AGHM #11-14

Man, these last four have taken me ages to slog through.

Set in 1904, Minstrel's Melody is an interesting story, but the lead's mother is such a horrid bitch that it's hard to get through. She's basically abusive out of fear, thanks to something that happened in the past, but you're left with the feeling at the end that she's not going to change too much, except to allow the lead to play her music instead of trying to stop her.

I liked how the lead's eyes were opened to what life on the road in a travelling minstrel show was really like. She was a good character and I was left wondering what happened to her in her future.

This is the only AG book by this author.

Prairie Bride, set in 1878 Kansas, was the most enjoyable of this batch of four. Its main problem is that the mystery is really, really obvious. It's clear from her first appearance that "Caroline" is not Caroline. I'm not even spoiling anything there. It's that obvious. So you suffer through the rest of the story, frustrated with how long it takes the lead to get her shit together and figure things out fully.

I liked all the characters though and the concept of writing back East for a bride is an interesting one.

The author did one other history mystery before moving on to write several of the historical character mysteries.

Set in 1754, Enemy in the Fort is one of the earliest stories in the series.

Its main plot point is that the whites do bad things and the Indians do bad things. There's no right or wrong group. The lead is a bit prejudiced, but she lost her father, mother and baby brother to an Indian raid, so...yeah, it's not that off-putting to read her bitch about Indians, because it's in character. She also gets a lot of counterpoints from the ex-captive who wants to return to the Abenaki because that's his proper home now, so by the end, she's got more of an open mind.

Most of the characters are likeable, except the ones who are supposed to be assholes. I thought this was just okay though, because the actual perpetrator of one of the thefts never gets a comeuppance.

I just finished Circle of Fire and I have to admit that I skimmed the crap out of it, because I'm in a bad mood today and it wasn't the right time to reread the Klan book.

I do like the lead character a lot, although the others were weaker. Her mother is almost the same mother as the one in Minstrel's Melody, abusive and controlling out of fear and overly obsessed with her Tennessee mountain kid acting like a "lady."

I feel like this one bites off more than it can chew though. The Klan is a big and more adult topic, so this particular lead, who feels a lot younger than the other leads in this series, doesn't fit the story that well. Especially when some rather adult topics are brought up and she's all "ew, boys!"

She also saves the life of Eleanor freakin' Roosevelt, so...yeah, not very realistic.

Eight more of these to go!