Action Presidents: George Washington ~ Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey [@HarperChildrens @fredvanlente]

Action Presidents #1: George Washington
Ryan Dunlavey, illustrator
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
128 pages
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Where the history is real and the jokes are fake!

The first Action Presidents book will turn even the most reluctant reader into a history buff. George Washington, ultimate founding father and awesome American, practically jumps off the page.

We all know that George Washington was our first president and a hero of the American Revolution, but did you also know that he didn’t want to be president and had teeth so bad that he hated to smile?

Wimpy Kid meets the Who Was … series in these hilarious new graphic novels from New York Times bestselling comic book author Fred Van Lente and award-winning cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.

U.S. history comes to life like never before! Historically accurate and highly entertaining, Action Presidents is perfect for curious minds. With timelines, maps, charts, and more, readers will keep learning until the last page.

This series has the weirdest narrator: a turkey named Noah the Historkey. There is an explanation for his name and why he's off telling these kids about history and the presidents - but it's still odd. Odd that gets your attention and makes the book a bit different, though.

This first Action Presidents has a logical choice for its subject, the first United States President, George Washington. While 'Presidents' is in the title, the book starts with Washington's early life. I will admit to knowing very little about his childhood (other than the infamous - and fictional - story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree). I liked that the book started there and told readers both that it was untrue and how it came to to be.

The book addresses Washington's adolescence,  his time in the Revolution and then as President. There was a good mix of his military life, accomplishments and setbacks and his personal life - his marriage to Martha, how his career impacted their lives, etc.

Action Presidents #1: George Washington will probably appeal more to boys than girls (at least the dysentery jokes) but is a good way to introduce or refresh American History to readers not likely to read it in other forms. (And as a fun way to get toe information, even if you will read/learn it elsewhere.)

I do wish these books had page numbers. It is easier to keep track of where you are in a book or to remember where in the book a bit of information was that you wanted to remember or share with someone.



Action Presidents #2 focuses on Abraham Lincoln . .






finished copy received from publisher, for review consideration

Time Bomb ~ Joelle Charbonneau (earc) review [@jcharbonneau @HMHKids]

Time Bomb
HMH Books for Young Readers
March 13, 2018
352 pages
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A congressman's daughter who has to be perfect. A star quarterback with a secret. A guy who's tired of being ignored. A clarinet player who's done trying to fit in. An orphaned rebel who wants to teach someone a lesson. A guy who wants people to see him, not his religion.

They couldn't be more different, but before the morning's over, they'll all be trapped in a school that's been rocked by a bombing. When they hear that someone inside is the bomber, they'll also be looking to one another for answers.

The beginning of Time Bomb does a fantastic job setting things up: you know from the start that one of those trapped inside the school is believed to be the bomber.

The story then jumps back several hours, though, and you see how the students started the day and some (but not quite all) of why they were headed to school. Between the way they're vague about their reasoning and knowing what we do from that radio announcement, it is easy to question each of the characters.

Even as you wonder if they could be responsible for the bombing, you get to know them and care about them. They are characters you can relate to - and sympathize with. Each is facing something (or more than one something) that makes them 'different' and/or makes then feel alienated or unable to be themselves. (They are not quite all likable, however, but that makes sense and fits who the characters are.)

Having both readers doubts about the characters and the characters own doubts, suspicions and fears about each other paired with the congressman's proposed bill was smart storytelling.  You notice more that you're suspected people capable of something (and why), only to usually be proven wrong. Time Bomb is a timely and smart story that unfolds quickly and will keep you reading until the last page.




Another Book You May Also Enjoy:  Trapped by Michael Northrop (Goodreads)





digital review copy received from publisher via NetGalley

A Kiss in the Dark ~ Gina Ciocca (earc) review [@gmc511 @simonteen @simonkids]

A Kiss in the Dark
Simon Pulse
March 06, 2018
341 pages
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When the lights go out at a Georgia high school football game, Macy Atwood finds herself in the arms of a boy who kisses her senseless – but is gone by the time the lights come back on. All she knows is that there was something special – and oddly familiar – about her mystery kisser.

Noah Granger, Ridgedale’s resident bad boy and newest transfer student, has no problem taking credit for the kiss, but Macy can’t shake the feeling that he’s lying. Especially since a photograph of Macy and former star football player Joel Hargrove resurfaced online moments before the blackout, a not-so random reminder of how hard she fell for Joel last year. And how doing so ultimately sent her lifelong friendships with Meredith Kopala and Ben Collins up in literal smoke.

Soon junior year’s wounds begin to reopen as Macy realizes the events that unfolded are somehow tied to her mystery kisser. Discovering how means finally facing what really went wrong with Meredith, Ben, and Joel – and finding out what Noah is covering up.

But the closer Macy gets to figuring it all out, the more she starts to worry that the boy who kissed her in the dark and the boy who is stealing her heart might be two very different people.

While reading A Kiss in the Dark, I couldn't help picturing it with the cover of Gina Ciocca's novel published in January, Busted.

Last year Macy Atwood was a cheerleader, with best friend Meredith. Now, for her senior year, she and Jadie are yearbook photographer. So much about Macy's life has changed in just one year - but what it was that caused all those changes is what you, the reader, have to discover.

The way that Ciocca split the story between Macy's Junior Year and Senior Year, with each happening in the run up to Homecoming was great. We get to see a lot of the repercussions - the strained relationships, the emotional fallout, the lingering questions - of what happened around Homecoming last year, before we experience it in the Junior Year half of the book.

