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Book Review: Berserkers

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Berserkers
by Donna Galanti

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade adventure

Danny Hall has lived all of his 12 years in Norse Ridge, Minnesota, a small town with a lot of quirks and quirky people. When his favorite teacher disappears and Danny and his friends find evidence that he may have gone to look for treasure in a nearby cave system, it will take a lot of courage (and the right supplies) for Danny and friends to go into the caves themselves to try to find the treasure before the bad guys do.

This book is a lot of fun in a lot of different ways! First off though, if you’re not a fan of metafiction, you might want to steer clear of this book; the author breaks the fourth wall quite a few times to talk to the reader. I usually enjoy that kind of thing, as long as it’s done well, and that is the case here. There is a lot of humor overall in the book, even beyond the meta. There is also a lot of excitement and adventure, helped along by very short chapters. In fact, the author even uses chapter breaks in humorous ways, including one moment that made me laugh out loud.

We have a group of four friends here—Danny, Dolly, Mulch, and Amazon Shawn. The story and dialog all moves pretty quickly, yet I felt that each of these four kids are fairly well-developed, especially for a middle grade book. They’re all given a least a little more background than a shallow starting point, and they’re not your typical stereotypes either. Other than maybe Danny himself, who I can’t recall much about other than that he’s the one who pushes for the adventure and he doesn’t like change. Danny may have been the main character, but I think Amazon Shawn got more “screen time,” to be honest. The friendships between these four kids and the way they interact with each other is really the heart of the book.

I do have to say that I struggled to follow some of the descriptions in the book, especially some areas in the cave. And the climax was the worst place for this, so obviously that detracted a bit from my enjoyment there. And for others who are like me—Christians who take the Bible literally—the book contains a large amount of references to the earth being billions of years old; it’s something to be aware of and at least discuss with kids that might read this book. Also one very minor passing mention of an adult character that is gay. These things didn’t affect my rating, but in a book for kids/pre-teens, I know there are others who would like to know.

This story reminded me so much of books I’ve read by Chris Grabenstein, especially The Smartest Kid in the Universe. I truly enjoyed the adventure, wit, and style here. And it could be a great way to introduce young readers to metafiction that’s done well and used to humorous advantage. I recommend this to readers 10 and up, including adults that like a good middle grade adventure now and then.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Out of Darkness

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Out of Darkness
The Lightseeker Series #1
by Daniel J. Atkins

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade Christian fantasy

When your entire civilization is underground, sources of light are important. Many of the inhabitants of the underground world are stone hunters, digging for increasingly more rare glowstones, which provide a safer, more efficient means of light than fire does. Fin and Sky, both 12-year-old stone hunters, begin to hear more and more about forgotten, forbidden mysteries and are compelled to seek the answers and the light. This leads them on a wild and dangerous adventure as they unravel the truth that some people want to stay hidden.

I think Fin is meant to be the main character in this book, but Sky really drives the plot. She’s the one who first has a reason to go on this adventure, and though Fin is not exactly dragged along reluctantly, his motivations aren’t as clear. Fin, though, is the one who is more dynamic in this book, growing up a bit throughout the journey. I really like the Christian allegory that’s present in this book; it’s not exactly subtle, but it’s also not over-the-top or preachy. I found myself looking forward to the next way that the “All Mighty” would clearly work in the story. In a book like this meant for older kids and young teens, a clear hand of guidance is a good way to introduce them to the very real, but not always so easily discerned, providence that God can provide in real life. I feel the need to mention that Fin and Sky do defy adults and authorities a bit, since I know parents can be bothered by that, especially if there are no consequences, but my hope is that as Fin and Sky come to learn more about the All Mighty and the light they’re seeking, maybe their actions will be less questionable. And this can be something for parents to discuss with younger readers.

