Enchanting Review: And Then Everything Unravelled

AND THEN EVERYTHING UNRAVELED
JENNIFER STURMAN
Mystery YA
Point
ISBN# 978-0545087223
256 pages
$16.99
Trade—Available Now

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

Delia Truesdale never imagined her idyllic life in California was about to change. When her internet tycoon mother suddenly goes missing off an expedition to the Antarctic, Delia is the only one who believes T.K. is still alive. Worse, since she's the only one, she has no chance to decide to stay home. Oh no, according to her mother's will, she's about to be shipped off to the other side of the country, to New York City and two aunts she's never even met, let alone barely heard anything about. And the two of them are about as opposite as you can get.

With Delia the only one believing her mother is still out there somewhere, she's forced to deal with the fact that everyone around her wouldn't believe a word she says if she told them what she suspects. Between a weird phone call, mysterious satellite pictures online and the fact she just doesn't feel her mother's gone, Delia does what she can to prove to the world her mother is still alive. I liked Delia right away and her aunts, Charley and Patience are about as opposite as you can get. Charley was definitely my favorite of the two with her fun personality and unique way of doing things. especially how at first she had enrolled her in a totally different school without telling her prim and proper sister and was ready to send Delia there, until Patience came charging in. I loved how Charley set up a meeting for Delia to come to terms with what happened and it ends up being with a psychic, one who seems to agree with everything Delia's found so far. Her mother is still out there somewhere. But when she warns her she can't tell anyone, because the eight will turn into twelve, Delia decides to get her own detective to look into things since she doesn't know whether eight means days, weeks, months or even years. The pace of the book moves along very well and things are revealed all in good time, and the evolving relationship between Delia and Quinn, with his at times opposite personalities was enjoyable to watch unfold. Filled with unique and interesting characters, fun scenes and a mystery that gets more deep and dangerous the more Delia finds out, AND THEN EVERYTHING UNRAVELED is definitely an entertaining mystery read.

Ms. Sturman is the acclaimed author of several adult mystery novels, including The Pact and The Jinx. After graduating from Harvard College, Jennifer earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. She now lives in New York City, a few blocks from Delia’s aunt. She has no free time, but if she did she would probably spend it watching teen movie classics and playing poker. Please visit her online at
www. jennifersturman.com

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
August 2009

Enchanting Review: This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous

THIS BOOK ISN'T FAT, IT'S FABULOUS

NINA BECK

Contemporary Young Adult

Point

ISBN# 978-0-545-01703-9

240 Pages

$16.99

Trade--Available Now

Rating: 3.5 Enchantments

Riley Swain is used to getting what she wants in life, guys, friends, clothes. But suddenly she's on her way to fat camp (argh, the horror). She thinks her size twelve figure is fabulous, but apparently her father and stepmother- to-be have other ideas, which is why instead of going on the class trip to Mexico for spring break, she's headed to upstate New York and New Horizon. But Riley can't have her friends and fellow Manhattanites knowing the truth, so she concocts a cover story that she's actually going on a family bonding trip to an upstate NY spa.

While there were portions of the book I really enjoyed, especially when Riley meets Eric, which might have been my favorite scene of the book, the rest of it seemed to hit a lull. The story moved quite fast from Riley at home in Manhattan to being shipped off to fat camp. I think the story would have benefited from a slower pace and a chance to know the supporting characters. The only characters I felt you really got to know was Riley with a bit of Eric and her almost obsession with her best friend D. I did however enjoy Riley's letter writing campaign to her lawyer and others to keep from having to go to New Horizon.

Ms. Beck likes peppermint tea, movies with lots of synchronized dance sequences, boys with curly hair, and living in Brooklyn, New York. She also likes writing characters that make her laugh and make other people ask, "Um. . . is this autobiographical?" This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous is her first novel. You can learn more about THIS BOOK ISN'T FAT, IT'S FABULOUS here: http://thisispoint.com/books/fatfabulous.asp

Lisa

Enchanting Reviews

August 2008

Enchanting Review: Top 8

TOP 8

KATIE FINN

Contemporary Young Adult

Point

ISBN# 978-0-545-05362-4

244 Pages

Trade

Available—October 1st, 2008

Rating: 4 Enchantments

Sixteen year old Madison MacDonald has a pretty good life, three great best friends, a brand new boyfriend of seventeen days and the lead in the school play. But when she returns home from spring break in the Galapagos Islands, Madison is stunned to find her Friendverse page has been hacked. Even worse, not a single one of her friends believed it was a poser. Now she's newly single and desperate to find out who hates her enough to sabotage her like this. Can she solve the mystery and win back her friends and her ex, or is she destined to be the outcast for the rest of her high school life?

TOP 8 is a fun, fast paced read. I liked Madison right away, and it’s easy to become immersed in her world, as she struggles to find out who could do something like this to her, and along the way comes to some not quite pretty realizations about herself. I have to say the revelation of who actually sabotaged her and hacked her account came as a big surprise. Madison does a bit of growing up through the course of the story, as she starts to realize why her friends didn’t think someone was posing as her.

Kate Finn grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and now lives, works, and writes in New York City. TOP 8 is her first novel. Friend request her at MySpace or Facebook.

Lisa

Enchanting Reviews

September 2008

Enchanting Review: Airhead

AIRHEAD
MEG CABOT
Contemporary Young Adult
Point
ISBN# 978-0-545-04052-5
352 pages
$16.99
Hardcover - Available June 2008

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Sixteen year old Emerson Watts could never imagine that taking her younger sister to the grand opening of the new Stark mega store to see singer and heart throb Gabriel Luna would change her life forever. But when a plasma screen is about to come crashing down on her younger sister who’s too busy heading for teenage supermodel Nikki Howard to notice, Em rushes over to push her sister out of the way of the falling object. The next thing she knows, Em’s waking up in a hospital bed. And that’s when things really start to get odd, because as she’ll soon find out, Emerson Watts is dead.

I adored Em right from the start of the book; she’s your typical teenager, a bit of an outsider at her high school and sorta crushing on her geeky best friend who doesn’t seem to notice she’s a girl. But when the craziness starts, Em struggles to deal with the fact she’s now become part of something she saw on one of those Discovery channel surgery shows that people said was light years away from actually happening and that the only person outside of her family she cares about, thinks she’s dead. She can’t exactly tell him the truth either. Plus she has to try and fit into Nikki’s life, part of the conditions of her getting the surgery in the first place.

I loved the scene when Em is ‘kidnapped’ from the hospital by Nikki’s friends Lulu and Brandon, who think she’s really Nikki Howard. As Em tries to adjust to hanging out with people she’s only seen in magazines, she’s also trying to get them to believe what happened. That she really isn’t Nikki Howard, that she’s Emerson Watts trapped inside Nikki’s body.

AIRHEAD is a fabulous read by Ms. Cabot. Em’s predicament makes a humorous, page turning read. AIRHEAD is one of my must read novels of 2008. I can’t wait to read the sequel, BECOMING NIKKI. Check out Meg’s website at

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
May 2008