Skeletal by Katherine Hayton

Genre: Young Adult, New Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
Three months before she died Daina Harrow faced a bully at school.
Six weeks before she died Daina Harrow suffered an assault in the park.
One week before she died Daina Harrow stole a secret people had killed to hide.

That was ten years ago. Ten long years.

Now, her bones have been found on a building site. A coroner's inquest has been reopened. A parade of witnesses is about to start.
And Daina's here. Watching every day as her mother cries in the courtroom. Watching every day as her friends, and her enemies, and her killers lie about her on the stand.
Watching, and making sure that no matter what the coroner hears, you know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

My Thoughts:
This was a great book.  Because we watch what is happening and go back to learn more about Daina's past we get the whole story.  It is creepy and sad at the same time knowing Daina is listening to the  people lie. Those who mistreated her, or ignored and neglected her are there telling their story.  Daina wants to make sure the reader knows the truth.  I felt so sad that it took so long to learn what had happened to her.  
I felt sorry for the life she had lived.  I loved the ending and the twists that I had not expected.  I would most definitely read more by this author.  I will probably re-read this again and again.

Student Saturday: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Student Reviewer: Alexia R.
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Animals

I think this a a good book for everybody, even adults and small children.  This is a book about Ivan, a silverback gorilla who has spent most of his life in a small shopping mall in a cage. Ivan made friends over time like Stella who is an elephant, Runy who's a baby elephant and Bob a stray dog who spends a lot of time with Ivan in his cage.  Over time the animals became depressed, do you think they will ever get out of the small cage and get moved to a zoo?

This is an incredible book. It teaches a lot of lessons to people of how we treat animals for the good and for the worst. This book is really sad and funny and I recommend this for all ages because this book can teach a lot to people of all ages.

Great Stories by some Great Authors

Genre: Children's Picture Books

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinion expressed here are my own.

Fribbet the Frog and the Tadpoles by Carole P. Roman

This is the next book in the Captain No Beard series. When Cayla drops a bucket of dirty water on deck, everyone realizes Fribbet the frog is missing. They find him and learn he is distressed. It seems Fribbet’s home is invaded by tadpoles. As a reader we learn about the changes a frog goes through from egg, to tadpole, to frogs. We learn how valuable a lesson it is to listen to others and help them through their problems. This invasion of siblings for Fribbet is something Captain No beard can identify with. He also shows how special it is. The ending has a surprise for one of the other crew members. Another wonderful way to teach children simple lessons.

Stories For Children 5 by Francois Bissonnette

This book contains two fairytales. They are based on original stories by the Grimm brothers. The first story is a retelling of “Snow White”. In this version Snow White is taken far north by a servant and dumped in the snow to freeze. The Snow Fairy sends a mother polar bear and her two cubs to rescue her. The king is saddened when his wife tells him his daughter has run away.  Many yhears later he sends out eligible princes to find her promising them her hand in marriage. The queen creates a poisoned apple and places it outside of the polar bear’s cave. The cubs roll it in to Snow White where she takes a bite and falls asleep. You must read this to find out how it ends. It is quite different from the Disney Version.

“The Magician” is based on “The Rich and the Poor”

A magician traveling to a magician’s meeting stops at the house of a rich man and asks to spend the night. He is turned away because of his appearance. A poor man sees this and offers him the best of everything they have. The next day the magician gives them three wishes. They ask for health, food every day, and they were given a new house. The rich man learns who he turned away. He rides after the magician seeking both forgiveness and three wishes. Read to see what he will do for those wishes.

Stories For Children 6 by Francois Bissonnette

“Lily and the Prince” is the story of a mother named Helen and her daughter Rebecca who were very rich ladies. Helen was so greedy she adopted a girl named Lily to do all of the work. They didn’t want to pay out the money to a maid. Helen decided her daughter should marry the Prince. Every day they went to town to look for him. One day the Prince stopped by Lily’s house.  He had a problem with his horse. Lily fixed up the horse. The Prince was so impressed he asked to come back the next day.  This continued for a long time. They fell in love. One day Lily’s mother came home early and when the Prince said he was going to marry Lily her mother refused. They rode off anyway. Helen cast a spell on the Prince to stop the marriage.  I loved this Cinderella type story. But, will it have a happy ending?

