All of Us Were Sophie

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to Resa Nelson for the opportunity to read and review her book, All of Us Were Sophie! The first chapter describes Sophie worrying that someone is trying to kill her and what she is doing about it. Her husband has invented a duplication machine that destroys the original, but will make several copies at once. Sophie duplicates herself in order to discover who is trying to do her in. The mystery of who is trying to do Sophie in just keeps getting deeper. Every time I thought I had the villain pegged, I found out I was mistaken. Alternating points of view build up the mystery and make it very unpredictable. All of Us Were Sophie is for anyone looking for a clean read mystery!

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.

Buzz Books 2016: Young Adult Fall/Winter

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the arc of Buzz Books 2016: Young Adult Fall/Winter. This is my first time reading Buzz Books and I think it is a wonderful way, and helpful as a librarian, to get a taste of what will be published soon. Twenty books are spotlighted in this sampler and my favorites are The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull, A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess, and Caraval by Stephanie Garber. Can’t wait to read the full versions!

How to Date Dead Guys

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to Ann M. Noser for the opportunity to read and review her book, How to Date Dead Guys. This story is interesting from the beginning. College age female roommates who don’t really consider each other friends, only acquaintances, open up the tale of Emma. Emma deals with a tragedy alone, without a friend or family member to support her. She tries to solve a huge problem which backfires and causes more problems. While trying to solve these problems, she makes new friends and helps them with their struggles. Emma also grows closer to her own family in the process. The ending left the story open and is part of a series, The Witch’s Handbook. While reading How to Date Dead Guys, I realized that one of the saddest traits of human nature is the inability to show empathy some of the time, especially when people need it the most. I am interested in reading more of this series.

Immortal Beloved Series

Posted on by lynndellwatson

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Immortal Beloved Series by Cate Tiernan because of the humor, action, mystery and suspense!

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Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan begins with a group of immortal friends painting the town and Nas questions everything about herself and her friends. Nas wants to improve her immortal life. She has several identities and passports, so she chooses one and leaves her friends behind to travel to Massachusetts, where River, another immortal, lives. I love the main character’s snark and her reluctant humor. Nas learns a bit about her heritage and her knowledge continues to grow along with her abilities, thanks to River and the other immortals Nas is now living with. River runs a sort of rehabilitation center for immortals to help them heal and make good choices. The immortals have all lived long enough that each of them has suffered tragedy in one form or another and struggles to deal with the memories. The support helps Nas heal while she works on the farm and at her minimum wage job at a local pharmacy where she grows to care about and help regular people. Great book and I am looking forward to reading the second book in this series, Darkness Falls.

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Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan recaps book one, Immortal Beloved, while Nastasya (Nas) is trying to deal with the regrets that keep springing into her mind and she wants to learn from her mistakes and become a better person. Then things start to fall apart and she ends up running away and somehow Incy finds her. Incy hides his true self, but only for a short while and then everything comes to a head. Cate Tiernan keeps the humor going even in dire circumstances and this just holds true for Nastasya’s character and personality. Enjoyable read and I am onto the third book, Eternally Yours.

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Eternally Yours by Cate Tiernan ends the Immortal Beloved series perfectly. Nas is back at River’s Edge trying to make good choices an everyday occurrence. She and Reyn are trying to figure out their relationship. Danger surrounds River’s Edge and no one can figure out who or what is causing it. The humor keeps coming and the characters grow. This is the perfect ending to a fun, interesting series. I really enjoyed the history tidbits.

 

Three Truths and a Lie

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the arc of Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger! This suspenseful mystery thriller involves four friends who go away for the weekend. Rob, Liam, Galen and Mia all go to Mia’s family cabin in logging territory. They play the game Three Truths and a Lie and after that, strange things start to happen and they wonder if someone wants to cause them harm. The suspense builds and the mystery stays unsolved. The story winds itself around to the beginning of the weekend and all is explained. This book contains some explicit sex, just to be warned, but is psychologically twisted and maddeningly interesting and a wonderful mystery thriller read!

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.

Mirage

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Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the arc of Mirage by Tracy Clark! Ryan loves skydiving and she does it often because her parents own a skydive business. Ryan starts seeing another reflection in the mirror along with her own and she sees eyes looking at her in random places. She feels as though someone is watching her. Ryan loves adrenaline so much, it’s almost like a death wish. Something changes and Ryan is not the same, she has to struggle for her identity amid confusion, heartbreak and tragedy. Mirage is a powerful story that I read in one evening because I became so immersed that it was impossible for me to stop. Some adult content described vaguely (for those readers who prefer to know ahead of time). Mirage contains dynamic characters, suspense and thrills and it is a deep and thought provoking story! I would read it again!

Railhead

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Thanks to NetGalley and Capstone for the arc of Railhead by Philip Reeve. I actually give it 3.5 stars and only because science fiction isn’t my favorite genre. Railhead tells the story of Zen, a human thief in a futuristic world, where space travel is quick but only if you use the trains. Nova is an endearing, interesting character who is a machine that believes she’s human, but knows she’s a machine. Nova is my favorite part of the book! The story is told in several points of view- Zen the thief; Malik the marshal and Threnody Noon, the rich girl. This science fiction story is full of suspense and is well written.