Tell Me Tuesdays #30!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

 Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

 First Class Murder by Robin Stevens

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday through Europe on the world-famous Orient Express. From the moment the girls step aboard, it's clear that each of their fellow first-class passengers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: rumour has it that there is a spy in their midst.

Then, during dinner, there is a bloodcurdling scream from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered, her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer is nowhere to be seen - almost as if they had vanished into thin air.
 
Daisy and Hazel are faced with their first ever locked-room mystery - and with competition from several other sleuths, who are just as determined to crack the case as they are.



First Class Murder is my reward read right now to motivate myself between ARCs reading and writing reviews. It's a MG murder mystery and I'm loving it so much!

Legacy of Kings... I am quite disappointed with it right now, I'm at 43% and I stopped reading it for a few days because it was feeling too slow and with the 7 POVs, the plot didn't seem to be going anywhere and GAH! I might end up DNFing this one...

Cinder is a re-read! I joined the #TLCReadAlong organized by Brittany from Books Addicts Guide because I want to have the books fresh for reading Winter! Cinder is August book and I've just started it last Sunday. I'm already loving re-reading it!


So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!! 

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of A Riot of Storm And Smoke by Jennifer Ellision!!!

Hello there people!

Today is a new week and one of those Mondays after working the weekend, so nothing much is different for me!

I'm hoping to get some quiet time to read at the cottage during this week since I work the weekend once again... On the bright side that'll mean a lil extra on my next pay check, which will be highly welcome!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC of a book that I have been eagerly awaiting and when the author asked if I wanted to get I'm surprised she didn't go deaf from my squealing... I guess she's like she lives in Florida!

As an ARC it is part of ARC August and as a fantasy book it'll also count towards my 105 Challenge!

Riot of Storm and Smoke by Jennifer Ellision

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What a fantastic middle book! It's got everything that a second book in a trilogy should have: plot development, action, character development, new conflicts and new characters!

Riot of Storm and Smoke starts right were Threats of Sky and Sea left us, but Jennifer does a very good of jogging our memory to bring us up to speed with lil nudges here and there, but nothing too repetitive that could bother someone binge reading the books.

The book is told in (mostly) alternating dual POVs, Bree and Caden's, and it manages to be distinct enough and to move along the plot, showing us what is going on both sides.

Bree is on the run with her friends and she's keeping quite a few secrets from them, which usually isn't the wisest course of action, but give the situation, I cannot really blame her for trying to figure out things on her own and trying to clutch to the last vestiges of her old life, even if she knows nothing is as she once believed. She's struggling with all the revelations and it shows in her grasp of her power.

Scaping the king will prove difficult enough even with the Underground's help and at every step of their way there's a new difficulty and we get quite a few surprises! We even meet some unexpected allies and an enemy comes back in a very different way winning a measure of reception even!

Kaden's side is no less painful and worrisome to read and although he grows a lot as a character, he is also dealing with some deep worries that sometimes hinder his ultimate goals of freeing his country and doing what's best for his people. His search for allies is not without even more danger than Bree's flight but he also finds himself with a loyal ally and friend that also has enough sass to keep him in check! I adored Lilia's names for him!

There's a lot of tension in the book, with a few more calm moments now and then that simply lull you into a feeling okay before some new worrisome twist is sprang on you! And the ending? Well, talk about an explosive climax in more ways than one! And yes, it does end in a cliffhanger!! BUT it's the exciting kind of cliffhanger, one that leaves you excited and making grabby hands for the next book, but not one that leaves you screaming in frustration!

A fantastic second book very much deserving of 4.5 stars!



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ARC August: First week recap!

Once again I joined ARC August hosted by the lovely ladies of Read Sleep Repeat and this is my first recap post to keep myself accountable!

Between work and my apartment stuff related, I'm not reading as much as I hoped, but on this first week I've focused on reading eARCs, to try and get on with the ever ellusive 80% on NetGalley! I'm happy to report that right now I am at 79%! NEARLY THERE!!

I finished two eARCs this week, Fated by Sarah Fine that I reviewed HERE and Beastly Bones by William Ritter, which will be reviewed next week on the blog.

I've also got two other eARCs started, Riot of Storm & Smoke by Jennifer Ellision that I hope to finish today itself (and hopefully have up for review on Monday) and Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman that I hope to return to at some point and not just give up on... I'm currently at 43% but not too invested, too many POVs seem to be a problem for me...

For week 2 I plan to focus on physical ARCs, and since I'll be gone to my parents cottage for a few days next week, no distractions will mean loads of reading time, or so I hope!

