The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller FIC Mil

While serving baked Alaska at the posh club where she is the pastry chef, Olivia catches sight of her married lover with his wife, loses her balance, drops the baked Alaska, and starts a fire.  Fleeing the scene of the disaster she turns to her friend Hannah in Guthrie, Vermont.  Hannah, not for the first time, comes to her rescue and Olivia finds a job as the pastry chef at the Sugar Maple Inn.

Used to being on her own Olivia gradually finds herself settling in. The work is demanding but fun, the people she works with supportive (except maybe for the Inn's owner), and then there's Martin...

Loaded with descriptions of baking guaranteed to make your mouth water and your stomach growl this book is a fun read.  The plot may be a little predictable but the characters are fun and sympathetic and worth rooting for.

This is the author's first book and I'm looking forward to her next one.

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The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs FIC Cob

In a nutshell, this is the fictionalized story of the marriage of Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler. I've listened too many times to count to the soundtrack from the Broadway musical "Hamilton."  From that I've gained a basic knowledge of the life of this famous American.  To fill out the edges, I tried to read the bestseller Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.  It is, to say the least, long.  Someday maybe I'll be able to plow through it!

This version of the love story between Alexander and Eliza filled in many of the gaps left by incomplete reading.

Hamilton was one of the most controversial figures of the American Revolution.  Complicated, charming, pig-headed, stubborn, he nevertheless loved his wife and family beyond measure.  In the end, defending his honor led to his death in a duel.  Eliza, devastated at his loss, lived for fifty years after his death and worked to clear his name as well as establishing the first orphanage in New York City.

Some books are hard to read - not because they aren't good but because you know how it's going to end and you want desperately to change it.  Such was the case with this book.  Historical figures came to life and made me want to go back and take another stab at the non-fiction version of these two lives.

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People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper FIC Hoo

In this debut novel Emily Morris was a typical college student.  She had a high school boyfriend who was still a part of her life but she was interested in some of the new guys she met.  And one day she met a guy named Drew who lived in the apartment next door. Soon they have an intense relationship and get married even though they were still very young.  Life is good until things begin to unravel.  Drew's mother begins to need more and more help. When she moves in with Drew and Emily the marriage becomes more and more stressed.  This is the story from Emily's past.  It is interspersed with the story of Emily's present.  Emily is thousands of miles away from her life with Drew, living with her 13-year-old daughter.  Drew doesn't even know Emily is alive - the last time he saw her was on 9/11.  She escaped death that day.  All these years later on the anniversary of 9/11 she is in the office of an oncologist.  Things have to change.

I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to other ones from Ms. Hooper.

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Uprooted by Naomi Novik SF Nov

Agnieska loves her village home in a quiet valley.  But life is not all good - the corrupted Wood stands on the border full of malevolent power that threatens to overrun their lives.  If not for the power of the Dragon, a mysterious wizard who keeps the Wood at bay, her lovely village would be overrun.  In order to continue to protect them, however, the Dragon demands that every ten years a young maiden be handed over to him.

Everyone in the area knows that Agnieska's best friend, Kasia, will be the one who is chosen.  She is beautiful and kind and good, all traits that the Dragon seems to value.  There is no way to save Kasia from being chosen and everyone knows it.

And then the dreaded day comes and it isn't Kasia who is chosen but Agnieska herself and for reasons she can't imagine.  It turns out that the Dragon sees in her what runs through him - magic.

Locked in the tower castle with the Dragon, Agnieska slowly and reluctantly comes to use her powers and draw closer to the man who has imprisoned her.  But when Kasia is taken by the Wood, Agnieska has no choice but to try to save her dearest friend.  And from then on her life, the life of the Dragon, and all those she loves are changed and put in danger as the power of the Wood threatens to take over everything.

Inspired by Polish and Russian stories told to the author by her mother and grandmother, this is a lovely book to read.  I don't usually like science fiction/fantasy but really enjoyed this one.  Agnieska is a well developed character whose love for her friend and family and the valley she lives in practically leaps through the pages. The Dragon is mysterious and yet sympathetic. The danger of the Wood is all encompassing.  Will it be destroyed?  Read and find out!

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