The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis

5 stars YA Suspense

It went off the rails pretty quickly! I suggest that you read the first book in this series before you tackle this book, as you’ll want to enjoy this ride to the fullest effect. There was quite a bit of drama amongst the characters even before this book began. As things started to heat up, I had a hard time putting this book down. Taking off right where the previous book left off, Mindy’s not just wrapping things up inside this book, Mindy begins by stoking up the fire. Into this dark storyline, I met some fantastic characters that I didn’t trust but they fit perfectly inside this story. Thanks, Mindy, for that fantastic ending.

Yonder by Ali Standish

5 stars Historical Fiction Middle School

Jack was a hero. Jack jumped into the racing floodwaters and rescued the two girls from downing while the rest of the congregation stared as the raging waters carried the girls away. If you ask Jack though, he’ll tell you a different story as Jack doesn’t want the attention and the glory. Jack just wants to be Jack. Jack is street smart which is working out for him but the truancy officer thinks Jack needs to be book smart too so he hunts Jack down and tries to make him attend school. Jack doesn’t learn much from the books in school but he does learn about the individuals inside the building.

Danny is the book’s narrator and he attends school with Jack. Like Jack, Danny also delivers the newspapers around town while Danny’s mother keeps the newspaper running. Danny’s mother has an important job and I liked that she was honest with her son as this helps Danny. It’s June of 1943, the war is raging and segregation is occurring. Danny’s father has enlisted while Jack’s father has returned home from the war, bringing home with him parts of the war which overshadow his life. Two teen boys: they’re the same, yet they’re different.

I liked the relationship of Danny and Jack. They could be themselves and they enjoyed being around each other. They liked to have fun together and they were able to talk freely without worrying about what they were saying. When Lou showed up, they tried to include her. Danny had led a sheltered life but when his eyes were opened, we got to see his world through his eyes now.

There seems to be some mysteries popping up in the book when Jack disappears and Danny takes it upon himself to find him. Lou has a different mystery that she wants to solve. I feel that Jack’s disappearance is based on Jack’s solving his own mystery and perhaps, Jack will never find him. Will anyone solve their mystery? I liked how Danny started to take an interest in the war besides just collecting his scrap metal for school. Jack feels comfortable around Danny and talks to him about some personal issues. I loved hearing the excitement in Jack’s voice as he talked about and wondered about Jack’s disappearance.

This is such a fantastic book. A book about war, bullying, friendship, family, and love.

The Safe Place by Anna Downes

4 stars Drama, Fiction

Step away from the fire! Too many red flags were being raised, all the warning signs were there, yet Emily kept on walking right where they wanted her. When I first started to read this book, I thought that Emily had caught onto her former bosses’ shenanigans and she was just playing along it but then, the issues started to get pretty deep. Emily soon realized she didn’t have the perfect job.

Emily wants to be an actress but for now, she has found temporary work in an office building. Her acting career, is going nowhere so her temporary position pays the bills, or it did. Emily has just been fired from her temporary job which just adds to the financial frustration weighing on her shoulders. Acting sincere, her former boss Scott, offers Emily a position overseas at his home there. This same boss that just fired her NOW wants to hire her. Yep, you read that right. He wants her to work and live in his beautiful home with his wife and child and money doesn’t seem to be an issue?? Do you not see this as an issue? Hello! Scott will pop in once and a while but the majority of the time, he won’t be living in that home. Emily will have a lot to do if she takes the position, as she’ll be the housekeeper, the wife’s personal assistant, and the au pair for their daughter. How desperate is she? Pretty desperate. Emily takes the job and off she goes.

Scott had warned Emily how isolated this fantastic, beautiful mansion was but when she arrives, she finally realizes how remote it really is. I’m visualizing The Overlook Hotel in Colorado from The Shining isolation and that’s exactly what Emily gets. Sorry Emily, your cell phone and computer won’t work out here. They have to have some kind of communication, they can’t expect Emily to be cut off from the world and they should have had that ready for her on Day #1. Don’t unpack those bags yet Emily, this doesn’t look like paradise to me.

I had to know what the purpose was behind all this. I felt Emily was being set up for something but why? Who was involved and how far would this go on? I was definitely motivated by the author’s writing and had a lot of questions as I read. I was intrigued by the isolation of home and by Emily’s isolation from others, two traits that shouldn’t be mixed together. This was a page-turner for me: more drama and mysterious than thriller. 4 stars #TheSafePlace!

A huge thank you goes out to Anna Downes and Minotaur Books for the copy of this book that I received in exchange for this review’s honest opinion.

Old Country by Matt Query

5 stars Mystery

This was crazy good! What an interesting concept of a story. I could feel the adrenaline and fervor in the characters and I loved how the tension built. You just never know where life will lead you but you should try to do some research before packing your bags.

Harry was an Afghanistan marine who received an early discharge. Back on American soil, he continues to fight his own battles. Harry enrolls in college and he meets his future wife, Sasha. Finding a secluded piece of land, the couple decides that this will be their new start in life. Sasha stands beside her husband as he deals with the effects of the war as the couple tries to get used to their new surroundings, isolated from most everyone.

