Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly is told by three different points of view. During World War II, Kasia is a Polish teenager and will do what she can to help her people fight Hitler and his army. Herta is a German doctor and wants to prove that she is as good as a man. Caroline works in the French Consulate in New York and when Hitler sets his sight on France, her world changes.
Kasia's story is the one I enjoyed the most. She is a brave girl! Her story alone makes this a "must read" book. Herta's story came in second; I could not believe her thought process! Caroline's story was okay and got better at the end. I think The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is better; however, that being said, this book is very good too! When you are done reading this, be sure to read the Author's Note too! This is my best read for this month!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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Defender by Graham McNamee is a creepy mystery about family secrets that Tyne and her friend, Stick accidentally discover and proceed to figure it out. Tyne is the building superintendent's high school daughter who is really tall and plays center on her basketball team. When Tyne find's a dead girl's cut up body hidden in her basement wall, she thinks her dad knows something about it or had something to do with it.
This is a very quick read that I liked okay. It is creepy though but had a good ending. To me, this came across as a bit unrealistic that Tyne and Stick could put together the pieces to the mystery so easily. (Karen's review, 3 stars)
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Gerard's: The thought of administering a lethal injection was too abhorrent to dwell on. Would we inject into the arm?
From page 119 of Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.
She saw lightning clip a ridge to her left--south and west of the cafe. Alarmed, she called 911.
From page 61 of The Fire Line by Fernanda Santos.
They were shocked by the mud; it looked far worse than the newspapers described it. When the celluloid Exterminator crossed the finish line and trotted to the winner's circle, tossing his head as the roses were wrapped about his neck, they responded with exuberant applause.
From page 76 of Here Comes Exterminator! by Eliza McGraw.
Karen's:
He walked forward, out of the glare, then stopped abruptly, staring at me. I blinked in surprise, and found myself staring back.
"What if you just confront him? I mean, show him that finger and say 'Here's the proof. I saw what I saw.'"
From page 41 of Defender by Graham McNamee.
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.
Here Comes Exterminator--The Long-Shot Horse, the Great War, and the Making of an American Hero by Eliza McGraw is a non-fiction book is one of those books that tell about somebody or someone I have no knowledge about that I find very interesting. These are some of my favorite books to read.
Exterminator was a fantastic race horse. He won the most money of any race horse ever! He won the Kentucky Derby in 1918 and from then on Americans had a love affair with this great horse. Ms. McGraw tells the story really well and I got to know how it was back then. I enjoyed this book very much!
(Gerard's review, 5+ stars)
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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!
