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I love reading YA books; they’re my favorite–and I love writing them, too. (Smiling) So much emotion and tension, strong-girl characters (and strong boys, too) who I root for, no boring bits or long passages of description that stop the story, so often characters overcoming great odds or fighting for what is right or learning something important about themselves and other people, and novels tackling issues that others aren’t talking about. YA books feed my soul–and they helped me survive when I was a teen being abused. So I’m happy ‪#‎IReadYa‬ week is here! (See @thisisteen on Instagram for more info.)

I’ve been on a YA fantasy binge for a while. Some of my most recent favorites are:

Unremembered by Jessica Brody,






The Body Electric by Beth Revis,

Elusion by Claudia Gable & Cheryl Klam,

Everything That Makes You by Moriah McStay,

and The Taking by Kimberly Derting–all of which I highly recommend.

I’m looking forward to reading lesbian YA novels:

The Summer I Wasn’t Me by Jessica Verdi

and If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan. And I love Julie Anne Peters’ novels, and so many other ‪#‎LGBTQ‬ novels.

And I always recommend realistic YA fiction by Ellen Hopkins, Jennifer Brown, April Henry, Laura Wiess, Jo Knowles, Gail Giles, and many more. Discover the fantastic books out there waiting for you!

So not only is STAINED one of Bank Street College Center for Children’s Literature’s Best Book of the Year for ages Fourteen and Up–it’s also going to be released in paperback on 5/11/15 and be only $8.99!

So much good news today! I love good news. (beaming)

I’m delighted that STAINED is one of Bank Street College Center for Children’s Literature’s Book of the Year for ages Fourteen and Up! (beaming)

Links to all books and categories here.

It’s such a feel-good thing to have my book recognized! For any author to have that happen. (grinning)

Check out this sweet, heartfelt, honest review of Scars by reader Jacob Lasher. Jacob’s read Scars five times already! (beaming) What a feel-good review from a reader.

Flip by Martyn Bedford
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, Random House: April 5, 2011
ASIN: B004FGLXQK
My rating: 5/5 stars
source: library copy

Whenever I read a book that grips me so much that I don’t want to put it down, and at the same time I don’t want to finish it because then the book will have ended, I want to tell others about it. Flip by Martyn Bedford was one of those books; it’s a new favorite. I will be watching out for any future YA books that Bedford writes.

In Flip, 14-year-old Alex wakes up in another boy’s body, in another boy’s house and life–Phillip Garmond, and six months have passed. Alex can’t convince anyone to believe him, and he doesn’t know how to reverse it and get back to his own body and life. He just knows that he has to try. And try he does, as he slowly puts the pieces together.

I found myself rooting for Alex through the entire book, intensely hoping that he would find a way to get back to his own body and his own family, and feel once again like he belonged. Descriptions were vivid–of his new bedroom, new house and family–and yet never slowed the story down. It also helped that there were some positive characters who helped Alex, and eventually a few who believed them. It helped me keep reading and keep hoping for Alex to get his life back.

I believed utterly in Alex, in his emotional struggle, his reactions to events, his determinedness to get his own life back. It was easy to identify with Alex and feel compassion for him. There was a kind of mystery for Alex and the reader to solve, about how and why he got into Phillip’s body and how to get back again, and that mystery also helped to drive the story forward. This is a compelling, engaging, beautifully written urban fantasy. Highly recommended.

Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones


by Helen Hemphill

Front Street (November 2008)

ISBN-10: 1590786378, ISBN-13: 978-1590786376

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Prometheus Jones, a young boy who has a talent with horses, breaks a horse for two racist brothers who refuse to pay him. Instead, they give him a raffle ticket for a horse. But when Prometheus’ ticket wins, the two brothers rile up the crowd against Prometheus and his cousin, Omer, and try to steal teh horse away from him. Prometheus and Omer escape on the horse with an angry, racist crowd of white boys and men after them–men who can kill them. So Prometheus and Omer keep riding–to Texas, to look for Prometheus’ father who was sold as a slave. Along the way, they get hired as cowboys, and undergo adventure and strife.

Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones is an entertaining story. I found myself interested in Prometheus’ adventures and scrapes, and wanting to know what happened to him. I cared about the characters–Prometheus and Omer, especially–and wanted them to get through everything safely. The book is a kind of survival story; there was so much that threatened Prometheus’ survival, from extreme racism, to stampeeding buffalos, to Native Indians angry at their land being invaded. Prometheus faces all of these challenges with courage.

