2018 Alphabet Soup Challenge

Alphabet Challenge

A-All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

B- Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

C-

D-

E- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

F- Final Girls by Riley Sager

G- The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

H- How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather 

I- It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

J-

K-

L- Latte Trouble by Cleo Coyle

M-

N-

O-

P-

Q-

R- The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith

S- Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

T- The Trouble with Turkeys by Kathi Daley

U-Undead and Unreturnable by Mary Janice Davidson

V-

W-

X-

Y-

Z-

2018 Cozy Mystery Challenge

Cozy Mystery Challenge

Read 5 Cozy Mysteries

1- Latte Trouble by Cleo Coyle
2- The Good, The Bad, and the Guacamole by Rebecca Adler
3-The Trouble with Turkeys by Kathi Daley
4-
5-

Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke - 4 Stars

Book #8 in the Hannah Swensen mystery series. 

In this installment, a movie crew has excited the locals by coming to Lake Eden. Many of the locals have been asked to have small parts in the movies and they are over the moon. But that mood changes when a prop gun goes off killing the producer. Of course, Hannah is out to find out who had a motive to kill the often rude producer.

I always find the Hannah Swensen books to be fun, light reads. This one was no different.

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven - 4 Stars

Libby and Jack are 2 high school students that everyone things they know all about. Libby, formerly nicknamed America's Fattest Teen and Jack, super popular kid. Both have secrets. Libby lost her mother, but aspires to be a dancer. Jack suffers from face-blindness.
The two end up tangled up in a cruel high school game and find themselves in community service together. The more time they spend together the more they discover about themselves and the world around them.

This was a warm and fuzzy, what I'm assuming to be YA, read. I think that Libby's character was a little more developed than Jack's character, but over all I enjoyed the book.

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson - 4 Stars

Jade is a young African American girl who feels she needs to get out of the neighborhood she is living in. She has a scholarship to a prestigious mostly white private school, which is a great opportunity, but the other opportunites that come her way make her feel like they are more demeaning. Such as the Woman to Woman group Jade is invited to for "at risk" girls, which is more like a group for "poor black" girls. 
But Jade soon learns more about herself and grows through the group. The story explores that challenges that young black women face every day.

I thought this was a good story. Jade's character was strongly written and I enjoyed seeing her blossom throughout the story.

With Malice by Eileen Cook - 3 Stars

Her trip to Italy was supposed to be the time of her life, but Jill wakes up in the hospital with her leg in a cast and remembering nothing of the last 6 weeks.
Jill's wealthy father has had her transported from Italy to the US for the best medical care. Jill soon finds out that she was in an accident, one that the Italian government thinks wasn't so accidental.
Jill struggles to remember the events that happened in Italy and hopes that her memory isn't correct.

I kept waiting for some big twist or shocking moment in this book and it never came. It sort of slugged on throughout the story and ended on a bland note.

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon - 4 Stars

Simon is a stay at home dad, while his wife is a successful lawyer. Simon cares for his 2 children, Laney and Jake. When the kids are in high school, Simon's worst fears come true. There's been a shooting at the school. Simon, like the other parents, race to the school to find his 2 children. Simon finds Laney, but as parents and students start to fade away, Jake is no where to be found. Jake has all of a sudden become a suspect in the shooting.

The story goes back and forth from Jake's early life to the current situation, with everything being told from Simon's point of view.

I enjoyed the story being told from the parent's point of view and what Simon felt when he found out that Jake was a suspect. The story flowed fairly well and left you wondering if Jake was really involved. The ending was sad and I almost cried (but I was in public reading...lol). I haven't had a book do that in a while. Still, I felt at points that the book was lacking a little. I still gave it 4 stars.