EX MARKS THE SPOT.....A TAIWAN TREASURE HUNT REVEALS WAY MORE THAN TREASURE......(****)

 Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao (2024)

     A whole lotta stuff going on here. Childhood sweethearts-to Hight School enemies-to....well, who knows?......an international treasure hunt loaded with confounding clues, riddles and Mandarin language symbols.....and a something-of-an-outcast teen girl coping with the treasure hunt, the sweethearts to enemies, an extra player to make it a romantic triangle....and her frustrating quest to connect with her Taiwanese culture and discover her own identity. I'm already fully exhausted from all that on her behalf.

     Gemma's late grandfather left her the treasure hunt clues which lead to Taiwan and possibly a much needed inheritance to help with her upcoming college tuition. . But the only path to Taiwan is through that ex-sweetheart/current enemy Xander, who's organized a summer tour through that country for himself and other Asian students. Sparks fly, incredible complex treasure clues get revealed through the stunning landscapes, mountains of mouth-watering Taiwanese cuisine are consumed. and deep family secrets rock Gemma and Xander's worlds together.

     Truly intricate, maddening treasure clues, but if you're no puzzle fan (like me), you might feel tempted to skim through those sections and go right to the emotional moments. And as much I'm impressed at the cleverness of the hunt on display, it's Gemma and Xander's journeys to self-revelations that make up the story's beating heart and that 's what really kept me turning the pages to the end.

     As our leads delve into the world of their grandfathers, the book evokes some beautiful picture-postcard imagery and enough delectable food to make you want to schedule an immediate flight out. . Ambitious and entertaining.

       4 stars (****)

BOOKED FOR MURDER......AN ACTRESS TURNED BOOKSELLER TURNED SLEUTH.....(***)

 Booked For Murder by P.J. Nelson (2024)

     I gravitate to a cozy mystery for the same reasons I think other readers do.......something about the setting, the characters or the peculiar situations of the crimes catches my attention, something that makes this particular cozy stand out from hundreds of others.

     "Booked For Murder' does have all the familiar tropes firmly in place...... small town where everybody knows everybody else, a bookstore to die for (and somebody does)., and a plus-sized cat lounging around at the most pivotal moments.

     The lead character (and amateur sleuth) Madeline Brimley is what initially drew me in. I'm a theater nerd/buff and Madeline's a failed actress of indeterminate age who's inherited a combo Victorian house-bookstore from her late Aunt Rose. Madeline's spotty, up-and-down theatrical career can't possibly equal the drama besetting her in her first few days of taking over the house and its store.

     Somebody torches the gazebo behind the house and Madeline receives threatening phone calls from what sounds like a backwoods hood. And worst of all, someone ends up stabbed to death in the store, maybe an unlucky innocent victim whom the killer mistook for Madeline. Even the worst play she ever acted in can't compete with this this level of life-threatening melodrama.......

     In true cozy fashion, our heroine ends up as part of trio of would-be sleuths, along her Aunt Rose's lifelong friend Philomena and local minister Gloria. Suspects abound and Madeline, alternately bold and foolish, attempts interrogating them with results ranging from confounding to downright perilous. And along the way, there's lots of witty asides referring back to her checkered career in the theater.

     A quick and mildly entertaining read, but with a few major problems in characterization and plotting. The author has some of ,well let's say the less educated characters talking like they escaped from a community theater production of 'Deliverance' and after the climactic reveal, the book rambles on as if we're simply content to hang out with Madeline and pals. I think it'll take a few more books in the series to earn that privilege from readers.

       3 stars (***)

WHAT THE WOODS TOOK......TROUBLED TEENS VS. HORROR IN THE WILDERNESS (*****)

 What The Woods Took by Courtney Gould (2024)

     Scary. Heartbreaking. Breathless. Gasp-inducing. And an incisive examination of five troubled, broken young souls, thrown into unimaginable horror.

     "What the Woods Took' manages to pack all of this into one page-turning package. After a relatively slow start, author Courtney Gould pits her five distressed teen characters against a terrifying mixture of every horror movie trope you've ever shivered through.

     Devin, Sheridan, Ollie, Aiden and Hannah, all given up on by exasperated parents and guardians, find themselves forcibly dragged into a wilderness survival program in the backwoods of Idaho. The guide-counselors in charge, barely older than their unhappy campers, are tasked with taking the group through a 50 day hike,.......presumably to instill self-reliance, self-worth and lose their bad attitudes.