Prometheus is a likable character. He repeatedly stands up for others even though it means great risk to himself, even his life, because he is an African American in a time when there’s a huge amount of racism. He also repeatedly stands up for his own rights, fights for what is his, and does the right thing. He is hard working, skilled at what he does, and repeatedly gains the respect of others. I loved how Prometheus is so good at what he does–calming crazed horses and shooting with such accuracy. All of those things gave him hero-like qualities, and helped me care about him.

However, there was a distance between Prometheus and the reader. It didn’t feel like we were fully in him; I wanted more emotion, more character involvement, more sensory information–more of Prometheus, and who he really is, not just what he does. I also wanted to see more of Prometheus’ relationship to his horse. We’re told that he ends up caring for her, but I didn’t see any of that relationship, and I expected to because he was so good with horses.

Prometheus was the most well drawn character, and then Omer and a few of the cowboys. Some of the other characters felt flat or not fully drawn; I would have liked to see more sides of them. At times it felt like sensory detail was dumped in a few places–too many different details all at once–and then long stretches where there was nothing.

Hemphill included great details of life in the west that helped it seem believable, such as that the cowboys sang not to each other, but to the cattle to calm them down.

When Prometheus starts having a number of things go wrong for him (spoiler alert)–he loses his precious horse, and his cousin is killed–and Prometheus himself loses hope and his upbeat way of looking at the world, the story starts to lose me. It felt like it changed the whole tone of the book, from a lighter adventure story to a more depressing story.

I found it upsetting that Omer, Prometheus’ cousin, was suddenly killed. Omer was important to Prometheus, and Prometheus was protective of him. The book took a depressing turn after that, especially since Prometheus and Omer had planned to go to Texas together and that goal brought both hope and forward momentum, and because Omer was such an innocent. Granted, I always have a hard time when good characters die in books–but if there’s more emotional working it through and hope, then it feels like there’s more reward for the reader for sticking through that hard period. And I didn’t get that from this book. Still, I kept reading. And I had no problem with the abusive and horrible characters dying.

I also didn’t find the ending satisfying enough. Throughout the book, Prometheus’ drive is to find his father, who was sold as a slave in Texas. But once Omer dies, Prometheus doesn’t care about it, and we never see whether he finds his father though we’re led to believe that that won’t work out. We also don’t see him gaining a replacement or happiness, though he does stay on with the cowboys.

Still, I wanted to read about Prometheus’ adventures, and the adventure and the setting should appeal to readers who like adventure. This would be a good book to give to boys who don’t like to read, since there’s adventure, danger, and a hero who stands up for what is right. It may spark their interest, especially because it doesn’t shy away from some of the bad things that could happen in that time period. The book is an excellent way to help readers deeply understand racism and the unjustness of it. It also shows readers that there were African American and Mexican cowboys, not just Caucasian cowboys–something that does not seem to be widely known. For that reason, it might be useful in school as supplemental material for history or English projects. At the back of the book there is an author’s note with a little more information.

Recommended.

For a fun book talk of the book, see the video below.

Other reviews:

Reading YA: Readers’ Rants “An energetic read for ages 10 and up, this is a surprisingly accurate, gritty portrayal of life in the Old West, telling it like it was for hundreds of young boys who left their homes and plantations after the Emancipation Proclamation and struck out for the untamed West.”

BookMoot “Wait a minute, I’m only on the second page of the story and I am totally and utterly committed to this young man and his predicament. How did Hemphill do that?”

Children’s Book Page “Hemphill lassos readers with her gift for dialogue and nail-biting scenes of danger, and holds them with fascinating descriptions of cowboy life and clever historical references….”

Author Interview:
GuysLitWire

Maw Books Blog “I had no idea that cattle driving could be so exciting, but it’s not hard when you have Prometheus Jones as a main character.”

The Hunger Games is one of those books that is so powerful and moving, it feels like a treasure, a reminder of the reason we read. It is near perfect–and I don’t say that about many books. You won’t want to miss this one.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press (September 2008)

ISBN-13: 978-0439023481

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

–The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, p. 3.

