Children's Book

 

****

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin

If you like puzzles, scrambled words, and other brain teasers, check out this book!  Thrust into a contest to win his school $50,000, Winston Breen, along with his two best friends, can't wait to begin.    Dmitri Simon, multimillionaire and snack company owner, has set up the contest in places all over town, from the planetarium to the amusement park.  Wintson had expected plenty of tough competitors, but he had not expected flat tires, moved signs, and an attack!  Can he solve the puzzles AND stay one step ahead of the cheater?   Fast-paced, full of twists and turns, and mystery, it was hard to put this book down!  For even more fun, the puzzles are included for the reader to solve (answers in the back).

Adult Book

****

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

Thinking that life has to be better with her mother, who left her when she was three, than with her overly strict grandmother, Starla runs away.  Runs away from her grandmother, the bully that always gets her in trouble, her life of always wanting more.  But when she is picked up by Eula, a black woman with a white baby, Starla needs all the grit she can muster to stay alive.  With characters you feel you have known all your life, together with the drama of real life in the South in 1963, makes this story one to put on the top of your list.

Children's Book

*****

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death is busy during the Holocaust.  Liesel Meminger, within the span of a few days, watches her brother die in her arms and is given away by her mother to a couple she has never met.  As a foster child, she learns to steal for things they need.  But when she encounters books, her stealing takes on a new meaning as she bolsters the spirits of her neighbors with her stolen books during bombing raids.  The superb metaphorical descriptions of life in Germany give the reader a crystal vision of scenes and emotions.  Told from the unexpected point of view of Death, this intensely rich story is definitely worth reading.

YA/Teen

*****

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the Cinderella mechanic, lives in a futuristic world of humans and androids, but she is neither.  New Beijing is buckling under a deadly plague, and they are looking for people like her on which to conduct research tests.  But when she accidentally meets the handsome prince in the market place, her life becomes entangled in an impossible romance, imprisonment, and an intergalactic struggle for supremacy.  It is up to her to protect her world's future, but before she can do that she has to discover the secrets of her past.  Strong, resilient, and independent, I loved the main character!  Romance, sadness, danger, adventure--this story has it all.  It was hard to put this book down, but I was disappointed in the ending when it stopped at the height of climax and I didn't have the next book, Scarlet, to pick up and continue reading! Recommended for young adults and adults who love adventure.

Adult Book

*****

The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz

Young love and denied love weave a tangled web in The Ring and the Crown.  Princess Marie-Victoria has accepted an arranged marriage to save her country from war, but she is in love with someone in her service.  The prince, to whom she is to marry, is engaged but breaks the engagement for the power he will reap by marrying Marie-Victoria.  At the Bal du Drap D’or, the Ball of the Gold Cloth, the new engagement of Princess Marie-Victoria and Prince Leopold will be announced.  However, the prince’s first engagement Isabelle, shows up at the ball, as well as Ronan Astor, the beautiful American determined secure a marriage which will save her family’s estate.  Desperate to marry for love rather than duty, Marie-Victoria begs her childhood friend, Aelwyn, daughter of the royal mage, to form a perilous plan that endangers not only the entire kingdom but the fate of the monarchy.  An excellent mix of England’s royal history and magic and the pursuit of love.

Children's Book

****

Plant a Pocket of Prairie by Phyllis Root

Beautiful, simplistic watercolor illustrations, along with a wealth of wild prairie information, make this book an important addition to any classroom which studies the food web.  Along with the food web, an important lesson in American pioneer history could easily make a comprehensive classroom unit.

Adult Book

*****

Archetype by M. D. Waters

Intriguing! M. D. Waters tantalizingly weaves hints and pieces of a puzzle throughout the book, yet never enough.

Emma wakes to blinding light and words she does not remember any more. “I am your wife,” she repeats to the handsome, seductive man who visits her room every day. He provides her with memories, but her dreams tell her something different. Why does she dream of war and camps where girls are “trained” to be wives and beautiful beaches—and another man? None of these are a reality in the world she now lives in.

An inner voice tells her to not reveal her dreams, not even to her husband, Declan, who she begins to fall in love with. That is, until Noah shows up at her art show. Now there are two men in her life. One is her husband and one is her enemy, but she doesn’t remember which is which.

A sequel, Prototype, is due to be published in July, 2014, and it is a must read for me!