While some of the larger elements of the story - who the characters were to each other, how they felt about each other - were easy to see long before the characters acknowledged and/or realized them, it worked. It was very lifelike that Macy was unable to see what, to an outsider seemed to be, right in front of her. (You also can't guess at the details or how things will play out.)

I loved the different relationships author Gina Ciocca presented to readers. There were different kinds of friendships, different romantic relationships, different parent/child relationships that were all interwoven and played into the story really well.

A kiss in the Dark was sweet and cute but the characters faced uncertainty, difficult decisions, and possibly ruined friendships, as well. The things that weren't easy for the characters made the story that much more real and enjoyable to read.  After Last Year's Mistake and now A Kiss in the Dark, I hope we get more novels from this author that split the story between 'then' and 'now'  - it's great storytelling with true to life characters, emotions and relationships.









review copy received from publisher via NetGalley

The Vanishing Season ~ Joanna Schaffhausen (earc) review [@slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks]

The Vanishing Season
Minotaur
December 05, 2017
274 pages
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Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only victim who lived.

When three people disappear from her town in three years, all around her birthday—the day she was kidnapped so long ago—Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer’s closet all those years ago.

Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he's washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can’t help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery’s waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them...with a killer who can't let go.

Ellery Hathaway is not that kidnapped girl, rescued years ago and now going on tours to tell the world her story. In fact, she is not telling anyone her story. She has started a new life for herself, separate from that girl kidnapped by a now infamous man. Woodbury is tiny and supposed to be worlds away from the kind of crime that touched Ellery's life.

Maybe that's why no one believes her theory about the disappearances - that they're related. She can't share with her fellow police officers all of why she thinks there's a connection; that would mean revealing her past. So she calls in one of the only people to know what happened to her (and to know that it was her, at least the former her, not just some nameless, faceless girl): FBI Agent Reed Markham.

Author Joanna Schaffhausen set up some really interesting and compelling relationships and dynamics in this novel, her debut. Ellery had her past, the ways she was keeping herself a secret, her worry that someone had (or would) discover who she had been, and there was what all of those precautions and anxieties meant for the kind of life she was living. Then Agent Markham had a few secrets of his own and the different ways that Ellery's case - and some subsequent ones - affected his life.

When you throw in the chief of police, Sam and all of his different relationships, Ellery's mother, Reeds family, the other police officers, some of the Woodbury residents, Ellery's almost friends, it all makes for a very comelling and well done mystery. You care about the characters, but also can't help second guessing their motives or intentions. This person might be capable of something horrible . . . or maybe they're just upset, like anyone would be . . . maybe nothing happened to those missing people . . . maybe something did.

I really enjoyed Ellery's character (somehow she gave me some of the same feeling as Lena Adams from Karin Slaughter's Grant County series, though they're also quite different), how she wasn't what you expected but also how strong and determined she was. She was damaged, but resilient, too. I look forward to reading Schaffhausen's second novel No Mercy whether it involves Ellery or not (though I very much want more with her character).







digital review copy received thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley

A Map of the Dark ~ Karen Ellis review [@KatiaLief @mulhollandbooks]

A Map of the Dark (The Searchers #1)
Mullholand Books
January 02, 2018
292 pages
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A girl, missing
A woman, searching
A killer, planning...

FBI Agent Elsa Myers finds missing people.
She knows how it feels to be lost...

Though her father lies dying in a hospital north of New York City, Elsa cannot refuse a call for help. A teenage girl has gone missing from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads hides the fact that she did not go willingly.

With each passing hour, as the hunt for Ruby deepens into a search for a man who may have been killing for years, the case starts to get underneath Elsa's skin. Everything she has buried - her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother's death - threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences.

In order to save the missing girl, she may have to lose herself...and return to the darkness she's been hiding from for years.

It was great, when preparing this review, to find out that A Map of the Dark was the first in a series. Though this book concluded very well and did wrap up the story, I had hoped we would see more of at least some of the characters. Now, I am looking forward to the second book, Last Night.

Author Karen Ellis, a pseudonym of Katia Lief, gave readers thrilling read centered around a missing teen and an FBI agent with her own reasons for being so dedicated to finding the missing girl. I liked that Elsa's past played a roe in her joining law enforcement, but also in why she is so good at finding missing children. And that it was not the reason you, at first, believe.

Readers will see certain developments coming before (some of) the characters, but they seem to only be those that we are meant to anticipate, the ones that increase the tension. The story is full of a lot of surprises and anxiety, as well.

The more you know about the characters, the more you both want to know about them and the more you want them to be safe. I really loved that this was a great, thrilling mystery with a crime to be solved and someone(s) to be rescued but also gave us characters we could be invested in, care about and root for.

The crime aspect of this story and the investigation were well done and seemed realistic and I am hoping we will get to see more development of the characters and their relationships in the books to come. I highly recommend this first book in The Searchers series.




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Close to Me ~ Amanda Reynolds (earc) review [@amandareynoldsj @QuercusBooks @Wildfirebks]

Close to Me
Wildfire
July 17, 2017
384 pages
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Close To Me is a gripping debut psychological drama that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty's bestselling The Husband's Secret, Clare Mackintosh's I Let You Go, and Linda Green's While My Eyes Were Closed.

She can't remember the last year. Her husband wants to keep it that way.

