Tag: Middle Grade

Review: A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying (Royal Guide to Monster Slaying #1) by Kelley Armstrong My Rating: 4 stars Genre: Fantasy Age Category: Middle Grade Blurb: Twelve-year-old Rowan is next in line to be Queen; her twin brother, Rhydd, to be Royal Monster Hunter. Rowan would give anything to switch places, but the oldest child is always next in line, even if she is only older by two minutes. She resigns herself to admiring her monster-hunting aunt’s glorious sword and joining her queen mother for boring diplomatic teas. But tragedy shatters the longstanding rule, and Rowan finds herself hunting the […]

Posted January 23, 2020 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 6 Comments

Review: The Summer of Bad Ideas by Kiera Stewart

The Summer of Bad Ideas by Kiera Stewart Rating: 3 stars Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary Blurb: In this funny, big-hearted friendship story, perfect for fans of Wendy Mass and Linda Urban, twelve-year-old Edie and her impossibly cool cousin, Rae, set out to complete a mysterious list of “Good Ideas for Summertime” that their eccentric late grandmother wrote back when she was their age. But good ideas? Most of them seem like bad ideas. Reckless. Foolish. Ridiculous. Still, by accomplishing everything on the list, rule-abiding Edie feels certain that she can become the effortlessly brave adventurer she dreams of being, just […]

Posted May 2, 2017 by Lola in Contemporary, Review / 10 Comments

Review: Sunborn Rising Beneath the Fall by Aaron Safronoff

Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall (Sunborn Rising #1) by Aaron Safronoff Rating: 4 stars Blurb: Cerulean is on the brink of collapse. The decay wasn’t fast, it wasn’t obvious, but now the world stands on the precipice. Woven forests floating on an ocean around a star, Cerulean’s once vibrant treescape has grown dim over generations of arboreal life, and the creatures of the forest have forgotten the light. Barra, a young, willful Listlespur, finds her late father’s hidden journal, and reads about his discovery of Cerulean’s brighter past and the mysterious plague he believed has all but destroyed it. He […]

Posted June 29, 2016 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 8 Comments

Review: The Case of the Wilted Broccoli by Will Hertling

The Case of the Wilted Broccoli by Will Hertling Rating: 4 stars Blurb: Willow and her brothers, Elon and Linden, want to build the best science fair project ever, and their plan to build a quadcopter that can fly itself is sure to win. But they’re up against stiff competition, including Willow’s best friends. The science fair takes an unexpected backseat when students at Mt. Hood Elementary start getting sick, including Willow. Everyone thinks it’s just a stomach flu, but Willow suspects there’s something wrong with the school lunches. Willow, Elon, and Linden will have to work together, using their […]

Posted June 18, 2016 by Lola in Mystery, Review / 4 Comments

Review: True Colors by Krysten Lindsay Hager

True Colors (Landry’s True Colors #1) by Krysten Lindsay Hager Blurb; Landry Albright just wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have exciting things going on in their lives. She wants to stand out, but also wants to fit in, so she gives in when her two best friends, Ericka and Tori, push her into trying out for a teen reality show modeling competition with them. Landry goes in nervous, but impresses the judges enough to make it to the next round. However, Ericka and Tori get cut and basically “unfriend” her on Monday at […]

Posted May 21, 2016 by Lola in Contemporary, Review / 6 Comments

Review: Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle by Paula Berinstein

Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle (Amanda Lester, Detective #3) by Paula Berinstein Blurb: Purple rainbows, a mysterious crypt, and pots of gold . . . Things are not going well for Amanda and the secret detective school. A priceless artifact has disappeared, a dangerous hacker is manipulating matter, and zombies are being seen all over the Lake District. Then the real trouble starts. When her cousins go missing and her friend Clive is kidnapped, Amanda is forced to turn to someone she’d rather not deal with: her old boyfriend Scapulus Holmes. But then he vanishes too. Now’s she’s […]

Posted February 24, 2016 by Lola in Mystery, Review / 19 Comments

Review: Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis by Paula Berinstein

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis (Amanda Lester, Detective #2) by Paula Berinstein Blurb: If only Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson weren’t such a dork . . . There’s a new student at the Legatum Continuatum School for the Descendants of Famous Detectives and Amanda is supposed to work with him. Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock and he’s crazy about her. Unfortunately she thinks he’s a dork and would rather die than have anything to do with him. But when the kids discover a dead body encrusted with strange living crystals, Amanda realizes she needs Holmes’s help. […]

Posted January 25, 2016 by Lola in Mystery, Review / 12 Comments