Reminiscent of the Madeline McCann story!
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Wow. This was a fantastic book that I thoroughly enjoyed and am now sad I have finished it. This is my first book by this author and WILL definitely not be my last!  I will be looking up more of her book's after I write this review.  This story must have been inspired by the case of Madeline McCann as it shares a lot of the same events at the beginning, parents who leave their 2 children alone while dining at a restaurant at their resort while on vacation, taking turns every half hour to check on them and one goes missing.  It was suspenseful and well written and also had great character development, I really enjoyed Caroline, Lilly and Michelle.  This was a GREAT read and I would definitely recommend!
61644
Jasmine coping with life now, wishes it could be as easy now as it was when she was a child. A childs game of connecting the dots, now its a connecting the dots on the wall. A call, three dead bodies, what caught her  attention was the company, captains warning to me, this was not going to be a Vendetta, This was a good thriller, Jasmine lets you in on what she is thinking, as the case unfolds. Does she connects any dots and any of them from the past, makes this an interesting story. Do wonder what the next book will be about.
4870434
4.5 stars

The Case of the Clobbered Cad is just the right amount of campy with a dash of romance, a bit of Scottish brogue, and a delightful landlady who really needs her own series! Theres also a case  specifically about a clobbered cad, as the title would suggest  packed with intrigue and plenty of suspects. If you wished there was a Nancy Drew investigative society to join when you were younger (or was that just me), you will fall in love with the Nosy Parkers and especially Heather Munro! Cant wait for more from this author and this series!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
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Cartwheel is the story of Lily Hayes, who at the start of the novel, is awaiting trial in an Argentine prison for the murder of her roommate. While you might assume that this novel is headed in the "ripped from the headlines" direction, somewhere along the way it pleasantly slips away. Less a retelling of a not-so-recent study abroad murder, and more of a captivating story in its own right, Cartwheel was the surprise sleeper on my Fall Reading list. Well-written and nicely edited, it clips along at a good pace, and the narrative, told from varying points of view, helps to give this novel substantial depth.

A must for anyone who has ever studied abroad and experienced what it's like to call a strange city temporarily home, Cartwheel focuses less on the destination (Buenos Aires) and more on the relationships between her characters.  Each voice in this multi-narrative story is unique, and  every character's misconceptions, notions and prejudices help to inadvertently flesh out the other members of the cast even more.

What I loved about Cartwheel?
duBois perfectly captures what it is like to be on the cusp of adulthood in the voices of her characters, but in a way that is neither cliche or annoying.  Whether it is from the POV of Lily, her sister Anna, or even the broody Sebastien, duBois weaves together their perspectives in a believable, yet angsty way that I think most readers can relate to.  She also manages to convey the awkwardness fraught in all of the characters relationships (father-daughter, roommates, sisters, boyfriend-girlfriend), that had me reminiscing what it was like to be in my late teens again. (So glad that that phase of my life is in the rearview mirror!)

What I would have liked more of:
Katy. The little snippets we get of her are not nearly enough, and you can't help but want to peek into her head. Dubois does a lovely job of painting a complex "victim". Also, there are some sentences that I'm pretty sure, after re-reading them multiple times, don't make sense. For the most part (like 95% of the time), duBois' prose is perfect, thus when she misses here or there it's that much more noticeable.

*Disclaimer: A copy of this novel was provided to me for review by the publisher- however, I had also by this point in time gotten a copy from the library!*
3017417
This story opens with a recent widow finding out that she is not agreeable with the cause of death of her husband. As Marge Christensen begins her quest, she is also faced with the fact that her son and attorney have kept her in the dark about finances. Marge is broke.

Faced with widowhood and having to find money to live on, Marge shows a backbone that her family (children) didn't realize she possessed. Bellevue, Washington is in for a shake-up as Marge tracks down the killer of her husband.

You, the reader, become quickly involved with Marge and cheer her on her search. Marge's pain is realistic and could easily be anyone's. Rebuilding a life and creating one for the future takes willpower,brains, and energy which we find in the character of Marge.

This book can stand alone but, I thrilled that there is another one to follow.
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Sarah Whittier is an aspiring young artist who has been blessed with an inheritance from a man who took her in and loved her like a daughter. She dreams of helping poor immigrant women make their way in the world in a career that isn't working in a factory or on the streets. Daniel Cady arrives in San Fransisco to find the father that abandoned him and his sisters years before. He doesn't realize that his father has died and left all he had to Sarah. As he gets to know Sarah, his thirst for revenge and justice fade away and he finds himself captivated by the young woman with the big heart. When a rumor surfaces of gold in the house, Sarah is in danger and Daniel will do all he can to protect her. Will the pair discover what the true treasure is?

