The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon

Amy   


historical fiction

Butch Cassidy is at a point in his life that he is dissatisfied with running from the law and, instead, longs for a more honest living. He discovers Jane Toussant singing on stage and is instantly touched by her voice and her beauty. When she mistakes him for Dr. Noble Salt, who was called to care for her sick son, Butch plays along with the mistaken identity and manages to successfully help the boy due to his experience nursing his many siblings.  A few years later, they meet by chance and Jane instantly proposes that he work as her bodyguard on her tour through America. He accepts.

The Outlaw Noble Salt took the real-life, infamous Butch Cassidy and gave him an alternate history, showing a side of him that was admirable and honest. Most of this story was invented by Amy Harmon but everything felt plausible and I found myself drawn into Butch and Jane’s world.  Harmon’s version of Cassidy was, deep down, a caring person who regretted leaving home and never seeing his mother again.  The loveable characters, some of whom were other famous outlaws, pulled me in. The historical aspects revealed in the tale were also engaging.

Harmon is an awesome author. I’ve read most of her novels. They are all so different from each other and display a variety of genres, settings, and time periods. But they are all populated with people who must rise above their circumstances. And they all include terrific love stories that warm my heart. This one is no different. I thought it was brave of Harmon to take on a legendary character and make him her own.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me early access to this novel in exchange for an honest review. This novel will be released on April 9, 2024.

   

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley

Lynnie      
Amy          

contemporary fiction

 

In The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, 

Louise Wilt is an octogenarian who is recovering from a broken hip. Her children mandate that Louise get a live-in caretaker and find family friend, Tanner, a college-age woman with her own recent injury, to take the job. Louise and Tanner fall into a routine of mutual avoidance (unless Tanner is driving Mrs. Wilt to her appointments) until Tanner begins to notice strange things about Mrs. Wilt.

Lynnie's Review

This was a great book from beginning to end. It was easy to like both Tanner and Louise despite the initial cantankerousness of both as Colleen Oakley has created characters that you want to know better. Despite, or perhaps because of, their age difference, Tanner and Louise make a wonderful pair and each have lessons to learn from one another. As Tanner and Louise both allow their hard shells to crack just a bit for one another, we learn more about the circumstances that brought them to their current situation and about the tenacity of a woman on a mission.

I truly enjoyed the banter between the characters in this book. Whether it was Louise and Tanner or any of the side characters, the dialogue was always entertaining. This is the buddy road trip story you never knew you needed. It would make a fantastic movie or TV series - I could picture the events perfectly in my mind.

I definitely recommend this book. It's a fun, feel-good adventure that will bring a smile to your face.

Amy's Review

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise is about the adventures of octogenarian, Louise, and her 21-year-old summer live-in caregiver, Tanner.  They disappear together after Tanner has been living with Louise for a few weeks causing Louise’s children to file a missing person’s report with the police. What they don’t know is that the FBI is also interested in finding Louise.

This novel was one of those where two people didn’t realize they needed each other until they were thrown together and stuff happened. Neither of them were particularly thrilled when Louise’s daughter hired Tanner to drive Louise to her appointments and help around the house. But Tanner, whose college athletic hopes had been ruined due to an accident, needed a job and Louise needed a driver. So, after a prickly beginning, they are forced to get to know each other better once Louise has to take an urgent journey across the country.

Neither of them are particularly likeable at the beginning but they grow on the readers the more we get to know them and understand their pasts.  This was a fun story that spotlighted the power of women and the power of friendship. I especially loved Louise’s no-nonsense personality and Tanner’s caring heart. They made a terrific team. And the ending was better than I anticipated!

The audiobook was narrated by Hillary Huber who seems to be a hot narrator these days, having narrated several novels to which I’ve listened lately.  She did a terrific job with all the characters in this one and was able to put her snarky voice to use perfectly with Tanner and Louise.  I’ll give her an A.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

Amy  

fantasy

June has known that all the women in her family tend to lose their minds eventually. Anticipating this for herself, she has avoided most close relationships and entanglements and has dreaded the day it would start happening to her.  Her mother had disappeared when she was born and she’s been raised by her grandmother. When her grandmother dies, June begins to accept that her decline into madness has already begun. But she soon learns that this ticking time bomb is not actually what she thought it was.

