Book Review: Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Hell Week
Author: Rosemary Clement-Moore
Series: Maggie Quinn (Book 2)
Publication: Delacorte Press (August 19, 2008)

Description: Bloodred nails, flashing white teeth, gleaming scarlet lips--Maggie Quinn has battled an ancient demon, faced down psychotic cheerleaders, and saved her best friend from certain death, but nothing can match this. Formal sorority recruitment, otherwise known as rush. Being that close to so many professional blowouts is enough to make a girl's hair stand on end. Ionic hair dryer not required.

But Maggie is determined to make her mark as a journalist. The only problem? The Ranger Report--the college newspaper--does not take freshmen on staff. Rules are rules

But when has that ever stopped Maggie?

After facing hellfire, infiltrating sorority rush should be easy. It’s no Woodward and Bernstein, but going undercover as the Phantom Pledge will allow her to write her exposé. Then she can make a stealth exit before initiation. But when she finds a group of girls who are after way more than “sisterhood,” all her instincts say there’s something rotten on Greek Row. And when Hell Week rolls around, there may be no turning back.

If there is such a thing as a sorority from hell, you can bet that Maggie Quinn will be the one to stumble into it.

My Thoughts: Maggie Quinn took on a demon at her senior prom and is hoping that her college experience will be less fraught with danger. She would like to study to become a photojournalist, but the college newspaper doesn't take freshmen. She decides to convince them to change their minds by going undercover to write about fraternity Rush Week despite having no actual desire to enter a sorority.

As she attends parties, she comes to believe that something odd is going on at Sigma Alpha Xi. When she is invited to join, she slowly discovers what is happening. Those girls are just too lucky. And the advisors seem to have a hidden agenda.

Maggie is also experiencing some memory problems. All of a sudden, she can't remember her dreams and seems to keep losing track of her desire to investigate the sorority. With her friend Lisa away at college and her potential boyfriend Justin seemingly distancing himself, she feels like she is all alone in trying to find out what is happening at the sorority.

But when she needs them, Lisa and Justin both step up to figure out what is happening at the sorority and finding a way to stop it.

This was an entertaining young adult title. I liked Maggie's relationship with her family. Her grandmother is a constant support for her as she tries to accept her psychic gifts. I liked Maggie's determination to succeed in college and with her potential future career. The paranormal parts of the plot were well done.

Fans of YA and the paranormal will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

"You won't fail, Maggie mine. You are strong and smart."

"So are they, and they've got twenty years of experience, a chapter full of accomplices, and a demon on their side. I'm just one girl with a half-assed plan."

"Then why not give up? Why fight at all?"

I looked up from the coffee cake, which I'd crumbled into bits. "Because it's the right thing to do."

I bought this one July 19, 2009. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst

The Lake House
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publication: HarperTeen (April 25, 2023)

Description: Yellowjackets meets One of Us Is Lying in this masterful survival thriller from award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst.

Claire’s grown up triple-checking locks. Counting her steps. Second-guessing every decision. It’s just how she’s wired—her worst-case scenarios never actually come true.

Until she arrives at an off-the-grid summer camp to find a blackened, burned husk instead of a lodge—and no survivors, except her and two other late arrivals: Reyva and Mariana.

When the three girls find a dead body in the woods, they realize none of this is an accident. Someone, something, is hunting them. Something that hides in the shadows.

Something that refuses to let them leave.

My Thoughts: This was an entertaining story about girl friendships with more than a touch of horror.

Claire, Revya, and Mariana are late arrivals at the Lake House. All have been pressured by their parents to go to this summer camp for and "enrichment retreat." None expected to find themselves alone on an island in Maine with the camp burned to the ground and something chasing them. 

I liked the way each girl exposed herself to the others as they began to trust each other. Claire has a pessimistic viewpoint on life. She's the first to identify all the things that can go wrong in any situation. Sometimes these circular thoughts cause her be suffer panic attacks. Her parents don't know what to do with her and make her feel that these attacks can be overcome with a more positive attitude. This only makes Claire feel worse about them. 

Mariana and Revya are hiding secrets of their own.

But all three girls have to develop their own sorts of survival skills if they want to live through their summer camp experience. I loved watching the girls grow while learning to depend on and accept each other for what they are. 

