young adult – Tawdra Kandle

#AprilReadingChallenge: Favorite Children’s Books

Welcome to April! It’s my favorite month of the year . . . for many reasons. First, of course, it’s spring. When I lived in a more season-oriented climate, April was the first month when we could count on more warm days than cold ones. And it was the month of daffodils, tulips and forsythia. The air was filled with fragrance.

And April is *my* month–I celebrate my birthday on the 7th!

This year, I also have a huge release on that same day. AGE OF AQUARIUS goes live on the 7th.

So when I saw this reading challenge for April, I thought . . . why not?

April 2nd: Favorite Children’s Book

This is not easy! I’m going to fudge a little and give three answers:

Favorite grade-school book: Mr. Pine’s Mixed Up Signs by Leonard P. Kessler (The book that taught me how to read!)
Favorite middle-grade/chapter book: (This was REALLY tough!!) Look Through My Window by Jean Little. I fell in love with this story and read it over and over . . . I’m not sure if it was the idea of the big old house they moved into, or maybe the cousins coming to live with them (I always wished for a bigger family), but this story is warm, wonderful and amazing. If you haven’t read it, grab it NOW. Seriously. Life changing stuff here.
Favorite young adult book: When I was in high school, we really didn’t have young adult books. We went from Laura Ingalls Wilder to the classics or adult lit. Of course, we had Judy Bloom and her forbidden book Forever, but that is in a class by itself. (Ahem.) My favorite young adult that I’ve read in the last five years would have to be Jesi Lea Ryan’s Arcadia series. I love book #2 especially.

I’m reading . . . Wicked Restless by Ginger Scott

October 21, 2015 No Comments

Usually when I post reads to this day on the blog, I’ve finished the book and can tell you how I felt about it overall. Today’s different. I’ve been short on good reads lately, so today really IS What I’m Reading #Wednesday.

I’ve been waiting for this book since I finished the first one, Wild Reckless. I loved that one, even though it was mostly YA, a genre I rarely read; the depth and the plot line overcame any misgivings I might have had.

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Now I’m about a third of the way into the second book, and I’m not disappointed. We’re back in Woodstock, a small town near Chicago, and we’re back with the Harper family. This time, younger brother Andrew is the main character. He’s a kid who’s the unlucky recipient of his family’s legacy: the Harpers are the subject of rumors, speculation and bad opinion after the family’s suffered in the aftermath of mental illness.

This story picks up about a year after the first one, but then we jump ahead five years. I’m not going to spoil the plot by talking about why we make the leap; suffice it to say that it works.

I’m eager to read the rest of it and see what happens with Andrew and Emma, his love interest. She’s got a secret we don’t know, and while I can guess at it–maybe?–I’m not sure.

So far, the characters are likable, the story is moving along well, and I’m enjoying it. I’ll come back and update once I’m finished.