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BOOK REVIEW: EVERGREEN ACADEMY BY HEATHER SCHNEIDER

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GOODREADS SUMMARY: Welcome to Evergreen Academy, the secret college for Magical Botanists. I’d always sensed something peculiar about the reclusive Evergreen Academy, tucked deep in the woods of my hometown. But I never could have imagined it was a college for magical botanists–and that I am one of them.  An invitation to the academy opens up a whole new world of wonder, yet my plant affinity powers remain elusive, and my scientific training is far behind that of my peers.  When I’m assigned a tutor, Callan Rhodes, a powerful descendant of the academy’s founders, I’m baffled by his willingness to help me. Despite my challenges, I’m enchanted by the academy’s glass schoolhouse, its grounds which are overflowing with plants that defy the climate, and the quirky festivals held each equinox and solstice. But disaster looms as the verdant shield that protects the academy from the prying eyes of nonmagical people begins to falter. Can Callan and the other founder’s descendants susta...

BOOK REVIEW: THE LAST VAMPIRE BY ROMINA GARBER

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GOOD READS SUMMARY: When a boarding school opens in a once-condemned Victorian manor buried in the woods of New Hampshire, Austen-loving Lorena Navarro enrolls in hopes of finding her own Mr. Darcy. Instead, she stumbles across a coffin and accidentally awakens the world’s last vampire. After hibernating for nearly three centuries, William Pride is desperate to find his family—and clueless about the modern world. Relying on Lorena for more than just blood, he enrolls at the school to catch up on all he’s missed. Soon, William uncovers a chilling truth: He is the last hope for his kind’s return to power. Torn between protecting the humans around him and fulfilling his fate, William must make a choice that could change everything. Will he sacrifice his species for love . . . or will he embrace his dark destiny at last? TEE'S THOUGHTS I seem to be reverting back to my old love of YA vampire books and I am not even mad about it! This my second one that I have read in a month, I think t...

Book Review: Hazelthorn by CG Drews

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GOODREADS SUMMARY: Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow: He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron's charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie. That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him. When Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family's vast wealth. But Evander's sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next. Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to ...

Book Review: Karma's A Beach by Samatha Chase

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GOODREADS SUMMARY: It’s bad enough I have to fly home for a funeral. Not just any funeral either. My ex’s funeral. Where I have to give the eulogy. Let’s just say he was an ex for a reason, and I’d much rather write a speech about his flaws than wax poetic about what a great person he was. But I just couldn’t bring myself to say no to his mom when she asked. So here we are. I just have to get through the funeral and then it’s a whole month of relaxing on the beach with my oldest friends. But of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. Entitled passengers, flight delays, lost luggage. Everything that could wrong went wrong. And I might have had a little too much wine and spilled my entire life story to the man in the seat next to me. The incredibly nice, incredibly sexy man sitting next to me. It’s a good thing I’ll likely never see him again. Or so I thought. The stranger who awkwardly comforts me at my ex’s funeral? Airplane guy. And I’ll give you one guess about who shows up at t...

Book Review: Vagabond by Tim Curry

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 GOODREADS SUMMARY There are few stars in Hollywood today that can boast the kind of resume Tony award-nominated actor Tim Curry has built over the past five decades. From his breakout role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to his iconic depiction as the sadistic clown Pennywise in It to his critically acclaimed role as the original King Arthur in both the Broadway and West End versions of Spamalot, Curry redefined what it meant to be a “character actor,” portraying heroes and villains alike with complexity, nuance, and a genuine understanding of human darkness.  Now, in his memoir, Curry takes readers behind-the-scenes of his rise to fame from his early beginnings as a military brat to his formative years in boarding school and university, to the moment when he hit the stage for the first time. He goes in-depth about what it was like to work on some of the most emblematic works of the 20th century, constantly switching between a camera and a live audience...

Book Review:The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer

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 GOODREADS SUMMARY: Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of  A Christmas Carol. Who needs family when you’ve got long hours, impossible deadlines, and your dream job? That is, until an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she’s shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor. It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, and his ex-wife is still the same workaholic who puts her career before everything else—especially her health. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating “ghosts” tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible. As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if ...

Book Review : Snow Kissed by RaeAnne Thayne

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GOODREADS SUMMARY Christmas has always been single mom Holly Goodwin Moore’s favorite time of year. The twinkly lights on the tree, the cookies in the oven, the snow on the ground. But she’s just not feeling it this year. The wedding in her ex’s family is almost here, her daughter, Lydia, is bursting at the seams to be a flower girl…and Holly couldn’t be dreading it more. She told a little white lie about having a new boyfriend as her plus-one, hoping to save face. She needs a date for the wedding…and she needs it now. Ryan Caldwell wants to be free this holiday season. So even he isn’t sure how he landed in Shelter Springs, looking after his niece, Audrey, with his estranged father down the road. But when he meets Holly, she makes him want to belong for the very first time. So they make a deal: he’ll be her date if she’ll help him give Audrey a true Christmas to remember while her mom is away.  TEE'S THOUGHTS It is that time of the year, the time that t reading turns to holiday re...