Your E-Book Is Reading You - WSJ.com
An interesting read for anyone interested in publishing, or anyone with an e-Reader.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Lifetime Buries Its Bristol Palin Bomb Out Back and Hopes We Don’t Notice
Lifetime Buries Its Bristol Palin Bomb Out Back and Hopes We Don’t Notice
Who the heck thought this was a good idea????
Who the heck thought this was a good idea????
Lindsay Paige: New WIP titled REJECTION
Lindsay Paige: New WIP titled REJECTION: Title: Rejection Authors: Jennifer Roberts-Hall and myself Publication: TBA Who: Rejection will star main character, Elizabeth aka L...
Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I only read this book because a bunch of wild eyed religious zealots were trying to get it banned from our library for promoting witchcraft. I was surprised to find I loved it. I am not one usually to be fond of fantasy, but this book charmed me right out of my shoes. I bought each following book on the day they came out, and had them read the next days. An amazing entire world was created, and it all started here.
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Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Review: Lost in the River of Grass
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a gripping and powerful book. As a person who spent a lot of their time in my youth out in the wild it especially spoke to me. Though I have never been lost an an environment as challenging and dangerous as the everglades, after reading this book I almost feel I had. Ms Rorby made the place seem so real you could almost smell it as you read. At times i found myself scratching in sympathy to the bug-bites and cuts being described. I highly recommend this book, it was an adventure in both overcoming danger, and self-growth. It also had some wonderful lessons about taking people for who they are, not where they are from or what they look like. I don't care if you are 12 or 50, this is a great book.
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Monday, June 25, 2012
Review: Snapshot
Snapshot by Angie Stanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this books as much as the first in the Jeremiah Boys books. Ms. Stanton weaves a believable tapestry of a story. I hope she writes a book for the third brother, who after the first two looks to be somewhat of an ass. He and dad are classic Type-A's, which I have never much liked. Mom rocks though.
Ms. Stanton's also writes strong young women, who realistically seem to undervalue themselves and their strength even while persevering through the challenges life throws at them. all her carachters seem to fall into two categories, those that remind you closely of people you know, and those you wish you did.
I will unquestionably be finding more of her books to read.
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Sunday, June 24, 2012
Review: Rock and a Hard Place
Rock and a Hard Place by Angie Stanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked this book up on recommendations from several friends here on Goodreads and it did not disappoint. I sad yet triumphant love story. While it follows the timeless formula, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back, it does so with pathos and flair. The ending was wonderful, not to Disney, nor to tragic. Libby the main female protagonist is a character whom you'd really like to meet. The lead male could easily have been much less than he comes across in this book.
i'll be buying more of Ms. Stanton's books, actually one is downloading on my Kindle as I post this!
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Review: My Heart for Yours
My Heart for Yours by Jolene B. Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a well written story, a first for me in YA, a collaboration. Each other wrote as the voice of a different character. It lent a realism to the two major characters. The story itself is somewhat painful, gritty, and overwhelmingly sad. It takes you to some of the darker places in your library of memories. Though it ends on somewhat of a hopeful note, it wasn't one of those where zip zap zowie in the final 5 pages everything becomes perfect, which is what made it feel so real. I enjoyed it a very great deal, but at the end of the day, I was still sad. Likely some people would not like this, but for me it was a welcome change from a diet of steady happy. LOL
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Review: Flat-Out Love
Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I flat out loved this book. Touching, real, surprising, sad and triumphant in turns. Ms. Park spun a wonderful yarn that caught your complete attention from the first sentence and never let go. I see why it is on so many must read lists, and why Amazon is featuring it on their front page right now.
There is so much more I'd like to say about it, but I don;t want to give anything away. There is so much going on in this book, and so many discoveries to make, I won't ruin it for you. Let me just say go get this book and sit down for an enjoyable read.