This is the first book I've read by Nancy Herriman. It started off slow and I was easily distracted from it. But as I persisted in reading it, I soon became caught up in the drama between Sarah and Daniel. I found that both of these two were extremely stubborn and passionate. Watching how they grew and changed throughout the book showed that the characters had depth to them. I'm pretty sure that I have some of the other books this author has written on my to-be-read list, and those books will be moving up the list!

I received the Kindle version of this book for free from Worthy Publishing via NetGalley for the purpose of reviewing. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recommended to fans of historical fiction, Julie Lessman, DeeAnne Gist, Rita Gerlach, Kathleen Morgan
Rating - 4 stars
310741
I really enjoyed Lauren Willigs The Other Daughter. I got so caught up in the story that I didn't want to stop reading and zoomed through the book in less than a day.

Governess Rachel Woodley was brought up in a poor but respectable home by her widowed mother. After her mother dies, though, she learns that her past is a lieher father is alive, and not only that, hes an earl with a family that includes another daughter. Shocked to learn that she is illegitimate and angered by her beloved fathers betrayal, Rachel gives into the temptation to find out more about him and his family and embarks on a plan of deception. With the aid of Simon Montfort, a member of an old aristocratic family who is the former pupil of her cousin, an Oxford don. Rachel assumes a false identity and becomes part of the smart set that includes her sister Olivia. The more Rachel interacts with her family, the more confused she becomes, though, because they are not what she expected. In particular, she finds herself sympathizing with her sister and drawn to her sisters fianc, John. However, how can she give up on the urge to confront her father with his abandonment?

Willig did a great job bringing the post-World War I period to life in the book. Im fascinated by that time, with all the changes in society wrought by the catastrophe of the war, so I appreciated the novels setting among the bright young things of the age.

I found it very easy to empathize with Rachel. She feels abandoned by her father and wants to lash out in some way, which is perfectly understandable. At the same time, shes basically a decent person, which means the more she learns about the lives of her sister and other relatives, the more torn she is about doing anything that would hurt them. (Well, except for her fathers wife, who is an awful human being and would thoroughly deserve to be brought down a peg or twenty.)

The interaction between Rachel and Simon is another highlight of the book, particularly their bantering conversations as they match wits with each other. Rachel finds it difficult to make out Simons motives and so is drawn to the much simpler John. However, as written, theres clearly no comparison between the two!

As for the plot, the history of Rachels parents relationship is actually more complex than it seems. I don't want to give anything away, but there are several reversals toward the end of the book that leave Rachel having to revise her understanding of her past. I really liked the fact that Willig gave the story some extra interest in that area.

I was sad to learn that Willigs Pink Carnation series was ending, but Ill be happy if she continues to publish books like this one. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction with a bit of romance.

An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
593513
Peculiar incident reads like a modern day Coraline meets Nancy Drew. Reading this took me back to my youth binge reading Goosebumps and sleeping with the lights on.

Lindsay Currie weaves a wonderful tale filled with the paranormal, friendship and what is truly means to be brave. Tessa Woodward finds herself the new girl in school. Its hard enough being new, but once she spills in homeroom that her house is haunted, the rest of her classmates think she is to be avoided. Luckily for Tessa, she makes two very great friends and who are just as honest and un-apologetically themselves.

Navigating your early teen years can be brutal, even more so for Tessa, who has free spirited parents that are definitely not the norm. I admire Tessas drive and focus, her artistic abilities and yet she still feels like a normal 12 year old. Its not something I see a lot of in other mg or ya books. I truly love that this book reads true for the characters age group, much like Rowlings Sorcerers Stone. Everything is at their level and not too scary or gory. Although RENO IS DOWN RIGHT CREEPY OKAY. Ventriloquist puppets will never not be disturbing, but I digress.

It is fast paced and the mystery really puts Tessa and her friends in their element. They each learn their own strengths and what it means to support each other. Overall an amazing read! I highly recommend this anyone who loves a great mystery with a lot of heart.
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The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street

By Lindsay Currie

Thanks to the #kidlitexchange network and @lindsayncurrie for providing me with the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own. And I liked it so much that I purchased my own copy, too!

