Book Review: Deadly Little Lessons

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Deadly Little Lessons
by Danielle Valentine

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA thriller

When Lia Michaels’s foster mom first suggests that Lia start attending Luminary Prep for senior year, she doesn’t agree right away. But she starts to think that maybe the new, experimental school could help with her dream to go to college and get a job she actually likes, both of which are long shots with her juvenile record and poor grades. It’s not long into the first semester, though, before things start to feel off. There are thick walls around the campus and parents aren’t allowed in; her first class features an obstacle course that is lacking in safety features. And then there’s the assembly where they’re told that only 5 of the 50 students attending the school will graduate. Lia is determined to be one of those 5, but when the students that fail out start to disappear under suspicious circumstances, her hope to graduate turns into a need to simply survive.

I don’t know why I keep reading these YA thrillers. They always promise much and deliver little. This one at least gets 3 stars, which is more than most from me, and that’s mostly due to my interest in the mystery about the school. I hoped for some kind of unexpected, dark secret behind the school, and in a way that is what it turned out to be. However, a couple of mysterious elements that are presented early in Lia’s time in the school do not have as satisfactory or exciting of resolutions as I would have liked. And I would have felt more suspense and even emotion from the kids disappearing one by one (or sometimes in larger numbers) if Lia and her friends hadn’t seemed mostly protected through much of the book. The question about what was happening was always in her mind, but it lacked urgency for a while and thus lacked urgency for me too.

It is when the urgency really picks up that a physical attraction starts between Lia and another student, and I really couldn’t have cared less about any of that. It was too physical too quickly for my preference and, in fact, could have been a romance I enjoyed if the author had let the interactions between them stand without throwing in the hormones. Lia herself is a character I could not connect with on really any level, and all of the other characters—from her foster sister to not one, but two, romantic interests—were all weak and underdeveloped. In the climax of the book, a statement uttered by the villain made me think the story was going to go a whole different way, and I was actually really excited about the possibility. But that was my bad, because no, it was really closer to what it was built up to be the entire time after all.

Overall, the unique mystery behind the school kept me turning pages, but the underdeveloped characters and shoehorned romance dragged it down. It’s a decent option if you’re not bothered by the aspects of the book that I mentioned above.

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Book Review: Ferris

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Ferris
by Kate DiCamillo
read by Cherry Jones

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fiction

Ferris’s life is…unusual. Her little sister has decided to be an outlaw. Her uncle has moved into the basement to fulfill his destiny and paint a history of the world. Her best friend incessantly plays only one song on the piano. And her grandmother has recently started to see a ghost that makes an unusual request.

At first, this story felt whimsical, which I’m sure was helped along by the narration of Cherry Jones (I loved her narration of the Little House books). But certain parts of it became repetitive while other parts were just strange. Billy Jackson playing “Mysterious Barricades” over and over makes me think that he’d drive me crazy in real life. Vocabulary words that Ferris and Billy Jackson learned in school are dropped throughout the book at unnatural times and are defined for the reader in ways that felt jarring to me. Uncle Ted clearly needs therapy; the whole thing about painting the history of the world was completely bizarre and inexplicable. And Pinky (the little sister) seemed like a slightly more extreme version of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona, especially in her younger days—she clearly needs some actual discipline in her life.

Then there are the supernatural elements. Aside from Charisse (Ferris’s grandmother, who is referred to by her name by everyone) and her ghost, Ferris is apparently a bit psychic or something, considering that she starts to have out-of-body-type experiences. None of this is explained, either, or given satisfactory resolutions. In the end, I didn’t really understand the purpose of the book, nor was I able to see any real plot. The story has a certain kind of charm, but it isn’t anything I’d really recommend to anyone of any age.

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Book Review: Relative Silence

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Relative Silence
by Carrie Stuart Parks
read by Piper Jones

My rating: 1.5 / 5
Genre: Christian suspense

After surviving a public shooting thanks to the actions of a stranger, Piper Boone’s life starts to get even more complicated as a neighbor goes missing, family secrets are unearthed, and a past tragedy comes back to haunt her. Tucker Landry, the man who saved Piper’s life, is recovering from his own injury during the shooting and can’t help but want to do his own investigating into the shooter, Piper’s past tragedy, and other family secrets that seem to all be connected in some way.

So much of this book fell short for me, left me confused and questioning, or even flat-out bugged me. Some things happened or were mentioned that seemed to be clues to the mystery but turned out to be red herrings; this is fine for a mystery or suspense novel, but some of these red herrings were never given an alternate explanation, even things that were frankly pretty big deals. So while red herrings are common and expected, red herrings that leave major loose ends dangling just smack of lazy writing.

