Book Review: Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

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Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3)  by Heather Vogel Frederick  is the third book in a middle grade book series that is being rereleased. Chaos erupts in this third installment as the daughters in the book club get themselves into trouble. Each of the girls have big changes in their lives:  Jess is going to boarding school; Megan's grandmother comes to live with her; Emma starts a campaign against school uniforms; Cassidy has a lot of unexpected change coming to her family. Will the mother daughter book club stay together? I'd like to thank NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Dear Pen Pal  by Heather Vogel Frederick with it's upcoming rerelease to the public. I always love a good book that involves books, even if its target audience is children between the ages of eight and twelve. It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that it...
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Book Review: Smokin' Seventeen (Stepanie Plum, #17) by Janet Evanovich

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Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum, #17) written by Janet Evanovich has the usual cast of characters. With the bail bonds office in the process of being rebuilt, it has become a dumping ground for a murderer who has Stephanie Plum on his list. On top of that, Stephanie's mom is back to fixing her up with different men due to Stephanie not making a commitment with either of the men in her life . . . Joseph Morelli and Ricardo Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger. Enter Dave Brewer, former football star and classmate from Stephanie and Joe's high school.

smokin seventeen janet evanovich
smokin seventeen janet evanovichLet me first begin by saying that I really enjoyed this book . . . well enough that I gave it five out five stars because it was a little different from some of the other books in the series, even though it did follow the same exact formula that all the rest of the books did. However, Evanovich did freshen it up a little with a skip that thought he was a vampire, more curses from Grandma Bella (Joe Morelli's grandmother), and Stephanie's sister and her family are mentioned for the first time in several books.

The one thing that had me laughing throughout the book was the Vordo curse that Grandma Bella put on Stephanie. While in the middle of being intimate with one of the characters, Stephanie kept screaming out "vordo". The whole situation was quite comical in my opinion and one of the reasons why I ranked it so high.

Things I disliked about Smokin' Seventeen was Stephanie's mom fixing her up with Dave Brewer. I wish her mother would just calm the eff down on that front. I also disliked Dave Brewer throughout the entire book, but I think he was written that way purposely. Even though I thought there were a ton of comical moments because of the vordo curse, I didn't like Stephanie's character sleeping around. I desperately want her to choose Morelli or Ranger and finally make a commitment. The last thing I disliked about the book was I figured out who the killer was pretty early on, even with there being a red herring. 

Have you read Smokin' Seventeen? If so, what did you think about it? Let us know in the comments.


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