I was often ahead of June because the story unraveled slowly. Adrienne Young tended to repeat points that had already been made. I kept wanting her to pick up the pace. But, while I wished it went faster, The Unmaking of June Farrow pulled me in. I relished learning the details and wanted to find out how the characters were affected. And, eventually, the pace did pick up.

While I don’t want to say too much about the plot so I don’t give anything away, I usually like this (unnamed) sub-genre of fantasy. So I was patient with the novel. For those who have read Young’s Fable series (actually named The World of the Narrows series), this is entirely different. However, it is very atmospheric like Fable was. I felt immersed in the settings.

While I said the story pacing was slower than I would have liked, the audiobook narrator, Brittany Pressley, spoke too quickly. This was the very rare audiobook where I actually slowed the narration down a tick! But she had a good vocal repertoire and was a good voice actor. I’ll give her an A-.

Wonderful World of Amigurumi by Khuc Cay

Lynnie

crafts, crochet

 

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Khuc Cay's crochet patterns before, but The Wonderful World of Amigurumi holds a wonderful collection of both common and uncommon amigurumi dolls. While I have seen dozens of mermaid patterns, for example, the mermaid in this book has cute options for the face and clothing that make them unique. I particularly love the patterns for Heina the Mushroom and Sunny the Anglerfish!

The instructions are very clear in this book with lots of pictures to help guide you through the process. I also appreciate that there are patterns for different skill levels, rated from 1 to 3 stars. Someone could easily start with the 1 star patterns and move up to the 3 star patterns to improve their skills.

I'm looking forward to making some of these patterns soon. With 15 amigurumi to choose from, there is something for everyone.

Wonderful World of Amigurumi publishes on April 3, 2024. Thank you to Fox Chapel Publishing, Landauer Publishing, and NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Amy  

historical fiction

The First Ladies is about the close friendship and effective civil rights team of First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, and First Lady of the Struggle, Mary McLeod Bethune. It is a fictionalized version of their story based on a lot of genuine facts, with some facts tweaked to enhance the authors’ highlighted points, and some inventions to fill in the holes.

I believe this is the first book I’ve read about an African American woman who was born into slavery and freed in her youth. I’ve read about slaves and about descendants of slaves and about freed men but never a freed woman. And what an incredible woman she was! I loved learning about Mary McLeod Bethune. She was such an proactive, intuitive person who spearheaded many important changes for the African American community. I had never heard of her before reading this novel but I feel like everyone should learn about her! She was at the forefront of so many important groups focusing on education and equal rights. She was responsible for bringing several women’s groups together and leading them under the umbrella of the National Association of Colored Women so that they would have a voice in government. She rallied for national anti-lynching legislation. She was involved in the earliest civil rights movements.

Mrs. Bethune (as she like to be called) befriended Eleanor Roosevelt before Franklin D Roosevelt’s New York Governorship. They initially bonded over matters of education but soon partnered in pushing for equal rights for African Americans. Eleanor had goals as a First Lady and made great strides in advancing ideas and improvements that were important to her. When Eleanor and Mary worked together, their natural individual talents complemented each other and proved to be very effective. The two weren’t only political partners. They formed a close friendship and were there for each other. It was a great story! I loved learning about these impressive women.

As always with fictionalized history, you never know whether the author(s) captured the true personality of any character. But I hope that Mrs. Bethune was captured as accurately as possible. I admire her! And, of course, I’ve always admired Eleanor Roosevelt.

The audiobook was narrated by Robin Miles (voicing Bethune) and Tavia Gilbert (voicing Roosevelt). They were fantastic!  Both had large vocal repertoires and were excellent voice actors!  I give them an A!  Brava!  

Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2) by Rebecca Yarros

 

Amy   

Lynnie

romantasy, fantasy, romance

 

Following the events of Fourth Wing, Violet must survive another year at Basgiath war college while Xaden begins his service as a lieutenant guarding Navarre. As secrets are revealed, will their bond and their dragons be enough to see them through the year? 

