Book Review: Deadly Offer

Katie March 14, 2013 0 Comments

I typically try and avoid books with Vampires in them, but since I had enjoyed Caroline B Cooney’s “Wanted!” so much, I decided I would give this one a try since it was also by her.  The book is about Althea, a high school girl who lives in a house that many think is haunted.  While there aren’t any ghosts, there is a vampire in the tower in the attic that she accidentally sets free.  Althea sits alone at lunch and the other kids at school don’t pay much attention to her.  She’d love to be popular and be a cheerleader and the vampire promises that he can make this happen for her.  There’s only one problem – in order for her to be popular she has to bring him victims.

Althea loves her new found popularity – she has a boyfriend – a football player boyfriend at that and she has made the cheerleading squad after Celeste had to quit due to being too tired and weak to be on the squad anymore. (I wonder how THAT happened?)  She is loving it, but the vampire keeps demanding more and more from Althea in order to keep her popularity going.  Althea doesn’t want to meet his demands any more and just like that he is able to take it all away.  Her car won’t start and after walking to school everyone acts like she doesn’t exist again.  Althea wants it all back and she thinks that she is willing to bring more victims to the vampire – but will she have a change of heart?  Is losing her new friends to the vampire worth the popularity and cheerleading and boys?  She has to figure out a way to keep her popularity and get rid of the vampire once and for all.

This was a quick read, but a good read, despite the fact that I am not a vampire fan.  It is also the first book in a series of 3, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next books and whether it will follow the vampire, Althea or have completely new characters…

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Althea’s dreams are about to become her nightmares
Althea has always been a sweet, kind girl. In middle school, she had a group of friends to hang out with. She was on the softball team, took gymnastics, and won ribbons for horseback riding. But high school is horrible for Althea. She doesn’t make the cheerleading squad. Her group of friends splits apart to form new cliques, and Althea is left to sit alone at lunch. That is, until she discovers a vampire living in the attic tower of her family home. A vampire who can make her dreams come true: a spot on the cheerleading squad; popularity; a boyfriend. All the vampire wants in return is a small sacrifice, and Althea is in too deep to back out now.�The first book in Caroline B. Cooney’s Vampire’s Promise trilogy reveals the danger behind the door of the Shuttered Room . . .�This ebook features an illustrated biography of Caroline B. Cooney including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Book Review: Strike Three You’re Dead

Katie March 13, 2013 0 Comments

Strike Three Your Dead is about the Providence Jewels, a baseball team that play in Providence Rhode Island.  Harvey Blissberg, the center fielder, discovers one of his teammates, Rudy Furth, a relief pitcher, dead in the whirlpool tub in the club house.  Harvey spent his nights on the road in hotels with Rudy as they were roommates.  He has no idea who would want to do this to him, but since he found him he becomes a suspect – as does the entire rest of the team.

Harvey doesn’t seem to be too impressed with the job that the cops are doing in tracking down Rudy’s killer, so he takes matters into his own hands.  He goes to Rudy’s apartment and finds out all sorts of things he never knew about the guy.  Slowly the story starts unfolding and he thinks that he may be on to something.  Finally, his brother says something to him that triggers Harvey’s brain to figure out exactly what was going down.  Except that the person who killed Harvey has been hot on HIS trail following him around and knew how close he was to figuring things out.

Can Harvey put all the pieces together and let the cops know before the killer catches up with him? He’s already had 2 strikes against him – a dead rat in his locker and a note in his glove to stop playing private eye.  And you know what they say.  Strike Three, You’re Dead.

This was a great book – I love murder mysteries and to throw in baseball and the team as an additional set of characters was great because you really had no idea who on the team it could be or even if it was any of the guys on the team.  They all could have had their own reason’s for not liking Rudy.  I never really had an idea of who did it until closer to the end of the book and pretty much figured it all out as Harvey was figuring it all out.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

A slugger struggles with an empty ballpark and a murdered teammate

The Providence Jewels, an American League expansion team, have been taking a beating all season. Worse, relief pitcher Rudy Furth has just suffered a beating of a more lethal kind—and been left to die in the clubhouse whirlpool among whispers of mob corruption and violently lovesick fans.

When the police investigation stalls, veteran Providence center fielder Harvey Blissberg, who knew Furth as well as anyone, decides to play detective. While trying to keep his eye on the ball, and his head above water with the spunky, beautiful sports newscaster Mickey Slavin, Blissberg quietly stalks Furth’s killer through major-league locker rooms and the dark streets of Rhode Island’s capital city. Lots of ballplayers keep their batting averages above .300—but how many have chased a murderer at the same time?

Book Review: Gold Dust

Katie March 7, 2013 0 Comments

Gold Dust is about a 7th grader named Richard who LOVES baseball.  When a new student, Napoleon, comes to the school, Richard takes him under his wing and tries to get him interested in baseball too.  Napoleon would much rather play cricket, but the more he plays with Richard the more they realize that he is a natural.

The book takes place in 1975 and Richard is obsessed with Fred Lynn and Jim Rice – the Gold Dust twins.  He is convinced that him and Napoleon can become the next Gold Dust twins (but they’ll probably need a different name then.)

For a while, Napoleon goes along with the baseball dream, but slowly he begins to realize that he may have some dreams of his own.  Then what does he do? And what does Richard do?

This is a relatively short Young Adult book that I think a lot of boys (and girls too!) would enjoy.  Richard loves the Red Sox but I think that any kid interested in baseball would enjoy reading it and it gives some great life lessons as well.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Baseball-loving seventh grader Richard has hopes of turning himself and the new kid, Napoleon, into the best baseball players Boston has seen since the Gold Dust Twins

“As long as you have baseball on your side you can overcome anything.” Seventh grader Richard Moncreif is convinced baseball will ease newcomer Napoleon Charlie Ellis’s transition to life in Boston. Napoleon is unlike anyone he’s ever met: poised, well educated, and a cricket player from the Caribbean. Napoleon is one of the few black students at Richard’s school, where racism is pervasive. But Richard believes that he and Napoleon can get through any hardship and become the next Gold Dust Twins, just like the famous pair of Red Sox rookies from 1975. After all, Napoleon is a natural athlete, and Richard knows everything anyone could possibly know about baseball. He just needs Napoleon to play along.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Chris Lynch including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

Book Review: Liam Hemsworth

Katie March 6, 2013 0 Comments

Liam Hemsworth is one of the hottest actors out there right now and he is engaged to singer/actress Miley Cyrus.  In this 36 page book, find out all there is to know about this hollywood hottie!

I’ll be honest, before reading this book I didn’t know much about Liam other than that he was in The Last Song with Miley and was also in the blockbuster hit the Hunger Games.

I liked the layout of the book with all the photos throughout and it was almost done up like a scrapbook (which of course is always my favorite way to have a book laid out) and at the end there is a section devoted to only pics of Liam!

If you are a fan or are just looking to find out more about him, definitely check out this book!

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

You may know that Liam Hemsworth stars as good-looking tough guy Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games films. But did you know that Liam:
• once dressed as a table tennis player for Halloween, complete with white “short shorts”?
• couldn’t stop laughing the first time he saw a squirrel—a type of animal they don’t have in his home country of Australia?
• is absolutely crazy about Vegemite, a veggie paste that Aussies spread on crackers?

Want to know more about the life of this talented celebrity? Read on to learn all about Liam’s early years, family, rise to fame, favorite pastimes, engagement to Miley Cyrus, and more!