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: The Big Empty by Robert Crais

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NetGalley ARC Suspense Book Review of The Big Empty by Robert Crais
The Big Empty by Robert Crais falls into the Mystery & Thriller genre and has an expected publication date of January 14, 2025. The story opens with Anya calling to remind her mother Sadie to pick her up from the skate park. When Sadie arrives, Anya is missing. Fast forward to Traci Beller hiring private investigator Elvis Cole to find her father Tommy Beller, who abandoned her and her mother almost ten years previously. What will Elvis Cole discover?

I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Big Empty by Robert Crais from NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review. I was excited to be approved and receive this novel.

The main character, Elvis Cole, was an instant hit with me. He's just an extremely likable character. A somewhat insignificant character that I absolutely love is Cole's semi feral cat since I am a huge cat lover. Cole taking care of the cat is probably a huge factor in me liking him so much. I also really like his partner Joe Pike because he's a man of few words, very direct, and has Cole's back. As for most of the characters in this installment, I didn't care for Sadie, Anya, Kevin, Georgina, Lori, or Charley and his friends. It wasn't until I got much further into the story that I changed my mind about a few of them.

As for what I thought happened, I knew that Tommy had to been involved with Anya going missing. However, I wasn't sure what happened to him. At one point, I halfway thought he was still alive. Once all the details came together, my heart was pounding to have it put together. I didn't quite figure it all out, but the entire book played like a movie in my head. I also found myself wanting to do nothing but read the book and thinking about it when I didn't have time to read. That makes Robert Crais a fantastic author and story teller in my opinion.

Five out of five stars is what I gave The Big Empty by Robert Crais. I would love to see this book series turned into a television series. If you haven't read anything by this author, you need to buy one of his books stat.

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