Nadine's Updates en-US Mon, 12 May 2025 19:46:25 -0700 60 Nadine's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review6157961771 Mon, 12 May 2025 19:46:25 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'Dear Mrs. Bird']]> /review/show/6157961771 Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce Nadine gave 4 stars to Dear Mrs. Bird (Paperback) by A.J. Pearce
I didn't even glance at the book blurb before diving into this novel. I just knew it was historical fiction (my all-time favorite genre), and I'd heard through the grapevine about the book's "vibe" and content level.

That was enough for me.

While much of this novel turned out to be pretty simple reading for me, I got a particular kick out of the humor. I also liked that I could really feel for Emmy through her moral and relational dilemmas and moments of serious danger.

Now, the writing oftentimes gets repetitive while making its points. And the way the twists are set up made them predictable to me. (Perhaps they weren't really supposed to be surprising anyway, though?)

In that vein, when chapters have titles rather than just numbers, those titles can often spoil what's coming up in the chapters, even inadvertently. I usually skip over chapter titles but didn't always in the case of this book. So I found that some of its chapter titles can/do indeed serve as alerts about important events before they go down, when a lot of readers would rather not be tipped off ahead of time that way.

Nonetheless, I appreciate the overall spirit of this read and what Emmy strives to accomplish. Not every loose end is tied up before the somewhat abrupt ending, but before I got there, I'd already been planning to continue on to the next book in this series sometime. I'm looking forward to it.

Note:
• war violence, especially bombings
• aside from a few "deity swears," language kept to a "PG" level
• no explicit sexual content ]]> UserStatus1059758462 Fri, 09 May 2025 02:32:19 -0700 <![CDATA[ Nadine is on page 100 of 288 of Dear Mrs. Bird ]]> Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce Nadine Keels is on page 100 of 288 of <a href="/book/show/42201359-dear-mrs-bird">Dear Mrs. Bird</a>. ]]> Review7527842175 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 23:07:58 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'Friends At Court']]> /review/show/7527842175 Friends At Court by Henry Cecil Nadine gave 4 stars to Friends At Court (Roger Thursby) by Henry Cecil
Because I only recently discovered this author and read his first novel about Roger Thursby, I thought I'd save this second one for some weeks or months. To space the reading out.

Well. That didn't happen. I really liked the first book, then watched the movie based on it, and I was still in the mood for more.

It's interesting to see how Roger, now thirty-three, thinks of the twenty-one-year-old man he was in the previous novel. I must say I quite agree with his sentiments on that score.

And I imagine his more seasoned self is likely one factor that affects the tone of this book.

I felt through much of the reading like this isn't quite as much of a comedy as the first novel. Roger no longer has newbie blunders to make, and while he's being the experienced and sharp barrister that he is now, there's nothing too funny about it. This time, while watching him work, I could get even more engrossed in his process of working through the complications and legal and moral questions arising from the central case in his hands.

Granted, as soon as I came to that sentiment while reading, the next scene in the story had me laughing out loud. But still, it seems even more of the laughable (and mostly inconsequential?) moments in this book come from other characters who apparently jump in just to add some comedy at a level that older, wiser Roger can no longer provide at this point in his career. And in his personal life.

Now, I could have done without most of the story's significant portion devoted to horse racing, which felt very much to me like pages of filler. A stretch of comedic but unneeded conversation toward the end felt the same way to me, as if the characters involved were only going down a circular rabbit trail to delay the ending.

But the ending the story does get to is pretty perfect.

The only reason this book didn't tip over into 4.5 stars for me was the same reason as the first book: one casual use of a distasteful expression referring to Black people. (No use of the N-word, though.)

At any rate, I would gladly go on to the third novel about Roger. But the ebook edition of it is no longer available—at least not in the U.S., that I can see. So, I'll have to be satisfied with the pretty perfect ending of Roger's story here and go check out some of this author's other novels about other folks sometime.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level
• one dated racial expression
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content ]]> Rating852445720 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:07:02 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine Keels liked a review]]> /
Nadine Keels liked Kate Willis's review of Raymie Nightingale (Three Rancheros Book 1):
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
"J is a big fan of Kate DiCamillo, so it's no surprise he chose one of her books for me for our reading challenge. (Thanks, J!)