The author’s writing style is…”unusual” is the best way I can think to describe it. He tends to pause the story to share background info with the reader in a very conversational tone. I never had an issue with this, but I wonder if some others might. (I don’t think the target audience would be bothered by it at all.) At least one of these interjections even provides a little humor. There are a few things that did bother me a little, though, like the confusion I had about the fact that the powers that be claim that people have just always lived underground, yet comparisons are often made to “normal” life (like underground goats have larger eyes than normal goats, and it’s mentioned at least once that undergrounders have adapted to living underground). For people who don’t really know their history or origins, it’s strange that they seem to know plenty about how life above ground might be different. I also wish that the author had interjected one less giant snake encounter, maybe including a different peril; it was just a little repetitive after a bit. That being said, the world that the author has set up is rich and intriguing and makes me want to know more about what happens to Fin and Sky.

When I read a self-published book, it is my intention not to let things that a professional editor would help with affect my view too much. I’m not saying that there is no burden of responsibility here, but it’s harder for self-published authors. So while it did not affect my rating, I will at least mention that there are several issues throughout the text—mostly comma errors and formatting issues that I couldn’t help but be distracted by. (This might be as much because I’m self-published myself and have spent a lot of time looking for and correcting formatting issues in my own books before publishing them, so most others may not notice those at all.)

This was an overall fun read. I really think that things that made me stop and scratch my head would not be noticed at all by younger readers. It’s easy for me to recommend this for kids around age 10 and up, anyone that enjoys an adventure with a positive message or fantasy with a Christian worldview. I could also easily see it being a book that parents read with/to kids even younger than that.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch

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Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch
Andy Carpenter #33
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Though Andy Carpenter dreams of one day removing the “semi” from his semi-retirement from his defense attorney career, he’s not as reluctant as usual to take on a new client when the favor is asked by a man that runs a rehab center and is viewed by all who know him as a lifesaver.

Rosenfelt hasn’t lost his touch 33 books into the series, as Andy is in prime sarcastic, mocking form in this story, and I loved every moment of it. Most of Andy’s team is as enjoyable as I’ve come to expect, though some are absent/extra quiet in this particular book. Since the team is a large part of what makes this series so fun, I’m starting to realize that Andy’s current 2nd-chair lawyer, Eddie Dowd, has almost no purpose. Andy’s always had an underling lawyer on this team who always had his own quirks, and when Hike left and Eddie joined up, I think that spot on the team mostly died. Not a big deal, just an observation I made.

My main gripe with the book, which is not uncommon for me as I listen to this series, is that I lost track of who some of the characters were. When the main culprit was revealed, my mind was completely blank on who that even was for a while, which is obviously not a moment you want that to happen. I don’t know if it would have been better if I’d been reading, rather than listening (and if so, that probably just means that my mind wandered, as it sometimes does when I’m listening to audiobooks, at just the right moments for this person to leave that blank spot). Still, the book was a lot of fun to listen to, and Grover Gardner continues to portray Andy perfectly. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: July 7, 2026

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June in Review

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I read 16 books last month, which, frankly, is insane for June for me, especially this June. Our church’s Vacation Bible School, for which I’m a co-director, is in June, and that’s always a super busy time, not just that week but leading up to it. Plus my family went on a camping trip for a weekend, and though I read a little, it wasn’t much. Even with my recent uptick in audiobook listening time, I’m really surprised by this amount. It was my 2nd-highest monthly book count for the year, and near my all-time record for page count.

Another interesting thing about my June reading is that more of the books were re-reads than I’ve ever done in a month. That was incredibly helpful in keeping me from getting way behind on my review writing, which I definitely would have done, though that’s not the reason I chose so many re-reads. It was various different reasons that all conglomerated in one convenient month.

Here are the books I read in June:

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (5 / 5)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (4 / 5)
The Man on the Bench by Hy Conrad (3 / 5)
The Rags of Time by Peter Grainger (3.5 / 5)
The Secret Winners Club by Donna Galanti (2.5 / 5)
The Raven by Mike Nappa (5 / 5)
Daican’s Heir by Jaye L. Knight (4 / 5)
Beatrice and the Basilisk by Bruce McCandless III (3.5 / 5)
A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure by Angela Bell (5 / 5)
The Oath by Frank E. Peretti (5 / 5)
Mandie and the Medicine Man by Lois Gladys Leppard (3.5 / 5)
Night Terror by Vincent Ralph (2 / 5)
The Librarians and The Lost Lamp by Greg Cox (4 / 5)
The Hot Marble by Rosemary B. Althoff (2 / 5)
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (4.5 / 5)
Murdle, Jr.: Sleuths on the Loose by G.T. Karber & Chris Grabenstein (4 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 8 re-reads. My favorite book from June was The Oath (yes, it was a re-read, but since it was my first time listening to the audiobook of my long-time favorite book, I’m counting it). I started 2 series, continued 4 series, and finished 1 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: The Secret Winners Club

