Blog Tour: No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy

Christopher Healy's The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is one of my all-time favorite middle grade series (read my review here). So when Walden Pond Press asked if I would like to participate in a blog tour for Healy's newest book, I was elated. But then when I discovered it took place in the same world as the Hero's Guide, I was even more excited. My entire reading experience wasn't just about following along with the mysterious quest of the main character in this novel, but also to find all of the Easter eggs from the Hero's Guide (I will have to re-read the series to find them all, I'm sure). 

My favorite thing about Christopher Healy's books is that because he leans into humor rather than drama, that makes the fantasy setting more bearable for someone like me who doesn't love fantasy novels. Because I'm too busy laughing, I don't have time to think about how I normally shy away from fantasy. 

If you or a young reader in your life love mystery, fantasy, and humor, add No One Leaves the Castle to your TBR! And most importantly, you don't have to have read The Hero's Guide series to enjoy No One Leaves the Castle (but I recommend you read it sometime in your life because it's one of the funniest series in all of children's literature). 

ABOUT THE BOOK
Agatha Christie meets the Brothers Grimm in an unexpected, hilarious, and wholly original new fantasy-mystery from the beloved author of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.

The Lilac. The bard songs say that she’s the world’s most fearsome bounty hunter. That there’s no criminal she can’t catch, no mystery she can’t solve.

None of that is true. Yet.

In reality, the Lilac is just a kid, and the bard who wrote all that is her best friend, Dulcinetta. But when a priceless artifact goes missing from the home of famed monster hunter Baron Angbar, the Lilac and Netta see their chance to apprehend the thief and make a name for themselves.

When they get to Castle Angbar, however, and meet the Angbar family and their servants and guests—an unsavory group of nobles, mages, and assorted creatures, each more shady than the last—the Lilac begins to wonder if the reward is worth the trouble.

And that’s before the dead body is discovered.

Now everyone is magically sealed inside the castle—and there is a murderer among then. If the Lilac wants to make it out with her reputation intact, it’s going to be up to her to figure out who the killer is. But everyone in the castle—even the Lilac herself—has secrets to hide, and as the walls literally start to close in around them, the Lilac worries that her first job as a bounty hunter may be her last….

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Healy is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom and its sequels, as well as the Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem series. Before becoming a writer, Chris worked as an actor, an ad copywriter, a toy-store display designer, a fact-checker, a dishwasher, a journalist, a costume shop clothing stitcher, a children’s entertainment reviewer, and a haunted house zombie. He lives with his family in New Jersey. You can visit him online at christopherhealy.com

Blog tour stops: 

August 2 Nerdy Book Club (@nerdybookclub)

August 7 Bluestocking Thinking (@bluesockgirl)

August 8 Teachers Who Read (@teachers_read)

August 12 Maria’s Mélange (@mariaselke)

August 15 A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust (@teacherlibrarianbeth)

August 18 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers (@grgenius)

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No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy

Publication date: August 15, 2023

Publisher: Walden Pond Press

Pages: 384

Genre: Fantasy/Mystery

Audience: Middle grade

Disclosure: ARC received from publisher

Purchasing the book from the above Bookshop affiliate link supports independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale. 

Girl Last Seen by Heather Anastasiu and Anne Greenwood Brown

Kadence Mulligan and Lauren DeSanto are musical YouTube sensations. While Kadence loves the spotlight, Lauren is the brains and heart of the duo: writing soulful lyrics and haunting melodies. When Lauren falls ill and loses her voice for an indefinite amount of time, Kadence sees this as an opportunity to go solo. This along with some major boy-drama causes the two to have a falling out. This does not bode well for Lauren since she was the last person to see Kadence before she went missing.

Now it seems the only person at school who is convinced of Lauren's innocence is her former best friend who has a terrible secret of his own to hide, along with some rather disturbing writing and behavior that he must explain to the investigators of Kadence's missing person case.

Girl Last Seen is one of those books that I went into without any expectations. I hadn't heard of the authors before and I tend not to read a lot of mystery -- not because I dislike the genre, but because I don't come across that much of it in YA. So I started reading it rather slowly. I'd read a few pages and then put it down, read a few more pages and put it down... until I got to about the halfway point and then I couldn't put it down -- the wheels and cogs in my brain were turning at lightning speed because I was trying to figure out what happened to Kadence and who was responsible.

