Gemini

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the arc of Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee! This book tells the story of a very difficult situation that would be hard to imagine. Hailey and Clara are teenagers and conjoined twins trying to live as normal of a life as possible. Just thinking about all of the problems Hailey and Clara have to overcome daily, overwhelms me. As a parent, I relate to their mother who wants to protect them and help their lives be normal, but only so much can be fixed, taken care of or ignored. The family moved to a small community to protect Hailey and Clara from the press and strangers. It works to a point. The twins are growing up and are contemplating which colleges they wish to attend. They have individual interests and want to do different things in life. Each is interested in a different young man and that is an unimaginable problem too, feeling that the two of you could never be alone (you and your date) to talk, dance or anything. Then the prospect of marriage and children would feel impossible. Written from the girls points of view, Gemini will touch your heart!

The Secret Life of a Dream Girl

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the arc of The Secret Life of a Dream Girl by Tracy Deebs! First off, it is a must to read the synopsis to understand what’s going on in the book, because I didn’t do that first and was lost. After reading the blurb, the story made perfect sense. Keegan has a crush on Dahlia, but she doesn’t realize it. She thinks his crush is on another girl, who she begins calling “dream girl”, and vows to help Keegan woo and win his dream girl. Keegan and Dahlia help each other through personal and family struggles, growing closer to each other in the meantime. Cute and heartfelt, a nice romantic story.

Saving Hamlet

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for the arc of Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth. Emma wants a new start for her sophomore year of high school and she starts with a completely different hair style and buying the shoes she has wanted for the past year. Emma loves theater and is the stage manager for her high school drama club production of Hamlet. A trap door is cut out of the stage floor, without permission. The hole gets temporarily covered with cardboard and tape. Emma accidentally falls through the hole when no one else is at the theater. She ends up in Shakespeare’s time, at the Globe theater, where Hamlet is being acted out at that very moment. She meets William Shakespeare and sees firsthand how he wants his plays to be. It is very interesting how different the acting and rehearsing processes are between past and present. Emma travels back and forth between the present time and learns a lot of helpful theater information and is able to help her friends with the modern day play. Saving Hamlet deals with friendship, working relationships, family and all of the issues that come along with it, and gender differences and difficulties, still keeping it a clean read.

I like this book and find it very interesting in many ways.  I might use it in the future, along with Shakespeare, to teach my Library Science students.

Museum of Heartbreak

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the arc of The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder! Penelope has been best friends with Eph and Audrey for several years. Now Eph and Audrey think it’s time they increase their social circle, much to Penelope’s dismay. They each grow and have different struggles and experiences of their own and try to remain friends through it all. The artwork is fun and adds life and charm to the Museum of Heartbreak idea. This high school story contains popularity problems, artistic talent and book lovers and is a touching, endearing story.

The Flip Side

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc of The Flip Side by Shawn Johnson! This clean read tells the story of Charlotte (Charlie). She’s an aspiring Olympic gold medal winning gymnast plus she attends public high school where she has to do her best to reform to the daily class schedule. Charlotte has to work around her school schedule instead of her schooling working around her gymnastics schedule. She has to deal with dating, schedule restraints and schedule juggling, an injury and good and bad publicity. The Flip Side is a cute, refreshing story!