“The Princess and the Frog” 

This is the story of a beautiful princess  who liked to sit by a lake and read the inscription inside the ring her father had given her. One day the ring fell into the lake. A frog offered to dive down and get it if she would let him be her companion. She agreed. When the frog returned the ring she took him home and explained everything to her father. The frog dined with them. However, he asked to share her warm bed and she refused. He offered her a way to get rid of him. Is his request too much for the Princess?

Executive by Leslie Wolfe

Genre: Adult, Thriller
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinons expressed here are my own.

In this young adult thriller you have a corporation that manufactures drones. Then you have a company that sends people in to help fix companies in trouble. Alex Hoffman is one of those up and coming  people sent to work undercover in the company that makes drones.  Two military drones have crashed killing a lot of innocent people.  Her job is to pretend to be an IT person and find out what happened.  She is faced with a lot of arrogant executives who abuse their powers.  The question is, will she be able to do her job, or will she be discovered?

This is definitely a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat turning the pages as fast as you can.  I did feel like the author had a negative outlook on big corporations. It kind of came through in the pages of the story.  I could be completely wrong.  This was not a big enough deal to make me not enjoy the storyline.  I believe there is enough here to love that any lover of thrillers will enjoy this book.

Psychaotic: See the World in Red and Black by Irum Zahra

Genre:  Adult, Poetry
Source: I received a copy from the author to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Depression is a common theme running throughout this book. This is not a collection of feel good poetry. They are dark and full of raw emotions. Most of them are free verse poems. These poems come from deep within. They show the hurt and betrayal that is often kept hidden within. "Peace to My Storm" is my favorite of all of them. There was a time in my life when this poem was my life. It is hard to imagine the journey she had to take to write a poem that mirrored my own life. I say this because I can still see clearly my own dark path I walked. For those who like poetry that touches the soul, dark or not this book is for you.

The Universes Inside the Lighthouse by Pam Stucky

Genre:  Young Adult, Science Fiction
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

If you like time travel books then you will most assuredly enjoy this book.  This book is not traveling through time, but through different universes.  Emma and Charlie Neeson are twins who find themselves on Dogwinkle Island.  They really think they are going to have a boring time.  Then they learn about the Balky Point Lighthouse.  Inside is where they can jump from one universe to another.  Dr. Waldo is in charge of "The Hub".  Emma and Charlie travel with Ben and Eva an alien they have befriended.  This would be just another ordinary science fiction book if it was only about visiting other time periods. Instead the author has you visiting multiple universes.  The author threw in antagonist Vik.  The aliens are trying to find Vik because he is causing some major problems. He is trying to destroy the only way to travel between the universes.  He is spreading what they called "The Void".  It reminded me of "The Neverending Story" and the nothingness.  The characters were all well developed.  You have Charlie who is very outgoing and then his sister Emma who likes to hang back, she's somewhat introverted.  The story starts out at a great pace. The events begin to ramp up the tension within the story making it almost impossible to put down the book. You want to continue to read to the end of the book.  This is one that I know my science fiction loving students will really enjoy.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

Author bio:

Pam Stucky, a native of the Pacific Northwest, is the author of the Wishing Rock series (novels with recipes), starting with Letters from Wishing Rock, and the Pam on the Map travelogue series, books that take readers along on Pam's journeys and adventures around the world. The Universes Inside the Lighthouse, Pam's eighth book, is Pam's first foray into both YA and sci-fi. 

Author links:

http://www.pamstucky.com

https://www.facebook.com/pamstuckyauthor

https://www.twitter.com/pamstucky

https://www.pinterest.com/pamstucky

https://plus.google.com/+PamStucky/

Faith & the Parable of the Blindfold: A fun Biblical Adventure to Find, Keep, and Test your Faith through Symbolism

Genre: Christian, Inspiration
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
Mystery-laced 'Wordplay,' in More Ways than One!
Thomas tip-toes out of a land controlled by Lady Luck, hoping he's unseen. And with only the gift of a map from a friend (named Christian), Thomas begins this biblical adventure to a second opinion and a new place found in the deepest yet highest of levels: Faith. Within a mystery blindfold, Thomas soon discovers his other "senses" to learn why "patience" and "patients" sound the same only in his hometown!