Girl Last Seen is an engaging read that keeps readers guessing until the very end. It's a great book to give to teens who love mystery and suspense with a dash of boy drama.

And, as an added bonus, I especially love that the publisher of Girl Last Seen, AW Teen, posted videos of Kadence and Lauren's songs to go along with the lyrics that are included in the story. (Though I caution you... listen to "Twisted" at your own risk. The chorus will likely get stuck in your head for days if you listen to it. I know it did mine!)

Book Trailer


"Twisted"


"Sing to Me, Calliope"



Girl Last Seen by Heather Anastasiu and Anne Greenwood Brown*  
Published: March 1, 2016
Publisher: AW Teen
Pages: 272
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: ARC provided by publisher

*Purchasing the book from the above Bookshop affiliate link supports independent bookstores and gives me a small percentage of the sale.  

Audiobook Review: Light of Day by Allison Van Diepen

One Saturday night, Gabby Perez goes clubbing with her friend Maria and their drinks are drugged. But before Gabby takes her first sip, she is warned by a mysterious and handsome stranger. Her  friend Maria, however, is not so lucky. Thankfully, Gabby manages to get Maria out of the club and away from the pimp who was planning on kidnapping both girls before the evening was over and forcing them into prostitution. The next morning, Maria has no memory of what transpired.

After that night, Gabby wants to find the mysterious stranger who saved her and her friend to thank him, but she also wonders what other girls haven't been so lucky. She uses her platform of her radio show to discuss these difficult topics, which brings the mysterious stranger, X, right to her. As their attraction grows, X enlightens Gabby to a dangerous side of Miami she never knew about, but when a friend of Gabby's goes missing and X agrees to help find her, Gabby can't help but wonder who X really is.

Light of Day is one of those books that kind of straddles genre/age group lines. It's young adult because the protagonist is still in high school and lives with her parents, but it definitely has that edgier, guilty pleasure new adult feel as well because Gabby has proven her independence, maturity, and ambition by having her own radio show. While a literary masterpiece it is not, Light of Day is some page-turning brain candy. It's a book you pick up when you don't want to think and just want to be entertained. And you know what? That's perfectly OK. We need books like that too.

The audiobook narrator, Marisol Ramirez, has a perfectly soothing voice to make the story entertaining and suspenseful yet not anxiety-inducing. I was surprised at how calm I felt throughout the story despite the tense plot. I'm convinced it had to do with Ramirez's smooth, dulcet narration.

After listening to Light of Day, I'm going to check out some of Allison Van Diepen's other books for when I'm in a reading or listening rut. I greatly enjoyed this audiobook experience.


Light of Day by Allison Van Diepen
Audiobook Narrator: Marisol Ramirez
Published: November 24, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen/Harper Audio
Pages: 320
Audiobook Length: 7 hours, 25 minutes
Genre: Suspense
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: Audiobook download provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

It takes about three hours to pack the rest of her stuff. I pull out holey T-shirts and underwear because why do they need that? I throw away her stacks of music magazines, piled in a corner. I'm not sure what to do about her bedsheets because they still smell like her, and I have no idea if her sent will do to Sue what it's doing to me, which is making me remember Meg in such a real visceral way – Sleepovers and dance parties and those talks we would have until three in the morning that would make us feel lousy the next day because we'd slept like hell but also feel good because the talks were like blood transfusions, moments of realness and hope that were pinpricks of light in the dark fabric of small-town life.

I am tempted to inhale those sheets. If I do, maybe it will be enough to a race everything but you can only hold your breath for so long eventually, I'll have to exhale her and then it'll be like those mornings, when I wake up, forgetting before remembering.

Left to pick up the pieces of her best friend's suicide, Cody goes to pack up Meg's belongings that were away at college. While there, Cody discovers a side of Meg that she never really knew: one that she is now trying to uncover as she attempts to make sense of her death. As she gets to know Meg's roommates as well as the mysterious Ben McCallister who was Meg's former love interest, Cody is left to wonder how such a bright, vibrant young woman like Meg could possibly want to kill herself. But when Cody discovers an encrypted computer file on Meg's computer that she can't open, as well as months of deleted email correspondence that she can't recover, Cody now wonders if someone else had a hand in Meg's death.

I Was Here brings a new element into the writing of Gayle Forman: that of a mystery for the protagonist to solve. I will say though that I was not as emotionally invested in the characters in I Was Here as I was in If I Stay and Where She Went, which were Gayle Forman at her absolute best. If I started with I Was Here as my first foray into the work of Gayle Forman, I'm not sure I would be ask excited to pick up her other books. It's a solid story, don't get me wrong. It just didn't leave me feeling ALL THE THINGS the way IIS and WSW did.