Where I live, we have four seasons so when their neighbor Dan explains to them about the change of seasons in the countryside, I was prepared. What I wasn’t prepared for, was when Dan talked about the spirit that lived in the valley with them. Was he serious? The more Dan talked about this spirit, the more I knew either he was either trying to scare the couple or Dan was totally serious about what was happening in their valley. According to Dan, each season, the spirit would take on a different form and there were specific rules that needed to be followed, to get rid of it. Dan had even written these directions down! Like me, Harry and Sasha pondered if Dan and his wife were people they could actually trust.

The couple start to enjoy their new private, isolated life together – learning to rely on each other (with having only one close neighbor), as they fall into a routine. As the seasons begin to change, what Dan and his wife warned the couple about, suddenly becomes a reality. The spirit makes his appearance, leaving Harry and Sasha wondering, “did we really just see that?” This is just the beginning. Hold on people as this book is just getting started!

I couldn’t stop thinking about this story after I put it down. As the seasons changed, the anticipation as what awaited this couple kept my heart pumping. Harry and his wife were just looking for some quiet time together. The Afghanistan War had already left its mark on Harry and now another battle is beginning, only this time Harry has his wife beside him.

This is one terrific book that will have you staying up late until you turn the final page! 5 stars

All Hallows by Christopher Golden

5 stars Thriller

Now, that was creepy good! I enjoyed the intensity of the two storylines as they slowly built-up steams and I loved the intensity that swelled within this book once the festivities began. I fell back in time as I read this book, back to the day when everyone living on your block was on a first name basis and most neighborhoods were safe as help was just a few feet away. As one father and his daughter finished up preparations for their annual Halloween haunted woods, the rest of the neighborhood is getting ready for the annual Halloween block party. Candy is stocked at the door for the trick-or-treaters and it seems like everyone has their night planned out, so they won’t miss a thing.

Enthusiasm and excitement filled the air as this was a big night. The haunted woods grew more extravagant every year and they were eager to see what awaited them this year. The block party was a time for the neighborhood to come together and enjoy each other’s company, or at least that’s what this party had been in the past. As the children start the night with their trick-or-treating, they encounter some costumed children they don’t recognize. Could it just be the costumes that throw off who these individuals are or are these children not from around there? It’s when these children start asking the neighborhood children for help that warning flags when off in my head.

Sorry folks, your fun evening with your neighbors just got interesting. What a thrilling read! I loved so much about this book – 5 stars

Hide by Kiersten White

4 stars YA

Just thinking about spending a night at amusement park go me excited. Thinking about spending a week in that same environment well, that sounds like a great challenge. The contestants cannot be caught so how would you hide? Would be constantly move around or find one place and stay as long as you possibly can? Do you form an alliance with other contestants or do you go solo? I know my senses would be on high alert for anything and everything and as I started reading this book, I felt tense. Some of these contestants needed the money desperately and I felt some of the characters were shady and wondered how they were playing this game. There were a lot of contestants to keep track of at the beginning but as I read, I started to care less about some of them. I thought it was a fun book, a book that kept me on thinking what I would do if I was there. 4 stars

Dangerous Dolls of Delaware #12 (American Chillers) by Johnathan Rand

5 stars Children’s Chapter

I bought a few of these American Chiller books when I saw a display of them a couple years ago and I’m finally reading one of them. The cover of the books is what drew me in and I liked that the titles had different states in the U.S.A. in them. I have a thing for creepy dolls so naturally I started with this book. On a sidenote, I bought a handful of creepy dolls once at an estate sale and I bought them home. I was real excited about my purchase, thinking I’d stage them around the house or outside and post pictures of them on social media, well…….that plan didn’t work. My husband saw them and he told me to get them out of the house. I didn’t think he was serious at first but he was – absolutely, dead serious! Dang! I found some people who loved creepy dolls and handed them off and now, I know my husband can’t handle creepy dolls.

What a great read! I have to say that for a children’s book, it really was a terrific read. I found that it was a fast-paced book with a handful of characters and a solid story. I liked that most of the chapters ended in a cliffhanger so that it pushed me to read the next chapter and it was hard to put the book down and do something else. Each chapter was only about 2 to 5 pages in length so I could commit to a short reading time slot, if I had to but with this story, I wanted to continue. The book wasn’t gory or difficult-to-read with complicated words or scenes that I had to configure inside my head. This book had an entertaining storyline that felt realistic and I could see myself in the shoes of one of the main characters, if I was only younger. Depending on the reader and their maturity level, I think a third grader could handle reading this book.

Spencer (11) and his sister Serena (12), were out digging for fishing worms for Spencer. Digging deeper, Serena’s shovel made a dull thud. Whatever was down there, it had been down there a long time. Hoisting the box out, they pried the lid off, and the siblings discover two ordinary-looking dolls. What a disappointment! This was no buried treasure but perhaps they might be able to sell the old dolls and make some money. That was the logic they used to take those old dolls home and this was their first big mistake.

