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: Tippy Toe Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #2) by Leslie Meier

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book review tippy toe murder leslie meier
Tippy Toe Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #2) by Leslie Meier is a little darker than the first book in this series. With the repressive heat of the summer, Lucy's ankles are swelling with her fourth pregnancy, and she's craving doughnuts. On top of her pregnancy, she's preparing her two daughters costumes for their upcoming dance recital. When a retired dance teacher goes missing from Tinker's Cove and a grumpy shopkeeper is murdered, Lucy can't help herself from getting involved in the mystery.

Where I enjoyed the second installment of the Lucy Stone Mystery book series, I wasn't expecting a cozy mystery to deal with child molestation and was startled by one of the details that was provided. This is an important topic for sure, but it could be a trigger for others reading Tippy Toe Murder.

I loved the fact that it dealt with dance and preparing for the annual dance recital. It brought back great memories of my dance classes and recitals, especially the things that always seemed to go wrong during the dress rehearsals. That always meant that we would have a good show . . . at least that's what the saying was, bad dress rehearsal means a good show. The dance teacher being stressed was right on the money too! 

At the beginning of the book, I wasn't quite sure where the author was going with the disappearance of the dance instructor, but it finally began to come together. If you're reading the book and find it dull, stick with it because it does get better and becomes a bit action packed. Other than it being a bit slow paced at the beginning and being startled by some of the details relating to the abuse of the child, the only other thing I didn't like about Tippy Toe Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #2) was how Lucy Stone's husband treated her. It seemed a bit out of character for him compared to Mistletoe Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #1).

Four out of five stars is what I gave Tippy Toe Murder for all the reasons mentioned above. I enjoyed the book for the most part, and I'm looking forward to reading the next installment, Trick or Treat Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #3). If you enjoyed this book, you may enjoy Deeper Than The Dead (Oak Knoll, #1) by Tami Hoag.


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