Royal Wedding Disaster: From The Notebooks Of A Middle School Princess
by Meg Cabot

Royal Wedding Disaster was a good book. I would recommend it. I really liked it. It was about a girl named Olivia. Olivia is a princess. Her sister's wedding is coming up and nothing is ready. Olivia has to try to help out or else it will be a royal wedding disaster.
 
 

Someone like you
by Karen Kingsbury

Karen Kingsbury's books are about family and their lives. this story is about another character in the Baxter series, Maddie West. Maddie finds out that she is adopted and the circumstances are not usual. She was never told about her beginning and feels lost a betrayed by her family. She decides to leave and find her story. With this she finds that she had a sister that was killed and had been engaged, Meeting this man brings him back ti that time with London and he sees her in her sister. Can he love again and is Maddie the one or is she just taking London's place?It is a riveting story and meant to be read.
 
 

This Other Eden
by Paul Harding

I toe the line on giving this story five stars. On one hand, it's exquisite: richly written and character-driven. On the other, it's sad and leaves you feeling wrung out. The Honey clan live on Apple Island, isolated from most anyone not living right there with them. Their family has lived on the island for generations, dating back to a freed slave and an Irish woman marrying there first. Being that there is a great deal of poverty and some incest, the islanders have caught unwanted attention, and because many are mixed and appear black, the powers that be decide to make everyone leave. The local school teacher tries to save the lightest of them, a thriving teen painter named Ethan Honey, hoping he can at least set someone on the path to success. This story is heartbreaking in a lot of ways, but I always appreciate when I find something out I didn't know before, and someones story adds to my own.
 
 

Romantic Comedy
by Curtis Sittenfeld

More fun than I thought it would be. Sally is a comedy writer working on a thinly veiled SNL stand in: The Night Owls, a late night sketch comedy show filmed in NYC. She's in her mid thirties and while she's not bemoaning her single life; she's thriving at work and making plans for her dreams, has good friends and speaks to her stepfather weekly. I liked that she was pretty well-rounded, and although she can be snappy and abrasive at times, she's still smart and fun to watch. Enter Noah, a famous singer that is hosting the show that week, and the chemistry is pretty electric. I enjoyed watching them get to know each other: the dialogue was quick and funny; I actually laughed out loud a few times. A very fun, modern love story truly made for women.
 
 

The Guardians
by john grisham

I enjoyed this book in that it is about a murder and man wrongfully convicted and serving time and a young lawyer that takes his case but has to worry about being the next victim. John Grisham writes great book and always has a lawyer as the main character, this one certainly is worth the read,
 
 

The Peripheral
by William Gibson

Crazier than I thought it would be but also very slow. This is a long book that sets up a lot of settings for us, since it takes place in two different future. In one, Flynne Foster helps her veteran brother on his job by subbing in for him, ostensibly testing out video games (more of a virtual reality experience, I think). One day she sees something that could be real, could be fake, but either way the game developers reach out to her to get her side of the story, and so begins a really story driven sci fi thriller. I liked almost all the characters, and thought it was interesting how Gibson created a future distinct from our present simply in how the characters spoke. It was an intricate world and I struggled to envision it but I still enjoyed the ride.
 
 

The Family Game
by Catherine Steadman

Not bad but also not good. This is my second Catherine Steadman and I'm starting to identify themes I dislike. We meet Harriet, a somewhat famous author, as she is settling into her relationship and moving from England to New York for it. She's struggling to adjust to life, mainly the fact that her boyfriend (in short order fiance) comes from a wealthy and powerful family, and she not only comes from much humbler stock but also has a very dark secret. As she begins to get to know these folks better, she discovers a terrible secret that she must decide how to address: keep it in and finally have the family she's been missing, or fight for her life? I liked Harriet a lot more than I did Steadmans last protagonist; she's smart, she asks good questions, and she is -- most importantly -- careful. The final dramatic scene was a bit over the top but I can appreciate something intense and visual for the finale. Overall it's a good summer read, something fun to keep you guessing in some ways.
 
 

Killers Of The Flower Moon
by David Grann

Five stars for a well-told true crime story that has been forgotten by the history books. In part spurred by the upcoming release for the movie, I read this with fear, knowing the story would likely upset me with the racism and murder, but it's extremely well done; Grann carefully introduces characters in such a way that make them memorable, and since there are so many to keep track of this is a feat in itself. He steadily weaves the narrative, setting up the history of the Osage then giving us the crimes committed against them, before ending on a bittersweet note. An important story, to be sure.
 
 

The Last Word
by Taylor Adams

This was a twisty, tingling, honestly insane novel. We drop right into the story, Emma house sitting on at an mostly abandoned beach front property off season, trying to run away from something tragic. She's reading just about anything she can, and ends up giving her latest read a scathing review. The author reads it and insists she alter her opinion, and after they volley some insults back and forth, Emma thinks this is just an oversensitive author. But strange things start to terrorize her, and she begins to realize that her one-star review has started a night of horror. So many things keep this novel interesting, and even though I guessed one major twist, Adams does an excellent job lulling the reader into a false sense of security before dropping more bombshells. Maybe a few too many, after a while, but still a great read.
 
 

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-time Indian
by Sherman Alexie

I really enjoyed this. This follows the semiautobiographical story of Junior, a Native American teenager who decides to attend the white school instead of staying on the reservation. In many ways it's a typical story about a kid coming to terms with growing up and how our relationships can change, and it's also a story of racism and adversity. It's beautiful and sad and pretty funny at times. Down one star because it's YA so not a book I would typically read.