Big Foot Hunters Pick: Sasquatch, Love and Other Imaginary Things

Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things
by Becky Aldredge and Carrie DuBois-Shaw
Merit Press
2017
270 pages
ISBN: 9781507202807

A fun frolic of a rom-com meets reality show and Jane Austen, Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things is a sure winner!

Sam's Jewish family is big on Bigfoot and she is happy to help her father on "Myth Gnomers," a reality television show, to hunt Sasquatch. Her dad is an expert in the field of cryptozoology and a respected sasquatch hunter in their home state of Ohio. Sam's sisters and mother go along in support, but her father relies on Sam in all his hunting adventures. While Sam's sisters preen for the camera, Sam's mother has trouble keeping her lipstick on her lips and off her teeth. The cameras catch every cringe-worthy moment and make Sam aware of how unrealistic reality t.v. really is.

The family meets their match when they go head to head with a fancy prep school team whose equipment probably cost more than Sam's family's car. Sam was excited by the prize, thinking she could use the money for college, but she is even more determined to win when she finds out their home is in danger of repossession. If  she can help her father win that prize, they can stay in their home!

Sam doesn't trust the other team. They are a bunch of rich, spoiled brats she believes until she realizes that Devon, like her, is a person and has his own problems. The romance blooms and it is precious but not too sweet.

Readers will love Sam and her no-nonesense view of television and popularity.

Recommended grade 7 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Back to School Book Giveaway: Con Academy

I have FIVE free copies of Con Academy up for grabs! Score your free copy! To enter, post a comment on the blog. Include your first name, city, state and email contact. Deadline for posts is noon MST on September 10. Winners are chosen randomly by Randomizer. Winners will be notified on September 10. Please check you email on that date. Winners have 24 hours to respond to an email from me. Books will ship from New York. Good luck! Start posting!

 

School Library Journal says:

"This plot-driven narrative is entertaining and the characters are likable." ---School Library Journal

 

 

My review (from blog post on 7/27/15):


Once you pick up Con Academy, you won't put it down!  What a fun, conniving jaunt! This speedy read is all-out raucous, double and triple crosses abound, and readers will root for Will to come out on top.


Will Shea is a new transfer student at the  prestigious Connaughton Academy, a prep school that caters to America's ultra rich and fabulous. As a scholarship recipient, it is only natural that people want to know more about him, and Will has an extraordinary story to tell. His father and mother, missionaries on a small island in the Pacific, are  killed. After their death, Will's church collects money to send him to America to study.

Except that's not the real story. Will (Humbert) is the son of career cons. He's been a con artist since age eight. After his mother died, Will's father spirals out of control and Will runs away. In order to get into the Academy, Will fakes transcripts and breaks into computer files. His con seems to be working...until he meets Andrea. She recognizes a con when she sees one. That's because Andrea is a con herself.

....
I loved Con Academy. Teen readers will,  too! My one obstacle with this book is the cover. The stack of poker chips with devil horns and a tail does not do the book justice. This is one case that readers should NOT judge the book by its so-so cover.

Highly, highly recommended for anyone who loves a good con! Will is a loveable character with spunk and humor.  Fans of Ally Carter will love Will Shea.

Grade 7-up.

Tricky Pick: Con Academy

Con Academy
by Joe Schreiber
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2015
236 pages
ISBN: 9780544320208

Available August 4, 2015


Once you pick up Con Academy, you won't put it down!  What a fun, conniving jaunt! This speedy read is all-out raucous, double and triple crosses abound, and readers will root for Will to come out on top.


Will Shea is a new transfer student at the  prestigious Connaughton Academy, a prep school that caters to America's ultra rich and fabulous. As a scholarship recipient, it is only natural that people want to know more about him, and Will has an extraordinary story to tell. His father and mother, missionaries on a small island in the Pacific, are  killed. After their death, Will's church collects money to send him to America to study.

Except that's not the real story. Will (Humbert) is the son of career cons. He's been a con artist since age eight. After his mother died, Will's father spirals out of control and Will runs away. In order to get into the Academy, Will fakes transcripts and breaks into computer files. His con seems to be working...until he meets Andrea. She recognizes a con when she sees one. That's because Andrea is a con herself.

Will and Andrea agree to the ultimate contest. Whoever can take dirt bag Brandt Rush  for ten thousand dollars will be the winner and the loser must leave the school. Game on!

Then...Will's real father shows up and threatens to ruin his school career and his con. Will can do nothing but let his father in on it, but he also asks his uncle Roy for help. Uncle Roy is one of the best cons in the country and all  up and coming cons look up  to him as a god. They decide to con Brandt using an online poker game--that they can fix, of course.

Andrea is another fly in the ointment. Will needs to manage the con, get rid of his useless dad, watch out for Andrea and study for classes. May the best con win.

I loved Con Academy. Teen readers will,  too! My one obstacle with this book is the cover. The stack of poker chips with devil horns and a tail does not do the book justice. This is one case that readers should NOT judge the book by its so-so cover.

Highly, highly recommended for anyone who loves a good con! Will is a loveable character with spunk and humor.  Fans of Ally Carter will love Will Shea.

Grade 7-up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

High School Pick: Winger

Winger
by Andrew Smith
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
2013
439 pages

Winger is a top-notch YA read that will resonate with readers long after they have finished it. It is that rare book that speaks to all teens, male and female. Who doesn't love an underdog? And an underdog like Ryan Dean West speaks to the humanity in all of us.

 Ryan Dean West is a scrawny 14 year old junior, younger than others in his class, but he's scrappy and fierce both on and off the rugby field at Pine Mountain. He's rooming with Chas--a real zero and the typical "meathead" jock-- in O-Hall (Opportunity Hall); O-Hall is the place the "really bad kids" are sent to on campus. Ryan Dean is sent there for hacking a cell phone account. Ryan Dean knows he has to watch his back in O-Hall and around Chas in order to stay alive.

