Tag Archives: Friendship

All Fall Down

Series: Embassy Row (book 1)

Author: Ally Carter

AR Level: 4.3

Miss Library Lady Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

How would you feel if you think you saw something happen or someone do something but no one believed you?  What would you do if everyone made you feel like you were crazy but you just knew what you remembered actually happened?

Grace is NOT crazy!  Three years ago she witnessed her mom’s death, actually murder.  Grace saw the man with a scar on his cheek, even talked to him, while her mom’s body burned in the fire.  What did Grace see on her mom’s chest?  Was that blood?  A bullet wound?  How could that be though when EVERYONE is telling her, no, it was just an accident?

Now, three years after ‘the accidental’ death of her mother, Grace is living with her grandfather at the US Embassy in Adria.  She used to visit every summer until her mom’s death, but that changed everything!  Through a series of unfortunate events, Grace can not seem to stay out of trouble.  During one of Grace’s misadventures she see’s the man with the scar! Or is it just a man with a scar?  Grace is positive this man is who killed her mom!  So, Grace and her friends set off on a spy adventure to bring justice to her mom’s killer, or so they think.

So many thoughts, memories, and emotions cause Grace to question everything and everyone.  Did she find her mom’s killer?  Was her mom murdered, or was it truly just an accident?

 

Vixen

Series: The Flappers (book 1)

Author: Jillian Larkin

AR Level: 5.1

Miss Library Lady Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

**NOTE: I will not give a detailed review of books 2 and 3 so not to give anything away from book 1**

 

This is one heck of a page turner told through the eyes of 3 seventeen year olds living in 1923 Chicago.  High class living isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.  There will be lies, jealousy, revenge and even murder

Gloria is seemingly perfect!  Beautiful, rich, excellent grades (which are easy to come by).  She’s also engaged to one of the most eligible bachelor’s Sebastian.  What more could she possibly want?  Perhaps to be a singer at a speakeasy… fall madly in love with Jerome, the African American jazz musician…

Lorraine is Gloria’s envious best friend.  Trying to pull herself from Gloria’s shadow and into the heart of Marcus, Lorraine falls into the scandalous yet glamorous life of a flapper.  What happens though when Gloria lives the flapper lifestyle better?  What happens when Marcus falls in love with someone else (though he never had feelings for Lorraine)?  What will happen when Lorraine turns to alcohol to keep her from falling?  Jealousy, alcohol, secrets and revenge do not mix!

Clara is Gloria’s country bumpkin cousin who comes to live with Gloria.  Running from your past is always difficult.  Trying to pretend to be something you’re not is even more difficult.  Clara isn’t as innocent as she wants people to believe.  Everyone (except Gloria and Lorraine) loves Clara, especially Marcus!  What happens when your past catches up to you?  Will she lose everything she’s gained?

Everybody has secrets… can these girls keep their secrets hidden?

 

Ingenue – book 2 (Miss Library Lady rating 3 out of 5 stars)

Dvia – book 3 (Miss Library Lady rating 3 out of 5 stars)

Andreo’s Race

by: Pam Withers

AR Level: none currently

Miss Library Lady Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

 

How would you feel if you knew you were adopted, but knew nothing about your biological family?

What if you found out you may have been adopted illegally?

Sixteen year old Andreo and his best friend Raul were both adopted from families in Bolivia, but that’s all they know.  They hear on the news that hundreds of babies were adopted illegally through a baby trafficking ring and begin to think they may have been also.

Andreo’s adopted family enter an international adventure race to be held in none other than Bolivia!  The families must have 5 members, so Raul gets to be an honorary member of “Team Family Dynamics.”  This is the opportunity of a lifetime for Andreo and Raul; they could find out the truth about their adoptions as well as their biological families.

As if mountain biking, canoeing, hiking and caving weren’t enough of an adventure, throw in getting tangled up with a baby trafficking ring and you’ve got one heck of a book you won’t be able (or want to) put down!

Will Andreo and Raul find out the truth?  Will they like what they find out?  Or will they find out all they needed was what they’ve had all along?

Mosquitoland

Author: David Arnold

AR Level: 5.2

Miss Library Lady Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

**NOTE: Mosquitoland will NOT be available at Yolo’s library due to mature content**

 

Mim Malone is NOT okay!

After her parents divorce, all thanks to Denny’s waitress Kathy, Mim is sent to live with her father and NEW step-mother in Mississppi (aka Mosquitoland).  Mim sets out on a journey back to Cleveland when she overhears her school principal and father talking about her mom being sick.

Enter a bunch of new people into Mim’s life once stepping foot onto a Greyhound bus: Crazy Carl (the bus driver), Arlene (the passenger who smells like fresh baked cookies with cinnamon), Poncho Guy (serious creeper).  After a few stops along the way she spies a new person on the bus …. Hot Guy in 17C!!

Mim ditches the Greyhound about half way through her trip due to an unfortunate encounter at Ed’s Place: Chicken-n-Gas.  How will she get to Cleveland now?

One word, Walt!  Walt is by far the greatest characters Mim meets along her journey.  Walt is a nomad who also, it not okay.  In the process of helping and protecting Walt from shadow boy Caleb, Mim runs into none other than ….  (suspenseful pause) Hot Guy from 17C!!!

So, Walt, Mim, and Beck (HG17C) get a truck and continue on Mim’s journey to Cleveland together encountering more ups and downs than most people do in a lifetime.  They, especially Mim and Beck, find out so much about themselves helping each other throughout this journey.

But, will they every be okay?  Is anyone ever really 100% okay?

Footer Davis Probably is Crazy

Author: Susan Vaught

AR level: 4.9

Miss Library Lady Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

Have you ever thought you were going crazy?

Do you like a good mystery?

Footer Davis does!  After a neighbor is shot, his house and barn burned down and his grandchildren go missing, Footer and her friend Peavine decide to investigate.  What else would an aspiring journalist do? Sit around and let someone else figure out what happened?  I think not!

During the investigation Footer begins seeing things that happened the night of the fire, but she thinks she’s dreaming.  There’s no way someone could have realistic sightings like this if they weren’t there, right?  But she was in bed sleeping, how could she have been at the fire?  What really happened?

The lines between what is real and what isn’t really begin to blur.  Footer begins to think she’s going crazy (or have a brain tumor or something).  Her mom went temporarily crazy and is in a psych ward, so could Footer be like her?

Read what happens throughout Footer’s investigation and how she overcomes crazy, betrayal and grown ups in ” Footer Davis Probably is Crazy,” by Susan Vaught.