Leslie Connor is a fantastic author. I’ve now read two of her books – Waiting for Normal and Crunch, and loved them both. I guess I expected a little bit more out of Crunch because Waiting for Normal was, to put it simply, incredible, but this one was kind of an “eh” book for me.

The main plot was okay. The country is in the middle of an oil crisis, and since Dewey’s dad is a truck driver, he and his siblings end up on their own for the majority of the summer while his parents are stuck with no gas. That leaves Dewey and his brother in charge of The Bike Barn, the small side-job shop his dad runs. Of course, because gas is so hard to come by, everyone is biking everywhere now. Not exactly the easy-breeze summer vacation Dewey had pictured. But he really wants to impress his dad with how well he kept the bike barn going. But then thefts are popping up all over town, including several missing parts from the barn.

Pretty interesting. What went downhill, though, was the book started off kind of slow. Actually, the middle was pretty slow, too. And the ending. I did enjoy the book. It wasn’t slow enough for me to put it down, because I was genuinely engaged enough in the mysterious thefts and what was going on and whatnot, but for a decently long book, it honestly didn’t go fast enough for me.

Despite that, the characters were pretty complex. I was really taken by surprise by how the whole mystery theft thing turned out. Definitely not what I expected… I was also seriously wondering what was up with some of the characters, especially Dewey’s sister and brother. Dewey’s sister, Lil – seriously what is UP?! LET SOMEONE HELP YOU. And his brother, TALK TO SOMEONE. Really. They got on my nerves.

The hilarious stars of the book kept my attention well – Dewey’s five-year-old twins, who always had something funny to say, and their crabby neighbor. They kept things lively. =)

Overall, I really liked Crunch. I can’t say if it’s a re-read or not… I definitely liked the characters, and the plot was pretty interesting. I give it 3 and a half stars!

Have you read any books by Leslie Connor? What did you think of her? Do think you’ll read Crunch?

Kristin Levine is probably one of the best historical fiction writers I’ve ever had the privilege of reading her books. Seriously. I first read her second book, The Lions of Little Rock, when I was eleven (about two years ago now.) I’ve cherished it for a long time, and read it a good couple of times, too. Her characters’ perspectives on black and whites in times that really weren’t that long ago is incredibly written. The Best Luck I Ever Had was funny, and sweet, and innocent, and all good things that go into a Middle Grade novel, but it was rich with history and serious matters.

The main character, Dit, had me laughing my socks off in the beginning of the book. In fact, he kind of reminded me of Donnovan from Ungifted, facing more serious circumstances. My goodness, how Kristin Levine kept such a funny mood in this book is beyond me, but she did and I loved it. Things got pretty serious in this book, though.

Let me get you caught up: 1917. Small town in Alabama. The new postmaster comes to town, and Dit is disappointed because he only has a daughter; no boys. Not to mention this new family is black. Obviously, in times like these, there were many racist people. In fact, at one point in the book Dit’s teacher told her class it was a shame the South lost the Civil War! (It was a jaw-dropping, fist-making moment for me. It took all I had not to throw my Kindle across the room!)

Heads up: The sheriff in the book was very violent, and racist. There were some scenes I wasn’t too sure about… the sheriff got in some fights with people, and there was one chapter where the sheriff came into the barber shop and caused some trouble. During that scene, I was kind of taken off guard because there was a very vulgar word. (Page 187.) Just a heads up to everyone, because I was a little surprised… that was the only time there was anything like that in the book, though.

Nothing about the book was slow, or dull. I loved the fact that Dit had a certain dialect… (for some reason, I love hearing characters’ voices or accents in my head a certain way!) I was hooked the whole time. Definitely a re-read! LOVED it!

5 stars!

So, have you read any books by Kristin Levine? What did you think of them? Does this sound good?? 😉

I’ve always loved reading fairy tale/medieval times/retellings, and I read Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix about two years ago, so I was excited to finally get around to reading this one! (Yep, I read this on a total whim the other day. It’s been on my Kindle since I read Just Ella. When was that again? Oh yeah. Two years ago. >_<) Well, you can’t say I NEVER read it, now can you?? (Looking at you, mom.)

There were two main things I liked about this book: 1) nothing is as it seems. First, the good guy was the bad guy. Then the bad guy turned out to be the good guy. It was all very confusing, but made for some great plot twists. 2) The romance. I LOVE Margaret Peterson Haddix’s books because of this. If you’re a romantic at heart like me, but can’t seem to find any books that are clean but still have a touch of wholesome romance, this the book for you.

In a lot of fairy tale/medieval times-set books I’ve read, there’s a bit too much violence than I would prefer. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t read books with gruesome pictures OR descriptions, but I’m a girl who’s rather squeamish about blood. I can handle it, really, but if I don’t have to deal with it, great. I get that during these times, things were very unsanitary and bloody and all that, but… Margaret Peterson Haddix did a great job of keeping to the time she was writing in, while ditching the war scenes or plagues and icky stuff I’ve noticed in a lot of books like this one.

So there was one thing I was a little disappointed about… for me, character development is key. If the plot sucked, and the character development was incredible, I’d give the book five stars. (So to speak.) Palace of Mirrors was certainly a page turner, and like I said above, there was a perfect touch of wholesome romance… throughout the book, I got the feeling that something was going on between Cecilia and Harper, particularly because Cecilia kept mentioning how Harper was acting a little bit strange. But otherwise, I really wouldn’t have guessed that Cecilia and Harper would be romantic; they’ve been best friends since they were little, sure, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re going to be boyfriend/girlfriend. I didn’t know Harper that well. I didn’t really know Cecilia’s relationship with Harper that well. That was kind of a let-down. 

BUT, overall, this book was super good! Definitely recommend to this to anyone like me: a romantic at heart, wanting books that are clean but still have a touch of wholesome romance.

4 stars!

Oh, and by the way, the third book in this series (Palace of Lies) just came out on April 7th! Be sure to check out the first book in the series, Just Ella, and get reading!