"This Adventure Ends" by Emma Mills is about Teen Friendship

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills is about a group of friends and how they help each other. Vera and Gabe are twins whose mother painted until she died. Remy is Gabe’s best friend, Tash and Aubrey are Vera’s best friends Frank is a wealthy friend who likes to party. Sloane is a new friend who gets attention when she embarrasses the bully who was picking on Gabe at a party. Sloane’s dad is a teen romance writer who has writer’s block but gets inspiration from his daughter’s life. When one of the paintings gets sold that Gabe wanted to keep, Sloane decides to track it down for him and get it back.

This is an okay read if you like a bit of teen drama with a bit of romance. Of course, one of the relationships tossed in were a couple lesbians, but that was just a small part of the book. Overall, I thought the dialogue was done well but would have preferred less foul language. I liked how it ended and enjoyed the main characters. (Karen's review, 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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"The Day I Died" by Lori Rader-Day

In The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day, Anna is a handwriting expert.  She can tell a lot from one's writing.  When she is called in to help on a criminal case, the sheriff wants no part of this!  However, Anna finds out plenty and she wants to solve the mystery!  But can she and at what cost?

Teaser from page 29:  His name, even written by his own hand, was false.  It was built of sticks, each letter strategically rendered and apart, lonely and stripped.

This book started out a bit slow but picked up about a quarter of the way through!  The story was believable and had good action.
(Gerard's review, 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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"WONDER" by R. J. Palacio is a must read for Children

Wonder by R. J. Palacio is about Auggie’s fifth grade year, a boy with a deformed face who was homeschooled through 4th grade. Auggie has a rough start at the beginning of middle school, but shows courage and determination by not quitting. This is an emotional read that includes perspectives from several different characters. Themes in this are bullying, friendship and family. This book has photos from the movie, comments from those involved in making the movie and discussion questions in the back.

Teaser from page 227 after Auggie’s dog just died: And I wondered how it would feel to be in heaven someday and not have my face matter anymore. Just like it never, ever mattered to Daisy.

There are a lot of feelings brought out in this book, but the movie really brought it to life for me. In this case, I liked the movie better than the book. It changed just a few minor things and emphasized the teacher’s role more than the book did. I liked the changes that were made in the movie. The theme I carried away from reading the book is to be kinder than necessary and make the world a better place. I recommend this book to kids and the movie to everyone!  (4 stars)

See my movie review: Must See Movie:  Wonder

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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Perfect" by Cecelia Ahern

Perfect by Cecelia Ahern is the follow-up to Flawed.  Celestine is on the run.  She wants to get her verdict overturned, but Crevan is after her and will stop at nothing to get her for a reason that only he knows!   This was a good book to start the year.  I was engaged from page 1!  Celestine was a great character and I was rooting for her all the way!

Teaser from page 10:  Each time, the Whistleblowers come to close to my hiding place I can barely breathe.  I hear their footsteps, sometimes their breaths, as I'm crammed, jammed, into spaces, above and below, sometimes in places so obvious they don't even look, sometimes so dangerous they wouldn't dare to look.
(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. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Our 12 Favorite Books for 2017

Out of all the books Gerard and I have read this year, there were only 12 that we both absolutely loved.  We highly recommend all of these to you!  To see our reviews of these, you can use the search box on our blog.  I also did some video reviews for:  The Great Pursuit, Scythe, The Reluctant Queen, Undivided (all mentioned in this video below) and The Selection Series that Gerard did not read and Scar Island.



There are also books I read and loved but that Gerard did not read, and some he read and loved that I did not read.  A separate video will be coming soon showing each of our top 12 favorites for the year  (Karen's add'l 12 Favorites link to video).  Visit my YouTube channel here.

Happy Reading in the new year!