Tag Archive for: mystery

Cath-Lit Live! Episode #53 – Leslea Wahl

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A ten-day Caribbean cruise might sound like a fabulous way to spend the holidays, but Liz would rather be anywhere than stranded on a ship with her estranged father for his high school reunion.

While an anonymous note, an onboard mystery, and a cute boy help turn the tide on the unwanted trip, Liz and her father drift even further apart. However, when Liz’s reckless actions create a tsunami of unintended consequences, she recognizes that she’s drowning in pent-up hurt and anger. As her carefully created façade begins to ebb away, she turns to her faith and sets off to chart a new course for her life.

Leslea Wahl lives in beautiful Colorado and is the author of several award-winning teen novels. She strives to write stories that encourage teens to grow in their faith through fun adventurous mysteries. Leslea is often inspired by her family, their travels, and real-life adventures. She particularly enjoys including the furry, four-legged members of her family in her novels. Besides writing, Leslea also reviews faith-based novels on her website and is a founding member of CatholicTeenBooks.com.

To catch all the new episodes, follow me on YouTube here.

Monday Book Review: Where You Lead by Leslea Wahl

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If you’ve been around the blog a while, you know I love a good YA mystery by Leslea Wahl. Today I’m happy to tell you about her latest, Where You Lead.

Title: Where You Lead

Author: Leslea Wahl

Genre: mystery (with a side of romance)

Age group: young adult

High school junior Eve keeps having visions of a boy she’s never met. All she knows is that his name is Nick, and she thinks she’s supposed to help him. After a while Eve starts having difficulty telling reality from the visions, so she seeks help at school. When neither the nurse or the counselor offer any helpful suggestions, Eve turns to the elderly priest at her parish. He reminds her of the story of Samuel, who kept hearing a voice calling for him in the night, but when he ran to the priest Eli, Eli said that he had not called him. Finally, Eli tells Samuel that if he hears the voice again to say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Eve realizes she needs to pray about what these visions might mean. She decides to ask God for help and promises to go wherever God leads her (hence, the title of the book). When she learns that her dad has been offered a job at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., (right after she’s had a vision of Nick in D.C.), she decides to convince her dad to take the job and move the family from New Mexico to D.C.

Once there, she finds Nick, who turns out to be the son of a newly elected senator. Nick had been the one to convince his dad to run for office, so now both Nick and Eve feel like they are on a mission from God (cue the Blues Brothers music!). This mission involves stopping a foreign entity from getting his hands on a potential treasure that was buried years ago during the Civil War. Nick and Eve follow the clues to the treasure around historic sites in Washington, D.C.

Woven into this mystery is a little romance (because, of course, Nick is a handsome boy) and lots of fun characters, like Eve’s cranky neighbor in her new apartment building and the rule-breaking teenage daughter of an ambassador.

If you like fun mysteries set in historical sites with a little romance and humor, you definitely need to check out Where You Lead by Leslea Wahl!

Also, check out the giveaway Leslea is doing at www.lesleawahl.com/treasure.

You can also learn more about Leslea Wahl and her other mysteries, The Perfect Blindside and An Unexpected Role, on her website.

Monday Book Review: An Unexpected Role by Leslea Wahl

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Today I am so excited to talk with you about the next book from Leslea Wahl. Leslea and I met online through the Catholic Writers Guild, and then this past summer we got to meet in person when we met up in Rome for dinner!

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I knew from reading Leslea’s first book The Perfect Blindside that we would be kindred spirits. Her main character in that book employs the same sort of “Jesus, please help me not to make a fool of myself today” kind of prayers that I’ve been wont to make. 🙂

Anyway, today I get to tell you about her next book, which releases tomorrow!

