MG Review: Capture the Flag by Kate Messner

Synopsis:
Three kids get caught up in an adventure of historic proportions!

Anna, José, and Henry are complete strangers with more in common than they realize. Snowed in together at a chaotic Washington D.C. airport, they encounter a mysterious tattooed man, a flamboyant politician, and a rambunctious poodle named for an ancient king. Even stranger, news stations everywhere have announced that the famous flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been stolen! Anna, certain that the culprits must be snowed in too, recruits Henry and José to help catch the thieves and bring them to justice.

But when accusations start flying, they soon realize there's more than justice at stake. As the snow starts clearing, Anna, José, and Henry find themselves in a race against time (and the weather!) to prevent the loss of an American treasure.

Publication Date: July 1, 2012
Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery, Adventure
Source: Thanks to Scholastic for my review copy!


Review:
First of all, this is a great entertaining MG read for the summer. It does take place in a snowed-in, all-flights-are-cancelled airport but for some reason it still gives you the right vibe for summer reading :)

The story follows Anna, Jose and Henry as they meet up and end up getting tangled in the mystery of who stole the flag from the museum. Just like Jose and Henry, I was skeptical of Anna finding anything useful in the airport to point towards who the real suspects of the crime were. She proved us all wrong by actually being right...well, about some things at least.

I liked how the book didn't shy away from the danger they put themselves in by going head to head with the people that stole the flag. It showed how important finding the flag was to them, and it showed how dedicated they all were to their family's secret society. Speaking of which, that was another thing that would make this a magical read for Middle Graders. What kid doesn't like to pretend they are part of a secret society that gets called to go on missions and all that awesome stuff?

I thought this was an enjoyable book with spunk. I loved the friendships that were formed throughout and I'm assuming these same friendships will continue if there were to be a sequel. This would make a nice Indiana Jones-esque series for this age group.

SBB Tour Review: The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks

Synopsis:
When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder.

Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Source: Thanks so much to Southern Book Bloggers for letting me be a part of this Tour :)

Review:
When I started this book I had an idea in mind as to what I was expecting.  The synopsis actually makes the plot of the story extremely clear, but I guess I thought it would involve more of the struggle to figure out what kind of person her now-deceased friend was.  I thought that would be the sole focus and completely forgot about Rain trying to find out who killed her friend.  It turned out to be a good murder mystery that took me by surprise :)

I really liked Rain in the book.  She is very self-conscious due to a speech problem caused by a cleft palate.  Through therapy over the years she talks normally when we meet her in the story, but she shows glimpses of the painful years growing up and being made fun of.  I think we can all relate to that! (And if you can't relate to being made fun of...then I hate you. Joking, of course ;)  I had a harder time liking her friend Wendy (the one that was found dead in the park after a party).  As the story started showing some more of the things Wendy did, I had a harder time liking her.  She seemed selfish and petty and downright stupid sometimes.

I've said before that I'm no whiz at figuring out 'who dunnit' in mystery novels, but I did pick up on the killer's identity rather early on in this one.  That doesn't make me like it any less, but it did make me want to tell my book 'You lose!!! Ah ha ha ha haaa'.  . . . . Ok, I'm way off track here.  My point is that it doesn't take a genius or a detective to figure this one out, but the book is still enjoyable and keeps you reading to find out how everything will play out.

The Girl in the Park has some shining, poignant moments that pop up during Rain's quest to find out who her friend really was and, more importantly, who killed her.  This was a fast, hard-to-put-down book for me, but still not exactly what I had expected.

Review: Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Synopsis:
Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident—including her memory of the event. As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long: the horrible reality of their abusive relationship.

When the police reopen the investigation, it casts suspicion on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free? Debut writer Jennifer Shaw Wolf takes readers on an emotional ride through the murky waters of love, shame, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Mystery
Source: Thanks so much to the publisher, Walker Children, for making this title available on Netgalley.


Review:
Reading the synopsis of Breaking Beautiful I would have never guessed I would be on the edge of my seat almost the entire time. It's everything I thought it would be, times a million. I can't even say how amazing it is!

