The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

Genre: Middle Grade

Series: No, Standalone

Source: ARC, from Book Expo America

Buy It: The Dolphin Bookshop (Shop Indie!




Humorous and heartfelt, this is a story of pairs— of Sybil and Nula (sisters who grew up together in Rook’s Orchard, Ireland) and Naomi and Lizzie (both orphans in present day Blackbird Tree, USA) and unraveling mysteries about family and identity. Naomi and Lizzie’s tragedies turn into a life filled with hope, as old misunderstandings and sorrows between Sybil and Nula give way to forgiveness and love. It is about unexpected gifts—the kindness of neighbors giving away their dogs to protect a little girl, of strangers fostering children, and of young people helping old and old helping young.

    As my sister was asking for help to organize her bookshelves, a blue-spined ARC caught my eye.  I read the title: The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech. It seemed pretty interesting, as the cover was very vague. I wondered why the cover didn't give away much about the story, so I chose to pick it up and started to read it. 

        I liked the characters in this book, but some where a little irritating. My favorite character was Nula because she seemed so caring and loving to Naomi.  I didn't really connect to the main character (Naomi).  My least favorite character was Lizzie because she seemed like such an annoying friend and a chatter box.  If she was my friend, I'm pretty sure that I would go mad.

     The writing was also a bit boring.  The story was dragged out and could've been told in ten chapters when there were fifty-seven chapters instead.  The writing wasn't vivid or all that interesting.    

      I didn't really like how the story turned out because it was not easy to follow.  Sharon Creech didn't really tie up the loose ends at the end of the story.  When I finished I still had unanswered questions like Who was the "Finn" boy? I think that there should've been an after story or epilogue because I was a little lost in the book. Overall, I didn't really enjoy The Great Unexpected.  I enjoyed Sharon Creech's other book Walk Two Moons but, The Great Unexpected was a disappointment.  I thought the story was a little useless because it didn't really keep my interest or really teach a good lesson.  Overall, this book just didn't do anything for me.  

Final Grade:

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Genre: Young AdultSeries: No, Standalone 

Source: ARC, from The Dolphin Bookshop

Buy It: The Dolphin Bookshop (Shop Indie!

     Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

    When I was trying to find a book to read and review on my sister's blog, Jessie and I were searching on her many and I mean many shelves of books. I'm not really into reading all that much, so I didn't see any that was both quick and interesting to me. My sister left me to keep searching for a minute, and when she came back, I was already on page 7 in Megan Miranda's thriller, Fracture. There were lots of twists and turns in this book, so it didn't turn out exactly how I expected it to be. In fact, it turned out to be even better.

         I loved the characters in this book and they were very realistic, so it was easy to follow along. My personal favorite is Decker, for a few reasons including: he would never give up on trying to save Delaney's life and he was truly a best friend; he seemed like he would never try to hurt anyone and he would always be there for you, and because he just seemed sweet and trustworthy. My least favorite character was Tara. She was a backstabber and a bad girlfriend, and I just couldn't take her personality. The author obviously did this to make you feel angry, so she really did a great job at that.

       I liked how the story turned out, but I did feel that Delaney was a little creepy. She kept saying that maybe Earth was hell and that she should've died; so she seemed kind of  messsed up. There was a pretty good romance, but like I said, there were twists and turns and most of them pertained to the romance. The book wasn't that much of a thriller, but it surely was a page turner.

       I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It's great for anyone who doesn't read all the time because it held my interest throughout the entire book.  I was so into it that I found myself talking about the book to my whole family.  Overall, I really liked this book and I couldn't put it down.

     

Final Grade:

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Hey Remarkable Readers,
Today is the first review from my younger sister, Lindsey!  She is in the middle grade age group and will be guest reviewing every once in a while!  You voted for her in the side poll, so here she is!  For her first review, she wanted to do something fun, so she wrote a poem about the book and a little paragraph telling what she thought of it!  Hope you enjoy!  If you want you can leave a comment with a suggestion for what she should read next!

Happy Reading,  Jessie. 

Pie by Sarah Weeks 


Genre: Middle Grade
Source: Purchased from Book Fair
Series: No, Standalone

Buy It: The Dolphin Bookshop (Shop Indie!),  The Book Depository

Other Books by This Author: So. B. It, Oggie Cooder, Oggie Cooder: Party Animal, As Simple as It Seems

From the award-winning author of SO B. IT, a story about family, friendship, and...pie!When Alice's Aunt Polly passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily surly cat Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.Suddenly Alice is thrust into the center of a piestorm, with everyone in town trying to be the next pie-contest winner ... including Alice's mother and some of Alice's friends. The whole community is going pie-crazy . . . and it's up to Alice to discover the ingredients that really matter. Like family. And friendship. And enjoying what you do.

Pie
Polly was the best in town, 
People coming from all around,
to eat at her pies, 
but when she had died,
she left her niece alice to cry.


They used to hang out all the time,
Making and eating their pies, 
but that had all ended,
it couldn't be mended,
Now Alice had said goodbye.


Polly left the recipe to a cat, (or did she?)
and this cat was really fat.
This cat Lardo came,
Was left to Alice to tame,
And now someone stole him at night.


Alice and Charlie tried their best shot,
To catch the culprit with all the've got
They had one plan, 
but it was a scam,
so now they must fine who to blame.


Mysteries are left to find out,
like who was the crazy lout,
who has stolen the cat, this crazy crook,
to figure this out, you must read the book!


     PIE was a pretty short book that I enjoyed, even though I read it for school. The characters, Alice and Charlie seemed like real life people. I felt like I was right along side them, solving the mystery of who has stolen Lardo and who made the cling on the window. The book is set in a solemn little town called Ipswitch, so it was pretty realistic that almost everyone knew Alice and Charlie. When I first bought the book and starting reading it, I felt like the plot was very stupid. How could you blame me? Who wants to read a book about a world- famous pie recipe left to a cat? But as I got closer to the middle to the book, it really got interesting. So if you start reading the book, and don't like the plot, I dare you to keep reading! I assure you that this book will get better towards the middle. This is a great book to read during the summer, or when you have some extra time to make a pie, because you'll really want to sink your teeth into this book ;) and maybe, even try one of the recipes that are given before each chapter, so you can make your favorite pie just like Polly would.


Final Grade: