Bumpy Ride

Turbulence is the #46 in the Stone series and for me, it just didn't hold my interest.  I have been loving Stone a lot lately, but I think it was just too much international intrigue for me.  I was VERY excited to hear some news about Holly Barker's future though!  So I look forward to #47 and I hope that we get to see Peter and Ben and not Felicity and Lance!

Full of Beans is a book that I have seen around a lot, but never looked at it and I wish I had because once I saw that it was related to Turtle in Paradise I knew it would be good.  And it was!  It was really, really good.  I probably just should have gone by the author, Jennifer L. Holm, because I loved TIP and also The Fourteenth Goldfish, so why wouldn't I love Full of Beans!
Set during the Great Depression in the Florida Keys, it really taught me a lot about the New Deal in general and its impact in Florida and the work to create a tourist destination in the Keys.  A realistic and funny and really good book!

Cheese Turtles in Paradise

Turtle was a very different kind of book for me.  It was a Kindle check-out and also on a list of historical fiction that I made for a work project.  This one, set in 1935 is the story of a young girl, Turtle, who is sent by her mom to live with her sister and sister's family in the Florida Keys.  Her mom is a housekeeper to rich folks and her boss doesn't like children.  Turtle's mom is sure that the difficulties will be over soon, though because she has found THE man of her dreams, a salesman who promises to marry her and provide a good life for her and Turtle.  The story is about love and healing and forgiveness, single motherhood, poverty, all kinds of things, without being preachy at all.  A lovely, short, beautiful story.  Turtle is a smart, tough cookie (nicknamed Turtle because of her hard shell) and she fits in with her gang of boy cousins, showing them that a girl can do the things that they can do, and sometimes better.  There's buried treasure, babies with diaper rash and laughter and tears.  Loved it. 

Fairy Tales Can Come True, It Can Happen to You...

if you're young at heart.  Good song.  Great song even.
And I thought that Cloaked was yet another great book from one of my favorite authors, Alex Flinn.  I've sung her praises before here.  I was disappointed that Beastly the movie didn't get better reviews and/or a better response at the box office, because, while I didn't see the movie, I thought the book was excellent and I was hoping it would spark a great interest in Flinn's novels.  Notice I said better reviews AND/OR a better response at the box office, because the two are not mutually exclusive!  I just hope more folks will read Flinn's books.  She is a truly gifted and fresh writer.  Cloaked takes a bunch of fairy tales, from The Elves and the Shoemaker to The Salad (which I had never heard of) and turns them into the story of Johnny, who works in a posh South Beach hotel, fixing shoes for the hotel's wealthy guests.  Johnny meets a princess and is suddenly off on a quest that takes him to the Florida Keys and all around the world.  My buddy Karen is vacationing in Florida now and as I was reading this book I was asking her about the wildlife mentioned in the book.  It was a fun bonus!
This book is a lot of fun and I can't wait to read more from Flinn, as usual.