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Christen (28 KP) rated Before He Kills in Books

Dec 13, 2020

Before He Kills

Blake Pierce | 2016 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Mystery (1 more)

Suspense

A body is found in the middle of a cornfield in Nebraska. Detective Mackenzie White is on the case. All the men are intimidated by her. She is pretty and young. She is good at thinking outside the box and most of the men are older and are stubborn with their old school police work. Not only does she not have the support of her department, but her family also is a mess and doesn't really have anything to do with her and her boyfriend is a man child that doesn't want to move forward with life or the relationship. She believes this a serial killer so the FBI is called to help. It was a good read. Nothing to write home about. It's a typical murder mystery. I would recommend it to someone who wants a short read or is new to thrillers and murder mysteries.

Kudos

Seduced by Shark Shifters III: Tom's Turn

Rafe Jadison

10.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Tom Whitmore’s feelings for Logan White began the first day he saw him back in middle school, but...

Adult Paranormal Romance Erotica

Runaways, Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever

Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The Runaways are a family again! But a family needs a guardian, and the only Runaway who's got her...

Piercing the Darkness (Darkness, #2)

Frank E. Peretti

9.3 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (ESV) It all...

Tokyo Revengers

(0 Ratings) Rate It

TV Show Watch

Takemichi Hanagaki’s second year of middle school was the highest point in his life. He had...

Tokyo Revengers Anime

Louise (64 KP) rated The School For Good and Evil in Books

Jul 2, 2018

The School For Good and Evil

Soman Chainani | 2014 | Children, Young Adult (YA)

7.2

(9 Ratings)

Book Rating

After bingeing the Harry Potter series I wasn't ready to let go of the fantasy world, I needed more wizards,witches and fantastical beasts. I saw Regan@peruseproject haul and talk about this book and the premise had me hooked.

It's starts off with two girls from the little village of Gavaldon, Every four years for the past 200 years 2 children are kidnapped by the 'Master'. One good and one bad child, it can be two girls,two boys or one of each are taken from their homes forever and believed to be sent to a school for fairy tales.

There is one child, Sophie who has lived for this moment, she is determined to become a princess and meet her Prince Charming and leave the dreary village for good. Sophie is beautiful,the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon and strives for perfection for she knows her time has come and to make sure she is picked she makes sure she carries out good deeds on a daily basis like befriending Agatha.

Agatha is the complete opposite from Sophie, she is not beautiful, she wears black frumpy clothes and keeps to herself. The night the 'Master' comes, children are locked up whereas Sophie encourages it by opening her window and leaving cookies. Agatha tries to rescue Sophie from the Master but just ends up being caught as well, hoping that they will be able to find their way home again.

All is not as planned, when Sophie is dropped into a river of Sludge she finds she has been put in the wrong school and there must have been a mix up of some sort as Agatha has been put in the good school. Sophie is to train to become a witch, henchman or some horrendous creature. With lessons on uglification and surviving Fairy-tales, she instantly seeks out the Headmaster to explain the mishap. Agatha is also out of her comfort zone with glamorous girls in pink dresses with only boys and manicure's on their minds, she wants to return home to Gavaldon as soon as possible but first she has to persuade Sophie. The master has other plans, will Sophie eventually get to the good side? will Agatha get to home?

The two castles are amazing, in the front of the book you get a map to view the two sides of the school. The good side, you have glass rooms,rooms made out of candy, groom rooms, everything possible to make you a princess. On the evil side, you have dungeons and torture chambers which smell of damp. The teachers in the school are composed of a two-headed dog that can remove their heads and attach to other bodies, there are werewolves, fairies, gargoyles,witches and princesses.

Sophie believes that she has been put into the wrong school however as you she develops throughout the book there are sides to her that are not always good. She was angry that she was put in the wrong school,I mean she has dreamed about this her whole life and will do anything to get there.

Agatha is an outcast in the school of good because she doesn't conform to wearing pink dresses and swooning whenever a boy is in the vicinity. However she is a really caring character and doesn't believe that she could ever be beautiful and nor do the others in the good school.

Then there is the love interest - of course there was going to be one! His name is Tedros and he is the most handsome boy in the school of good and not to forget King Arthur's son. He instantly gets all the girls attention, even Sophie's from the other side of the school.

I only had some minor problems with the book, I felt that the author was trying to describe too much at once and it became quite confusing to keep up with. The vanity in this book was overwhelming it set a clear line between ugly and beautiful. This is a middle grade book - impressionable teenagers are going to be reading this. You don't need to be beautiful on the outside the be a princess... it's what on the inside that counts.

This book was fast paced, easy to read (at points) and definitely worth a read if you love fairy tales.

Overall I rated this 3.5 out of 5 stars

Kudos

Christine A. (965 KP) rated After Zero in Books

Nov 14, 2018

After Zero

Christina Collins | 2018 | Children, Contemporary, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. We all have said things that keep us up at night, regretting, worrying, replaying, and wishing we could have said something else. Elise, in "After Zero" by Christina Collins, has figured the perfect way to never have to stress over her regrettable words. She starts to keep track of how many words she speak in school. A good day would be if she was able to get through the entire day without speaking only two words. Her perfect day would involve speaking zero words.

SPOILER ALERT
I had worked with children for much of my life and have dealt with children who also have selective mutism and other anxiety disorders. Connecting with a child who had selective mutism was one of the most rewarding and challenging moments of my career. Looking at him you could see he wanted to connect but was terrified to. Elise is the same. She desperately wanted to connects with those around her. Collins accurately describes Elise's internal struggle and gives Elise a voice for us to hear. I would encourage middle school aged children and older to read this to help with understanding others that are different. I look forward to reading Collins' next work.