Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Dragonfly in Amber
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction, SciFi, Historical, Fantasy

Other books I've read by this author: Outlander

Synopsis: The second book in the Outlander series picks up as Jamie and Claire leave Scotland and head to the continent to live in safety. It chronicles their lives in France, where Jamie is working for his cousin and becomes a confidant to Prince Charles, the ousted Scottish prince. Claire and Jamie work to stop the uprising and save the Highlanders from the battle of Culloden, but can they change history?

My Thoughts

900 pages have never gone by so fast for me as when I am reading this series. It is so fast-paced and intriguing that I had a hard time putting down, reading until I cannot actually keep my eyes open anymore. If you liked Outlander, then you will love this book as well. All of the best characters, plus a few great new additions continue the complex and varied storylines created by Gabaldon. 
If you have watched the series, you will find that this book covers season 2, but also crosses a bit to season 3 with some time spent in the 1960s. 
I am all caught up on the TV series, so being able to go back and read the books has helped me survive 'Droughtlander' as fans await season 6. 
I cannot wait to read the next book in the series! 

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The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Title: The Wrath and The Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy


Synopsis: A young king (Caliph) in Rey, Khalid, is taking a new wife every day and then having her killed the next dawn. When her best friend is selected to marry him and killed, Shahrzad volunteers to marry the Caliph in order to take revenge on this murderer. Shahrzad's father and childhood friends work to free her from certain death, but she begins to understand there is more to the story of this murderous ruler. He may be a person and not a monster after all.

My Thoughts

A friend of mine suggested we read this during the stay at home order, and I'm so glad she did! Nothing is a perfect palate cleanser after an intense nonfiction piece like Young Adult fantasy. That being said, as I read this novel, it did not feel overly young-adulty. Several stories are going on at once, Shahrzad and Khalid, her father and friends, and the back story for why Khalid is killing these women. While each individual story is simple, how they fit together is a bit more complex. 
This novel is a retelling of Arabian Nights,  A Thousand and One Nights. I have not read that, so I cannot compare but I will be adding it to my reading list and keep you all informed. Overall, if you are looking for a fun, quick read this summer I suggest you pick up a copy! 

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Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough

Title: Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI
Author: Bryan Burrough
Genre: Nonfiction


Synopsis: This work chronicles the formation of the FBI and the growing pains in its creation as they tried to thwart notorious criminals like Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, The Barker-Karpis Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger.

My Thoughts

This book was meticulously researched to the point where it feels more like a story than real life. Burrough uses all the facts to create a clear picture of the events in the criminal lives of each of these notorious gangs. He can say who was there, what was said, where the FBI was when each robbery or hideout was happening. He shares what critical pieces were missed that allowed the gang members to get away again and again, and what changes were made that led the FBI to finally get to each of them. 
As a Clevelander myself, it was interesting to find out that members of the Karpis-Barker gang lived on the west side Cleveland for a while lying low. It makes them seem that much more real.
It is also intriguing to know that when the FBI began the agents were not armed and were mostly young Ivy League lawyer-types that Hoover felt were the right type of men for the job. 
I wouldn't say that this reads like fiction, because it doesn't, but once you figure out all of the major players (there are so many people in this book) it is really engaging and interesting to read about these kidnapping bank-robbers trying to survive during the Great Depression.

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Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon

Title: Flight of Dreams
Author: Ariel Lawhon
Genre: Historical Fiction

Other books I have read by this author: The Wife, The Maid, and the Mistress

Synopsis: This story follows several people, both crew and passenger, and their experiences on the last flight of the Hindenburg. From take-off to disastrous landing, what might it have been like for those who were aboard the grand zeppelin? What really caused it to go up in flames?