I Was Here by Gayle Forman
Published: January 27, 2015
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 288 
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: Finished review copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Blackbird by Anna Carey

Goodreads Summary:
A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only moments to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.

On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

The Maze Runner series meets "Code Name Verity," "Blackbird "is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.

Told in second person POV, Blackbird is a book that puts you, the reader, directly in the action of the story. At first this was incredibly disconcerting because second person is not that common in literature, and for good reason: it's really hard to do it well. But after a while, you begin to settle into it more. While I never completely bought into the second person POV, I do think it helped give the story a sense of immediacy that first or third person couldn't have done. While the publisher description above calls this book The Maze Runner meets Code Name Verity, I think a more accurate comparison would be the YA version of The Bourne Identity -- especially given the action-suspense nature of the story coupled with the main character's amnesia.

I enjoyed this story for the most part and am possibly interested in reading the sequel, but I didn't care for the lack of any sort of resolution at the end. Cliffhangers are one thing, but just deciding to wait until the next book to attempt any sort of resolution just didn't sit well with me. I know this is becoming a more frequent trend in YA lit these days, but it's not one I'm a particular fan of. 

Overall, Blackbird was an exciting, action-packed read though I'm not sure I was emotionally invested enough to read the sequel. 


Blackbird by Anna Carey
Published: September 16, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 256
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound. 

Blog Tour: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin

Gone Too Soon

Your life was a noisy aberration.
You lived inside a cacophony
of your own burdens --
a genius stifled by demons.

Your art spoke for itself
and yet it also didn't
as you resorted to stunts
and attention-grabbing headlines
to give your work
meaning and purpose.

You were an open book,
affixing your heart directly to
your sleeve.
and yet no one ever got to know
the real you.

Now you are gone --
a sad reminder to us all
that genius
often comes at a price
and that perhaps this
tragic end
was just your final
artistic flourish.


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The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. I was lucky enough to get the chance to read an e-galley prior to its publication date, but this really is a book you will want to own a physical copy of. The documentary-style of the narrative, along with the photographs and artwork make Addison Stone a book you will want to pick up, hold, and thumb through.

What is so memorable about Adele Griffin's newest book is how, despite the fact that Addison Stone is dead by the time the reader gets to know her, we are able to really feel her presence in the story, via the accounts of the people who knew her. This novel is an attempt to make sense of Addison's untimely demise by interviewing all the people close to her. While the book is somewhat of a mystery, it feels more like a recounting of her life rather than an attempt to solve whether her death involved foul play.

I have been in somewhat of a reading funk for a while, but Griffin's fresh, innovative approach to a young adult novel woke me right up out of that funk. The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone will undoubtedly be going on my list of favorite books of 2014. 


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The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin
Published: August 12, 2014
Publisher: Soho Press
Pages: 256
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: E-galley provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.   

Audiobook review: Hold Fast by Blue Balliett

When Early Pearl's father Dash goes missing and leaves behind a trail of danger and chaos in his wake, Early, along with her mother and little brother Jubilation, must flee from their home and are forced into the Chicago shelter system. With very little to go on and having to be the source of strength for their family since her mother quickly falls into the depths of despair, Early is determined to find out what happened to her father. She is certain he didn't abandon the family as the police seem to initially think.

Armed with a first edition of Langston Hughes's First Book of Rhythms, Early finds strength in Langston's words and a connection with her absent father as she repeats Dash's oft proclaimed mantra, "What's the rhythm Langston?" But if Dash didn't walk away from the family, what did happen to him? And the question that worries Early the most: when they find him, will he be dead or alive? Early knows the answer will come from searching through the rhythms and patterns of Dash's work life at the Chicago Public Library, but will she stumble upon information that some people don't want her to find out?

I have listened to two of Balliett's previous works on audio, Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3, and while I found both of those books to be fairly enjoyable and competent mysteries, they were missing some sort of emotional spark. I appreciated that both books appeal to the intellectual, analytical reader, but I just wasn't feeling anything for the characters. That is absolutely not the case in Hold Fast. Dash, Summer, Early, and Jubilation make the story. Yes, the mystery is important, but that added emotional element of joining Early on her plight to find her father and to get their home back is so harrowing and heart-wrenching that you just want to take Early and Jubilation in your arms and bring them home with you.

