Review: Up To This Pointe by Jennifer Longo

Antarctica, ballet, and science….all together in one story. What in the world?

That’s exactly what was going through my mind when this book came across my nightstand for review.

I almost passed on it because it just sounded so weird, but it’s because of the weirdness that I decided to review it.

I knew one of two things was going to happen…..either it would totally work or it totally wouldn’t and I would know immediately which it was! I was impressed by how quickly this story sucked me in.

Harper has been a dancer her entire life. It’s all she’s ever wanted to be. It’s her only dream….she’s put YEARS of her life into becoming a professional ballerina and the possibility of being anything else is out of the question. Well what Harper thinks she should be in life and what the actual likelihood of that happening are completely different.

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Review: The Fox and The Star by Coralie Bickford Smith

Coralie Bickford Smith is responsible for a number of Penguin classics updated cover designs…..and be warned I’m about to fan girl out….I’m in love with her cover designs!

Sure I may own six copies of Jane Eyre (yes I am serious) but I NEEDED the Coralie Bickford Smith cloth bound copy because it’s stunning!

Her book covers are absolutely beautiful as are her illustrations….every time I see one of her editions I’m in love.

But I had no idea that she was also an author in her own right…..it wasn’t until THE FOX AND THE STAR came across my nightstand for review that I discovered that she was an author of children’s books as well!

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Review: Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Pepper Schuyler has got some problems and about nine months to figure out how to solve them. With a baby on the way, she needs money…bad and in 1966 she has few options to earn money.

As luck would have it, she finds a rare vintage Mercedes in an old family garage and starts restoring the car. When a woman comes forward and pays an extravagant amount of money for the car, Pepper is relieved. But then the woman wants to meet her.

Annabelle Dommerich claims to have been the original owner of that car and willingly paid $300K for it. After meeting Pepper, Annabelle wants to help her. Somehow Annabelle gets Pepper to agree to come stay with her until she can figure out what to do about the baby.

But it turns out Annabelle has a few secrets of her own. Annabelle was living in the south of France just before WWII broke out. There she met a charming Jewish man, Stefan, who stole her heart. But fate intervenes and they are separated. Annabelle is forced to move on and marries a Nazi general instead but is never quire able to get over Stefan.

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Review: Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins

Cassandra is bored. Bored bored and bored. She is craving adventure, drama, and something exciting in her young life. What she is NOT craving is a quite summer by the sea.

Her mom and step father have rented a house on the Massachusetts coast in an area full of very elite and well to do people.

Cassandra almost immediately starts acting out and causing problems. Her parents don’t understand what her deals is but she just seems restless and not content.

After getting caught breaking into a neighbor’s pool for a midnight swim, her parents ground her which she doesn’t mind as it will get her out of a fancy party that the neighbors are all going to….but her parents tell her she must attend.

It’s at this party that she meets a strange young man. On the private beach in the warm summer night, this strange and alluring young man named Lawrence shows up claiming it’s his own beach—and that the year is 1925—Cassandra is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.

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Review: The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge by Charlie Lovett

Do you ever wonder what happened to our favorite old humbug after he was saved by all the Christmas ghosts? Did he continue spreading Christmas cheer or did he go back to his grouchy ways?

Well twenty years after the events of A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is still at it thankfully….but ironically, the towns people are getting a little tired of Scrooge and his Christmas cheer….every. single. day. of. the. year.

The ghost of Jacob Marley visits Scrooge to tell him that only five of his links have gone, which means he has more to go before he can be at peace. Scrooge wants to help his old friend (as well as other inhabitants of the city, he will need the assistance of the very people he’s annoyed), so he asks for the three spirits to visit him again.

By the time they’re done, they’ve convinced everyone to celebrate Christmas all year long by opening their wallets, arms, and hearts to those around them.

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