I'll be back next Sunday for another recap!

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Fated by Sarah Fine!!!

Happy Saturday guys!

I hope you're weekend is being quite fantastic, I'm only hoping that things won't be too terribly busy at work and that I can get some quiet reading time tonight!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have an ARC review that I was supposed to leave for later in the month but thanks to miss Alyssa from The Eater of Books I ended up devouring in one day!

It's my first full ARC read and reviewed for ARC August! and since there's quite a lot of Greek mythology involved in this one (with the three Fates and all) it'll also count towards my 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge!

Fated by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Servants of Fate books were my first contact with Sarah Fine's books and I couldn't have chosen a better gateway because I've loved them all, and now I want to read all of Sarah's books!

That said, this one has to be my favourite book of the trilogy and an absolutely perfect and brilliant ending for it!

When I finished reading Claimed I suspected and hoped that the final book would be about Jason Moros and Aislin Ferry and when it was confirmed, I was both very happy and intrigued! None of them had seemed easy characters to like or understand in the previous books, even if Moros had a certain charm to him, if he seemed unreliable and dangerous.

But from the first moment we see things from their POVs things quickly change on our perception. Aislin is not the seemly cold and ambitions person we thought on Marked, but someone that is fully dedicated to protecting her family and to do what's necessary to keep humanity safe too. She knows how to handle power and how to hold it and use it, thankfully for the right cause! I loved that she allowed herself to lose control here and there and that her feelings towards her family are showcased so strongly too!

And Jason Moros... oh dear, I have massive crush on the personalization of Death ladies and gents! From his worry about his sisters (the three Fates) to his growing devotion to Aislin and how determined he was to fight Chaos no matter what! I loved how he proved that he was not just worried about keeping himself in business so-to-speak but he had the well being of his Keres very much in mind. And he's ready to fight for what's right even if no one expected him to!

One word of warning, this is a fantastic book, but not an easy one to read sometimes, because there are some tough bits, with Aislin suffering at the hands of Moros' other siblings (Lies, Strife and Vengenace) and with things getting really dire and with very little hope of a HEA, you might need a lil breather now and then while reading, just be sure to persevere!

Not only we are fighting for Aislin to keep the Ferries under control and supporting her for whe she'll have to face the Keepers but we also continue with some fantastic world building by visiting yet another realm that could not be more diffent from what we've seen so far!

I'm having a very hard time trying to review this and not spoil anything (anymore than I could possibly have done already!) but this was such a fantastic book and even if I got a few suspicions on what could happen in the end, I was still surprised that it happened the way it did!

I give up, just... READ THIS! IT WAS BRILLIANT! Very much deserved 4.5 stars to this one!!



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Friday Reads: ARC Review of The Eternity Key by Bree Despain!!

Hey there guys! Happy Friday!

I hope you guys are getting ready for the weekend! I am, but for a weekend at work! ;) My off days were Wednesday and Thursday this week!

Today for Friday Reads I have one of the ARCs that I had intended originally for ARC August, but that I ended up reading earlier.

Since it's a retelling of sort of the myth of Persephone and Hades, it totally counts towards my 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge, that had been very much abandoned for these past months!

The Eternity Key by Bree Despain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When last year I read The Shadow Prince I was quite pleasantly surprised about the twist on Greek mythology that the author had worked on. Qith some obvious references and a few surprises about who was who, I was left really looking forward to read the sequel!

Then I got approved for the sequel by the publisher on Netgalley (thank you!) and then came the Egdmont debacle and we had doubts about book 3 happening... and I ended up pushing back reading this one. Finally decided to go back to this series and very happy that I did, although I'm glad I didn't read it too much in advance of release date (rather quite a while after!) because there's quite the cliffhanger in the end!

I felt that the book was a bit slow at first... after all the revelations at the end of the first book, to find the crew stuck trying to find the Key and having no clue of what they're doing and trying to figure it out... I guess I was expecting them to be a bit more organized or to have more of a plan, but in the end they're such a bunch of teenagers, Greek myths or not, and they don't have a lot of knowlegde easily gathered, laying around.

What left me scratching my head was how wishy washy the team feel was, I was expecting that after all that they went through, they'd rely more on each other but it seemed like although they had THE common interest, they had gone back to their own lives, pretending like the clock is not ticking and the Skylords are not likely to make an appearance at any point.

