Top Ten Tuesday Spin-off

 This week's topic was all about books from the past. I shared a TikTok video of my YA reads, here are my middle grade reads and my adult reads. 

Middle Grade Reads:

I read several Babymouse graphic novels, the Sleuth or Dare trilogy, the On the Run series, and was addicted to the Canterwood Crest series. (PS. if you were too, there's a spin-off series coming soonish)

Adult Books:

I read all the Bridgerton books, thanks to someone in the Sarah MacLean line at BEA, started by adoration of Jill Shalvis books, loved the Shana Galen series, and was still big into cozies.

It was super fun going down memory lane!

What books do you remember reading 10 years ago?

Middle Grade Review: Revenge of the Red Club

Things are changing rapidly at Hawking Middle School - and not for the better. First, the newspaper will now be advised by the principle. And stories like Riley's investigation into the gluten free chicken nuggets will no longer be published.

Next, tons of girls are now being scolded for dress code violations. But the final straw for Riley is the disbanding of the Red Club. The Red Club is a support group for any girl with her period, but while it's a safe place to ask questions, it's also so much more.

With everything that's happened, Riley's ready to fight back.

My Thoughts: I loved this book. It's an important read for the feminist tones but also for finding your voice. I love how Riley's relationship with her mother developed. I enjoyed their family nightly tradition. I love how the girls and the boys came together to talk about the problems at school. I wish there was a Red Club when I was in school because the idea is amazing. I hope that girls reading this book form a club of their own. I love that periods and mensuration are normalized in this book. I loved the ending. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: My Library
Library Recommendation: A must have book for school and public libraries

Where I Am Today

I'm off to the Connecticut Library Association. I'm co-presenting about how to host author visits. I've got the library portion and Karen from my favorite bookstore RJ Julia's will be talking about the book store perspective. 

I've talked about several author visits on my blog and I'm lucky to have hosted so many great ones. Just looking at all the pictures brings back so many memories. 

Tera Lynn Childs

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Kim Harrington

Tween Tuesday Review: Framed and Dangerous

 *3rd and final book in the trilogy*
**Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great reads for tweens. Join the fun! **

Norah and Darcy's friendship is rocky at best. They're both frustrated with each other after their big fight. Norah walks to school alone for the first time in ages.
She's surprised that no one's hanging around outside, until she learns the field house is on fire. The brand new building was two weeks away from being finished. Now it's destruction leaves a lot of questions.
All the evidence points to Zane, the cute boy Norah's crushing over. When he asks Partners in Crime for help, Norah agrees to help him. She summons up the courage to ask Darcy to come back for one last case, knowing that things between them won't be the same. Can the girls work together to solve their biggest case yet? 

My Thoughts: I love this series with smart girls who solve cases. I hated the misunderstandings between Darcy and Norah, but I really liked how they came together to solve this case. I like how the case took on a new meaning with the previous fire and how looking into the past helped them solve the current case. I love the secondary characters and their relationships with both Darcy and Norah. I love the ending, even though I really hope the Norah and Darcy books continue one day. A great tween trilogy featuring smart girls, friendship, mystery, and a little romance.

Cover Thoughts: Cute! And while Kim Harrington was at my library, she dropped some behind the scenes information on the cover - In the previous book Norah got her first pair of glasses, but she has no glasses in this illustration. Kim added in a line about removing the glasses because the smoke was bothering her eyes while she was standing in front of the fire. - pretty cool!

Source: My Library

Author Visit: Kim Harrington

I was lucky enough to get the fabulously funny Kim Harrington to appear for our Teen Summer Reading Kick-off Program.

Here's the book table with all her fabulous books:

And the goodies table, because it's not an author visit without dessert

Kim talked about how she got ideas for her books and how she has an idea notebook now. She talked about characters - and now Clare might be her favorite because she wished that she always had a snarky comeback when she was being bullied, instead of walking away.

Kim shared foreign covers with her. Some are great and some are very strange, not making a whole lot of sense to me. Here's the UK copy -which looks awesome! The model on the cover has major attitude!

Kim talked about her middle grade trilogy, which is super cute. The two main girls are super nerdy and super proud of it, which is great. Kim, herself, is a HUGE Star Wars fan.  I'm loving the nerdy girl trend.

All in all, it was an evening full of bookish talk, lots of laughter, and left several readers eager to read more of Kim's work. Really, it was perfect.

And here are the two if us together - Don't you LOVE Kim's shirt? I do!

 

Kim was gracious enough to pose for a READ poster for the library. Here's what I came up with! Do you like it?

