The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler; Or Working for the Custom House - Frances Worcester Doughty

I'm continuing with my experiment of finding books I normally wouldn't read. This time, I wanted to dive into the world of dime novels, or penny dreadfuls as they were called in Victorian England. I chose this particular one, because the title intrigued me. A girl smuggler? I'm in!

The heroes of this novel are Old King and Harry Brady. They're on the trail of a diamond smuggler, and they soon identify the target. The rest of the novel is about them trying to capture the criminals and make sure they find the diamonds.

There were many times I thought the Bradys caught the criminals, but then the villains would pull off a daring escape, and the chase would be on again. From my research, it sounds like this is a common formula for these novels, so if I'd read a few it might get repetitive. Since this was my first one, I truly enjoyed it.

You've still got some definite "clews" that this was written in 1900, but it wasn't as obvious as some of the other older titles I've read.

I definitely plan on seeking out a few more of these. This was a fun book, and even with the minor issues, I had a good time reading it. For the next one, I'm going to try and find some different genres. I'm especially interested in trying a gothic novel, so we'll see what I can find. Fun book!

Betty Zane (Ohio River Trilogy #1) - Zane Grey

I've been purposely going outside my comfort zone, and my next choice was a book by Zane Grey. I remember seeing copies of his books at my grandparent's house, so I thought I'd see what the fuss was about. The book itself made me curious about the author and his inspiration. It was interesting and thought I'd share a bit about him.

Pearl Zane Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1872. Though his life started there, he later attended college in Pennsylvania and eventually settled in California. He didn't only write fiction, he also wrote books about baseball and fishing. In all, he wrote more than 90 books. His works have been adapted into over 100 films and even a television series. Pretty impressive, especially for the the time period in which he lived.

This particular book, written in 1903, covers the lives of the people living in a settlement where attacks by Native Americans are commonplace. It's basically a novel of life on the frontier with a romance running through it.

The writing was good and more interesting in some places than others. I was confused why he chose to title the book Betty Zane since she's just one of a number of characters, but she is a main character and the completion of her romance is the end of the book. I also picked up a few little gems of genius that I liked. For example, "Happy hours speed away on the wings of the wind." But, there's also rampant racism and some real cringe-worthy moments.

I wouldn't say that I enjoyed the book (a dog died after all), but I was glad I read it. The main reason I got interested in Grey's life was the way he wrote the book. At times, it reads like a history book, and the epilogue covers what happened to the people mentioned in the book. It sounded like he was talking about real people, so when I read about the founding of various towns in Ohio, I couldn't help but do some research. His maternal great-grandfather, Ebenezer Zane, was a real person and is a main character in the book. Many facets of Ebenezer's family and life are written into this book, and it made it more interesting to me.

While I don't think I'll be reading any of Grey's other titles, I understand and appreciate his mark on the literary world. Zane Grey died in 1939 at the age of 67. He's had more works published after his death, and he's easily one of the most influential authors I've read.

Cyborg - Martin Caidin

Every Wednesday night, my kids and I put on an episode of Six Million Dollar Man and enjoy the show. During the credits, we noticed it's based on this book. I couldn't find a copy that wasn't insanely priced, but I DID find a digital version of it. Five dollars later (so much less than six million), I was ready for some Steve Austin excitement!

And then I read the book. Wow, was I surprised. 

Steve Austin is a former astronaut that crashes while testing a plane. Many struggles and surgeries later, he feels he's more machine than man. This story focuses a lot of time on Steve's journey into becoming a bionic man, and he goes on a couple missions in the second half. The whole thing reminded me of James Bond with a bionic twist. The descriptions were long and detailed, and while it would bore my kids, I found most of them interesting.

The end was super abrupt, but it also made sense. I was able to appreciate the book for what it was, and a little sad it wasn't made into the James Bond-ish kind of show it could've been. But having said that, I wouldn't change the show. Unless you're talking about adding more Oscar. We LOVE Oscar!

Back to the book, I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. If you ignore the fact it's hard to get, there is language, some talk of sex, a suicide attempt, and other things that haven't aged well. The book and show are different enough I was able to appreciate both for what they were, and I'm glad I read it.

Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts - Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

I've been doing something a little different recently. I've been straying away from my normal comfortable genres and authors and steering out into the unknown. I've technically been working on this Epic Collection for quite a while, but it's been an interesting ride.

This collection is the initial introduction of the Dr. Strange character into the Marvel universe. I'm not going to try and sum up a comic series. While there are recurring characters and sometimes a storyline will continue from one issue to another, it's a comic. In 10 pages, Dr. Strange confronts a foe and either takes care of the problem or you're waiting for the next issue.