The horror aspect was also a nice addition to the story in a very creepy way. 

Favorite Quote:

I'm a puzzle solver, she thought, turning the words over in her head. She liked that a lot better than "paranoid mess." I've hidden who I am and been ashamed of who I am for so long...

But I'm not week. Maybe I'm broken, maybe I can never be "fixed," at least not enough to please everyone, but I am not fragile. I am not powerless. I am strong, no "despite" or "except for" or any other conditionals. I am enough exactly as I am.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst

The Shelterlings
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publication: Clarion Books (June 21, 2022)

Description: A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powers—and themselves—when they work together to thwart a villain’s attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards’ familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat—Holly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)—that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as “shelterlings.”

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings’ defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.

My Thoughts: This was an exciting and entertaining middle grade fantasy. Holly, a gray squirrel, is one of a group of magical misfits whose unusual magical abilities make them unsuitable to work as wizard's companions. Holly and her best friend Gus, an owl who can turn to stone, are just a couple of the residents of the Shelter for Rejected Familiars.

All of the animals traveled to the magic pool in the hopes of becoming a wizard's familiar and going on adventures and doing heroic deeds. Holly and the others are disappointed and distressed to be rejected. But Holly is an optimistic sort of squirrel who is making the best of her new home. She's made friends with the other residents and is helping them perfect their magical abilities. Holly, herself, can conjure up pastries - muffins, croissants, and other baked treats. There's a turtle with super speed but slow reactions who keeps crashing into things. There's a gecko who can inflate like a balloon and float. There's a cow who makes prophecies - which are always wrong. 

When a new resident comes, Holly tries to make her feel at home. Periwinkle is a lemur who finds lost things. Unfortunately, the thing's owners don't always agree that the things were lost and call her a thief. Despite her prickly personality, Holly wants to befriend her and help her fit in. 

Then Charlie, a beaver whose magical talent is manifesting cut flowers, comes back to the house and asks the familiars to help him find some magical ingredients that he says will help all of the with their magic. He wants to recast the original spell on the magic pool. The familiars are excited to help Charlie.

Holly gets involved in a number of the quests and her courage, ingenuity and friendliness makes them successful. But she begins to think that Charlie might have an ulterior motive that he isn't sharing with the rest of the familiars. 

While I'm not usually a fan of talking animals, I did enjoy this story. I really liked Holly's character. She was such a wonderful person with integrity and curiosity and a quiet heroism. Middle grade fantasy fans will find much to enjoy in this engaging story. 

Favorite Quote:

"You're only a failure if you quit," Holly said, thinking of Cerulean. "Until then, you're someone who hadn't succeeded yet."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

As the only squirrel at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, Holly always volunteered for the chores that required and exceptionally fluffy tail, such as sweeping the porch.

Friday 56:

Charlie added, "Everyone's going to be so happy if we come back with the sixth ingredient. We'll only be one step away from casting the spell!"

This week I'm spotlighting The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst. She emailed and asked if I wanted to review it. Since I've enjoyed all of her other books, I was quick to agree.

Here's the description from Amazon:

A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powers—and themselves—when they work together to thwart a villain’s attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards’ familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat—Holly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)—that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as “shelterlings.”

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings’ defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.

ARC Review: The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery

The Boardwalk Bookshop
Author: Susan Mallery
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (May 31, 2022)

Description: When fate brings three strangers to a charming space for lease on the California coast, the Boardwalk Bookshop is born. Part bookstore, part gift shop, part bakery, it's a dream come true for Bree, Mikki and Ashley. But while their business is thriving, their personal lives are…not.

Bree, wounded by brilliant but cold parents and her late husband's ultimate betrayal, has sworn to protect her heart at all costs. Even from Ashley's brother, a writer and adventurer who has inspired millions. He's the first man to see past Bree's barricades to her true self, which terrifies her. Mikki has this divorce thing all figured out—somehow, she's stayed friends with her ex and her in-laws…until a new man changes how everyone looks at her, and how she sees herself. Meanwhile, Ashley discovers that the love of her life never intends to marry. Can she live without being a wife if it means she can have everything else she's ever wanted?

