The Seventeen Secrets Of The Karma Club by Karen McCombie

Title: The Seventeen Secrets Of The Karma Club

Author: Karen McCombie

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 2^nd June 2008

Goodreads Summary:
Kezzy and Nell have their own club: a secret society for acts of kindness. It's their mission to cheer people up with golden moments and sparkly surprises. But when Kezzy's mum admits a not-very-golden secret of her own, the Karma Club's best intentions start going weirdly wrong. It's starting to look as if no good deed goes unpunished...


My Review:
The Seventeen Secrets Of The Karma Club is an upbeat, funny and delightful read for younger teenagers. A detailed book about two best friends who decide to do good deeds in secret. Having a best friend is awesome, they are someone you can share secrets and thoughts with and can just be yourself around. This book will make you appreciate having one of your own.

The characters are all awesome. They each have their quirks and extraordinary personality’s. I loved Kezzy’s mum the best though. Although I’m glad I have a mum like mine, I wouldn’t mind living in Kezzy’s shoe to see what it’s like living with Belinda. All that knitting would probably drive me round the bend though!

I’m glad that there is a book like this for young teenagers that doesn’t revolve around the main character falling in love and facing challenges on the way. No, this book was so refreshing and made you smile every time that did on of their secrets. It made me want to jump up and help an old lady cross the street safely. I grinned the whole way through.

The ending of the book with that twist was the icing on the cake. It just peaked off an awesome read and made it all that more delightful! I’m going to stop now as I’m making it sound like an ice cream sundae!

Rating: 5/5
You can buy the book here
Author's website

Cover Of The Month (2)

Amy and Rogers Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.

This cover is just gorgeous! It's the new UK cover that's just been released. I adore the little doodlings around the title and the fonts are awesome. I love it.  







Journey To The River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Title: Journey To The River Sea
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
Publication Date: May 30^th 2002

Goodreads Summary:It is 1910 and Maia, tragically orphaned at 13, has been sent from England to start a new life with distant relatives in Manaus, hundreds of miles up the Amazon. She is accompanied by an eccentric and mysterious governess who has secret reasons of her own for making the journey. Both soon discover an exotic world bursting with new experiences in this highly colourful, joyous and award-winning adventure.

My Review:
This has to be one of my favourite books of all time! I have read it over and over again to the point where the pages are starting to fall out. I always dreamed of having an adventure like Maia, going off to some exotic location and meeting all these new people. I adore the plot and the richly drawn characters. All of them seem so real, like old friends.
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I loved Miss Minton the best. Her sharp and spiky personality drew you in. I so wanted to learn more about her past. Her over protectiveness of Maia seemed so genuine and I could tell their relationship was bound so tightly it would take a tornado or a hurricane to tear them apart. Another character I enjoyed reading about was Finn. Finn was the exotic and exciting boy Maia meets a little while after she arrives in the Amazon. He seemed so caring and perfect.

Personally, I find it a modern retelling of Cinderella. You have the orphan, the evil stepmother, two equally evil twins and a fairy governess!

Journey to The River Sea is an enchanting story which takes you on a magical journey across Brazil. Definatly worth a read!

Rating: 5/5
You can buy the book here

Ice Lolly by Jean Ure

Title: Ice Lolly

Author: Jean Ure

Format: Paperback

Pages: 208

Publisher: HarperCollins

Date Published: 7^th January 2010

Amazon Summary:
Laurel is only twelve when her mum dies and she is shipped off to stay with relatives she hardly knows. Her new family don't seem to care about anything Laurel loves, including books and Mr Pooter, her old marmalade-coloured cat. So Laurel decides that she won't feel anything: she'll become Ice Lolly, the girl with the frozen heart. But a special friend and a mysterious letter open up new possibilities for Ice Lolly, and for Mr Pooter!

My Review:

This book was extremely emotional for a child’s/young teenager’s book! I honestly didn’t think it would be a good as it was. I own and have read quite a few Jean Ure books but I have to say this is my favourite by her by a long shot.

The book is about a young girl being shipped off to live with distant relatives after a devastating loss. Along with her cat, Mr Pooter, Laurel escapes into her own private world. There were a lot of characters in the book and of course I liked the character of Laurel best. Laurel’s cousin Holly on the other hand made me want to scream. I honestly couldn’t believe someone could be that selfish and offensive. She’s meant to be ten years old!