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Review: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book when I first read it, many, many years ago. Came across it accidentally at the library and decided to see if it was still something I liked. It was classic. Read it in two short sittings, and enjoyed every moment. For a younger audience than what I usually read but still a great story.
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Review: Catching Jordan
Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book a lot, but there were a couple of things that made it a 4 star and not a 5 for me. The dialogue was a little forced at times, and:
SPOILER WARNING (Minor)
As the father of a teenage girl and a football fan, there is no way on this earth I am letting a boy sleep in my daughters bed, I do not care if they have been close friends since they were 7! I do not care if they were sleeping head to foot. They aren't even going to be in her room with a closed door. Just so blatantly unrealistic that if kind of blew the credibility of the book. especially when it was a fairly major plot point, and her dad was supposed to be somewhat overprotective.
Still enjoyable read, and a fun story. Just feel short of the work of Dessen, Campbell, Webber, and Dawn.
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Monday, June 18, 2012
Review: What a Boy Needs
What a Boy Needs by Nyrae Dawn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An emotionally raw deeply insightful follow up to the excellent WHAT A BOY WANTS is that rare thing, a book that is a sequel, and yet better than the excellent original.
This book follows a different one of our four main protagonists and lets us get to know him. I'm really surprised by these books in that so little YA fiction is done from a male point of view and these both are. I am also surprised by how well Ms. dawn writes young men. In most YA fiction the females are much more complete characters, and the males tend to be stereotypical shadows. Ms. Dawn breaks that mold, no she smashes it to bits. She gets the inner voices and demons of a young man perfectly spot on. Yet she doesn't do this at the expense of her female characters.
This book, like the first in the set contains people as believable as your best friends when you were a late teen, and conflicts and problems as real as your own memories.
Ms. Dawn joins my list of WHY the digital publishing revolution is changing everything, allowing incredible talents who might not have been initially noticed by the grey suited soulless corporate publishing machine, to find an audience.
This will be a name that is well known before too long. She is gifted.
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Review: What A Boy Wants
What A Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I bought and read this book because two people here on Goodreads (one author, one librarian) gave it 5 stars and killer reviews. This confirmed why I respect their opinions so very much. It was wonderful from first page to last. Each major character reminded me of someone I had known. The action and incidents that marked their lives were as real as my own memories. This book was so absorbing that it was felt as much as read.
Ms. Dawn is a talented storyteller, and I am sure this is but the first of many books she will gift us with. I have already started the follow up to this book and look forward to many more.
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Review: Good For You
Good For You by Tammara Webber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The third book in Ms. Webber's Between The Lines series. It is also the best one so far. We introduce a new major character into the series, and get to know an older one much better.
As always with Ms. Webber's books, the characters are utterly believable, and the situations they find themselves in are completely real world. You find yourself emotionally invested in these people. Some you want to give a swift kick in the pants, others you want to hug.
As with her other books I am again impressed with how richly and deeply she writes her characters. Not just her women, as is common in the YA genre dominated by female authors, but her young men are as real as the friends I grew up with. Fully formed, three dimensional people with admirable traits, and unflattering faults in different ratios.
She has said she is writing a fourth in the series, I will buy it the moment it becomes available Actually at the point you could simply say New Tammara Webber book, and I will click on the BUY button..
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Review: Where You Are
Where You Are by Tammara Webber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
The second book in the Between The Lines series by Tammara Webber. As much as I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, I liked this one even more. As should happen in a series we meet some new characters that add depth to both the story and the characters we have already come to know. We also find out more about the main characters that drive the book.
Sometimes it is hard to write these reviews without any spoilers, but I will try. The main protagonists in this book are all fleshed out greatly in this book. We had come to understand a lot about who each of them are, but after this book you understand HOW they got to be who they are. Ms. Webber adds layer upon layer of detail and history that turns a lovely word painting into a classic masterpiece.