Maybe it was because it's been a while since I read the first book but I felt like the relationship between Haden and Daphne had taken a few steps back in the beginning of this one, and we spend a good part of the book with these two not just trying to continue with school work, trying to find the Key, but also figuring out (again?) what they feel about each other (in Daphne's case) and how to express said feelings (in Haden's case).

We meet some new characters in this book and some are clearly the enemy while others are a bit more in the grey area, if not undercover allies, but with such high stakes at play, I feel that Haden was being wary enough but also keeping secrets from each other was a problem the group shouldn't have at this stage of the fight, but secrets they kept.

The relationships in general were well developed and we didn't just limit our focus to Daphne and Haden, but also Daphne and the very hard relationship of trusting him again after all that she found out, and how her father makes every possible effort. We also see Tobin struggling with his wanting to find his sister and how knowing his mother's secrets has killed their relationship.

The last part of the book was the best part, since we had the musical opening night with the Key search in a very heist like plan, and the action doesn't stop because there's plenty of surprises, revelations about characters that we thought that weren't important, and quite a dire betrayal! I suspected the traitor a pair of times while reading, but I was NOT expecting THAT kind of betrayal!

A very cliffhangery ending that leaves us wondering how anything can be fixed and worked around and very excitedly (if a lil vexed) awaiting the next book! Well deserved 3.5 stars for this one.




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Blog Tour for The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett: Review & Giveaway!!!

Hey there guys!!

Today I'm more than honoured to be part of The Nightmare Charade Blog Tour hosted by IFB Tours!
Mindee is one of my auto-buy authors and I'm really sad to say goodbye to The Arkwell Academy series and Dusty and Eli! But with Nightmare Charade we say goodbye to the series with a proper bang!

Before I share my spoiler-free as possible review of The Nightmare Charade and you guys can enter the giveaway, I'll let you know a bit more about book and author, in case you aren't familiar with either of them!

And don't forget to check the rest of the tour schedule HERE!

The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett

Series: Arkwell Academy #3

Release date: August 4th 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:
 
The final installment in a thrilling fantastical mystery series.
 
Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare. Literally. Dusty is a magical being who feeds on human dreams.
 
Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy is hard enough, not to mention the crazy events of the past year. Dusty may have saved the day, but there are many days left in the year, and with an old foe back to seek revenge, she'll need all her strength to defeat him and save her friends. 

Mindee Arnett thrills again in this stunning final installment in the Arkwell Academy series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

YA Author of THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR, a contemporary fantasy coming March 5, 2013 from Tor Teen (Macmillan) and AVALON, a YA sci-fi thriller coming Winter 2014 from Balzer+Bray (HarperCollins). Represented by the fabulous Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary. Addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space.

                    WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM

REVIEW

From the first moment that I read The Nightmare Affair, I fell in love with Dusty and her slightly awkward charm and loved this school for different magickind and here I am now trying to review the final book...

Whenever we read the final book in a series we've loved and enjoyed, it's always a very bittersweet feeling and there's a lil trepitation about how well the final book will wrap up the story. In this case, I'm more than happy to report that we needed not fear! Mindee did a fantastic job to solve the big mysteries, move the story along, keep us turning pages like mad and worry about everyone because it seemed like no one was really safe!

I will try my best to remain spoiler free for not just this book but also the previous books in the trilogy, but keep in mind something might slip if I get overenthusiastic, as it might happen!

We knew to expect a mystery since we're talking about the Dream Team after all! (is it cheesy? Yes, but hell I love it!) But things are getting darker and creepier and even more dangerous than ever before! Do you see that barge/boat on the cover? You won't look at it in the same way after you've read the book, let me tell you that!

Not only we have out main guys fighting to be together as the star-crossed lovers they're now (some revelations happen here) but we also have more distrust and misdirection that ever since our new bad minion can be anyone!

We also get a good look at profiling and discrimination done through how different kinds of magickind are treated by each other. Easier to digest when it's not presented as obvious as it'd be through our normal reality but will give plenty of food for thought if applied to our every day life.

High stakes, evil that can be anyone and anywhere, and loved ones that keep on disappearing make for a tense read and if we add the very disquieting dreams that are the only clues our Dream Team has, along with some memories from the sword... Guessing who the bad guy is, turning the page hoping things can be fixed somehow, it all makes for a tense and at the same time fun read, because no matter how high the stakes are, there is always a lil bit of humour in these books, and I'm really thankful for it!

Very well deserved 4.5 stars to this final chapter! Fantastic way to end this trilogy full of charm, fun and plenty of mystery!