     But things go, as we all knew they would.....horribly awry.

     Something's slightly 'off' about this neck of the woods and when their two guides disappear, the group's left to fend for themselves. Even as they squabble and wrestle with their long held inner demons, they become more aware that they're not alone in these woods. And whatever might lurk behind the trees doesn't have their best interests at heart.

     Author Courtney Gould creates perceptive, emotional portraits of her five characters, particularly, the two leads - angry free-with-her-fists Devin and sarcastic, bullying (but terribly vulnerable) Sheridan. The girls at first despise each other on sight and your heart aches for them as their own troubled pasts and current dangers serve to slowly but surely lower their guards with each other.

     One of those rare books that takes you on a frightening thrill ride but never forgets that its best special effects don't come from what creeps out from the dark, but from the humans you come to care about and fear for. I'd recommend buckling up and take the ride.

           5 stars (*****)

DUST.....AMID CLIMATE CHANGE CHAOS, A PARTIALLY DEAF GIRL COMES OF AGE...(*****)

 Dust by Alison Stine (2024)

     So much of this book did truly haunt me and pull on the heart strings with its depiction of a teen girl besieged by both a catastrophic climate and parents who've essentially imprisoned her away from the outside world.

     Set in what I'm assuming is the not too distant future, the book offers up a preview of dreaded coming attractions - overwhelming floods in one part of the country and terrible droughts and dust storms in another.

     Thea's father, obsessed with premonitions, has taken her, her little sister and mother away from the floods of Ohio to try farming amid the stark arid plains of Bloodless Valley in Colorado. It's an unforgiving landscape of little or no water for crops and afflicted with whirlwinds of dust that build into cataclysmic storms the rival those that swept across the land in the 1930's depression.

     Even worse for Thea, whose hearing is partially impaired, her father imposes a 'live off the grid' life for his family.. Meaning no friends, no phone, no internet, no social contact with outsiders unless necessary and only the most amateur attempts at home schooling. that don't interfere with farm chores.

     Allowed a part time job in their little town to help family finances, Thea begins to experience everything she's been denied - friendships, the town library, a sense of empathetic community and the sweet stirrings of first love with a deaf boy who can teach her how to converse with ASL. And even as the brutal existence in Bloodless Valley reaches near Biblicial proportions, Thea faces a reckoning for her to break free of her father's severe constraints, and for better or worse rejoin the world at large.

     Author Alison Stine vividly creates a bleak, nightmarish environment surrounding Thea and all the well drawn charcters who fall into her orbit, forever changing her. 'Dust' must have really kept a grip on me when I realized how fast I found myself racing through it. That's the sure sign of highly recommended read.

         5 stars (*****).

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NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.....ROBIN HOOD'S GRANDDAUGHTER GET HIT BY CUPID'S ARROW....(****)

 Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher (2024)

    Had a great time with this one. Memorable cast of characters, loads of swashbuckling 'Robin Hood' action and topped off with an unlikely, funny and finally touching, sweet romance between our two lead girls.

     But keep in mind, this is a teen Never Neverland version of the Sherwood Forest legends, with contemporary phrasing, sarcasm and quips liberally sprinkled into the dialogue. (Think of it as a new Netflix teen series, 'Robin's Grand-kid')
 
     The grand-kid mentioned is Mariel Hood-Hartley, raised by her stern father to be a fierce warrior and captain of her own little band of Merry Men( and women). Unlike her Grandfather's role as a champion of the poor and downtrodden, Mariel's father just likes making perpetual war on the Sheriff of Nottingham, with the oppressed villagers only thought of as collateral damage.

     Commander Hartley, seeking to track down a traitorous mole, has Mariel kidnap a potential suspect, an elderly woman who's the village 'healer'. But the group accidentally abducts the healer's more talented teen apprentice Clemence. She's a sunny, witty ray of sunshine who proceeds to confound and aggravate the driven, humorless Mariel. But 'Clem' as she's called, gradually captivates all around her with her unending warmth, empathy and genius healing skills........and even manages to romantically defrost Mariet.