The Hunger Gamesis one of the most gripping, moving books I have read in a long time. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time; it’s a real adrenaline pumper and a deeply satisfying read.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss lives with her mother and sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. The Capitol controls its working masses through controlled starvation, rigid laws, and a horrifying yearly ritual, The Hunger Games, while the people in the Capitol live with excess (not unlike most of us). The Hunger Games is an annual televised event where, each year, each district must send one boy and one girl to the Capitol to fight to the death. Only one child may remain alive as the victor. The children are picked by their names being drawn–and this is rigged against the poorest. Since so many of the families in the poorest districts are starving, the Capitol allows them to draw a monthly ration of grain and oil for each child–but each time they do, that child’s name is added, again, into the pot for the Hunger Games. Katniss is protective of her sister, and never allows her sister to draw rations for the family; instead, Katniss selflessly does, and also hunts for her family. So when Katniss’ sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss offers to go in her place.

Collins pulled me into her story world and kept me utterly immersed. I cared about the characters strongly and what happened to them. Since the stakes were so high (my three favorite characters might die) it made me care about them–and worry about them–even more.

Katniss is an immensely likable and believable character who readers will root for. I grew to really care about her throughout the book. Katniss is loyal and loving, and willing to risk her life–even sacrifice it–to save her sister, Prim, who she loves and is fiercely protective of. She is also protective of others. Katniss is brave, resourceful, determined, and strong. She’s very intelligent, and able to not only analyze and figure out what’s going on in the Hunger Games, but to use that knowledge. She’s incredibly skilled with the bow and arrow, and at climbing trees, which helps the reader like her more. And she has compassion and caring for others, even though she sometimes gets confused about or doesn’t want to admit what she’s feeling. Katniss is a spunky, fiesty, admirable hero.

Katniss also has a temper, and she rebels in various ways against the Capitol, which is refreshing. Katniss has trouble trusting people, holds a grudge against her mother, is angry with her, and has kept herself emotionally distant from her ever since her mother abandoned Katniss and Prim for several months. This anger and resentment makes Katniss more rounded and believable, with some understandable “faults.”

Collins knew what she was doing; she helps the reader like Katniss more fully and more quickly through having so many people in the book who respond so well to Katniss, treating her with kindness and respect. Katniss has many unexpected allies. The kindness she receives also helps to offset the horrible circumstances that Kitniss is in, and helps to keep the book from becoming too painful. Some small bits of humor are woven into some of the worst moments, such as the choosing of the “tributes”–the children who will have to fight to the death–which also helps offset the horror.

Collins also quickly makes the reader care about Peetah, the boy from Katniss’ district who is also chosen for the Hunger Games, and who Katniss likes and has a history with. Collins reveals, through small bits of backstory woven into the story, the kindness and generosity Peetah showed Katniss at a time when she desperately needed it. Perhaps because that kindness involved a basic need–food (to offset starvation)–it is especially moving. Collins makes the link clear for the reader between the kindness Peetah showed Katniss and her regained hope and ability to keep herself and her family alive. This makes the link between Katniss and Peetah even stronger, and increases the bond, confusion, and tension when they enter the Hunger Games together. It makes the reader want to root for Peetah, too, and hope that he somehow comes out alive as well. Collins also makes us care for Rue, a fellow tribute in the Hunger Games who reminds Katniss of her sister, and who is young and somewhat vulnerable. All three characters are likable, empathizable, and well drawn, and the reader will root for the safety of them all.

Collins deftly draws on reader emotions, masterfully ratcheting up the tension and then providing relief for the reader, then increasing the tension again, making The Hunger Games a wonderful ride. The story is so moving, it made me cry a few times throughout the book. There are great highs and lows–and high stakes for the characters that you come to intensely care about. Despite the horrible events in the book, and the abject cruelty and inhumaneness of the Capitol, the story holds a lot of hope–through Katniss’ humanity and compassion, and through the compassion, kindness, and respect from others. That hope is what helped pull me through.

Collins creates a great atmosphere and believable setting, bringing in details that help you feel, smell, and see the place. She uses foreshadowing well, and consistently has fantastic cliff-hanger chapter ends, where you want to turn the page quickly to find out what happens next. Collins’ use of backstory adds layers and depth the story, and the scenes link together to create a larger picture. It works incredibly well. There’s also a thread of romance, more from the boys’ perspective than from Katniss’, though Katniss slowly begins to look at her feelings–and this adds another layer to the story and some needed distraction from the horrificness.

Collins made starvation, dehydration, physical pain, hallucinations, and the state one gets in when threatened with torture or death very believable. She also gave Katniss emotional reactions to the murder of a tribute she cared about, and to the first hand-to-hand murder she committed in the games, which puts the murders into context, helps the reader care and feel along with Katniss, and brings depth to the book. She also, through Katniss’ working out of her own grief, allows the reader to work through that grief with her.

