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: Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot, #3) by Agatha Christie

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The first time I ever heard of the author Agatha Christie was in the eighth grade when we were required to read the book Ten Little Indians, which is also known as And Then There Were None. I remember enjoying the book but never picked up another one of her books. That is until I enrolled in a 20th Century World Literature class at my university during the 8-week summer semester where we would read eight books of the course of the semester. Two of those books were The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Where None. After revisiting the book that was originally required reading for me in the eighth grade, I fell in love with her writing all over again and began to binge read all of her books. The Hercule Poirot series is definitely my favorite series by Agatha Christie. However, I read the series out of order, and I am rereading the Hercule Poirot books again; this time in the order of publication.  

Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot, #3) is the third installment of the Hercule Poirot book series and is a collection of short stories about Christie's most famous Belgian detective with the famous mustache and uses his little grey cells to solve crimes. This collection includes fourteen short stories:  The Adventure of "The Western Star", The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor, The Adventure of the Cheap Flat, The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge, The Million Dollar Bond Robbery, The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, The Kidnapped Prime Minister, The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman, The Case of the Missing Will, The Veiled Lady, The Lost Mine, and The Chocolate Box.
  
I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but that is to be expected. I loved the fact that I was able to solve some of the crimes before the end of some of the stories. And, of course, I wasn't able to solve all of them. I enjoyed that one of the short stories, The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, had to be inspired by the tomb of King Tut . . . whether it was or not, I'm not sure, but it was an interesting story. My favorite short story in this collection was The Adventure of "The Western Star". The story that was the most intricate that I didn't see the end coming was The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim. The conclusion made my head hurt.

Although I don't typically read short stories, I find that they're perfect for when you're short on time and want to read or for those moments when you spend a little bit longer in the bathroom. I gave Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot, #3) three stars out of five.
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