What really made me connect with the story even further, however, was Balliett's use of Langston Hughes's works as inspiration to keep Early going. Langston Hughes is one of my all-time favorite poets and whenever I teach poetry to my middle school students, Hughes is always part of the discussion. I absolutely see myself using Hold Fast as a read aloud around the time of a unit on the poetry and life of Langston Hughes.

Something else I really appreciated about this story is Balliett's exploration of child homelessness through a mystery novel rather than making this a straight-up issue book, which might be a bit difficult for middle grade children to tackle outright. I think she made the issue of homelessness a bit more digestible for her readers -- sprinkled throughout the mystery -- and yet at the same time, she doesn't pull any punches with regards to it being a societal ill that we can't just ignore.

Another aspect that made me thoroughly enjoy this book was the audio production. Once again, Bahni Turpin proves why she's my favorite audiobook narrator. All of her performances that I've listened to have been nothing short of brilliant and Hold Fast was no different. Her voices are distinct and her emotional timbre is spot on.

If you're interested in listening to some other audiobooks narrated by Turpin, try:
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (my absolute favorite audiobook of all time!)
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis
Pinned by Sharon G. Flake
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Cover Comments: OK, so I'm happy to see that Scholastic wasn't afraid to actually put children of color on the cover since so many publishers seem to be afraid to do this, but I wish the children weren't so small. They're almost unrecognizeable as African American because they're so far away. I think the kids could be much more prominent and the building much less so.

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
Audiobook Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Published: March 1, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic
Audiobook Length: 7 hours, 43 minutes
Pages: 278
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Middle Grade
Disclosure: Library Copy

ARC review: Period 8 by Chris Crutcher

From Goodreads:
Paul "the Bomb" Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday School. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don't know is that the ultimate bully, the ultimate liar, is in their midst.

Terrifying, thought-provoking, and original, this novel combines all the qualities of a great thriller with the controversy, ethics, and raw emotion of a classic Crutcher story.

I'm going against my usual policy of writing my own synopsis instead of relying on Goodreads to do it for me, but this book is just hard to summarize. Even the official synopsis doesn't really do it justice. This was one ARC I had to nab at NCTE in November, and while I found the story to be interesting, I thought this most definitely was not classic Chris Crutcher. Yes, there's lots of strong language and controversial, challenge-worthy scenes that we're used to seeing in a Chris Crutcher novel, but behind all the grit, there is usually an equal layer of heart and feeling for the characters. I found myself feeling nothing for any of the characters in this novel, even the bad guys.

What sustained my reading and kept me turning the page was the suspenseful plot (that really didn't start to pick up until page 120) which was carried mostly by dialogue. In that regard, it would be a great selection for reluctant readers, especially guy readers, which has always been Crutcher's target audience.


Period 8 by Chris Crutcher
Expected Publication: March 26, 2013
Publisher: Greenwillow
Pages: 288
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult, especially reluctant guy readers
Disclosure: ARC acquired at NCTE conference

ARC review: Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

I wasn't certain of anything anymore, except the New Orleans was a faithless friend and I wanted to leave her.

The year is 1950 and Josie Moraine wants more than anything to leave her current life behind. Her mother, a brothel prostitute on Conti Street, pays little attention to Josie, and when she does, it's usually because she wants something from her. The gruff brothel madam, Willie Woodley, looks out for Josie, keeping (or getting) her out of trouble, and is more of a mother to her than her own.

When Josie befriends Charlotte Gates, a wealthy girl who lives Uptown, she becomes even more convinced that she needs to leave New Orleans. It isn't long into their first meeting that Charlotte convinces Josie that her way out of New Orleans is to apply to Smith College in Massachusetts.  Figuring out how to afford and get accepted to Smith becomes an obsession for Josie, one that she is willing to go to almost any length to accomplish.

But the mysterious death of a wealthy man in the French Quarter soon causes Josie to become embroiled in a police investigation, brought upon by her own mother, which causes her to question her loyalty to all the people involved in her life.

Out of the Easy is a brilliant sophomore effort by the author who brought us one of the most moving, important books written in the last ten years, Between Shades of Gray. And while nowhere near as moving as her first novel, Out of the Easy is just as compelling. Sepetys once again shows her prowess at throwing her readers into a story with a hook that reels them in and then keeps them turning the pages with meaningful, empathic characters and a riveting plot. And the fact that Sepetys can write a brothel madam whom readers can empathize with shows what a master she is at the craft of writing. I mean, hearing or reading the words "brothel madam" doesn't exactly conjure up the warm and fuzzies, ya know? But Sepetys still finds a way to get you on her side.

