Author: M.R James 126 pages Genre: Classic Horror First Published: 1911 Book Description (from Good Reads): The follow-up volume to "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" collects seven more of Montague Rhodes James's classic horror stories, including "A School Story," "The Rose Garden," "Casting the Runes," and "Martin's Close." Points to consider: Characters: 5.5 The stories are short and the development of the characters is very little. The characters are kind of bland and don't make you care too much for them, it seems that they are there simply to make the story move along. It is the old style of people simply being used as names and voice to get the story moving. But due to the shortness of each story, I guess that's to be expected.  Plot: 5.0 The stories are fast paced and not all that scary at all. They are written in the old style of "scary" stories featuring suspense and ghost as the main s...

Author: Courtney Summers 311 pages Genre: YA Mystery Thriller. First published: September 2018 Book Description (from good reads): Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him. When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.  Things to Consider: Plot: 8.0 It has a very interesting prompt. The mystery ...

Author: J.K. Rowling  341 pages Genre: Children Fantasy Book Description (Good Reads):  The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone -- or something -- starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? O...

Author: Angie Thomas  447 pages First Published: February 2017 Genre: YA Contemporary Book Description (Goodreads): Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. Things to consider: Plot: 9.5 The story is somewhat fast-paced and slow-...

Author: Ruth Ware 308 pages Genre: Mystery Thriller First Published: 2015 Book Description (Good Reads):  In a dark, dark wood Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back. There was a dark, dark house Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her? And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room But something goes wrong. Very wrong. And in the dark, dark room.... Some things can’t stay secret for ever. Points to consider: Plot: 8.0 The storyline starts very classically. Giving the hints that something happened a decade before and our main character Nora, her inability to move on. Then giving small hints of what it was, you get the picture soon enough is complete as the clues start to come to us as we read.  The plot twist is given enough hype to make it interesting as you go towards it. But the ending is not al...

Author: Pedro Salinas 120 pages Genre: Poetry Pedro Salinas was a Spanish poet as well as a university teacher, scholar and literary critic.  This book has the sub-title Poema and it is indeed conceived as a single poem whose various episodes do not have individual titles or numbers. But the way he expresses love is captivating. Salinas' style has something that captures your attention and makes it enjoyment come as you move along the poems.  I am just getting into the poetry genre and it has been some ups and downs, the styles, the way to critique and the things to look for in it. So I can't really give a proper evaluation of the quality or have a true appreciation of it pretending to have knowledge of the value it might have. I can simply give my opinion. I really liked it.  The fun part is that I simply picked this book because I wanted to accomplish the YA-a-thon Read a book by an author with your same initials. I simply googled authors with in...

Author: Lorna Landvik 320 Pages Genre: Fiction, Women's fiction First Published: June 1997 Book Description (from Good Reads):  Best friends fast approaching forty in the small Minnesota town of Flame Lake, Devera and BiDi were recently voted "Least Changed" at their twentieth high school reunion- a label neither one finds very appealing. For each craves a change in her life: Devera desires a break from her humdrum marital routine; BiDi longs to reconnect with her distant fourteen-year-old daughter (the only girl on the high school hockey team), not to mention jump-start a sex drive stuck in neutral. So when Devera's husband decides to fulfill his longtime dream of opening a nightclub in his basement, Your Oasis on Flame Lake arrives not a moment too soon. Nothing fancy, it is just a BYOB joint where you can hang out, sing, dance, tell jokes, and be yourself. But then an unexpected crisis throws both families into chaos, forcing them all to take stock of their li...