When Jo Harding falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in hospital with partial amnesia-she's lost a whole year of memories. A lot can happen in a year. Was Jo having an affair? Lying to her family? Starting a new life?

She can't remember what she did-or what happened the night she fell. But she's beginning to realise she might not be as good a wife and mother as she thought.

Close to Me reminds you just how much you, as a reader, rely on the narrator. Whether or not you may realize it. I loved that author Amanda Reynolds kept readers just as in the dark - and sometimes even more so - as Jo.

The story is told alternating between the year that Jo has now forgotten and her life after her fall, trying to discover what all she has forgotten, how her family came to be so very different . . . and why she feels so unsettled around the husband she can only ever remember loving and trusting.

While it could be frustrating to be just on the cusp of discovering something, some informative truth or tidbit, only to have the timeline shift or Jo never quite mention it, it did definitely make for a better read. We were never ahead of either  past or present Jo when it came to any of the 'why's or the bigger pieces of the puzzle. Sometimes you knew what would happen but not why or when or, really, even if.

The way this story is told really keeps you just as engrossed in both of the timelines and anxious to find out what happens (or happened). At times, it's hard to even know if you like Jo and whether she -and what she did over that forgotten year - was in the right or the wrong.It was startling to realize just how much I was relying on Jo's interpretation of events, her memories, her impression of people and/or relationships to inform my understanding of things. I loved that it was not a third person narration; it left for a lot more questions and uncertainties. Sure Jo thought X was true or this person felt this way, but was it true?

There were a few more unanswered questions at the end of the novel than I would have liked. Things didn't need to be all tied up with a neat little bow or anything, but I was not sure enough about where or how certain characters were to even guess about their future. I will read more from this author, but I hope future books allow for more development of the characters' relationships.







digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

Marty Pants: Keep Your Paws Off ~ Mark Parisi review [@@OffTheMarkComic @HarperChildrens]

Marty Pants #2: Keep Your Paws Off
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
256 pages
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Marty Pants is back! And in an unexpectedly hairy situation, Marty must put his deduction skills to the test as this new mystery might be leading to monstrous consequences.

When Marty finds a ripped page from his sister's diary, the most crucial piece—revealing Marty's true identity—is still locked inside his sister’s room. Undaunted, Marty pieces the clues together and comes to the most logical conclusion: he's on a one-way trip to werewolfville!

Superhuman speed. Howling. Hairiness. The evidence is mounting against him, and with his werewolf powers growing stronger, Marty is determined to protect his classmates from himself before it's too late—no matter what the cost!

The second book in the Marty Pants series from the award-winning cartoonist behind the “Off the Mark” strip, Mark Parisi, is perfect for fans of Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, and laughing a lot.

Marty Pants returns for another strange, funny, crazy installment of Mark Parisi's Marty Pants series. This time the young aspiring artist has discovered something truly frightening about himself: he is a werewolf.

It seems unbelievable, but seems to make perfect sense, too. Just to be sure Marty decides to watch for the signs: ripped clothing, howling, etc. He needs to keep people safe from his monstrous, true self, after all.

This possible, life altering secret doesn't stop life around him from continuing on. There's still his nemesis Simon to deal with, therapy sessions with Parker, Roongrat's never-ending (but often incorrect) supply of facts and anecdotes, and Marty's sister's current way of spelling her name.

Marty Pants: Keep Your Paws Off is funny and maybe a bit absurd but also lets readers get to know the characters better and develops their relationships. (Marty also supplies a bit of information on different artists - and our Founding Fathers - along the way.) This book a is a light, fun read with enough in its characters and their friendships to make readers want to come back for the next book.

How Marty decides things to be true (what makes him think he's one step closer to confirming his lycanthropic identity) was fantastic. It's that perfect blend of odd and logical that is definitely funny, but somehow still understandable.

The Marty Pants series is targeted at readers eight to twelve-years-old but but older readers will still find the humor and it seems appropriate for any younger readers. Book 3, Marty Pants: How to Defeat a Wizard will be out in November and sounds like it will, again, showcase the . . . interesting conclusions Marty reaches.







finished copy received from publisher for review consideration

Berserker ~ Emmy Laybourne (earc) review [@EmmyLaybourne @FeiwelFriends @FierceReads]

Berserker (#1)
Feiwel & Friends
October 10, 2017
352 pages
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Are Hanne's powers a gift from the old Norse gods, or a curse?

Her brother Stieg swears their powers are a gift from the old gods, but Hanne Hemstad knows she is truly cursed. It's not Stieg's fault that their father is dead, their mother has left, and their brother Knut has been accused of a crime he didn't commit.

No, the fault lies with Hanne and her inability to control her murderous "gift"--she is a Berserker. When someone she loves is threatened, she flies into a killing state. The siblings must leave Norway for the American frontier or risk being brought to justice.

Aided by a young cowboy who agrees to be their guide, Hanne and her siblings use their powers to survive the perilous trail, where blizzards, wild animals, and vicious bounty hunters await.

Will they be able to reach their uncle, the one man Hanne believes may be able to teach her how to control her drive to kill? With Berserker, Emmy Laybourne, the author of Monument 14, presents her vision of an American west studded with Viking glory.

Emmy Laybourne's Berserker does a great job blending the story of a family immigrating to America in the 19th century. This was one of the first books I have read that featured any kind of Norse mythology and I liked that it wasn't so much about gods and goddesses but about what they might have given to people, to mortals.