The Hunger Games has many parallels to our world–people starving while others have riches of food and wealth–not just between North America and some poorer countries, but within our own country; people’s attraction to violence; broadcasting The Hunger Games like reality TV while people struggle; and the horrific acts of cruelty, torture, and murder that people are capable of, and that happen around the world, even in our own countries, as well as the incredible acts of compassion, kindness, and resistance to cruelty that people are capable of. All these give The Hunger Games greater meaning and potency–most especially if any of those things have touched the reader personally.

One small thing that didn’t feel quite right to me was the weight Collins gave to a bird pin that Katniss received early in the story. That importance didn’t seem to be followed through with. Yes, it allowed Rue, a fellow tribute, to trust her–but it still didn’t seem to be as important or as pivotal as I was expecting, given the attention that was placed on it. Also, there’s danger for Katniss even after everything seems like it should be safe–but though we’re told of the danger, I didn’t feel it as much as in the rest of the book, and I wondered if it was only there to keep reader interest.

I completely believed in the world Collins created almost every moment of the book, but the appearance of the dead tributes as mutations felt unbelievable and took me out of the story. It felt forced, like a way to try to hype up the emotion, when there was already enough. Or perhaps it felt just slightly too sci-fi to fit the rest of the world Collins created, though she did lay the ground with lab-created birds and bees. It just didn’t work for me.

The ending wasn’t satisfying for me. It felt cut off mid-story, leaving some story threads hanging, and though I can see that that’s a hook for readers to buy the next book in the series, it marred the ending of what was close to a perfect book for me. I don’t like being left hanging–it doesn’t seem right in a book (but that’s my personal opinion). Still, I enjoyed the book immensely; it was so well written, powerful, and moving. Of course I’m going to get my hands on the next book when it comes out–but I wish the ending of the first book had been more satisfying.

The Hunger Games is one of the most gripping, enjoyable, emotional books that I have read in many months. It’s a book I didn’t want to end, and I wish the next book was out already. It’s a book I’ll keep talking about and recommending to my friends for a long time. Get yourself a copy! Highly recommended!

The Pretty One

by Cheryl Klam

Delacorte/Random House (April 2008)

ISBN-13: 978-0385733731

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

–A La Carte by Tanita Davis, p. 4-5.

The Pretty One is a gripping emotional ride that has budding romance, tension, sibling rivalry, social tensions, and gives a strong feeling of what it’s like to be an outsider, as well as what it’s like to be liked for your looks. The Pretty One is one of those books that you’ll find yourself turning the pages fast to find out what happens next–and not wanting to stop ’til you get to the end.

Sixteen-year-old Megan isn’t beautiful like her sister, Lucy. While her sister gets dates, constant attention from males and females alike, and popularity at their drama school, Megan sits at home watching movies with her best friend Simon, or going out to dinner with her mother. Lucy gets any boy she wants; she knows how to play them, and her beauty makes boys fall for her. Megan wishes she could have some of the ease and popularity that her sister does–but she gets along okay. Her one friend (Simon), her cutting humor, and her artistic skills help her.

But then everything changes. She’s hit by a car and has to undergo multiple surgeries, including face surgery. A year or so later, after she’s recovered, she’s beautiful, in the societal sense, and everyone treats her differently, including Lucy and her parents. She learns what it’s like to have people like her for her looks, and she attracts Drew’s attention–a boy she’s secretly liked for years. Megan gains instant attention and some popularity. People just treat her better. But everything isn’t roses for Megan. It doesn’t feel very good to be liked for what she looks like, not who she is (though at first she gets a bit of a thrill). Then her sister, Lucy, is determined to go after Drew–and Lucy always gets every boy she goes after. Megan feels like a stranger; her physical beauty creates a lot of tension. And Megan starts forgetting who she really is.

Klam writes romantic tension well, building up the question of will she or won’t she get the guy she secretly adores–or will she fall in love for her best friend, who’s fallen for her? Klam increases the tension through Megan’s insecurity and awkwardness, her long crush on Drew, Lucy’s sudden interest in Drew and her skill with boys, and Megan’s best friend Simon falling in love with her–after her surgery. The plot and the writing kept me engaged in the story, racing to the end.