Monday Book Review: An Unexpected Role by Leslea Wahl. Check out this YA book with romance, mystery, and adventure!Title: An Unexpected Role

Author: Leslea Wahl

Genre: contemporary romance with a little mystery

Age group: young adult

Synopsis: High school student and theater geek Josie just wanted to enjoy the perfect summer before becoming an upperclassman. She dreamed of afternoons at the pool and weekends at the lake. But just as the school year is ending, her mother’s latest young adult novel releases, and everyone at school seems to have read it and believes that the terribly embarrassing moments that happen to the main character are based on things that actually happened to Josie. She becomes the target of ridicule at school and is teased mercilessly.

To get away from it all, Josie leaves her Minnesota hometown to spend the summer with her artsy Aunt Lily who lives in a small beach town in South Carolina. Unfortunately, one of the “tier one” baseball superstar athletes from Josie’s school is playing for a baseball team in South Carolina for the summer, and he’s staying in the same beach town. Josie knows he’ll remind her of all the ridicule back at home and make her summer miserable. Not to mention, she’s got her eye on a hot young Latino boy who’s working at the beach town so he can send money back home to his family in the Dominican Repulbic, and baseball star Ryan seems to keep getting in the way.

And if that weren’t enough, there’s been a string of robberies in the small town that no one is able to explain. Josie wants to stop the crime spree and have a little summer romance, but first she’ll have to discover who she really is.

How could I not enjoy this book with all its baseball and musical theater references? Anyone who’s read Angelhood would have no problem imagining Leslea’s main character Josie and my main character Nanette getting along really well!

What I really liked about this book was Leslea’s ability to bring up topics like caring for immigrants and refugees, respect for veterans, and a teen’s struggle to find herself amidst the bullying climate of high school–all without coming across as preachy or didactic. She easily weaves these topics into a tale that teens can enjoy from Josie’s attempts to find romance to her efforts to discover what’s really going on in this small island beach town.

Told with humor and heart, An Unexpected Role is a tale for any teen who enjoys a book with a little romance, mystery, and adventure!

Want a chance to win books for teens and tweens? Sign up for my Insiders Club by clicking here. Once a month, I’ll mail you updates on giveaways from me and my author friends as well as the inside scoop on my writing and some fun recipes I like to share!

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FREE workshop on writing for children

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I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be part of a panel of authors presenting a FREE workshop on writing for young readers on Sunday, October 23.

FREE writing workshop! Come hear five mystery writers talk about writing for children

Registration and parking are all free. Just sign up here.

Here are the rest of the details:

Sunday, Oct. 23, 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Concordia University Chicago, Christopher Center Room 200, River Forest, IL
Expect some treats and tricks—writing tricks, that is—as five Chicago-area mystery authors discuss writing and publishing stories for young readers in an event co-hosted by the Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and Concordia University Chicago’s Center for Literacy. The event is free and open to writers and readers of all ages. Free parking is available in Lot 1, at the corner of Augusta and Monroe.

“Tricks (and Treats) for Writing for Young Readers” will feature Kate Hannigan, author of The Detective’s Assistant, winner of the 2016 Golden Kite Award for best middle-grade novel from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; Keir Graff, executive editor of Booklist publications and author of two middle grade books, The Other Felix and, coming soon, The Matchstick Castle; Michelle Falkoff, author of the young adult titles Pushing Perfect and Playlist for the Dead; A.J. Cattapan, author of the middle grade adventure Seven Riddles to Nowhere; and Natasha Tarpley, author of the best-selling picture book, I Love My Hair! and the forthcoming middle grade mystery The Harlem Charade and the co-founder of Voonderbar!, a multicultural children’s book publisher.

Book Trailer for Seven Riddles to Nowhere

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I’ve finally put together a book trailer for Seven Riddles to Nowhere.

Feel free to let me know what you think and to share it with others you think might be interested!

Happy Book Release Day!

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Today is the official release day of

Seven Riddles to Nowhere!

Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both selling the paperback version at a 32% discount right now. I don’t know how long this sale price will last, but I recommend you grab it while you can!

7 Riddles Sale prices launch

 

Also don’t forget about the party we’re having on Facebook tonight! So many great giveaways!