Ryan Dean is clever and quick. He tells readers that at Pine Mountain, kids can't have cell phones or electronics. Ryan Dean says, "...the kids here actually talk to each other. And they write notes, too. I know these are both ridiculously primitive human behaviors, but what else can you do when your school forces you to live like the xxxx-ing  Donner party?"( xxxx-expletive)

Coach McAuliffe, the rugby coach, is from England and he is short (like Ryan Dean) and a former winger. Ryan Dean describes his coaching style, coach "...could talk the most civilized-sounding xxxx you would ever hear, and he could cuss you out with the most vicious obscenities and it would sound like he was reading from Shakespeare."

Ryan Dean describes the O-house chaparones Mr. Farrow and Mrs. Singer as "Satan's minions." When Ryan Dean isn't slamming into people on the rugby field, he's hoping to get Annie Altman, his best friend, to think of him in a romantic way. Friendships are tested when Ryan Dean strays, but good friend and rugby teammate Joey tries to keep him on track.

Winger is a terrific YA novel that will entertain and amuse readers, but it will also force them to face bullying, teenage cruelty and angst, anxiety, depression, fear, fitting in, and friendship. Be prepared to laugh and cry with Ryan Dean.

The ending is unexpected and traumatic; don't cheat and read the ending first. Get to know Ryan Dean. Live in his world, in his heart and in his head. You'll be a better person for it.

If you know any reluctant reader, this is THE book for him/her. Boys will empathize with Ryan Dean and girls will love him.

Highly, highly recommended grade 9-up. Language, mature situations, drinking, gambling, bad prep school behavior.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Gothic Redux: Thorn Abbey

Thorn Abbey
by Nancy Ohlin
Simon Pulse
2013
304 pages

Available May 2013

Read an excerpt here


A recent trend in YA lit is to base a novel set in the present but inspired by a classic novel. Ten is inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Frankenstein's Daughters is based on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, and The Madman's Daughter is based on The Island of Dr. Moreau. Thorn Abbey is the newest novel to follow this trend.

Tragic, twisted, and downright terrific, Thorn Abbey has elements of its inspiration,  Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. There is the tragic death of a beautiful young girl--named Becca, Tess, a new arrival to the school, a Gothic setting--a creepy, old but revered ivy-covered private school, Max--a brooding young man, a mystery, a ghost or maybe two ghosts, Devon, Tess's roommate who has serious issues, and minor characters who thwart Tess's romance with Max, and  finally there's a lonely cliff overlooking the surf.

Tess and Max seem to be falling in love even though Devon, Tess's roommate, does everything she can to sabatage them. When Tess shows up at a formal dance wearing the same dress that Becca wore  last year, Max comes unglued. Devon gave Tess the dress and told her to wear it. Poor, unknowing Tess. She loved the dress and didn't know that the conniving Devon gave her the dead girl's dress (the heroine of Rebecca showed up at a formal party in dead Rebecca's dress).

Tess doesn't know what's going on but Devon is acting strangely. Devon talks to herself and disappears overnight. Tess is worried--is her roommate psychotic? Strange warnings begin to appear in the dorm. Tess starts snooping around. She finds tons of prescription drugs. Maybe Devon is overmedicated. Is she being treated by a psychiatrist? Tess opens a memory box that Devon keeps. In it, she finds Becca's diary. The secrets in the diary shed a whole new light on Becca's squeaky clean image.

I have only one problem with this book. Why is it that so many YA authors still stereotype and vilify librarians? Devon refers to the head librarian as "Hale the Whale" --"for obvious reasons." Why does the head librarian of Thorn Abbey have to be overweight and out of shape?  Nancy Ohlin, I call "foul!"

Recommended grade 9-up. Thorn Abbey is a little bit Gossip Girls, a little bit Mean Girls and a lot Rebecca. Devon is tawdry and downright trampy. Profanity, underage drinking and drug use. Goodness, how do those private school kids have time to study?!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

YA Thriller: Shadow Hills

Shadow Hills
by Anastasia Hopcus
Egmont, 2010
400 pages
Available in paperback May 11, 2011

Persephone finds it impossible to live in L.A. following the drowning death of her sister Athena. When she comes across her sister's last diary entry, Phe is sure of one thing: she has to go to Devinish Prep School in Shadow Hills, Massachuttes. Her sister was compelled by it and now Phe must discover why.

Devenish Prep is typical New England at its repressive and uptight best: red brick buildings with stern facades complete with stone turrets, tree-lined walkways, ivy covered dorms, dowdy student uniforms, and stiffling studies.

The town holds secrets: weird people with strange abilities, students who can speed read and know all the answers without ever having to study, people who can bend metal.

Phe dreams of a creepy cemetary and later discovers the place behind the church. A dreamy boy named Zach keeps showing up everywhere Phe goes. Is he following her?

Secrets are kept in Shadow Hills. Families are tight and tighter-lipped. Phe discovers some history in the museum and finds a secret room in the library where the history of the town is buried. An epidemic killed nearly all the town in the 1700s, but those who survived passed on an incredible genetic map. Their descendants continue to live in Shadow Hills, and they will silence Phe at all costs!

Exciting, suspenseful, and strange, Shadow Hills is a great read for those who enjoyed the book Ruined. Goth lovers and mystery lovers will also probably like this one.

Recommended grades 9-up. Underage partying, marijuana, mention of sex.


FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in Austin, Texas, at the Texas Library Association Conference. I was thrilled to meet and greet the author and her fellow author and signing buddy Christina Mandelski (both Texans!). I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

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