How we are introduced to Hanne and learn of her 'gifts' was nicely done. We are able to see what she can do and to see her relationships with her family before we get the facts. I liked her being someone you probably already connected with before you learn how she can kill.

The danger the siblings face and how it was compounded by Hanne's gifts added tension to the read ad made it more exciting. It was not so simple as them leaving Norway, finding somewhere to stat a new life and that being that. As they tried to adjust to a new land and life, come to terms with what had happened and who they were, we really did learn a lot about the characters.

The bleaker things became, the more they had to use their abilities but also the more of a threat using those abilities might pose.  Berserker really does a fantastic job with its sibling relationships, with four young people coming to a brand new country and to a whole new life, and forcing its characters to deal with both seemingly magical abilities and very human emotions.

Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 book and series were fun and fast paced, but her new novel delves more into the characters lives and emotions and feels a bit more. . . grown up, maybe. Berserker is  a creative, sometimes tension filled read that expertly combines Norse mythology, ancient abilities and the human lives of those affect.







digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

All Rights Reserved ~ Gregory Scott Katsoulis review [@HarlequinTeen ]

All Rights Reserved (Word$ #1)
Harlequin Teen
August 29, 2017
400 pages
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In a world where every word and gesture is copyrighted, patented or trademarked, one girl elects to remain silent rather than pay to speak, and her defiant and unexpected silence threatens to unravel the very fabric of society.

Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks ("Sorry" is a flat ten dollars and a legal admission of guilt), for every nod ($0.99/sec), for every scream ($0.99/sec) and even every gesture of affection. She's been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can't begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she's unable to afford.

But when Speth's friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family's crippling debt, she can't express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Backed into a corner, Speth finds a loophole: rather than read her speech - rather than say anything at all - she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again. Speth's unexpected defiance of tradition sparks a media frenzy, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps, and threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.

All Rights Reserved is a book that will make you think, if not about what you say, then about your ability to say it. Or the different movements and gestures you make throughout the say.

In Speth Jime's world it is absolutely astounding how many things, how many little aspects of daily life have been monetized. Nearly everything - every word or gesture is trademarked, ads are everywhere and everything from buzzing someone's apartment to medical procedures requires agreeing to Terms of Service.- is a transaction. It's not a fair economy either.

People like Speth and her family have to pay for every word they say, trying to live a life while avoiding Collection.

Ordinarily, I want background on dystopian worlds, to know how things devolved from what we know now - or can foresee - and what the characters are experiencing. It was one hundred percent for the better, though, that we don't get that in All Rights Reserved. The story is told by Speth, which is necessary given that she doesn't speak, and to her the world is what it is. Those in Speth's world don't have a US history class that teaches them about freedom of speech, so they can't wonder, let alone know how things got so bad.

Having the characters not aware of how different their world is from ours, really allows readers to experience their world and lives. We don't get that objective view point saying, "Well this is wrong," or, "Here's how this came to be," Instead you get things from Speth's view point. And it's that much more rewarding and exciting as her knowledge and view evolve and grow.

I am really eager to see what the sequel Access Restricted holds for Speth and the others and if we get more of that background information.

There's Someone Inside Your House ~ Stephanie Perkins review [@DuttonYR @naturallysteph] #TheresSomeoneInsideYourHouse

There's Someone Inside Your House
Dutton Books for Young Readers
September 26, 2017
289 pages
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Love hurts...

Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.

Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.

Somehow, There's Someone Inside Your House was both sweet and creepy. It seems like it shouldn't work: let's be honest, in a horror movie, you might like characters and be pulling for them to come out of it all alive, you might even want them to get a happily ever after together. But the relationships aren't really the focus of the story.

In There's Someone Inside Your House, though, I really liked the characters and they had well written, real relationships. From Makani and her grandmother (and the lack of her parents) to Makani and Alex and Darby - and Makani and Ollie, they are characters you care about, their bonds seem real and you want them to figure out what's happening but to stay safe while doing so.

The novel managed to be unsettling and anxiety inducing through some small occurrences/more so than big, dramatic ones. Even after students had been murdered, it was some of those small things that set you on edge. It was hard to know who was truly safe . . . or for how long.

The answers we get by the end of the novel are almost more dramatic for their lack of being something big, showy or over the top. It is something that seems so absurd, yet also makes a lot of sense.

I really appreciated the way that why Makani was sent to live in Nebraska, what had really happened, worked into the story. It was both completely separate from the killings and not at all, at least for her. Her struggling with that secret, the relationships she was trying to build, and the horror and fear around a killer all worked together better than I anticipated. This is a sweet, cute story that will also set your nerves on edge and have you watching the shadows.

Dividing Eden ~ Joelle Charbonneau review [@jcharbonneau @epicreads @harperteen[

Dividing Eden
Harper Teen
June 06, 2017
336 pages
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Twins Carys and Andreus were never destined to rule Eden. With their older brother next in line to inherit the throne, the future of the kingdom was secure.

But appearances—and rivals—can be deceiving. When Eden’s king and crown prince are killed by assassins, Eden desperately needs a monarch, but the line of succession is no longer clear. With a ruling council scheming to gain power, Carys and Andreus are faced with only one option—to take part in a Trial of Succession that will determine which one of them is worthy of ruling the kingdom.

As sister and brother, Carys and Andreus have always kept each other safe—from their secrets, from the court, and from the monsters lurking in the mountains beyond the kingdom’s wall. But the Trial of Succession will test the bonds of trust and family.

