Bibliophile Support Group

Hi My Lovelies!!! I apologize for being so absent this year - it's been Quite the Year!!! My life has been ridiculously busy and I unfortunately have to set aside my blog for a bit. Once thigns calm down - I do plan on returning to blogging and reviewing what I read. However, in the meantime - feel free to read through the 100s of reviews that have posted over all the many years of this blog. Have a happy and wonderful New Year!

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl is a YA supernatural novel by Paige McKinnon. The Awakening of Sunshine Girl is it's follow-up sequel, recently released this year. Sunshine has lived in sunny climates with her mother up until her sixteenth birthday, but now it is off to rainy, dreary Washington state. Her mom has a new job in a small little town. They move into a rather... creepy... house. She's trying to make the best of it. But things are seriously weird. It seems a cold breeze follows her throughout the house causing doors to slam. And she hears an eerie laughter that turns to sobs. She *knows* she is hearing it. And where initially her mom was skeptical but noticing some things... now she is completely oblivious to supernatural acts occurring right in front of her. Clearly she needs to figure out what is going on... Before it's too late. Okay. That synopsis was weak. Let's all agree to this. It was token. And the problem is... so was the book. I got 100 ...

Throwback review from June 2011! Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a middlegrade fantasy and Newberry Honor winner by Grace Lin. Minli lives in the Valley of Fruitless Mountain where she sees her parents work very hard every day in the fields with very little to show for it. Her favorite part of the day is the evening when her tired but pleasant father tells Minli tales about the Valley they live in and how it became Fruitless, as well as about the Old Man of the Moon, who knows the answers to everything. Then one day Minli decides to try and make things better for her family by setting out on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon - knowing that he will know how to change their fortunes. So she sets out on a journey that causes her to meet a talking fish, a dragon who can't fly, a powerful king, and more! First off, I must say that I love the vivid, eye-catching cover and illustrations that decorate this charming, sweet, earnest tale of magic and fantasy...

First of all, I am so sorry for two weeks off the map!! However, I am back with a BRAND NEW REVIEW. Worth waiting for, yes?!? Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne is the script that carries on the story of Harry Potter in a new modality. Beginning as Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione’s children are at the start of their Hogwarts education, Cursed Child introduces us quickly to our primary child character, Albus Severus. We had a brief meeting of him at the very end of the original series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , in which his name brought us to shuddering tears or scoffs of bewilderment of the terrible name – I was in the former category, unashamedly. Now, though, we see that something happens in the start of young Albus’s time at Hogwarts that puts a strain on his relationship with his father, Harry. And as some initial years pass – quickly in a montage-like scene in script format – grow...

Throwback review from July 2013 - this is a memorable read. Eleanor & Park is a YA 1980s coming-of-age novel by Rainbow Rowell. It’s 1986 and Eleanor’s brilliantly red, curly hair makes her impossible to not see as she steps onto the school bus for the first time. It also makes her an excellent target when you combine it with her odd, eclectic assortment of clothing and the fact that she’s brand new. Unable to watch the horror show, Park offers her a seat by him – in urgent, angrily embarrassed undertones. And then everything changes. This is the moment that Eleanor and Park met their first love – each other. I really don’t want to give more details of Eleanor & Park than that. I didn’t have more, and oh what an experience this novel was!! I loved the slow burn to the romance – that it wasn’t attraction based but initially built on kindness, like interests, and sharing small, but significant, pieces of themselves. Startlingly authentic and genuine, I ...

Throwback review from December 2012 - just got the sequel! The Diviners is the first in a new YA historical supernatural series by best-selling author Libba Bray. I am a HUGE fan of Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy. When it comes to my foray into her contemporary fiction? Almost a completely opposite reaction. So, when I heard about The Diviners I was hesitantly excited because I hoped it would remind me more of the former, not the latter. In fact, maybe it could make me forget all about Beauty Queens . Maybe you’re a fan of that book. That’s great! I wasn’t, sadly, at all. What’s The Diviners about? Seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill is a little too much of a wild child flapper for her hometown to contain, and as much as she tries to make herself normal she never seems to be able to. And this time she’s really gotten herself into a pickle. She has a supernatural power that’s brought her nothing but pickles so far – and this latest round of excitement led her ...

Throwback review from March 2015 - I remember this one like it was yesterday!!! The True Meaning of Smekday is a middle grade sci-fi contemporary humor novel by Adam Rex. Hoo Boy! I think I’m in love!!! When young Gratuity (Tip) Tucci is assigned a school five-page essay to explain the true meaning of Smekday (previously Christmas, now the day the first aliens invaded and renamed Christmas), she ends up writing a WHOLE LOT MORE than five pages. Instead we get the full story of just what happened to Tip when she determined to find her Mom as the aliens stated that all American humans must migrate to Florida, how she joined forces with the alien J.Lo and kept track of her cat, Pig. I can’t really imagine saying more without giving away too much laugh-out-loud goodness! The True Meaning of Smekday is AWESOME!!! It’s very funny – yet also has enough seriousness and legitimate emotion to have a level of care and investment in the characters to make it, well, a...