One thing that really surprises me is how very well Ms. Webber writes young men. Many YA authors while writing richly textured and deep female characters seem to pull their men out of central casting. Most being little more than one dimensional. The player, the nerd, the hottie with the broken heart yearning to be fixed. Now there are men who are like those, but they are not interchangeable, and without understanding what drove their character they are about as exciting as looking at the cardboard cutout of a supermodel rather than the real thing.
At the end of this book are a couple of telling scenes that show how she is set apart from many other YA authors. Things are said, thought, or done that show a real understanding of the inner workings of the male brain. Without spoiling things that are best discovered through reading just let me say that even though I already had a very high opinion of her skills, my opinion was redrawn with an even greater respect.
Read this series. I am already well into the 3rd book, and already grateful that she has said there will be a fourth one.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Review: The All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking
The All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I own more than 300 cookbooks. I use this one more than the rest of them combined. If you only own 1 cookbook, this should be the one. If you are a novice, this is all you need. If you are a culinary professional, this is still amazingly complete.
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Review: Between the Lines
Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my second book from Ms. Webber, and it is every bit as good as the first one. Though it is vastly different than her book Easy, it shares many of the same qualities. Beautifully written it is a story you quickly and completely lose yourself in. Every character in the book is well written and completely believable. The situations they find themselves in feel completely real as well.
Though the subject matter in this book was for the most part lighter than that in Easy, it was still a compelling and enjoyable read. I had a difficult time putting it down, and the moment I finished it, I started the second book in the series. All of a sudden it was 3 am and I was 25% of the way through that one!
Do yourself a favor, buy all of Ms. Webber's books. This woman is going to be a superstar.
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Monday, June 11, 2012
Review: Whatever It Takes
Whatever It Takes by Lindsay Paige
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The third installment of Lindsay Paige's Bold As Love series continues the story of Jake and Emily. Sure they love each other, but is love enough to keep you together through all the ups and downs of life? What poses more of a threat the grind of learning to live busy lives together, or the unexpected crisis from outside that always strike you?
This book is a little more polished, a little more confident than I have seen before from Ms. Paige. I think she is also settling into what is going to be her definitive writing style. Less a long chronological narrative, and more a series of small defining vignettes. Almost as if one is looking at a scrapbook of the emotional high and low points of a relationship. I find it stylistically interesting and even compelling. It makes for quick pleasurable reading. It also seems to quickly get at the heart of your main characters. you see them at their best and worst moments, and truly are those not the moments that define us?
I will buy the upcoming 4th installment of this series when it comes out without a doubt. I am even more excited to see she is working on another book, not a part of this series. That too I will buy as soon as it is available. I think working both the series and other works will help her continue the visible growth she is making. I feel as if I am watching a future superstar getting ready to burst forth and take the world by storm.
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Review: Grounding Quinn
Grounding Quinn by Stephanie Campbell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A poignant and powerful book about the relationship between two people in many ways opposite. One form the mythical perfect family who always does what is right, and the other from a hot mess of dysfunctional family who cannot even follow the rules, such as they are, it has.
I found this book very moving, and the lead female character reminded me in a lot of ways of my first love. I'm not ashamed to admit that tears were running down my face several times during this book. It brought back some of the hardest, saddest, most crushing moments of my life, also the most passionate and exciting, as if they had happened just yesterday and not 40 years ago. The power and the passion in this book were utterly authentic, completely believable and hit you like a speeding bus.
I give it my highest recommendation. I'll be looking for more works by this author first thing in the morning.
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Sunday, June 10, 2012
Review: Easy
Easy by Tammara Webber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A powerful and sometimes gritty book that feels so real it is like you are friends with its characters. This is one of those Young Adult novels that defies easily being fit into the genre and really and could easily be classified as literature.
Compelling and at times disturbing this novel will exercise all your emotions. Joy, sorrow, anger, contempt, pity and more sometimes racing by so quickly that one barely has time to register before the next hits you. I felt sorrow when I was done reading it, I never wanted it to end. I wish I could forget it all so I could read it for the first time again.