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The Secret Winners Club
by Donna Galanti

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fiction

Sunny, Trev, and Vee are best friends who all have autoimmune diseases that cause visual effects such as hair loss and make them the targets of ridicule amongst some of their peers. Each of them has some kind of goal that they’re striving for, so Sunny comes up with the idea that they will band together to do whatever it takes to reach those goals.

Before I get into my review of the actual story, I feel it important to put a warning up front for anyone who is a Christian, conservative, or would otherwise be concerned about certain aspects being represented so strongly in a book aimed at young teens. Trev, the male character in the book, is gay and multiple romance storylines revolve around this (I generally feel that this level of romance is unnecessary in a book where the main characters are only 13 anyway). It actually goes beyond that, too, as Trev dabbles in transcendental meditation, which heightens my concern for teens reading the book. So please keep that in mind if you are considering this book for a teen or younger, especially, and at the very least consider reading the book along with your child and discussing these elements.

Regarding the story itself, the premise felt weak to me from the start. Our introductions to each 3 of the main characters is seeing them in their respective activity, already desiring to be the best, which in each case specifically means beating out the person who is currently considered the best. In 2 of the 3 cases, that person seems to also be the respective character’s biggest bully. Then Sunny comes up with the idea for all 3 of them to band together and try to be the best at…the activities they were already trying to be the best at and to beat…the people they were already trying to beat. But it’s different now because 1) they will do whatever it takes, 2) they will support each other, which it seems like they should have already been doing as best friends, and 3) they won’t tell anyone that they’re now trying extra hard to be the best. Why? I don’t really know.

What this really ends up meaning, though, is that they use the people that are kind enough to help them, keep secrets from parents, and decide to be bullies back to the people who had been bullies to them. They sort of learn lessons in all of this, but it all feels pretty weak to me. Then there’s another character throughout this book that I never fully understood the purpose of, other than to eventually be a sort of conscience for the main three. And a big disaster happens that also feels a little out of nowhere and lacks the punch I think it was intended for. Based on how the characters act and talk at times, I had to remind myself that they’re only 13.

I really like the idea of a book showcasing autoimmune disorders that can make kids feel “other” (or really anything that makes a kid look/act/talk different and thus leads those around them to treat them badly). I know a young girl with alopecia that has caused her hair to fall out in patches, as opposed to Sunny’s complete baldness, and I know she’s faced mockery from others her age and even, I believe, from some adults. It’s absolutely terrible, there’s no reason for it, and I really wish more people could understand the harm that bullying in general does to anyone, especially adolescents. This book could be a conversation starter for kids or young teens, though again, I don’t know that Sunny, Trev, and Vee are the best role models, even after they learn some lessons. Maybe because those lessons felt a bit too easy to me.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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May in Review

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I read 15 books last month, which has become about an average number for me since I started listening to audiobooks more. On the other hand, that number includes a few more really short books than normal, so maybe it should have been higher. Going into June, our church’s Vacation Bible School, for which I am director, is in a few weeks. My reading always takes a hit around this time.