You can imagine where this story is going as the siblings take the dolls home. Soon, the siblings begin to feel that the dolls are taking on a life of their own. They’re no longer the ordinary plain dolls that they pulled out of the muddy hole. No, these dolls are something else. Needing to get some information on these dolls, they locate a woman who knows a great deal about dolls including the two dolls that they should have left in the box, buried down in the dirt.

As this lady tells the story of the two dolls that the siblings have in their possession, I’m planning my own course of action as I felt the kids were too. Putting this plan into play became more difficult than anticipated though and the story becomes more exciting as the pages flew by. These were only dolls, right? Two dolls and two siblings, they should be able to get this under control quite quickly, right? The answer would be yes, if the dolls were just plain ordinary dolls but they’re not. They’ll need a calm day of fishing if they can ever get rid of these dolls. 5 stars

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

4 stars Suspense

This book got me going from the get-go. I wanted to slap pretty, young Heather (have to keep it nice) and you don’t want to know what I wanted to do to Stephen. URG! I just couldn’t believe that Stephen thought it was okay to divorce his wife Pamela, to marry Heather. Seriously?! I know what you’re thinking, that this happens all the time but the deal is ….. Pamela has Alzheimer’s and is living in a nursing home. Stephen is basically having an affair and now, he wants to get rid of his baggage.

Meanwhile, Pamela and Stephen’s adult daughter’s Tully and Rachel are surprised of their father’s announcement. How could their father act this way towards their mother? The daughters decide to take some action to help their mother while at the same time protect themselves. I enjoyed the many surprises and the endless twists this book provided. I’m getting used to endings like these, not saying that I’m liking them but I feel it gives up readers something to talk about. Great story. 4 stars

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Sally Hepworth for the opportunity.

Malice House by Megan Shepherd

5 stars Thriller

Never saw that one coming! I was expecting some exciting chapters in this book but dang, I actually had to pause a few times so I could enjoy the little twists that were provided. It’d been two years since Haven had visited Malice House and she thought, she knew what she was walking into. Her father’s dementia explained the demon that was living within the walls of the house. Being a famous writer, a member of the local Ink Drinkers, the monster’s detailed description was fitting but what Haven didn’t know, was that her father’s illness didn’t explain what was actually going on inside Malice House.

Haven’s inheritance had dwindled down to Malice House by the time of her father’s death and now, standing outside the mansion, she surveyed her surroundings. Discovering one of her father’s manuscripts hidden inside the house, Haven sees the opportunity to make some cash yet she feels she might be missing something, if she doesn’t add a piece of herself to the manuscript. This sounds like a great plan but as the story progressed, I began to think that perhaps Haven should have just hammered a For Sale sign in the front lawn, packed up a U-Haul and walked away.

“Oh, my!” “No, it can’t be!!” “What is she doing?!?!” “a Monster” “collars, dog tags and a fire pit – and she’s combing through it – work faster!!” “Is this a curse”

These are just a few of the notes I made as I read. You can tell it was pretty intense at times and of course, I couldn’t stop reading until I got my questions, answered. There were too many thoughts running through my head, too many directions this story could have gone. Haven wanted to sell her father’s manuscript, for she needed the money but as an illustrator, she wanted to add her own personal touch to her father’s stories. This could be a great father-daughter duo until she saw their reaction. She took their response hard and her reaction was dramatic and emotional. Unfortunately, Haven had set the wheels in motion and there was no going back now. Tick, tick, tick ……time is moving fast and Haven needed to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. What a fun, engaging story. 5 stars

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany Jackson

5 stars YA Thriller

The emotions still resided inside of me after all these years as I read this book. I remember watching Stephen King’s movie, Carrie as a teen and this movie was quite emotional for me. While others were fixated on King’s horror in the movie, I was irritated at the individuals on the screen. Carrie wasn’t evil, she wasn’t the one everyone needed to watch out for, no! If they were looking for horror, they needed to look at what was happening to Carrie. What these individuals were doing was disgusting and shocking. Carrie was the victim. In The Weight of Blood, Tiffany does a fantastic job recreating King’s original while adding her own twists.

The first question we need to ask is why does one individual feel that they need to bully someone else? A comment or action is bad enough but bullying is not warranted when someone does it relentlessly and constantly. If another individual doesn’t follow your standards, your views, or your beliefs, do you have the right to harass that individual until they crumble? What does this accomplish? When is enough, enough? As a child, I was bullied and I know firsthand the emotions attached to this action. An individual bullied reacts more out of fear than respect and what might happen when your back is turned?

I really enjoyed this book as Maddie tries to navigate her way around school. Maddie tries to elude her true identity. Acting invisible, I yearned to know exactly what Maddie was hiding. As Maddie’s class headed outside to run laps for gym, Maddie questioned the gym teacher but here they were, outside on the track. She knew as the rain fell down that her secret would be discovered. The taunting from her peers started immediately and she fights back. How can she survive now, her life is forever changed. A great emotional read and another fantastic book by Tiffany. 5 stars