I do not know what a person could possibly want in a story that isn't in this book. Ms. Tammara Webber is going to be a huge star in the literary world before long I'd imagine. If not, something has gone very wrong.
Go out, don't waste time, and get this book then read it. An instant classic.
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Review: The Eagle Has Landed
The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jack Higgens at his best with a fast paced novel of intrigue and action during the 2nd world war. slam bang action makes it so you cannot put it down.
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Review: Where Eagles Dare
Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
MacLean was one of my very favorite authors in my early teen years, and this is one of his best works. Some of the best adventure military fiction ever written. A whole slew of his books were made into major motion pictures including this one. Fast paced and exciting, still a feun read.
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Review: Catch-22
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The classic novel of the utter madness of warfare. Once again the basis for a classic film, but the film hardly does the book justice. another book I think everyone should read.
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Saturday, June 9, 2012
Review: Deliverance
Deliverance by James Dickey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As creepy a book as you will ever read. The basis for a classic movie, but as is usual, much better. This book made me afraid to go camping unarmed for many years when I was younger. You know you are from the south if you mistake this action-thriller for a love sotry.
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Review: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of the essential books to understand my generation. Ken Keseky and the Merry Pranksters were a force of chaos that helped define an age of chaos.
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Review: Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine
Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine by Thomas Paine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Paine was one of the intellectual founders of American Political Thought. A man way ahead of his time, in the 18th century speaking for equal rights for people of all color, gender, and religious affiliation. This is a must read for anyone that wants to understand the intellectual foundations of our nation.
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Review: The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A taunt and believable look at a plot to assassinate a major world figure. Gripping, gritty, and utterly realistic, though techno,logically a little dated now. It was the basis of a movie that was good, but not nearly as good as the book.
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Review: We'll Always Have Summer
We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am rarely at a loss for words, but this book did it to me. I loved it, and I hated it. I loved it because it was so very realistic. Strangely enough that is why I also hated it. In fact I am angry over it. LOL good writing that.
I make it a habit not to put to much information in my reviews, nothing even approaching a spoiler so it is hard to explain why.
I will let it suffice to tell you I loved the entire series, and highly recommend it.
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Friday, June 8, 2012
Review: It's Not Summer Without You
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The second installment of Jenny Han's Summer series. As impressed as i was with the first, this one is better. Much more emotionally intense, it is a book that is hard to put down, and even when you do, your mind is still in it.
Ms. Han's characters are as real as the people you deal with on a daily basis. The situations they find themselves in are completely believable, and you relate to the problems. I thought of people, places, and situations I have had in my past with every page.
This book was the type that you forget you are even reading while you are reading it, your brain stops registering the words on the page and the situations play out in your senses as if you are a player in the drama. always a very good sign.
As soon as I post this review, I am picking up the third book, and I guess that says it all as to what I think of the quality.
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Thursday, June 7, 2012
Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first book in the Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han. A thoughtful and touching story about family and friendship. Believable well formed characters inhabit a realistic world. Ms/ Han is obviously a gifted young author. Her skills are on par with Sarah Dessen, Sara Zarr, and Sarah Ockler. I'm looking forward to the next too books.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Review: Take Me There
Take Me There by Susane Colasanti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My third Colasanti book. I wish you could do half stars because I would give this one 3.5. I thought it had more depth than SOMETHING LIKE FATE, but was not quite as good as KEEP HOLDING ON. Ms. Colasanti is an excellent story-teller, and her teen and young characters are well drawn and believable. What sets her down a step for me from authors like Sarah Dessen, and Sarah Ockler are the fact all her adult characters seem to be little more than cardboard cutouts. The neglectful mom, the hot teacher, the inept principle. All out of central casting and all lacking any depth or believable lives. If she could flesh out her adults like she does her kids, she's step up a notch.