My Thoughts

This was another recommendation loaned to me by a co-worker. Like the first book I read by this author, Lawhon uses multiple points of view to explore an infamous historical mystery; what happened on the Hindenburg to cause it to burst into flames? She uses detailed research to find facts to form the backbone of the story and then fills in the missing details with her fictional version of the character's experiences. The reader gets to experience the flight from the perspective of a stewardess, only female crew member ever on a Zepplin; a navigator, a teenaged cabin boy, a German journalist passenger, and a mysterious American passenger.
 In the author's note, Lawhon mentions that the characters were all real people who were on that flight and that she chose to keep their fates, whether they survived the explosion or not, true to history. I think that is such a cool choice, writing a fictional story knowing what happened to these real people in real life. I loved the mystery and the author's choice for her version of what caused the disaster.
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Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction, SciFi, Historical, Fantasy

Synopsis: World War II is finally over and army nurse Claire Randall is on her 'second honeymoon' in the Scottish Highlands with her husband, Frank. The two had been separated for much of the war. While exploring the stone circle Craigh na Dun for flowers alone, while Frank was searching for his ancestors with a local historian, Claire gets pulled back in time 200 years. Using what she learned from Frank about local history, survival skills learned from growing up with an archaeologist uncle, Claire has to navigate life in the 18th-century Highlands and try to get home to Frank. When she meets some Highlanders on the road her life changes forever.

My Thoughts

I am guilty of picking this book up, reading the back cover, and putting it back down on probably five separate visits to the bookstore. I would always think, 'time travel it is so far fetched!' Then, not realizing it was based on the book I kept rejecting, I started watching Outlander on Netflix because it popped up as a 'recommended for you' suggestion over and over. Well, I loved it. When I realized that it was that book series, having not committed the book title to memory, I knew I had to read it. 
Outlander season one stays very true to the first novel of the series. A few changes to make it fit better for TV make slight chronological differences, but the same main events occur. The novel is also told from Claire's perspective so anything that happens when she is not around isn't seen, but sometimes described later by other characters. Often, this makes some of the more gruesome scenes from the show less so in the book. In the show, they portray some scenes where Claire is not present as they happened, especially those concerning Jamie. 
I know I'm late to the game on this one, but seriously I cannot wait to read more from this series.
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Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas

Title: Freshwater Road
Author: Denise Nicholas
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: It's 1964, Freedom Summer, and Celeste has decided to leave her comfortable home with her father, Shuck in Detroit, college in Ann Arbor, and her white boyfriend, J.D., to travel to Mississippi to work with One Man, One Vote to get African Americans registered to vote. She finds herself stationed in Pineyville, a small town with few of the modern conveniences to which Celeste is accustomed. The locals are slow to trust this newcomer, but Celeste persists in running the Freedom School and adult voter registration courses at the local church. As summer goes by Celeste gains trust and witnesses tragedy in the small town all while working for Civil Rights and trying to reconcile her world at home with the one she sees in Mississippi.

My Thoughts
This is the second book in a row I've read set in the United States in the 20th century, so unlike me! I found this one on the clearance shelf at Barnes and Noble, the cover really got me ( I always judge books by the cover...). I liked so many things about this book, it is a coming of age story, a civil rights story, a story of parent-child relationships, and a little bit of a love story thrown in. 
I really appreciate the struggle Celeste feels when she sees how bad it is for people of her race in Mississippi. She compares it to stepping back in time and realizes her own naivete from the moment she enters the state. She is brave and stays to help despite her fear and has to learn how things are done in the south. 

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The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

Title: The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress
Author: Ariel Lawhon
Genre: Historical Fiction


Synopsis: New York City, 1930, Judge Joe Crater has gone missing. No one seems to know the whole story about what has happened to him, but the three women who know him best; his wife, Stella Crater, his maid, Maria Simon, and his mistress, Sally Lou 'Ritzi' Ritz, each know a part of the story. 

My Thoughts

This book was recommended to me more than once by a colleague who really enjoyed it and has similar taste in books as me. He recommended it to me so many times that he finally just gave it to me for helping him with setting up some technology for his class. I am super glad that he did. 
This novel is based on the mysterious disappearance of Judge Joe Crater and the author fills it with intrigue. The story jumps around in time, each section dated like a diary entry but told in the third person perspective of each woman. Small tidbits of what happened to Crater come out as the reader learns about the complicated lives and complex relationships of Stella, Maria, and Ritzi. 
Because Joe Crater was never found and this is a work of fiction, the author uses creative license to come up with one possibility to explain his disappearance. It does not disappoint.  

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