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 Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

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NetGalley ARC Book Review of The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman
The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman is a young adult novel published on February 4, 2025. The story opens with the character Amy discovering the bodies of her classmates, Sarah and Ryan, who are undoubtedly deceased. Told from alternating perspectives of Amy and Liz, both students are trying to find out who and why someone would want to murder two students at a prestigious boarding school.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for free in exchange for my honest review.

When the story first began, I thought it was taking place at a college or university before I realized it took place at a boarding school. Other than that slight confusion, this suspenseful mystery captured my attention from the very beginning and had me on the edge of my seat. Both of the main characters were vastly different from one another but were likable in their own way. Unfortunately, other than Amy and Liz, the only other character I found to be likable was the soccer coach. The author does a fantastic job of showing the reader the cliquiness and meanness that can be found in high school along with the assumptions students tend to make without all the facts.

From the beginning, I was kind of expecting the story to be told by an unreliable narrator to some degree, and I couldn't have been more wrong in the two people I suspected to be the murderer. The author did provide clues as to who the culprit ended up being, but I ignored those clues!

The descriptions of the school and town were so well done, I could picture both in my mind. It was like I was watching a movie in my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman and would love a sequel. In my humble opinion, any tween, teen, or adult would enjoy this book. Five out of five stars.

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