Susan Wingate

Susie Speider is an almost junior at Ronkonkoma High School, whose grades were pretty bad, but are now on the upswing thanks to new glasses and new meds for her ADD.Only problem is her teacher seems to hate her, and that certainly is a problem. At home Susie lives with her mom Willa and her pussy cat Deliliah. New neighbors moving in next door could turn out to be something interesting.As if all this isn't enough, ever since Suzie was bitten by a spider she's been having dreams that she show more turns into a spider at night. Are they dreams or perhaps reality???

All I can say is WOW! I loved this book! The author authentically captures what I consider to be teen speak, which goes at high speed.Honestly at times I forgot that the book wasn't written by a teen. I must admit it's been several years since I was a teen, but this book had me thinking about those days,when teachers were the bane of my existence,and feeling like a dork was the norm.

With catchy chapter titles and an interesting cast of characters I found this book an un-put-down-able read. Susie's character was so easy to like and understand. I found myself enjoying her immensely, and while she provided several laughs there were some serious moments as well.I loved her nightly adventures, especially her descriptions of her mode of transportation, which happened to be her cat Delilah. "Spider Brains" deals with several topics that teens will certainly relate to. Overall a book geared toward teens but anyone who enjoys a great coming of age story will enjoy this one as well. Highly recommended! show less

Reading Drowning I was truly torn between two polar extremes: my delight in the compelling story-telling talent of its author, Susan Wingate, and my distaste for the poor attention she gave to editing and proofreading her work. For the first I would have awarded her 5 stars--for the second, alas, only 2. The writing lacks in its grammar, punctuation, spelling, which give it a shaky underlying structure. I think it is imperative that indie authors proofread their work. Not doing so is a show more slight towards the reader, and a disservice to themselves.

So to help me come up with a reasonable way to weigh these opposite impressions, I made a note to myself that story-telling is a natural talent, one that comes from the heart and guts and cannot be taught. Not so with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Which is why I ended up giving the author the benefit of the doubt, hoping she will come back to improve the technical aspects of her writing. Therefore I am awarding the story 4 stars.

The cover image of a bluish head over which you can discern the flow of water is somewhat morbid, and fully becoming of the theme of the story, which includes an episode of physical drowning as well as that feeling of suffocation Euly feels, faced with the secrets in her family. She is far from being a 'likable' protagonist, and her actions are far from following any logical reasoning, which makes for surprising twists and turns in this story. show less

I liked this book a lot. Meg turned into a fighter/survivor by the end of the story. In the beginning, Meg was a mother who had lost her daughter. Her whole world crumbled down around her. She lashed out at her husband; who in turn left her. What Meg didn't know was that her husband was doing his own investigation into the daughter of their daughter. Let's just say "curiosity killed the cat".

The story pitts Meg against her daughter's killers. The battle between them against Meg is pretty show more even. Which is a good thing as Meg really was the one that brought justice for her daughter. The authorities really took a back seat to the investigation. When it comes to the storyline, it was a good one with engaging characters and a nice ending. If this does not intrigue you to check out this book, I don't know what will. show less

A friend had posted this free book on Facebook. That friend is a Christian, so I was a bit surprised to find some things in this series. To be fair to the friend, I think she had recommended a different book by this author (which was a young adult series) and may not have realized that other books by the author might conform to different rules.

The first book in the series was okay. The second book, I felt was a rehash of the plot of the first book. By the third book, I just wanted to finish show more the set and have it be over. Not a glowing review, I know.

I never figured out what was so important about the diner that so many people wanted it. Why did Pinzer key in on that area to begin with? Was it just his male ego that made him keep pursuing it even when his boss put the kibosh on it, even when he went to jail over it?

I was surprised at some of the plot points. Georgette apparently broke up Bobby's marriage, Georgette and others engage in sex outside of marriage. I was glad to see that Georgette and Roberta come to understand each other (instead of the blame that marred their early interactions in the first book). show less