     But that nasty Sheriff is relentless, sending Mariel, her Merry band and Clem into bloody battles and breathless rescue missions. And here's where the book dials down a lot its snarky quipping and settles into a good old fashioned high stakes adventure, with clashing swordplay, zinging arrows and surprise revelations that stagger both Mariel and Clem.

     Pure fun all the way.. If there's ever a movie or series announced, I'd be scouring the entertainment websites to see who'll play the leads 

        4 stars (****).

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DARKLY.....7 TEENS PROBE THE DARKEST SECRETS OF A LEGENDARY GAME CREATOR...(*****)

 Darkly by Marisha Pessi (2024)

     Bowled over by the ambitious, detailed world building that went into this complex YA mystery-adventure. By world-building, I mean the world of the byzantine board games created by young art student Louisiana Veda, who became a legendary figure of dazzling creativity and impenetrable dark secrets.

     This fascinating woman died mysteriously after building 'Darkly', a game manufacturing empire on her own private, forbidding island. Also included in the circumstances of her death......the disappearance of what was rumored as her penultimate game, 'Valkyrie', supposedly a game that its players might not survive.

     Now seven teenagers from around the world have been selected for a summer internship on Louisiana's island. And they've been tasked (with a huge grand prize)_ by the sinister, all powerful law firm that controls the 'Darkly' estate. They're to find out how obsessive gamers are now playing the elusive, stolen 'Valkyrie', including one boy who's disappeared while playing it.
  
     Among these diverse teens who've taken up the challenge is Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon, whose fearless, perceptive sleuthing leads the group into no end of harrowing adventures. As the secrets and revelations of Louisiana's Veda's incredible star-crossed life unfold, there's danger, suspicions, and some heartbreaking surprises swirling around the 'Darkly' empire and all its legends and puzzling backstories.

     By no means a fast paced thrill ride., the riddles, mysteries and layers of deception here are mind boggling and dense, but I simply couldn't stop turning the pages. And those games! I doubt I could ever play them, but they sound like they'd make me first in line to see the movie adaptations.

      And there's nothing I love more than a mystery whose twists finally come at you like an avalanche, right up to the final pages. Add to that the incisive meditations on the tortuous life of a misunderstood artist and you've got yourself a 5 star read. (*****)

HEIST ROYALE.....ONCE AGAIN, TEEN THIEVES PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO MATCH WITS AND SKILLS (****)

 Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis (2024)

     The Junior Varsity 'Ocean's 11' crew are back in action and for everyone who loved the impossible heists in their first book, 'Thieves Gambit' here come even more.....with a heaping dose of the ever-so-slow burning romance between dedicated, dire enemies Ross and Devroe.

     As you can see from the above description, this is the second book in a series and as far from a stand-alone as you can get. I'd highly recommend 'Heist Royale' as a terrific escapist romp but only after you've read the first one. Otherwise, you'll spend a frustrating time playing catch-up with the various rivalries, blood feuds, backstories and character clashes.

     Our severely star-crossed couple, expert teen thieves Rosalyn 'Ross' Quest and Devroe Kenzie live to out-heist each other, with Ross's deep hatred and fear of the Kenzie family fueled by the events of the previous book....(which I couldn't even begin to describe in any detail, which brings me back to what I said about this not being a stand-alone)

     Once again they're pitted against each other, along with their internationally diverse collection of fellow teen heist-meisters. And once again, the all powerful 'Organization' is running another 'Gambit' an anything-goes 'Hunger Gamer'-like thieving Olympics for adolescent felons.

     As a prize, the Organization offers an all encompassing 'wish', and by that I don't just mean a trip to Disneyland or a new washer-dryer. As for losers, given the amount of danger they expose themselves to, they've a good chance of ....well....not making it into the next book.

     This particular Gambit, set off by a deadly power struggle within the upper echelons of the Organization, makes the heists even more spectacularly insurmountable, which means a whole lot more suspense, danger and fun for us readers. The primary set piece has our competing crews of heist-inators ripping off a luxurious but shady casino......and coming up against an adversary they didn't bargain for.

I loved all the characters, the sharp byplay and the many twists and turns, but again I'd warn against trying to read this without first immersing yourself in 'Thieves Gambit' .A great reading double feature.

         4 stars (****).....(and if you meet anyone like the crew in this book and shake their hands.....remember to count your fingers....)

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