"Team Players" by Mike Lupica

Team Players by Mike Lupica is a children’s book about a girls’ softball team and a boys’ baseball team that I enjoyed. Cassie, an eighth grader, is a good athlete and loves sports. She has some close friends who are boys that she hangs out with. Her dad coaches her softball team and they are good! When a new girl, Sarah, tries out, she easily makes the team because she is so fast and has a great arm. For never having played before, she is pretty amazing and can hit the ball too! She seems weird though to the other girls because of some quirkiness due to her Asperger’s. When Cassie tries to help her fit in, things get crazy causing a lot of drama on her team! Meanwhile, the boys’ team her friends are on have a new coach that is a total jerk so have drama of their own. He just yells constantly and is way too intense which takes all the fun of playing out of it.

This book is like getting a double-header since it covers the team dynamics and season of two teams, not just one. I read it in one day and enjoyed it very much. It is about friendship, sports, and teamwork. As an adult reading this, I identified more with the coach and tried to think how best to handle the dissension on the girls’ team. I highly recommend this to any kid who enjoys baseball or softball, but especially team dynamics.
(Karen's review,5 stars)

Teaser from page 33:  Cassie gave Greta her biggest smile now and said, "We've only known her for two days.  What I think would be weird is not giving her a chance to fit in."

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 Great Alone" by Kristin Hannah (We Both Liked This!)

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is a wild book! We meet the Allbright family. The husband Ernt, a former POW, Cora his wife and their daughter Leni. Ernt is still suffering flashbacks from the war and he has a hard time keeping a job and his temper. When a friend of his leaves him a house in Alaska, he wants a fresh start for him and his family. All will be well again!

I thought this book was really good! The three main characters are excellent and well brought out. At 644 pages (large print), this is no light read. I thought the pacing was okay and appreciated that it did not hop back and forth between present to past. A few twists caught me by surprise and I enjoyed the ending! (Gerard’s review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review (5 stars):  
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is about standing by those you love.  Leni is raised by her mother, Cora, and her father, Ernt who changes after he gets back from being a POW in the Vietnam war.  He is very abusive to his wife, but can't help it and she always forgives him.  Her and Leni are very close and both pretend everything is fine.  When Ernt decides to make a fresh start with his family in Alaska, the book gets quite interesting.  

I thought this book was very good even though it moved a bit slow.  It delves into several different relationships and explores love between an abusive husband and his wife, a love/hate relationship between a daughter and her father, young love between Leni and Matthew, and love between mothers and daughters.  Another aspect of this book is how the community helps each other.  This book shows how decisions and choices we make affect not only us but those we love as well. 

Teaser from page 21:  Dad wanted a new beginning.  Needed it.  And Mama needed him to be happy.

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!

"Allied" by Amy Tintera (Last of Ruined Series)

Allied by Amy Tintera is the last book in the Ruined trilogy.  Em and Olivia are sisters with very different ideas of how Ruined should be ruled!  Em wants and needs to have the man she loves, Cas, to stop Olivia.

I thought this book was a good way to end the series.  It had been a while since book 2 but I was able to get into this quick!  It has good action and Em and Cas are really good together.  The ending had me turning pages quickly!
(Gerard's review, 5+ stars)

Teaser from page 29:  Em swallowed.  Olivia was right, unfortunately.  Cas couldn't fight three enemies at once.

See our previous reviews of Ruined and Avenged.

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!

"Clover Springs Mail Order Brides Box Set" by Rachel Wesson

There are five books by Rachel Wesson in the Clover Springs Mail Order Brides Box Set:  Katie, Mary, Sorcha, Emer, and Laura. All are set in the 1880s.  If you are a fan of the TV show, "When Calls the Heart," I think you would like all of these!

The first, Katie, is about Katie and her sister heading west to get away from their mean uncle and aunt in Boston. Katie agrees to marry Montes Cassidy but on the way, the train is robbed and the engineer killed. She is stuck in a town called Clover Springs and meets lives at a boarding house owned by Daniel’s mother. She met Daniel on the train and sparks fly between them, but Montes agrees to come to Clover Springs to marry her. Katie wants to get of the wedding, but feels strongly about keeping her word.

The second in this series is Mary. She was Katie’s friend who came over from Ireland with her younger sister and her parents, but her parents died on the ship. Katie’s Uncle did not want to take in Mary and her sister, so they lived at the orphanage. Mary’s sister was adopted, and Katie set her up as a mail order bride for Davey, her brother-in-law. In this book, Katie has a child and Mary and Davey hit it off once Davey shares his past with Mary.

The third in this series is Sorcha. She was a friend of Mary’s from the orphanage and agreed to be a mail order bride to join Mary in Clover Springs. She came to be a wife to an older man with two little girls who had lost his wife and son and is still grieving and very overprotective, understandably. He was only interested in providing a mother for his girls but found himself falling in love with Sorcha.

The fourth in this series is Emer, Sorcha’s sister who was raised by their mother, a member of an outlaw gang. When her mother planned to sell her to sell and give her to Bill, the leader of the gang, Emer at 14 years old, took off to find her sister who she thought was still in Boston. Father Malloy arranged for a well-to-do family, the Shipley’s to take her to Denver with them so she could get to Clover Springs.

The fifth in this series is Laura who also used to room with Mary and Sorcha at the orphanage. She has a photographic memory and a birthmark which caused people to believe she was a witch. She married Johnny, a saloon owner who turned out to be very bad. He forced her to use her memory to help him cheat and win at cards. She finally went to Clover Springs when her husband got shot and found happiness with some old and new friends. There is some interesting action in this book and Little Bear helps save Laura’s life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this entire series because each book kept my interest all the way through Every book is very balanced between adventure, romance and humor. They are all clean and reminded me of the TV show “When Calls the Heart.” I loved them all! I found out there is a next one named Ellen and hope to read that one as well. I highly recommend all these if you like historical fiction and/or western romance.
 (Karen's review, 5 stars)


Have you read any of these--you should! 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!

"Downsiders" by Neal Shusterman

Not even our dog was interested in this one!

Downsiders by Neal Shusterman is urban teen fiction about a whole community living underground New York City. How they got there in the first place is the mystery that Lindsey tries to solve. The people who live above ground are referred to as topsiders and only those who are depressed enough with nothing to lose are “chosen” to join the downsiders. Talon, a downsider meets Lindsey, a topsider and they feel a connection. Talon even goes so far as to break the rules and invite Lindsey down for a tour!

I thought this book was really goofy and very slow moving. I dozed off on it several times as I was reading it. The only character I really liked was Champ, an 85-yr.-old man who lived in an empty pool who Talon would visit with now and then and play games like Risk and Monopoly.   I do not recommend this one.
(Karen's review, 2 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!