Book Review: Lure

Lure
Author: Deborah Kerbel
Pages: 193 pgs
Reading Level: YA
Published: September 20th 2010
Review Source: Dundurn Group

Summary: (from goodreads) A Victorian garden, a fishing lure, and a ghost named John .

Absolutely nothing is going right for Max Green. His parents have just uprooted their family from Vancouver to the bleak suburbs of Toronto, he has no friends, and everybody at his new high school is ignoring him. To make matters worse, he's in love with an older girl who's completely out of his league.

When Max discovers a local library rumored to be haunted by ghosts, he's immediately drawn to it. With the help of some cryptic messages, he begins to piece together the identity of the teenage ghost and the mysterious chain of events that have connected its spirit to the building for over a century. But just who was John, anyway? Why has he chosen to contact Max? And what does an old fishing lure have to do with solving the mystery?

A good historical ghost story based on supernatural true occurrences at the Thornbill Village Public Library. The book is for Young Adults , but it is also entertaining for adults as well. The story is told using the perspectives of the two teenagers from their different time period and the ending catches you by surprise. It is spooky  without being gory or frightening, if you like to read about ghosts, this is a book to read.

Book Review: Girl on the Other Side

Girl on the Other Side
Author: Deborah Kerbel
Pages: 147 pgs
Reading Level: YA
Published: October 30th 2009
Review Source: Dundurn Group

This book showcases High School and what happen there every day. You read about the teasing, bullying and just plain old meanness of those 4 years. Deborah did a great job in describing it throughout the pages. Even though the story is a bit short, the pace of the story is fast paced. I would have liked of course for a longer book seems somethings were a bit rushed. The author does a great job writing about real issues and turning them into a enjoyable story to read.

You meet Tabby the girl who is the stereo typical popular girl that is in high school that tends to pick on all. She is wealthy and pretty but under all that there are secrets. Then you meet Lora is that nerdy girl that everyone always picks on at school. Both the girls are similar even though they don't know it. They both harbor very deep secrets that are forced out into the open. What will happen to them?

Summary: (from goodreads) Tabby Freeman and Lora Froggett go to the same school, but they live in totally opposite worlds. Tabby is rich, pretty, and the most popular girl in her class. But behind closed doors, her 'perfect' life is rapidly coming apart at the seams. 

On the other side, Lora is smart, timid, and the constant target of bullies. While struggling to survive the piranha-infested halls of her school, she becomes increasingly nervous that somebody might discover the unbearable truth about what's been happening to her family. 

Despite their differences, Tabby and Lora have something in common - they're both harbouring dark secrets and a lot of pain. Although they've never been friends, a series of strange events causes their lives to crash together in ways neither could have ever imagined. And when the dust finally settles and all their secrets are forced out into the light, will the girls be saved . or destroyed?

Book Review: Mackenzie, Lost and Found

Mackenzie, Lost and Found
Author: Deborah Kerbel
Pages: 220 pgs
Reading Level: YA
Published: January 1st 2008
Review Source: Dundurn Group

Forbidden Love is always a good story in any book. The author took risk and in my opinion paid off. The description are easy to picture like if you are their taking part in the story. You read in different POV's and understand each side. Even though it is about forbidden love its written in a new fresh and different way. The way the author wrote it you can easily loose yourself at times. This book will offer folklore, religion and traditions from where the story takes place. The ending was what brought down my rating for the book, it just wasn't what I like for how the book to end.

Mackenzie a girl from Canada who lost her mother in a tragic accident. Her father decides to move them to Israel, which of course makes Mackenzie very sad on top pf everything else. Mackenzie then meets her new friend Marla, who is a American and they gel well since they have similar stories. Finally Mackenzie meets Nasir, he is a Muslim boy. Well lets just say things spark and this is where the forbidden love begins. I recommend this book to Young Adults and Adults.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Mackenzie Hill knows something is up when she arrives home to find her father making a home-cooked dinner, instead of his standard delivery pizza. But nothing prepares her for the bombshell announcement: Mackenzie and her dad, alone since the death of her mother a year ago, are moving to Jerusalem, where her father has taken a position as a visiting professor at a university.

The adjustment from life in Canada to life in Israel is dramatic - though it's eased somewhat when Mackenzie is befriended by an American girl in her new school. The biggest shock of all comes when Mackenzie faces the wrath of her new friends, new community, and even her own father after she begins dating a Muslim boy.