Sheep's Clothing by Josi Kilpack

Recently I read Sheep's Clothing by Josi Kilpack. The main character, Kate, was someone I could relate to and that's probably why it made the story a little eerie. When her daughter, Jesse, starts to chat online with a child predator, things start escalate.

What parents wouldn't be horrified if they found out their child was being solicited by a 40+ man posing as a 13-year old girl?

The book takes you through 16-year old Jesse's journey of insecurity and how she turns to a friend "Emily" who she meets online. We also catch a glimpse of Kate, Jesse's mother, who is trying to be the "all" for her six children, her husband . . . but essentially falls short when she doesn't pay close enough attention to the changes in her daughter's life.

Of course it can happen to anyone. And it does. So that's why I really appreciated the Author Notes that Kilpack added at the end of her book. They detail resources that parents can use to help prevent internet predators from infiltrating their homes.

I definately think Sheep's Clothing is an excellent book for parents and teenagers to read together. It will open up the line of communication of becoming educated about internet predators.

Chaos by Jeff Downs

I recently read and enjoyed Chaos, by Jeff Downs. Chaos is the story of Jason Harrington, a junior high school teacher whose peaceful life gets ripped to shreds in the course of a few hours when a mysterious antagonist frames him for the murder of four police officers. Innocent of all charges but helpless to prove it in the face of the evidence mounting against him, Jason doesn't dare turn to the police for help. He flees. A former girlfriend, Kelly Nicholls, assists him in what seems like an impossible quest to elude an assassin out to kill Jason for reasons he can't understand and find evidence to prove Jason's innocence to the police.

Chaos is a fast and exciting read. Downs plunges you straight into the action and keeps up a brisk pace throughout the novel. The characters are sympathetic and Jason's dilemma will set your mind spinning as you wonder why anyone would target this nice-guy junior high teacher and how Jason is going to get out of this alive.

I'm a fan of Jeff Down's work and am always intrigued when he releases a new novel. Chaos is an excellent book--in fact, my favorite of Down's books so far. I'm looking forward to his next novel.

Mummy's the Word by Kerry Blair

Very funny and intriguing at the same time. Kerry Blair has a way of keeping you twisting and turning and wondering what is going to happen next. Book includes a crossword puzzle with clues at the end of each chapter.

DESCRIPTION:

When Samantha Shade is offered the opportunity to run Nightshade Investigation, her uncle's private detective agency, she literally jumps at the chance. It has always been her dream to work at the famously quirky firm. But when a wealthy, eccentric client hires Nightshade to protect a priceless artifact, and the relic is almost immediately stolen from right under Samantha's nose-her dream turns into a terrible nightmare.

With a long list of suspects, and a short supply of experience, Samantha must accept the help of an antagonistic and reluctant policeman and the eclectic staff at Nightshade to solve the case and keep her uncle's beloved firm from disaster.

Filled with the twists, turns, and thrills of classic detective novels, along with a generous helping of humor, readers will enjoy sleuthing the crossword clues in this exciting, frothy mystery.

Peter and the Starcatchers

Scrolling through the Children's Literature section, I saw several other Peter Pan stories. I haven't read those, but I enjoyed reading Peter and the Starcatchers this past weekend.

It's by two authors, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I haven't read anything by Pearson, but I've enjoyed Barry's humor columns over the years. At the beginning of the book, Pearson thanks his daughter who asked the question: How did Peter Pan meet Captain Hook?

And of course everyone's question: How did Captain Hook lose his hand? You'll have to wait until the end of the book to find out, but in the meantime Peter and the Starcatchers is a fun adventure. It opens with an orphan boy names Peter, who is sent away from England on a ship. He meets a girl, Molly, and they become friends. But Peter soon learns that Molly is no ordinary girl and she holds a fantastic secret. And it all has to do with a mysterious trunk that was loaded onto the same ship.

Unbeknownst to Peter, some pirates have learned about the treasure inside the mysterious trunk, and the chase begins.

If you or your children enjoy pirate adventures, this is a great summer book. It's a fun read and as I read it, I thought it would be a great book to read aloud to my children. The descriptions and setting is vivid--definite material for a movie.

Nominate Your Favorite Books!

As both an author and a reader, I’m excited about a new awards program for novels written by Latter-day Saint authors. The Whitney Awards are named for a quote from early apostle Orson F. Whitney: “We shall yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own.” Sponsored by LDStorymakers, the Whitney Awards program is designed to honor excellence in fiction.

Whitney Awards will be given in the following genre categories:

Romance/Women’s Fiction
Mystery/Suspense
Historical
Speculative Fiction
Young Adult/Children’s Literature

And the following overall categories:

Novel of the Year
Best Novel by a New Author

Any novel written by an LDS author and released between January 1 and December 31, 2007, is eligible for the 2007 Whitney Awards. A nomination form is available on the Whitney website, and we invite all readers to pay a visit to the website and nominate their favorite new releases.

Official rules and FAQ can also be found at the Whitney website. Click here to read a press release posted on Meridian Magazine. We've also been discussing the Whitneys this week at Six LDS Writers and a Frog (scroll down a couple of entries to find the Whitney blogs from the beginning of the week.)

A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich

If you feel like your days and long and hard read this book and life will seem a breeze. I read this book for my reading group and really enjoyed it. I takes place in Nebraska at the turn of the century and tells what it was like for those first homesteaders. It was particularly significant to me since I am currently living in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Description:

Abbie Mackenzie dreamed of becoming a fine lady like her aristocratic grandmother, devoting herself to music and art. But at eighteen Abbie found a different dream, turning away from the promise of a comfortable life as a doctor's wife to marry handsome, quiet Will Deal. Together, they eagerly accepted the challenge of homesteading in Nebraska territory, where the prairies stretched as far as they could see, and only the strongest survived for long.

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

I'm new to contributing to this blog, so I hope this book hasn't been done before. I just read Uglies for my book group. Lately we've been reading a lot of YA and I've found it to be quite fun.

Uglies is a futuristic novel that takes place centuries after our civilization (we're referred to as the Rusties). It took me a few chapters to really get into the language of this new world, but once I clued in, it became a great read. The main character is Tally, and she is nearing her 16th birthday. In her world, when someone turns 16, he/she undergoes a series of operations to be made pretty. Then the teenager goes and lives in Pretty Town, doing nothing but having fun and going to parties.

Tally meets another girl about to turn 16 who doesn't want to turn pretty. This girl, Shay, introduces Tally to a whole new way of thinking. Tally begins to second-guess her desire to become pretty.

Uglies is the first book in a trilogy. This book will be enjoyable for grades 6 and up.