With their country and their hearts divided, Carys and Andreus will discover exactly what each will do to win the crown. How long before suspicion takes hold and the thirst for power leads to the ultimate betrayal?

In Dividing Eden author Joelle Charbonneau shows us a complicated sibling relationship made all the more complicated by the fact that the siblings are twins -and royalty.  Carys has been protecting her brother Andreus for nearly her whole life. Putting herself in harm's way (sometimes quite literally) so that he can keep his secret. He knew it and loved and appreciated her for it.

Or, at least, he used to. Now? Things are not so certain.

Admittedly, I did read Dividing Eden at a time when I was able to identify with Carys much more than I would have liked but I think the author did a great job with their relationship. We see not only what things were like for them in the past - both those things others knew about and the things kept hidden - but we then how things change as well. They are no longer the children of the kind and the younger siblings of the crown prince. Now there is the possibility of ruling. Of one of them ruling.

The opportunity for power, to rule Eden, what that could mean for them, the different people with stakes (apparent or hidden) in the Trial of Succession's outcome, alliances, love and betrayal will test them in ways they never expected.

There were characters in Dividing Eden that I loved, some that frustrated me, ones that made me curious to know more about them and  maybe some I wanted to fall off the battlements. I am really looking forward to the second book, Eden Conquered, hopefully finding out more about some characters - who they are, what they want - and what happens between Carys and Andreus and to Eden.





Another Book You May Also Enjoy: Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis (They both have royal families, some magic or magical beliefs, threats to the kingdom - and threats within their families.(

The Hanging Girl ~ Eileen Cook (earc) review [@HMHKids @eileenwriter]

The Hanging Girl
HMH Books for Young Readers
October 03, 2017
320 pages
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Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge—her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy—no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realizes the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

The Hanging Girl was another one of those books where I had forgotten what it was supposed to be about by the time I started reading it. Not knowing what was to come for Skye - and not knowing what it was she was getting herself involved in, was a lot of fun.

I liked the setup of a girl who makes money from tarot card readings but who does not believe, at all, that she has some sort of psychic ability. Rather, he readings rely on her ability to read people, to keep things enough open to interpretation to please people - and using any other knowledge she has of them.

It works really well that we get to see not only what Skye does (her tarot card readings, charging for them) but also her financial situation and how desperate she is to get out after graduation before finding out what she's involved in. Though you don't know at first just what it is Skye got into (and maybe she doesn't, either) or why exactly, you can still understand her acquiescence.

Life is not awesome for Skye and this is her way to fix that. Somehow. Maybe.

When things started to go wrong, I both wanted Skye to tell someone- and really be honest, not tell them more of her 'psychic visions' - but I could also understand her hesitancy to do so. Skye was not someone who seemed to make great choices (even aside from the big, obvious one) and I did not think she had really thought through oa lot of the logistics or facts of how things were supposed to go. Still, trying to piece together the mystery, of what Skye should do and what would happen if she did (or didn't) was a thrilling read.

The Hanging Girl definitely, definitely had some surprising and shocking twists and turns. Even the pieces that seemed simple were not and the pieces I was able to guess still added to the mystery because I had no idea how the characters would react if (or when) they put things together. The Hanging Girl is an original, thrilling tread that will keep you guessing right to the last page.






digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

The Stolen Marriage ~ Diane Chamberlain (earc) review [@StMartinsPress @D_Chamberlain]

The Stolen Marriage
St Martin's Press
October 03, 2017
384 pages
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From perennial bestseller Diane Chamberlain, a compelling new novel

In 1944, twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly ends her engagement to the love of her life when she marries a mysterious stranger and moves to Hickory, North Carolina, a small town struggling with racial tension and the hardships imposed by World War II. Tess’s new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows no interest in making love. Tess quickly realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.

The people of Hickory love and respect Henry and see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain, especially after one of the town’s prominent citizens dies in a terrible accident and Tess is blamed. Tess suspects people are talking about her, plotting behind her back, and following her as she walks around town. What does everyone know about Henry that she does not? Feeling alone and adrift, Tess turns to the one person who seems to understand her, a local medium who gives her hope but seems to know more than he’s letting on.

When a sudden polio epidemic strikes the town, the townspeople band together to build a polio hospital. Tess, who has a nursing degree, bucks Henry’s wishes and begins to work at the hospital, finding meaning in nursing the young victims. Yet at home, Henry’s actions grow more alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients, can she untangle her husband’s mysterious behavior and save her own life?

I don't think I have changed my mind about characters o much (both in frequency and degree) in any other book as I did in The Stolen Marriage. There were characters I thought were innocent and sweet, then they would do or say something and I would realize they were a bit more hardened. Or, characters that seemed horrible would prove they had a heart. I really enjoyed getting such a full picture of the characters, and of their character.

The Stolen Marriage is about a time in American history about which much has been written - both fiction and fact - but includes things that have not been written about so heavily. I knew a tiny bit about polio and approximately when it was such an issue but this novel does a fantastic job putting all of the elements of the time together: the polio epidemics, World War II, issues of race and religion. Seeing everything within the context of the time period (and the North Carolina setting) really made it feel more real and helped you relate to the characters.

I really liked the way Tess's personal beliefs and her views on current, social issues were presented. Not because I always liked what she thought or how she felt about things but because it all seemed a very good representation of where and how she was brought up. I appreciated that the author did not make her someone affected by our hindsight. She was a young, Italian nursing student from Baltimore in the 1940's and the book was better for the fact that she fit within that time period but we also got to see her grow and her world view evolve.