At sunset every Friday on the beach in front of the Boardwalk Bookshop, the three friends share a champagne toast. As their bond grows closer, they challenge one another to become the best versions of themselves in this heartachingly beautiful story of friendship, sisterhood and the transformative power of love.

My Thoughts: This book is packed with relationships. Bree, Mikki, and Ashley met when they all looked at a building on the beach for their businesses. It was too big for any one of them, but they decide to lease it together. Bree will run the Boardwalk Bookshop. Micki will have her gift shop. And Ashley will run her muffin and cupcake bakery. 

Meanwhile, Mikki who has been divorced for three years is getting into the dating game again by joining a dating app. She has a great relationship with her ex and likes him much better now that they are divorced, but she's looking for a man who matches her own current interests.

Ashley is in a relationship and is very happy until she realizes that her boyfriend never wants to get married. He wants a long-term committed relationship with a house and children but doesn't want a wedding or a marriage. While Ashley isn't the sort of woman who began planning her future wedding as a teen, she can't get over the fact that her boyfriend never wants to make the final commitment of marriage.

Bree is widowed and lives her life with a series of one-night stands. She doesn't want any sort of emotional commitment. She was neglected and emotionally abused by her distant parents who are also famous literary authors. And her marriage was also emotionally a failure since she was the only one who loved and he was just using her. She knows she's damaged and afraid to take a chance again.

When Ashley's brother Harding, who suffered a very severe accident as a teen and who is now an author, is scheduled for a book signing at Bree's store, Ashley asks her not to start a relationship with her brother. Even though she is younger, Ashley feels very protective of her brother and his heart. 

Harding isn't in agreement. He wants a relationship with Bree and has the love and patience to wait her out. 

It was nice that all three women managed to find happy relationships, but the journey for each of them was traumatic and heart-wrenching. I enjoyed getting to know all three of the women and rejoiced when things finally worked out for all of them.

Fans of women's fiction will enjoy this emotional story. 

Favorite Quote:

Because love didn't transform a person into someone else, she thought as she parked in her spot. Love wasn't a cure or a solution. Love might make a person want to be their best self but it didn't fundamentally alter beliefs.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

The Cousins
Author: Karen M. McManus
Publication: Delacorte Press (December 1, 2020)

Description: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying comes your next obsession. You'll never feel the same about family again.

Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each another, and they've never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they're surprised . . . and curious.

Their parents are all clear on one point--not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother's good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it's immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious--and dark--their family's past is.

The entire Story family has secrets. Whatever pulled them apart years ago isn't over--and this summer, the cousins will learn everything.

My Thoughts: Family secrets come out when three cousins who barely know each other are all invited to Gull Cove Island to work for a resort. The island is the home of the grandmother who disinherited all four of her children before the cousins were born. Each one has a different reason to want to reconcile or at least get to know their grandmother.

Milly Story-Takahashi is the daughter of Allison, the only girl. She is named for her grandmother and has a difficult relationship with her own mother who seems to have unreasonable expectations for her. Milly would like to get to know her grandmother.

Aubrey Story is the daughter of Adam who is the oldest Story child. He was always his mother's favorite but hasn't had a very successful life since he was disinherited. He wrote a book which gave him fifteen minutes of fame but has done nothing since. He lets his wife who is a nurse support him while he dwells on his own sense of entitlement and keeps putting his daughter down. Now, he has done something that Aubrey is finding hard to forgive and it is a secret she's carried with her to the island.

Jonah is supposed to be the son of Anders Story. He is an imposter who has dreams of revenge since Anders convinced his parents to take part in an investment scheme that cost Jonah all his college fund and has almost driven his parents to bankruptcy and the near loss of their business. 

When they arrive at the island, they find that their grandmother wasn't the one who invited them to come and really wants them all to leave. They also begin to have a number of questions about their family.

Part of the story also includes Milly's mother Allison's activities the summer of 1996 which laid the seeds of all that comes later. 

This was a wonderfully twisty mystery with intriguing characters. I enjoyed trying to solve the mystery along with the cousins. The story had a nice mixture of suspense and development of the characters of the cousins. All of them grew and changed over the month they spent on the island before it all come to a fiery conclusion.

