By Maryrose Wood
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Wood continues her Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series with this second book which is just as tongue-in-cheek as the first one. Penelope is very excited to be able to get the chance to go to London with the children and the Ashtons and to finally see her dear old schoolmistress, Ms. Mortimer again. And how educational London will be! But first, the Hixby's guidebook that Ms. Mortimer sends her proves to be one of a kind and both helpful and not, all at once. Is it hiding clues? Then a gypsy woman murmurs a disturbing prophecy about the children. Even meeting the dashing, friendly young Simon Harley-Dickinson can't take all of Penelope's worries away. And Ms. Mortimer tells Penelope to not try and uncover any information about the background of the Incorrigibles and leads Penelope to believe that she and the children are all connected somehow. What is going on? Who are the Incorrigibles, really? And how will Penelope ever find out? At turns, the story is funny and exciting, and fans of the first book will be more than happy to keep reading the next installment. Loads of fun!
By John Grisham
Genre Mash Up: Thriller/Realistic/Drama
Rating: 3 3/4 stars
Welcome to Theo Boone. Son of 2 lawyers with aspirations to become a criminal lawyer or judge some day, Theo knows the ins and outs of every courtroom in Strattenburg. And right now, he is thrilled because the most exciting trial to come to town in many a year is starting--a real murder trial, presided over by his favorite judge. All of the evidence pointing to the husband as the killer of his wife is circumstantial and it looks like he won't be convicted...that is until a friend of Theo's comes to him with some crucial information about a possible witness. A witness who is afraid to come forward and makes Theo promise not to tell anything about him. But the murderer will get off scot free if Theo does nothing...so what can a kid who just wants to be a lawyer do? Readers will be very interested in this storyline, although the ending leaves us a little bit hanging, hopefully for a sequel. A fairly promising if uneventful beginning.
By Maryrose Wood
Genre Mash up: Funny/Mystery/Drama
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
In this first entry in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, the author pokes fun of every book that ever has a governess headed out to teach a child or children in a big manor house out in the middle of nowhere. 15 year old Penelope is a graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and was granted an interview and post out at Ashton Place to instruct children who were known as the Incorrigibles. Why? Because Lord Ashton found the two boys and one girl running wild like wolves while out hunting and brought them home. No one knows where the children came from or who they belong to, but Penelope does her best to bend them into properly behaved children. But mysteries abound--where did these children come from? Why did Lord Ashton take them in? And what is that mysterious howling that can be heard? And can Penelope mold these children into perfect behavior in time for Lady Ashton's Christmas ball? Readers who enjoy a book whose story is firmly tongue in cheek will love this and be looking forward to the sequel, The Hidden Gallery.
