BookLoverAmanda

  Dark of Night - Colleen Coble - 4.5 to 5 Stars - What a great second book in this series! SO action packed! (Book 2 in the Annie Pederson Series) WOW I didn't think I would love this as much as I did but what a great second book in this series! 4.5 to 5 stars. I loved this better than book 1! In book 2, we follow the family drama that occurred in book 1 (not going to say, because spoilers) but Annie is trying to figure out what to do about the newly found information from book 1 and how to tell those who need to know. A big part of this story though was a woman named Michelle Fraser is abducted and they are needing to figure out who took her so Jon and Annie are working to piece together that puzzle as well. I just loved this so much, I had the same feeling I did as when I read the If I Run trilogy by Terri Blackstock. So fast paced and SO much happening! My favorite part of this story is our characters, Annie and Jon and the relationship with Annie's daughter. There was a bi...

  Edge of Dusk - Colleen Coble - 4 Stars - My first Colleen Coble and it DID NOT disappoint! LOVED! (Book 1 in the Annie Pederson Series) This was my first Colleen Coble book and it did not disappoint! Really liked this story - 4 stars. It kept me engaged the entire time, I really connected with our characters and it had so much drama, suspense and action! Highly recommend the audiobook because the narrator really keeps you invested in the story. This story is about Annie Pederson, a law enforcement ranger whose life changed forever the night her little sister was kidnapped. She has recently been through additional trauma with the loss of her husband and parents in a boating accident. She has truly been through it and then they discover remains that bring up old cold cases, a dead body that starts a new case, and the investigations take place. Her first love, Jon, comes back into town - he seems like a suspect in one case but is trying to clear his name there while rekindling his r...

  A Match in the Making - Jen Turano - 4.5 to 5 Stars - A GREAT matchmaking story with lots of humor! (Book 1 in The Matchmakers Series) 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5. We love a good matchmaking story and this one will not disappoint! So much humor, great characters, and a story that reels you right in! This is the second Jen Turano book I have read so far and ya’ll – she brings so much great, witty banter to the table between characters that is over the top, but also believable. I LOVE IT! We have a fun match making story of Gwendolyn who is hired to find the perfect match for Mr. Walter Townsend, the catch of the season, but could the perfect match be her after all? Such a delightful story as SO many other reviews have said. The humor she brings is what makes the story – you find yourself laughing out loud and feeling all the heartwarming feelings you want to from a story like this. This is a great lighthearted read that I really needed this week. The romance in more of a friendshi...

Honest June: The Show Must Go On - Tina Wells - 4.5 Stars - loved June's journey into theater! (Book 2 in the Honest June Series) This continues to be an amazing series about sweet June learning what it means to tell the truth and have integrity! In this story, we follow June as she goes out for the main lead in the school production of The Wiz. With June still under here fairy godmother's spell, honesty remains a requirement for June. She is constantly getting herself in tons of shenanigans and learning what the right thing to do should be in each one. She is discovering herself, her talents and growing as a young girl. The ending had me shocked - ya'll I gotta get to the next book asap! Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5441494867 Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3DwqrGZ YouTube Review Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CNQJYuJxRg

  Please Return to the Lands of Luxury - Jon Tilton - 4 Stars - A fun middle grade dystopian story! What a fun middle grade dystopian story! Great characters and a heartwarming story with life lessons for kids. 4 stars! This story is all about a young girl, Jane, who lives in a junkyard with her friends and others. We see it as its own little world. One day, Jane finds a doll that has a note on it to return to a totally different world. She is determined to return this little doll to its rightful owner so she embarks on the quest to do so. Her 2 friends, Timothy and Rodney realize she is gone and they set out to find her. Jane finally makes it to where she can return the doll but realizes the owner is no longer there. She meets someone that helps her find the rightful owner and boy is it an adventure! This doll leads her to a couple who hasn't been able to have children of their own and they feel it's the right time to adopt and help this young girl. What happens next will kee...

