Bibliophile Support Group

All over my paperback copy of April Smith’s North of Montana , there are reviews mentioning how “breathless” the novel is, how it “zips along”, and how it’s a “page-turner”. What did I think? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Ana Grey is an FBI agent dealing with a sexist boss. She makes a great bust, but the aforementioned boss curtails her much-deserved promotion. She ends up having to prove herself on a high-profile case about an iconic actress claiming she became addicted on prescription drugs because of a deviant doctor. (Quite the hot topic lately, isn’t it?) But while investigating the case and trying to please all parties involved, Ana is faced with sudden questions of her childhood. Long faded memories begin to surface, and a woman claims that a recent shooting victim was her cousin. A woman she’s never met. A woman she is apparently supposed to be grieving. Juggling the two proves to make both more difficult. Thing is, I can’t say I agree with the super-positive snippet...

Eyes Like Stars in the first book by Lisa Mantchev in the Theatre Illuminata trilogy. Bertie lives on a stage. Her friends are fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Her crush is Nate, a pirate from The Little Mermaid . And her childhood friend and now frenemie is Ariel, a hunky spirit from The Tempest . That’s right. On the stage Bertie lives on, all those characters from all those plays? They’re alive and bursting with drama. And not just the characters from Shakespeare. Every single play that has ever been written is represented in The Book. The Book that makes all of this possible. The Book that creates the magic. But Bertie isn’t one of these characters; the theatre has taken her in, with a rather murky explanation as to why. It is her home. The only place she knows. However, Bertie isn’t the most gracious of guests. She can’t seem to help making messes and getting into mischief. And when she is threatened with banishment – she has to find a way to make herself invaluable to t...

A stand-alone suspense novel, The Quickie , is co-written by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Lauren's whole world shatters when she sees her husband, her best friend, with another woman. Instead of being honest about it, her horror leads her to "innocently" question her husband. He lies. This makes it all too easy to succumb to the charm of a handsome, longtime admiring coworker. Before she knows it, she's made things even. But when her newfound lover slips out to get some ingredients to cook for her, Lauren witnesses a crime. In an instant, what had started out as a heartbroken, accidental night becomes a race to make sense of what she's seen. The lies begin to pile up as she tries desperately to save her marriage, hear astounding information about the man she spent the night with without betraying her shock, and somehow not risk everything she lives for in the meantime. The Quickie didn't convince me in the first few pages, I'll admit. I can be ho...

Sarah Dessen gifts us with yet another beautiful novel, Just Listen . Annabel’s life has always been in the shadow of her more buoyant and beautiful sisters, being not quite as outgoing and not quite as lovely. But she’s lived a life that many other teenage girls desire. She’s a local model, like her sisters before her. She’s best friends with the most popular girl in school. She goes to all the parties. And even if she pales in comparison to her older sister, she is pretty in her own right. But that’s before the party. After that, she’s friendless and invisible, except when she’s being harassed by her ex-best friend. Her home life falls apart as well, his stunning sister in danger of succumbing to an eating disorder and her mother having a difficult time facing the truth. Sitting alone at lunch, she can’t help but become more intrigued by the other loner in school: Owen. Especially since he doesn’t seem to care that he’s a loner. In fact, he doesn’t seem to care about anything but mus...

The author of the awesome ghostgirl and coming soon sequel ghostgirl: homecoming was kind enough to answer some of my questions. If you still haven't read ghostgirl (get with it, you're missing out!), there may be mild spoilers. Here's how it went: Okay, the biggest, most important question for all of us readers who LOVE ghostgirl : Do you plan on writing more books in the ghostgirl series? How many (assuming you aren't going to deny us this wish)? · I'll write as many as my publisher allows! I have just finished the third book and I think I'm on a roll! I do love writing them and I’m so glad that there are people out there who love reading them. If you are writing more books (please, please, please), will Maddy make another appearance (purposefully vague, since I don't want to give anything away in ghostgirl: homecoming )? · You never know. Were you ecstatic when you got your first copy of ghostgirl ? The covers are truly amazing! · ...

*SPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet read the fantastical ghostgirl , and don't want to know how the first one ends (and really, why would you want to ruin the awesome experience of reading the book?), please don't read the review for the sequel. If anything, trust me and just go and buy them both.* Tonya Hurley's ghostgirl: homecoming has Charlotte Usher in the next level of the afterlife. Yet again, however, she finds it sorely lacking in pearly gates. But her newly matured understanding, which she gained by the end of ghostgirl , helps her deal with the fact that she and her classmates are now interns. That's right. Interns. Interns at a call center . A call center that helps teens who need guidance. Yeah, not exactly what she was expecting. But, apparently, there are more levels to immortality than you'd guess. Plus, with her new roommate Maddy the only fellow deceased sticking around to talk to her, she can't help but wonder if maybe "graduating...

Tonya Hurley offers up a very unique YA novel in ghostgirl . Charlotte has always been invisible and ignored throughout her life - so the first day of school is her opportunity to insert herself, however forcibly, into the popular crowd and into the heart of her dream guy, Damen. Or so she hopes. But just as things are looking her way (Damen is partnered up with Charlotte as lab partners and asks for her to tutor him), she dies. By way of choking on a gummy bear. And seeing her hopes and dreams disappear isn't even the worst of it. There aren't any pearly gates waiting for her. No, she still has to go to "school" and "graduate". There is an afterlife, and it includes "Dead Ed". But as much as her fellow deceased school mates urge her to let go of her old life, Charlotte just isn't made that way. She made plans to get what she wanted this year, and death isn't a big enough barrier to keep her from making it happen. Ghostgirl is one of those...