Here are the books I read in May:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (3 / 5)
Illusion by Frank E. Peretti (5 / 5)
Shepherds & Kings by Christina Minoli (4 / 5)
In This Bright Future by Peter Grainger (4.5 / 5)
The Smartest Kid in the Universe by Chris Grabenstein (4 / 5)
Second Time Around by Nancy Moser (4 / 5)
Santa’s Little Yelpers by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
Mandie and the Trunk’s Secret by Lois Gladys Leppard
A Most Peculiar Providence by Angela Elwell Hunt (2.5 / 5)
Toofer & The Giblet by Paulette LeBlanc (4.5 / 5)
The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer (5 / 5)
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (4 / 5)
The First Measure by Keith Gregor (2 / 5)
Winter by Marissa Meyer (4 / 5)
Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveler by Amelia Tait (4 / 5)

This list includes 3 ARC and 4 re-reads. My favorite book from May (that wasn’t a re-read) was In This Bright Future. I started 2 series, continued 3 series, and finished 2 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveler

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Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveler
by Amelia Tait

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Lily Tripp is approaching her birthday, which is January 1. But when the clock strikes midnight, the new year (and her birthday) finds Lily hundreds of years in the past. This isn’t the first time this has happened—she’s lived in Roman times, Victorian times, and 1922, for a year each. But she’s spent the last year back in 2025, so she was sure it wouldn’t happen again. It did. Everyone she knows, including her cat, time travels with her, except they don’t know they’re time traveling. Lily has to figure out the world around her, while everyone else believes they’ve always been from that year.

Told through a series of diary entries, this is an intriguing and unique read. Lily has to navigate rocky friendships and persistent bullies, not to mention the perils of growing up (which sometimes includes middle school and sometimes doesn’t). The details about everyday life in past time periods, especially as seen through the eyes of someone for whom they are foreign, are a large part of what I enjoyed about this book. Even those eras that Lily “visited” before the start of the book are shared with us a bit as she recounts some of what happened to her before she started writing in the diary. The time travel is only part of the plot, though, providing interesting, changing settings for the story, which involves a lot around fitting in, growing up, and friendships. The story is charming and fun.

The diary format never really landed for me, though. For one thing, there are pages sprinkled throughout where the font is a handwriting kind of font and the background is lined paper. But the bulk of the book is diary entries presented with regular computer font and a blank background. It seems like it should have been all one or the other. Plus, both kinds of font had italics for emphasis (and quite a bit of it), but it’s really hard to write in italics; to me, at least, underlining for emphasis would have been a lot more on theme. Plus, Lily’s tendency to be writing things as they are happening just didn’t feel realistic to me. Then there’s the romance, which is taken a bit too seriously for my preference in a book where the main character is 12/13. But it kind of turned out in a way that I didn’t mind. There’s actually a smallish side character in the story that ended up intriguing me a lot by the end. I see that this is the beginning of a series, and I am really hoping to learn more about him as the series progresses. I’m also kind of hoping that the author decides to bring in some kind of explanation for the time travel; maybe that isn’t really the point of this book/series, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious! I do tend to think that boys would like this book less than girls, considering the amount of time spent on discussing Lily’s first bra (not in a graphic way, but enough to possibly make boys uncomfortable or at least bored). But overall, readers around 11-15 that are interested in history, or even those that aren’t, would probably enjoy this book a lot.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: A Most Peculiar Providence

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A Most Peculiar Providence
by Angela Hunt

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Christian fiction

Ever since he was six years old, it’s always been just Josh Donnelly and his mom. Though his mom pushes him to get out into the world more, Josh is resistant, happy with his routines and his quiet life at home. Then his mom has a stroke, and Josh is thrust out into the world. Heather Thomas has had a tumultuous life, and when she ends up in the small town of Peculiar, she can’t help but notice Josh’s kind and gentle nature when she observes him from a distance. So when she’s entrusted with finding a home for the newborn baby of another troubled young woman, she knows Josh is the perfect choice.

I’ve had a difficult time deciding on a rating for this book and even knowing how to start my review. I liked the idea of a book that is clearly an image of God’s hand guiding a situation and working it out for the best. Even though, in a fictional setting like this, it requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, I was happy to see how Hunt decided to play it all out. But it took some turns that required a bit too much suspension of disbelief. One specific event happened that never really was discussed beyond a character asking how it happened, and the response was, “I prayed.” It takes a turn toward faith healing, and since it doesn’t really have any real impact on the story, I don’t understand why it was included.

