Reviews of young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) books.
Due Date Shelby McDougall is a surrogate mother. Diane and Jackson Entwistle are paying her big bucks for her twins. When brother Dexter’s wife, Jessica, asks Shelby to leave their home because Jessica feels Shelby’s pregnancy will adversely affect her 3-year-old, Ashley, Shelby has no choice but to accept Diane’s offer to live in…
The Best Seller Maya Smock, an aspiring author, grew up in an orphanage and foster homes. Used and abused, she entered adulthood early taking a job at a Las Vegas bookstore by day and writing her novel, “The Master Race,” at night. When Maya’s book was finished she met a literary agent at a Las…
Dewey Fairchild is a middle grade child with the unique ability to manipulate parents to change their behaviors. What kid wants a helicopter mom walking her to school every morning? Or a dad who burps and picks his nose in front of her friends? It’s embarrassing to the nth degree! In steps Dewey Fairchild to…
West Yorkshire, England January 1795 Highwayman Kit Locke, known as the Knightmare, sits atop his gelding, Dante, waiting for a coach to round the bend so he can relieve its passengers of their wealth. He is specifically looking for the Viper’s Eye. According to legend, the gem can absorb thoughts and feelings of people and…
The Prometheus Project Book 1: Trapped is a middle grade science fiction thriller that will keep readers flipping pages to uncover the secrets of an alien city buried deep beneath the ground of Brewster, Pennsylvania. Author Douglas E. Richards introduces readers to Ryan and Regan Resnick, two very bored tweens forced from their home in…
I Am Me, by Kai Strand, is Lola Renaldi’s story told in the first person present tense. Lola is a senior at an exclusive college preparatory school in Ohio. She feels pressure from everyone around her to excel. Referring to college acceptance, her mother says, “I would hate for you to miss a deadline because…
Luke and Lucy Clark are eight-year old twins with the responsibility of caring for their two-year-old golden retriever, Pistachio. The twins need to feed, water, and walk their dog, but too often neglect their job. Consequently, their parents, who are too busy to care for Pistachio themselves, decide to sell the children’s pet. Naturally, the…
Jason Delacroix, like many young men during the Vietnam War era, was drafted into the army and forced to leave his young bride. He was surprised they wanted him due to the deafness in his right ear, but it was because of that deafness that made Jason such a valuable commodity. Through Jason’s first person…
Ella Jones has rejected the values of her wealthy parents. She insists on attending public high school and holds down a waitressing job that starts at 4:00 AM. One morning, while opening up the Read Between the Beans coffee house, she meets a seventeen-year old homeless boy sleeping near the restaurant’s dumpster. The morning Ella…
Like most fairy tales before it, The Frog Prince, as told by Mike Klaassen, has simple two dimensional characters, an appealing setting, an element of magic, and a villain who challenges the protagonist, seventeen-year old Prince Gerit, son of King Egon of Krickenheim. Gerit is hunting for frogs to avoid weapons practice with his father’s…