Coach Hyatt Is a Riot! by Dan Gutman is about AJ's Pee Wee football team. The new coach is a woman and does some goofy things. Her son is on the team but just stands around picking his nose all the time. Some girls make up some cheers, which are super corny, and the coach even adds a the girl AJ hates to the team! I think girls would enjoy this one more than boys, even though it is about football. I liked it all right, but didn't think it was as funny as others I have read by this author in the "My Weird School" series. (Karen's review, 3 stars)
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When you See Me by Lisa Gardner is about how a small town is a center for evil. This book focuses on the good guys following up on old murder cases when they keep finding skeletons of dead bodies buried in shallow graves in the Appalachian Mountains and stumbling on something even more complex. One of the main characters is a young teenage girl who watched a bad man kill her mother with a bullet when she was just six that went through her throat and also hit the girl, taking away her ability to talk. She is a big help to the task force working on solving these crimes.
This book is well written in that in spite of all the different characters, I was able to keep them all straight and never once felt confused. I felt sad for the little girl (Bonita). I liked that the task force included a couple civilians as well, one a computer analyst and the other a survivor of rape and kidnapping by a serial killer (Keith and Flora). This book kept my interest from start to finish.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
Gerard's review 7/20/20
In When You See Me by Lisa Gardner, bodies are starting to pile up in the hills of a small town in Georgia. Now it's up to detective D.D. Warren and her crew to find answers and put an end to it. There are lots of characters in this book and lots of action! It flows well with an exciting final part.
(5 stars)
Teaser from page 9: I fly like the wind, I want to believe. I hurtle myself into her arms.
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Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen is the follow up to Nyxia. Emmett and the rest of the Genesis 11 and 12must now explore a new planet and collect Nyxia for Babel. I enjoyed this book much more than the first one! There is lots more action for one thing and I liked how the author had new stuff coming up. I never really knew what was going to happen next! The ending was full of action and I look forward to the third and final book in this series to see how it all plays out.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
Karen's review: Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen is book 2 in the Nyxia series that I am loving! This book picks up where the last one left off as Genesis 11 and 12 land on Eden. The world building is phenomenal but left me slightly confused.
I really enjoyed all the humor in this book and that the two "teams" really became one and worked together against Babel who was lying to them the entire time. I felt very bad when two of the group died. There were some surprises and twists and kept turning pages to see what was going to happen next. The thing I really didn't understand was that only one shipment of Nyxia got sent back and no one even questioned it. I thought that was odd. I was also a bit confused as to what Jacqueline Requin was doing on Eden as a queen or whatever--at least she had a lot of authority. This series is so awesome, a very interesting read that I couldn't put down. I am so disappointed that I have to wait until next year for the last book--UGH! I have so many unanswered questions! I liked this one as much as the first, if not more. I highly recommend this series.
(5 stars)
Teaser from page 20: The blood's soaking through his uniform. Azima holds a rag to the thing, trying to stop it. This isn't exactly the welcome we expected on Eden.
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Nyxia by Scott Reintgen reminded me a lot of Ender's Game which I loved! A group of teens are chosen by Babel Communications to train to travel to Eden, an inhabited planet, to mine an amazing new mineral called Nyxia. If they are chosen, they will be paid lots more moneyin addition to what they got just for signing the contract. Out of ten trying out from around the world, only the top eight will be able to actually go on the mission. All have hard luck stories and are from poor families so the money is a great incentive. Emmett, the narrator of the story and one of the recruits, is from Detroit and really wants to go bad to help his parents. Can he make it without sacrificing his morals?
This book had my interest right from page one and kept it all the way through. I loved the adventure, the competition, getting to know all the contestants and the drama of the dynamics among the characters. Emmett is a good guy but wasn't the best at challenges. I liked the twists throughout the book and the surprises Babel created. The only thing I didn't care for was when the one character who I liked very much got killed. I thought the challenges were fun and interesting! If you like competition, lots of interaction among competitors and science fiction, I would highly recommend this book! I can't wait to read book 2 in this series!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
Teaser from page 51: "I know you'd be a good person to team up with, Kaya, but why would you want to team up with me? I'm in ninth place."
Gerard's review: Nyxia by Scott Reintgen is told by Emmett. He is one of ten young people picked for a very special assignment! He has a chance to go on a hidden planet. Besides that, a huge money payout will be rewarded also! But only eight will get to go. Let the games begin!
This book is sort of a mix of Hunger Games and Divergent minus all the killing. I thought it was interesting how the ten players interacted with each other. Emmett is a good guy and I was rooting for him. Could have used more action in my opinion; however, it picked up in that at the end. I enjoyed it enough to read book 2 in this series.
(4 stars)
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QB1 by Mike Lupica is about Jake Cullen, a high school freshman quarterback who is struggling with trying to be as good as his dad and older brother and win his father’s love and attention. Jake feels like he’s always playing second fiddle to Wyatt who is now starting QB at University of Texas. Jake is smart, but doesn’t have quite as strong an arm as Wyatt. Fortunately, his high school coach got him to change his throwing mechanics to create his own throwing style which works better Troy Cullen, Jake’s dad, is a former player whose pro career ended in just his second year after four concussions (brain wounds) and seems to be living vicariously through his older son, Wyatt. When Jake finds himself in a QB controversy, everyone is pretty surprised when he gets to be the starting QB while only a freshman. His father is caught off-guard at how good Jake got so quickly.
