Category: Summer Challenge Reviews

Stellar Reads, Part 9: More Reviews from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Ashley Barnes

Ready to dip into the perfect beach read? Participants in the Adult Summer Challenge enjoyed the following books.

Michael K. on The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky:

A rich and complex tapestry of prose articulating many intricate and ornate layers of meaningful storytelling. One of Dostoyevsky’s four epic masterpieces. A narrative that whirls the reader like a leaf in the wind through a colorful and sometimes bleak landscape of Russia’s collapsing pre-revolution society. A must-read.

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Kara K. on The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch:

Absolutely amazing. This well-crafted memoir is heartbreaking but glittering with beauty the way water does.

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Dominic F. on The Chef by James Patterson and Max DiLallo:

Another Patterson thriller hits readers in all the right spots: suspense, mystery, action, and love. His formula of short chapters and paragraphs makes it another in his very long line of escapist bestsellers.

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Whitney J. on Out of Range by C.J. Box:

Like the other Joe Pickett novels I’ve read, the scenery makes me want to go camping in the west, and the science is present and not overwhelming. Ecology, endangered species, forestry, land management, encroaching settlement are important to Joe and handled wonderfully by Box.

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Melissa R. on Early Riser by Jasper Fforde:

What if, every winter, humans hibernated, too? After centuries of feasting in the autumn to ensure living through hibernation to Springrise, a drug called Morphenox, created by HiberTech, allows a higher survival rate. But there’s a downside: every so often, someone doesn’t wake up at Springrise. Instead, trapped in their minds, these people are known as nightwalkers and are used for low-skilled positions . . . before they’re “parted out” for their organs. Charlie Worthing impulsively decides to become a Winter Consul, staying awake during Winter and helping ensure society is protected while it’s asleep. To his surprise, he’s swept up into a HiberTech-led conspiracy, one that could have vast repercussions on everyone. He doesn’t know who to believe or who to trust . . . will HiberTech succeed in increasing the number of nightwalkers and improving their bottom line? The answer may seem like a dream, but you’ll keep turning the pages until the very end!

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Masika M. on Blood Fury by J.R. Ward:

Like all the prior books in the series, Blood Fury is excellent! I enjoy the way the love stories unravel in a realistic non-fairy-tale way.

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Kia R. on I Don’t Belong To You by Keke Palmer:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could barely put it down. As a fan that has followed pretty much her whole career I am truly impressed with her growth as a woman.

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Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 12 and August 14.

Stellar Reads, Part 8: What Adult Summer Challenge Participants are Reading

Posted on by Ashley Barnes

Here’s a look at what some participants in the 2019 Summer Challenge are reading.

Kelly H. on Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner:

I’ve loved Jennifer Weiner since I bought her debut novel Good in Bed when it first came out. I mention this because when I say that this is her best novel, I know what I’m talking about. I love Jo so much. I saw her life unfold and I feel like it really could’ve been mine if I had been born in a different time and so I’m so happy and grateful that I was born when I was. And I love Bethie. The lives they both led were painful at times but so authentic. I feel so fortunate to live in a time when women have choices. I adored this book so much. I know we’ve been waiting a long time for it, but it was so worth it.

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Tamasin A. on The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden:

This book sucks you back into Medieval Russia, enmeshes you in the fairy tale and makes it so you don’t want to put it down, and even when I do it takes a while to stop thinking in a Russian accent. Excellent book.

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Shawna P. on A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole:

Alyssa Cole has done it again with her newest Reluctant Royals novel! Fans of Cole’s first two books in the series won’t be disappointed with this one. Nya is a shy woman, emotionally abused by her father, and has been following the lifestyle of Prince Johan, the tabloids’ favorite bad-boy. Johan, the stepson of the king, has a fragile heart of gold, afraid to care for anything after the sudden death of his mother, and has been secretly watching the young timid Nya. When the two accidentally share a moment on the plane back to Thesolo, feelings start becoming reality!

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Lawrence O. on At Home with Muhammad Ali by Hana Ali:

This is an insightful recall of her life growing up with her mom and dad. It is personal and full of emotion and purpose to show the side of Ali that was personal and private.

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Nelly G. on Drama City by George Pelecanos:

Drama City by George Pelecanos is excellent if you like gritty, city books. The story and action are truly realistic and it is hard not to feel that the lives of certain people in the city are destined. It takes place in Washington, D.C., and is a story of the struggle people have pulling themselves out of the life they have led in the past. Good read.

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Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 12 and August 14.

