Svetlana's Reads and Views

Who will win as the curtain closes on the war between the girls and the boys? Summer vacation is almost over and after one year in Buckman it looks like the Malloy girls will be going home to Ohio. The Hatford boys are relieved to finally be rid of Eddie, Beth and Caroline, also known as the Womper, the Weirdo and the Crazy. As the clock ticks away at their final days, Jake and Eddie keep up the competing, tricking and scheming until Eddie puts Jake up to the biggest dare of the year. She wants to prove once and for all that the girls are in charge. Jake can't back away and let the girls declare victory. The wacky war that began the day the girls arrived isn't over yet! For my take on this book, please click on the link here: COMING UP 3 out of 5 (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)

Wally Hatford dreams of long lazy days far away from school and Caroline Malloy. But Wally, the best speller among the Hatford brothers, gets roped into helping them with a summer newspaper project that will earn the twins school credit. What does that get Wally? When he hears scratching noises coming from Oldakers’ bookstore cellar, Mr. Oldaker trusts him to keep a secret that could turn into a scoop for their newspaper. Wally worries that the secret may be too scary to keep to himself. What’s worse, the Malloy girls have horned in on the newspaper. If there’s one person Wally won’t spill his secret to, it’s nutty Caroline Malloy. No matter what it is! For my take on this book, please click on the link here: COMING UP 3 out of 5 (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)

Name of Book: Whitley & Austin Author: Parker Paige ISBN: B00DVK36LG Publisher: Pluto Books Type of book: mystery, murder, changing self, revenge, legal, adult, Romantic suspense Year it was published: 2013 Summary: THREE beautiful redheads - THREE Motives - ONE Murder Tapping into the common wish to be someone else, if only for a short time, this suspense drama explores what happens when a woman, bored with her humdrum existence dyes her hair red and takes on the persona of her late sister. After the murder of her beloved sister, a quiet and warmhearted legal secretary, Charlie Weiss, who works for the prestigious Whitley & Austin, is in search of an escape. A few sessions with her psychologist propel her to the realization that the excitement that she seeks is in a new life, the life of her late sister. With a daring wish to continue the wild life of her late sister, she colors her hair red and dares to reinvent herself. And with this new pe...

SUMMER IS AROUND the corner, and the rivalry between the Malloys and the Hatfords is heating up! The kids have two weeks to earn money for a fundraising contest sponsored by the local hospital. Those who collect $20 or more for the new children’s wing can choose to be in the annual Strawberry Festival Parade or get all the strawberry treats they can eat. There’s only one place Caroline Malloy—wants to be: smack dab in the middle of the glamourous Strawberry Queen’s float. But how will she earn the money in such a short time? Do the Hatford brothers have moneymaking secrets that they’re not telling the girls? For my take on this book, please click on the link here: COMING UP 3 out of 5 (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)

Play ball! That’s what the sixth-grade Buckman Badgers baseball team plans on doing. Eddie Malloy and Jake Hatford hope to lead their team to the championship game the last Saturday in May. But due to a mix-up, Mrs. Hatford has to run a yard sale for the Women’s Auxiliary of the Buckman Fire Department the very same day in their very own yard! Not wanting to miss out on the game, the family elects the only nonbaseball fan in the family, Wally, to stay home and help watch over the sale tables until they return. Wally’s ticked off. On top of that, Caroline Malloy has written and will perform a play for a school project and has roped Wally into costarring with her. Let Caroline think she’s so smart. Wally has his own reason for being in the play. It looks like the Hatfords could be totally humiliated after the girls stumble upon an embarrassing item from the boys’ past. Leave it to Wally’s secret plan to turn the tables on the girls’ scheme and prove who’s really in control! Boys rule...

The race is on! The Hatford boys and the Malloy girls are ready to outdo one another again. Eddie is the first girl to ever try out for the school baseball team. Now she and Jake are competing for the same position, while Caroline and Wally compete for class spelling bee champ. Wally is itching to win, but Caroline the show-off plans to be number one. As if that wasn’t enough, the kids decide to race bottles down the rising Buckman River to see whose will go the farthest by the end of the month. The winner will be queen or king for the day while the other kids act as servants. But neither team trusts the other. When the girls go down to the river to try and capture the boys’ bottles, Caroline falls into the rising water. It looks like those Malloy girls may be in over their heads this time! For my take on this book, please click on the link here: COMING UP 3 out of 5 (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forge...

Name of Book: Titled Windmills Author: Ann M. Beardsley ISBN: 978-1490536859 Publisher: Createspace Type of book: Don Quixote, alternate universe, death, living, purpose, 1600s, Spain, quest, knighthood Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Imagine Don Quixote as an intelligent detective in 1603 Spain who is simply pretending to be crazy--because being declared insane just happens to be the best way to finagle his entrance into the dreaded Santuario de San Jose to rescue his childhood friend. Sancho accompanies him to keep him from getting into more trouble, and a pesky journalist (think 1600s tabloid reporter) is following them both. Going after windmills? Only to escape questions from the journalist. But he can still dream of Dulcinea, the love of his life. Follow Don Quixote as he is swept from the tedium of daily life and into an adventure of intrigue and betrayal. There's no one he can trust but Sancho, and even his old friends have secrets. For my take on ...

Book to be reviewed: Hungry what eighty ravenous guys taught me about life, love and the power of good food by Darlene Barnes (TLC Book tour, August 22nd, 2013) Newly arrived in Seattle, Darlene Barnes stumbles on a job ad for a cook at the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity on the University of Washington campus, a prospect most serious food professionals would automatically reject. But Barnes envisions something other than kegs and corn dogs; she sees an opportunity to bring fresh, real food to an audience accustomed to "Asian Surprise" and other unidentifiable casseroles dropped off by a catering service. And she also sees a chance to reinvent herself, by turning a maligned job into meaningful work of her own creation: "I was the new girl and didn't know or care about the rules." Naively expecting a universally appreciative audience, Barnes finds a more exasperatingly challenging environment: The kitchen is nasty, the basement is scary, and the customers are no...

Name of Book: The Green Hills of Home Author: Emma Bennet ISBN: 9781301217090 Publisher: Amazon digital services Type of book: England, Wales, countryisde, publishing, sick mother, hospital, mortgage, writing, life, convictions Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Gwen Jones, a young Welsh writer, is desperate to save the family farmhouse from being sold from under her critically ill mother and herself. When she lands a lucrative three-book deal with an eminent publisher, she thinks her problems are all over. However, Gwen's need to be near her sick mother means she’s unable to travel to London to work with her devilishly desirable editor, John Thatcher, and he must come and stay with her in Wales. Handsome and eminently capable, cosmopolitan John is used to getting his own way and has plans for the future which certainly don’t include being distracted by pretty Welsh girls; nevertheless when he journeys into the country to work with Gwen it’s not long before he...