Join Thomas Walker and other symbolizing characters in this mystery-laced symbolic tale! Juggle 17 scriptures and a new imagination all at once inside his short journey. And you'll learn all about faith and how it works from its Story Symbolism, Fun Facts, Discussion Questions, and a bonus Family Skit version. From the better bible memory method of Christian Parables ® which "scripts your scripture without the versus of verses," enjoy! 

My Thoughts:  
This was a unique way to teach about faith. It was also a unique way to get people to study and memorize scripture.  The symbolism in this book was fabulous.  The book is set up so you can click on the scripture and read it right then and there or you can read it all before or after reading the story.  I myself clicked on it as I read. Then I went back and reread the story.  This is a different way to get people into the scriptures.

Review of Granted Wishes by Tanya Vought

Genre: Adult, Romance

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I am not a big romance reader.  Every now and then a book comes along that catches me and carries me along for the ride.  This is one of those books.  The romance was not rushed which is what I hate about most romance books. Three years after the main character Gracelynn lost her husband, her friends decide she must get back into the game of life. The only way to do that is to force her to take a vacation, a four week vacation.  Gracelynn's life changes when she meets Giovanni. He literally runs into her. They each recognize that they are beginning to have feelings for each other.  Both of them have baggage from losing their spouses. This is where the healing begins as well as the romance.  I think if this had been one of those boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall head over heels in love or lust. I probably would have put the book down.  It wasn't.  I found it quite ironic that the name of the town is New Hope.  It is like an underlying message of their life. They have new hope for their life and relationships.  I would definitely recommend this to those who love romance novels, and especially those who are not real sure they enjoy romance novels.  This is one they will love.

Student Saturday: Heat by Mike Lupica

Student Reviewer: Elizabeth B.

Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

I really, really, really enjoyed this amazing book. This was definitely a turn around for me on my opinion of the author. This was an amazing story and plot because it was about this boy who loved baseball and he was living with his only brother and both of his parents died and they were keeping a secret. I would recommend this book to all sports fans, but especially baseball fans. It might be a little hard to understand because it was confusing because there was a lot of baseball language.

The Sparks by Kyle Prue

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:

The Vapros, the Taurlum, and the Celerius: three dynasties bound by an ancient promise, and given superhuman abilities to protect the city of Altryon from the dangerous world beyond its walls. Centuries of fighting, however, have turned the families against each other. A powerful emperor now rules and each family has suffered heavy casualties in the feud.

Sixteen-year-old, Neil Vapros desperately wants to become an assassin in order to impress his overly critical father. Despite a failed mission, Neil learns that a new sinister threat has awakened. This mysterious new power will shatter the established order and threaten not only the very lives of these powerful families, but also the once great city of Altryon.

Everything can change with a single “Spark”...

My Review:

From the minute I read the very first line of the story: “Slide the knife between the third and fourth rib.”

I knew this was going to be a great book.  I was right.  You have three families who were given special powers to help protect the city of Altiyon from attack both within and without.  Unfortunately, as happens so often, the three families bound by an ancient promise got greedy.  Each wanted more. Each wanted to be the most important and rule.  So they started fighting each other.  This is how the feud began.  This is why they were given an emperor to rule over them.  This story is not just about the three families  It is the story of three teens  trying to find their place within their own families and in their society. This is a society that they are learning has some problems.  Is it possible the emperor is behind it all?  I loved that this was a great fantasy with great lessons.  These teens were prejudiced toward each other because their families had trained them to be that way with no valid reasons.  They had to learn to put aside their differences and work together.  I look forward to the second book in the series when he finishes it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kyle Prue decided to write Feud: The Sparks one sleepless night of summer vacation when he was 15. Realizing he was losing inspiration to read, he endeavored to write something that he and his peers wouldn’t be able to put down. He plans to complete the trilogy with The Flames and The Ashes. Currently a high school senior, Kyle is a varsity swimmer, founder of the improv club, and involved in mock trial. Also, as a dedicated member of the film club, he spends his weekends writing and editing film. An actor and comedian, Kyle trains at Second City Comedy Club in Chicago, where a number of SNL actors have gotten their start, and performs improv at LA Connection in Los Angeles. Kyle lives with his family in Naples, Florida.

We have a special discount code for  readers who want to purchase The Sparks. You can purchase the book from Kyle Prue’s store on his official website (linked). The code ‘BLOG25’ will get you 25% off an autographed copy, signed by Kyle Prue!    NOTE: This code will not work on purchases made on Amazon.