Diane Chamberlain's The Stolen Marriage is an enjoyable historical fiction, about something within the World War II era that doesn't feature so often in fiction: the polo epidemic. The characters seem very true of the time period, they change and grow and everything from their relationships to their secrets play a part in everything coming together.

(Was Tess supposed to make me think of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by the way? Or rid it make anyone else think of her/the book?)








digital copy received from publisher for review

Click'd ~ Tamara Ireland Stone (earc) review [@tamaraistone @DisneyHyperion]

Click'd
Disney Hyperion
September 07, 2017
208 pages
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Allie Navarro can't wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. CLICK'D pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it's a hit. By the second day of school, everyone is talking about CLICK'D.

Watching her app go viral is amazing. Leaderboards are filling up! Everyone's making new friends. And with all the data Allie is collecting, she has an even better shot at beating her archenemy, Nathan, at the upcoming youth coding competition. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone's secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt-all before she steps on stage to present CLICK'D to the judges?

New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone combines friendship, coding, and lots of popcorn in her fun and empowering middle-grade debut.

Click'd was such a fun but also heartfelt middle-grade novel. There is a great portrayal of Allie, a girl who loves her friends and their soccer tournaments but is willing to leave a summer of that behind to attend her 'computer camp.'  CodeGirls is even more than she had hoped it would be and she comes away from it not only with new friends, but also a great game: CLICK'D.

I loved that Allie loved coding and wasn't afraid to express that fact. It was something she enjoyed and, even if her school friends didn't understand it, she wasn't going to dial back her enthusiasm or pretend. For a seventh grader, really embracing something different that you like could be heard but she really was herself.

Allie's reaction to finding the glitch in CLICK'D was realistic but also made for a good story. The choices she made were understandable and, as a reader, you can agree with her or not, but see why doe did it.

I appreciated that Click'd was not full of quick fixes or instantly corrected wrongs. Both with relationships and when it came to the coding, solutions had to be figured out, tested and attempted. Sometimes they were the right and things were fixed. Sometimes it was more complicated. They was that the error in the coding might bring about a problem between people was smart and well done. All of the coding, the talk around the glitch, and how things work, etc was done well and used enough terms but without being overwhelming or losing readers who don't know code.

Click'd is a great middle grade debut from Tamara Ireland Stone with a great depiction of a girl who unabashedly loves coding - and is good at it. The author does a great job having the characters and their relationships and growth happen around and because of CLICK'D and its coding.










digital review copy received, from NetGalley, via publisher

Moo ~ Sharon Creech review [@HarperChildrens @ciaobellacreech]

Moo
HarperCollins
August 29, 2017
288 pages
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Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. This uplifting tale reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.

When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora.

This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

Even if you are beyond the Middle Grade novel reading age, you really may want to read Sharon Creech's new release, Moo.

Moo alternates between verse and short chapters of prose to tell Reena's story. A city girl who is used to the bustle of urban life, of museums and public transportation and people all around, Reena isn't expecting her family to decide to move to rural Maine. Even if it may have, technically, been her idea.

Things in their new home are quite different - and not exactly like what she's read about or seen in books. Reena and her brother Luke don't know what to do when their parents volunteer them to help Mrs Falala - and her animals.

One of the things I most appreciated about Moo was that it gave readers a look at both city life and r rural life but without making one look better than the other. If you are more familiar with open fields and livestock than subways, you can enjoy seeing Maine, the cows, the animals and that life through someone just experiencing it. If youwith two're like Reena and may not have ever seen a cow in person, you can experience things with her.

The author does a really fantastic job putting her characters into a new, very unfamiliar setting, with equally new and unfamiliar experiences but Reena's enjoyment or discovery of the new is not at the expense of the old.

Moo is a sweet, funny, possibly educational (depends how much you knew or didn't know about cows) read. Reena's relationships with her parents and her brother Luke, the beginnings of her life in Maine, and caring for Zora all make for a great read for MG readers and beyond.








finished copy received, for review consideration, from publisher

The Other Girl ~ Erica Spindler (earc) review [@StMartinsPress @EricaSpindler]

The Other Girl
St Martin's Press
August 22, 2017
352 pages
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From the NYT bestselling author comes a chilling new thriller about a ritualistic murder of a college professor that sends a small town cop back into the trauma she thought she’d put behind her.

Officer Miranda Rader of the Hammond PD in Louisiana is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis—but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from Jasper, just south of Hammond, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to leave the girl she used to be behind and earn respect in her position as an officer.

However, when Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the gruesomeness of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about a terrible night from her long-buried past. Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop, and not just any cop—Clint Wheeler, the cop who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common—except Miranda. 14 years ago.

And when her fingerprints turn up at the scene of the first murder, Miranda once again finds herself under the microscope, her honesty and integrity doubted, her motivations questioned. Alone again, the trust of her colleagues shattered, Miranda must try to trust the instincts she’s pushed down for so long, and decide what’s right—before it’s too late.

The Other Girl really surprised me. I usually love mysteries where either I do not know who the culprit is or, if I do, it's because we also get things from their point of view. With The Other Girl, it seemed like I was going to know from nearly the beginning who the killer was.

I liked Miranda, though and wanted to see how her past played into her present and the investigation so I did keep reading. Which was the absolute right thing to do because how it seemed like I had it figured out? Erica Spindler made me question that assumption more than once (more than probably a dozen times, actually).

