In The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, a well-known children's book author has not written a book for a long time. He makes an announcement that he will write one book only, and will hold a contest to see who will win the book. What is the contest? Who will win?
This is a feel good book with a good storyline and characters I cared about with action and a great ending. What more can you ask for? (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In Heroine by Mindy McGinnis, Mickey is a young teen girl. She has had a rough life to this point in her young life. She is a bit of a loner. There is one place where she feels good: being the catcher on her high school girls' softball team. Her best friend is the pitcher. But when they both get into a car accident, all of a sudden Mickey's spot on the team is in danger. To make matters worse, it is her senior season! She will do and take anything to make sure she is ready to play!
This book is fiction but it rings true to life for me. It goes fast and the story moves along at a good pace. Give it a try, you will be glad you did!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
Teaser from page 9: Carolina wipes a tear from her face as she looks down at me. She takes a deep breath and it hitches, stuck in her lungs, refusing to release.
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Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson is a wonderful YA novel about tenderness, family relationships, love and dealing with Cancer. When the husband and father of three is diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, he gets his family to spend the summer at their cottage again by the lake that they haven't been to in five years. Taylor, the 17-yr.-old daughter is reluctant to go back because of her broken friendships. It even has a dog in it!
This is a very good story about mending friendships, overcoming fears and being real with people. The bond between Taylor and her dad is beautiful and reminded me so much of the special relationship I had with my parents. The writing is conversational and told from Taylor's point of view. It was interesting to see how she grows as a person through the book and gets to know her whole family better. Her relationship with Henry is very sweet and this is a very touching story. In some ways it is similar to The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. If you liked that, I think you would also like Second Chance Summer. It really touched me because I knew a couple sisters whose father died of Pancreatic Cancer in a very short time. I also couldn't help reliving the deaths of my own parents, although I was fortunate to have had them much longer than Taylor had her dad in this book. I loved this book too--a great emotional read!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson is about a family where the father receives medical news that is not good. Consequently, the family decides to go to a summer cottage that they have but have not been to for a while. Taylor, the oldest daughter, is not big on this. The last time she spent there, she left on not so good terms with some friends she had there. I loved the character of Taylor. She was so good but that is not to say the other characters were bad. I enjoyed them all! I was always happy to get back to this book. It is a very emotional read, especially at the end. The writing is excellent! In short, I LOVED IT! (Gerard's review on 5/16/16, 5++ stars)
If you still aren't sure you want to read this book, watch this video by Jesse the Reader which is what convinced us to read it:
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 Music Box by T. Davis Bunn is about a widower (Carlson) and his 8th grade daughter (Melissa) who move to start a new life in a small hill country town. Angie, a childless, lonely widow, who is the girl’s eighth grade school teacher, is still grieving the loss of her husband. This is Christian fiction, so I give you one guess as to what happens. Both Carlson and Angie are guarded and slowly learn to open up with others and share themselves.
This is a short book about grieving and moving on, with the hope that life will get better. It is predictable from the start and I did not care for it. The only reason I read it was because it was my husband’s book so wanted to read it before giving it away. We will not miss it! (2 stars)
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Panic
by Lauren Oliver is good right from the start and keeps getting better
as it progresses! It’s about a tradition in a small town where any
senior who wants to participate in the Panic challenge at the end of the
school year
pays $1 a day into the pot. After graduation, the winner and two
judges who made up the challenges split the pot. The pot was $67,000
that Heather, Nat and Dodge were competing for. Each of the main
characters had a different motivation for participating. Most
all of the class participated, which I found unbelievable considering
the challenges were illegal or life threatening. (No way would I have
participated, but it made for a good read though! The ending was
great!
I loved the suspense
each challenge created and it was fun trying to guess the winner. I’d
recommend this if you are looking for an entertaining YA read.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)
Panic by
Lauren Oliver is a Y/A novel that happens in a small town. Every year
after the school year ends, the graduating seniors who want to play a
game called "Panic." The winner gets a lot of money. The book focuses
on Heather and Dodge who each have their own reason for wanting to win.
The people in the story are very true to life.
I loved this book because I got into it really fast and it was hard to put down. (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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