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Title: Between the Sheets Author: Robin Wells Genre: Chick-lit Rating: 10/10 # pages: 382 Date read: January, 2008

Review: It's a nightmare come true. Instead of continuing her lucrative career as a Butler, Emma Jamison suddenly finds herself having to pick up the shatters of her reputation, move away from her home, and start afresh in a small rural town after being at the wrong place at the wrong time means everybody thinks she's the girl who gave the president-elect a fatal heart-attack during an illicit sex-romp.

Unfortunately moving away changes nothing. Everybody is still convinced of her guilt, and as she has a phobia against TV cameras she can't even go public and defend herself... not like anybody would believe her anyway. The story is far too juicy for that.

However, when Emma falls for Max Duval, the local DA she knows something has to be done. Being with a public figure is the last thing she needs, and dating an alleged call-girl is the last thing he needs. If only they could find the girl who really was with the president-elect that night...

Between the Sheets is chick-lit of the best kind. The characters come alive in Robin Well's writing and you can't help but care for them all - from Emma's grandmother and her late-in-life-new-husband, who are both wonderfully eccentric, to Katie, the town hair-stylist who is the only person to believe Emma's innocence and helps bolster her up, with her no-nonsense ideas and quick wit and Max, the unlikely knight in shining armour.

As an all-around great story I had sever difficulties putting Between the Sheets down at night. I loved the romance between Emma and Max and seeing how his trust made her grow, but the best surprise of the story was the adorable love-story between Emma's grandmother and Max' grandfather. Love can happen at any age, and seeing Grams take care of yet another husband with Alzheimer was incredibly touching. A spunky old lady, she gives Emma the best description of love she could ever get: "When you love someone, their burdens are yours, and yours are theirs, and it's your heart's desire to help them any way you can." - Even by facing a panic-inducing TV-phobia to clear your name.

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Title: The Realms of the Gods Author: Tamora Pierce Genre: YA, fantasy Rating: 6/10 # pages: 228 Date read: January, 2008

Summary: Daine and Numair are suddenly swept into the otherworldly home of the gods after facing certain death on earth. But they cannot remain there for long, because they are both needed to help fight the desparate battle raging in Tortall. And so they undertake the dangerous journey back to earth...a journey that will teach them a great deal about life and about each other, a journey that will lead to the startling culmination of the conflicts, both mortal and immortal, that have long plagued Tortall.

Review: I don't think I've read this one since I first read the Immortals quartet, because I remembered it as being boring and definitely the weakest of all Tamora Pierce's books. After 10'ish years I figured it was time to give it a second chance, but have to conclude that my first opinion still holds. Doubt I'll ever read it again. There are too many good books out there to waste my time on the 'meh' ones.

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Title: Emperor Mage Author: Tamora Pierce Genre: YA, Fantasy Rating: 7/10 # pages: 239 Date read: January, 2008

Summary: Daine sails to Cathak as part of a peace treaty delegation from Tortall. There she is amazed by strange and wondrous sights, including rooms filled with dinosaur bones and the Emperor Mage's zoo. But she also senses a darkness beneath all the gold and glitter, a darkness that lies in wait. At the same time, Daine is discovering that her own wild magic is growing again, this time giving her powers both great and terrifying.

Review: Daine actually voiced my thoughts about this book herself: "I don't like who I've been here." I wouldn't go as far as to say I don't like her, but I'm definitely not as fond of her as I am in Tortall. I think a great deal of this is because in Tortall she works together with her friends, whereas here she was alone most of the time, and it just didn't appeal as much to me.

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Title: Wolf Speaker Author: Tamora Pierce Genre: YA, fantasy Rating: 9/10 # pages: 227 Date read: January 2008, June 2014, April 2020

Summary: When Daine is summoned by the wolf pack that saved her life a year earlier, she knows she has to go. She and Numair travel to Dunlath Valley to answer the call. But when they arrive, Daine realizes with a shock that it's not just the animals whose lives are threatened; people are in danger too. Dunlath's rulers have discovered black opals in their valley and are dead set on mining the magic these stones embody. Daine learns that Dunlath's lord and lady plan to use this power to overthrow King Jonathan -- even if it means irreversibly damaging the land and killing their workers.

Review: I think this is my favourite of the Immortal books. I've always liked the wolves, and I also enjoy reading about how Daine gets more and more accustomed to her new abilities.

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Title: Sue Barton, Staff Nurse Author: Helen Dore Boylston Genre: YA, classics Rating: 7/10 # pages: 103 Date read: January, 2008

Summary: This "Sue Barton" story starts with Sue happy at home with Bill and their four children, Tabitha, Johnny, Jerry, and Baby Sue. Life is peaceful. However, all this changes when Bill comes home from a fishing trip, suffering from pneumonia; and once he recovers from this, it is discovered that he has a small case of TB, and must go to a sanitarium for six months. Sue is upset, but decides to cope with the situation by going back to work.

She takes a staff nurse job at Springdale Hospital, and there she does the kind of work she likes best: direct interaction with the patients. There are many humorous vignettes involving the patients. But Sue worries that her fellow staff nurses may not accept her as one of them because she was once Superintendent of Nurses. And how will Su

Review: With the last book in the series, we return to what interests me the most - Sue's work at the hospital. This book is a lot shorter than the others, and seems more like an afterthought than anything else. That didn't stop me from enjoying it though.

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Title: Sue Barton, Neighborhood Nurse Author: Helen Dore Boylston Genre: YA, classics Rating: 7/10 # pages: 135 Date read: January, 2008

Summary: Sue Barton has been married to Bill Barry for several years in this story. They have three young children: six-year-old Tabitha, and three-year-old twin boys, Johnny and Jerry. Sue has been happy at home taking care of their children, until she and her friend, Kit, visit their old nursing school, and Sue realizes how much she misses nursing. Is Sue's nursing training being wasted as a stay-at-home mom?