Even as you're trying to figure out who committed the murders - and why - you are have to wonder if Miranda is going to make it through the investigation. Will she be suspected? Why? To what extent? Will she be able to pice things together in time? Is she safe? How is that night, fourteen years ago, a part of this?

I thought I knew what was coming with The Other Girl, that  I didn't. This novel makes you suspect  characters you thought you liked, like characters you thought you suspected and still surprises you when the truth is, finally, uncovered.

I enjoyed that we knew what Miranda said about her teenaged self before actually saw the events and how they unfolded. Having it from her perspective (before experiencing it) helps the reader to more connect with present day Miranda, who she is, where her head is and who she's trying to prove herself to be (and why).

The author does a great job having Miranda deal with aspects of her past - both from that night and beyond - that she thought she had left behind and moved on from. Things work together nicely to not only aid her character, but to aid the investigation as well.  Her character, her past and her present are tied together in wonderful (but painful and frightening) ways. The Other Girl is a mystery wrapped up in our main character and her past, in ways neither she, nor the reader, first realize; it is a surprising and satisfying mystery read.










digital review copy received, from publisher, via NetGalley

Sparks of Light ~ Janet B Taylor (earc) review ]@HMHKids @Janet_B_Taylor]

Sparks of Light (Into the Dim #2)
Houghton Mifflin
August 01, 2017
448 pages
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For the first time in her life, Hope Walton has friends . . . and a (maybe) boyfriend. She’s a Viator, a member of a long line of time-traveling ancestors. When the Viators learn of a plan to steal a dangerous device from the inventor Nikola Tesla, only a race into the past can save the natural timeline from utter destruction. Navigating the glitterati of The Gilded Age in 1895 New York City, Hope and her crew will discover that high society can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

There is not a lot of recapping of Into the Dim in this second book, Sparks of Light, so if you have either not read that book or largely forgotten it, you may feel a bit left out at certain points. Of course, the larger, more major parts of Into th Dim we are reminded of simply by who is or is not present when Sparks of Light beings and what we thn learn of their current location or state. Though there were a few things I wanted to go back to Into the Dim and refresh myself on, I liked the focus on the now.

I liked that each book, so far, at least, seems more self contained. Yes, you will be spoiled for some parts of Into the Dim if you read Sparks of Light first (some pretty big things so I really don't recommend it) but it's still possible.

I appreciated that in this book, Hope is familiar with the Viators, with the Dim, how it works and its limitations. There is both their immediate plan and worry, in 1895 New York City with Tesla, but also a larger, overreaching goal. The author does a great job focusing very much on the here and now (whenever that may be), with great attention to detail and historical fact and accuracy but simultaneously making it all a part of a larger whole. This is true of both the Viators characters and for history and what's supposed to happen.

I loved that gender, race and class played into the time travelling and what they encountered or experienced.  Paired with Hope's memory and her knowledge of the time, it felt like a very true representation of the period. It is also extra enjoyable that it isn't simply: go back in time, say this to this person, don't do this and then come home. Their plans are often foiled, inadvertently or purposefully or both and it makes for a bit more excitement and danger.

This series does a great job of giving us fun, thrilling and often dangerous time travel adventures, fantastic character relationships and accomplishing one, isolated mission somehwere in time while also having something larger they're still working towards in the present. This is a series where I would gladly read several more installments.









digital review copy received from publisher via NetGalley

I See London, I See France ~ Sarah Mlynowski review [@SarahMlynowski @epicreads]

I See London, I See France (#1)
HarperTeen
July 11, 2017
378 pages
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I see London, I see France, I see Sydney’s underpants.

Nineteen-year-old Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She’s spending the next four and half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend, Leela. Their plans include Eiffel-Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with très hot strangers. Her plans do not include Leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to London, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend’s très hot friend, monitoring her mother’s spiraling mental health via texts, or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug-of-war.

As Sydney zigzags through Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy, and France, she must learn when to hold on, when to keep moving, and when to jump into the Riviera…wearing only her polka-dot underpants.

Sarah Mlynowski's novels can be fun, quick, cute reads - like Ten Things We Did - and I See London, I See France is definitely those things. I loved the traveling parts of this novel: the sights, the actual traveling, the food, the other travelers, the hostels. It was great that, while some of the destinations were the more known, even expected ones (London, Paris), there were also several places you might not think about visiting or might not know much about.

I liked that the trip was not just a carefree, forget-about-everything summer vacation for Sydney. While trying to take in the sights and enjoy Europe, she was also worrying about her mother, trying to check in with her sister and manage things at home. I thought that her mother's agoraphobia, how it had affected Syndney's choices since middle school and her struggle to balance being there for her mother and having her own life gave the book ab it of seriousness.

That Sydney also had that going on made her trying to figure things out with Leela (and her ex) feel more substantial. It wasn't just Leela she did not seem able to assert herself with and her actions on the trip make more sense when paired with her life at home. I still don't know if I like Leela or think she was a good friend to Sydney.

It always surprises me when YA books are more NA books, though I don't know why. I See London, I See France was a bit odd in that area. It's tone felt very Young Adult, but the content (the sex, drinking, drugs) was more New Adult. It did definitely fit the characters, their ages (post first year of college) and the location(s) but still felt younger than what was happening.

I See London, I See France is a fun read that will absolutely make you want to go on your own trip around Europe and I hope there is a description for Book 2 soon!