Despite the fact that Out of the Easy is a drastically different book than Between Shades of Gray, don't let that steer you away from reading it. In fact, that should actually make it more appealing: it proves that Ruta Sepetys isn't just a one-trick pony and that she is a well-rounded author. And while Ruta may say that historical fiction is "the ugly girl at the dance" as she recently did in her speech at the ALAN conference (alluding to what a hard sell it is to young readers), I'm going to have to mix my metaphors here and say that Sepetys is that ugly girl's fairy godmother, getting her to dance with the handsome prince at the ball.


 
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Expected Publication: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Philomel
Pages: 348
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: ARC acquired at the NCTE conference

ARC review: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

Roswell Hart can't remember anything about the night her classmate Tricia Farni died, and she needs to start remembering soon - her life depends upon it.

Roz is used to living in a hazy world. Macular degeneration has caused her vision to fail her on many occasions, but on the night Tricia disappeared, it's Roz's memory that fails her, not her vision. All Roz can remember from that night is that she and Tricia had a fight. What happens after that is completely erased from her memory.

But when Tricia's body is pulled from the Birch River six months after she disappeared, Roz is now a suspect in a variety of crimes, including Tricia's death. Soon Roz finds herself being questioned by the police to which she doesn't have any answers, other than just one: she didn't do it. And she's determined to get to the bottom of who did in order to clear her name.

Blind Spot is an amazing story that helps to fill a hole in modern YA literature: the mystery. There just aren't that many YA writers doing mystery these days and I love that Laura Ellen is helping to change that. While I did have some issues with the story, on the whole, it was heart-pumping and page-turning. It took me a while to get into the book, but then once I did, I stayed up until 2 a.m. finishing it, which I haven't done with a book in a long time.

While Laura Ellen writes some interesting and believable characters, at first Roz's self-consciousness about her eyes was pretty much the only thing with which I could empathize. While I have never experienced macular degeneration, I was born with lazy eye in both eyes that has left it difficult for me to look people directly in the eye. Roz's vision problem affects her in social situations because most people think she's being stand-offish by not looking them in the eye, but it's really because she can't see someone if she looks at them head on. Even though our reasons for not looking people in the eye are different (mine are more self-conscious than vision reasons) I have had many people assume me to be stand-offish, and I think in a way, my self-consciousness about my eyes has kind of made me that way. So in that regard, I really felt for Roz.

But I digress. As I mentioned, Roz was an extremely difficult character to like in the beginning of the story and throughout much of it for that matter. It is clear she is flawed and damaged and you just want take her by the shoulders and shout, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

At the same time, finding her a frustrating character to get behind felt like it was by design. She is not so frustrating that you don't find yourself rooting for her and wanting her to finally come to her senses. Because of all the people who have disappointed her throughout her life (an absent father and a neglectful mother for example), it's easy to see why Roz makes poor choices. And of course, the one person who is always there for her, Greg, she treats like garbage. At the same time, this frustration with Roz is also what makes her a believable character. Lots of teenage girls fall prey to user boyfriends and so often fail to see the one person who's always been there for them.

Another element of the story I really enjoyed was Roz's relationship with the students in her Life Skills class. Because of Roz's vision problems, she is on an IEP (a special ed acronym for Individual Education Plan) which for her means, in addition to specific classroom accommodations, she must also take this Life Skills class to help her cope with her disability. But with a despot of a teacher, the only Life Skills Roz learns in that class are how to deal with power-tripping authority figures and how to get a group of misfits to find a way to stick together. Despite Roz's resistance to be in the class at the beginning of the book, her interaction with the students ends up being what helps me get behind her.

Overall, Blind Spot is a solid, page-turning debut novel that I highly recommend for anyone seeking out more YA mystery in their lives. I'm looking forward to reading more Laura Ellen novels in the future.

Cover comments: Wow! What an intriguing and unusual cover that perfectly captures the mysterious  nature of the story. And despite the fact that the eye is clearly that of a female, I daresay it might not scare boys away from reading it, my biggest pet peeve of the current climate of YA covers.