Favorite Quote:

There's something dangerously seductive about Story secrets; they snake their way into your heart and soul, burrowing so deep that the very idea of exposing them feels like losing a part of yourself. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Cold Woods by Karen Katchur

Cold Woods
Author: Karen Katchur
Series: Northampton County (Book 2)
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (August 13, 2019)

Description: Buried bones of the past rise to the surface in this chilling mystery from the bestselling author of River Bodies.

When the long-buried bones of a man turn up in the middle of December, Pennsylvania homicide detective Parker Reed knows he’s in for a cold case.

Trisha and her friends were teenagers when Trisha’s stepdad went missing. Now, thirty years later, his remains have been found in the mountains. The women have always known there was more to his disappearance than meets the eye, and they must confront their grim past. Secrets can stay secret a long time in the lonely Appalachian foothills—but not forever.

When Parker and his partner identify the remains, their investigation leads them to Trisha’s childhood home. But the deeper Parker digs into the crime, the more he realizes that the truth isn’t always simple. In fact, it’s so complicated that even Trisha and her friends don’t fully understand what really happened in those cold woods.

My Thoughts: Homicide detective Parker Reed is called in when the long-buried bones of a man are discovered in the Pennsylvania woods. He gets the call because he's his lieutenant's last choice. He's still dealing with the trauma of an earlier case.

Meanwhile Trisha Haines has fled her husband and life in Las Vegas to come home for the funeral of the mother of one of her best friends. She wants to try to rebuild relationships with her mother and the best friends she hasn't seen since the Spring of her Senior year.

When they bones are identified as Lester Haines - Trisha's stepfather, Parker is busy trying to find out what happened thirty years ago. We, however, have a pretty good idea because the story flashes back to the 1980s and tells how Trisha met her friends Carlyn and Dannie and what happened to Trisha's low-life stepfather. But maybe our idea is wrong...

We do know that Trisha was sexually abused by her stepfather and that abuse colored her self-image such that she looked for a husband who would continue on the abuse. We know that Trisha has carried the belief that she caused her stepfather's death. But, why are the police focusing more on her mother? And what secrets are her friends and their mothers holding close?

This was an engaging and twisty thriller. The characters were interesting and well-rounded - also, damaged in various ways. I enjoyed the story with all its twists.

Favorite Quote:

The only clue Parker could ascertain that she was nervous was from the way she gripped the leather case in her lap. "There are very few surprises in life. Wouldn't you agree?" she asked Geena.

Geena didn't answer her one way or the other.

"People surprise the hell out of me every single day," Parker said.

The corners of Carlyn's lips turned up slightly.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn

Caterpillar Summer
Author: Gillian McDunn
Publication: Bloomsbury Children's Books (April 2, 2019)

Description: Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond--Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When he has a "meltdown" she's the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She's the one who knows what Chicken needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat has been the glue holding her family together.

But even the strongest glue sometimes struggles to hold. When a summer trip doesn't go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the first time in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained relationships can be healed if people take the time to walk in one another's shoes.

My Thoughts: This is a middle grade contemporary story about two kids and what they learn on their summer vacation.

Cat has just finished fifth grade. She has a younger brother called Chicken who has just finished first grade. Chicken has some issues that sounded to me like he would fit somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. He is subject to "meltdowns." He is bright and very focused on sharks. Lately, he has taken to running off. Cat spends a lot of time taking care of Chicken so that their mother can write her picture books about Caterpillar and Chicken which Cat sees as loosely based on their life.

Cat is old enough to remember the father that they lost to cancer when Chicken was a baby. She thinks of herself as the glue that holds her family together. But, as she is growing older, she is beginning to feel the restrictions that taking care of Chicken are adding to her life.

They are looking forward to a Summer vacation in Atlanta where her mother is teaching a writing seminar and they will be able to spend time with their best friends who recently moved away. Things fall apart when the friend Rishi's family has to take an emergency trip to India to take care of his grandmother.

Cat's mom decides that the kids should spend time with her parents on an island in North Carolina. Cat has never met those grandparents. Apparently their mom and their grandfather had some sort of falling out. Cat is worried about taking care of Chicken and getting to know her stranger grandparents. She is also very disappointed that she won't be able to spend as much time as she wanted with her mother.