During the story, Sue gradually realizes that her training is being utilized in other ways. She does first aid for the neighborhood; and she uses her natural gift for helping people to try to bring her new teenage neighbor, Cal, together with the girl's mother, aloof artist Mona Stuart. But will all this be enough for Sue in place of her formal career?

Review: Just like with the Anne series, the later books are more about Sue's kids than about herself. Unlike Anne though, this switch doesn't seem strained, as we still hear of the children's experiences through the eyes of Sue, rather than through them themselves. I never thought I should say it, but Montgomery could have learned something from this. Too bad chronology didn't allow it ;)

Honestly though, the further I get into this series, the less I understand why I haven't read the last 4 books in so many years. No, they're not nearly as good as the first 3, but neither are they nearly as bad as I remembered them. I'm greatly enjoying this read-through.

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Title: Sue Barton, Superintendent of Nurses Author: Helen Dore Boylston Genre: YA, classics Rating: 6/10 # pages: 129 Date read: January, 2008

Summary: "Sue Barton, Superintendent of Nurses" features Sue as the superintendent of the new Springdale Hospital School of Nursing, along with the concurrent story of Sue and Bill Barry's first three years of marriage. Sue is uneasy about her administrative role since she prefers hands-on nursing, but with the guidance of her staff, she carries the new job through to the best of her ability. Her natural warmth and interest in the students also help her to sort out their problems and personalities; from taming a sophisticated smart aleck, to guiding an unhappy nursing student into the teaching career the girl really wants. Meanwhile, Sue and Bill have to adjust to life together as a married couple.

Review: The foreshadowing in this series is getting out of hand. A little is fine, but I don't need a paragraph at the start of each chapter telling me what's going to happen in the chapter.

This was a very difficult book to read. I still enjoy the stuff happening at the hospital, but it had the sad sub-plot of how a married couple can fall apart... not through harsh words and mean actions, but simply because of misunderstandings that aren't handled in time, but allowed to grow large.

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Title: Sue Barton, Visiting Nurse Author: Helen Dore Boylston Genre: Classics, YA Rating: 4/5 # pages: 110 Date read: February 2005, January 2008, May 2017

Sue and her best friend, Kit, move to New York city; and join the Visiting Nurse service. Sue's duties take her from the Lower East Side to Harlem. There are many vignettes, humorous and touching. Not all Sue's duties are medical. She helps a lonely Polish new mother find neighborhood friends; and she helps a kind old woman realize her dreams of travel, (Sue secretly donates the money she had saved for her own trousseau for the trip). This leads into a surprising reward for Sue herself.


This used to be my favourite of the series, but I've had to downgrade the rating somewhat. I still absolutely I love reading about Sue's work in the streets of New York and how she has to be imaginative and think up solutions to problems she'd never have met at the hospital, but the older I get, the more the disagreement between her and Bill annoys me. I am completely on Sue's side and found Bill totally unreasonable, which made the end somewhat less than satisfying... especially as it's rather clear that the author is on Bill's side. A sign of the times, I guess, but annoyed me regardless.

Title: Sue Barton, Student Nurse Author: Helen Dore Boylston Genre: Classics, YA Rating: 9/10 # pages: 167 Date read: February 2005, January 2008, April 2017

This is the story of Sue Barton's first year of training as a probationer and then as a student nurse. Sue, with her red hair and eager spirit, is a very likable person - direct, outspoken, capable of mistakes, capable also of warm attachments and a courageous devotion to the service which she soon loves. With her pals, Kit and Connie, she submits to the discipline and rigorous training which are required of every good hospital nurse.


As the first book in the series, Sue Barton, Student Nurse is a quick read (took me no more than an hour or two), but a good one. It's a wonder I've never wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, as much as I love reading about their work. It's a feel-good book of the old-fashioned style and I greatly enjoyed it. I'll be looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Title: The Stormcaller Author: Jacob Grant & Mark Russel Genre: Fantasy, Christian fiction Rating: 8/10 # pages: 397 Date read: January, 2008

Review: On one side, a power-hungry necromancer, a legendary swordsman and a blood-thirsty spirit. On the other side, a young slave, the Lords of Freeport and an unknown monk. Thus the lines are drawn in the greatest battle in a thousand years. A battle that will eventually affect all of the Isle of Türmak, because if Freeport falls, the entire Isle will fall and become subject to the evil of the Dragon.

Andrea has been a slave all her life. When the choice is between letting herself and her fellow slaves starve to death and risking her life and limbs to steal some food, she takes the chance and steals some pieces of bread from a nearby baker. Unfortunately the theft is discovered and knowing her life is at risk, she flees her household to take her chances elsewhere. A mysterious monk saves her from forest bandits, and sends her to Freeport where the residing historian recognizes her as 'the stormcaller' from the prophecies - the only person strong enough to save them from the Dragon and his followers. But she can only do it together with 'the man carrying the sword' - and he has yet to show his face.

Ever since Legion was thrown out of Freeport, he's fought the Eternal's warriors. Now he's finally standing to gain all he fought for and get his revenge. Then why is his mind suddenly filled with doubt? And why can't he stop thinking about the girl he saved? He wants Dragon to win... doesn't he?

the stormcaller starts suddenly and throws the reader right into the action. This makes it instantly exciting, but also adds some confusion as there are a lot of people to keep straight and they aren't all immediately distinguishable from each other. The reader soon catches up though, after which it's possible to lose oneself in a fascinating fantasy tale.

Just like the age-old favourites of The Chronicles of Narnia, the stormcaller has clear Christian undertones and describes the eternal battle between good and evil in a new and refreshing way.

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