3 and 1/2

All Your Twisted Secrets was a full four before the end for me...it just seemed to get a little text book with the Amber's thoughts at the end...but again, just me.  Kept my attention throughout though!  A good one for keeping ones mind off of the current state of the world and a really important message about bullying and social media...just a little too preachy I thought...at the end. 

Quite Good and No Off-Putting Briticisms

or Missing Molly was just that good that they didn't bother me.  Natalie Barelli wrote The Housekeeper which I read earlier this year.  I am SO looking forward to reading more from her.  It was one of those books that I had skip to the end and read backwards at one point.  I got so involved with molly, really cared about her, that I had to see how it ended!

SUPER DISAPPOINTMENT

Utopia is Creepy and Other Provocations was not provocative, it wasn't even interesting.  I was SO sad.  I loved The Big Switch.  I loved it so much that when I had to interview candidates for a major position in my department I required all who interviewed to the read the book beforehand so that we could discuss it.  I found it to be that important.
I know it is the rage to publish one's blog to make some money off of a book, but the thing is, Carr went SO far back and that it reminded me a lot of this out-dated piece of work here.

The Magic of Podcasts

When I run (lumber) I listen to podcasts and after reading Dread Nation I wanted to find everything I could about the author and the book.  I stumbled across this one which pointed me to The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the best burger in Los Angeles) and wow wow wow!  I am so glad I did!
Make no mistake, David Levithan would HATE Abby! 
Abby is a big girl and she is comfortable being one and she even eats in the book.  I mean, look at the cover!  And the title! 
But wow, this was an excellent book.  It was.  I gotta read more from Amy Spalding. 

I Get It

Bachelor Nation:  Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure was eye-opening for me because I have never seen a full episode of The Bachelor.  Now it isn't because I consider myself too good for it, it's just that it's on when I work, so I never got into it.  I did love Blind Date.  So no, I am not thinking I am above TB at all!  But listening to this book I do understand why people would be drawn to it, perhaps like a television version of a Stone Barrington novel. 

Yeah...

Eliza and Her Monsters....this was really, really good.  It had to be, I mean, it isn't out on audio and yet I had an easy time of reading it.  Which is so rare to me.  Fandoms are something of which I have little personal experience, but I know about, and shipping and things like that, but I think that it was all well explained, but for the teen audience, I am sure they all know what those things are, it's just oldsters like me who might not!  I didn't know that there were so many fandoms!  There is a Golden Girls one!  There is even fan fiction written about Judy!
There are many things I loved about this book.  The parents and their humanness and the reality of Eliza's feelings about what she might want to do at the turn in the road and the humanness of Wallace, even though he did make me mad.
Navigating the world of online and "face to face" is hard at any age, and I would think especially for teens.  I thought this was just very real.  I also loved Eliza's brothers.  Again, very real.
It is on my top three, along with The Hate U Give and Bang.

Oh those Tapper Twins!

The Tapper Twins Go Viral is the fourth in the series and I really still do love it so much.  In fact, I loved it so much I actually read it, instead of reading it!  Ha!  Great stuff.  A good lesson on internet safety!  But not cheesy or an obvious lesson at all!  Very funny!

Okay so

Geekerella is NOT my typical book.  It is a romance and a silly love story, but it is very sweet and very funny and the whole paralleling Cinderella really works and both love stories that happen are so cute and funny and yeah, it is just really different and a good, fun read!

A Real Horror Story

As I have mentioned, Minnesota is my favorite state.  And Duluth is a beautiful city.  I love driving across this bridge and entering my favorite state!
The setting is just one of the reasons why I love the Johnathan Stride books.  Another reason is that Brian Freeman is just a darn great author.  Darn great.  Darn great.
I love the character of Stride.  How he and his wife, Serena, have shown such grace toward one another during their sometimes rocky relationship.  They are both human.  And I love how they love and accept one another's humanness.
One of the best lines in this book, which I can't remember totally because I bought the audio, is from Stride, talking to an FBI agent who has made a serious and deadly mistake, but an honest one.  He says something like, "Does being a part of the FBI mean you have to perfect" or something like that!  Jonathan is just such a good man.
The really scary thing about this book is that it shows the reality that hate breeds hate and violence breeds violence and technology (in this case, social media) can really be used in thoughtless and also malicious ways that can lead to horrible, horrible hate and violence.
Like the Boston bombing, someone has set a bomb off at the end of the Duluth Marathon, which I guess doesn't really exist, but is a combo marathon with Superior, WI.
The aftermath is just a horrible snowball of hate rolling and destroying lives.  And this can happen and it does happen.  And that is what made this book a horror story, but so sadly, one that really happens.  A cautionary tale, but not preachy.  With an ending that will take your breath away. Fantastic on so many levels.

Too Girly

Reconstructing Amelia was okay.  I am always hesitant to read an adult book by a woman author.  I know that is totally sexist, but as I have said before, so many adult women writers are way too whiney for me.  I also found the characters to be pretty unsympathetic.  Especially the mom, but not because of her mothering job, just because she was a whiney, whiney woman!  I also thought that she was a total jerk to Firth, big time!
There have been many comparisons between Reconstructing Amelia and Gone Girl.  I really disliked Gone Girl, big time, whereas, I didn't have as much of a distasteful hatred for this one.  Still, is it worth it?  It wasn't really worth my own time and I wish I hadn't spent my audible credit on it.

The Flower Friends!

So I have finished all of the Flower Power books by Lauren Myracle and I can write about them all at once!  I am so close to catching up on my blogging!  Very happy!  May I take a moment and thank you for all of your emails and text encouraging me!  It has been extremely helpful!  More than once I thought, ah to heck with it.  I'll just do it on goodreads.  And there is nothing wrong with doing that, but man, I have come so far!  And now there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  So onward!
First we have Love Ya Bunches!  where we meet the girls:  Katie-Rose, Camilla, Yasaman and Violet. 
Next we have Violet in Bloom, which focuses on Violet and her mother's depression.  Man.  I just love the way that Myracle tackles a difficult topic.  Man.  She is just an excellet writer. 
Third we move on to Oopsy Daisy and last Awesome Blossom, which intros a new girl to the group, though not a full "flower friend."
The girls are so different but they all have great hearts.  So NOT like the Four PTSs.  Camilla has two moms and it's no big deal.  Yasaman is Muslim and it's no big deal.  Camilla is a Christian and it's no big deal.  Violet is African American and it's no big deal.  Katie-Rose is adopted.  Guess what?  No big deal.  All beautiful, diverse characters and very funny.  Great, great series with a huge heart.  I hope there will be more! 
The books are part normal books and part web-books, with chat room transcriptions and blogs, too!