  Castle of Refuge - Melanie Dickerson - 4.75 to 5 Stars - I LOVED this! I truly related to our main character. An ugly duckling retelling. (Book 2 in The Dericott Tales Series) What a SURPRISE ya'll! LOVED this so much. This is an "Ugly Duckling" retelling - book #2 in The Dericott Tales series and I thoroughly enjoyed this one! 4.75-5 stars, rounding up to 5. "Their scars were not things to hide and be ashamed of. Their scars kept them humble, which was pleasing to God, and kept their hearts soft. And it was a bond between them that she was confident would never break." Set in the late 14th century in England, we follow 2 sisters, Audrey and Maris. They are daughters of a viscount and their father expects Audrey to get married - specifically to Lord Edwin Dericott - but things take a turn for the worse when her older sister, Maris, purposefully causes Audrey to get scars on her face by tripping her into the fire. Maris is sent away for many years but after 4 y...

  The Cracked Spine - Paige Shelton - 4 to 4.5 Stars - A new favorite cozy mystery series! (Book 1 in The Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series) I really enjoyed this Scottish Cozy Mystery! 4 to 4.5 stars. A new favorite series to dive into! Full of scottish dialect, cozy family and bookish vibes and great characters - this was an AMANDA book! We see the descriptions of Scotland so beautiful painted, it makes me really want to be there. One thing I liked about this, while the beginning is a slow start, Paige Shelton really introduces us to the characters and setting in such a unique way. I felt like we really get to know them. Loved seeing a little romance too included, that's always a must have for me in Cozy Mysteries and loved that. This story is all about American Delaney Nichols. She answers an ad to work at The Cracked Spine Bookstore in Edinburgh, Scotland. She packs up and leaves Kansas so fast - and it's quite the journey. The bookstore is one I would LOVE to visit in real ...

  Hatchet - Gary Paulsen - 5 Stars - A page turning survival story! (Book 1 in the Brian's Saga Series) This was a favorite book of mine as a young kid and I remember why!! Such a page turning survival story! 13 year old, Brian Robeson, is flying in a small plane to meet his father, when all of a sudden his pilot has a heart attack and dies mid flight. Brian is scared to death and doesn't know what to do....he manages to get the plane down but he's alone in the Canadian wilderness and no one knows where he is....we see his journey of survival with nothing but a hatchet and his windbreaker take place. It's emotional and fast paced from the very beginning. I have to give this 5 stars just because of the level of engagement I had from the moment I picked this book up. He's also keeping a secret about his mother after his parent's divorce and he continues to relive some of that trauma. I realize now that I LOVE survival stories! Goodreads Review:  https://www.goodre...

  Autumn by the Sea - Melissa Tagg - 4 to 4.5 Stars - So much more then your typical christian contemporary romance! Ya'll, I really enjoyed this book! The first 50% took me a bit to get through, but that last 50% was fast paced with so many twists and turns!! This is between a 4 and 4.5 star for me. Can't wait for the second one! This is a Christian Contemporary Romance that is so much more than just your typical romance. We have a true found family in this story that I LOVE and it really shows a beautiful process of the Lord leading our main character's Sydney and Neil to one another, and Sydney to this beautiful family, when they least expected it. (Plus, Neil is Scottish soooo SAY LESS YA'LL. I was here for it!) We are following Maggie Muir as she is trying to find her lost granddaughter, after an accident with her daughter many years ago left her granddaughter unable to be found. The search leads her to Sydney Rose. No one knows if Sydney is who she is looking for ...

  Deserts, Driving and Derelicts - Tonya Kappes - 3.5 to 4 Stars - Always a fun time in Normal, Kentucky! (Book 2 in the Camper and Criminals Series) Enjoyed being back in Normal, Kentucky with Mae West! 3.5-4 stars rounding up on goodreads. Always a fun and interesting time with these characters. I’m gonna continue on with the series for sure. In this book, we are seeing Mae getting settled into her RV lifestyle as the owner of the local campground, Happy Trails. They are bringing in tourists and seeing everything come to life in the once run down campground. We love to see it! Mae agrees to help her good friend, Betts Hager, with her cleaning service by agreeing to help clean up Tammy Jo Bentley's mansion, later helping take care of Tammy Jo's prized poodle, Fifi. Things go south when they find Fifi's nanny killed in Tammy Jo's house. Suspects add up...who did it? Mae is determined to find out! The characters in this story really make the books so much fun. I also lov...

