All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I couldn’t put this down and ended staying up too late to finish it.

I really wanted to know who killed the professor. And the parts with the emerging Multiple Personalities Disorder were fascinating.



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The Fourth Nephite by Jeffrey S. Savage

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun and quick read. I immediately gave it to my 14 year old.



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Schlock Mercenary: The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance by Howard Tayler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Awesomely good fun! Love the snarkiness and the intrigue.



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A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The only thing disappointing about this book is that it is the first in a series and the next book is not due out for several more months. I really want to read more about this world and I want to know how they are going to stop the bad guy.

I loved the characters and the rich world that was done so nicely in such a short space (compared to epic fantasy). I also enjoyed how the different conflicts propelled the story forward at a fast pace. I didn’t feel like I could stop reading.

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The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a quick, fun read.

I thought the twist of how the conflict was resolved was nicely done and foreshadowed well.

I wanted the kids to be more empowered, but it was more realistic (as far as a magic candy shop can be) this way.



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North and South by John Jakes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a long, but worthwhile read. I got a greater awareness of the levels of hostility and divisiveness on both sides of the conflict. I expected this book to include the civil war in it, but it only lead right up to that point. However, that was okay because there was a lot that led up to it.

Jakes did a good job of presenting both sides and of creating fictional characters that fit right into that world. They were frustrating and blinded and caring and non-stereotyped.



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Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a very insightful and useful book in helping me catch the vision of agile and of being a scrum master. So, although my stint as scrum master was short-lived, I am taking away quite a bit about how to make agile work better for me and my teams and how to work on my relationships and attitudes about work.

This was a very “deep” book in that the author gives the reader lots of opportunities to think and reflect on things – therefore, this is not a quick, easy read. But, it is useful, and valuable.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough to anyone who works in an agile environment – whether as a coach or not.



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The Death Cure by James Dashner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I bought this on Saturday in the late afternoon and, even though I had a ton of grading to do, read it by 8pm that night. I just could not put it down because I really wanted to know how it would end.

I was not disappointed.

Setting: Most of the book happens in Denver where Cranks are taking over. The rest of the setting is the medical/admin building where they start and end the story. It was also very awesome to for James to bring the trilogy full circle by bringing people back to the Glade and the Reavers even.

The Denver setting was very interesting, especially the progress shown into decay and violence.

Plot: This part of the trilogy is about whether Thomas can trust what WICKED is saying and what they really want. There is also the love triangle subplot and Thomas’ struggle with who he is and his past.

This was a very dark book, and there are some sad and dark moments throughout. Luckily, the entire plot ends with a ray of sunshine and hope to take us out of there (perhaps a bit too easily, but not much).

Conflict: Um, yeah, there is a lot of conflict. The book has pretty much non-stop action the entire way through. I didn’t need to exercise when I read this because my heart was beating pretty fast the entire time.

My only disappointment was how the love triangle conflict was resolved. I wanted something more – but then, this is a YA and not an adult novel. It felt too much like Mockingjay on how it was handled, for me.

However, all the other conflict and juicy tidbits about why WICKED was doing this and why the telepathy worked and why this disease happened in the first place and who the Rat Man is and how they really needed to save the world . . . those were all answered – and then some.

Characters: Warning! Several people die or are killed in this story. And it is very sad. But, like I said, this is a dark book and anything less would have felt too PollyAnna. Some people may not like Thomas’ decision about his memories and the past, but I felt like it was true to his character. And some might not like how he mourns or doesn’t for some people, but I thought they were foreshadowed well and I think there are reasons for that too. I’m going to miss learning more about all those characters, but I’m sure James has more awesome stories up his sleeve.

Text: Not much to say here. It was well written and edited. I’m sure there were mistakes, but I flew through this so fast that I didn’t notice.

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Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun, fast read. I could not put it down because I was so interested in reading about how Michael was going to get out of the situation. So, I finished this in one sitting, in just a few hours.

I heartily recommend this interesting YA novel, especially if you’ve been reading lots of heady, complex science fiction recently (like I have). It was a good change of pace.

Setting: This is set in present-day America – mostly Idaho and California. I’ve been in Boise and Pasadena, so it was kind of fun to read about them here.

Plot: The story is about a boy coping with his hidden powers and dealing with a supposedly benevolent organization intend on using the “Glows” (those with electrical powers like him) to save the world and create a new evolved species. There are also some subplots involving high school bullying and high school crushes on cheerleaders, as well as the psychological conditioning conducted by the organization.

Conflict: The conflict arises when the organization kidnaps his mom and some friends in order to try to get him to cooperate.

The subplots are also full of conflict.

Character: This is where the story truly shone for me. I grew to really like Michael, Taylor, and Ostin. They each had flaws and yet either used them to their advantage or rose above the flaw to combat the evil organization, making some interesting and even unlikely friends along the way. I thought the Tourette’s thing with Michael was also pretty funny and awesome.

Text: I found it interesting that Richard Paul Evans switched from 1st person POV for Michael to 3rd person for Taylor. That made it easy to figure out who the POV character was, but it also made us identify more with Michael (if Evans had used 3rd person for Michael, that identification would not have been as strong, I think).



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