The Swift Boys and Me

Reviewed by: Megan Moynihan - Walker Memorial Public Library, Westbrook, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 7, 2015

Review

Nola Sutton is an eleven year old girl whose best friends in the world are her next door neighbors, the Swift boys. Brian is the oldest brother, Kevin the youngest and then there’s Canaan, Nola’s “best-best friend” and classmate. It is the very beginning of summer vacation, when Mr. Swift abandons his family, leaving the three boys devastated. Nola struggles to be there for the boys while trying to get to the bottom of their father’s disappearance but meanwhile Nola is facing challenges of her own. She finds out her mother is finally marrying her long-time boyfriend and Nola will be moving out of the neighborhood by the end of the summer. So when Brian takes off to stay with friends, Kevin stops talking altogether, and Canaan starts hanging out with the neighborhood bullies, Nola finds herself wishing things could be like they once were. This is a story of a young girl on the cusp of adolescence trying to come to terms with changes in her life, some positive and some painful. With good pacing and well-developed characters, this book keeps the reader engaged. Nola is brave, sweet, and thoughtful but at certain moments, perhaps a little too insightful about her emotions and experiences to be believable for a character her age. Despite this one aspect of Nola’s character, I found myself rooting for her as she learns how to navigate the difficult changes in her life. I would recommend this book to children ages ten and up as Nola’s experiences could be relevant to anyone who has struggled with friendships and change.

Overall Book Score: very good

About the Book

Author:

Keplinger, Kody

Illustrator: ,

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Book Type: chapter book fiction

Genre: realistic fiction

Audience: grades 4-6,grades 7-9

Binding Type: library binding

Binding Quality: very good

ISBN: 9780545562003

Price: 16.99

The Kiss of Deception

The Kiss of Deception

Reviewed by: Megan Moynihan - Walker Memorial, Westbrook, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 4, 2015

Review

Seventeen year old Princess Lia of the kingdom of Morrighan bucks centuries of tradition, fleeing her own wedding to a prince she has never met. She settles in the village of Terravin where she finally feels at home and revels in the freedom of making her own choices, all the while attempting to blend in as a barmaid. When two handsome strangers arrive at the inn where she works, Lia soon finds herself falling for one of them. What Lia doesn’t know is that one of the strangers is the jilted prince while the other is a dangerous assassin that intends to kill her. Meanwhile Lia’s choice to desert her wedding has put the alliance between the kingdoms of Morrighan and Dalbreck at risk and has left the kingdoms vulnerable to the gathering armies of Venda, a third kingdom said to be made up of savage barbarians.

For more than half of this book, the story is mostly focused on the developing relationships between Lia and the two handsome strangers. The author keeps the reader constantly guessing which character is the prince and which is the assassin which is fun for a while but not necessarily important to the larger plot of the book. The true action begins when Lia hears news of an attack on the kingdom of Morrighan that was led by the barbarians of Venda. Guilt-ridden, she decides to finally face her duties as princess but en route to Morrighan she is kidnapped and a dangerous journey ensues where Lia begins to realize the grave danger her kingdom is in. At times, Lia’s character seems somewhat selfish and self-absorbed, putting her best-friend in danger to realize her own dream and her initial lack of concern for the political stability of her kingdom but as the story progresses, Lia begins to develop into a person of stronger character. I am hopeful that the next book in the series will answer some of the questions and plot points left hanging at the end of the first book.

Overall Book Score: good

About the Book

Author:

Pearson, Mary E.

Illustrator: ,

Publisher: Henry Holt

Book Type: chapter book fiction

Genre: fantasy

Audience: grades 7-9,grades 10-12

Binding Type: library binding

Binding Quality: very good

ISBN: 978080509923251799

Price: 17.99

Very Bad Things

Very Bad Things

Reviewed by: Megan Moynihan - Walker Memorial, Westbrook, Choose Library District

Review Date: May 7, 2015

Review

Katie thinks her boyfriend, Mark, is a dream-come-true. He's popular, sweet and a hockey star at Whitney Prep where they are both seniors looking forward to graduation. Katie practically has their future together planned out, when suddenly, a picture surfaces of Mark in a compromising position with another girl. Mark swears he is innocent, that the picture is not what it seems. But when the girl in the picture turns up dead, Mark finds himself the prime suspect in her murder. Katie doesn't know who to believe- Mark who swears to his innocence or her best friend Tessa who has hated Katie's relationship with Mark from the start and is convinced he is guilty of the crime. When Katie starts to dig into the mystery behind the death of the girl in the picture, dark secrets begin to surface that she never could have imagined, leading her to wonder about the people in her life she thought she knew. This book was fast-paced and a well-plotted page-turner. I enjoyed reading from the viewpoint of different characters but I did feel that Katie and Mark's characters fell a little flat. Being the two main characters, I would have liked to see more complexity. I especially would have liked to see Katie’s character have more of a backbone. When I read female protagonists who become so obsessed with the object of their affection that they abandon their friends and other interests in their life, it makes me question the message being sent to young female readers. Tessa, on the other hand, was a stronger character and seemed much more complex than Katie despite some of her obvious shortcomings. Overall, I think this book is a worthy purchase. It will appeal to readers who enjoy a well-plotted murder mystery with unexpected twists and turns or readers who enjoy prep school stories about friendships and relationships.

Overall Book Score: good