I bought some shoes for cheap. On their own, they were fine. Just a little boring.
I figured I'd give them a bit of an update. I had a little bit of multi-surface paint left over from another project, so I used it to make these shoes a bit more dynamic.
Author: Carrie Doyle
Genre: Mystery
Similar books: Scared Little Rabbits by A.V. Geiger
The Girl in the Picture by Alexandra Monir
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): What if your best friend and roommate killed a teacher at your prep school? Or what if he didn’t do it, but he’s being framed, and you’re the only person who can save him? What if you aren’t sure which it is?
Luke Chase didn’t mean to get caught up solving the mystery of Mrs. Heckler’s murder. He just wanted to meet up with the new British girl at their boarding school, and if that meant sneaking out to the woods after hours, then so be it.
Little did he know someone would end up dead right next to their rendezvous spot, and his best friend and roommate Oscar Weymouth would go down for it. With suspects aplenty and a past that’s anything but innocent, Luke Chase calls on his famous survival skills to solve the mystery and find the true killer. With plenty of suspects, Luke will need to use all his skills to solve the mystery and find the true killer.
My opinion: I frankly don't understand the fixation on boarding schools in teen fiction. They don't reflect the experience of most readers. Is it aspirational? In the case of this book, the school has a lot of rules and supervises students more than is typical of these stories. That means that this book could as easily have taken place in any small town, no boarding school needed. I could accept the setting if the mystery were more compelling. But we don't meet the victim before her death. We have no emotional connection to her, or to any of the characters really. There are no stakes in the mystery. And while the police are not shown as useless (a frequent problem in novels) their plan is needlessly convoluted. On the whole, this one didn't make enough sense to me.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I'm always interested to see how novels treat sensitive topics. They explore an issue like grief from a number of perspectives. Here are six novels written in the last six months that have grief as a central issue.
Six new novels about grief:
Most of us don't put much thought into the science of sleep. We are told that it is vital to our physical and mental health but that's typically the extent of it. Woodgate goes much further, presenting us with a wide collection of facts about sleep in humans and in animals: the how, sh where, and even who. All of these facts are accompanied by explanatory illustrations featuring a charming cat. A fun book to flip through.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
Author: Cory Anderson
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Some Kind of Animal by Maria Romasco-Moore
Bad Call by Stephen Wallenfels
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): To understand the truth, you have to start at the beginning.
Winter in Idaho. The sky is dark. It is cold enough to crack bones.
Living in harsh poverty, Jack Dahl is holding his breath. He and his younger brother have nothing—except each other. And now Jack faces a stark choice: lose his brother to foster care or find the drug money that sent his father to prison.
He chooses the money.
Ava Bardem lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one. Now Victor Bardem is stalking the same money as Jack. When he picks up on Jack’s trail, Ava must make her own wrenching choice: remain silent or speak, and help the brothers survive.
Choices. They come at a price.
My opinion: This is a story largely reminiscent of The Lovely Bones, though this one is a bit more pedestrian. We have poverty, drugs, and the constant struggle for survival. Jack's struggle to keep himself and his brother alive and out of the system, his dilemma about the drug money, would be enough to make this compelling. But Anderson adds in romantic entanglement, constant action, and some needlessly graphic gore. While the story was initially interesting, I found it tiresome as the book progressed and the criminals played a larger role in the plot. Criminals who were more parodies than complex characters.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I found this crewneck sweatshirt on clearance, so I figured why not give it some personality. Digging through my craft supplies, I found some iron-on gemstones that seemed perfect.
Interactive picture books are a great way to get kids of a wide variety of ages engaging with the text. This one encourages a great deal of silliness. Starting with a simple suggestion, thinking of elephants, each page takes it a step further with the scientist warning us not to think of a thing that would make it sillier. Careful readers will note how the scientist becomes visibly flustered with each change. The illustrations are in a muted color palate, further softened by the lack of black outlines.
More information: This Book Can Read Your Mind releases April 20.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
