An Appetite for Miracles

A stunning teen novel in verse that was mouthwatering and profound. Danna is slowly losing her grandfather to dementia, it's taking away her favorite person and she is determined to hang on to him for as long as she can. She cooks his favorite meals and gets the food he so lovingly wrote about when he was a food writer. Sometimes he comes back for a minute, sometimes an hour, sometimes it has no effect. 

Raul is a mediocre student who just wants to play the guitar so he can forget about the fact that his mom is locked up in prison. When he and his uncle go to Danna's house to sing and play guitar as part of music therapy he and Danna form an instant connection. Their teenaged lives are in turmoil and through food, prayer, and friendship things will work out. Not the way they planned it, but they will work out. Beautiful writing; it's impossible not to get hungry while reading this. It's practically a love letter to food and the memories it can store for us. 

Lost and Found

While not technically part of a series, Lost and Found takes place in the same quaint Amish community as A Season on the Wind and Anything But Plain. So while it can easily read as a stand alone, it's nice to see characters from novels past. In Lost and Found, Micah and Trudy discover that their beloved pond filled with birds (they are avid bird watchers) is about to be bulldozed to make way for a neighboring Amish Church. They are about to lose their livelihood and a big piece of their community. On top of that, Trudy's older sister has started leaving voicemails for Micah asking him to rescue her. She ran away a while back to become a singer and no one has heard from her since. He's determined to somehow save her himself, rather than let the Bishop or her family know. Micah has so much on his plate he can't even begin to focus on trying to save Wonder Lake. He's irritable and unable to focus on anything, not even birding and especially not on Trudy. Wholesome, sweet with a side of intrigue. Can't go wrong with Amish romance! 

On Moonberry Lake

A cute and charming book with a cast of unforgettable characters. When Cora's mother dies she finds out she inherited her grandparent's amazing lake house. She had fond memories of going there as a child but that all stopped when she turned seven. From then on she and her mother were always on the move, something she continued to do as an adult. Cora never stayed anywhere long and never put down roots.  With her mother dead, she has no family left to ask questions to. There are so many things that don't make sense. Her grandparent's lake house is hers as long as she stays there for one year, it is in rough shape and needs to be gutted, but she quickly finds herself warming to the job. Her kindly neighbor Sam helps her hire a grumpy handywoman by the name of Widgey and soon the old decrepit house is coming back to life. The physical work keeps her body busy and meeting all the interesting neighbors and townfolks start to keep her mind engaged. For the first time in a long time she is happy and content. Can Moonberry Lake be the place where she finally settles down? A charming inspirational read. 

The Intern

I'm not generally one for legal thrillers but this one was surprisingly well done! Told from two alternating perspectives, The Intern follows Madison, a young Harvard law student, and Judge Kathryn Conroy. When Madison's younger brother is locked up for a serious crime he did not commit their mother begs her to try to find out more about his case with her connections. Conveniently, the judge who sentenced her brother is also an adjunct professor at Harvard and Madison applies for an internship with her. What she uncovers leads her to believe her brother wasn't lying and that he really was framed. Judge Conroy isn't as squeaky clean as everyone believes. She's got some big secrets to hide and wonders if Madison will be the key to getting out of the mess she's in. Fast paced and thrilling, this legal thriller has mob action, murder, and more. The ending is also very satisfying!

Hunt for the Skinwalker

OMG This book couldn't end soon enough. It was SUCH a slog. If you're looking for the actual rigorous science testing, data, and methodology to back up all the bigfoot and UFO sightings at this little ranch in Utah DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH! There is literally none of that!! It's a bunch of he said, she said weird sightings of paranormal activity. And it's not just at this ranch; the author feels the need to bring up cases all over the US and that does nothing to add to the story. I guess he's just trying to prove weird shit happens all over?! Stupid, long, repetitive. God I wish the aliens would beam this author up into their UFO. 

Dance Upon the Air

WOOF! This book was.... not good. Helen is running away from a violent past. She faked her death so her wealthy, influential, and super abusive husband would let her go. She ran and hid for months, finally settling on Three Sisters Island. There she reinvented herself as Nell and started baking and cooking at the local bookstore. She quickly made friends, caught the eye of the local sheriff, oh and discovered she was a witch (honestly - that witch aspect added nothing to the story for me, and I like witchy stuff - I feel as if it were thrown in as an afterthought). Things are going well, but there is something ominous on the horizon, will her husband discover she is alive? The thing that really ticked me off the most about this dang book was the fact that the "hero" - the local sheriff, was such a total dickhead! A big ol' unsympathetic macho jerk. She ran away from one loser and fell straight into the arms of another one. UGH!!

The Running Grave

I was ENGROSSED from the beginning. Galbraith's writing and intricate plots keep getting better and better and I could not put this down. I literally stayed up until 2am last night to finish it like a crazy person. Strike and Robin's latest case is from a concerned father who just want to get their adult son back. Will Edensor has been taken in by the Universal Humanitarian Church (picture Scientology, but worse) and is unwilling to leave. Will has a delicate mental state and is easily coerced so they are sure that he is being taken advantage of. Robin agrees to go under cover and join the ranks of the UHC and what she discovers is far worse then they had imagined. They knew it was a cult, but what is going on at the farm is beyond the pale. It's dark, fucked up, and omg this book was intense. Such  a great twisty read. I am already sad that I have to wait upwards of a year for the next book!

Someone is Always Watching

I get that teen novels are supposed to be a little over the top but this is freaking delusional. Maybe as a tee I could have put my blinders on and believed a concept like this, but it gets more and more ridiculous the more you keep reading. I can only suspend belief for so long. Blythe goes to a special prep school funded by her parent's employers, in fact almost every kid there has family that works "up in the labs." When Blythe's best friend snaps at school one day and starts ranting and raving about the cameras everywhere, Blythe is concerned. This is unlike her friend, she vows to get to the bottom of it and decides to eavesdrop on the principal's conversation after school and that is all she remembers. She finds out later that her principal killed himself in his office (suspicious) and no one is allowed to see Gabrielle. She and her friends Tanya and Tucker know that something else is going on and will do anything to figure out what so they can help their friend. Over the top and super unbelievable. I literally can't.