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Elizabeth Thompson's Lost In Paris

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Are you interested in reading a book about family, secrets and has historical elements? In Lost In Paris by Elizabeth Thompson, Hannah Bond works as a Jane Austen tour guide in London. After her great-grandmother Ivy passes away, her mother, who lives in Florida, discovers a deed to a Paris apartment. Hannah and her mom have never been close, but the deed leads them on a trip to Paris, giving them a new chance at their relationship. After inheriting the apartment, they make many discoveries about their late grandmother's secret life and try to fix their past issues. One thing I liked about this book was that it switched between present and past times. In the story, Hannah finds Ivy’s diary in the apartment. In between each chapter are pages of her diary entry. The switch in time gave the reader a deeper understanding of Ivy’s secret life. And this was one of my favorite parts of the book. Another thing I liked was the descriptions in the book. The author depicts Paris and other loc...
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City Spies: A Good Start to a Series

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City Spies is a book I read a few years ago and recently decided to reread. It's the first book in the six-book City Spies series. I stopped after the first two when I read it before, so this time I’ll probably read them all if they don't get progressively worse as many series often do. The main character is Sara Martinez, an 12 year old orphan who’s a hacker and recently hacked into a foster care system and a bank to try to expose her foster parents for treating their foster kids badly and only taking them in to get paid. Unfortunately, she’s the one arrested. However, when she’s about to have her trial, a fake lawyer shows up and manages to get her out of trouble. Sara’s confused why he did it until she finds out she’s being recruited to join a group of kids with special talents working for MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service.  Sara accepts, and starts going by the name Brooklyn, as the kids take the name of their city and she’s from Brooklyn, New York. Spy life isn’...
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The Unwanted's by Lisa McMann

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           The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann explores common themes such as grief, isolation, and artistry. I first heard of this back in December when my childhood friend recommended it to me, and I must say I was not disappointed. My favorite book is definitely the sixth book, Island of Graves as I found it the most emotionally significant.     The story follows the Stowe twins Aaron and Alex, who live in Quill, where any form of emotion or creative expression calls for you to be "purged". Alex gets caught drawing with a stick in the dirt, but instead of receiving a death sentence, he gets sent to this place where magic and artistry are praised. I really enjoyed this series because the plot was carried out in such an easy-to-understand way, and I could connect with the feeling of "being different" that Alex Stowe felt while he was in Quill. And I loved seeing the contrast between Quill and Artime, as Quill is this dark grey, depressing place. But the...
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When Memory Fades but Love Remains: A Reflection on And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

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                                                                                                And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer is written by Fredrik Backman and it is a story that can deeply move someone, it's about memory, family, and the quiet ways love persists even as the mind begins to fade. The author is known for his ability to mix emotional depth with humor using that he crafted this narrative that goes into what happens when someone you love slowly loses pieces of themselves.    ...
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Flipped and the Importance of Feeling Loved

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  My best friend's favorite book, one that she has been talking to me about nonstop for weeks, is a book called Flipped by Wendelen Van Draanen. I watched the movie adaptation with her last weekend— it was alright, but nothing special— and she told me that it was horrible in comparison to the original book and that I had to read it. I usually do not go through a full-length book so quickly; however, in the case of Flipped, I finished its entirety after having started the first few pages a week or two ago in the span of two days. Although Flipped is marketed as a "romance" book, it is far more than that. It follows two characters— Bryce and Juli— both completely different people, yet Juli develops a crush on Bryce nonetheless. Like every other one of her friends, she attempts to get closer to him by showering him with gifts and compliments, however to no avail as Bryce continues to see her as nothing more than an annoying nerd that may as well be stalking him. His own fami...
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Such A Lovely Family by Aggie Blum Thompson

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  While looking through my bookshelf for something to read, I found Such a Lovely Family by Aggie Blum Thompson and decided to reread it. In the book, the Calhouns are the picture-perfect, ideal American, upper-class family. Thom and Ginny Calhoun have everything anyone could possibly want: a beautiful house in Washington, D.C., a successful business, and plenty of money. Most importantly, they raised three beautiful children named Trey, Nate and Ellie Grace. The book starts off at the family's annual cherry blossom party held at the Calhoun house. Guests and family are enjoying food and one another’s company. However, the party is quickly cut short after a murder takes place. Thom is murdered and Ginny was left badly injured inside the house. The party turns into a crime scene while detectives search to find the murderer, questioning guests including Renée, Ginny’s closest friend. Every guest at the party is considered a suspect and everyone, even Ginny's children, are interr...
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The Maze Runner: A Somewhat Mystery-filled Dystopian Series

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Near the end of winter break I started reading the Maze Runner series, which was recommended to me by my cousin (again, this is like the third time). And I think it was a pretty good recommendation, because I was able to read the three books in about two weeks while balancing a lot of schoolwork. Anyway, the Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who wakes up in the Glade, which is pretty much a big field with a stone maze around it. When he gets there, he has no memories except his name. There are about 50 other boys there, and Thomas learns that each month for the last three years a new boy has been coming up what they call “the box,” which seems like some sort of underground elevator that also sends up supplies.  In the Glade, everyone has a job. All of the boys arrived with no memories and by working together hope to escape the maze. Some of them are called “Runners” and they spend each day going through the maze, remembering patterns and copying them down, analyzing differe...
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