"Confessions--The Private School Murders" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Confessions:  The Private School Murders by James Patterson is a YA mystery with a very brave main character, Tandy, who helps the NYPD solve murder mysteries and gets her older brother cleared of killing his pregnant girlfriend.  When her parents are murdered, her Uncle Peter gets Jacob (an Israeli) to be guardian for her and her brothers.   He was my favorite character—what a good guy!  The kids’ parents were strange to say the least and drugged their kids so they would not feel emotion.  They pushed their children to excel.  Tandy is obsessed with saving lives—she was kept busy trying to clear her brother of the murder charge, finding her long lost love whom her parents tried erasing from her mind, solving the deadly pest control problem in her building, and solving the mystery of the murder of four dead girls from private schools. 

 

The novel is written in a way that has Tandy telling us what happened and at some points breaks from the story to speak directly to the reader about her feelings.  This is a good read with lots going on.  Parts are touching, suspenseful, and heartwarming.  The ending made me want to cheer!

(Karen's review, 5 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Fire and Flood" by Victoria Scott is Great!

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott is about a young teen girl named Tella.  Her brother is dying and one day Tella gets a package that offers a cure for her brother, but she has to win a race.  This is a great book with plenty of good action and "wow" moments.  I liked Tella right off.  This one is a "must read."  I look forward to book two of this series!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Allegiant" by Veronica Roth Is Disappointing

Allegiant by Veronica Roth is the third book in the Divergent trilogy.   It is about friendship, forgiveness and doing the right thing and family bonds.  

 I was anxious to read this one but it was so confusing at the beginning.  Perhaps because it was so long since I read Insurgent.  This one was disappointing.  It moved slow, not much action until the last quarter of the book when things picked up, but then I didn’t like the ending.  There were some good parts but most of it was just strange and confusing.  I liked the first two in the series much better--Divergent and Insurgent.

I enjoyed reading the author's explanation of why she chose the gutsy ending she did.  It is full of spoilers though so I suggest you read the book first and then check out "About The End of Allegiant."
(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Big Brother" by Lionel Shriver

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver is a novel about a sister and her brother. When her brother comes to visit, she does not recognize him because he gained so much weight. When his visit becomes too long, she suddenly has to choose between helping her brother or staying with her family and letting her brother go on his own. What does she do? Does her brother lose weight? It doesn’t get much better than this. I read this because it was People Magazine’s pick for book of the week. Loved it!
(Gerard’s review, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"One For The Murphys" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

One For the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is about being someone’s hero and showing unconditional love. Although it is considered juvenile fiction, I really liked it! The main character, Carly, has been neglected and abused but finds a good foster home while her mother recovers from a beating she took from her husband. Julie Murphy, the foster home mother, is the wife of a fireman with three boys that shows kindness and love to Carly who doesn’t quite know what to make of it. This heart-warming book has humor, a good message, and is a touching quick read. It made even made me tear up at certain parts. If you like stories about kids and family, I recommend this one! It will tug at your heartstrings.
 (Karen's review, rating 5 stars)

Here's a trailer for the book:
(This is the author's debut novel, her first draft of it received the Tassy Walden Award for New Voices in Children's Literature.)


This book was recommended by I am a Reader, Not a Writer. Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are linking this up to Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop in response to this prompt: Book Review time! Recommend a great book, perfect for these stormy fall days! We'd like for you to subscribe so you get all our reviews. Click the link to check out the other prompts and perhaps link up a post of your own.

"Light From a Distant Star" by Mary McGarry Morris

Coming-of-age story with family drama

Light From A Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris is told by Nellie, a tween girl, who has an older step sister and a younger brother. Nellie tries to do the right thing which sometimes actually gets her into trouble. Her parents struggle financially and Nellie knows more than they give her credit for. When she becomes a star witness in a murder trial, she feels pressure not to tell the whole truth which she knows is wrong. I enjoyed this book very much because of all the interesting relationships Nellie had with a wide variety of characters including the bully, an unpopular girl, her family, her grouchy old sick grandfather, Max, the ex-con, and their tenant the stripper. I really liked the ending!  This reminded me of To Kill a Mocking Bird.
(Karen's review, my rating: 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Starters" by Lissa Price--Fun Read full of Surprises

Starters by Lissa Price takes place in the future but isn't too far out that it is unbelievable. After a war, people lived longer, 150 to 200 years old was common and Prime Destinations developed a way for old people to rent the body of a young person, usually a teen. I loved the idea of the old people getting a new body but keeping all their experience and knowledge. Callie decides to rent out her body for a big sum of money that would be enough to provide a home for her and her little brother who is also sickly. After three rentals, she'd get paid; however, the third rental didn't work quite right and she found herself in a terrible situation and is not sure who she can trust.

I enjoyed this book very much because of all the unexpected things that happen to Callie and the interesting concept. I thought it was a fun read and definitely recommend it! (Karen's review)

Starters by Lissa Price:  WOW!  You will meet Callie, a young girl whose parents are dead, and her 7-yr.-old brother, Tyler, is very sick.  Her only hope to get money is to rent her body out to old people to use.  She really doesn't want to do it but gives in to help her brother.  Everything goes fine at first, but then takes a turn for the worse!  I devoured this book in just two days; kept those pages turning to see what would happen next.  Can't wait for the second book to come out in December!
(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading! We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.

"The Returning" by Ann Tatlock

The Returning by Ann Tatlock is contemporary fiction about a family of five:  Andrea and John who have three children:  Phoebe-5, “Rebellious” Rebekah-16 and Billy-17 with Down Syndrome.  The story starts with John returning from prison after being gone five years for manslaughter.  At first, he feels like a stranger in his own home and is frustrated with himself for not being able to find a decent job to support his family and accepts a busboy job from his brother-in-law.  His son, Billy, is really the only one who gives him a good welcome and encourages the others to accept him too.  Phoebe is afraid of her dad and Rebekah hates him.  Andrea hopes they can put their family back together again and longs for his love but John holds back and falls into adultery once again.  I liked how John didn’t give up on his family and worked at rebuilding his relationship with each of them. 

I liked this book a lot because I found myself caring for all the characters and was glad it has a happy ending.  Second chances and forgiveness is the theme of this novel.  I’d say this is Christian fiction at its best!  I highly recommend this one if you like stories about realistic family struggles with happy endings.

(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during May to Joni and Friends for Camp Scholarships for families with special needs children.

"The Off Season" by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is the second book in the Dairy Queen series about a family who owns a small Dairy farm in Wisconsin.  The story is told through the eyes of D.J., a 16-yr.-old girl who leaves the farm to be with her older brother, Win, who gets a spinal cord injury playing college football.  The story involves being friends with people no matter what others think and not letting the opinions of others stop you from living.

My favorite part of the book is when D.J. gets through to Win to make him care about getting better by letting him coach her in basketball at the gym and the rehab center.  I look forward to reading the last book of this trilogy, Front and Center.  
(Karen's review:  My rating 3 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are donating 50 cents to KIVA this month to help the poor change their lives for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs.