Crushed is the thirteenth book in the Pretty Little Liars series. Its plot follows the same pattern as all of the previous books, with the liars making bad decisions, getting blackmailed by “A”, and then making more bad decisions because of the blackmail. In this iteration, the liars believe that A must have a partner, so they make a list of suspects and then split up to investigate.

These books were never great, but their quality has definitely deteriorated as the series has progressed. The first four books in the series formed their own mystery, and the second four also followed this pattern. However, this thirteenth book continues on with the mystery from books 9-12, so it is increasingly difficult to remember all of the plot points. Also, the characters are becoming less sympathetic as they continue to make the same mistakes, and many of the situations they get caught up in are their own faults, rather than set-ups by the various A’s. Readers of the series also know that whomever the liars suspect will not be the real A (until the last book in the grouping), so that aspects has become predictable as well.

My dogs are somewhat unruly, so I have been reading dog training books to try to avoid shelling out the cash for a professional. Lipstick and the Leash is supposed to be a standard dog training book with a bit of a spin - it's written specifically for women. I was skeptical of this spin because it seems to me that I should be able to train my dogs in the same way that a man does, but Gray-Nelson does make some fair points. For example, in their natural state, dogs roam in packs and although some females are ahead of some males in the hierarchy, the alpha dog is always a male. Therefore, it is harder for dogs to see a female human as the alpha dog in the pack. I'm still not sure I buy this, but she makes a good case for it. I found the book useful and interesting, but I'm not 100% sold on her techniques, and at times I really felt the book was sexist and totally ignored non-binary gender roles and non-heterosexual relationships. For example, she often says, "If your husband was doing X then you would..." assuming that all of the women reading the book are heterosexual and married or interested in marriage. I didn't appreciate that tone throughout, and I'm not sure I totally buy that I have to work harder to train my dogs just because I'm a woman. I'm not trying to fight against nature - maybe there is something about my pheromones that makes my dogs respect me less - but it seems too simplistic of a statement, almost like just a gimmick to sell a book.

Shout out to Allie Massey for loaning me this book, which was AWESOME. It's a must-read for any Nancy Drew enthusiast (like myself). It's the story, primarily, of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Mildred Wirt Benson - one the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer who inherited his syndicate (which created Nancy Drew), and the other the original ghost writer of the books. It's really fascinating nonfiction - it covers the lives of both women, as well as lots of societal issues at the time from women's suffrage to the Great Depression to women working during WWII to the rise of feminism in the 60s and 70s. And, of course, it discusses Nancy Drew's place in this ever-changing world. Anyone who's read the Nancy Drew books (and to anyone who hasn't read them, I must politely ask WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU) should find this a highly entertaining read, as it attempts to answer the question of what exactly it is about our favorite girl detective that makes her so enduringly popular even at age eighty.

I was so confused by this book when I saw it on the new books cart at the library where I work that I just had to read it, and I had two primary issues with it.

- Level 1 easy reader? Really? An early easy reader should have lots of white space between lines and short sentences with simple words that can either be sight recognized or deciphered through pronunciation very easily. There should be no more than 1-2 sentences per page. There are 3-4 syllable words on every page, and it would be difficult for a new reader to parse the sentences on his or her own - they're crowded too close together.

- Another feature of the easy reader is that it should introduce children to the concept of reading through a story or understanding facts (in the case of a nonfiction easy reader). There is neither here, just an assortment of puns. Emerging readers won't get any sense of story structure through this.

As a novelty gift for a proficient reader who is an Angry Birds or Star Wars fan, this book is a success. As an easy reader for someone learning to read independently, it is a complete failure.

This retelling of Bluebeard is set in 1850s Mississippi. When beautiful, redheaded Sophia Petheram's father dies suddenly and her family is left penniless, her wealthy and mysterious godfather Bernard de Cressac offers to allow her to come live with him at his Mississippi plantation. It will lighten the family's burden, he says, as Sophia is the youngest and can still be under guardianship. Showering her with gifts and flatteries, Sophia is immediately entranced by Wyndriven Abbey's expansive, immaculate grounds and de Cressac's wealth. But all is not as it seems; the more Sophia learns about de Cressac's former wives (all with red hair, like her own) and about the slaves on his plantation, the more suspicious she becomes of her guardian...

With only a few male main characters, this is truly a woman-driven book, with the female characters (especially Sophia) displaying resourcefulness, grit, work ethic, and courage. There is a touch of ghost story, but it's written in a fairly believable manner and it helps the plot along. If you're tired of YA's recent trend of passive female characters who permit creepy, obsessive, damaged men to take advantage of them in the name of "true love," Strands of Bronze and Gold will offer a strong, compelling antidote.