Reap the Wild Wind

By Julie E. Czerneda

The world of Cersi is inhabited by three intelligent populations of beings. The Tikitik specialize in managing the swamp that nurtures their plantations of giant fruit trees. With their long, spindly limbs, they effortlessly climb through the trees. The Oud are pretty much the opposite of the Tikitik. They prefer life underground, humping along their tunnels like massive slugs, mining the ores they use for their various machines. And then there are the Om'ray, who are telepathic humans.
The Om'ray depend on the other two. They harvest the Tikitik plantations, they gather the scraps of metal discarded by the Oud to work into tools for their own use.
These three populations live in peace, abiding by the Agreement. They have all agreed to never change, never innovate. To do otherwise will endanger the peace.
But something has changed. Strangers have appeared on Cersi. And their arrival has upset the balance of the Agreement.

This was an interesting story. The main character is a girl, Aryl, who lives in a small village built high in the trees of the Tikitik plantation. She is one of the first to encounter an offworld artifact. And this turns her life upside down.
I do wish, though, the book wasn't quite so long. The paperback version was over 400 pages long.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Ties of Blood and Silver

By Joel Rosenberg

David is a young human thief. He works with a little girl, Marie, and they work for a cruel master, Carlos One-Hand. On the world where he lives, another alien species is also making a living, the schrift. The schrift are all connected telepathically. As David is admiring a handmade schrift pitcher, the schrift who made it, Eschteef, feels a telepathic connection with David. So, due a series of bad decisions on One-Hand's part that resulted in One-Hand's and Marie's deaths, David tries to rob Eschteef and gets caught in the act. Eschteef captures him and decides to keep him and try to make David part of the schrift community.

This was a good story. Interesting world, interesting aliens, but more violence than I care to read about.

Round Robin

By Jennifer Chiaverini

Sylvia runs a kind of quilting camp or quilting academy. People who are interested in quilting come and spend a week at her country home and attend classes about quilting taught by a group of her friends.
But this story isn't centered on the students who barely mentioned. Instead it is about this group of women brought together by their interest in quilting and about the ordinary trials and triumphs of life.
Sylvia is the leader of the group and the owner of country home where the classes are held and where the students stay. She is helped in this endeavour by her many close friends: Sarah whose husband Matt is having doubts about his career choice. Gwen and her daughter Summer who is going to disappoint her mother, Gwen. Bonnie and her husband Craig who is contemplating cheating with a younger woman. Agnes, whose brief marriage to Richard ended with his death in WW II along with Sylvia's husband. Diane and Tim who have two teenage sons and an irate neighbor who turns the
whole neighborhood against them. Judy, whose father abandoned her and her mother before Judy was born and who has received a letter from a sister she never knew she had. And finally there's Carol, Sarah's mom, who isn't part of the group of friends, but who shows up hoping to improve her relationship with the reluctant Sarah.

It doesn't really sound like much of a premise for a novel, but it was surprisingly interesting.  Starting out, I was expecting the story would center on the quilting students but they are not part of the story. Instead it is about this group of women. And I quite enjoyed it.
The author has a whole series of stories based on the Elm Creek quilters. Round Robin was the second one she wrote in the series. The Quilter's Apprentice was the first. You don't need to have read the first book to enjoy the second, although I think reading the first would have made understanding all the relationships easier.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The Patient

By Michael Palmer

Dr. Jessie Copeland is a neurosurgeon who is working on a robotic tool to assist in removing difficult tumors. Claude Malloche is a  terrorist with a brain tumor. He has hatched a plan to force Dr. Jessie to perform surgery on him by blackmail. Unless she does what he orders, his cohorts will release poison gas throughout the city.
Claude may be a smart, ruthless terrorist. But when it comes to brains, he has met his match in Dr. Jessie.

This was a pretty good story. One of the best things about it was Dr. Jessie. She is a true heroine and not only saves herself, she also saves the city, with a little help from a government agent, Alex Bishop, who has been trying to capture Claude for five years. Too bad he didn't have Dr. Jessie to help him back then.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Handyman

By Linda Nichols

Jake Cooper is a contractor hired by Dr. Golding, a psychologist, to install a hot tub in the doctor's office. Dr. Golding is not available to oversee the work because he is in the hospital undergoing bypass surgery.
So Jake is alone at Golding's office when a distraught woman, Maggie Ivey, appears for her first appointment with the doctor whom she as never met before. She mistakes Jake for Golding and he fails to correct her error because she obviously needs a sympathetic ear and she is also very cute.
Jake allows the deception to continue, even going so far as to enlist the help of his family and friends. So "Doctor Golding" continues to use the
actual doctor's identity & office to see Maggie. Of course, eventually the chickens will come home to roost, and Jake will be in serious trouble.
Which is the last thing he wants because he has fallen for sweet, needy Maggie. How will he get himself out of the hole has dug himself into?

This was a pretty good story despite its ridiculous premise. I enjoyed this
simple romance story even if it didn't make much sense. And even though the Maggie character only needs a good man in her life to make all her problems go away, LOL. Shades of the 1950s!

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The Lion's Game

By Nelson DeMille

John Corey works on a New York team that fights against terrorism. The team has an important new case when a passenger jet arrives at the airport on autopilot with everyone on board dead. But one passenger is not among the dead, Asad Khalil, a terrorist who was being brought in to the USA by government agents. But the agents are among the dead and Khalil is missing.

Corey figures out that the plane load of dead passengers and crew are just the opening act in Khalil's revenge play. He's gunning for the bomber crews that wiped out his family in Libya. And he is also aiming for the man that authorized the bombing, the now-retired Ronald Reagan.

This was a pretty good story. However, the ending was disappointing. Spoiler alert: the terrorist gets away. For some reason, the author lets the man responsible for over three hundred deaths escape. Maybe it's a cliffhanger to lure the reader on to the next book in the series.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

City of Ghosts

By Victoria Schwab

Cassidy Blake nearly died drowning. But she was rescued by a boy who became her best friend, Jacob. And ever since that near-death experience, Cassidy can sense and see ghosts. The first ghost she ever saw was Jacob. Jacob was already a ghost when he saved her from drowning.
Now Cassidy's parents are traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland to film a TV show and Cassidy will be with them along with Jacob the ghost who has attached himself to her. How and why he has done this, he can't or won't
say. But Cassidy doesn't mind since Jacob is the only friend she has.
Together the two teens, one living and one dead, will take on one of the most haunted cities in the world, Edinburgh, with the help of local teen,
Lara, the ghost hunter.

This was an okay story. Intended for teens and older children, it was a fast and easy read. This book is the first in a series. Although this first book was okay, I didn't find it interesting enough to continue on with the series. It ought to appeal to its intended audience, though.

Review by Kirkus Reviews.