My Thoughts: Having just finished his college degree, Wyatt McKenna reluctantly returns to his small Southern Texas hometown for the summer before he starts medical school. He hasn’t been back since he left for college four years earlier, and when he arrives in Caldero, he finds that most things haven’t changed. His mother is still a raging alcoholic (and has been since his father left them when Wyatt was young),…

My Thoughts: Tumble & Fall follows the lives of three teenagers as they go about their lives with one week before a large asteroid is due to hit the Earth. How would they spend their last days? Would they spend their limited time at their homes on Martha’s Vineyard with their families and friends, or would they find the courage to strike out and do the things they’d only dreamed of…

Femme Fatale The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher is a uniquely refreshing take on the YA genre, one in which the ethos of noir fiction is intimately blended with the contemporary frailties and foibles of the under 18 set.  Dark and definitely mysterious, the story is told through the perspective of Angela Lake, the cynical and deeply hurting former best friend of Elizabeth Hart, Verity High’s Suicide Slut.  Angie is an interesting…

My Thoughts: The Returned was an intriguing book for me to read on many levels, and I made it through the pages in under a day. What if your loved ones who have passed away started to show up alive on earth, in the exact same state they were in right before they died? They don’t always show up on your doorstep or even your city; they’re often found in a…

My Thoughts: Four men and two women wake up on a deserted island in the Florida Keys. It doesn’t take long for them to find the common thread that they all have: an addiction to heroin that rules their lives. Off the coast on board a boat, their sadistic kidnappers observe them, waiting for the game to start and placing their bets. Facing gut-wrenching withdrawal symptoms, all these strangers can…

Rise by Anna Carey (website, Facebook, Twitter) Genre: YA Dystopian Publication: April 2nd 2013 by HarperCollins Audiobook purchased by reviewer Get your own: Amazon | B&N synopsis from Goodreads Rating: How far will you go when you have nothing left to lose? When she lost her soul mate, Caleb, Eve felt like her world had ended. Trapped in the palace, forced to play the part of the happy, patriotic princess…

How Peculiar…. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is an unusual book.  Told in the compelling voice of Jacob Portman, this story is one part dark fairy tale, one part creepy campfire story, but 100% fascinating.  The story starts with tragedy and madness, heavy stuff no matter how deftly handled, and from there progresses into a strange tale of the supernatural variety, one which finds Jacob and his father traveling…

Heather: I loved the Beautiful Creatures series, so I was very excited to see what the authors would write on their own. Margaret Stohl has delivered a beautifully written dystopian with fantastic world building and interesting characters. Pushy:  So true!  After reading her first series I was intrigued to see where she would go next.  When I found it was a dystopian, sci-fi novel, I was SOOO in! Heather: Dol and…

My Thoughts: Identical twins Max and Daniel were raised separately when Max was too reliant on his brother as a baby and wasn’t developing as a normal toddler should. Their parents ultimately divorced and one twin went with each parent. The brothers only saw each other once a year on their birthday, and the visits never went well since they twins were virtually strangers but were still drawn to each…

NA meets Supernatural I was so excited to get the chance to read this book as part of TLC’s book tour!  I absolutely loved the premise!  Sort of X-Men meets Girls, Discovery introduces us to a world where comic book heroes are real and heightened drama lies just below the surface of the mundane. In Discovery by Lisa White, we meet Grace, Annie and Ben, three best friends starting off on…

My Thoughts: Zoe’s last job as a travel writer didn’t end so well. Even though she was fantastic writing travel guides for different cities, having an affair with your married boss who just happens to have a police officer wife that he never mentioned puts a damper on any chances for career advancement–especially when the wife is psycho and storms your house looking to give you a beat down. So…

My Thoughts: Doyle Carrick gets a phone call from his step-father while running surveillance on his partner and a lower level drug dealer. The news isn’t good–his mother has succumbed to her cancer much faster than the doctors thought she would, and he needs to come home. Doyle’s reaction to this bombshell isn’t exactly what his bosses call “healthy” after Doyle punches out his partner and roughs up the dealer,…

Happy Friday, and welcome to the latest installment of our monthly feature where we review Children’s books. When I saw this book on the Macmillan catalog I knew it was a no brainer for me and my (now) 7-year-old daughter to read together.  Just like Kelsey, my daughter loves to solve a good mystery and we love reading together!  Kelsey Green, Reading Queen was a perfect fit for us and I’m happy…