Title: Best Babysitters Ever (Best Babysitters Ever #1) Author: Caroline Cala Genre: Middle Grade Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: February 5, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A funny new middle grade series about three 12-year-old best friends who start a babysitting club in their small California town. Perfect for fans of series like Whatever After and the Dork Diaries.
Once upon a time, a girl named Kristy Thomas had a great idea: to form The Baby-Sitters Club with her best friends. And now twelve-year-old Malia Twiggs has had a great idea too. Technically, she had Kristy’s idea. (And technically, little kids seem gross and annoying, but a paycheck is a paycheck). After a little convincing, Malia and her friends Dot and Bree start a babysitting club to earn funds for an epic birthday bash. But babysitting definitely isn’t what they thought it would be.
Three friends. No parents. Unlimited snacks. And, okay, occasionally watching other people’s children. What could possibly go wrong?
Review:
This is a great book about friendship.
Malia gets the idea to create a babysitting club after reading Kristy’s Great Idea, which is the first book in the Baby-Sitters Club series. I loved that series when I was growing up! This is a great way to update the story for today’s young readers. Even though there are new graphic novel versions of the Baby-Sitters Club books, some of the things in the books are still dated. This story had modern characters, complete with cell phones!
The story was fast paced. There were a lot of similarities between the characters in this book and the ones from the Babysitters club. For instance, Bree has a large blended family, just like Kristy in the Babysitters club. Malia has an annoying older sister just like Claudia. However, some of the characters were kind of extreme and annoying. Bree was emotional and cried a lot. She was also obsessed with glitter and Taylor Swift. She seemed very over the top most of the time.
I’m curious to see what happens next in this series, and to see how much it will be like the Baby-Sitters Club.
What to read next:
Kristy’s Great Idea (Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Raina Telgemeier, Ann M. Martin
Have you read Best Babysitters Ever? What did you think of it?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Upcoming Releases I’m On The Fence About. This is such a hard list to write because there are so many good books coming out! These are the ones that I don’t have ARCs of, and I’m not sure if I’ll be buying. Here’s my list:
Title: Cadaver & Queen (Cadaver & Queen #1) Author: Alisa Kwitney Genre: Young Adult Publisher: Harlequin Teen Source: Library Format: Ebook Release Date: February 27, 2018 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
When Lizzie Lavenza enrolled at Ingold as its first female medical student, she knew she wouldn’t have an easy time. From class demands to being an outsider among her male cohorts, she’ll have to go above and beyond to prove herself. So when she stumbles across what appears to be a faulty Bio-mechanical–one of the mechanized cadavers created to service the school–she jumps at the chance to fix it and get ahead in the program.
Only this Bio-mechanical isn’t like the others. Where they are usually empty-minded and perfectly obedient, this one seems to have thoughts, feelings… and self-awareness.
Soon Lizzie realizes that it is Victor Frankenstein–a former student who died under mysterious circumstances. Victor, it seems, still has a spark of human intelligence inside him, along with memories of things he discovered before his untimely death.. .and a suspicion that he was murdered to keep that information from getting out. Suddenly Lizzie finds herself intertwined in dark secrets and sabotage that put her life, and the lives of Victor and their friends, in danger. But Lizzie’s determined to succeed–even if that means fighting an enemy who threatens the entire British Empire.
Review:
This is a great adaptation of Frankenstein.
I haven’t read the original Frankenstein, but that didn’t affect my reading. This story used some of the characters from the original story and some of the same themes, but the story was different.
I loved Lizzie! She has to deal with a lot of discrimination, but she doesn’t give up. She is the only girl in medical school, and many people assume she is in the nursing program. She is also American at a British school. I really liked the way that she took chances and stood up for what she believed in.
The second book in this series comes out in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to read it!
What to read next:
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
Have you read Cadaver & Queen? What did you think of it?
This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!
What I just finished:
This weekend I finished Cadaver & Queen by Alisa Kwitney.
What I’m currently reading:
I’m currently reading Best Babysitters Ever by Caroline Cala.
What I’m reading next:
Next I will be reading Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2) by Laura Sebastian.
What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading Cadaver & Queen by Alisa Kwitney.
Goodreads Synopsis:
When Lizzie Lavenza enrolled at Ingold as its first female medical student, she knew she wouldn’t have an easy time. From class demands to being an outsider among her male cohorts, she’ll have to go above and beyond to prove herself. So when she stumbles across what appears to be a faulty Bio-mechanical–one of the mechanized cadavers created to service the school–she jumps at the chance to fix it and get ahead in the program.
Only this Bio-mechanical isn’t like the others. Where they are usually empty-minded and perfectly obedient, this one seems to have thoughts, feelings… and self-awareness.
Soon Lizzie realizes that it is Victor Frankenstein–a former student who died under mysterious circumstances. Victor, it seems, still has a spark of human intelligence inside him, along with memories of things he discovered before his untimely death.. .and a suspicion that he was murdered to keep that information from getting out. Suddenly Lizzie finds herself intertwined in dark secrets and sabotage that put her life, and the lives of Victor and their friends, in danger. But Lizzie’s determined to succeed–even if that means fighting an enemy who threatens the entire British Empire.
Title: Pride Author: Ibi Zoboi Genre: Young Adult Publisher: Balzer + Bray Source: Owlcrate Format: Hardcover Release Date: September 18, 2018 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.
Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.
In a timely update of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.
Review:
I loved this modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
It’s amazing the way that the story can be told in a contemporary setting. The world of this story, which is Brooklyn in 2018, is completely different from the 1800s in England when Jane Austen originally wrote the book. The story still makes sense in this setting.
This story doesn’t have to be read as an adaptation. It could be its own story, even without the references to Pride and Prejudice. You don’t have to have read Pride and Prejudice to understand it.
I loved the way the characters were turned into modern Brooklyn characters. The Benitez sisters are Haitian-Dominican girls, named Janae, Zuri, Marisol, Kayla and Layla. Darius is the Darcy character and he has a brother Ainsley (based on Bingley) and a sister Georgia. I loved these updated names.
This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
I received my preorder from Indigo:
King of Scars (Nikolai Duology #1) by Leigh Bardugo
I was approved for a book from Simon and Schuster Canada on NetGalley:
The Revenge of Magic by James Riley
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for this book!