A lot of the plot which you read about in the summary doesn’t actually happen until the end of the book. There are a lot of clues about the letter which are easy to piece together. You are able to solve the mystery a good 50 pages before the ending. As I have said in other reviews, this is one of those books with a rushed ending which let it down a bit.

Ice Lolly is an interesting read and makes you think about the lives of children and how they deal with such situations. This is why not only should children read this but adults should also give it a go.

Rating: 3.5/5

You can buy the book here

Authors website

Forget Me Not by Anne Cassidy

Title: Forget Me Not
Author: Anne Cassidy
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Date Published: 4^th February 2008


GoodReads Synopsis:
A child has been stolen...Jade Henderson is missing, taken from her cot. Stella Parfitt watches the police investigation unfold, and begins to ask her own questions. Where was her mother that night? The woods hold a dark secret..

My review:
I liked this book. I liked the mother/daughter relationship and how it changed points of view between what was happening to Stella in the present and what Trish was dealing with when she was eighteen. I thought the topic was excellent (child kidnapped).. A fault that I thought let the book down was that it concentrated more on what happened to Trish when she was younger rather then what was happening in present day. At first I though that it was creating a background story but then that point of view started taking over the whole thing.

I couldn’t really connect with Stella or Trish throughout the book. I thought stella acted younger then her eighteen years because if how she acted and how she dealt with the situations with her mother. I thought she would be more mature than she was.

Also the ending of the book was vague and didn’t conclude the book very well. It wasn’t explained in much detail and seemed rushed.

In conclusion this book was ok and it was a good read but I probably won’t be reading this again. I wouldn’t go out and buy it but if they have it in your local library and you want a quick read then I would prompt you to pick it up.

Rating:

You can buy the book here

Ruby Red by Linzi Glass

Title: Ruby Red
Author: Linzi Glass
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 6^th March 2008

GoodReads Synopsis:
In Ruby Winters' world, colour opens some doors and slams others shut. Her opulent Johannesburg neighbourhood is a far cry from the streets of Soweto where anger and hatred simmer under the surface. Ruby can't resist the blue-eyed Afrikaans boy who brings her the exciting rush of first love, but whose presence brings hushed whispers and disapproving glances. She might not see race, colour or creed - but it seems everybody else does. For Ruby, making some choices means letting others go, and as the darkness begins to descend, she must find a way to follow a brighter path...

My review:
I really liked this book. I liked the setting, the plot and the writing were all excellent. Sometimes I couldn’t understand some of the Afrikaans language that the author used when an Afrikaans character was speaking but I could understand well enough. I personally think there should have possibly been a glossary at the back to explain the words which would have helped me understand the book better.

The character of Ruby was brave and I liked the fact she also did what she believed was right and put everyone else before her. She reminds me of my sister a lot too. I also liked the character of Dashel, I thought that he was an excellent character to brighten up the book.

The ending of the book was a bit disappointing as I’d really enjoyed it up until the last few pages, I thought the book moved far too fast aswell at some points. Most of the questions that I wanted answers to were left open which let the book down a bit for me.

Overall I good read and I loved how it tackled such important issues but still had some romance in there.

Rating: 3.5/5

You can buy the book here

Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Title: Flush

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Format: Paperback

Pages: 295

Publisher: Corgi

Date Published: 1^st June 2006

GoodReads Synopsis:

On Father's Day, Noah visits his dad at the local jail. Dad is a feisty environmentalist with a short fuse. Convinced that the Coral Queen was dumping raw sewage into the harbour, he decided to take matters in his own hands. He sank the floating casino (at least temporarily), but ended up in the hoosegow. Noah knows that his dad was right about the sewage, even if his corrective method was a little over the top. To clean the slate and the harbour, he drafts a motley crew of friends to get the goods on the illegal dumpers.

 

My Review:
Okay, I’m going to start by saying I did not like this book. I though the first 200 or so pages were good but then it started going downhill for me. I got bored with the story and wondering where this was going. It kept repeating basically the same kind of scene. They try to frame Dusty and end up being caught and running away and that was repeated like three times.

I liked the characters of Noah and Abbey especially the latter. I though they were amusing and interesting kids. The plot was good and I loved the location the book was set in.

I’m going to admit that I didn’t actually finish this book! I stopped from about 50 pages before the end. The book for me had dried up and I just couldn’t force myself to keep going so I don’t actually know how the book ends.

Overall from what I read the book was mediocre. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in nature, the environment, stopping pollution etc.

Rating: 2.5/5

You can buy this book here.