  Murder in the Mystery Suite - Ellery Adams - 4 Stars - Great bookish cozy mystery with some fun characters! (Book 1 in the Book Retreat Mysteries Series) Great cozy mystery with some fun characters! Lots of bookish references! In this story, we follow Jane Steward, who is hosting a fun Murder and Mayhem week at Storyton Hall in Virginia (which I would LOVE to be a real place!!). I loved reading about all of the fun costumes everyone dresses up in for the event. People really get into it and that's awesome! But in cozy mystery fashion, we have some drama surrounding the prized book award, one of the guests who ended up mysteriously dead in one of the rooms and some other random murders. Really enjoyed the setting, book vibes, mystery aspect and the characters. I'll be continuing on with this one! Goodreads Review:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5058022809 Amazon:  https://amzn.to/44s0O5Y YouTube Review Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghDr4wiLXDY

  The Body Under the Piano - Marthe Jocelyn - 4 Stars - If you love Agatha Christie, you will love this! (Book 1 in The Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen Series) This was SO fun!! If you love Agatha Christie, you will LOVE this! Such a great middle grade spin off! Aggie Morton lives in a small town in England during the early 1900s when she meets 12 year old Belgian immigrant Hector Perot and they discover a dead body on the floor of the Mermaid Dance Room under the piano! SOO many suspects pile up and they work to figure this mystery out! I had a lot of fun with this and the audiobook is wonderful. Only hard thing for me is so many characters, which is the same as in Agatha Christie's mystery stories for me, but I still really enjoyed this! Goodreads Review:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5127620311 Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3pVuE3v YouTube Review Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghDr4wiLXDY&t=1s

  Buried in a Good Book - Tamara Berry - 3 Stars - A cozy mystery series I didn't fully connect with. (Book 1 in the By the Book Mysteries Series) I enjoyed this in general, but also didn't fully connect to the characters and felt some of the details surrounding the murders were a bit more gruesome for my taste for a cozy - which this may not really be a cozy mystery - but that's what I went in thinking it was. Still a good ending - didn't expect the killer at ALLLLLL! I liked all the bookish references since the main character is an author. 3 stars This is all about best selling author, Tess Harrow. She has intertied her grandfather's cabin in the woods in Washington. She takes her 14 year old daughter Gertrude to spend the summer there at the cabin. As soon as they get there though, an explosion happens and they find fish parts and a human arm nearby.....the mystery begins....she meets a local Sherriff, Victor Bond and they work together to figure this out. Goodre...

  Focused - Alyson Gerber - 4.5 Stars - My younger self would have loved this. So relatable. My younger self felt so seen reading this. I have ADHD and absolutely relate to Clea. I had and have some of the same struggles as she does and boy did this book really hit home for me thinking back to my struggles in school. Loved this. SO close to 5 stars but I didnt love seeing the romance/relationship thrown in at the end. Overall loved this though and feel like it's an excellent representation of someone with ADHD. So relatable. This is all about Clea who is struggling with keeping up with school work and her chess team hobby/practice. Clea's thoughts are out of control, from speaking out of turn, interrupting people, getting distracted, not being able to focus, etc. These signs all point to ADHD. She's falling behind and needs help. She goes to the doctor to get evaluated and the story goes on here. Loved seeing Clea and her family, the support was so nice, her little sister w...

  A Boy Called Bat - Elana K. Arnold - 4 Stars - Such a cute and heartwarming story!  This was so cute! This is all about an autistic boy named Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed BAT) and his mom, who is a veterinarian, brings home a baby skunk one day as she needs to take care of it until she can hand him off to a wild-animal shelter. The minute Bat meets this little kit, he loves it and wants to help raise it as his pet. I really enjoyed this story. It was a good representation of an autistic child that showcases their special interests and some of their struggles. You can see his sister struggles with his quirks but she is slowly starting to open up by the end. What I liked most about this is that it was just a story about a little boy who loves animals and learns how to go after what he wants to do and how to make friends. He does complain quite a bit but he is also a very young boy and that's typical as they learn and grow. I love that this wasn't just "about autism"...

