Book Review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

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Mad Mabel  by Sally Hepworth  is a domestic thriller about the youngest person convicted of murder in Australia, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. Now 81 years old, Elsie is living on Kenny Lane and has been for the past sixty years. When a mother named Roxanne moves into Mabel's neighborhood with her seven year old daughter, an unlikely friendship forms between Elsie and the seven year old child named Persephone. As Elsie's secrets come to light, her world comes crashing down.  Having read quite a few novels by Sally Hepworth, I requested an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Mad Mabel  without reading the synopsis of the story. I was thrilled when NetGalley and St. Martin's Press approved my request. The expected publication date of the book is April 21, 2026. Not knowing anything about the storyline before I started reading Mad Mabel  made the story much more interesting to me as I had no preconceived ideas. The tale was told from Mabel's perspective in alternating timeli...
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Book Review: Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2) by Ransom Riggs

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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 mind incorporates things you've read into dreams?

I love the fact that the author, Ransom Riggs, uses photos that he found and incorporated them into the story line and used them for character creation and development. This truly makes this book series one of a kind in my opinion. Riggs also includes the real life events of World War II such as the bombings and children being evacuated from London that gave the story a realness that I didn't expect in this genre. This young adult fantasy book is definitely worth the read for both teens and adults alike. I gave it four out of five stars.



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