It’s easy to like and to root for Megan–intensely. She’s the underdog and the outcast in this book–ignored, mistreated by popular kids at school because she’s not pretty. But Megan is also thoughtful, kind (even though sometimes she seems a little too kind, to the point of denying herself), funny, and artistic. She’s sensitive about her weight, which many readers will identify with, and is frequently self-conscious and socially awkward. She also consistently puts her sister’s needs and wants before her own, which, while at times makes her seem kind and thoughtful, at other times can feel annoying (like stop letting people walk over you, already!). Megan sometimes has angry thoughts at her sister, which is refreshing and helps balance out her actions. I found myself wanting Megan to succeed, and caring about whether she did or not.

Megan’s cutting humor makes her fresh and more likable. She’s aware of the social tensions around her, has intelligence and depth, though often seems oblivious to her sister’s true motivations and intentions. At times this seems unbelievable, but it also allows the reader to “know” something that Megan doesn’t. I loved Megan’s observations and cutting humor; they drew me into the book. However, she lost that (intentionally, I think, on Klam’s part) after she became beautiful–and I don’t feel like she ever really got that back, which was disappointing. It felt like we lost the character’s voice–a voice I’d really enjoyed. I would have liked to see Megan retain more of her causticness, humor, and depth; it kept her from being too much of a victim.

The point that Megan finally stood up to her sister’s spitefulness prompts the first major crisis and change in the book, helping make it more poignant.

Lucy, Megan’s sister, is such a huge contrast–she’s beautiful, popular, has guys lusting after her. She’s also incredibly self-centered, selfish, manipulative, superficial, and mean. She’s easy to dislike. This contrast makes Megan seem all the more likable. Still, at times Megan comes across like a saint or a victim; I would have preferred her to be less self-effacing with her sister. Lucy also sometimes seems like a bit of a caricature and a stereotype–beautiful but mean, and little else. Lucy’s mean-spirited streak is so well built up that the events leading up to the accident feel believable and real.

Megan, Simon, and Drew feel the most rounded and well drawn. Megan’s parents, however, are flat–characters who seem placed there only to react and respond to Megan, and their responses are either too extreme (the father) or too bland (the mother) to feel real. Megan’s father seems incredibly obtuse and emotionally insensitive, even hurtful, of Megan about her looks and weight, while her mother seems unbelievably supportive in a too-perfect dialogue way, and little else. The parents were absent so much it didn’t feel real. I didn’t believe in the parents, whereas Megan, Simon, and Drew felt real, like they could have existed before the book began.

A very small thing that drew me out of the story was the number of times characters said something “quietly.” It can be hard to portray compassion, sensitivity, upset in tone of voice, but I would have liked to see some alternatives. I also wasn’t sure I believed how Megan couldn’t see, for so long, that Simon was attracted to her. But that added tension, especially for the reader. Megan’s strongest responses were over her relationship with Lucy, which I often didn’t believe, and over Drew, which I did believe.

Simon, Megan’s friend, is staunchly loyal of and supportive to Megan before she becomes beautiful, and this is a relief. It helps buoy up the first fifth of the book, where so much is so hard for her, in a very different way than later on in the book.

I completely believed in Megan’s incredible talent to create detailed and beautiful dioramas, though I didn’t believe in her drawing skill (i would have if the backstory had been established before the fact). Her obsession with dioramas gave her a more rounded feeling, and was interesting to read about.

Drew’s play (that he wrote, directs, and casts Megan in) becomes a big thread in the story. Clem includes the play in the back of the book, which is a neat touch. Every chapter heading uses a word from theatre language, which also is a neat idea, though I wasn’t sure the headings always fit the chapter completely. Still, I enjoying reading the words and their definitions.

The Pretty One is a fun, entertaining, intense read. Every time I put this book down, I wanted to pick it back up and start reading again. Check out this book; you’ll find yourself caring for Megan and the outcome, and enjoying the tension while she gets where she’s going. Highly recommended!

-Added July 03, 2008

Want more books?

Go to Outside It All: Fiction About Not Fitting In to find another great teen book.


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Breakfast at Sadie’s

by Lee Weatherly

Laurel Leaf/Random House (April 2008)

ISBN-13: 978-0-440-24069-3

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

–Breakfast at Sadie’s by Lee Weatherly, p. 1.

Breakfast at Sadie’s was so good that I couldn’t put it down; I was late for a meeting because I didn’t want to stop reading–and I hate being late. I didn’t want the book to ever end–that’s how good this book is. There wasn’t a mistep in it; nothing pulled me out of the wonderful world Weatherly created. I think it is Weatherly’s best book so far, and it is one of my new favorite books. It’s a real feel-good read.