Allie's character is coping with the death of her boyfriend, Trip, but not really in the way that everyone around her thinks. She's hiding something about how he died, but she's also hiding something about their entire relationship. I loved how she goes from being almost in denial and just shying away from everything to facing her life head on. The transition was done so great and reading her progress as a character was amazing.

And her Blake...I want Blake to be my childhood friend and protector. He's so sweet and amazing which translates as super hot in the book :) And believe it or not, her dead boyfriend plays such a large part in the book which is amazing because he's dead the entire time. I think that echoes how he still has such a hold on Allie even after he isn't physically around, and I felt that as the reader.

I expected alot of things from Breaking Beautiful but reading furiously to find the answer to 'what happened the night Trip died?' wasn't what I expected at all. The story and characters are all so profound, but there is also this thrilling 'whodunit' element too. Seriously, this one goes on my list of all-time favorite books. So good!

Tribute Books Blog Tour Review: Shore Excursion by Marie Moore

Synopsis:Travel agents may be a vanishing breed, but Sidney Marsh, a New York transplant from Mississippi, is holding her ground-- at least on land. She is the tour leader on a cruise through Scandinavia to Russia for a group of eccentric senior citizens who call themselves the High Steppers. Sidney expects her days to be filled with long meals, shopping expeditions and visits to museums, churches and fjords. But this cruise is anything but routine. THere is a killer on board, targeting the High Steppers and quite possibly herself.

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Adult Fiction
Source: Thanks to Tribute Books for letting me be a part of this Book Tour


Review:
I haven't read a good mystery in awhile and this was a nice, entertaining read.  I was left guessing throughout most of the book as to who the culprit was. I was pretty much dead wrong once everything was revealed.  There were a lot of twists and turns along the way.

Sidney Marsh is the lovely protagonist in the book and she is a likeable character aside from her poor decision-making skills when it comes to men :) But we've all been there, right? She's a travel agent for the High Steppers who are a varied and quirky group of (mostly) senior citizens.  She has taken them on quite a few world vacations over the years and all has been fine until this particular cruise.  It's not long before one of the High Steppers turns up dead and that is just the beginning.

This was a satifsying mystery novel.  The plot unfolds smoothly and I loved the varied cast of characters.  I do wish there had been a little more romance thrown in.  There were the beginnings of some romantic-y situations, but I would have liked them to be fleshed out a bit more.  That being said, I enjoyed the book and am curious where Sidney's next mystery/adventure will take her :)



For more info:

Marie Moore's web site:http://www.mariemooremysteries.com/

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Shore Excursion blog tour site:http://shoreexcursion.blogspot.com/

*Check out the book on Amazon or B&N.

Review: Flat Spin by David Freed

Synopsis:
Based in sunnyrancho Bonita - "California's Monaco" as the city's moneyed minions like to call it - Cordell Logan is a literate, sardonic flight instructor and aspiring Buddhist with dwindling savings and a shadowy past. When his beautiful ex-wife, Savannah, shows up out of the blue to tell him that her husband has been murdered in Los Angeles, Logan is quietly pleased. Savannah's late husband, after all, is Arlo echevarria, the man she left Logan for.

Logan and Echevarria were once comrades-in-arms assigned to a top-secret military assasination team known as "Alpha." The onu problem is, the LAPD can find no record of Echevarria ever having toiled for Uncle Sam. Savannah wants Logan to tell the police what he knows. At first he refuses, but then, relying on his small, aging airplane, the "Ruptured Duck," and the skills he honed working for Alpha, Logan doggedly hunts Echevarria's killer.

His trail takes him for the glitzy Las Vegas Strip to the most dangerous ghettos of inner-city Oakland, from darkened, Russian mafia haunts in West Los Angeles to the deserts of arizona. But that's the least of his problems. It is his love-hate relationship with Savannah, a woman Logan continues to pine for in spite of himself, that threatens to consume him.

Publication Date: April 2012
Genre: Adult Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Source: Thanks so much to the Author, David Freed, for my review copy!