Pulp Friction - Julie Anne Lindsey - 4.5 Stars - LOVED being back in Blossom Valley, WV! This is book 2 in the Cider Shop Mystery series after Apple Cider Slaying and I loved being back in Blossom Valley, WV! In this book we follow Winnie at her new cider shop as she is hosting a wedding at Smythe Orchards in June. Her ex Hank shows up and is caught in an argument with the groom to be. She sees him running off and then the groom ends up dead, hit by the honeymoon getaway car. Hank ends up being the main suspect, he's nowhere to be found and Winnie is off to find the truth! Detective Colton is back as well as he and Winnie work together to figure this new mystery out.... I had so much fun with this second book! I love the characters most of all, very easy to relate to and just enjoy her interactions with the characters. I wish we had a bit more of her Granny here and I never was fully attached to some of the suspects but overall loved this book! I did love learning more about Colton...

  The Cheat Sheet - Sarah Adams - 4 Stars - A cute, funny friends to lovers sports romance! What a cute, funny friends to lovers story! I was cracking up the whole time! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this! Sarah Adams writes such fun rom coms with engaging characters! The sports aspect was also really fun. This is all about Bree Camden, who is in love with her best friend and NFL star, Nathan Donelson. Each one loves each other but doesn't think the other likes them back LOL - SO GOOD. They keep hiding their feelings and getting into very funny situations. Bree has her own dance studio and wants to expand it but the rent has increased....buttttt Nathan comes in and buys the entire building - HA We love to see it!! Bree isn't very thrilled about that but one night they're out and she has a few too many drinks, spills her secret love for Nathan to a TMZ reporter and her video goes viral! EVERYONE wants Nathan and Bree together so Nathan's publicist says they should pr...

  Forget Me Not - Ellie Terry - 2 Stars - Enjoyed learning about Tourette syndrome, but the way this was told in verse, it wasn't my favorite. A 7th grade girl, Calliope June, has Tourette syndrome and starts at a new school She tries to hide her quirks mostly because her Mom tells her to. Her Mom is not much of a mother to her - she leaves her alone, is always finding a new boyfriend and is moving her from place to place all the time. Her Dad passed away so it's just Calli and her Mom. At this new school, she makes a new friend and potential love interest, but he is afraid to embrace their friendship in front of everyone.... I am having a hard time fully understanding this book. Maybe because it's told in verse (poetry style) I must be missing something because the ending of this book was just....bad. Our main girl struggles with not having a present mom, being bullied at school, not being able to be who she truly is with her TS, etc. I liked seeing her point of view with ...

  A Kind of Spark - Elle McNicoll - 5 Stars - So many adults should read this book! THIS BOOK MADE ME CRY YA'LL. 5 stars. A middle grade book about an young 11 year old autistic girl - Addie - who lives in a small town in Scotland near Edinburgh. She learns about innocent women who lost their lives during the witch trials centuries ago and she sets out to honor those falsely accused so long ago. But not everyone wants her to do this... Addie's sister, Kaddie - is also autistic and is in college and helps her along the way. Addie goes through so much in this book. SO MANY ADULTS SHOULD READ THIS! It truly gives you the perspective of an autistic child. The importance of understanding sensory overload and overstimulation. Addie: "While you may be neurotypical and I'm autistic, I promise. We are more alike than we are different." This poor girl went through so much in school and it shows just how important it is that we support children with special needs and those t...

  Honest June - Tina Wells - 5 Stars - A precious story about a young 11 year old girl named June! Y’all what a precious story about a young 11 year old girl - June. She just wants to make everyone else happy, but struggles with telling the truth…she learns just how important it can be to tell the truth. She’s visited by her fairy godmother, Victoria, who puts her under this spell where she can’t lie- if she does, she will basically start sneezing uncontrollably! So she starts to learn all about why it’s important to be honest and not hold everything inside. Very important message here. I truly related to her, especially my inner child, because I am always such a people pleaser. Can’t wait to read more about June! Sweet middle grade story! Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5353113803 Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3NRrjuj YouTube Review Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELA8SzwYdKM