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tabatha_shipley's reviews
1326 reviews
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
4.0
Three women all dealing with different blows life may deal you decide to escape to the beach in Nantucket for the summer.
This is a great beach read. More importantly, I found exceptional life lesson buried within the characters. This is recommended for anyone looking for life balance or needed a reminder of how important family is.
I expected to pick this one up and have a nice, quick summer read about a beach that made me want to go to the beach. It delivered on that AND on so much more.
This is a great beach read. More importantly, I found exceptional life lesson buried within the characters. This is recommended for anyone looking for life balance or needed a reminder of how important family is.
I expected to pick this one up and have a nice, quick summer read about a beach that made me want to go to the beach. It delivered on that AND on so much more.
Guilty Wives by David Ellis, James Patterson
5.0
James Patterson has done it again. This time bringing us an amazing story of the strength of one woman's dedication to truth and justice. Abbie finds herself in a french prison, trying to keep her spirit amidst turmoil. Her story is fast-paced, scary, and fierce. I found a woman I can learn from in this book of trials, and that I wasn't expecting. 5 big stars for Mr. Patterson. Well done, sir.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
5.0
I didn't expect to like this book. Artemis Fowl came to my attention during a time when a lot of other teen or young adult novels were becoming wildly popular, and they all seemed too alike for my taste. However, I like the dark side of young Master Fowl. I like the strange way the character sucks you in to the story, despite the fact that he really is the bad guy of the tale. This story centers around a brilliant 12 year old boy who masterminds a plan to rob fairies of their gold. It's like nothing you've ever read before, even if you consider yourself to be an expert on fairies or teen novels. This one is dark, interesting, and yet amazingly addictive. I, for one, will be searching for the next in the series. Five stars and a wink for the twist I spent the entire book trying to figure out. Do yourself a favor, and check out this fast read.
Summer Light by Luanne Rice
4.0
This one fell into my lap off someone's book shelf, an unexpected pleasure. There are many reasons I enjoyed this work of beautiful fiction. One, I adore hockey and appreciated the references to my favorite game. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the language used to create this novel is nothing short of amazing. Ms. Rice clearly spent time considering all ways to a present her ideas and choosing the one that painted the most vivid picture. I was not expecting much from this book, but it delivered. This is now taking a spot of honor on my bookshelf among personal favorites to be reread. Bravo! 4 stars for a beautiful story of strength.
The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
4.0
The second installment of the Artemis Fowl series did not disappoint. It is packed with the same amazing writing that made us laugh and cringe in round one. This book follows young Artemis on a quest to rescue his lost father. Holly, Butler, Root, and the gang all return to liven up the scene. We may even see a decent side to this evil criminal mastermind. 4 stars for this exciting sequel.
Rosie by Alan Titchmarsh
3.0
This adorable English novel follows an old lady who wants to live life to its fullest every day, beginning the day she is arrested. Rosie is a believable, yet hilarious character. She has crazy ideas of how best to invest money, what constitutes a practical car purchase, and even family. Her brilliant grandson, Nick, is just trying to keep his life in order amidst all the chaos. Three stars for a fun fiction story that reminds us all to live a little while we can.
Shadow Children Complete Set, Books 1-7: Among the Hidden, Among the Impostors, Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, Among the Brave, Among the Enemy, and Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix
5.0
First of all, having read the entire series of this young adult phenomenon, I could simply not find it in my soul to seperate them in the reviews. Trust me when I say you will find it impossible to seperate one from the other once you have begun. The good news, they are fast reads so it will not consume too much of your time to read the entire thing from start to finish. How many books are we truly talking about, anyway? Let me introduce you to your new favorite young adult series:
Among the Hidden
Among the Imposters
Among the Betrayed
Among the Barons
Among the Brave
Among the Enemy
Among the Free
This series fell into my hands in pieces. First, the original book was offered by Scholastic for only $1 a few years back. I purchased 8 copies of the book, always eager to find good deals on books and always trusting Scholastic's judgement. The book was, in a word, remarkable. The idea behind this story is that in a country who has similarities to our own, after a food shortage, the government declares it illegal for a family to have more than two children. The story follows Luke, a third child born to a quiet farming family, who doesn't understand the magnitude of his very existence.
I never knew the remaining six books in the series existed. You see, the first book ends in such a way that you almost imagine what may happen later. I was unaware that Ms. Haddix had made it unnecessary for me to imagine. However, I assigned the book that first year it hit my shelves to a group of 8 boys who declared they "hated reading". My philosophy is that all children who don't like to read simply haven't found that book yet. It's out there, I often tell my class, waiting to grab your attention and hook you on reading, you just have to be willing to continue searching. It is always my goal to have each and every student in my class be able to answer the question "what is your favorite book?" by the end of the year. I'm proud to say 5 of those 8 listed "Among the Hidden" when asked that question. In other words, it was a hit. I continued to use it year-after-year.
Fast forward to this year. Another young almost-reader struggling to find his book finds it again in Among the Hidden. His mother, grateful, promptly purchased a classroom set of all 7 books for my shelf. I was shocked, remember, I didn't know they existed. Hence how I came to read the entire series from start to finish and sit here writing this (incredibly wordy, my apologies) review.
This is a rare series. Once I hit the 3rd book I noticed something odd was happening, each of these books was better than the last. That is not a typo, although those of you familiar with most series will understand how rare that truly is. The books simply kept getting more intense, more agressive, and more poignant as they moved toward a strong stand against government corruption and the idea that power corrupts.
