Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling

Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this great book bringing me one of my favorite characters, Aven Green as a private investigator! Lots of chuckles as Aven adds her own thoughts as she investigates "many" cases in her home and elementary school. I read this to my youngest granddaughter and gave it as a gift to my oldest granddaughter. She likes mysteries and I know she will enjoy this...as will all readers! Such a treat!

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Starfish by Lisa Fipps

Starfish by Lisa Fipps
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This middle grade novel in verse is a must read for all- students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors. Ellie has been bullied in thoughts, words, and actions since she was five and what makes it worse is that her family is complicit. Having a large best friend in Viv has been her savior but Viv is moving away. As Ellie's mom rachets up her agenda for gastric bypass surgery, her psychiatrist father takes her to see a therapist. Lisa Fipps really knows how to show the reader Ellie's beautiful tortured soul and fragile self. Together with her therapist and new next door neighbor, Catalina and her whole family---Ellie's journey to confronting her bullies, her family, and herself is so important. A gripping novel in verse sprinkled with hope, honesty, and strength will pack a punch all readers need! Highly recommended!

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Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh boy did I love this suspenseful mystery; I could not stop turning the pages! Beckett does not have an easy life with finding her father dead, breaking up with her boyfriend over texts her won't show her and her police detective mother who is never home because it reminds her of her dead husband. But she is resilient and through her consciousness and words the reader is treated to a strong female protagonist who considers herself an amateur sleuth as she (and everyone in her community) tries to find who is responsible for leaving a dead baby in a gym bag in the high school locker room which she found and as a result became the vilified "mother" who abandoned her baby. As a result of her father's death and all that came before it (drugs, secrets, lies) Beckett's family is still grief stricken over the death of the loving father they knew and all the gossip of who he really was. Add finding the baby and boy I was gripped as Beckett tries to be normal but still find the culprit. The suspense is unbelievable as many clues are found to be true or false adding to the gripping novel all YA mystery fans will not be able to put down!!! I was also drawn to Beckett's family and the loneliness that traumatizing grief has manifested in each of her family members.

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The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The ​Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG, I absolutely LOVED this book! Casteel and Poppy's deep abiding love, sizzling chemistry, and their relationships with their wolven. I can't wait for the 4th book in this suspenseful series! There is too too much to tell, I am just going to tell everyone they will love this book, the plot, the characters and the awesome worldbuilding. A must read!

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We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin

We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG, what a mesmerizing gut wrenching read/listen! Awesomely narrated Jenna Lamia , Catherine Taber , MacLeod Andrews , Kirby Heyborne there are 3 main characters and their POV telling this compelling mystery. Wyatt is the 1st narrator, he talks to his dead sister and as a trucker, finds a comatose girl in a field with dandelions all around her. Wyatt calls old lover and friend from high school, Odette-now a police officer with a prosthetic leg and an undying wish to find out what happened to Wyatt's sister, Trumanell (and her father) ten years ago. Odette is the 2nd narrator and we follow her quest into past and present as she tries to uncover what happened to her friend and Wyatt's beloved sister (heroine to the town) and the closer she gets, the reader sees she is compelled to silence because she does not trust anyone---not her husband, not Wyatt, not her partner. I ached for Odette and wanted so much for her, she was drowning and my heart ached as she pushed forward following clues all these years later. The final narrator is Angel, the silent girl Wyatt found on the road. Now 18, Odette changed/saved her life and she promised herself and Odette she would give one full week to try to solve her disappearance. Her voice (I was so glad she was finally speaking---I wished she had done it for Odette) is positive, all knowing, and willing to put herself in danger to get answers. What will she uncover? A compelling suspenseful read!

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These Unlucky Stars by Gillian McDunn

These Unlucky Stars by Gillian McDunn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this awesome book as part of the #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge; a photo of a book outdoors. Annie Logan is a 6th grader who has just begun her summer vacation. Living in a small town with her father and brother, Annie is prickly, doesn't have many friends and has many questions and grief about her mother's leaving the family a few years ago---questions her father refuses to discuss. Her father and brother work at the family hardware store and have been losing business due to a larger chain store the next town over. Watching her brother play basketball; Annie is dared to ring a doorbell and run away but since Annie has been born under unlucky stars; calamity ensues. The old woman in the house falls with Annie running for help. Gillian McDunn has such a relatable protagonist in Annie Logan. Annie shuts down, gets angry and/or irritating when things go wrong but it is through a chance counseling session in school with teachers concerned that she has no friends since her mom left, that Annie makes her first real friend, Faith, using suggestions her teachers gave her. When the town decides to have a festival, Annie uses her artistic talents on many of the floats, while spending her days with Grumpy Gloria and her dog Otto as she recuperates from her fall, a broken arm. As Annie struggles with Gloria's cranky personality she ends up helping Gloria and herself as they forge a friendship that compliments their personalities. I loved everything about Gloria's dog, Otto. Even though Annie was bitten as a child she becomes enamored with Otto and how he cares for Gloria (and Gloria cares for Otto). I just loved turning the pages of this book as Annie and her unlucky stars begin to grow, feel, and journey toward new relationships with family, friends, and community. Highly recommended for middle grade students!

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Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, 3.5) by Maggie Stiefvater

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this audiobook narrated by Dan Bittner and Emma Galvin expanding on the Maggie Steifvater fantasy series about the wolves of Mercy Falls (Shiver). Cole St. Clair comes to CA to claim Isabel, tell her he loves her, tell he is a sinner and sorry about so many things, and continue his music career on a reality TV show. But cranky Isabel doubts so many things about Cole but they do have chemistry that is hot and simmering. I liked Cole more than Isabel as a character; but I wanted them both to work out. Will they? And what does she think of him as a wolf?

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Opal (The Raven Cycle, #4.5) by Maggie Stiefvater

Opal by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this audiobook and Will Patton's narration was spellbinding! This short novella of the Raven Cycle features Opal as half human and half hooved animal and adds more to the Raven Cycle series and features Ronan, Adam, and a cloud lady.

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Anxious People by Frederik Backman

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this audiobook narrated by Marin Ireland; her command of voices was perfect! The plot of a hold up in a cashless bank, then a hostage situation the day before New Year's Eve in an apartment viewing and the wacky, combative, bizarre questioning (truth telling) of the hostages by the police was surreal and perfect as the author weaves a story about the anxious hostages, the police officer(s) and the funny and serious sides of human nature. My friend, Deb recommended this book and I am so glad she did. I absolutely love Frederik Backman books, too---they are so compulsively readable with humor and sorrow and real life all blended perfectly.

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The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park

The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in a format I don't usually choose for #BitAboutBooks Spring Book Challenge. The poems in this novel in verse are a new kind of poetry for me. Known as sijo it is a Korean line structure and I was captivated by this novel in verse, the plot, and the characters---the students and their teacher as they interact while contemplating, discussing and musing on the question asked by their teacher---The One Thing You'd Save if your home was on fire. I enjoyed the students, their teacher and especially the black and white illustrations which really highlight the students answers. A must read and highly recommended.

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Catywampus by Ash Van Otterloo

Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book with a title having a word 3 syllables or longer for #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge and oh did I enjoy it! With magic, witches, feuds, and a community that hates witches, Delpha McGill and Katybird Hearn have been warned and forbidden to use magic in Howler's Hollow. But magic is calling to both girls in feuding witch families--- Delpha finding her family's top secret book of hexes unleashes zombies from both families; Delpha and Katybird must quickly STOP the chaos. But what if the girls magic can't/won't work? I loved Van Otterloo's debut book for so many reasons--the writing is exciting, the characters are well drawn, but the magic, their friend Tyler, and Delpha's shed, better known as Puppet, steal the show! For a suspenseful spirited read, middle grade students will be sharing this thriller of magic, hexes, and zombies with their friends. Highly recommended!

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Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this for the #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge for the pre2020 book. I read this awesome Kate DiCamillo book about one of Raymie Nightingale's best friends, Louisiana Elefante. When Louisiana is uprooted one night by her Granny and taken for a midnight ride she is not surprised because this has happened before. There is a curse on her family and Granny tells her the day of reckoning has come. What she does not make immediately apparent is that she will not be taking Louisiana back home to Florida to her friends, dog and cat. Instead a saga unfolds and the reader and Louisiana learn a whole lot about her life. With this new information, her Granny unfit and unwilling to help Louisiana; Louisiana begins to fend for herself. I loved Louisiana; her honesty despite the manipulations of her Granny, her friendliness to everyone she meets and her beautiful singing voice that brings people to tears. The way Kate DiCamillo delivers this story as Louisiana narrates is simply authentic, real, and beautiful.

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Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another winner by the awesome Anna-Marie McLemore with magical realism, switching from 1507 to five centuries later. Lala and her family live in Strasbourg, France, make shoes and watch as a hysteria latches onto women in the village. As they dance uncontrollably, some die, and everyone wants answers. Five hundred years later, Rosella Oliva's family makes these red shoes too and these shoes have sealed themselves to Rosella. I could not put this gorgeous book down as Lala and Alifair (the boy who lives and works with her family) become special to one another -- the same way Rosella and Emil become special to one another. But there is a rich history involving the women and the men looking for answers, trying to save one another, and defying the times. A must read if you have loved ALL of McLemore's books; there is beauty, mystery and wonder on every page.

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When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is up for the HUB Amazing Audiobook; Awesomely narrated by: Preston Butler III about an African American teen whose sister goes missing and his search for her despite his own failings. I really wanted to like Jay but Jay was his own worst enemy. People obviously care about him and he will not confide because of many reasons he thinks are true. He won't tell his grandmother who has raised him since his mother spiraled after his dad died and landed in jail---that Nicole, his sister is missing. Jay continues to make up excuses thinking he is sparing his grandmother with worries. He also has given up on his sister, and decides he is sick of her doing drugs, blowing off school off and dating the local drug dealer; when she does reach out to him, Jay shows her the "new" Jay who hangs up on her. He is a good kid who has been traumatized by his father's death, his mother's desertion, and living in a seedy part of town where you are judged "when you look like us" but he also does not know how to say what he wants and he continues the whole book to turn away others who will help him; also he is bullied by the local thugs and works at Taco Bell where the mangers expect too much and allow awful customers too much freedom. I did like this story; it is one that needs to be told but I did not like Jay's development through the whole book; I did not want to root for him; I wanted to kick him. Thankfully he does allow his bible school friend to help and if it was not for her---she was adventurous, devious when needed, and pushed Jay to be the best he could be. A great ending to a book that deals with urban problems and how law enforcement does not stick up for "missing" people---how Jay (and others like him) grew up too fast, how others make assumptions about people in their neighborhoods and schools, and how this bias continues. A must read!

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The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I read it for #BitAboutBooks Spring Challenge with a non-human character. Readers will fall in love with Sila, her dad, Apt, and Gio, the elderly lottery winner. When Sila's mom must return to Turkey her 8 days becomes a year. Sila and her father are devastated; she turns away from her friends, school activities, and is sad all the time (but she feels it is no one's business). When her father takes Sila to fix a truck, she meets Gio and her life and Gio's changes. What follows is such an enjoyable, heartwarming story about friendship, family, empathy and second chances. With the introduction of classmate Mateo and his mom, the story just gets better and better. There was so much wonder when Gio, Sila, and Mateo save and care for an elephant, Veda. The information on the elephant dung showed the nature connection, the animal connection and the importance of caring for others. This is a book ALL should read; just like her book, Counting by 7s, Sloan is an awesome author and her message is real, timely, and authentic. A must read!

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Infinite by Brian Freeman

Infinite by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow you like parallel universes? This fast paced psychological thriller moves quickly----Dylan Moran loses his wife, Karly, in a flood. Try as he might he cannot save her. Devastated he begins to see people who look exactly like him. As the operations manager at an exclusive hotel, there is a doctor who will be speaking on Many Worlds. Even more surprising, when Dylan approaches her, she already knows him, he is seeing her as a patient. Dylan goes into the parallel universes, OMG! With lots of twisting plots, recurring characters in these plots, I could not stop turning the pages! Another great read from Brian Freeman!

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The Rule of Wolves (King of Scars Duology Book 2) by Leigh Bardugo

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVE Leigh Bardugo's books (except when she killed off Matthias and destroyed Nina's world---I am still not over it) and this duology of Nikolai Lantsov (is he a bastard or is he the true king?) he summons all he can with his close knit crew creating machines, submersibles, etc as weapons for the greater good during war. He is aided by Zoya his general who also has a dragon inside her (like Nikolai has a demon inside him) who is a Grisha (StormWitch) and carries so much loss with her. Nina is glamored as Hanne's mentor and spying in Fjerda as the evil Strum keeps secret locations of kidnapped grisha doused in purem and also creates the monsters from Grisha that are fighting machines. I loved the slow burn in Nikolai's relationship with Zoya. Minor characters like David, Genya, Tamar, Alina, Kaz and his crew were integral to Nikola's vision! I loved the worlds in this book, the characters, and the suspenseful plot kept me glued to this book! Highly recommended!

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Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this fictional audiobook, awesomely narrated by: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, Pablo Schreiber, and Julia Whelan about a band's rising popularity in the 70s and the interplay of all the band members, managers, and journalists. What I liked about the plot was the interview process and how there were so many differences in people's points of view. There was lots of drug usage and it was considered normal. The Dunne brothers band was known as The Six and then they expanded to include Daisy Jones. Where they all seemed to get along before as a band, as time wore on---Billy did not always ask permission (which he did before) when he made changes, decisions, etc. It was interesting to see the band's thoughts on these disagreements. I loved this audiobook!

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Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre

Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read a 2nd book for #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge on a Spring-Related Picture Book. April Pulley Sayres celebration of flowers is just truly amazing. Each page consists of stunning photographs of flowers blooming and the many different ways they bloom. From California to Arizona to Texas the many varieties of flowers are celebrated in their breathtaking beauty. Pully has a must read section at the end with more facts information about each page of the book. A must read and visual delight.

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My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis by Paul Miesel

My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis by Paul Meisel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this Spring Related Picture Book for my #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge and I just loved Miesel's narrator, P. Mantis!!! My granddaughters love the pictures, the facts and seeing through the illustrations and dates from May through October the life cycle of the praying mantis. The laughs the baby praying mantis gleaned from my granddaughters was always about the eating.

June 2 "I'm hungry, Growing so fast! I ate one of my brothers. Okay maybe two."
June 4 "I ate another brother. And one of my sisters too."
The giggles and re-reading were filled with learning facts and how amazing this insect is!

A truly enjoyable, ingenious picture book!

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