Book Review: The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

-
Image
The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White is the story about Phoebe Manigault returning home to Mt. Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, South Carolina, to help her sister with their ailing mother. When past memories resurface, Phoebe is thrown back into some childhood turmoil. I requested an Advanced Readers Copy ARC of The Last Carolina Summer from NetGalley, and I was ecstatic when the provided me with a copy for free in exchange for my honest review. So, a big thank you goes out to them! When I began reading this story, I just happened to be vacationing in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. I loved hearing about the different places, including streets and a bridge called the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which I had to cross to get into Mt. Pleasant as well as Isle of Palms. It's always nice to be able to visualize the places and author writes about. With that being said, I'm not a fan of traveling over bridges, and one of the scenes of The Last Carolina Summer mentions a car going off ...
Post a Comment

Book Review: Choosing Sides (Sweet Valley Twins, #4) created by Francine Pascal

-
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).

Follow Us On Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/runningbibliophile/https://www.instagram.com/therunningbibliophile/https://www.pinterest.com/therunningbibliophile/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Dare by Natasha Preston

-
Image
The Dare by Natasha Preston is a young adult horror novel about Marley and her friends Atlas, Lucia, and Jesse are seniors in high school.  The senior pranks are fun and lighthearted until Rhett starts doling out dares that are more serious.  Will Marley and her friends survive? A huge thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy of The Dare  by Natasha Preston.  The last book I read by this author was so well written, I knew I wanted to give her latest story a try. The first thing I noticed about the story is it's reminiscent of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, which brought back all the feels from my childhood.  Pretty quickly, the storyline shifts and is eerily similar to the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer .  It's at this point that I became disappointed with the book and almost stopped reading it.   Additionally, there were other parts t hat reminded me of The Secret Diaries by Janice Harrell.  So, overall, The Dare wasn't ...
Read more

Book Review: Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum, #30) by Janet Evanovich

-
Image
Book Review: Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum, #30) by Janet Evanovich Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum, #30) by Janet Evanovich  is the latest installment in the Stephanie Plum book series and opens with Joe Morelli asking Stephanie to dog sit his dog Bob while he is out of town testifying at a trial.  The typical chaos ensues when Stephanie has to bring Bob along to apprehend all of her FTAs and has her asking herself if she wants to be married. Each book in this series typically follows the same formula and is wrapped up in a neat, tidy bow at the end.  It's because of this that I enjoy the series . . . I always know that Stephanie is going to get herself into some sort of trouble and need Ranger or Morelli to help her, and the bad guy is always caught.  Sometimes, I just need something familiar and predictable to read.  And, I don't mean that in a bad way either because it allows me to escape reality and gives me a few chuckles along the way.  It's like the ...
Read more

Book Review: The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

-
Image
The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia is about two women from Madison who are completely different from one another and are on an airplane bound for Denver, Colorado. Jasmine is a waitress and is escaping an abusive relationship. Stephanie is a news director for a local news station headed to a news conference. Friends and family of both women receive texts that they've met a man named Trent. Then, both women disappear. Panic starts to set in with loved ones. Who is Trent, and what has he done to them? I'd like to thank NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) that they sent to me for free in exchange for my honest review. The synopsis of The Business Trip intrigued me, and I was excited to dive into the book. The story hooked me from the very beginning. I was rooting for Jasmine to escape her boyfriend and live happily ever after. I was also rooting for Stephanie to find the happiness she was looking for. Then, the book took a very disturbing turn, and I ended up loathing J...
Read more