Zoe Rosenthal is Not Lawful Good is a fun book for those in the know about fandoms and the conventions attended by science fiction/fantasy fans. As a high school senior, Zoe hides her love of the new television show, Bleeders, from her boyfriend and family, only letting her best friend in on the secret that she is traveling to a Con. While there, she meets up with a group of other young adults (high school seniors/early college) and forms friendships that impact her life in ways she could never predict. As the group worries that their show will be cancelled, they step up participation in Cons and fandoms to promote the show. All while Zoes's life at home is spiraling out of control. Will Zoe leave the Bloodygits or will she finally make stop trying to be who she believes she should be for others?

This book was enjoyable for the most part. I liked the characters, although at times some of them seemed immature. I feel that this book will appeal to a very specific audience because, although the issues that Zoe faces are universal, the language of Cons and fandoms is foreign to those who aren't part of those circles. I loved the references to some of my favorite shows, however if you have never watched Firefly (for example) you won't understand the context. The book also feels a bit overly politically correct in its inclusiveness and use of pronouns. At times this felt forced instead of natural.

My eleven year old daughter read this book and then gave it to me and wanted me to read it right away. She said it was much more informative than the short presentation they received at school and that she learned a lot from it. She loved the format with text bubbles and questions and stories from real kids.

This is a fantastic book to open discussion with your daughter regarding puberty and getting their period. The authors talk very conversationally and frankly about a wide variety of subjects and really encourage kids to discuss periods and growing up with each other and the grownups in their lives. The book has short sections which often refer to other sections of the book. This means you can either read the book straight through (my daughter's choice) or you can simply turn to an area that you have questions about. My daughter plans to keep this on her bookshelf so she can refer to it often and also to share it with her little sister in a couple of years when she starts going through puberty.

I love the body positive message throughout the book that periods are completely normal and nothing to be embarrassed to discuss. The authors really encourage girls to be open with their friends and to help each other out when periods hit at school or in other social situations. Being prepared with a "period pack" is fantastic advice.

One note to parents: This book does contain references to various forms of birth control, sex, and gender identity issues. I had no issues with my show more daughter learning about these things so we can openly discuss them however I recognize that all parents do not feel the same. show less

Although I loved Hogan's Keeper of Lost Things, I struggled a bit with Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel.

I enjoyed the characters and hearing about events from the perspective of the child, Tilly, and the grown-up, Tilda. I enjoyed the discoveries that were made while reading the mother's journals though I also wish that more bits of journal had been included.

I understand the intent of the author in revealing feelings, people, and situations in the way it was done because I felt like I was on the same roller coaster ride that the main character was riding. However, I felt unsettled and off-kilter throughout most of the book as I was not understanding how different pieces fit together. I couldn't always tell what was real to Tilly/Tilda but unseen by other characters. Because Tilly/Tilda had lived through the events already, I felt that she had more information, even though it was incomplete, than I did as the reader which limited my ability to understand.

I also don't completely understand the title of the book. I realize that portions of the story took place at the named hotel, however the book goes so far beyond that. Although that time period had a large impact on the main character, we don't even arrive at the hotel until over halfway through the novel. Queenie herself is larger than life yet in the main character's life for a small period of time as well.

Hogan's writing is beautiful and her characters strong and interesting. I simply struggled with pulling all the show more pieces together in this one. show less

Love Lettering overall is a very good book. I loved Meg and, even with all her insecurities, I would love to be friends with her. I had a harder time connecting with Reid. The story ebbs and flows through relationship and work issues and several twists keep things interesting.

I very much enjoyed this story of sisters dealing with the aftermath of their father's death.

The unique personalities come through as each sister handles the news in their own way. I could feel the emotions coming off the page as they handled their grief and the many complications in their lives.

The story flows very well between the characters with background information interspersed with the present story. Although much of the subject matter seems like it would be heavy and depressing, the book retains a lighter feel.

The Italian Cure is incredibly short and I read it in less than an hour. I enjoyed the book however I would have liked it to be longer so I could have gotten to know the characters better and relationships had more time to actually develop. It felt like a beginning rather than a complete story.

