Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel

Lorrie was accustomed to boarding school and summer horse riding camp.  She owned her horse. She avoided the shabby big old house in the upscale neighborhood where her aunt and sister lived.  It was the place called home between camp and school.  Aunt said there was a trust fund left behind by her mother when she ran off.  Aunt did not know where the girls' father was.  Then everything starts falling apart, summer camp tuition not paid, school registration not made.  When Lorrie goes home to edgewater house she cannot find aunt, she cannot find the trust fund. She has to borrow money to bring her horse home and ultimately must sell it. She takes on a job at the stables to make money, pay off outstanding debt, bills. She finds her younger sister living with a scruffy boyfriend at edgewater and pawning family possessions to survive.  Things slowly change when she meets Charlie, son of an esteemed senator.  They connect as Lorrie's trust increases.  But something is amiss at Charlie's upscale home.  Secrets will out, the stress of them can kill you and so they do and the intertwined past lives of Lorrie's family and Charlie's family becomes known as do the truth about Lorrie's parents.  This isn't a terrible book but its not great either.  Its ok as a romance as well. 
JDW12/15

Find Me by Romily Bernard

This teen mystery/romance fiction tale received a couple of state awards in the author's native Georgia.  It is not bad.  For me it was a little predictable but for a teen perhaps it might not be so.

Wicket and her sister Lily lost their mother to suicide (her escape from an abusive, criminal husband) and their father is running from cops.  They have bounced around from one foster home to another until their lives stabilized with Bren and Scott.  Lily is settling in nicely and enjoying new clothes, new friends, a safe environment.  Wick, who had become a hacker partly to protect herself from her father by helping him and partly to help others receives a message and a diary of a girl who recently committed suicide.  The message simply says find me.  Through a series of traps Wick finds out Lily told Tassy, the dead girl's sister about Wick.  Wick finds out the dead girl committed suicide because an older male "friend" then rapist has his sights set on Lily.  A cop, Carson and the father of the dead girl are both watching Wick's home.  Wick believes Carson is hoping she will lead him to her father.  Wick believes the father is watching Lily.  Wick, not trusting the foster parents, not trusting the law, not trusting anyone but herself has taken it upon herself to protect Lily from the rapist and their father, to find the rapist, to keep whatever Carson is trying to find out secret and to help her father's friend Joe with the latest scam believing she must to keep herself safe.  Enter Griff, who truly finds her fascinating and truly cares about her and truly tries to get her to trust him.  Griff knows Joe and is somehow in on the scam.  Griff keeps insisting on seeing Wick and inserting himself into all the twisted issues in her life.  How can she trust someone who is helping Joe?  All the different threads eventually untangle quite satisfactorily but not before Wick and Lily are both nearly killed by the rapist who has stolen Lily.  I'm kind of annoyed by all the teen girls taking on dangerous crime solving solo rather than trusting someone but this time it makes for an exciting storywith a happy ending.

Reality Check By: Peter Abrahams

One of the main characters is Cody. He becomes a drop-out in High School. Cody was an active football player, because of an injury he can no longer play. He has been dating Clea, the richest and prettiest girl in school. Her father disapproves so when she gets a B grade on her report card she is sent to Hong Kong for the summer, then to an elite boarding school in Vermont. Meanwhile,, without football he cannot get into school so quits to work in the lumber yard where he had worked over the summer. When Clea disappears while horseback riding, Cody wants to search for her too. Cody traveled in his car with his duffel bag with his belongings to Vermont. Cody arrived at Clea's Dover Academy a few days later. The search for Clea had started and their was Sargent Orton involved, who seemed to be genuinely concerned. The search for Clea was called off after a snowfall. Cody is working as the Sargent's assistant when finds Clea's cellphone in the warming hut in the forest near the school. Cody crosses paths with Agent Brand after he happens on a bar and sees students from the school there. Bran, like Orton and at first likes Cody. Brand offers Cody $500.00 to go back Little Bend, Colorado at once as Brand believes Cody to be in danger. A very wonderful stable caretaker has shown Cody a ledger with various transactions in it. Cody, and Sargent Orton go back to the barn, where the ledger is now missing. Now the Sargent and Cody explored the cider house, where Cody believed Clea was hostage. Cody got locked in a closet, and duct tape was placed over his mouth when he got too close to the truth of what happened to Clea and to some of the horses. I liked the novel, and had no idea what would happen. The novel is a good read.
LD 3/5/12