I was almost afraid to begin "Among the Free". Although the name implies it will end well for Luke and his friends, I was terrified with how it would be accomplished. The cover simply stated "fans of the series will not be dissapointed" and I cannot agree more. Haddix did not fall into the typical series endings. She chose to end on a beautiful note, one that would probably not work for any other series. Instead of ending her series with a happily-ever-after, Haddix stretched out infinite possibility and imagination. You'll have to read the series to see why this is effective.
All in all, I'm so very grateful that I have this amazing series in my classroom. There is a waiting list 4 preteens deep to check them out of my classroom shelves, and they are being returned to rave reviews. As a class we highly agree this series deserved 5 huge stars, and the kids claim I also need to include a tear for at least one spot in the series where "even you must have almost cried". Highly recommended from our classroom to yours!
Among the Hidden
Among the Imposters
Among the Betrayed
Among the Barons
Among the Brave
Among the Enemy
Among the Free
This series fell into my hands in pieces. First, the original book was offered by Scholastic for only $1 a few years back. I purchased 8 copies of the book, always eager to find good deals on books and always trusting Scholastic's judgement. The book was, in a word, remarkable. The idea behind this story is that in a country who has similarities to our own, after a food shortage, the government declares it illegal for a family to have more than two children. The story follows Luke, a third child born to a quiet farming family, who doesn't understand the magnitude of his very existence.
I never knew the remaining six books in the series existed. You see, the first book ends in such a way that you almost imagine what may happen later. I was unaware that Ms. Haddix had made it unnecessary for me to imagine. However, I assigned the book that first year it hit my shelves to a group of 8 boys who declared they "hated reading". My philosophy is that all children who don't like to read simply haven't found that book yet. It's out there, I often tell my class, waiting to grab your attention and hook you on reading, you just have to be willing to continue searching. It is always my goal to have each and every student in my class be able to answer the question "what is your favorite book?" by the end of the year. I'm proud to say 5 of those 8 listed "Among the Hidden" when asked that question. In other words, it was a hit. I continued to use it year-after-year.
Fast forward to this year. Another young almost-reader struggling to find his book finds it again in Among the Hidden. His mother, grateful, promptly purchased a classroom set of all 7 books for my shelf. I was shocked, remember, I didn't know they existed. Hence how I came to read the entire series from start to finish and sit here writing this (incredibly wordy, my apologies) review.
This is a rare series. Once I hit the 3rd book I noticed something odd was happening, each of these books was better than the last. That is not a typo, although those of you familiar with most series will understand how rare that truly is. The books simply kept getting more intense, more agressive, and more poignant as they moved toward a strong stand against government corruption and the idea that power corrupts.
I was almost afraid to begin "Among the Free". Although the name implies it will end well for Luke and his friends, I was terrified with how it would be accomplished. The cover simply stated "fans of the series will not be dissapointed" and I cannot agree more. Haddix did not fall into the typical series endings. She chose to end on a beautiful note, one that would probably not work for any other series. Instead of ending her series with a happily-ever-after, Haddix stretched out infinite possibility and imagination. You'll have to read the series to see why this is effective.
All in all, I'm so very grateful that I have this amazing series in my classroom. There is a waiting list 4 preteens deep to check them out of my classroom shelves, and they are being returned to rave reviews. As a class we highly agree this series deserved 5 huge stars, and the kids claim I also need to include a tear for at least one spot in the series where "even you must have almost cried". Highly recommended from our classroom to yours!
12th of Never by Maxine Paetro, James Patterson
4.0
As the title implies, this is the 12th in a series for Mr. Patterson. In fact, this is the 12th book to hit shelves featuring the "Woman's Murder Club" and was written in tandem with Maxine Paetro. Readers of this blog will know these facts about me already, but they are worth repeating. Firstly, I am a HUGE James Patterson fan and I literally read everything the man writes (quite the accomplishment since his full list of books spans 3 pages in small print and he adds at least 3 to the list every single year). Secondly, I do not believe that all Patterson books are created equal and have previously claimed to actually dislike a few in the past.
This title was actually pretty good. I haven't been a solid fan of the Woman's Murder series in the past, finding the antics of Yuki and Cindy to be a bit dry (although I do love Lindsay and Claire). This book had a lot of interesting story lines going on at once, and I found it pleasing instead of confusing. Lindsay and Joe finally have their baby, but things don't unfold as planned. Add to that a football star being accused of murdering his girlfriend, a body missing from the morgue, Claire being suspended, a missing security guard, and an English professor who appears to be predicting murders; and there are a lot of things to love about this book.
I feel as though this one was one of the most intense books in the series. Readers of the series will be glad they stuck with it and non-readers may very well be glad you don't really need to read them all to enjoy the book. Personally, I'm glad I read this one. Four stars for the high action book, and a wink for the twist I didn't see.
This title was actually pretty good. I haven't been a solid fan of the Woman's Murder series in the past, finding the antics of Yuki and Cindy to be a bit dry (although I do love Lindsay and Claire). This book had a lot of interesting story lines going on at once, and I found it pleasing instead of confusing. Lindsay and Joe finally have their baby, but things don't unfold as planned. Add to that a football star being accused of murdering his girlfriend, a body missing from the morgue, Claire being suspended, a missing security guard, and an English professor who appears to be predicting murders; and there are a lot of things to love about this book.
I feel as though this one was one of the most intense books in the series. Readers of the series will be glad they stuck with it and non-readers may very well be glad you don't really need to read them all to enjoy the book. Personally, I'm glad I read this one. Four stars for the high action book, and a wink for the twist I didn't see.