The Words Between Us is such a good story! The chapters alternating between past and present really work well to tie the characters together and to allow the reader additional insights into what is happening. Poems and novels become a language of their own, even as Robin realizes that what she thinks happened in her life may not be the entire story. Individual growth comes with new knowledge as she finally understands the depth of her misunderstanding as a child.

I had a hard time putting this book down and I didn't want it to end.

This entire book seems immature from the writing to the characters. While the story concept is good, the writing in general is not. The author tells more than shows, the characters attitudes, actions, and vocabulary are young for their age (freshman in high school), and the entire book is over simplified.

Thank goodness it was short because I'm not sure I could have gotten through much more. I will definitely not be continuing the series.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows as it is intended for pre-teens. I picked it up thinking my 10 year old daughter would enjoy it. Turns out that I loved it as well!

The story is a familiar concept with a boy on the verge of turning thirteen discovering that he has a magical destiny. There's a best friend and mysterious mentor and of course a quest that our hero, Thomas, must be prepared for quickly.

J. M. Bergen takes this familiar story and brings it to life with engaging characters, inviting writing, and the mystery contained within The Book of Sorrows.

I was a bit concerned that I was going to reach the end of the book and find myself on a cliffhanger as I knew this was the first in a series. I was happy that this story was resolved in a satisfactory fashion while allowing for Thomas to have more adventures. I'll be keeping my eye out for the next book in the series!

Hope... Anyway is an emotional book. It is strange to say that I enjoyed it considering the subject matter of children dealing with alcoholic parents and the havoc that wreaks on their lives. I was drawn into the story and I wanted things to turn out in the end. I wanted someone to fight for Heidi and Bean and I wanted them to stay on track in spite of the adults in their lives. I admired Heidi's strength and stubbornness and felt her pain and shame. Despite the differences in our lives, I connected with her on a universal level.

I enjoyed this quick read about a middle-schooler feeling out of place in her new neighborhood. Clara likes things to be "normal" however this is not her mother's style. Clara doesn't enjoy her mother's job, new friends, or where they live after her practical grandmother moves to Florida leaving them on their own for the first time. What Clara does enjoy is being part of the school newsletter. At least until she is assigned to write the horoscopes.

This is a great story about finding yourself, friendship, and family. My nine-year-old gives it three stars because she expected it to be more magical based on the cover description.

This is a quick read although thought-provoking. Sometimes it felt like a riddle.

The artwork is interesting and several pages resonated with me deeply. Others, I felt that I didn't "get" at all. Such is the nature of this book.

I have a feeling that I'll be going back and looking through this again for little boosts of inspiration and flashes of truth.

I love the original Peter Pan story and have enjoyed updated versions of it so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.

You Can Fly is a very short novel but I struggled to get through it because I simply could not stay focused. The story did not sustain my interest. Characters were reflections of the originals - Peter Pan, Wendi, Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, Tiger Lily - but had no depth of their own. I felt that the author was trying to convey some meaning about growing up or innocence or childhood but I never quite grasped what he was trying to say. The action felt choppy, repetitive, and ultimately pointless.

At barely over 100 pages and with good sized text, From Scratch is certainly a rapid read. It only took me about a half an hour to get through.

Unfortunately, the shortness of the story required that events be told very quickly. As a result, I didn't feel like the characters had any depth to them and everything felt rushed.

The book also felt a bit like a lecture on confidence, personal relationships, and how to start a business. Rather than a fictional story with inspirational undertones, the self-help aspect is front and center.

I was actually glad the book was so short so I didn't spend more time on it.

When I was in college I attended a play in which one of the characters spoke in a completely made-up language. I couldn't understand a single word said by this character yet the character managed to convey such emotion that I was deeply affected by the performance.

Unfortunately, Sophie Someone does not have the same effect. Sophie's story is interesting enough. The characters are rendered decently. But Sophie's language drove me crazy. Sure, it was easy enough to read because it was easy enough to figure out the word substitutions. But having to use the brain power to focus on the actual text on the page instead of being able to get lost in the story was bothersome.

I personally would have enjoyed the story much more if the author had just spoken plainly.

The Roanoke Girls treads lightly around a disturbing subject. The secret, that isn't really a secret, which has led to the running or death of the females in the family.

