Book Review: The Photographer II, The Dark Room by Barbara Steiner

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The Photographer II: The Dark Room  by Barbara Steiner is a sequel that picks up where the last book left off, and Derrick is living in a new town under an assumed name. He has opened up a photography studio and has some new tricks up his sleeve. Will he get away with murder? Typically, I find myself let down by sequels, but I have to say that Barbara Steiner out did herself because I actually ended up liking it better than the first book. It had some V.C. Andrews vibes going on, which gave it some extra oomph. Along with those vibes, it carried over some of the sci-fi elements from the original story.  I enjoyed the characters a lot better this time around and disliked Derrick even more, if that's even possible. The story was a bit more believable with the exception of the obvious sci-fi elements. If you know, you know. Five out of five stars is what I gave The Photographer II:  The Dark Room by Barbara Steiner.  Follow Us On Social Media
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Book Review: Choosing Sides (Sweet Valley Twins, #4) created by Francine Pascal

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sweet valley twins # 4 created by francine pascal
The Unicorns have decided to start a cheerleading squad at Sweet Valley Middle School and call it the boosters. The caveat put forth by teachers are they must have open tryouts. Amy Sutton decides she wants to try out for the boosters. While that is happening, the basketball team is holding open tryouts as well, and the shortest boy in school, Ken Matthews, decides to try out.

Choosing Sides (Sweet Valley Twins, #4) deals with bullying yet again. Do you see a theme in this series? Bullying seems to be most prominent in the middle school years, so it isn't surprising that the Sweet Valley Twins books deal with this subject a lot. The underlying themes are friendship and standing up for yourself in this edition.

The Unicorns try to bully Amy because they don't want an unpopular, tomboy on the cheerleading squad. On top of that, Elizabeth is worried that if Amy makes the boosters, she won't have any more time to spend with her. Bruce Patman bullies Ken Matthews just because he is the shortest boy in school and is not the best player. Elizabeth helps out Ken with some suggestions and by having her older brother, who is a basketball player on one of the high school teams, give him some pointers as well. I love the fact that despite being bullied, both Amy and Ken stand up for themselves because they know their self worth, and they do it without getting into a physical fight. Kids need to know how to do this better.

All in all, I enjoyed Choosing Sides, and it had a much better ending than the previous installment of the Sweet Valley Twins. I gave it five out five stars. Don't miss out on our other reviews in this series:  Best Friends (Sweet Valley Twins, #1), Teacher's Pet (Sweet Valley Twins, #2), and The Haunted House (Sweet Valley Twins, #3).

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