This book was pure perfection. It was sweet, weird, lonely, and full of friendship, just like coming-of-age is. I loved the character of Raymie, and as she grew to love her friends, I saw them through her eyes and loved them too. The worldbuilding felt real and lived-in, and the little snippets of small-town lore were fun (and horrifying, lol). The theme of rescue stole my heart.

Reading this caused my soul to grow like a big balloon, and I want to have a golden candy jar on my desk when I grow up. <3"
]]> Review7374121949 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:42:56 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'Long Night's Moon']]> /review/show/7374121949 Long Night's Moon by Cate Martin Nadine gave 4 stars to Long Night's Moon (Kindle Edition) by Cate Martin
bookshelves: gentle-reads
Illustrated book cover shows a serious woman in vintage evening wear, with a beaded necklace and a cloche hat with a flower on it

(Not an official book cover; I just made a little fan art)

This longtime lover of historical fiction understands why many stories in the genre take long novels to tell. But some good period tales come in short form, like this one.

Much the same as a few other quick reads I've tried by this author, this story is an intriguing but undemanding dose of entertainment. The winter holiday evening setting has a moonlit shimmer but also its own shimmery vibe that turns somewhat suspenseful. The light but warm essence of romance woven in fits the story's length.

Granted, at the climax, I think an added beat of conflict, or at least more of a moment of doubt or hesitation from the characters most involved, would have kept the resolution from feeling a little too easy. But, after all, sometimes the spirit of a holiday can tide people over until they get to the nitty-gritty of deep-seated matters later on.

I've got one more of this author's historical stories I plan on reading before trying one of her historical mysteries.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content ]]> Review7503004712 Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:33:44 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'Brothers In Law']]> /review/show/7503004712 Brothers In Law by Henry Cecil Nadine gave 4 stars to Brothers In Law (Roger Thursby) by Henry Cecil
I was fresh from reading a classic Jeeves and Wooster comedy novel by British author P.G. Wodehouse when I first came across some books by Henry Cecil, once a British barrister and judge. So I was in the mood to dive into one of his classic comedies about the British legal system.

With the bit of knowledge I already had about English courts, I was quite ready for the courtly robes and wigs. What I wasn't as ready for? Almost all of the other technical aspects of Roger's new work as a barrister.

The only explanations that would come were from other characters in Roger's professional field, when he would ask them questions, being the newbie he is. And while I expected the story to come from Roger's perspective, and most of it does, sometimes it doesn't, when the narrator suddenly jumps into someone else's head. What with my being jarred by the narrator's switches a few times, and my having to get a feel for what wasn't explained about the setting and whatnot, it took a little while for my reading to get into a groove.

Once it did, I started enjoying it quite a bit—getting into the legal complications of Roger's cases and laughing out loud at his funniest moments at work. And moments in his muddled romantic life.

This was well on its way to becoming a five-star read for me—until I ran into one casual, distasteful racial expression I've read in British fiction before, referring to Black people. No, it isn't the N-word, but I still don't like it. So a fifth star didn't make it onto my rating.

Besides that, pretty much everything else about this comedy has me looking forward to trying its sequel sometime. Maybe I'll even check out the 1957 film based on the book? We'll see.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level, with some nonliteral uses of the alternate word for donkey and one occurrence of the B-word
• one dated racial expression
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content ]]> Review7497846435 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 03:09:31 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'Very Good, Jeeves!']]> /review/show/7497846435 Very Good, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehouse Nadine gave 4 stars to Very Good, Jeeves! (Paperback) by P.G. Wodehouse
(Because the books in this series have been republished so many times and I'm reading mismatched editions, I'm adding my own generic but matching fan art covers to my reviews. Yay!)

Book cover shows the bottom half of the smiling face of a man wearing a tuxedo

Now that I've read three of the Jeeves and Wooster books (technically four, but Book Three is actually a light revision of Book One), and I've watched two seasons of the British period comedy, I picture the two main characters like the actors as I read. Jeeves's calmly dignified facial expressions and Wooster's wacky ones and all.

I even speak Jeeves's shorter lines aloud, with his accent.

"Very good, sir."

This was just the break I needed: some vintage chuckle-worthy to laugh-out-loud silliness.