Lane thought she had escaped but she is pulled back into the world of Roanoke Girls when her cousin, Allegra, goes missing. The story is less about what happened to Allegra and more about the relationships in the Roanoke family.

The movement between past and present and various characters is handled well. Unfortunately, even with all of the emotion that is supposed to be conveyed throughout the book, it feels like gazing at the surface of the pond and still not seeing into the depths. Although the family secret is revealed early in the story and much of the book is intended to explore the consequences of that secret, the book felt like a light, fast read. The expected weight simply wasn't there.

I loved The Mermaid's Daughter. The dark tale drew me in immediately and would not let me go. Each character carried their personal pain throughout the story and was forced to face it in different ways.

The ebb and flow of the voices as each chapter is told from a different character's perspective fit the story perfectly like the waves breaking and retreating from the shore. The sea has more than a physical presence here.

Song and voice, light and dark, above and below, fairy tale and opera. There are no happy endings here - only choices that lead to variations on sadness.

Dragon Springs Road is a beautifully written story weaving historically accurate details with Chinese belief in spirit animals.

A young girl is abandoned by her mother when the family in their residence sells the property. She must hide and find her own way with the help of Fox. From servant to orphan at the mission school to grown but unemployable because of her mixed blood, Jialing endures much. Will she ever be able to leave the past at Dragon Springs Road and move into a more hopeful future?

Janie Chang writes lyrical passages that bring early 1900s China to life. It is easy to become wrapped up in the details of Jialing's life and to hope that she will find better circumstances.

When I received this book, I did not realize that this is technically the second book in a series. Actually it is the third book set in Salem by this author and characters from both prior books appear in this book. Realizing that, I went back and started with The Lace Reader and then The Map of True Places. Although The Fifth Petal could easily be read without having read the other two books, I enjoyed having the deeper background story on the characters.

The Fifth Petal was a compelling story and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoy the way Brunonioa Barry weaves the past of her characters into the events of the present. Although some of the subject matter is disturbing (violence and sex), it is the living characters whose emotions bring the mystery off the page.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

I was slightly skeptical when I began the book because changing the point of view between characters for each chapter is very difficult to pull off successfully. I think Kari Jones does it well though and it really works for the story line and showing how events play out from different perspectives.

Although the book contains subject matter that is heavy, the book flows easily and never becomes weighed down by it. The relationships between the characters stay at the core of the book.

This was a fast read for me but one that could provoke a good discussion with a teen book club.

The Animal Planet Animal Atlas is filled with gorgeous color photographs of animals on every continent. My four year old loves to sit and just look through the book at all the pictures.

I love how the book is organized - by continent and then biome. This allows children to see which animals live together in the same regions and how animals adapt to different living conditions. It also demonstrates the "food web" (a more accurate term than "food chain") very concretely.

The information given about each animal is short but interesting. My seven year old loved learning how many of certain animals are left in the wild and what is being done to help those animals. This is a great way to find out what animals children would like to learn more about and then find other resources to go more indepth.

This is a lengthy book of short stories. After reading the first few, I was sure I was going to hate the book and wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue reading. It wasn't that the stories were dark, I expected that. It was that they made no sense at all to me at first. I was disoriented and confused.

Eventually I found some that intrigued me, held my interest, and then a few that I actually enjoyed. The darkness was still depressing and strange but there was something that drew me in.

Overall, I found this collection to be a mixed bag. I couldn't read it for long at a time because of the heaviness. I enjoyed some of the tales, I hated others. Having never read Gary Braunbeck before, it was quite the introduction.

I don't know if my daughter actually qualifies as "gifted" in the strictest sense, although she is very bright, but we have been dealing with emotional outbursts that seem to go beyond the norm here so I was hoping this book would give me some insight.

I found the first section of this book incredibly helpful in understanding how her emotions and the way she displays them are tied to her personality and way of thinking rather than her just "being difficult." I could recognize many of the example scenarios as versions of events that have happened in our house.

The second portion of the book was supposed to provide more concrete strategies for working with emotions and gifted children and unfortunately I felt like this area was somewhat lacking. While it was encouraging to realize that I am already using several of these techniques at home, it was discouraging in that so many of the ideas seemed common sense for working with all children. I was hoping for something more in depth and targeted specifically toward gifted children.