Blind Spot by Laura Ellen
Publication Date: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt
Pages: 356
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: ARC borrowed from a friend who obtained it from the author

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Alice Anderson adores her Aunt Polly. They spend every afternoon together at Polly's pie shop, appropriately named PIE. But when Aunt Polly suddenly passes away, everyone wants to know where or who she left her pie crust recipe to. It's not long after the funeral that the whole town finds out that Polly left her pie crust recipe... to her CAT!

With everyone in town going pie-crazy, Alice soon finds herself trying to solve a mystery of who trashed her Aunt Polly's old pie shop, and who stole the cat that was left to her in Aunt Polly's will.

Pie is a quick, fun read that gets your mouth watering from the first chapter with its tantalizing descriptions of all the pies Aunt Polly made in her shop. To help the reader feed his or her sweet tooth, Sarah Weeks includes a different pie recipe at the beginning of every chapter that are integral to the story.

In fact, while I was still reading the book, upon the recommendation of Allison at Reading Everywhere, I made the quick and simple buttermilk pie that was so easy to make, it's almost unbelievable that the pie is actually low-cal!

I read Pie aloud to my sixth graders and upon return to school in January we'll be having a pie day where kids can bring in a pie that they made from the novel. When I read it to my class, they would always beg me to keep reading after I stopped, always a sign of a successful read-aloud.

However, most of us were of the same opinion that the ending was a disappointment. For me, however, the way the story ended was not nearly as disappointing as the fact that there was a loose end in the story that was never addressed, which really bothered me because I felt like it was a part of the overall mystery that needed to be solved. Even though it wasn't, I felt like it was something that needed to be addressed. I don't mean to be so vague about it, but I don't want to reveal any spoilers. If you've read the book and want to ask me what I mean, feel free to email me or message me on Goodreads.

Even though the ending was a disappointment, the rest of the story was fun and heartwarming and was even more fun to read with a group of kids. It was interesting to hear all their theories on "whodunit" and it gave the class a chance to work together in coming up with their predictions. Not to mention, the recipes included at the beginning of each chapter are easily attainable, so long as you use a pre-made pie crust (which makes sense that the book wouldn't include how to make pie crust since the whole book is about finding Aunt Polly's famous pie crust recipe).

Final verdict: Delicious descriptions but a tad lacking in the characterization and tying-up loose ends department. Still a worthwhile read despite a few frustrations.

Here is an example of one of the easy, delicious pies included in the novel:

Buttermilk Pie 
9-inch pie tin lined with unbaked pie crust
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 & 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Cover unbaked pie shell with parchment paper or a coffee filter. Press down to fit and toss in a handful of dried beans. Place weighted shell in preheated oven and bake for ten minutes. Remove from oven and discard beans and parchment. Set pie crust aside.

Raise oven temp to 375. Beat eggs and sugar until light and lemony colored. Add flour and beat until well mixed. Add buttermilk, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter. Pour into baked pie crust and dust with nutmeg. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool before serving.

Pie by Sarah Weeks
Published: October 1, 2011 by Scholastic
Pages: 183
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Middle Grade

A Pug's Tale by Alison Pace

 From Goodreads:

There are pugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

Hope McNeill has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years, but this is the first time she's been able to bring along her pug, Max. (Officially at least. Previously she's had to smuggle him in inside her tote bag.)

The occasion: a special "Pug Night" party in honor of a deep-pocketed donor. Max and his friends are having a ball stalking the hors d'oeuvres and getting rambunctious, and making Hope wonder if this is also the last time she gets to bring Max to the museum.

But when a prized painting goes missing, the Met needs Hope's--and Max's--help. In her quest for the culprit, Hope searches for answers with an enigmatic detective, a larger-than-life society heiress, a lady with a shih tzu in a stroller, and her arguably intuitive canine. With luck, she'll find some inspiration on her trips to Pug Hill before the investigation starts going downhill.

This is by far Alison Pace's best book to-date. Her quick wit and penchant for writing humorous tales revolving around dogs and art have come together in this magnum opus. 

