Review: Kristy's Great Idea

Title Kristy's Great Idea (Baby-Sitter's Club GN #1)
By Ann M. Martin, Raina Telgemeier
Genre Middle Grade Graphic Novel
Format Print
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
When Kristy and her friends decide to start a baby sitting club they make friends with Stacey and get her to join. Things are going great with the club but Stacey seems to be hiding something and Kristy, upset that her mom is dating a new man, wants to know what it is.





First Sentence

Guys, I was such a Baby-Sitters Club nut growing up. I loved the books and read as many as I could get my hands on.  When I found out that Raina Telgemeier was doing graphic novels I almost cried. I bought the first one and had been saving it for the readathon. I'm so glad Dewy's 24 Hour Readathon decided to do a reverse readathon in July because there was no way I was holding back till October.

Bringing together these fun stories with Telgemeier's art was genius. It was so fun taking a trip down memory lane. I obviously don't remember the books, since it's been so long, but this brought back memories and all the feels and I loved it.

I'm just so thrilled that a new generation of young readers will get to enjoy these in graphic novel form. It makes my heart so happy!

Review: The Shadow Cipher

Title The Shadow Cipher (York #1)
By Laura Ruby
Genre Middle Grade Sci-fi Fantasy
Format Audio Book
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
The Morningstar Twins designed New York with amazing skyscrapers, machines, and train system then they disappeared leaving clues behind to a treasure. No one ever found the treasure. When twin's Tess and Theo's home is bought up by a greedy investor who's buying up and destroying Morningstar buildings, they'll have to move. But not before putting up a fight. Maybe if they find the treasure they can save their home. With the help of their neighbor Jaime, the twins will go on a wild ride deciphering clues and discovering more than they ever thought possible.

First Sentence
The true story of any city is never a single tale; it's a vast collection of stories with many different heroes.

I've wanted to try another Ruby book since I love Bone Gap so much and when this one was available on audio book I snatched it up...and listened to it in one day.

My synopsis did NOT do this story justice. It was so much fun! I loved all the characters...even the bad guys were memorable and fun.

This is definitely more plot driven, however, and I got immersed in the adventure as the kids chased clue after clue trying to solve the puzzle and hopefully save their building.

I loved the world Ruby created. It's like an alternate reality New York and it sounded much better than the real one. All the little differences were so fun. I want to go on an elevator that meanders about before bringing you to your destination.

My only real complaint was the unsatisfactory/cliffhanger ending. It's one of those stories that just sort of stops midway through and will continue in the next book. Which might have been fine if the next book is out but it's not! I'm so devastated! I want the next book now!

Dewey's 24 Hour Reverse Readathon!

In case you haven't heard, Dewy's is doing a Reverse Readathon and since I love any excuse to read, I'm joining up. This Reverse Readathon doesn't start Saturday morning and run all day this time; it's starting Friday night 8:00pm Eastern 6:00pm my time. So it's starting...like...right now!

Here's what I'll be reading.

I've got a couple of GNs, my traditional Georgia Nicholson book (I'm on number 7) and I'll be working on the books I'm currently reading too.

Let's face it, most of us don't participate in these things for the legit 24 hrs. People have to eat and live life and use the restroom, right? And there's that pesky thing called sleep. I'm never able to do a full 24 hrs and I highly doubt this Reverse Readathon will help with that. I need sleep people! So I'll be trying to go to bed later and trying to get up earlier but I will be taking a sleeping break...especially because, as I write this, I'm already tired. Sigh!

As per usual, I won't be updating on my blog; I'll be on Instagram, Twitter and Litsy (@Jenny) if you care to see how I'm doing. One thing I wanted to do differently was keep track of the time I actually spend reading so I'll be using my stopwatch. This should be interesting...or really depressing. 

Are you participating? Wish me luck! I'll see you on the other side!

Review: Our Souls at Night

Title Our Souls at Night
By Kent Haruf
Genre Adult, Fiction
Format Audio book
Rating ⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Empty-nesters and widow Addie and widower Louis have made an arrangement to spend the nights together and keep each other company. They talk about all sorts of things and it helps them sleep but in a small town people will talk.

First Sentence
And then there was the day when Addie Moore made a call on Louis Waters.  




First of all I can not read this title with out thinking of this Spongebob episode and adding the inflection.

IBurned My Hand Spongebob GIF from Iburnedmyhand GIFs

Now that you have the correct way to say the title down let's move on to the story.

This is a short story and a very sad one at that. We have two people who have reached their "twilight" years. Their spouses and children are gone and they're puttering about alone and lonely. So they decided to spend the nights together. Of course, in a small town people start talking and assuming there's some sort of love affair going on and take in upon themselves to judge the hell out of them.

Seriously! What the hell is wrong with us? Why do we feel the need to judge people? Argh! This book just made me mad and depressed.

If it only showing us how badly we judge then I might have accepted and liked it but there was no happy ending, no escape from the judging; the uptight, judgmental people won. I was just so sad.

Review: All We Ever Wanted

Title All We Ever Wanted
By Emily Giffin
Genre Adult Fiction Chick-lit
Format ebook
Rating ⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
A photo snapped in a drunken state at a party and four lives are changed forever. Nina can't believe her son would risk his privileged life and recent acceptance in to Princeton but things aren't looking good. Tom Volpe is trying his best as a single father but when a promiscuous photo of his daughter Lyla goes viral he'll do anything to protect her.


First Sentence
It started out as a typical Saturday night.


I was so excited for a new book from Giffin and even more excited when my hold for it came in sooner than expected. Sadly, I'm like ninety percent positive this wasn't written by Giffin. Maybe I'm wrong but the writing was off and the story was all over the place.

It starts out introducing a pretty popular issue and I was thinking, "Um, OK. I guess Giffin is going to give us her thoughts on the #MeToo movement. Should be interesting since this isn't her normal thing" but then, no, it kind of lost steam and turned into her usual chick-lit.

I was so confused! It kept me reading but I'm not sure if that's because it had her usual addictiveness style or if I just wanted to know what the heck was going on. And the writing was all off! It was all tell no show and I don't recall her previous books being that bad.

In the end, all I can say was this book was one hot mess. It was all over the place and I had no idea if that's what the author was going for or if she wasn't sure what she was going for either.

Super disappointed.