Tag Archives: book review

Review: Two Weeks

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Two Weeks
by Karen Kingsbury
5 stars

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite authors.  I can always count on her to deliver a realistic story packed with emotion.  Two Weeks is a continuation of the Baxter Family.  The story focuses on Cole Blake, son of Ashley Baxter Blake, who is months away from going to college for a career in medicine.  He meets a mysterious new girl, who captures his attention like no other girl before.  The girl is Elise, sent to live with her aunt and uncle, set on changing her life and making better choices.  Soon Elise discovers she is pregnant, the baby’s father being the bad boy she left to escape from.  Cole is determined to support Elise, even if that means sacrificing college and marrying her.  Karen does such a wonderful job letting the readers into the mind of Elise and the choices she is forced to make.    I love that Karen also chose to have a point of view from a couple (Lucy and Aaron) struggling with infertility.  Each chapter is heartbreaking from each Elise and Lucy’s point of view.

As Elise’s due date comes closer, she has two weeks to change her mind about adoption.   Will she choose to keep the baby or will she choose adoption?  I highly recommend this book and the rest of the Baxter series!

Read-alikes

A Month of Summer by Lisa Wingate

Dining With Joy by Rachel Hauck

Who I Am With You by Robin Lee Hatcher

Review: Bob

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Bob
by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
5 stars

Age Group:  Kids 3rd-8th grade
Other: AR Level: 3.9  Lexile 590

Bob is a delightful magical story about ten year old girl (Livy) who returns to Australia to visit her grandmother after five years and realizes that she’s forgotten something very important – BUT WHAT???? The WHAT is a small green creature dressed in a homemade chicken suit (Bob) who has been obediently living in her bedroom closet awaiting her return. This quirky story unfolds as Livy and Bob find clues to help Bob return to where he came from.

 

Read-alikes

Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures by Jackson Pearce

Cursed by Bruce Coville

 

 

Review: Out of School and Into Nature

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Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story
by Suzanne Slade
5 stars

Anna Comstock loved nature from a young age, and grew up watching the world around her. She married an entomologist she met at Cornell, who piqued her interest in drawing bugs. Her illustrations were both beautiful and accurate representations of the specimens she studied. Comstock became the first female professor at Cornell, and one of the first instructors to bring students out into nature to study, helping popularize nature study throughout the country.

Suzanne Slade’s book is beautifully illustrated, and focuses entirely on Comstock. With sweet, lilting quotes that convey her passion for nature, Comstock is wonderfully portrayed in this biography.

 

Read-alikes

Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles by Patricia Valdez

Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark by Heather Lang

Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre and His World of Insects by Matthew Clark Smith

 

Review: The Woman in the Window

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The Woman in the Window
by A. J. Finn
4 stars

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn is a psychological thriller that had my attention from the opening pages. Anna Fox is an agoraphobic in her New York City restored four story home who spends her days taking her prescription drugs with a lot of wine, watching old thriller movies, and spying on her neighbors. One night, looking through the windows, she witnesses her neighbor lady being murdered across the street. Or did she? She calls the police, but Anna is shocked and confused when the neighbor is just fine, but this other woman she has never seen. What’s going on?

Author Finn does an excellent job of offering us a view into an agoraphobics suffocating claustrophnic world when she does leave the safety of her house. When Anna seemed frustrated with what is real or not real, you are right there questioning if she is hallucinating. I liked that Anna’s past is intertwined within what is gong on in the current story. You’ll be guessing until the end! Watch for the upcoming Hitchcockian movie in 2019!

Read-alikes

If You Knew Her by Emily Elgar

The Girl in the Woods by Patricia MacDonald

If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin