Review : The Mother - Daughter Book Club

The Mother Daughter Book Club

Heather Vogel Frederick

Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers

 

    I liked this book. Put four girl together with very different backgrounds and hobbies and what do you get. A Cat fight???? Not here with the supervision of their mothers and a book called "Little Women" and you get a book club. As we grow up and we move on from grade school to middle school. People change our friends change and interest change. This story hits on all of that. Also deals with the young girls problems with the loss of a parent, and the over protective mother and first crushes. I think this book has it all. You see the story progress through each girl point of view, and how they grow as friends. It also allows the girls to show their parents that they don't always know what is best for these interesting young women.

     I liked this book because of the family dynamic and the relationships the girls have not only with each other but their mothers. How all the characters grow closer and learn the true value of their friendships. The girls get the support of not only their parent but of the other mothers in the club. They also learn and encourage each persons individuality. I found myself cheering for each victory achieved in this book. I also like the fact that it includes a cherished classic "Little Women" introducing this classic to a younger generation.

Review: The Maze of Bone

The Maze of Bones

The 39 Clues Series

Rick Riordan

Scholastic Press

 

    With their grandmothers death Dan and Amy find out their family is one of the most powerful families in the world with a rich and full history. To find the source of the power you have to find it. Here is the first clue.

     This book not only sends the kids on a scavenger hunt it is a history lesson too. They travel to Paris. I loved that aspect of the book. They learn their relative is a famous American, that is great too. They learn more about how he became famous. (We all know him and still use his inventions today) That is the part of the book I liked the history and information. I think every child should know this information.

      Dan and Amy are not the only people on this scavenger hunt for the power. They have other extended family members who also want to find the power. They hunt these children down and at every twist and turn Amy and Dan's lives are in danger. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat hoping the kids succeed in finding the treasure before their ruthless family does. Fast paced and action packed.

Review: Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator

Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator

Jennifer Allison

Puffin



 

    Gilda is a young girl who has many jobs. When asked in school what she is doing on summer break her mouth leads the way. Telling the teacher and classmates she is visiting relatives in San Fransisco. Oops..... Well the only thing to do is make it happen. Gilda uses her skill to do just that and get invited to a distant cousins house for a while. She arrives and is introduced to her cousin and learns that the house she is staying in is haunted. This is great since Gilda's job is psychic investigator. She want to see a ghost more than anything. (Hoping to connect with her father who died of cancer two years earlier) The hunt begins and adventure bounds. Gilda takes on the investigation with a passion and energy (costumes and wild theories) that a kid would. Making this book fun and lovable.

     I really like how well thought out Gilda was not just a silly girl. I though this book was quirky and clever. At the same time it had some sad moments. Gilda is still trying to deal with the death of her father and I think the author did this with grace and class. The author took a chance and it paid off. Gilda is a character who is young, but grows in ways that make you feel for her.   

Mailbox Monday

As you can see I have been working on the blog all weekend and I have done away with the pages for my kids. Don't worry we are still reading the book together but I am using both of our input for the reviews. I have been on a book buying ban and not doing so good, but I am buying more books for my Kindle so I am still clearing my shelves but my Kindle is getting filled up.

Partials

Dan Wells

Balzer + Bray

Harper Collins

 

Goodreads Description : The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials--engineered organic beings identical to humans--has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them--connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

 

Reason for this book:  The description got my interest and I also have a few of his other books. I am thinking of taking a month and just reading his books to clear up some space on my book shelf.

 

Masque of the Red Death

Bethany Griffin

Greenwillow Books

Harper Collins

 

Goodrads Description: Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population, and those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery makeup . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club--in the depths of her own despair--Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club, and Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find not just something to live for, but something to fight for--no matter what it costs her.

Reason for this book: Description and cover. I was drawn by both these things and the price was right too. On sale $2.99 for kindle copy 

Review : Snow Angel

Snow Angel

Thom Racina

Dutton

 

Description:  A famous television reporter arrives at her parents' home on Christmas morning, only to find them victims of a brutal double murder. And her world continues to shatter when she learns the murderer's identity.

 

 

Review: I liked this book it was different from the other I have read from him. Reason being you know from the start who the killer is. This also seemed to be more of a romance than a mystery. Then the tone changes and it is a mystery again. I keep reading for the twist that I have come to expect from this author and he did not disappoint.This book was fast paced and a good read I liked the characters. The female lead seems a little confussed by all the drama but comes through in the end. This book has you from page one and never lets go. As you read you keep hoping the killer gets caught, you hold your breath at certain points, as the police get closer to the killer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review : 2nd Chance

 

2nd Chance

James Patterson

Grand Central Publishing

 

 

Description: 2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (a detective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner) who used their networking skills, feminine intuition, and professional wiles to solve a baffling series of murders in 1st to Die. This time, the murders of two African Americans, a little girl and an old woman, bear all the signs of a serial killer for Lindsay Boxer, newly promoted to lieutenant of San Francisco's homicide squad. But there's an odd detail she finds even more disturbing: both victims were related to city cops. A symbol glimpsed at both murder scenes leads to a racist hate group, but the taunting killer strikes again and again, leaving deliberate clues and eluding the police ever more cleverly. In the meantime, each of the women has a personal stake at risk--and the killer knows who they are.

 

Review: Let me start by saying I almost did not read this book. I read the first book and it did nothing for me. I expected the same from this one. Well lets give the series a second chance.I am glad I did. I was quite surprised, because of my preconceived notions it took me a little while to get interested in the book, but once I did it hooked me.... I was done. Lindsay is well developed character as are in this book. Patterson takes you on a wild ride with twist and turns that will keep you reading till the end and then you can breath again.

 



Review: The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet

 

 

 

 

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet

Erin Dionne

Puffin

 

 

 

Description : Hamlet Kennedy just wants to be your average, happy, vanilla eighth grader. But with Shakespearean scholar parents who dress in Elizabethan regalia and generally go about in public as if it were the sixteenth century, that’s not terribly easy. It gets worse when they decide that Hamlet’s genius seven year-old sister will attend middle school with her— and even worse when the Shakespeare project is announced and her sister is named the new math tutor. By the time an in-class recitation reveals that our heroine is an extraordinary Shakespearean actress, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she—like her family—is anything but average. In a novel every bit as funny as her debut, Erin Dionne has created another eighth grader whose situation is utterly unique—but whose foibles and farces will resound with every girl currently suffering through middle school.

 

Review: Okay, I feel for this girl. Entering eight grade is scary enough. In this over the top story we meet character that would make us proud to be part of any family but Hamlet's. Erin Dionne's well written and heartfelt story of a girls trying to fit in when all the odds seemed stacked against her will have you laughing and cheering for every triumph that happens. I found Hamlet an utterly charming girl who anyone can relate too. If you have gone through eight grade you know all the people in this delightful story. Great read and I am going to read more from this author.