7 Riddles Launch Ad

 

Monday Book Review: Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy by Susan Vaught

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Every year I try to read the Edgar Award nominees for juvenile and young adult fiction before the winners are announced. Due to time constraints with the doctorate program, I completely failed this year. However, I did manage to read the winner in the juvenile category recently, so here it is!

Footer DavisTitle: Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy

Author: Susan Vaught

Genre: mystery

Age group: middle grade

Synopsis: Footer Davis’s mother has bipolar disorder.  Sometimes she’s just fine–but not if she doesn’t take her pills. Prior to the opening of our story, there was a terrible fire on a neighbor’s farm. The two Abrams kids who live there haven’t been seen since. Were they so badly burned in the fire no one could find their remains? Or have they fled? Footer and her best friend Peavine decide to investigate, and what Footer finds scares her into thinking maybe she had something to do with the fire herself.

Author Susan Vaught works in the mental health field, so she’s definitely writing about something she has experience with here. The story is told in first-person from the perspective of young Footer Davis. Footer has a very unique voice. It’s one of the strengths of this story, but I’ll also admit it’s part of what made this story a little hard for me to get into at first. After all, Footer Davis “probably is crazy,” and her thoughts can be hard to follow. When are we being told the truth? When are we experiencing visions or a dream through Footer’s perspective? Or is she just remembering the past?

Thankfully, once you get used to Footer’s unique voice, the story moves along very rapidly. The author also does a great job with the ending. Often in middle grade mysteries, I can guess where the author is headed. It took almost until the surprising ending for me to figure out where this was all headed. And then once I figured it out, I wanted to shout at Footer, “Hey! Don’t you see what’s going on here?!?”

Some might wonder with all of this talk of mental illness if this is appropriate for middle grade readers. Yes, it’s definitely told with a middle grade voice, not a YA voice. I would put it a little akin to the great story So B. It by Sarah Weeks which deals with a character whose mother is mentally challenged.

So if you’re into middle grade mysteries with unique main characters, check out Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy.

Monday Book Review: The Sign of The Carved Cross by Lisa Hendey

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The Sign of the Carved Cross is the second book in the Chime Travelers series. I suppose I really should have read the first book in the series before diving into book 2, but luckily, Lisa Hendey fills in enough details that if you missed book 1, you can still read book 2!

The Chime Travelers series is about a brother and sister who travel back in time and visit with saints. Their time-travel journeys start with the chiming of church bells.

Monday Book Review: Sign of the Carved Cross--second book in the Chima Travelers series by Lisa HendeyTitle: The Sign of the Carved Cross

Author: Lisa Hendey

Genre: Mystery

Age group: chapter book (grades 2-4)

Synopsis: When a new girl starts at Katie’s school, Katie joins her friends in excluding her from all their fun. But when Katie and her family help clean the church and the bells begin to chime, Katie is suddenly transported back to 1675. Tossed into a Native American village, Katie gets a sense of what it’s like to be “the new girl.” Luckily, she finds a friend in Tekakwitha, a young woman who knows what it’s like to be an outsider. Tekakwitha has scars on her face from a terrible disease, and her uncle’s family looks down on her for being a Christian. While Tekakwitha and Katie bond, things become worse in the village for Tekakwitha, and soon the girls are forced to run away in the middle of the night.

You may have guessed that Tekakwitha turns out to be St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American woman to be canonized. While I remember hearing about St. Kateri in school and I remember her being canonized in 2012, I really didn’t know too much about her. This book is a delightful introduction to this beautiful saint. Not only is this a lovely, intimate way to learn about St. Kateri, but it’s a fun read as well. Hendey keeps the story  moving along quickly, and young people will enjoy getting to know Katie and her family through this series. I love that the very “real life” problems of bullying and exclusion are worked so nicely into this story and in ways that children can easily relate to.

The book also includes discussion questions, a prayer in honor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and a prayer before receiving Communion. There are at least four books in the series out now. You can check them out here.

For news on my upcoming middle grade mystery and a chance to win a free copy, be sure to join my Insiders Club here.