We don't normally make separate posts about sequels. We tend to just add the sequels' reviews to the posts for the original books in the series. This is because there aren't usually too many new things to say about sequels that differ from our comments about the original novels. But we both had a lot to say about this sequel so it warrants its own blog post. 

 

Amy's Review

 

Wow.
WOW!

This really long novel, the second in The Empyrean series, was one of the most entertaining and engrossing novels I’ve read in a while. I listened to the Iron Flame audiobook and it was 28 hours long! Rebecca Yarros is an experienced romance author but I believe this series is her first foray into fantasy and I’m, frankly, stunned at how much I loved it! I’ll have to check out more of her novels.

This sequel picked up right where Fourth Wing left off. The quick pace of the story was never-ending, continually moving somewhere, and exciting. It kept me glued to the story and I would find myself creating opportunities to listen. Violet was a kick-ass heroine, there was a particularly evil new villain, Violet's  relationship with Xaden seemed more balanced, all the old friends were there in addition to new ones, and we learned more about the dragons. Iron Flame was one of those rare and special second novels in a series that was better than the first!

I’m so happy that Yarros didn’t split this novel into two novels, which would have been very easy to do. There was even the perfect spot to do it. Rather, she packed this story full of fun and adventure! There were some rough sections in terms of cruelty and violence. I did have to take a few breaks when I was dreading what was to come. But I always dove back in to find out what would happen next. I have grown to really care what happens to these characters.

Was it a perfect novel? No. There were definitely some holes, ridiculous character decisions that were only made to add drama, and Yarros made some convenient changes to “the rules” of Violet’s world along the way. For example, Andarna was supposed to be such a secret but everyone in Violet’s inner circle in this book knew everything that Violet knew about Andarna without any fanfare or anger from the dragons. Still, it was a great tale overall and I really loved it. I’ll definitely read it whenever it’s released.

The main audiobook narrator was Rebecca Soler who I’ve heard several times before reading other novels. She’s always good. However, for this novel, I wish she’d used more differentiation between Violet’s and Xaden’s voices because dialogues were often hard to follow. Also, she gave the listener no clues to tell us when Violet’s and Xaden’s conversations were via their connection versus out loud. I feel that made me miss some subtleties in the story. While she had a little repertoire of different voices, I really wished for more. I’ll give her a A- because she did a lot of good vocal acting with some crazy source material which was often frenetically paced. She made it exciting and not silly. Teddy Hamilton narrated the very end from Xaden’s point of view and he was excellent. I hope we hear more from Xaden’s point of view in future novels and that Hamilton narrates. I don’t know if Hamilton has a good vocal repertoire or not from this short narration, but I love his voice and his voice acting. It was perfect. A solid A for his small part.

 

Lynnie's Review

 

So, I feel a bit like the Empyrean party pooper, because everyone else loves these books. Similar to my feelings for Fourth Wing, I DID enjoy Iron Flame overall. There is a lot to enjoy within its pages - excellent world building, a strong heroine, dragons (!), family, found family, love, adventure, sacrifice, and betrayal...

And yet.

The relationship between Violet and Xaden is still completely unhealthy. They act every bit of their 20-something years old — immature, selfish, co-dependent, possessive, unable to have a normal conversation, playing games instead of just being honest with one another and yet completely obsessed with each other. Possibly more disturbing, they are willing to sacrifice anyone and anything including their entire society or themselves for each other; I found them infuriating.

I also found Violet somewhat tiresome during her forced separation from Xaden during Part 1. However, I really enjoyed getting to know the marked ones better as she spent more time with them and we got to know other members of the squad. Then, the second half of the book brought about a complete shift in tone and other things to enjoy and new frustrations.

I was fascinated and horrified by Delores Umbridge... oops, sorry... Vice Commandant Varrish. I listened to the audiobook of Iron Flame and the voice acting during some of the pivotal scenes with Varrish and Violet were some of the most outstanding and heartbreaking of the book. I'm sure they were equally gripping while reading but Rebecca Soler's voice acting during those scenes- wow! 

