Never Been Kissed is the latest in a long string of books from Melody Carlson.  In this book, Elise is starting school in a new neighborhood.  She finds herself attracted to a boy who already has a girlfriend.  However, this boy, Asher, starts communicating to her via email, asking for racy photos.  Elise finds herself tangled up in a legal matter where supposedly she sent Asher a naked photo via text message, which she definitely did not.  Elise must figure out who sent a picture out that looks like her and why. I really enjoyed this book.  It was a fast read and definitely relevant to recent topics in the world. While Elise didn't send any photos via text, it was good for the teens reading this book to know that sending such photos, even of themselves, is considered illegal and can result in arrest. Although it's pretty obvious who is doing the emailing and pretending to be Asher, I was still interested in seeing just who was behind these actions.  Part of this story was … [Read more...]

The Rhythm of Secrets by Patti Lacy is the lifelong story of a woman of various names.  We first meet Sheila as she is waiting for a very important meeting with a person she has longed to meet her entire life: the son she gave up for adoption.  Her life story is told to him and then she finds out that he is in love with a woman who is a prostitute in Thailand and is desperate to get her out.  Sheila decides that she owes it to her son to help him save his loved one. Honestly, this book was a bit hard to get into.  The first chapter or so was very vague and I really couldn't tell what was supposed to be going on.  However, once we start learning about Sheila's past, I became much more interested. I have to say that the part I found most interesting in this book was Sheila's time at the Catholic home for unwed mothers.  For some reason, this subject matter is fascinating to me.  It was so sad that Sheila couldn't hold her baby.  This is a far cry from today's adoption … [Read more...]

You may remember a while back when I reviewed The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher.  Well, I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in the blog tour for the third installment in the Lancaster County Secrets series, The Search.  First, I'll let the publisher tell you about the plot: Fifteen years ago, Lainey O'Toole made a split-second decision. She couldn't have known that her choice would impact so many. Now in her mid-twenties, she is poised to go to culinary school when her car breaks down in Stoney Ridge, the very Amish town in which her long-reaching decision was made, forcing her to face the shadowed past. Bess Reihl is less than thrilled to be spending the summer at Rose Hill Farm with her large and intimidating grandmother, Bertha. It quickly becomes clear that she is there to work the farm--and work hard. The labor is made slightly more tolerable by the time it affords Bess to spend with the handsome hired hand, Billy Lapp. But he only has eyes for a … [Read more...]