Sententia in litteris

Abigail's summer is starting off on an unexpected detour.  While trying to endure her mother's expanding anxiety, she develops a crush on her friend Cooper and when her painting is rejected for an art show, she initiates a list.  That list contains 10 (or 11) challenges to succeed at in a month. The book takes a more detailed, more delicate path from the author's older works.  Rather than a simple square of pure love, it forms up a complex sphere of mixed emotions and paintings with spirits.  There were a few unsettling times, however.  Like when Abby gets so frustrated with Cooper she never wants to cross path with him. I like Lacey Barnes' character.  She is getting her own book next year and it sounds exciting! It is an overall good read though there were some parts that were unexpected for the worse and for the better. 8/10

Remember when I reviewed this book in my old blog ? How I said that it was "probably one of the best books I have ever read"?  I recently re-read it and now I have second thoughts about it. Synopsis: Alderpaw has ventured to the SkyClan gorge, just to discover that rogues have driven out SkyClan. He returns unsuccessful, but he has found sisters, Twigkit and Violetkit, who he believes are crucial factors to the prophecy given("Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear out the sky."). The rogues have also hunted their way back home to the lake, and ShadowClan, the weakest Clan at that time, fell to the clutches of the rogues. Thoughts: The first few chapters of  Thunder and Shadow felt slowly paced. I was also a little disconcerted at the times when Twigkit wanted to be a medicine cat. ThunderClan already has three of them! However, the chapters with Violetkit/paw as the POV were my favorite, because I could see the struggles faced by Shadow...

Set in a fictional Mississippi,   Losing Brave    features 17- year old Payton Brave, attempting to find her sister Dylan. The previous year, Dylan Brave vanishes from a bus station bathroom, never to be seen again. Now Payton, who is popular at her school, doesn't remember anything about this entire episode. When several incidents get her into the direst of consequences, she changes her life around, becoming Poe, as in Edgar Allen Poe, a completely new character. This is when the story takes a huge turn. Though it starts out slow paced, it makes up for it with a brave (no pun intended) heroine,  thrilling and beautifully woven storylines, and the gorgeously shattering climax. In short,  Losing Brave is an outstanding must-read.