “all adults are evil” some kids books have. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Phyllis Newman, and though I don’t know if I can accurately explain what I mean, I felt her voice worked really well for the time period this is set in. It reminded me of a record I listened to as a kid with a woman narrating some story. I could see this book being fun for younger kids nowadays to read or listen to (or have read to them), though they might have some questions about things that are very different from our world today.

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Book Review: The Alcatraz Escape

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The Alcatraz Escape
Book Scavenger #3
by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade adventure

An escape room in Alcatraz? What’s not to love?! Of course, there’s more to the story as Emily, James, and Matthew test their wits against fellow book scavengers and other puzzle lovers. Someone clearly doesn’t want Emily involved, and the man who helped create the story for the escape room is more than a little mysterious. Then Matthew is blamed for several mean-spirited incidents, so Emily has to kick her puzzling into high gear.

As an escape room enthusiast, I often find that books that are billed to be about escape rooms are the worst at being true to the real-life experience. This book was the first that I’ve read with escape rooms mentioned in the synopsis that had a true escape-room feel, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The rest of the plot involving the mysterious game maker and Matthew being suspected as a villain was good as well. I think the inclusion of several of Emily’s classmates may have bloated the character list a little too much, and it was difficult to keep some of them straight. Overall, though, this was a good wrap-up to a series about books and puzzles that I have really enjoyed, and I think that as a kid, I would have loved it all the more. So it’s easy to recommend it to kids aged around 10-14 (my 14-year-old daughter loved it as well) but also for teens and even adults who enjoy books and puzzles.

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Book Review: Dogged Pursuit

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Dogged Pursuit
Andy Carpenter #31
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

In this prequel to the 30-book series, Andy Carpenter is a new defense attorney, making the change from prosecution, against the advice of so many. With his marriage a little uncertain and wanting to make further changes in his life, Andy goes to the shelter to adopt a dog and falls in love with a golden retriever named Tara. He doesn’t want to split her up from the dog she’s been sharing a space with, so he tries to adopt both Tara and Sunny. However, Sunny is mixed up in a criminal case with her owner, who is currently being charged with murder. Soon enough, Andy is mixed up in that criminal case too, as he ends up taking Sunny’s owner on as a client.

I’m never sure what to expect with a prequel, and I’ll admit that I was a little nervous going into this one. At the beginning of the book, there’s a note where Rosenfelt acknowledges that there is a continuity issue with Tara, mostly that he knows a golden retriever wouldn’t actually live as long as she does throughout this series. I wouldn’t have questioned that, but I did question the use of some side characters who, from what I can remember of when they were introduced in some of the earlier books in the main series, didn’t seem to have the history with Andy that this book showed.

Leaving aside continuity questions (which was not difficult for me to do, especially considering that I was sad about the potential loss of Andy’s team, yet several of them are still here), this book was a fun, new take on the series while still having the same cleverness and humor that I love about the series. The formula is mostly intact, even with this being a prequel. I could see this being a good place for someone new to the series to start reading, though it’s definitely more similar in style to the later books than the earlier ones. Either way, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, whether you’ve read any of this series before  or not.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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