I enjoyed this book very much because there was a lot of football in it as well as the team dynamics and the feelings of insecurity Jake was dealing with concerning his father and older brother. This takes a good look from the perspective of a younger brother feeling the pressure of following in his star brother’s footsteps and yearning for some of his father’s attention. This book got my interest and kept it from page 1. I would recommend it to anyone who likes high school football and team dynamics.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
Teaser from page 13: He knew already that he just wasn’t going to be the player his dad had been before him, certainly wasn’t going to be the player his big brother had been. He had talent, just not Cullen talent, at least not that he’d noticed so far in his young life.
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The Underdogs by Mike Lupica is a football story about a youth football team in a small town that can’t afford another season. Will comes up with a way to save the team, but they are one player short until they let a girl try out. Of course, there is some tension over letting a girl on the team and also they need a coach. Will is determined to not let the town take away football from and actively seeks a coach.
This is predictable, but a very good football story with dads and sons bonding, a girl proving she can play, and overcoming many hurdles to get to the championship game. I liked the football action, the team dynamics and the interaction between Will and Grayson.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)
Teaser from page 83: So Will wasn't even close to giving up yet, on the season or on Toby or getting the coach he wanted, the coach he knew would be perfect for his underdog team. What did his dad always say? 'If you don't think you can, you can't.'
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Undivided by Neal Shusterman is the 4th and last book in the Unwind series. The author saved the best for last! Conner, Lev and Risa all have action-packed chapters in this book. The pacing is really good in that you were on the edge of your seat for sure. The last part of this book is pretty much unputdownable! Well done, Mr. Shusterman!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
(Karen's review 12/18/17, 5 stars:) UnDivided by Neal Shusterman did not disappoint at all! I LOVED it and what a fantastic finish to a thrilling series with lots of ups and downs and twists and turns! This story is about friendship, betrayal, teamwork, sacrifice and making a difference. It has humor, a bit of romance, lots of adventure, some very creepy things, revenge, some fighting, justice, lots of escaping and just extremely interesting characters. The teens in this series are very brave, smart and creative! The ending is great!
WOW! I loved this book. After the last one, UnSouled, I didn't think this series could get any better, but it did! This book had my emotions covering the spectrum, from humor, to sadness, to happiness, to relief, to shock to tears of joy! I liked how I felt the characters were real and got drawn into their story lines. This would be a great series for a book club because there is so much to discuss and so many characters to analyze. It was a very thought-provoking series that I wanted to read straight through.
Teaser from page 14: "There isn't one single thing that will end unwinding," she tells them. "It will take a hodgpodge of random events that come together in just the right way and at just the right time to remind society it's got a conscience."
SPOILER ALERT--skip this unless you have read this book: In this book, Connor and Grace make it to Sonia's where he and Risa are reunited and discover an invention that Sonia's husband had been working on that can manufacture human parts! It gives them all hope that an end to unwinding is possible! Lev does what he can to get the Indian reservation to publicly announce that it is a sanctuary for AWOLS. Hayden, Bam and Jeeves team up to overthrow Starkey and Hayden begins podcasting again against unwinding. Argent is betrayed by Nelson and switches sides to help Connor and Risa. Cam brings down Roberta and the Proactive Citizenry operation all by himself. The ending was so touching when Conner was finally reunited with his family!
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Wow! After coming off A Court of Mist and Fury, I was doubtful if anything would come close to keeping my interest as much, but The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst did!
In this fantasy novel, humans are attacked by six different spirits: air, water, earth, ice, fire and wood who feel the land belongs to them. These spirits have two instincts: destroy and create. Certain humans have an affinity to control them in different degrees and The Queen is the most powerful and keeps everything in balance and protects the people. Over time though, the Queen can lose some of her power and so they have heirs trained and prepared to become Queen if the Queen dies. The kicker here is that the spirits are the ones to choose the next Queen and they give her more power. The main character is Daleina who as a child demonstrates she has the affinity to control spirits when her home is attacked. She is smart, nice, and determined to learn more so that she can become Queen and protect people from these spirits but do no harm. The Queen must be able to control the spirits, not just wipe them all out because that would wipe out their land as well.
I loved this book so much, I even read it at night to finish it! (I hardly ever read at night.) I got so engrossed in it that was almost late getting back from lunch and had to stop earlier than usual on the bus so I wouldn't miss my stop. It is a fun and interesting read that shows how important good leadership and teamwork are. There is a lot of killing in this book and I felt so bad for Daleina when her friends died. There is lots of action and humor which kept this from being depressing because of the killing. Daleina is such a great character who truly wanted to protect others. She befriends a wolf who proves to be a loyal asset to her and also is chosen to be trained by Ven who brings along a healer, Haman. The three of them work together to do what is best for the land. I really look forward to the next book in this series, Queens of Renthia.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
In The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst, Daleina is a young girl whose community is torn apart and its people are killed by the spirits. This is not supposed to happen! The Queen is supposed to protect the people. Daleina decides to try out to be a champion. A champion is a person who protects the people and is an heir to be a queen. But the odds are long that she can become one. Is the queen losing her power?
I thought this book was very good. I was into it from page 1 because Daleina is a great character. This has plenty of action and a few twists that I did not see at all. I am looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.
(Gerard's review 12/23/16, 5++ stars)
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