Cover Reveal for Seven Riddles to Nowhere!

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I’m so excited to share with you the cover for Seven Riddles to Nowhere!

What do you think? Tell me in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

7 Riddles to Nowhere, a middle grade mystery by award-winning author A.J. Cattapan

7 riddles. 1 fortune. Way too many competitors.

All seventh grader Kameron Boyd wants to do is keep his little Catholic school from closing. It’s the only school where they’ve made life as a selective mute somewhat bearable. As the school faces financial distress, Kam learns he is one of many potential heirs to a fortune large enough to keep his school open.

With the school’s bully as one of the other potential heirs, Kam and his friends race to solve the riddles first. Their journey takes them through the churches of Chicago to decipher the hidden meanings in artwork all while avoiding the mysterious men following them. But creepy men in trench coats won’t stop them! They’re on a quest–not only to keep the school open, but to help Kam recover his voice.

 

8 Books to Engage Your Middle School Student this School Year

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As an author and middle school English teacher, I get a lot of requests from parents about what books I might recommend to their children. Since the school I teach at started early this year, I’ve already been listening to my students’ book talks on what they chose to read this summer. It hit me this past week that there are definitely some recurring favorites that have popped up many times over recent years.

So if you’re looking for a book to recommend to your child in middle school, here are some of the repeat favorites as recommended by their own peers! (In other words, the kids really like these books.)

Wonder1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio–If you haven’t yet discovered this gem about a boy with physical deformities heading back to a regular school after years of being home-schooled, please do yourself a favor and get a copy. I adored Wonder, I have nieces who have read it multiple times, and a ton of my students have enjoyed it and called it one of their favorites as well. You can read my original review here.

Mysterious Benedict Society2. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart–Fun, fun, fun series of books by an author I got to meet years ago when the first book came out and he came to visit my school. A group of gifted children are invited to join a secret society only to find out they have been chosen for a very special mission. The Mysterious Benedict Society has a creative cast of characters, fun puzzles and riddles to solve, and an engaging plot. Even my mom read this one! Original review here.

IMG_37943. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin–This one is for lovers of fables and folklore. Grace Lin’s drawings are gorgeous, and her writing will sweep you away. In this story, a young girl travels to meet the Old Man in the Moon in order to save her poor family from famine. Original review here. Lovely tale!

 

So B. It4. So B. It by Sarah Weeks–A lovely contemporary story with a bit of a mystery to solve. Twelve-year-old Heidi lives with her mother who is mentally challenged. Her mom can only speak a few words, but Heidi is determined to get to the bottom of one word in particular that she can’t quite figure out. Original review here.

 

Ivan5. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate–This Newbery Medal Winner is reminiscent of Charlotte’s Web. A silverback gorilla named Ivan is the top attraction at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. His best friend is an elephant named Stella. When a new baby elephant arrives, Ivan decides he needs to find a better life for her than the Big Top Mall. Original review here. Probably most appropriate for younger middle school readers.

IMG_37906. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull–A great series for fantasy lovers who have finished Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and are looking for something else with magical creatures. I first reviewed this book back in 2013, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be participating in the official blog tour for Brandon Mull’s next book: The Caretaker’s Guide to Fablehaven. Watch for my special post in October!

When You Reach Me7. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead–Fans of quirky mysteries with a major plot twist at the end will love this story of sixth grader Miranda who keeps receiving mysterious messages. The notes eerily predict the future and carry warnings of what might come. I can’t say too much about this book because I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say it was one of those books where the ending made it all worthwhile! Check out my review here.

Hidden Talents8. Hidden Talents by David Lubar–If you have a reluctant reader, this is the book I recommend. I’ll warn that it comes with a little mild language, but I’ve found that nearly every child I’ve read this book to (I change damn to darn and sucks to stinks when I read it aloud) loves it. There’s a sequel too. The kids often ask if there’s a third book and are really disappointed when I inform them there isn’t. Original review here.

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