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin, illustrator Lisa Brown

Back during and after the Civil War, photography was gaining in both quality and popularity. Still, many photo's were less than perfect. Unexpected shadows appeared on many. Some photographers and mediums took advantage. They called the photos pictures of the dead and offered to hold seances to contact the soldiers killed in the war and see if their pictures appeared on a family photo, see if there were contacts of the auditory kind. In one family, the nicer boys did not return home. Only the darker brother, clearly with secrets returned. Quinn's mother went into deep mourning for her lost son William. Jennie was to have married William. Jennie had been able to feel her brother's presence and wanted to feel the presence of William as well. She wanted to help her grieving relatives find closure. So it was that she contacted a photographer/medium with mixed results but with a ghostly picture of the family with an angel looking over them. Jennie learns a lot about photography and what really happened to Will and Quinn when she becomes a spy, coming up with clues from the picture - she recognized the angel- an intercepted message, an incomplete letter/confession, a news article, until finally she knows the entire sad story of Will's death and Quinn's survival which puts her life in peril. This causes to leave her family home and set off on her own, rare for a young lady of that time. The book is illustrated with eerie sepia colored pictures with the shadowy figures very visible.

I enjoyed this bit of history, I think even if a reader was not a history fan, the story could be read for the ghostly mystery and enjoy it. JDW5/5/11

Manifest: a Mystyx Novel by Artist Arthur

This is the first of a trilogy, also my first Kimani Tru novel. Krystal's mother has recently divorced and moved back to her home town. Krystal is upset with mom, most especially because she hasn't answered any questions about the divorce. At her new high school, Krystal who has recently turned fifteen meets to other recently fifteen teens, Sasha, a richie and Jake, a tracker. The three share identical m shaped birthmarks. They also appear to be manifesting super powers for the first time. They form a sort of secret union since they are of different social groups. Jake's grandfather possesses a diary from his wife and some random knowledge about the whereabouts of the powers. Krystal is able to hear and speak with the dead. This is totally freaking her out. One especially persistent ghost is Ricky, a teen who was murdered and he doesn't know by whom and cannot pass into the light until his buddies are cleared and his murder is solved. Two other recurring ghosts already have halos, have moved on but cannot help Ricky. Both are girls who are unsolved murders. One is Trina, Ricky's girlfriend, the other is the red headed crying girl, in turns weepy and angry. The trio start researching Ricky's death and trying to solve the crime. They are also all preparing to go to a school dance with different dates. The girl's dresses are wonderfully described. And, Krystal has begun to receive scary phone messages some accompanied by nude pictures of Trina and the Crying Girl. One more thing, on several occasions first Krystal then all three have been attacked by a trio of angry Crows and have seen wisps of black smoke snaking away while feeling deep dread. An incident at the dance leads Krystal to solve both Ricky's and the girls' murders. As the story closes the trio once again sense the growing dread, the growing evil dark and know they will at sometime have to face and overcome it. Mystify, is the next book in the series. I look forward to reading it. This was an exciting, fast read.

Payback Time by Deuker

How Far should a journalist go to get a good news story, a scoop? Are there secrets meant to be kept? Mitch grew out when the rest of his friends grew tall in middle school and found himself being made fun of and looking for a new place to belong. This place is the school newspaper where he is the top writer and now a senior in high school. He has been assigned to cover sports, most important to the students but not to him. His photographer is Kimi Yon, a well liked student. At the first interview, photo shoot at practice before the first football game Kimi points out a new kid who is off by himself and when no one is actively watching him shows huge talent. She recognizes a hot story in this mystery kid and shares her ideas with Mitch. Not only is Mitch intrigued by the mystery and possible scoop which would look ever so good on a college essay, he is enchanted by Kimi's respect towards him. So, he begins investigating who this kid is where he came from, if he really is eligible to play football and begins an exercise program, in hopes of starting a relationship with Kimi. The investigation puts Mitch in harms way more than once and he is repeatedly warned to back off, stop what he is doing, its none of his business. Finally,
He has also put the mystery kid in danger from gangs and risked the high school's chances of a state title. And the story could never be published. Because there is a lot of reporting on the football games and even some on the school's badly divided girl's volleyball team this is a sports story first that will be enjoyed most by sports fans then a mystery. Deuker's books are always good exciting reads. jdw12/10