This is a middle grade story about ghosts, friendship, family and Chicago that I couldn't stop reading! It is based upon a true story from Graceland Cemetery in Chicago and at first was really scary (at least for someone who NEVER reads ghost stories!). In fact I told my husband one evening that I had to stop reading or Id never sleep! However, the mystery, the characters, the friendships and the great story had me quickly picking it up the next day. As more of the characters were revealed, and the more I learned about the ghost of the  little girl who was haunting Tessa (the strong, brave, resourceful and likeable main character) the more I wanted to quickly finish the book.  I know this is going to be a perfect story for all of those kids who ask for a scary book! And there are definitely a LOT of those kids in every library. But more importantly, this is a great choice for kids who are coping with middle school friendships, acceptance of a not so normal family or quirky friends.  5 stars for sure!
2949510
Give Um Pumpkin to Talk About is the first book the Pumpkin Patch Mystery series by Joyce and Jim Lavene. Having been raised on a farm, this story was a poignant reminder of my childhood; neighbors helping neighbors, abandoned farms after the founding family members passed on and surviving family members had no interest in farming, barn raising parties, haunted houses in the fall and fabulous food! Even though times have changed and our family farm is long gone, we still visit pumpkin farms each fall to select the perfect pumpkins for carving and baking. The striking difference is my family farming experiences did not have a fascinating plot complete with numerous twists and turns, or cleverly designed investigations into the mysteries and regional happenings, both current or past.

This series is set in Misty River, VA where the Misty River Pumpkin Patch is located. A Richmond attorney, Sarah Tucker, returns to her grandparents farm to begin the process of selling the farm on behalf of her parents. Sarahs grandparents, Tommy and Bess Denning, disappeared when she was 12 and they haven't been seen by anyone since then.  Shortly after arriving at the homestead, Sarah meets Jack Collins, a squatter, who had been taken in by Sarahs grandparents.  Jack had returned to the area, at their request soon after their disappearance, and stayed on the farm living in the barn. Jack has the uncanny ability to sneak up on people and has strong ideas against Sarahs familys desire to sell the farm. Although there at her Mothers request, Sarah quickly learns that her uber organized Mother has failed to obtain the documents necessary to proceed with the sale. That glitch is just a fraction of the problems Sarah will encounter. As an attorney, the list of concerns and questions Sarah defines gets progressively longer. What happened to her grandparents all those years ago? Where are they? And why was the journalist who wanted to talk to her about them killed in the living room of the old house? Is there Confederate gold buried on the family farm? Are violent treasure hunters trying to unearth its location and obstruct the land sale? Why was the potential land buyer murdered? Did Jack kill him to prevent the sale? When a reporter, also, dies did his death have anything to do with the disappearance of her grandparents? Will Sarah finally sell the farm and leave Mystic River forever? Will Jack convince her to stay and restore the family farm?

The characters are well-developed. Sarah welcomed a visit from and assistance from Peggy Lee and her husband, Steve, an FBI agent from the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries. Other characters made reference to the mermaids from the Missing Pieces Mystery series. This story is filled with intrigue, a hint of romance, and numerous subplots that lend to the growth of another impressive series for Joyce and Jim Lavene. Im anxious to learn how Sarah reconciles her past and what decisions will be made relative to her future.  This book caught and maintained my interest from the first chapter through the last sentence! Once you start reading this book, you won't be able to put it down. Included in the book are fun facts about pumpkins and a variety of farm fresh recipes. I really enjoyed this beginning of a new series and Im looking forward to reading more in this series.