The grandparents and the island come as a pleasant surprise. Grandma Lily is good with Chicken which allows Cat to be a child herself instead of a caregiver. Her grandfather takes a bit longer to warm up to the kids but Cat is a persistent child. Between new friends, biking and a fishing contest, Cat comes to love living on the island and becomes determined that her mother and grandfather make up their differences so that they don't lose track of these new people.

Cat is thoughtful and older than her age mainly because of the responsibility she feels for her little brother and for her mother. The story was moving and engaging and I read it in one sitting. I recommend it for thoughtful middle grade readers.

Favorite Quote:

A wave bubbled her back a step. Cat dug her toes deep in the sand. She glanced again at Chicken, who held Lily's had like it was the most normal thing in the world. Cat wanted to flop down and cry, like Chicken had at the airport. The difference was, Chicken knew someone would carry him and Cat didn't. She always picked herself up. She would have to figure out how to do that here.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: How I Became a Spy by Deborah Hopkinson

How I Became a Spy 
Subtitle: A Mystery of WWII London
Author: Deborah Hopkinson
Publication: Knopf Books for Young Readers (February 12, 2019)

Description: Bertie Bradshaw never set out to become a spy. He never imagined traipsing around war-torn London, solving ciphers, practicing surveillance, and searching for a traitor to the Allied forces. He certainly never expected that a strong-willed American girl named Eleanor would play Watson to his Holmes (or Holmes to his Watson, depending on who you ask).

But when a young woman goes missing, leaving behind a coded notebook, Bertie is determined to solve the mystery. With the help of Eleanor and his friend David, a Jewish refugee--and, of course, his trusty pup, Little Roo--Bertie must decipher the notebook in time to stop a double agent from spilling the biggest secret of all to the Nazis.

From the author of The Great Trouble, this suspenseful WWII adventure reminds us that times of war call for bravery, brains and teamwork from even the most unlikely heroes.

My Thoughts: This middle grade historical mystery stars Bertie Bradshaw, Eleanor Shea, and David Goodman. These thirteen-year-olds find themselves solving ciphers to find a German double agent in London before the specifics of D-Day can be discovered and sent to Germany.

Bertie's father is a policeman. Bertie is working as an air-raid messenger. One evening when the sirens go off, Bertie grabs his dog Little Roo and heads out to the air-raid shelter. He directs everyone he sees to the nearest shelter including American Eleanor Shea. He literally bumps into her. When she continues on her way, Bertie finds a small red notebook. Then Little Roo leads him to an alley and an unconscious young woman.

When Bertie gets back to his base and sends help, the young woman is gone. Where she went and who she was is a mystery for him to solve. The red notebook contains still another mystery. It tells of a young woman who is being trained to infiltrate German-held lands and assist the Resistance. It talks about her training. However, the last part of the book is ciphered. Bertie calls on his friend Jewish-immigrant David who is a devoted fan of Sherlock Holmes and a good puzzle solver.

The boys also reconnect with Eleanor who tells them that the red notebook was written by her French tutor Violette. Violette asked Eleanor to take care of it and share it with her father, who works for the OSS, if something should happen to her.

The kids work together to solve the various ciphers and then use their information to try to track a traitor. While the three main characters are fictitious actual historical figures do make brief appearances in the story. Both General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower and his dog Telek have a role as does Leo Marks who worked with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who sent civilians to occupied territory and who wrote a book after the war.

Each chapter begins with a quote from the SOE Training Manual or other quotation and each section has a different cipher for the reader to solve (with solutions in the back of the book). There are notes at the end citing the chapter quotations.

This was a nice mystery about a time period that interests many students. 

Favorite Quote:

"You may always feel regret over what happened that night, Bertie. But that doesn't mean you can't move on with your life. You were brave tonight," said Warden Ita. "But it takes a different kind of bravery to the ones we love, ask forgiveness, and move on. Sometimes all we can do is take one step at a time."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: Immoral Code by Lillian Clark

Immoral Code
Author: Lillian Clark
Publication: Knopf Books for Young Readers (February 19, 2019)

Description: Ocean's 8 meets The Breakfast Club in this fast-paced, multi-perspective story about five teens determined to hack into one billionaire absentee father's company to steal tuition money.

