Once

I read that Genuine Fraud was written with the idea that it would pay homage, be an update to The Talented Mr. Ripley, I really began to LOVE this book.  There was a movie made of that book in 1999.  And I confess, that is how I came to know the story.  It was only years later I realized it was from a book and a series.  I have not read them, but wow, that movie.  It was a horror movie, I think. 
I really enjoy all of Lockhart's books and this one was one of the best books I have read so far this year.  I don't know if it is a Printz kind of book, but it sure was a great, great, great read that I can recommend.  It was completely creepy and very well written.  I think it definitely should be considered.  It is just so well done, how can it not? 

Family Values

Thieving Weasels is proof that Jesus was so right when He redefined family!  Always makes me laugh, the "family values" Christians, who seem to forget that!  Billy Taylor is a new author for me and I want to read his adult book now.  This was just such a funny and fresh book!  I loved it!
I especially loved Skip's girlfriend's reaction to finding out about Skip's past.  I think that it was so not like every other book and just the real and best reaction.  I won't say more because it wouldn't be a big spoiler, but it would spoil that particular part.

Never Have I Ever

been the first person to rate and review a book on goodreads, until now!  Guys, Lies and Alibis is the latest in the Langdon Prep series by Kimberley Reid.  This is such a terrific series.  All of the things that I've said about the series in the past are true about this latest edition.  Fantastic.  I love, love Chanti Evans.  I can't wait for the next one!

Last Year...

I read One Day More and I really enjoyed it and I thought, man, I can't wait to read Life After Theft!  But when I saw it on the shelf at the library, it just looked so so so so so long!  And I do get lazy!  But then a lovely gal I know, the daughter of my friend Theresa, told me that she loved LAT so I looked and there it was, able to be downloaded for free from the library!  So even though it was a year later, I remembered how much I enjoyed One Day More and I started in on LAT.  Man.  I blew through the first 6 1/2 of 8 sections of the audio.  It was so so so good!  I loved it so much!  But my enthusiasm faded a little bit.  I am not sure why.  The cover is totally deceiving.  Like The Disenchantments the cover will most likely turn away guys, but the narrator is a guy!  What a shame!  This is definitely a "good for dudes" but can you honestly see a teen dude carrying this book around?  If I were Aprilynne Pike I would be kinda mad!
It was cool to learn more about Santa Monica, which I have driven through but not spent any time.  Now I know though, that if I had a ton of bucks and any fashion sense, Montana Avenue is the only place to shop.
Jeff is the new kid in super-rich town.  His dad did very well in the whole dot.com thing, so he is new to this world of riches, but it isn't the prep school or the new wealth that are causing him problems, its a ghost.  The ghost of Kimberlee, who was super-rich in life and went to Jeff's prep school, but she had a big problem, she was a kleptomaniac.  Big time.  She hid all of the things that she stole, from her teachers, classmates, stores, in a cave on her private beach.  She's been haunting the school halls for a year now and no one can see her, until Jeff starts school.  She enlists his help to return all of the things that she stole so that her soul can have peace and maybe she won't have to float around in limbo.
I really did like this book, I guess I just wanted it to have a little more meaning.  It could have.  Jeff is an agnostic and I thought maybe he would be moved by his experience with Kimberlee or something, you know?  I don't know...I just thought that this could be a good part of the book, not that it would have to be Christian or preachy or anything.  Or even if his whole experience affirmed his agnosticism (is that possible, given the nature of agnosticism, I don't know!) or something!  But it just didn't seem to impact him at all, for more belief or for less belief, and I found that not very believable.  Interacting with a ghost would impact you in a big way, I think!  It just had a chance to be something deeper, like a Sara Zarr book, but it didn't go that way.  And that's okay!  I mean, I am the gal who loves Stone Barrington and The Fame Game!  I just wanted a little more from this.  Still, I would recommend it.  

The only bad thing about reading a Langdon Prep book

Is that when you are done with it, you have to wait so long for the next one!!! It seems like it took forever for Sweet 16 to Life to come out! As I have mentioned, Chanti Evans is one of my most favorite detectives, and the only female one, now that I think about it. This one takes place totally on the Ave, and features MJ heavily. Marco is back and Bethanie is still gone. I miss her. I hope that she isn't gone for good, but it seems likely. I missed the surroundings of the school, but the mystery was good and the books was suspenseful, well written and funny, like always! Keep em coming!

A New Hero!

Spenser
Lucas
Jonathan
Jesse
Peter and Rina
Alex
Scudder
Steve
Sunny
and now...Chanti
I have a new detective hero! As you can see she is one of the few female detectives on the list.  Reid has created a solid, likable, real, smart detective in Chanti Evans.
Creeping with the Enemy is the second in Kimberly Reid's Langdon Prep series which is so much more than a prep school series.
I loved My Own Worst Frenemy and even wrote Ms. Reid to tell her so.  She kindly replied and told me the series would continue to be centered around mysteries!  I thought it was super cool of her to write back, as I would imagine she gets a million emails.  Even though her writing me back made me super fond of her for being so cool, it is without a bit of bias that I saw that this second book is even better than the first as Chanti has another mystery to solve, this time involving her friend Bethanie and a guy who has been kinda, sorta dating her.  LOVED it!  Can't wait for the next! 

When I Was Down in Plano...

I visited the Harrington Branch of the City of Plano Library System.  I actually visited all of the branches and I have to say, Plano has great libraries.  At the Harrington Branch I happened upon the book The Cruisers and started to read it.  I like to sit in libraries for a bit and see how the service is.  I lead a VERY exciting life.  I got about fifty pages into it and I liked it but then I never remembered to get back to it when I got home.  On Monday I saw the audiobook for the second book, The Cruisers:  Checkmate and it was a good story.  Zander and his friends go to DiVinci Academy, a special school for very gifted students in NYC.  He and his friends have formed an alternative newspaper called The Cruiser and they live on the edge of the student body there, not trying too hard, not not-trying, just getting by, cruising, hence the name.  In this second book Zander and his friends try to help a fellow student who has been experimenting with drugs.  The dialog is witty, the characters are unique and likable.  The story was a little flat, but I do hold Mr. Myers to high standards, like I said, because his talent is out of this world.  In any case, I'll be reading the first one next and the ones to come.

New Series to Love!

Love my latest Kindle checkout from the library!  Kimberly Reid's My Own Worst Fremeny, the first in the Langdon Prep series.  The second one just came out and I'm totally buying it tomorrow and ordering the series for the library.
This first book was such a great one.  The main character, Chanti, is clever, kind, ornery, and all of the things that make a main character appealing.
Chanti comes from a transitional neighborhood in Denver and when she gets in some trouble over the summer, her mom decides that she will be attending the snooty Langdon Prep on a scholarship.  There are all kinds of trouble waiting for Chanti at Langdon and mysteries to solve.  I hope that each of the books has a mystery to it, that would be really cool, but even if they don't, I'll be reading the rest!  The book concludes with discussion questions dealing with some of the issues that Chanti faces like friends who get into trouble, dumping old friends to get cooler ones, racial and economic profiling, and  the relationship between police and society.  What a great, great book!