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Review: Something Like Fate
Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My second Susane Colasanti book. It was a good story, believable people and actions. I'm not sure why though, but it just lacked the depth I have found in books by Dessen of Ockler. Nor did I connect as deeply with her characters in this as I did in their books, and in her KEEP HOLDING ON. Still a good fun read, and I am sure most fans of YA books will enjoy it.
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Review: Keep Holding On
Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A powerful and empowering book about bullying in our high schools. Believable plot lines, and characters inhabit a real world feeling school. A real world mixture of villains, heroes and the vast multitude in between. My first Colasanti book, it will not be my last.
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Monday, June 4, 2012
Review: The Scorch Trials
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second book in the series keeps up the frenetic pace of the first, while deepening the mystery of what WICKED is and what they are trying to accomplish. finished it and immeidatly picked yp the third book DEATH CURE.
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Sunday, June 3, 2012
Review: Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jack Jr. series continues. Filled with action and again stories that feel like they could be true, but really not up to what had been the Clancy standards.
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Review: The Teeth Of The Tiger
The Teeth Of The Tiger by Tom Clancy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Jack Ryan series gives way to the Jack Jr. series. Smaller, less detailed, and less interesting but still a fun read. However, I think this book marks the point where it stopped being about the story to Clancy, and started to be about the money. After this, it is all ghost written drek.
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Review: Against All Enemies
Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Still good stories, but really starting to damage the Clancy brand. He is pumping them out faster and ghost written now so not s strong as the original ones. Still I find myself getting them as soon as they come out. However instead of buying them, I am getting them at the library.
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Review: I'm Yours
I'm Yours by Lindsay Paige
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second installment in the story of Jake and Emily. This book in many ways reminds my of one of my all time favorite lyrics. John Lennon once sang in his amazing song BEAUTIFUL BOY (DARLING BOY), "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Well in this book that hits Jake and Emily right in the face like cream pies from the cosmic stooges.
In a book that is often even more emotionally wrenching than in SWEETNESS you come to know the players better, and see them grow in love and in life. Once again I do not want to put any spoilers here so I will suffice it to say that I once again found the people and situations to be realistic and believable. In fact Emily reminds me so strongly of my first love that it almost hurts sometimes to read the books.
My biggest critique of this book would be that once again it could use just a touch of polish. Not at all surprising given the youth of the author, and it doesn't detract meaningfully from the strong story-line and even stronger characters.
In summation I will say that I will be buying the third installment on June 13, 2012 when it becomes available. I recommend you read this series too if you are at all interested in quality Young Adult fiction.
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Saturday, June 2, 2012
Review: Sweetness
Sweetness by Lindsay Paige
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An impressive first effort by a young author. Also the first book I have picked up solely on what I have read from friends on Goodreads. It bodes well for what I will find in the future.
Ms. Paige has written a beautiful love story about two people who have more going on inside than people see at first glance. I do not want to spoil things for the reader so I will not go into specifics but it is wonderful to see the effect finding someone you can talk to has on a person.
This is the first book in a series, and as such it does not completely tie up anything. It reads as a first chapter in some ways. You get to know the people involved and you start to care. This book is about finding someone, and it will come in other books to see if once found you can keep each other.
While this book is not as polished as a work by say Sarah Dessen or Sarah Ockler this author is much younger than either and a lot newer to the craft. I'll be following Ms. Paige in the future because I see someone who has the potential to become a master of the young adult genre.
I guess the best way to sum it up was as soon as I finished SWEETNESS, and it was compelling enough that I read it in one sitting, without turning my Kindle off I bought I'M YOURS, the next book in the series. I enjoyed the book, and wanted more. I suspect if you read it, so will you.
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Review: The Maze Runner
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first in another Dystopian Young Adult series, this was a gripper from the start. While not as compelling as Hunger games, and the people in it not as sympathetic, it still has all the makings of a classic series. I very much enjoyed it and went straight on to book #2 in the series. Check it out.
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