For Nari, aka Narioka Diane, aka hacker digital alter ego "d0l0s," it's college and then a career at "one of the big ones," like Google or Apple. Keagan, her sweet, sensitive boyfriend, is happy to follow her wherever she may lead. Reese is an ace/aro visual artist with plans to travel the world. Santiago is off to Stanford on a diving scholarship, with very real Olympic hopes. And Bellamy? Physics genius Bellamy is admitted to MIT--but the student loan she'd been counting on is denied when it turns out her estranged father--one Robert Foster--is loaded.

Nari isn't about to let her friend's dreams be squashed by a deadbeat billionaire, so she hatches a plan to steal just enough from Foster to allow Bellamy to achieve her goals. Fast-paced and banter-filled, Lillian Clark's debut is a hilarious and thought-provoking Robin Hood story for the 21st century.

My Thoughts: This is a story about five teens in the Spring of their Senior year deciding to help one of their group scam her absentee father for the amount of money she needs to go to school at MIT. The kids are all bright, articulate, and best friends.

Nari is a computer genius who has a secret identity as a hacker. She intents to go to college and then have a career at one of the big computer/tech companies. She a self-confident steamroller who has the force of personality to get the rest of the kids to buy into her plan.

Keagan is Nari's boyfriend. He is unique in the group for not knowing what his future will bring. He has no big career plans. He does have a firm sense of tight and wrong which brings him into conflict with the rest of the kids. His parents are this century's version of hippies.

Reese is an artist and independent sort. She self-identifies as acearo which was a new sexual category for me. She dramatic and is dealing with parents who are on the verge of divorce. Her plans are to use the money she's made from her Etsy account to travel the world until the money runs out. After that, art school in New York.

Santiago is a diver who has very real Olympic hopes. He's been accepted at Stanford with a diving scholarship. His parents are Hispanic immigrants who are urging him to give up his Olympic dreams for a more practical future.

Bellamy is a genius who is fascinated with physics and space exploration and most of the other scientific "ologies." She and her mother are poor. Her mother had had at seventeen and has been working two jobs to support her all of Bells' life. She has an early acceptance at MIT but her dreams crash when the financial aid forms come back with no money. The father she's never met and who has paid minimal child support in exchange for no contact has done really well for himself. He owns a venture capital company and is a billionaire.

Nari hatches a plan to skim enough money from his company to pay for Bells' college. After he hangs up on her when she steels herself to contact him, Bells okays the plan.

This story mostly tells about their plans and the stresses it puts on all their relationships as the plan and execute the heist. It talks about how the experience helped each of the kids grow and change. While I did get a little tired of the teen-age banter, each character was distinct and their voice clear and convincing. Each chapter is narrated by a different one of the five characters which gives the reader a change to get to know them all.

Fans of heists and bright kids will enjoy this book. It is also a great picture of the lengths people will go to help their friends.

Favorite Quote:

I've never wasted my time begging people to have an opinion about me, so I'm sure as hell not going to waste my time trying to change whatever opinion they've decided to have.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Military Wife by Laura Trentham

The Military Wife
Author: Laura Trentham
Series: A Heart of a Hero Novel
Publication: St. Martin's Griffin (February 5, 2019)

Description: A young widow embraces a second chance at life when she reconnects with those who understand the sacrifices made by American soldiers and their families in award-winning author Laura Trentham’s The Military Wife.
 

Harper Lee Wilcox has been marking time in her hometown of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina since her husband, Noah Wilcox’s death, nearly five years earlier. With her son Ben turning five and living at home with her mother, Harper fights a growing restlessness, worried that moving on means leaving the memory of her husband behind.

Her best friend, Allison Teague, is dealing with struggles of her own. Her husband, a former SEAL that served with Noah, was injured while deployed and has come home physically healed but fighting PTSD. With three children underfoot and unable to help her husband, Allison is at her wit’s end.
In an effort to reenergize her own life, Harper sees an opportunity to help not only Allison but a network of other military wives eager to support her idea of starting a string of coffee houses close to military bases around the country.

