"The Fall of Crazy House" by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

The Fall of Crazy House by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet is the sequel to Crazy House that continues on with Becca, Cassie, Tim, and Nate being trained as soldiers in the resistance. It’s a pretty wild book that contains some humor, lots of adventure and action. The ending though left me a bit confused about who Helen Strepp actually is. It also was very hard to believe many death defying feats of the main characters. All in all though, it was an interesting read that kept me turning pages and wanting more. I think this was as good as the first book, if not better!
(Karen’s review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 68: “MCDONALD’S FRENCH FRIES,” I typed into the log. The small white box was flattened and oil-stained. There was no way to tell what year it was from, or where. Or who McDonald was.

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"Crazy House" by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Crazy House by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet is teen fiction with a slight similarity in theme to The Hunger Games. Twin sisters, Cassie and Becca, live in an agriculture cell alone. Their mom was sent away for an attitude adjustment and their father is in a hospital because his suicide attempt failed. His girls have not yet granted the hospital permission to end his life in spite of the fact the doctors say he won’t recover. One day, Becca just disappears and Cassie’s truck is missing! Other teens have gone missing too and never returned. Cassie goes to find her on her sister’s moped which is now the only transportation she has. Cassie finds her at The Crazy House when she gets “taken” too!

This book got my interest from page one and never let go. I almost finished it in one day! It is about how these sisters overcome obstacles and work together to escape from The Crazy House. There is quite a bit of action with some mystery and romance too. I liked both sisters and look forward to continuing on with the sequel, The Fall of Crazy House. There is a lot of swearing in this book that I did not like.
 (Karen’s review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 15: “No, she didn’t!” I shrieked, wanting to hurl my coffee cup right out the window. It would have hit my truck if my truck had been there. Which it wasn’t!


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"The Cost of These Dreams" by Wright Thompson

The Cost of These Dreams--Sports Stories and Other Serious Business by Wright Thompson is a collection of true stories about athletes and one story about fans of a team.  I thought these stories were excellent because they were so interesting!  They go beyond who won or lost and share about the personal lives of the athletes.  I feel like I got to know the real person.  Stories included their families and friends.  There was a great mix of people and the stories were varied like the people who they were written about.  I enjoyed it very much and even if you are not a die-hard fan, I think you would enjoy it too!  It certainly gives insight into the true life of a professional athlete.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Teaser from page 13:  He described what the game meant to him.  He called it his "refuge" and the "place where I've gone when I needed to find comfort and peace."  Basketball made him feel complete, and it was gone.

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"Begging to Die" by Graham Masterton

There is a ton of stuff going on in Begging to Die by Graham Masterton. (1) A young girl is found in a cemetery crying for her mom. No one claims her and she talks a language no one understands. (2) Somebody is killing homeless people—why? And (3) a puppy mill is doing things against the law! It is up to Katie Maguire to figure out all this!

These story lines skip around, but I did not have a problem with it. With all this going on, you would think there would be no down time; unfortunately, there was. This book could have been at least 50 pages shorter and not lost a thing. That being said, I did enjoy it enough to give it 4 stars. It’s worth reading.
 (Gerard’s review)

Teaser from page 3: The grey-jacketed man started to run towards them, with an extraordinary limping lope, and Katie immediately swung Ana-Maria behind her, to shield her. She raised her right hand ready to fend the man off, if she had to.


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In Doubt by John W. Mefford

Image from Goodreads

In Doubt (an Ivy Nash Thriller, Book 3) by John W. Mefford is a thriller about Ivy Nash, a former Child Protective Services worker who now runs her own business of helping children in crisis. She is hired by a very wealthy businessman, Dillon, to watch his little four-year-old daughter. His wife is in a drug rehab institution. Dillon was shot at his fundraiser, then is accused of raping a minor. Ivy isn’t quite sure if he’s the loving dad she sees when Ivy is with him or if he’s a sexual predator. Then, her friend who she works with is charged with manslaughter for killing her step father that raped her! Her friend denies killing the creep but Ivy has some doubt.

This one seemed like just too much crime going on for my taste. The characters were not very well developed and the only one I really cared about was the little 4-yr.-old girl and Ivy. Ivy was portrayed as “super woman” who did her own investigating while still providing care for the little girl. I did not care much for this one, just too many similar story lines going on at once. I thought it was pretty unbelievable how Ivy and her friend fought off their strong, male, experienced abusers.
(Karen’s review 2 stars)

Teaser from page 174 (Loc. 2445-54): I shut the door and swallowed, a sob building in my throat. Then I headed downstairs to figure out if my friend and partner had committed murder.


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