Now, while it isn't strictly necessary, I would suggest reading The Inimitable Jeeves and Carry On, Jeeves before this book. There is a chronology to the characters' doings, and Wooster often references past events from the previous novels.

Even as the books in the series are called novels, though, I'd say they're collections of loosely connected short stories. So you don't even need the energy to follow a full-blown narrative through this read.

You only need to be in the mood for some hours of ludicrous capers and whatnot to refresh your brain. I'll be going on to Book Five at another time when I'm in such a mood.

Note:
• a little slapstick violence
• language kept to a "PG" level
• a super-brief instance or two of racial stereotyping used in jest, though my contemporary American-English-speaking self wasn't completely sure in one instance, and I didn't stop to look it up
• no explicit sexual content ]]> Comment289670580 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 13:57:02 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine commented on "If Jesus Christ Were a Christian Fiction Author Today" in ÀÏ»¢»úÎÈÓ®·½·¨ Authors/Readers]]> /topic/show/23110455-if-jesus-christ-were-a-christian-fiction-author-today Nadine made a comment in the ÀÏ»¢»úÎÈÓ®·½·¨ Authors/Readers group:

If Jesus Christ Were a Christian Fiction Author Today

A blog post:



A cross in front of a row of books ]]> Review6474786830 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:18:15 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine added 'The Radio Hour']]> /review/show/6474786830 The Radio Hour by Victoria Purman Nadine gave 4 stars to The Radio Hour (Kindle Edition) by Victoria Purman
A 3.5-star read for me, rounded up.

I wanted to read this novel as soon as I saw the book cover (of the Australian edition).

Vibrant book cover shows a smiling woman speaking into a vintage microphone

Not only did the cover appeal to me as a lover of historical fiction but also as a bona fide nostalgic who's enjoyed listening to a modest share of radio programs from the era before television. Particularly episodes of My Favorite Husband, the American radio show starring Lucille Ball, which was eventually reworked to become the classic television sitcom I Love Lucy.

I carried the vibe from the book cover with me as I read about Martha's personal relationships with her mother, her neighbors, and her friends at work. I felt it during the characters' excited chats about their favorite radio programs.

But of course, the vibe isn't merry and bright as the story tackles the issue of sexism. Then, as Martha leans all the way into the issue during the last third or so of the book, the reading begins to come off somewhat more like a manifesto than a novel at times. While those moments would pull me out of the story as a fiction reader, I as a person understood the tone and energy of it all.

From the sexism issue stems the story's tackling of sexual harassment and assault. At some point during the last third, as the novel went on in that vein, the reading started to feel long to me. But the most aggravating aspect of that was/is the fact that it isn't unrealistic—the multiple women in those scenes all having something to say about how they've been sexually harassed or assaulted. Because, yes, it's that common in real life.

Now, when Martha reaches her first major turning point to take action on the radio front, some of the key information showing why she's ready to handle that specific task should have been mentioned earlier on in the book, simply as nuggets about her character—so as not to seem like the author brought Martha to the turning point and only then began thinking up how to make it fully plausible.

Also, the writing in general could have used more originality and subtlety. The details are often clichéd or on-the-nose. It also gets repetitive in a number of places when the story gives details and explanations that already appeared in earlier scenes or chapters.

Nevertheless, my nostalgic, historical-fiction-loving self enjoyed this novel overall. And I as a person, especially as a woman, was compelled by the theme of finding your voice and speaking up. For your own sake as well as for others.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level; the characters' occasional stronger language isn't written out
• some descriptions of sexual harassment and sexual assault
• a few references to past war violence ]]> Rating848010614 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:10:50 -0700 <![CDATA[Nadine Keels liked a review]]> /
Nadine Keels liked Kate Willis's review of The King's Fifth:
The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell
"This being the first book in my reads from Joshua, I was at first skeptical I would enjoy it due to the themes of colonialism and the fact that I don't read much historical fiction nowadays.

In the end, I really liked it. It was a nuanced, searing look at what the promise of treasure does to people and the story of those who lose their soul or find it. The main character was an interesting narrator and I liked the dual timeline of him remembering events.

This would be a great addition to a homeschool curriculum."
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