Radio Free Vermont is the story of an accidental, exceedingly civil rebel. He didn't start out to create a movement for Vermont to secede from the union, but he's been branded a terrorist and is currently hiding out sharing his messages via podcast and a dial-up connection, and he thinks it's a conversation worth having.

McKibben describes this book as a fable, and that seems about accurate. Like most adult novels that go for a feeling of fable or folk tale, it feels a bit slight. It is certainly charming; the detail of the school for newcomers to the state is a deft, funny touch. But in the end, it has it's point (which has less to do with secession than with civil discourse and the importance of small communities), it has a few laughs, and that's about it.

Overall: B

I picked Hook and Jill up after the author was at a steampunk convention I attended last year. Grown-up Wendy/Hook? I wasn't willing to spend twenty-five dollars for a hard cover, but five for the ebook seemed like it would probably be worth it.

I can't say I didn't get what I came for. I was rather amused by how obviously it was based on the 2003 movie. I don't recall the bit about a kiss on the corner of Wendy's mouth from any other versions, although it's possible it just wasn't significant enough in any other version for me to remember it, and the lingering description of the harness which holds on Hook's hook left very little doubt in my mind that I wasn't just picturing Jason Isaacs because I am wont to picture Jason Isaacs. And I have always been intrigued by the dark elements of Peter Pan's story, which are on full display here.

Why can't I like it more: the writing. The writing is quite florid at times, and I can't say that's necessarily inappropriate, given the source material. That still doesn't mean I necessarily care for three hundred pages of it. I see what the author was doing here. It is generally a kind of thing that I like. I don't regret having read it. But I probably won't reread it, and I'm not interested in reading any more in the series.

Overall: C

It Takes Two to Tumble is the first in Cat Sebastian's new Seducing the Sedgwick's series.

Captain Phillip Dacre returns to England and his three children after a voyage on which he lost his lieutenant, whom he loved but to whom he never confessed his full emotions. The children have driven away one tutor and governess after another and so have landed under the supervision of the local vicar, Ben Sedgwick. It is loosely a gay late Georgian Sound of Music, "with fewer children and no musical numbers."

This book is a delight. I enjoyed Sedgwick's thoughts on religion and sexuality, reasoning that when the Bible forbids something almost everyone does "like eating bacon or tossing one's self off" some nuance must have been lost because God can't possibly care about it. And that Captain Dacre, stern and initially determined to restore a ship's order to his home, is happy about his realization that Sedgwick might actually be a terrible vicar because he'd rather spend time with a terrible vicar than "a Godly one" was counter-intuitive and made me smile.

Sebastian's next book is not in this series, and while I'm sure I'll love it, too, I'll be looking forward to getting back to the Sedgwicks later this year.

Overall: B