The Running Bibliophile

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2) by Ransom Riggs picks up immediately where Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) left off. Jacob and his peculiar friends escape the island they've lived and make the trek to London, England to find help for Miss Peregrine.
When I first picked up Hollow City, I had a bit of trouble getting into the story line because I was too worried that it wouldn't live up to the first book in the series. However, once I got into the book a little, I was pleasantly surprised and couldn't wait to find out what happened. There were a couple of nights that I read it right before falling asleep and ended up having such strange dreams because of it, that I woke up in the middle of the night more than once with my heart pounding. Don't get me wrong, the book isn't scary, but Hollow City is definitely suspenseful and a little on the dark side. Isn't it strange how the mi…

Back in 2010, I discovered a website called Goodreads.com where I could keep track of what books I had read, what I was currently reading, and books that I wanted to read. Then, I found out that you could enter giveaways for a chance to win an advanced readers copy, also known as an ARC, of a book or a book that had already been published. I have been fortunate enough to win several books through Goodreads.com's First Reads Giveaways. One of those books was Two for Sorrow (Josephine Tey, #3) written by Nicola Upson. I received this novel for free in exchange for my honest review.
Not knowing anything at all about the author going into reading Two for Sorrow (Josephine Tey, #3), I had absolutely no preconceived ideas about Nicola Upson. Overall, the book was relatively well written, and the style of writing reminded me a bit of P.D. James. It was interesting enough to keep my attention until I got about halfway through the book. At that point, the story line really started to drag…

When I was a kid, there was a book club subscription service called Especially For Girls. My mom signed me up for it when I began to become an avid reader. One of the books I received was Love Story, Take Three by Gloria D. Miklowitz. For whatever reason, it ended up on a shelf in my mom's shoe closet without me reading it. Several years later, she was cleaning out the closet and came across the book and gave it back to me. I remember reading it in high school and falling in love with it. As part of my rereading my way through my childhood, I decided to read it again to see if it stood the test of time.
Love Story, Take Three by Gloria D. Miklowitz is about a teenage actress named Valerie who wants nothing more than to have a normal life like her classmates. When she starts dating basketball player Tom Gordon, Valerie lies about being an actress, which becomes harder to hide when she lands a lead role on a new television show.
One of the things I enjoyed about the book as a kid a…

Jessica and the Brat Attack (Sweet Valley Twins, #29) created by Francine Pascal is about Jessica Wakefield volunteering to work one of the booths at the middle school's sixth grade fair. When she doesn't get assigned to the booth she had hoped for, Jessica steals Elizabeth's baby-sitting job and volunteers her twin to work the booth at the fair.
The lesson kids can take away from this story is karma. Because Jessica was so underhanded in how she handled her situation, Jessica ended up in a worse scenario, and her classmates and sister ended up getting back at her. She should have just sucked it up and made the best of her original commitment. However, Jessica did end up learning that baby-sitting wasn't for her.

I absolutely loved the Sweet Valley Twins book series in elementary and middle school. And, I am in the process of rereading my way through my childhood. Although I know I read Jessica and the Brat Attack in middle school, I had no recollection of the story li…

As an adult, I am having a blast rereading my way through my childhood. The most recent book I read from my childhood is April Fool! (Sweet Valley Twins, #28) created by Francine Pascal. When I read the synopsis of the book before reading it, I vaguely remembered the premise. Was I ever surprised because I ended up not remembering any of the details.
The synopsis of April Fool! (Sweet Valley Twins, #28) is that twin sisters Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield typically switch places on April Fools Day, and the twins switching places has become legendary with their classmates.  This year, Elizabeth and Jessica decide not to switch places but pretend that they actually had. It all goes down hill for Elizabeth when she keeps getting in trouble for things that Jessica had done.
I felt extremely bad for Elizabeth because it seemed like she couldn't catch a break, but at a certain point, I realized that an elaborate scheme had to have been concocted to prank Elizabeth. It was a little far …

Mary Higgins Clark's latest book Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry was published shortly before her death and is one of my favorites by her. The novel is about an investigative journalist named Gina Kane who is tipped off about woman who had a terrible experience at REL News. When Kane starts investigating the story, it goes sideways.
Like most of this author's books, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry was an easy read, and I was immediately drawn into the story. The main character being a journalist likely helped draw me in as I wanted to be a writer in some way, shape, or form. Early on, I suspected one person as the "bad guy", but I quickly started suspecting another person about halfway through the book. I wasn't sure which way it was going to go, but the further I read, the more sure I was it was the latter. I rushed the last forty or fifty pages to see if I was correct, and I was.
One thing that I loved about this book was that Mary Higgins Clark mentions numero…