Stellar Reads, Part 7: More Reviews from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Ashley Barnes

Check out these all-stars recommended by participants in the Adult Summer Challenge:

Katherine D. on John Dies at the End by David Wong:

Incredibly interesting read, a bit scarier than I had anticipated, not the best read for right before bed. The development of the main character is quite fascinating, you’re obviously rooting for him to save the world, but at the same time you (and the first-person author) are constantly unsure if you even like him.

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Mary T. on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo:

Highly recommend for adults as well as children. Thought-provoking novel on the importance of opening yourself up to love.

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Dana R. on The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone:

This was a fun summer read, a soft-core thriller, with a heroine who combines being a mother and housewife with being a CIA agent. It starts with what you first think is a terrorist act, but as the book progresses you realize it is something entirely different. Entertaining and easy to read.

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Kalyn S. on The Five Love Languages by Gary D. Chapman:

An interesting read on relationships and how different styles of communication can impact the health and strength of that relationship. It’s especially helpful for making sure you express love and gratefulness to your partner in a way that they will truly understand and value.

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Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 12 and August 14.

Stellar Reads, Part 6: More Reviews from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Ashley Barnes

The 2019 Summer Challenge continues this July! Here’s a few recent books that our Adult participants enjoyed reading.

L. H. on Not in My Neighborhood by Antero Pietila:

Baltimore is a city of neighborhoods, but did you ever think how those neighborhoods were formed? It’s easy to look at the conditions of blighted areas around the city and blame the current residents.

In Not in My Neighborhood you will learn that there were real and law-based, enforced practices that not only segregated the city of Baltimore but destroyed homes, development and created the very crime, blight and other issues that plague us all today. Red lining, criminal and deceptive real-estate practices and forced compliance are all in this book. You will never look at Baltimore and the people that live here the same again.

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Kennedy M. on Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine:

I would recommend this to any Black person engaging with white supremacy today. Reading Rankine’s work, I felt so seen and so heard.

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Allie P. on The Other Americans by Laila Lalami:

Framed around an investigation of a hit-and-run, this is a gripping story about what it means to come home. Lalami subtly illustrates what it means to be American today.

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Sarah B. on Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen:

When 1993 teenager Mira catches her dad with his male lover, it marks the beginning of her family’s unraveling as she struggles first with her parents’ secrets, then her father’s contraction of HIV.

The writing evokes lovely imagery, especially surrounding astronomy and the New York City setting, while laying Mira’s conflicted emotions bare and sugar-free. The tone shifts halfway through as Mira’s family issues evolve with her perspective. The free-verse narrative style makes for a relatively fast, but not light, read.

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Charles H. on The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose by Chris Wilson:

Love this book. Such an inspiring autobiography of how to choose a life of faith over a life of fear. Also an excellent Insider’s view on how to make improvements in the justice system in this country.

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Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 12 and August 14.

Stellar Reads, Part 5: Fiction Picks from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Ashley Barnes

More good news about books from Adult Summer Challenge participants….

Catherine C. on The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante:

This is the second book in the Neopolitan series, and it’s a riveting page-turner that spans the young adult years of best friends Lenu and Lila as they try to negotiate their dreams against the harsh realities of the impoverished neighborhood they grew up in.

Taking place in Naples, Italy, in the 1960s, this book illustrates, with stunning detail, the struggle of feminine creativity in a strictly patriarchal world. The two close friends, now in their late teens, continue down the divergent paths that began in My Brilliant Friend, each one hoping to transcend their poverty and live lives that are better than their parents’. But it’s far from easy, and as they confront the social and historical forces at work in their world, they become increasingly disillusioned and cynical, but also practical, resilient, and cunning. This series so far has been perfect; a true epic.

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Dell W. on Before We Were Wicked by Eric Jerome Dickey:

Highly sexual young couple trekking their path as a married couple, parents, students, and descendants of Africa, while living in America all falls to pieces.

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Brooke J. on The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides:

What an unexpected ending! I have been surprised by endings before but never like this. Definitely a great psychological thriller with a mind-blowing twist.

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Jane S. on The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon:

Fellow readers of Donna Leon’s Venice series featuring the charming, principled, classics-loving Commissario Guido Brunetti won’t be disappointed with this 2018 addition. As always, the narrative reveals as much about contemporary Italy—Venice in particular—as it does about the crime. Always a pleasure to be in the company of Brunetti, his colleagues, and his family.

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Nancy P. on Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens:

A wonderful book full of beautiful images of life in the backwater marshes of North Carolina with a storyline about the life of a wild child of that environment. Part drama, part adventure, part science. Loved it!

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Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 12 and August 14.