I haven't read a book by Debbie Macomber in a while. I remember the previous books that I've read being sweet with heartfelt story lines. While this was much the same, there was something different about this book that caused me to like it less than others that I've read.

I have not read previous books in this series which wasn't an issue as the beginning of the book felt like a huge information dump so everyone would be caught up to current events. I disliked the change in voice from first to third person as the chapters switched between the story lines. I also wasn't crazy about bouncing between three different story lines with each chapter.

Overall the lessons in the novel were a bit too in my face instead of simply being in the background of the story. I also disliked the ending.

This was a quick, easy read and was generally okay but I don't think I will be returning to the Rose Harbor series. I much prefer the Blossom Street series.

Although I didn't like the majority of the characters in I Take You, I found it to be a fast and light read. Definitely not something to think too much about even though some of the male characters attempt to lecture the main character on their theories of sexual relationships. I found most, if not all, of the relationships in this book very hard to believe and was unable to relate to the main character on any level. Still there were amusing moments throughout the book.

To say that Anabel and Jared have a complicated relationship is putting it mildly. Jared is in love with Anabel but is dating someone else because Anabel is dating Matt. Anabel loves Matt but can't deny that she still has feelings for Jared. Matt loves Anabel but wants more commitment than she can give. He is also crazy jealous of the role that Jared will always have in their lives as the father of Anabel's daughter, Emma.

Amanda Romine Lynch writes incredibly flawed characters. Anabel is a hot mess through the entire book and she has incredibly poor decision making skills. As I said in my review of Anabel Unraveled, Anabel is not someone I would be friends with but at the same time I feel protective of her and want to guide her to a better path. Her actions and reactions may not be socially acceptable at times but they fit with her emotional backstory.

The book alternates between Anabel's perspective and Jared's, giving us two sides of the story. To me, Matt's perspective is important as well but we only see his actions through how they affect Anabel, Jared, and Emma. I want to learn more of Matt's history and hear his thoughts. I want to understand how he sees events and why he acts and reacts the way he does. Although Anabel chose Matt at the end of Anabel Unraveled, it feels that the series is skewed toward Jared.

If you enjoy emotional, character driven stories you should definitely check out the Anabel books. I'm eagerly awaiting the third book so I can find out what show more happens next. show less

Being intentional is one of the things that I am trying to focus on this year as a foundation for living a more intentional life. I want to be more aware of myself in each moment and truly understand how my choices and actions are impacting those around me. Although this book is based on being an intentional leader in a business setting, I still found that many of the questions and techniques presented by Mindy Hall, PhD apply just as well to my life as a stay at home mom. I was not able to directly connect to the majority of the examples given because of their corporate nature, however I still came away with information of value and I look forward to exploring some of the additional online resources that are available at leadingwithintentionbook.com

I enjoyed every novel in Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series and was sad to see it end. I am thrilled that she is giving us more stories with the characters I have grown to love in anthologies like this one. Armstrong's stories and novellas provide the opportunity to feature some of the minor characters in the books and give readers a chance to see what happens to some of the main characters beyond the novels. While some of these stories have been included in other anthologies, others are entirely new. I love that Armstrong is publishing her stories in this way as it is much easier than trying to track down individual stories in other books or online. This is a must read for every fan of the Otherworld.

Knowing how much I like to read, people have been recommending Outlander to me for years. I never seemed to have time to read such a long book though and knowing that it is a romance had me wondering if it would be worth the time. I won a copy through the Library Thing Early Reviewer program and gave it a go. I enjoyed the story and the characters although the sex and violence were certainly more graphic than I am used to. While the sex scenes did put me off the book a bit I realize that this is a matter of personal preference. I do want to read the next book in the series, Dragonfly in Amber, to see if the characters and story can continue to hold my interest.

This is the sequel to The Orphanage of Miracles which I read and loved in January. This continues the stories of Kelsey and Nicholas as they undertake separate tasks for the king. I love how the characters grow as they learn about their strengths and the strengths of others. Although this is another middle grade novel, it contains much wisdom within the fantasy. I'm unsure if this is going to be a trilogy or a longer series but I know I don't want to miss out on any of the books.