Dr. Strange was one of my favorite characters when I was watching the MCU, so I had a good time reading these. I don't think they're for everyone, though. It's definitely old-school, and that might not work for some people. I laughed out loud a few times, and truly had a good time.

From the cover of an issue - not relevant to the Dr. Strange part of the comic, but my favorite visual for sure!

The Night of Four Hundred Rabbits - Elizabeth Peters

 I was in a mood where I wanted to read something that's been sitting on my shelf for a while, and so I dusted off one of my Elizabeth Peters books and cracked open the cover. 

If you aren't familiar with this author, her real name is Barbara Mertz. She wrote fiction under the pseudonyms of Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters and also wrote a few nonfiction books under her own name. Her paperbacks (and a few hardbacks) have occupied an entire shelf on my bookcase for many years. I've downsized my paperback collection numerous times, but her books never leave. Unfortunately, she died in 2013. 

This book isn't part of a series, although many of Mertz's books are. Carol receives strange messages hinting that her father might be in danger. It's been years since she's seen him, and she shouldn't care, but something drives her down there. Her trip gives her much more than she bargained for, and everything she believes will change by the time it's over.

I don't want to give anything away, there are a lot of twists and turns in there, but I will mention that the book has drug references in it. There's no sugarcoating what they can do to a person, and it isn't glorified in any way. I guess it could be a deterrent for some, but it didn't bother me. 

I thought this book was clever and Peters did a good job writing a convincing story. Even though it's written from Carol's point of view, I felt some anxiety for her character during the action at the end. I think that's a mark of good writing, but others may feel the writing to be dated and a bit slow at times. For me, it was nice to revisit something I enjoyed in the past. If you consider that it was written in 1971, it might give you a bit of perspective on the writing style itself. Good Book!

Ticket to Tomorrow (A Fair to Remember #1) - Carol Cox

 This is the first book in the series. The other two are called Fair Game and A Bride So Fair.

Annie is in Chicago to fulfill her deceased husband's wishes. He helped create a horseless carriage with another man, and now that he's gone, Annie is helping Silas promote the vehicle at the World's Fair. Also at the fair is Nick, Silas's nephew. 

A chance encounter brings Annie into a mystery that will threaten her life. She's also dealing with a serious case of "in-laws." Will's family blames her for the rift in their family and also his death. Neither is justified, but they won't budge.

This book was pretty good. I liked the characters pretty well, but I found myself caring more about some more than others. Mostly the minor characters for some reason. I can't explain why, but I really liked Silas and Stephen.

With the amount of mention Stephen got in this book, I suspected he'd be finding love later on in the series. He does, but it isn't until book 3. On the plus side, I have a feeling this is one of those series where you can read them alone or out of order and not miss much. I'm putting it on my list, I really liked his character. 4 stars.

At Love's Command (Hanger's Horsemen #1) - Karen Witemeyer

I was sifting through my favorite publishers on NetGalley and was surprised to see a book by Karen Witemeyer that had already come out. How had I missed that? I signed up for it immediately and started reading.

I finished it a few days ago, and I've thought about it a lot since then. I'm going to keep my thoughts on the story short, because the romance/drama isn't what stuck out to me.

Josephine is a old west doctor (think Dr. Quinn if you remember that show), and Matt used to be in the cavalry. When one of his men is hurt, his paths cross with the doctor. Then, when she receives word that her brother is being held for ransom, she asks for Matt's help.

I liked the book overall. The romance is difficult to swallow at times since these two aren't together a LOT in the book. It seemed weird that Josephine was worried to death about her brother while staring at and obsessing over Matt's muscles.

Normally, I'd probably stop the review here. I might say more about the characters, but the review would be essentially over. But something different happened to me. This time, I was laser focused on one aspect of the book: the internal conflict of Matt. He doesn't want to open up his heart again in case he'd get hurt. He doesn't trust God with the people he loves, and he feels he's been justified in that.

This topic has been plaguing my summer. With two teenagers in driver's ed at the same time (one of them now a senior in high school), I've had the fact that things are out of my control thrown into my face. I felt sympathy with Matt's character, but I didn't care about his love life. I wanted to know how he was going to learn to trust God again and to leave the care of the people he cared about in God's hands. There's a paragraph toward the end of the book talking about control being an illusion. I highlighted it and have read over it a few times. I've always known that control is an illusion, but it doesn't stop me from trying to control what I can.

I feel like I read this at the right time. I'm not completely better, but had I seen this book posted on NetGalley at the time it was released, it probably wouldn't have affected me the same way. It's a timing thing that I can only attribute to God. I've had a few other things brought to my attention lately, and I'd like to think I'm starting to find a bit of peace. It's going to be a long road, but I'm glad that this book was a stop along the way.

*I received a copy of this book from Bethany House through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.