Piper is a character I could not connect with; she’s so naive, even to the point of being obtuse. Tucker’s backstory is compelling, and I appreciated what he brings to the book. I would have liked for the mysterious Clan Firinn he works for to be expanded on, but instead, we get this weird thing about stones that is never explained and literally left me at the end of the book saying (out loud), “Wha? Huh?” A little research tells me that Clan Firinn is involved in other books by Parks, but it appears to be as enigmatic and meagerly used in those books as here. Considering how I felt about this book, this does not lead me to want to read any of those other books to learn more about the organization. I also didn’t care for Piper’s views about God that were never really clarified or corrected.

There are several details from the story that lessened my enjoyment, but I’m not going to list them all. I’ll just end by saying that I do not care for the 1st person/3rd person narration style employed here (1st person for Piper’s POV parts, 3rd person for Tucker’s), as it is always jarring to me. And the audiobook narrator is one of the worst I’ve heard. All of this together makes this a book I really can’t recommend to anyone.

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Book Review: The Running Man

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The Running Man
by Stephen King
read by Kevin Kenerly

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Dystopian thriller

Ben Richards’s daughter is dying, and he can only think of one way to get the money for her medicine—volunteer for one of the “big money” Games that so often end in death for the players. When he’s selected for the Running Man game, the whole country becomes his game board…and all its citizens his opponents.

I’m still dancing around reading any of Stephen King’s horror novels, though this book has a few horrific moments of its own. Not that I’d expected a book about a man signing up to be hunted to his death to be uplifting, but I was hoping for at least some bit of hopefulness by the end of the story or at least a purpose to it. There’s a side plot about the air pollution that seems like it’s going to end up being important, but it completely fizzles out by the end of the book.

To be fair, I don’t know how I would have felt about the ending if I hadn’t known exactly what was going to happen. Apparently the publishers of this edition of the book figured that it’s old enough that the ending isn’t a secret, so they put an introduction at the beginning of the audiobook in which Stephen King fully spoils the ending. Seriously, if you’re going to be giving big spoilers like that, put it after the book! And since I was listening to the audiobook, I couldn’t even sort of see it coming and look away… But speaking of the ending, it just felt completely pointless to me. Richards may have liked his plan in the moment, but it’s not like what happened was really going to change anything all that much, at least not given the way it happened. It was just fruitless.

Then too, the year is 2025, yet somehow, it feels like 1970. It can be interesting or even amusing to read a book (or watch a movie) decades after the writer dreamed up what he or she thought the future might look like, to be in that future and see the differences. But Stephen King’s idea of the future when he wrote this book in the early 80s doesn’t feel particularly futuristic. There are hover cars (but still “wheeled” cars too) and a few dystopian elements involving heavy air pollution and people’s willingness to root for the death of games contestants, but overall, the worldbuilding just felt meager.

The bright spot of the audiobook experience was the narrator, who I actually really liked, but the narration couldn’t save the narrative flaws. So this is not destined to be my favorite King book. However, plenty of other people have enjoyed it, so if you’re interested, check out other reviews at the link below.

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Book Review: Skyward

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Skyward
Book #1
by Brandon Sanderson
read by Suzy Jackson

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Humans on Detritus have been attacked by a mysterious alien enemy they call the Krell since the humans crash landed on the planet 70 years ago. They’ve slowly built up enough of a defensive force to fight back, mostly using fighter pilots. Since she was little, Spensa has wanted to be a pilot like her father, but then her father deserts the largest fight in their society’s history and is shot down. When Spensa is old enough to start training to be a pilot, it turns out no one wants the daughter of a coward defending the planet. Spensa might have to find a different way to claim the stars.

Spensa is the kind of character I normally struggle with, being so defiant and prickly, but I really warmed to her by partway through the book. Her personality was necessary to make her someone who would get back up after so many blows. The way she connects with her flight mates in the book helped to endear her to me, too, and I liked her friendship with Rig. I also really enjoyed M-Bot and his obsession with mushrooms, and I just loved Doomslug. The slow unfolding of the plot and answers to questions inhabitants of Detritus have been asking (or avoiding asking) for decades kept me engaged all throughout the story.

I recently read Blightfall, without initially realizing it was in an already-established universe, and it intrigued me enough that I wanted to start at the beginning. That means that I’m going into this series with more knowledge than the reader is meant to have here in the first book, but I really don’t think it harmed the story for me at all. If anything, I’m all the more anxious to see how we get from where the characters are in this first book to where they are in Blightfall. So despite already seeing the future of this world, I’m still super intrigued to see where the story goes from here.