GIVEAWAY

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Meet Parvati from Liars INC: Guest post with Paula Stokes & Giveaway!!!

Hiya there guys!! Happy Monday!!

Today I'm more than happy to welcome to the blog one of those very special authors to me because not only I love her books but I also think she's just plain AWESOME!

And so do Dylan, Mini-maug and Morrigan! I'm actually afraid the dragons will smuggle themselves out with her because they want to read her books before anyone else! Check your pockets Paula!

And today Paula doesn't come to the blog alone, she brings Parvati, one of the liars from Liars INC so we can get to know her better! Give them both a proper welcome!! Thank you so much for coming Paula!!


Hi! Thanks to Pili and her dragon and sheep friends for having Parvati and me on the blog. The response to Parvati’s character by people who read Liars, Inc. was fairly mixed. Some didn’t like her because she did thoughtless and reckless things. Some liked her a lot because she did those things without being apologetic. I personally love her. She’s not what you’d call a nice person, but she’s tough and smart and self-sufficient and brave. And she learns from her mistakes, which is probably the #1 thing I look for in a character—how do they grow and change? 


A lot of you know I was hoping to write a companion novel from Parvati’s point-of-view. As of right now that isn’t on the table for 2017, though my publisher is willing to consider it for the future. So don’t lose hope completely if you want to read more Parvati. And in the meantime, you’ll probably like Winter from Vicarious (Tor Teen 2016), who shares many qualities with Parvati, but also manages to be a nice person, if a little bit distant. 


I have undergraduate degrees in psychology and nursing and a nursing graduate degree, and I use this background to analyze my characters as I write. It’s important for me to know why they do what they do. So today I’m sharing a mini-interview I did with Parvati in order to figure out more about what makes her tick. 


Paula: Describe yourself in five words.
Parvati: Ambitious, intelligent, spontaneous, manipulative, lonely 


Paula: You have friends and a boyfriend and parents who love you. But you still feel lonely?
Parvati: Yeah. Tragic, huh? I guess it’s because I hide who I am from people most of the time. I spend a lot of time in my own head. 


Paula: Is there anyone you feel like you can be yourself around?
Parvati: Preston. And Max, for the most part. 


Paula: Tell me about the day you met Preston.
Parvati: I met him the first week of freshman year. We both went to the same private school and there was this big orientation for freshmen. Every night we had a different activity. The first time I saw Pres was on the football field. He was playing in a pick-up game and was really good. Everyone wanted to be on his team. Later in the week there was a dance competition, and then a movie night. Everywhere Pres went, this cloud of people swarmed around him, like satellites orbiting a planet. Normally I would hate someone like that, but then we ended up in the same English class. We were writing poetry and Preston wrote this dark stuff about feeling like an alien and living in his own private hell. It was incongruous with the laid-back popular boy I saw that first week. I figured maybe he felt the same way I did. 


Paula: So then the two of you struck up a friendship?
Parvati: Basically. It turned out I was right. Preston was mostly pretending for his parents’ sake. Playing the dutiful senator’s son. Smart. Athletic. Popular. But inside he was messed up, just like me. Misery really does love company. 


Paula: What about Max?
Parvati: Max is messed up too, but in a better way. He’s a really good guy. Decent. Trustworthy. Loyal. I don’t feel like I have to impress him, which is nice. But at the same time, I feel like if he knew everything there was to know about me that he might not want to be with me anymore. 


Paula: Do you love him?
Parvati: I think so. At first I worried my feelings weren’t about him, that they were just about the way he made me feel. I can be selfish like that sometimes. But now that we’ve spent more time together, I know that I like him for who he is. I wish I were more like him. It sounds cliché, but Max makes me want to be better, you know? I do fewer stupid things now that I’m with Max. 


Paula: What do you mean by stupid things?
Parvati: Well, there was this girl at school I didn’t like—I don’t even remember what it was about her, you know how some people just rub you the wrong way? One day I just got sick of listening to her brag about everything—her perfect GPA, her perfect family, her perfect boyfriend. I did some research on her boyfriend and found out he was a math tutor. I paid to tutor me even though I’m great at math. It took a few weeks but I wore him down and eventually we hooked up. He felt guilty about it but I convinced him it was no big deal—it’d be our secret. We talked about it over email and I then I forwarded the emails to her. They broke up. 


Paula: How did that make you feel?
Parvati: I know I should say it made me feel terrible—that girl had done nothing to me specifically and neither had the guy. Afterward, the few female friends I had kind of pulled away. But honestly, even though I knew what I did was wrong, I just felt kind of numb about it. I think that was the first time I realized there was something wrong with me. 