In her pursuit of her dream, Harper crosses paths with Bennett Caldwell, Noah’s best friend and SEAL brother. A man who has a promise to keep, entangling their lives in ways neither of them can foresee. As her business grows so does an unexpected relationship with Bennett. Can Harper let go of her grief and build a future with Bennett even as the man they both loved haunts their pasts?

My Thoughts: This was a wonderful second-chance-at-love romance. Harper Wilcox has been widowed for five years. The man she loved since she scooped ice cream for him one summer in Nags Head was a Navy SEAL. They conducted a long-distance romance while he was in training and she was in college and married when she graduated. Though she resented being unable to use her double degrees in Business and Marketing and worried every time he was deployed, they had a good marriage. He was killed in the line of duty when she was pregnant with their son.

Now Ben is five. She has been sort of skating the surface of her life, working small accounting jobs, and living with her mother who's recently retired as a librarian and begun a second life as an eccentric. Her current craze is nude painting.

After receiving some troubling emails from her friend Allison, Harper decides to go visit her. She finds a woman just holding on by the skin of her teeth and dealing with a husband who has PTSD. Allison was the first to welcome Harper when she married Noah and has always been a tower of strength. Now she needs Harper to be the strong one. Allison introduces Harper to a number of Navy wives who are are dealing with the sorts of issues Harper had when her husband was alive.

Harper wants to come up with some sort of business that can give those women something real to do. She offers to use the money that she received after Noah's death as some sort of bravery award. Allison knows that such an award and cash payment doesn't exist which leads Harper to Bennett Caldwell who served with Noah and was his best friend.

The viewpoint in this book changes from Harper to Bennett and from the past to the present. It tells the story of a man who had no one until he became friends with Noah. He was a neglected foster child until taken in at age sixteen by a former military man named Sarge who adopted him. Unfortunately he died shortly after Bennett joined the Navy. Now Bennett is out of the service and has started a company teaching survival training. He fell in love with Harper from the parts of the emails and letters Noah shared but kept away from her because he felt guilty about it. But Noah made him promise to take care of Harper and the baby before he died. He feels guilty that Noah died saving his life when Bennett was supposed to give his life for Noah's.

This was an excellent romance but not a light, fluffy one. PTSD, Service wives' fear for their husbands and tensions in marriages, grief and guilt are all part of this story. But so is finding a new love and making new starts.

Favorite Quote:

As she held their son, Noah loomed large in her memories. She had been happy with Noah. Did moving on with someone else overwrite that happiness or was it cumulative? She wasn't sure.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Military Wife by Laura Trentham

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Winters in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, were temperamental. The sunshine and a temperate southerly breeze that started a day could turn into biting, salt-tinged snow flurries by afternoon. But one thing Harper Lee Wilcox could count on was that winter along the Outer Banks was quiet.

Friday 56:

He took a moment to process what she'd admitted. Hecouldn't deny the spike of satisfaction, but neither could he deny the very real issue of Noah's ghost between them. "You'll never forget him. Neither will I."

This week I am spotlighting The Military Wife: Heart of a Hero by Laura Trentham. I got this eARC from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:

A young widow embraces a second chance at life when she reconnects with those who understand the sacrifices made by American soldiers and their families in award-winning author Laura Trentham’s The Military Wife.

Harper Lee Wilcox has been marking time in her hometown of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina since her husband, Noah Wilcox’s death, nearly five years earlier. With her son Ben turning five and living at home with her mother, Harper fights a growing restlessness, worried that moving on means leaving the memory of her husband behind.

Her best friend, Allison Teague, is dealing with struggles of her own. Her husband, a former SEAL that served with Noah, was injured while deployed and has come home physically healed but fighting PTSD. With three children underfoot and unable to help her husband, Allison is at her wit’s end.

In an effort to reenergize her own life, Harper sees an opportunity to help not only Allison but a network of other military wives eager to support her idea of starting a string of coffee houses close to military bases around the country.

In her pursuit of her dream, Harper crosses paths with Bennett Caldwell, Noah’s best friend and SEAL brother. A man who has a promise to keep, entangling their lives in ways neither of them can foresee. As her business grows so does an unexpected relationship with Bennett. Can Harper let go of her grief and build a future with Bennett even as the man they both loved haunts their pasts?