"BRAIN--The Complete Mind by Michael S. Sweeney (National Geographic)

I got BRAIN--THE COMPLETE MIND (How It Develops, How It Works, and How to Keep It Sharp) by Michael S. Sweeney for Christmas two years ago in 2014 and finally finished it!  It is a very in-depth book so I felt like I was reading a text book.  The other reason it took so long for me to read it was because of it being so big and heavy.  I do most of my reading on the bus and on breaks at work, but with this book, I just read it in short spurts at a time at home.  It photographs and art work is really good!  It is a very high quality glossy paper with a super layout and several features I liked which were the glossaries at the end of every chapter and the side notes on how to keep your mind sharp and "Fast Facts."  The only thing I didn't like was often there are sentences that are incomplete.  They just break off mid-sentence!  Other than that, it is a very interesting science book.  I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in the brain. 
(Karen'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!

"Signs of You" by Emily France

Signs of You by Emily France is about four young teens.  They have a bond between them--they all have family members who have recently died and are grieving.

I thought this book was pretty good because it shows how people have various ways of dealing with grief.  The ending was well done!
(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!

"The Wolf Road" by Beth Lewis is a Wild Adventure! UPDATED

In The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis, Elka was just 7 years old, in the woods alone, lost and hungry.  Her parents left her and her nana died.  A trapper took her into his cabin and taught her the way of the woods including trapping and how to survive.  Elka was happy with him until when she got to be 17 and discovered what awful things he had done.  Then she took off on her own using everything he taught her to stay alive.

This book has the whole package:  action, humor, relationship issues, twists and turns with good writing putting it all together.  I enjoyed this first book by this author a lot!
(Gerard's review 7/27/16, 5++ stars)

Karen read this too--here's her review, 3 stars:
The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis is a creepy novel about survival.  A little girl of 7 gets lost in the woods alone and is befriended by a man who traps and lives alone in the woods.  He raised her and taught her how to make a fire, how to hunt and set snares, and used her to help him around the cabin and skinning animals.  Then when she is 17, she finds out bad things about him and leaves to set out to find her parents who left her to go mining for gold.  Does she find her parents?  Does she become like Trapper?  Will she learn to be a better judge of character?  Will she get arrested?

This book is about Elka's journey, not only in the physical sense but also about coming to accept who she is and being able to face reality.  I felt sad for Elka throughout the book and was happy when she finally made a friend who she could trust.  I thought the ending was quite sad too and because of the extent of gruesome things and the sadness of killing children and the fact that the ending was given away in the first chapter this did not come close to 5 stars for me.  I liked it okay but some of it just didn't make sense to me.  I thought Elka's relationship with her wolf friend was very cool though. 

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 Last One" by Alexandra Oliva

In The Last One by Alexandra Oliva, twelve people are sent into the woods to compete in a reality show.  They know that the winner gets a big cash prize but know little else.  Soon they must decide if it is a game or has something gone horribly wrong!

If you like reality TV shows, this book is for you!  I like how the author followed all the twelve and also the TV production crew thinking.  Had a real good ending and although parts were kind of slow, overall I enjoyed it!
(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!

Teaser Tuesday

Gerard's:
I scooped him up and took a quiet side street home.  No way was I getting caught carrying around a girly little dog like that.  It would have been worse than being caught with a book.

From page 15 of When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin.

It hadn't been those things that made me stand there, though, after he warned me to go.  It had been his eyes.

From page 20 of Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines.

No one knows precisely what went wrong.  But before he dies, the producer will know this much:  Something went wrong.

From page 6 of The Last One by Alexandra Oliva.

Karen's:

Soon as I touched that white bone handle I realized quick I chose right.  I didn't much want to go back to Nana's shack; she never let me eat jerky and play with knives. 

From page 17of The Wolf Road  by Beth Lewis.


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. 
Happy Reading!