The Secret Hum of a Daisy Review

Goodreads

TITLE: The Secret Hum of a Daisy

AUTHOR: Tracy Holczer

PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons

PUBLICATION DATE: 5/1/2014

PAGES: 320

SOURCE: ARC copy from Amazon Vine/Publisher

MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Grace and her mother are their own family, traveling from place to place like gypsies. But Grace is tired and wants to finally have a home all to her own. She thinks she's found it with Mrs. Greene and her daughter, Lacey, so when her mother tells her it's time to move on again, Grace summons the courage to tell her mother how she really feels. She'll always regret that her last words to her mother were angry ones.

When Grace's mother dies suddenly, she's thrust into a world she doesn't understand and didn't expect--the town her mother grew up in and fled when she was just seventeen and pregnant with Grace. Now faced with making a home with a grandmother she's never met (and who, according to Grace's mother, never wanted her in the first place), Grace is desperate to be sent back to Mrs. Greene and her best friend, Lacey. A mysterious treasure hunt, just like the ones her mother used to send her on, may just be the key. It all begins with a crane. And Grace is sure it's her mother showing her the way home.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: For the first third of so of the book, I was having a hard time making myself pick up the book to read even though I was enjoying it, but that may have just been because there were so many other books that I wanted to read at the time. I got a lot more interested in the book and I wanted to see where the cranes were going to take Grace and how the relationship with her grandmother would progress.

CHARACTERS: I found myself really attached to the main character Grace. I felt almost like she was a younger family member of mine, and I wanted to make sure that she was okay and taken care of. 

COVER: The cover is nice. I like the blue to green gradient with the white graphics on top, it gives it a nice contrast. 

Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb Review

TITLE: Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb

AUTHOR: MJA Ware

PUBLISHER: MJA Ware

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/5/2011

PAGES: 205

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (From Goodreads):When life gives you lemons, kill zombies -- turns out lemon juice neutralizes the undead.

After a failed attempt at running away, best friends Nathan and Misty return home expecting to face angry parents. Instead, they discover the military has destroyed the bridges out of their rural town and everyone's fled--except a small horde of the living dead. The stress of flesh-eating zombies may be more than their already strained relationship can handle.

Even with the help of the town geek and lemonade-powered Super-Soakers, there's not enough time to squeeze their way out of this sticky mess. Unless the trio eradicates the zombie infestation, while avoiding the deadly zombie snot, the military will blow the town, and them, to pulp.

Their only shot is something with a lot more punch. Something like the Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb. But even if their friendship survives, there's another problem: Someone has to lure the undead into the trap.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a really fun book to read. It was amusing, entertaining and silly but still had a great story line that kept me hooked. It had the suspense of wondering if they would survive all of the zombies, but it wasn't too scary for kids to enjoy. I think the book had a great balance between suspense and humor.

The book also had two short stories at the end, which I found very entertaining, espeically the one about the hobgoblin.

CHARACTERS: I liked all of the characters that were in this book. I would have liked to learn more about each of the characters and their background (particularly Kali) but this is a quick read geared at middle grade readers who are probably not that interested in large amounts of detail. Nate, our main character, and Misty are best friends with hints of more. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a romance develop, nothing monumental because they are kids and this is a kid's book, but maybe just a little bit more acknowledgment of their feelings towards one another, even if only in their own heads and not out loud to each other.

COVER: The cover goes really well with the story. It incorporates a few different parts of the story and ties in perfectly.

Also, check out the graphic novel version of the book!

*I received a copy of this book from the author for review.