Full Disclosure - A copy of this book was sent to me by the authors in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review.
3687180
I really enjoyed this book.  It took me a while to get it, but I'm glad I finally did.  Mr. McCann definitely has a new fan in me!  His characters are very realistic and you feel their joy and pain!  Ms. Jacqui was off the hook.  Betty had been through so much, you only wanted her to be happy in the end.  I was soooo angry with that darn Evander!  After reading about a man like Drew, makes you wonder if he is the last Romeo!  I only wish the story didn't end when it did - maybe Mr. McCann will bless us with a second helping of Drew, Betty and Jacqui (lets forget about Evander) in another book!
3435900
This modern-day version of Cinderella was a quick and enjoyable read.  Similar to Cinderella, it is about Camille, the biological daughter of a wealthy widower.  Camille had a wonderful childhood but after losing her biological mother, her father remarries an evil conniving woman who has two evil sons.  An event occurs which exposes Camille to abuse and nefarious plots against her at the hands of her evil stepmother and stepbrothers. Camille finds companionship and an ally in her step-grandmother who aids her in her struggles against her stepmother and stepbrothers. I can't really add much more beyond without potentially spoiling the story.  In fact, I think the book synopsis even reveals a little too much.  The tale is well-paced and entertaining read from start to finish.  It's also very engaging and an irresistible page-turner that is hard to put down once started.  Danielle Steel fans will not be disappointed.
3830413
What a delightful story and it grabs you from the first page! Senara has left her home and family to work as a lady's maid to Lady Edana at Castle of the Park. On her journey to the castle she is set upon by brigands and Laird Gavin MacDuff comes to her rescue. Feisty Senara with her dagger and sword lets him know she could have defended herself without his help! As Senara finds out, Lady Edana is Gavin's mean spirited aunt who he has to allow to live in the castle for her lifetime. This is where the shenanigans begin and you are turning the pages as fast as you can to find out what happens. Gavin and Senara are very attracted to each other but circumstances and an unearthly spirit (yes that is what I said!) seem to get in the way. Serena seems to be the catalyst to help bring out age old secrets and a hidden murder that will not be ignored. Madeline Martin delivers a tale in her usual excellent writing that pulls you in and does not let go until the end. A must read!
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I enjoyed this book very much, but only read the Maggie part of the story for my English class. If I do end up reading the rest of the book and like it, I would definitely give it five stars! What I did read, I love. It does have a dark, tragic feel to the story, and you really feel sorry for the main character, Maggie. I believe it is true to its genre of realism, but focuses more on the psychological aspect of Maggie and the naturalism branch (meaning how the environment affects her). You can really feel sympathy towards Maggie and her character, so if you're into getting into the personal life of Maggie with a dark aspect, you'll enjoy Crane's novel!
4259670
**SPOILERS***This story is short (about 171 pages) and very engaging.
I could not put it down until the end.  The story is simple. Linnet had been raised by
foster parents and had a happy upbringing. after Linnet's foster parents die,she finds
a newspaper clipping explaining that her real mother was from a wealthy family
and had "vanished" one night and that was all.  Linnet wanted to find out what
really had happened and against the advice of her loving fiance,matt, Linnet went
off in search of the truth..
Linnet found her lost lost family who were super rich...super rich/super obsessed. (mostly)
obsessed with finding some missing emeralds that disappeared the same night linnet's mother
had vanished. so,WHO took the emeralds ??? That is the burning question.

This story was very engaging. Somewhat reads like a tepid Gothic . There are  a lot
of different characters that  have seen before like,a charming grandmother ( who may
not be so charming after all),an overweight,nervous uncle,a skittish,lonely spinster type aunt,
and a handsome male " distant cousin" who,charming grandmother wants to marry the main
female character. An interesting afternoon read.
4264575
My Review: Charlotte Silver and her older sister Annalise have spent practically their entire lives traveling the world with their ghost hunter parents. However, their parents are not your typical ghost hunters, instead of trying to prove hauntings, they try to prove that the hauntings people experience are nothing more than predictable forms of electrical energy.

There are two plots in this book. The first, being Charlotte and her family scrambling to find answers as to why a ghost has followed her home, and plagued her with weird dreams. The family tries their best to find out who they are, and what exactly these ghosts want with their daughter. The second plot point it Charlotte trying to fit into school. Annalise had convinced their parents to stay in one place, while Charlotte finishes out her senior year. In theory, it's not a bad idea. But now Charlotte wants to fit in more than ever, and trying to hide her parents occupation is tougher now than it ever was.

When I read the synopsis, I thought it was going to be like the cartoon Danny Phantom, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes, the parents did drag their unwilling children along with them to ghost hunt, but that's about it. I absolutely loved this book! It is a perfect read for Halloween or to get you into the Halloween spirit! The characters were will written, relatable, and down to earth. I enjoyed how much of a part Charlotte's parents played in this book. Normally in young adult books, we don't see or hear too much from parents. But Charlotte's parents were almost as front and center as Charlotte herself. There were a few points in the book that bothered me. First, it was the secret that Avery was keeping. The secrecy was fun and mysterious for awhile, but after that it just got annoying. The second, was how quickly the book ended. The group did what they had to, then bam it was over. Kind of like this review is now :)

All in all though it was a pretty amazing book, I do look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

Positive Elements: There were no swear words, drugs or sex. Charlotte makes friends with a so called dangerous student, when he needed a friend the most. Despite everything, Avery and Charlotte remain friends.

Negative Elements: While it is not discussed in detail, we do learn that Avery and her boyfriend were at a party, that possibly had underage drinking.

Spiritual Elements: Ghosts.

Other Thoughts: N/A
2010194
Love this Halloween twist on the classic Madeline