Paula: What do you think is wrong with you?
Parvati: I don’t know. It’s almost like I have this handful of people that I care about, but other people, whatever, I mess with them because I can. Sometimes just to see if I can. I know that’s screwed up, but that’s what I mean about Max. He started out as one of those strangers I didn’t care about and now I’d basically do anything for him. So maybe I’m getting better…but I’m not sure.


So that ends my mini-interview with Parvati. Fun fact—I actually have a narrative for her and Max outlined through five novels, and both Parvati’s emotional well-being and her relationship with Max have ups and downs and setbacks. They’re definitely an interesting couple to me, but both of them have enough issues that I’m not certain they’d be able to make it last. Hopefully I’ll be able to further explore their dynamic in additional books someday :-) 

And now for a giveaway! One lucky person is going to win a hardcover of Liars, Inc. If the winner has a U.S. mailing address, they’ll win a signed book mailed by me. If int’l address, the winner wins a copy of the book from The Book Depository (please check to see if they ship to your country) + signed bookplate mailed by me. Be sure to drop by my blog all month for more chances to win mystery books written by friends of mine, and join my mailing list to stay up on all my upcoming giveaways for Girl Against the Universe and Vicarious. 


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Liars INC by Paula Stokes

For fans of Gone Girl, I Hunt Killers, and TV's How to Get Away with Murder.

Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up—terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

For more info, check out the official Liars, Inc. website.

About Paula: 

Paula Stokes writes stories about flawed characters with good hearts who sometimes make bad decisions. She’s the author of THE ART OF LAINEY, INFINITE REPEAT, LIARS INC., and several other forthcoming YA novels. When she's not writing, she's kayaking, hiking, reading, or seeking out new adventures in faraway lands. Paula loves interacting with readers. Find her online at authorpaulastokes.com or on twitter as @pstokesbooks.

Liars INC | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook



 

Saturday Pages: Hatchet and The Secret of the Mansion for The Midnight Garden Readalong!!

Hello there guys!

Things are getting crazy once again because juggling everything with very few days off is complicated and I cannot wait till I get some more days off soon so I can do stuff at the apartment and have time to post a bit more!

Today for Saturday Pages I have two mini reviews for two books that are part of The Midnight Garden Classic MG & YA Readalong Challenge! They're May and July books (because I haven't yet managed to finish June's book...).

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars. The narrative style and Brian's voice threw me a lil bit at first and it took me a while to get used to it and to his stream of consciousness mixed with his narration of current events style of writing. Even when I thought I had managed to get into the book, sometimes an event will jar me out of it because it was a bit difficult to keep events and feelings separate and making sense of both.

But I really liked how he was resourceful but nothing that he did seemed too far-fetched or impossible with some knowledge of basic survival, even if I know I'd fail at starting fire with the hatchet as Brian did!

His small failures and triumphs felt very well balanced but also made you think about for how long can he keep up with his limited supplies and knowledge? Small in a scale, but such a big thing because they could be the difference between life and death.

There was quite a strong message about how very poorly prepared we are to deal with the outdoors and how frail humans are left to their own devices and having to confront wild animals, not even counting the carnivores!

And even if it was a bit obvious, the message about appreciating what we have and thinking about where our food comes from would be a good message for all of us, food doesn't come in neat wrappers at a supermarket only, and we ought to remember what's behind it all!

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was such a fun sweet book! And it reminded me of one of my fave series as a child, The Happy Hollisters! Oh, how I devoured their adventures!

A perfect summer read and even if it'll be a bit of a different read for younger kids these days, given how old timey it can read at times, it was full of charm and reminded me a lot of both very loved books I read when I was Trixie's age and also of the summers of my childhood, that I also spent under very little supervision, safely roaming and playing around in a small village, far from the rest-of-the-year-life-in-the-city!

Trixie was both an endearing and irritating character at the same time, because she was sweet and enthusiastic but could also be a bit too quick to judge and rather prone to act first and think later! Often rash and always determined she was also a very honest and open girl that was the best kind of influence for the very city girl and sheltered Honey (also, that name?).

They both form a team that keeps each other on balance and once they find a very unexpected friend that they want to help and a mysterious inheritance to find. I was expecting a lil bit more of the house mystery but I wasn't really disappointed because the book was full of summer goodness and the mystery was just another part of it!

3.5 stars to this one and I'm curious to give a try to more books in the series, if I can get my hands on them!



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