Weird School Books ~ Dan Gutman, art by Jim Paillot reviews [@HarperChildrens @DanGutmanBooks ]

Mrs Master is a Disaster! (My Weirdest School #8)
Harper Collins
June 20, 2017
112 pages
(ages 6-10)
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With more than 11 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!


In this eighth book in the new My Weirdest School series, it s Grandparents Day at Ella Mentry School! Alexia s grandmother Mrs. Master makes weird inventions for a living, but A.J. and the gang come up with the weirdest invention of all. And they re going to make a bazillion dollars from it! Will they succeed? Or will their great big idea be flushed down the drain?

Perfect for reluctant readers and word lovers alike, Dan Gutman s hugely popular My Weird School chapter book series has something for everyone. Don t miss the hilarious adventures of A.J. and the gang!

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My Weird School Fast Facts: Explorers, Presidents and Toilets
HarperCollins
June 20, 2017
192 pages
(ages 6-10)
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Think fast with A.J. and Andrea from My Weird School!

Did you know that the word “independence” never appears in the Declaration of Independence? Did you know that soldiers in World War I collected thousands of glowworms in jars to help them see at night?!

Learn more weird-but-true U.S. history facts with A.J. and Andrea from Dan Gutman’s bestselling My Weird School series. This all-new series of nonfiction books features hundreds of hysterical facts, plus lots of photos and illustrations.

Whether you're a kid who wants to learn more about our country's history or simply someone who wants to know how many Americans are involved in toilet-related injuries each year, this is the book for you!

With more than 11 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!

These were the first two Weird School books I read and they were a fun discovery. The My Weirdest School book does seem able to be read individually, out of series order. (Though, other books likely explain some aspects: My Weirdest School #1: Mr Cooper is Super probably explains their teacher dressing like a superhero.) The nonfiction Fast Facts books can definitely be read separately from the Weird School series books.

My Weirdest School #8: Mrs Master is a Disaster! was a cute look at the process of inventing something. The process was definitely simplified and sped up, but included some useful information (you need to think of what people need but don't already have, making a prototype, etc_.

The parts about Grandparents' Day at the school have some bits that parents/older readers will get (one about being at Woodstock) but kids may just miss.

It is a fun, cute story that should be good for young readers.


My Weird School Fast Facts: Explorers, Presidents and Toilets is a nonfiction book with A.J. and Andrea from the Weird School books giving the information. The book does a great job presenting the information at an age-appropriate way. It doesn't stick with what you often learn as a kid: that Columbus discovered America in 1492. Readers learn about how the Native Americans were already here, how the Vikings came, and more, but without certain details that you don't need at that age.

The book had a lot of things I did learn through school, many of which I had forgotten about. It also had quite a few things I had never heard before (things involving oyster ice cream, pigeons in war or the movie Psycho, for example).

The explorers facts transition very well to those about the presidents and the combination seems natural. The inclusion of facts about toilets seems a little odder, but adds a bit of levity, seems to fit with A.J.'s character and might entice additional readers.

There was a joke repeated from Mrs Master is a Disaster but . . . whatever.

The photographs included in the book were of disappointingly low print quality, however. Many of the black and white images didn't have enough contrast, in the printed book, to really be seen. Based on web previews, the ebook versions seem clearer. I also wish they were larger.

Books like this one are ones I would have loved as a kid, with interesting facts put forth in a very entertaining and readable way.








books received from publisher for review consideration

UNSUB ~ Meg Gardiner (earc) review [@MegGardiner1 @DuttonBooks]

UNSUB (#1)
Dutton
June 27, 2017
384 pages
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A riveting psychological thriller inspired by the never-caught Zodiac Killer, about a young detective determined to apprehend the serial murderer who destroyed her family and terrorized a city twenty years earlier.

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

The serial killer that people had thought -- or at least, hoped -- long gone appears to have returned and the people of the Bay Area are afraid. Perhaps, none more so than Caitlin Hendrix. The Prophet was a part of her childhood, investigating his crimes and trying to find him consumed, and nearly ruined, her father. Now he is back and it is her turn to try to find this UNSUB who seems to be the Prophet.

UNSUB gives readers crimes, both past and present, that are brutal, twisted and frightening but also work into something larger (albeit something brutal and twisted and frightening). I enjoyed that it was not obvious from the start what was happening, what was being worked towards or why. As the investigators worked to piece things together, to uncover messages' meanings, I did, too.

The way that Caitlin has a history with the Prophet's murders and those investigations but not with the detectives she is working with made for some interesting interactions. She was both the new kid, but also , in some ways, the expert. It also let the other detectives be a smaller part of the whole story which actually worked here; any long established friendships between them wouldn't have fit either time/space wise or within the plot.

We don't get quite as much of a connection with Caitlin's character as with other mystery, thrillers I've read with detective/police at the center (ie the Kathryn Dance, Max Revere, DI Helen Grace, or Taylor Jackson series). This was a big case to focus on and it did not leave as much personal/non-work time as there might have been in other books. Caitlin's relationship with her father, the role the Prophet and the cases played in ti and how things change during UNSUB was great, though. With the other characters we met here that are part of her life (Sean, Michele, even Shadow) I have very high hopes for more of a connection with her characters as the series continues.

The crimes, the investigation, how the pieces are put together the false leads and real clues and how the characters are impacted by it all, how they handle things and how they proceed made UNSUB a great thriller. UNSUB seems to be the start to a great new series - and you know you want to read it before the TV show. Book 2, Into the Black Nowhere will be out in January 2018.







digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley