Damaged

Damaged: a Rosato & DiNunzio Novel  by Lisa Scottoline. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2016. 405 pages. *****+ (Release date August 12th per-order at http://amzn.to/29UUDfE.)

Patrick O'Brien is a ten-year-old with a reading disability who has been punched and abused by a school classroom aide. His Grandfather and Guardian is unaware of the situation at school until that same aide sues him and the Philadelphia School District by claiming that Patrick attacked him with a pair of scissors. Partner in the Rosato & DiNunzio law firm, Mary DiNunzio is planning to be married in two weeks and she doesn't have time to take on new cases, but Patrick and his Grandfather ignite her passion for justice and she agrees to investigate and represent them. The opposing lawyer, Nick Machiavelli, portrays Patrick as a troubled youth with violent tendencies as evidenced in his drawings and the case takes an unexpected turn when Patrick feels cornered and aims a gun at a DHS caseworker and DiNunzio. It is now up to Mary to fight the system and rescue Patrick. Will Mary's partners and fiancé support her in the quest for answers and justice for Patrick?

I received a copy for review.

Scottoline is known for choosing a hot topic, researching it and presenting the "what if?" Her fast-paced and emotionally charged storytelling sucks me in from the very beginning, pulls me along and then wham! Twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. The chapters that include her parents and future mother-in-law are hilariously South Philly and add comic relief to complicated issues. It's a roller coaster ride to the very end and then disappointment that it is over. What next for DiNunzio? I guess I'll have to wait impatiently for book 5.

Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author of twenty-seven novels. She has 30 million copies of her books in print in the United States, she has been published in thirty-five countries, and her thrillers have been optioned for television and film. Lisa also writes a weekly column with her daughter, Francesca Serritella, for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and those critically acclaimed stories have been adapted into bestselling memoirs. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets. Visit Lisa Scottoline or follow Lisa on Facebook or Twitter @LISASCOTTOLINE

Bury the Living

Bury the Living by Jodi McIsaac. (The Revolutionary Series Book 1) Seattle: 47North, 2016. 302 pages. *****+ Publication date September 6th.

Nora's father is shot dead when he answers the front door and Nora O'Reilly's life changes forever. Her Irish mother copes by drinking away their meager income and teenage Nora decides that selling drugs at school to a select few will bring in extra money.  When her safety and her brother, Eamon, are threatened because of her drug selling, Eamon enlists to fight for their country’s freedom. Flash forward 10 plus years and Nora is haunted by both her past and recurring dreams of a man she doesn't know. This mysterious man begs her to travel to Kildare and to find Brigid.

Finding Brigid is not as difficult as she imagined and when she is handed a relic belonging to Brigid of Kildare, patron saint of Ireland, Nora is transported back eighty years—to the height of Ireland’s brutal civil war. She finds the man in her dreams, who claims not to understand why she is looking for him. They embark on a mission to save Ireland and to change the future.

I received an ecopy from NetGalley to review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Irish history, time travel, romance with a strong female character, what's not to love? This is book one in the series and ends in a cliff-hanger, didn't want to put it down and can't wait for the next one.

Jodi McIsaac is the author of several novels, including A Cure for Madness and the Thin Veil Series. She grew up in New Brunswick, on Canada’s east coast. After abandoning her Olympic speed skating dream, she wrote speeches for a politician, volunteered in a refugee camp, waited tables in Belfast, earned a couple of university degrees, and started a boutique copywriting agency. She loves running, geek culture, and whiskey.

25 Sense

25 Sense: a novel  by Lisa Henthorn. Tempe: SparkPress, 2016. 179 pages. ****

Twenty-something Claire Malone moves from SoCal to New York to experience life in the city and to broaden her career as a television writer. She didn't expect to fall in love with her married boss and to make mistakes that would impact her future career prospects. Re-evaluating her choices, Claire learns from those mistakes and questions the sincerity and motives of the people in her life.


Entertaining, fun, quick, story.  The tweets and chapter titles add to the story and I really looked forward to reading them. Henthorn has crafted a story of betrayal and disillusionment in an entertaining format. Definitely a beach and girlfriend read.


I received an Advance  Reader Copy from BookSparks for a review.

Lisa Henthorn is a television writer who wrote on the CBS show Swingtown, the CW show The Beautiful Life, and the A&E show The Glades. She lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband.

#SRC2016 @BookSparks #bestsummerever

Home of the Sparrow

Home of the Sparrow (more info here) ... is looking for donations this summer...

BACK TO SCHOOL 2016 WITH A TWIST!
We are doing things a little differently this year!

Pools are open, vacations have started, fireworks fill the night sky; we are officially in full summer mode!

As the fun continues and the days get longer how soon we forget that school will be back in session before we know it.

As August nears, parents scramble to pick up backpack essentials and the newest trends in school fashion.

But for some parents, this is a time of stress and anxiety. With strict budgets and debt, notebooks and pencils seem like an impossible feat. 

In an effort to alleviate some stress with our clients you can help us by providing a book bag and a back to school uniform or a book bag and shoes for a specific child or children. If you are interested in helping with this program we will assign you to a child or children and send you their specific list of sizing information for an outfit or uniform and favorite color or interest for back pack theme suggestion. We would kindly request that you bring everything to the office by Monday August 1st.  Gift receipts would be encouraged for clothing! We will be collecting school supplies at the office and various locations throughout our community partners. Please let me know if your group, church, club, organization, etc. would like to do your own supply collection including; notebooks, folders, paper, pencils, highlighters, etc. 

On Thursday, August 4^th at 10:00am we will have 8 volunteers stuff all of the backpacks! Please let me know if you would like to help sort and stuff. 

If you are interested, please fill out the HOS Donor Form and return it as soon as you can. We will email (preferable), mail, or fax the school supply requests to you as soon as we receive them. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Ashley Stirling at (610) 647-4940, or AStirling@HomeoftheSparrow.org. “A child without an education is like a bird without wings”;.  As always we wholeheartedly appreciate your donations, especially when helping to give these children wings to a brighter future!

First Comes Love

First Comes Love: A novel by Emily Giffin. New York: Ballantine Books, 2016. 384 pages. ****

Josie and Meredith Garland each reacted differently to the tragic death of their brother. Fifteen years later, they are struggling to find themselves and navigate their relationship. Meredith married her brother's best friend and is questioning whether she is in love with him. Josie, still single and an elementary school teacher really wants to have a baby. Josie and Meredith have never discussed what happened the night their brother died and with the anniversary of his death looming, they must come to terms with the secrets they have kept since that fateful night. 

Told in the alternating strong voices of Meredith and Josie, Giffin has written a story that anyone who has a sister can relate to and understand the dynamics between them. This is going to be one of those books that if you see someone reading it, you will start to discuss it with her. A great story to recommend and pass around to your friends this summer. 

I received an Advance Reader Copy from BookSparks for a review.

Emily Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full-time. The author of seven New York Times bestselling novels, she currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children. 

#SRC2016 #BestSummerEver @BookSparks

Everybody Rise

Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2015. 371 pages. Reading Group Guide. Recommended Reading. ***

Evelyn Beegan is twenty-six-years-old and trying to escape her privileged background and to reinvent herself in New York City. Her mother is a social climber and has pushed and pulled Evelyn into the world of prep school and the "right" social circles. Evelyn always felt like an outsider and didn't quite fit into her mother's world or that of her peers. Evelyn's perspective changes when she lands a job at a social-network start-up aimed at the elite. Evelyn decides to capitalize on her social connections to infiltrate the world of old money and to pass herself off as being wealthy and independent. Her mother is thrilled and willing to supplement her new lifestyle and to guide her in her latest endeavor. Evelyn tells so many lies that she begins to believe them herself and ignores her huge credit card bill and rent obligation. Alone and desperate, Evelyn is forced to evaluate her choices and what's important in life.

Initially, Evelyn comes across as an independent, ambitious woman, but soon gets caught up in a materialistic, shallow lifestyle. It is really hard to feel sympathetic to her when she thinks that she is above it all (work, rent, paying her bills) and seems annoyed by the mundane task of earning money. Looking for someone to bail her out gets old and the book seems to drag and belabor her situation. It could be my perspective, but I didn't find the plot compelling or entertaining. Clifford holds promise as a writer and it's an easy, beach read.

I received a copy from BookSparks for a review.

Stephanie Clifford covered courts, business, and media as a New York Times Reporter. A Harvard graduate who grew up in Seattle, she now lives in Brooklyn. Everybody Rise is her first book. Visit her website at www.stephanieclifford.net.

All The Missing Girls

All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016. 273 pages. *****+

Nic Farrell receives a phone call from her brother summoning her home to coordinate her father's care and to sell the family home. Returning home after a 10-year absence is particularly difficult when your high school boyfriend has been hired to work on the house and he shows up with his current girlfriend. Nic shouldn't care because she is engaged to a high power attorney and she has been over Tyler for years, hasn't she? Nic soon realizes that she can't escape her past when her father is questioned about the 10-year disappearance of Nic's friend Corinne. When Tyler's girlfriend also disappears, Nic and her family come under scrutiny and gossip about events from their past. What happened to Corinne and why did Nic sever all ties with her high school friends?


Told in reverse chronological order, this story could have been confusing, but it wasn't. Miranda has created strong believable characters that had me guessing as to which one is the murderer. This is an easy book to lose yourself in, once started you will block everything else out in your day/night to finish it. I love stories that sneak up on me and surprise me, I kept saying to myself..."don't go into the woods..." Surprisingly, no one listened to me. Fast paced, twists and turns, it's a great story when I can't stop thinking about Nic and wondering how and what she is doing now. I am definitely looking forward to future books by Megan Miranda.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy for a review.

Megan Miranda is the author of several books for young adults, including Fracture, Hysteria, Vengeance, and Soulprint. She grew up in New Jersey, attended MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children. All the Missing Girls is her first novel for adults. Follow @MeganLMiranda on Twitter, or visit MeganMiranda.com.

#summermustread #psychologicalthriller #mystery #murder