Fourteen-year-old Sadie struggles in school, and is always being told by her mother that she’s lazy or not working hard enough when she brings home bad grades. When she comes home, she helps out at the bed and breakfast where they live, though she’d rather be doing something else. Then her mom gets ill–temporarily paralyzed–and has to stay in the hospital for about three months. Sadie is left with her irresponsible, immature aunt to run the B & B. But her aunt leaves Sadie all alone–and suddenly Sadie is faced with having to run the B & B herself, and not let any adults find out, in case they tell her mom (which might make her more sick), or put Sadie in care. Sadie struggles to keep everything together–and then she starts to find out that she’s good at running the B & B–when it doesn’t make her late for school. She also finds some friends in places she didn’t expect–and discovers that she might not be stupid, after all.

Weatherly (Missing Abby, Child X) creates a strong, believable voice in Sadie, a sympathizable and resourceful hero who struggles with self-confidence but wins out in the end. Her actions are all beleivable, especially with the reasons Weatherly has laid out in the plot. All of the characters feel beleivable and unique, which adds to the richness of the story. The text is beautifully written; Weatherly nicely sprinkles in bits of backstory, sensory detail, and vivid analogies, and mixes up dialogue with everyday actions, helping us to both see and hear the characters. Events build perfectly on each other, with characters who become involved placed early in the book, making us believe in them. Weatherly deftly shows characters’ emotions through their actions and body language, getting the reader involved, and creates great tension with just the right amount of positive events. Weatherly has created a heartwarming and uplifting book.

Sadie is an instantly likable and sympathizable character. Her mother goes at her for not getting good enough grades and not trying hard enough, though Sadie works very hard–something many readers will be able to relate to (being criticized by a parent). Sadie is good natured, has a great sense of humor, and is clearly intelligent, though she thinks she isn’t. She’s an incredibly hard worker, and deals with circumstances that would be hard for most anyone. Some readers might get convinced, along with Sadie, that she’s not very smart (since she doesn’t do well at school), so Weatherly uses a great technique to show us otherwise–showing us through other characters’ dialogue that Sadie is smart and resourceful. This works well, the reader realizing along with Sadie just how intelligent she is. Weatherly also shows us how intelligent Sadie is through some of the changes she makes to the B & B herself.

Sadie finds many unexpected allies that help and protect her, and those characters work to bring a happy, uplifting feeling to what could have been a painful book. The characters feel rounded and full, just like Sadie.

Sadie changes and grows through the book, moving from thinking that she’s stupid because she can’t get good grades but works really hard at it; letting her “friends” put her down and basically call her stupid; and hating working at her Mom’s B & B, to learning that she’s intelligent and resourceful, and just needs the space to do schoolwork without pressure; finding new friends who really appreciate and like her for her, and see how intelligent she is; and enjoying running the B & B on her own, learning that she can be successful at something that others might find hard to do. She also grows in confidence and skills, and learns to see one of her teachers as a person, not just a dreaded teacher.

Sadie’s mom also changes, becoming wiser and kinder. I believed the explanation, though would have liked to see the transition just a little more. Still, the story is firmly Sadie’s.

Sadie’s Aunt Leona is an incredibly self-absorbed, immature, selfish woman, and it’s easy to dislike her and get angry at the way she treats Sadie. Her actions build to a small crisis, which feels believable, based on her previous actions. Thankfully, she doesn’t remain a big part of the book, and some intervention near the end (in the form of a threat from another adult) helps her change and become responsible. Aunt Leona’s actions set in motion a course of events that help Sadie really succeed, which is a nice twist. We also see through contrast just how mature, resourceful, and skilled Sadie is.

There were only two minor details that I didn’t fully believe, that hardly seem worth mentioning–I wasn’t sure that Sadie could copy answers from someone else’s paper in the dark, and I didn’t see how Sadie could collect cash for the B & B without it seeming like she was evading tax or involved in something shady. But those were such tiny things; I was fully absorbed in and enjoyed Sadie’s world.

I enjoyed how Sadie was so good at the B & B business, and couldn’t see how hard it was for others (though we, the readers, could see this). I also loved the revelations, the truth finally coming out to quite a number of people, who either helped or showed Sadie that she really was remarkable. This worked especially well because Sadie fought so hard to keep the truth a secret.

Breakfast at Sadie’s is one of those books that feeds your soul, lifts you up, and fills you with good feeling and hope. Run and get yourself a copy; you won’t regret it.

Highly recommended!

(If you haven’t read her other books, I suggest you check them out. Missing Abby is also wonderful.)