Mysterious Saturday Review: Partners in Crime

* First in a new series *

Darcy and Norah must create a business for a school project. They don't want to do anything lame like a lemonade stand, dog walker, or babysitter. After brainstorming ideas, Darcy comes up with idea of creating a detective agency.

Darcy loves the mysteries and all the forensic science TV shows. She creates a fake website and Norah presents their topic to the class. Their presentation goes well, but the trouble starts when someone uses the site for a real case.

Norah and Darcy want to solve the case of a missing girl, as asked, but they also want to figure out the name of their first client. Can the two best friends solve either of these cases?

My Thoughts: A cute start to a new tween series.

 I really liked both Darcy and Norah. They have a great friendship, but they're both unique in their own ways. Norah really loves astronomy - her dog's name in Hubble. Still, she's not into mysteries. She hesitates at joining Darcy in looking for clues, but then her scientific brain starts getting curious.  Darcy loves mysteries, including forensic sciences shows. She doesn't mind the gruesome scenes and she's a technology whiz.  She doesn't always have the ability to stay out of trouble. Together, they're unstoppable.  I loved that both girls were smart and not afraid to showcase their intelligence.


The secondary characters were interesting and entertaining. I'm hoping to see more of them in the future books. While the bully/prank war was sometimes cruel, there were funny aspects of it. I also liked the moments between Norah and Zane. I'm already looking forward to book 2!


Cover Thoughts: Awesome!


Source: My Library

Fun Fact: Kim Harrington will be the special guest star to our Kick Off the Summer party for the Teen Summer Reading Program on June 27th! So looking forward to having her come visit Otis Library!

Up Next: Sleepover Stakeout  comes out on June 1st

Mysterious Saturday Review: Perception

*2nd in the series - Clarity is the first book*

 After the summer, Clare's gained a reputation in school. She
s not bullied quite so much. Some of the popular crowd want to befriend her. Still, the moments from the summer haven't faded.

She's still trying to figure out her feelings for Justin and Gabriel.  Perry's spending a lot of time in his room or fighting with Clare.

When a local girl goes missing, Clare's anxious to help.  She's not sure what she can do without anyone wanting her assistance.

Then she starts receiving notes from a secret admirer.  It's not long before the notes escalate. She can feel someone watching her. The notes become pictures and presents. While Clare doesn't know the culprit, she's getting jumpy. Even around her new friend.

Could the disappearance be connected to her stalker? Is she next on the list?

My Thoughts: I devoured this book - just as I did the first one. I love Clare. She's smart, sassy, and unique. I love her power. I loved her struggle between the two guys (although I'm really glad about the one she chose). I found Mallory interesting. I loved the suspense and the creepiness of the stalker angle.  So looking forward to more!


Cover Thoughts: Love it!


Source: My Library


Fun Fact: Kim lives kind of close and she'll be coming to my library to kick off the Teen Summer Reading Program. How awesome is that?


Up Next: Did you know that Kim has a new middle grade series starting? It looks super cute! It's out May 1st. I can't wait to check it out. 

Review: Clarity

Clarity's family is a little different. They have powers. Clare's mom can read thoughts. Her brother can communicate with the dead. Clare can see visions after touching objects belonging to that person. They set up shop in a tourist town, where they generate a lot of interest. The tourists love them, but everyone else hates them.

Clare's used to the stares, the whispers, and the bullying. She's not used to her ex-boyfriend asking for help using her gifts.

After a young girl's been murdered, the police are left with few clues. He comes to Clare asking for her help, asking her to use her powers for good.

She agrees. Together with the police detective's son and her ex-boyfriend, the mayor's son, they attempt to solve the murder.

Clare doesn't want to share what she witnesses - her brother with the victim before she died. Now more than ever, she needs to solve this crime, if only to save her brother.

My Thoughts: I devoured this book. I enjoyed Clare's position within the town. She has incredible snark and sarcasm, resulting in much laughter.I liked the relationship between Clare and Gabriel and Clare and Justin. The love triangle works well. Of course I have a favorite of the two boys! (Do you?)

I loved Clare's relationship with her family and their "readings". I would love to visit and have then perform a reading for me.

All in all, this was a great debut filled with danger, action, the sounds of summer, and romance.

Cover Thoughts: The girl looks so much like Clare. Plus the way the light works is simply amazing. Source: Bought at the Clarity Launch, check out Kim Harrington's blog for pictures of the super fun event! Check out that cake!

So looking forward to Perception - the sequel!

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge

Similar Read: Don't Die Dragonfly