While I loved and adored Pug Hill, what left me wanting more from that story was that the pugs of Pug Hill were not in it enough. A Pug's Tale most certainly remedies the problem of not enough pugs. While Hope is the protagonist of this story, her pug Max is most certainly the star, for without Max, it would be impossible for her to solve the strange mystery of the Fantin-Latour painting that has gone missing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

And what Pace has mastered so beautifully is her ability to make a non-talking, non-narrating dog feel like a real character. Max is just a dog in this book. He has no special powers (well, other than intuitiveness) and yet, there would be no book without Max. I don't think I've ever read an author describe the mannerisms and spirit of a pug so deftly as Alison Pace has. The whole book is full of perfectly pugnacious passages like this:

Max, who'd been completely quiet, obedient, docile even, for the duration of my phone call with Ben, twirled his head around like an owl and looked up at me with great urgency. His eyes were extra large, his gaze intense. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he made a quick slurping noise. With a few grunting pants, he whipped his head toward the corner of the studio, hoisted himself up, and, like a bullet, took off, gasping, snorting, wheezing across the room. I will admit that my first thought was not about the art. My first thought was that I was worried about Max's ability to breathe. (20)

There are so many different hats this book can wear for different types of book-lovers. If you love mysteries, you'll love this book. If you love chick lit, you'll love this book. If you love dog books, you'll love this book. If you love New York City, you'll love this book. Heck, if you loved From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as a kid, you'll love this book as a grown-up. Just go out and read it.  More than likely it will appeal to who you are as a reader because there are so many different types of readers it will appeal to.


A Pug's Tale by Alison Pace
Publish Date: June 7, 2011 by Berkley Trade
Pages: 289
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Adults

Shine by Lauren Myracle

When Cat discovers that her best friend Patrick has been the victim of a hate crime, she vows to find out who did it - especially given the apathy and unwillingness to investigate any leads by the sheriff department in her small town. As she continues to question those close to Patrick while he clings to life in a coma, Cat soon finds herself running into people who don't want her digging up dirt into Patrick's past and present. Does Patrick have something to hide? Or do the people close to him want to make sure Cat doesn't unearth something incriminating? 

Part social commentary, part mystery, Lauren Myracle manages to deal with the heavy subject matter of the plot with respect and dignity. The story grabs you from the very beginning and won't let you go, even long after reading the final page. I finished this book last night and actually found myself re-living the ending as I was driving home from work today and it was just as vivid as when I read it last night. This has been one of my favorite reads so far of 2011.  


Shine by Lauren Myracle
Publication date: May 1, 2011 by Amulet Books
Pages: 376
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult

*ARC provided through Netgalley

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood: Audiobook Review

 Miss Penelope Lumley has shown quite a bit of success at civilizing the wolf-like children Lord Ashton has curiously claimed custody of.  However, after the disaster of Lady Constance's Christmas Ball which was caused by the dear Incorrigibles, the family has packed up and escaped to London while Aston Place undergoes renovations.

In London, Lady Constance looks forward to all the social engagements she will inevitably encounter, while Miss Lumley is excited to continue the children's education in such a civilized city.

But something foul is afoot in London and Miss Lumley is determined to figure out what it is with the help of a new friend, despite a stern warning from her former headmistress to stay out of trouble.  With that foreshadowing, the reader is sure to realize that the remainder of the book will be anything but Miss Lumley and the Incorrigibles staying out of trouble.

This is the second book in the series, and it is equally as charming and full of belly laughs as the first one.  The book itself is entertaining enough, but when you add Katherine Kellgren's lively narration, you are in for one of the most perfectly entertaining audiobook experiences around.  The mark of a successful audiobook to me is when the narrator brings the story to life in such a way that it becomes even more enjoyable than it would have been if you had just read it.  That is exactly what Kellgren does with her animated, nimble character voices, almost on par with that of Jim Dale's voices in the Harry Potter audiobooks.

In addition to the pure joy of just listening to the fabulous narrator, this installment of the Incorrigibles' mystery brings to light Lord Ashton's very strange behavior, leading the reader to make some conclusions about why he was so insistent about keeping the Incorrigibles in the first place (but we won't find out the true answer until book 3).  We also have a new storyline to contend with and guess as to how it will manifest itself in the third book: Miss Lumley's mysterious past and why her parents aren't in the picture.

The open-ended storylines will keep readers anticipating, guessing, and eagerly awaiting the final installment.  Not only am I looking forward to seeing how the story ends, but I'm also happy that I will be able to revisit all of the wonderfully eccentric characters once more.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood
Published: February 2011 by Balzer & Bray
Audiobook Published:  February 2011 by Harper Audio
Pages: 240
Audiobook Length: 5 hours, 58 minutes
Genre: Mystery/Fantasy
Audience: Middle Grade

Thanks to Harper Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook.