Marathon (Jonathan Stride #8) by Brian Freeman

Marathon by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Number 8 in this series kept me reading with the thrilling plot, old beloved characters and new good/bad characters! Stride is now married to Serena, YAY!!! Maggie has a boyfriend YAY!!! Cat enters a new time in her life all the while the Duluth Marathon is destroyed by a bomber; according to Dawn Basch #noexceptions, who whips the masses into believing a terrorist is responsible and then when Michael M tweets out the wrong bomber's picture, OMG, hold on for a gripping, sad, sometime hateful plot that kept the detectives chasing leads and forming their own hypothesis; I could not put this book down! Highly recommended!

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Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali

Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book as part of the 2018 HUB Reading Challenge and also for the March twitter chat with #YearofYA to be held on Monday 3/26 at 8PM- please come join us as we discuss the award winners we have read. LOVED Janna's journey---she is a 10th grade Muslim wearing her hijab, attending mosque, and praying 5x a day. Her parents are divorced, her brother comes home to live, and there is a monster who attacked her (now how does she deal with that???). I liked everything about this book, Janna makes mistakes over and over because she doesn't (can't) know h0w to deal with "the monster" who has assaulted her (& continues to try to trap her) as this overwhelming situation enrages and saddens her. She is taking her 94 year old neighbor, Mr. Ram, to the Senior Center, dealing with a crush on a non-Muslim boy, and edits answers to her Uncle Amu's questions from the mosque community members. I think my favorite part of this book was the answers to those questions---I really learned so much about Muslim faith, beliefs, and ways to live (and dress) in the answers to the congregants. Ali's gorgeous writing takes the reader into a Muslim girl's world of family, friends, school and will root for Janna and her group of saints and misfits! Highly recommended!

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