Most of this might not have been too bad, but I found the plot a bit slow. A lot of time passes in the book, which means the baby ages, and some of the details involving the baby’s development made me stop and question how they made any sense (like a baby giving a smile that, in the narrative, seems to be believe to be intentional) at around 3-5 days old. And the caregivers letting the baby that only days ago took her first steps walk (and then crawl) on a brick walkway?! And then I guess they had to clean up her scraped and bloody knees…

There’s a mystery angle that comes up in the last quarter of the book, mixed in with the climax of the main plot, that is shallow and not difficult to figure out. I wish there had been less time spent on the baby details and more on a build-up to this mystery. Josh is a steady, likeable character who makes some unexpected decisions because “God told me to,” which I wasn’t a fan of. In the end, some past trauma comes to light that I don’t recall having been hinted at throughout the rest of the book at all, and that’s another area I felt could have been built on, if other areas had been diminished. In a way, it felt like this could have been two different books. But as often happens, I’m largely in the minority so far in my rating of this book, so please check out other reviews at the link below if you’re interested in this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hunt Haven Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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April in Review

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I read 14 books last month, about an average amount for me lately, since I’ve had a little more time to listen to audiobooks lately. Heading into May and June, I expect to take a dip with Vacation Bible School, which I run at our church, coming up in June, but hopefully not too much of a dip.

Here are the books I read in April:

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Smith 4
Humanly Speaking
White
Boone 7
Curse Breaker
Carpenter 25
Sky Above
Stakeouts Strollers
Lunar 3
Shawshank
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Odd 4
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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (5 / 5)
Humanly Speaking by Michael Spencer (5 / 5)
Persons of Interest by Peter Grainger (4 / 5)
White by Ted Dekker (3.5 / 5)
The Accomplice by John Grisham (4.5 / 5)
The Curse Breaker by Jen Calonita (2 / 5)
Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
The Sky Above Us by Sarah Sundin (5 / 5)
Stakeouts and Strollers by Rob Phillips (2 / 5)
Cress by Marissa Meyer (5 / 5)
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (4.5 / 5)
Bitter Winter by Jaye L. Knight (3 / 5)
Claudia and Mean Janine by Ann M. Martin (5 / 5)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (2.5 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 4 re-reads. My favorite (fiction) book from April was Cress. I started 0 series, continued 7 series, and finished 3 series*. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Stakeouts and Strollers

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Stakeouts and Strollers
by Rob Phillips

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Charlie Shaw is a journalist-turned-private-investigator who, on his first case, ends up getting caught up in a high-stakes mystery involving a teenage girl looking for her estranged dad and a couple of shady bar owners. Meanwhile, he has a six-month-old daughter at home who isn’t sleeping through the night, so he’s running low on sleep too.

I was intrigued by the idea of this new dad trying to balance a new job with his upended home life, and I enjoy a good mystery to boot. However, I realized a little ways into this book that I just wasn’t very engaged. The main character isn’t all that interesting to me, the mystery is lackluster, and the new-baby angle is weirdly both too present and not present enough. The MC does take the baby on a couple of stakeouts with him, which seems like a questionable move, but her irregular sleeping patterns mostly just cause the MC and his wife to yawn at each other randomly. But then conversations about the baby and the MC checking up on her using a monitor app on his phone all just get a bit repetitive. I suppose I’m the wrong audience for a book that focuses this much on what life with a baby is like, because I’m about 16 years removed from that part of life and was never one that wished the helpless-baby phase could have lasted forever.

There were elements of the story that just felt off to me, too. For example, a character that is touted as being super tough and a veteran investigator, etc., lets someone get the jump on him way too easily. And the mystery seemed like it sort of plodded along, until the MC watched his baby do some particular thing and then suddenly was struck with a realization that is kept from us at first, to be revealed later—all of this is a common mystery trope, but the realization he had turned out to be a HUGE leap. Maybe I missed a vital clue, but even when it was explained, it was clear that it was a major guess made by the MC, rather than information he cleaned in passing, experience, or anything like that, coming into play. I kinda think that the target audience for this book is a bit too niche—men who have daughters and enjoy procedural mystery stories. Also, there’s quite a bit of language. I don’t think I could really recommend this book to anyone, but please check out the link below for other reviews if you’re interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Find out more about Stakeouts and Strollers

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!