I was not surprised by the ending. After all, Yarros spends much of the novel telling you that it's coming. I guess the next novel is expected in November and I've heard there will be five books in the series so there is plenty of time for Yarros to figure out how to get the squad out of this particularly trouble. Time will tell.

Interestingly, I think I like the secondary characters more than I like Violet and Xaden. Regardless of my frustrations, I do want to know what happens next. I like the cast of characters and want to know how things work out for them.

As with the first book, I also enjoyed the one chapter that Teddy Hamilton narrated as Xaden. As I said after Fourth Wing, I would love to hear more chapters from his perspective, not just because I think Hamilton has a lovely voice, but because I think the change in perspective could really add something new to the story.

 

 

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Lynnie      
Amy         

contemporary fiction, mystery

 

Lucy Chase and her best friend Savannah (known to everyone as "Savvy") are beloved in their small Texas town. Both are beautiful and smart, but Lucy has returned from college married to a man with generational wealth, while Savvy is known as a very social butterfly with boyfriends all over town. One evening, Lucy is found walking down the road covered in Savvy's blood with no memory of what happened. Five years later, a meddlesome podcaster of "Listen for the Lie", Ben, is reopening the case on what happened that terrible night along with all the wounds associated with it.

Lynnie's Review

I have been a fan of Amy Tintera's young adult fiction for a long time so I was very excited to learn she was writing a novel for adult audiences. I am not, however, a huge fan of mysteries but, for Tintera, I was willing to give it a go and I was not disappointed.

I loved Listen for the Lie from start to finish. Lucy's matter-of-fact acceptance that everyone, including her parents, believes she murdered Savvy was refreshing and heartbreaking. I often found myself amazed at her ability to walk with her head held high in the face of the glares and the not-so-whispered suspicions. It's hard to sympathize with a suspected murderer, and yet I couldn't help but cheer for Lucy. She has learned to cope by being sarcastic, blunt and refusing to ignore the elephant in the room — that she may have murdered her best friend.

Ben Owens is likable as the podcaster trying to uncover the truth. Lucy's grandmother, Beverly, is a delight and a wonderful counterpoint to her painful parents. Lucy and Savvy's friends, their former neighbors, and Lucy's ex-husband are all interview subjects as Ben tries to fit the pieces of the puzzle together to unlock Lucy's memories and find out what happened to Savvy.

I definitely had my suspicions about who murdered Savvy along the way, and there are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing if you don't spend too much time thinking about it.

While this was completely different than any other book I've ready by Amy Tintera I enjoyed it thoroughly and I can't wait until her next one.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK, and Transworld Publisher for the advance copy.

Amy's Review

Five years ago, Lucy was implicated in the murder of her best friend but Lucy has no memory of that evening. The police didn’t uncover enough evidence to prosecute her but the people in her small town in Texas are convinced she did it.  When she agrees to go home for her grandmother’s big birthday, she has to face all the suspicion and mistrust that is thrown her way in town. 

This is the kind of mystery I enjoy—it’s about the people more than playing detective. But the mystery is compelling as well! The reader gets to go along for the ride with a key character who is directly affected by the mystery. 

While I didn’t think I would enjoy it at first because I didn’t really like Lucy, I found this novel to be un-put-downable.  True, Lucy is prickly, jaded, snarky, and resigned. But Amy Tintera allowed the reader to come to know her gradually. And the more I learned, the more I felt I understood her.   The multiple character revelations regarding the townspeople that were sprinkled throughout the novel hooked me.

The audiobook narrators were both phenomenal!  They both had incredible vocal repertoires. Since this novel includes interviews with multiple people, the narrators had a huge cast of characters to play and they seemed to give each one their own voice! January LaVoy even had incredible male voices which is really rare for a woman. She read Lucy’s sections of the novel. Will Damron read Ben’s sections. Interestingly, I’ve given both of them A+ ratings for other novels. So, this just proves that these two are terrific.  Perhaps they will earn my top narration award this year which neither has accomplished yet. As a side note, at times, the audiobook production would sometimes include both of their voices during interviews and that was seamlessly and successfully accomplished. Bravo to the entire audiobook team!