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Book Review: Home Fires

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Home Fires
by Mally Ham

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Memoir, Christian non-fiction

Ken and Mally Ham have been married for over 50 years, and for much of that time, Ken has traveled all over to teach people about Genesis, creation, and biblical truths that have been under attack for decades. In this book, Mally shares the ups and downs of their lives together, her perspective on the beginnings and growth of Answers in Genesis, and how God provided what she needed throughout it all. I am so grateful for and appreciative of what AIG has taught me over the years through its various resources and the ministry’s commitment to the truth, so seeing the incredible ways God opened the doors for it to become what it is today didn’t surprise me at all. I enjoyed the additions from Mally’s children and some other family members; it grounds the book in a way, showing that Mally’s humility is not exaggerated. I truly loved getting this behind-the-scenes look at their family, and it made the entire book an absolute joy to read.

The primary audience for the book seems mainly to be wives of men in ministry, but there is also a lot to glean about godly marriages in general. Though many of us won’t have the same personality as Mally (I share her incredible shyness, but not her humility and gentleness, at least not naturally), she does offer insight that goes beyond her own experiences. As someone preparing to enter ministry life alongside my husband, I found her perspective incredibly comforting and deeply encouraging. This book is a great read for Christian women or anyone interested in the background of Answers in Genesis.

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Book Review: The Spy Keeper of Marseille

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The Spy Keeper of Marseille
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance

Zelie Bellarose is second-in-command of a resistance organization in France during the time of Nazi occupation. Marcel Laurent is a famous concert pianist who was recently freed from a POW camp and is tasked with using his contacts and talents to help with the resistance. As the spy network grows, is betrayed from within, and loses members to arrest and execution, Zelie and Marcel lean on each other for support more and more.

As much as I loved White’s The Imposters series, set in Edwardian England, so far her WWII-era books haven’t resonated with me nearly as much. I’m not sure why there would be such a difference, but the plot here dragged for me. I didn’t really care for Zelie as a main character. I liked Marcel more, but honestly, do professional musicians often think in musical terms as much as he does in this book? Also, though I don’t need a Christian book to be heavy on a Christian message by any means, there seems to be an intent to have a message here, but it’s pretty weak. Zelie doesn’t really trust God, but because Marcel does and is kind and says a few nice things about God, she suddenly realizes she needs to trust Him more.

The stakes in this book with a spy network trying to outsmart the Nazis are weirdly high but also not that high. Though people are captured, even executed, I never really felt much of that personally. The climax was fairly intense in this area, at least, which I did appreciate. There are ups and downs in the book that renewed my interest now and then, but overall, it just felt sort of okay. The romance wasn’t necessarily completely front and center, but it still seemed somehow more important in the book than the spying and danger.

I’ve planned to read some of White’s earlier works, set during WWI, and I think I’ll still give one or two of those a try, but if she releases more WWII-era books, I think I’ll pass. Not that this book was terrible, but not interesting enough to want more like it. However, others liked it more than I did, so if you’re interested, check out other reviews at the link below.

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Book Review: The Ghost at Dawn’s House

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The Ghost at Dawn’s House
The Baby-Sitters Club #9
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly differently). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

In this book, Dawn reads some ghost stories, hears some strange noises in the wall, and convinces herself that a guy that disappeared in the area a long time ago is probably now a ghost in the secret passage she found in her house. I mean…why the ghost would be leaving food in the passageway, I don’t know. I still don’t feel any connection to Dawn, but letting her imagination run wild in this story isn’t exactly that surprising for a girl her age, especially in the time period this is from. The Pike family is baffling to me—they have a ton of kids and let them do whatever they want…except when they need to impose rules after all. I just do not get how this is a good way to raise kids.

I was surprised at the mystery in this book being left somewhat open. Kids who are fans of spooky stories might enjoy being able to come up with their own explanation to some of the happenings that aren’t explained (and apparently, it never is). Overall, this is a good addition to the series. Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: Running Out of Time

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Running Out of Time
Out of Time #1
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Read by Kimberly Schraf

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fiction

Jessie lives a simple life with her parents and siblings in a small town in 1840…or so she thinks. When a diphtheria outbreak threatens the kids in the village, Jessie’s mom sends her on an important mission: leave Clifton and get help. But leaving Clifton means stepping into a completely different world.

I enjoyed this story, which is like a time travel story without any time travel. The little clues dropped early in the book, when Jessie is still living a normal life in pioneer times, provide intrigue that I can see being even more so for kids/teens in the book’s target audience. When Jessie’s mom sends her on her mission, she gives her just enough info to get Jessie close to what she needs to do, and then Jessie has to use her own wits to fill in the gaps. The pressure is real, as the diphtheria outbreak is threatening the lives of several of the kids, and Jessie is constantly worried that she’s being tracked by henchmen of the founder of Clifton. The main thing that detracted from this story for me is that the motive behind everything that’s happening seemed really weak and squeezed in at the end, maybe because the author wanted to emphasize the premise and plot more than the “why” behind it all. Overall, though, I enjoyed my time listening to the audiobook. I think preteens through mid-teens would enjoy the book.

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