Book Reviews

Reviewed by Melanie Koopmans, July 2023

Harriet and Wyn have always been perfect for each other. Ever since college they’d been together until, to Harriet’s surprise, they weren’t. Struggling with her surgical residency and the breakup with her long term fiance, Harriet was in need of her annual trip to Maine. Every year since she started college… Read more

Reviewed by Melanie Koopmans, July 2023

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes follows the story of Avery Grambs, a supposedly normal teenager. She attended high school, worked as a waitress, lived with her sister, regularly slept in her car to avoid her sister's boyfriend, and played chess with a homeless man in order to buy… Read more

Reviewed by Melanie Koopmans, July 2023

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes picks up at the end of the first novel in the series, The Inheritance Games. In the first novel Avery and the Hawthorne brother’s start their investigation into how and why Tobias Hawthorne, a well-known multi-billionaire, left most of his wealth and his… Read more

Reviewed by B. Ullsvik, May 2023

25 years ago, a guy named Charlie Crabtree committed a murder. A murder so sinister that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat. Crabtree was never found, only his partner was brought to justice. Now, the… Read more

Reviewed by B. Ullsvik, April 2023

This book takes place in Poland during WW2. Leon Leyson was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the awfulness of the Nazis, including that of the rude Amon Goeth,… Read more

Reviewed by B. Ullsvik, April 2023
 

This book takes place in China. She tells the story, through a child's eyes, the moving story of growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. This is the true story of fourteen-year-old Ting-xing’s life turned upside down by China’s Cultural Revolution. After the death of both her parents, Ting-Xing… Read more

Reviewed by B. Ullsvik, April 2023

This book takes place in South Korea, during the Gwangju Uprising of 1980. Through the perspectives of many different people, all are connected in one way; to a boy named Dong-ho. All tell a different story, leading to a similar outcome. From Dong-ho's best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor… Read more

Reviewed by B. Ullsvik, April 2023

This book takes place during WW2, and takes you on a journey through the eyes of one man. He is a Poland resistance fighter, who ended up in Auschwitz. This is the true story of how Witold attempted to take down the Nazi’s from the inside. His entire mission took him over 2 years, and it was horrific. Through… Read more

Reviewed by Emily Hafeman, March 2023

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is the first book in a romance trilogy. The book features Belly, a girl who’s family visits Cousin’s beach every summer since she was born. Susannah her moms best friend has a house along the beach where Belly’s family stays… Read more

Reviewed by G. Ritzke, March 2023

Benjamin Ripley was a normal middle-school kid with some excellent math skills. He had his best friend Mike Brenski, and life was good. Until Ben gets moved out of his school and put into St. Smithen’s Science Academy for Boys and Girls. The school seemed… Read more