Review:
Alright, here's another good Mystery novel!  I'm not very good at solving the mystery in any book (or in Scooby Doo for that matter...) and this one was no different :)

The main thing that I found immensely appealing was Cordell Logan himself.   His interactions are all dead-on and entertaining to read. His sharp wit and sarcasm permeate the dialogue and tone of the book. Logan is this ex-special-ops kind of guy, but he lives this minimalistic bachelor lifestyle.  He doesn't flaunt his many physical and mental skills unless he needs to and exudes a 'kiss-my-ass' kind of attitude whenever humanly possible.  What's great is that a lot of that is just an front he puts on to make sure he doesn't get hurt...again.  His wife left him for his buddy-in-arms, Arlo, from Alpha and he's been trying to lay low and move on ever since.  Of course this is not to be when Arlo turns up dead and ex-wifey wants Logan to talk to the police and gets tangled up in everything.

I thought this was a great read.  It made me reminisce about reading Dirk Pitt books.  I can see Cordell Logan going off on myriad different adventures and getting himself into some sticky situations. A great start to what will hopefully be a series of novels.


You can find out more about this book and the author on David Freed's Website.

Review: Sacrifice by Alexandrea Weis

Synopsis:
Nicci Beauvoir fell in love with the artist, David Alexander, in To My Senses, and then uncovered his killer in Recovery. Nicci is back to finally confront David’s dark past in Sacrifice. Stunned after seeing a man she believes to be her beloved David Alexander in a crowd outside of the St. Louis Cathedral, Nicci goes on a desperate hunt for the truth about David’s demise. But to get the information she desires, Nicci must team up with David’s former boss, the ruthless Simon La Roy. Nicci decides not to tell her fiancé, Dallas August, about her involvement with Simon. As Nicci becomes hopelessly entangled in Simon’s sinister plans, Dallas discovers her secret, and tries to protect her. But one night on a deserted French Quarter street, Nicci unexpectedly learns what really happened to David Alexander. Now she must engage in a deadly game of intrigue to keep what she has unearthed from Simon La Roy.

In a final confrontation, a revengeful Simon forces Nicci to choose between her life and revealing all that she has discovered. But what mystery is Nicci protecting and is it worth her future happiness? For Nicci there can be no happy ending unless she keeps what she knows about David Alexander hidden from the world. It’s a decision that will cost her everything. Is Nicci willing to pay the price? In the end, there can never be a happily ever after without a little…sacrifice.

Review:
I haven't read any mystery/romances in a while, but this one might get me started again. This is the third book in this series, but if you haven't read the other two you won't be lost. The author deftly catches new readers up without annoying the people that have read the other books :-)

From the opening scene, I was interested in the characters and the story. Nicci finds herself at her cousins wedding being harrassed by her family to marry Dallas. Nicci loves him but can't committ. Mainly because she is still in love with David . . . who has been dead for three years. This obviously complicates things. It's pretty hard to compete with someone that's dead and gone. Her character is in a battle with her emotions, heart and mind. Add in some intrigue and betrayal and the story is complete.

I read Sacrifice pretty quickly because I really wanted to find out what was going to happen. An entertaining book with a lot of great characters. I'll be interested to see where the next book takes Nicci.

Publication Date: October 1, 2011
Genre: Adult, Mystery, Romance
Source: Thanks to the author, Alexandrea Weis, for my review copy!

Review: Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

Synopsis:
Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Review:
I hadn't heard anything about this book going into it. I loved the cover and that is initially what drew me to it (yes, I sometimes judge books by their covers).

The story is told from Isobel's perspective, and her narration throughout the book is laugh-out-loud hilarious at some points. She is very easy to relate to as a character. Then there's Nathaniel. He's her new stepbrother, and they don't get along at first mainly because of misunderstanding each other and miscellaneous other teenage emotional issues :-) Eventually they call truce and try to solve the mystery of what's really going on in the enormous and oldly creepy house they now share.

The story is a little scary at some points, but not too much. It's like mystery and romance with a side of creep thrown in. The interactions between Isobel and Nate were fun to read. I also loved the way Isobel talks about her stepdad, Dick. Obviously, I don't condone being attitudinal to parental figures, but if you read the book you'll see why that's not an issue here.

A great read. My only complaint would be that it had a very tidy ending. I guess I should make up my mind whether I like that or not. I'm either complaining that a book ended how I wanted or that it didn't :-) That doesn't detract from the book as a whole. Definitely one to check out.

Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Mystery, Romance
Source: Thanks to publisher Simon & Schuster for my review copy.