Blueberry Muffin Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries #3)

By norahaddad |

(Warning: Contains spoilers.)

Hannah is busy with baking for the upcoming Winter Festival, and a cooking celebrity, Connie Mac, has arrived in Lake Eden to help with the cake. Although her nickname of the "Cooking Sweetheart" quickly turns out to be false; she's bad-tempered, bossy, and will fire anyone on her staff in a moment's notice. The festivities sour even further when she's found dead with her head bashed in Hannah's pantry and The Cookie Jar is taped off as a crime scene, shutting down her business until they can find the killer. Hannah is infuriated and even more so when Mike tells

Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries #2)

By norahaddad |

(Warning: Contains spoilers.)

A new, delicious chapter in the lives of Hannah Swensen, her sister Andrea, and her domineering mother Delores begins. Hannah Swensen is excited to be the head judge of a baking competition, and relieved after the last mystery has been solved and her mother has laid off of her slightly about the marriage issue, but the excitement is quickly soured when Coach Boyd Watson (another judge and the wife-beater of Danielle, one of her friends) is discovered dead in the Watsons’ garage after Danielle calls her in a panic. She again has to take matters into her own hands

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries #1)

By norahaddad |

(Warning: Contains spoilers.)

This was refreshingly new for me to discover- I stumbled across it when I previously read A Plain Vanilla Murder (also cozy mystery, but centered around botany) and wanted something similar. It's a flavorful confection-themed mystery sprinkled with suspense and the tart wittiness of the heroine, Hannah, along with the residents of the small town Lake Eden. When Ron LaSalle, Lake Eden’s football star, is found dead next to Hannah Swensen (the owner of The Cookie Jar)’s sweets, she is forced to take action and go on a sleuthing mission to find the killer- because

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By norahaddad |

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare

Duke Theseus of Athens and Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons were to be married, and the people of Athens are overjoyed at the news. One day before the wedding, Hermia and Helena, two friends, meet coincidentally in the market square. Hermia is sad because tomorrow, she will be marrying Demetrius, the man that Helena loves. Hermia tells her friend that she does not love Demetrius, and to Helena's amazement, Hermia tells her about the man that she loves. The man's name is Lysander, and Hermia is upset because she had told her father she did not wish to

Antony and Cleopatra

By norahaddad |

Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare

One night, Julius Caesar was killed and Antony made a speech over his body. When a civil war rose, Servius (the narrator) was one of the first soldiers to join Antony's legions. He was commended for his courage and promoted to the rank of centurion before the Battle of Philippi. After the battle came peace--though it was a peace that wasn't bound to last long.

The empire had been divided into three people: Octavius Caesar, who was cold-hearted and merciless took the West, Lepidus, who wasn't harmful one bit, the African provinces, and Antony the East.

Soo

Romeo and Juliet

By norahaddad |

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

Juliet is attending a costume ball that her father has thrown, and meets a young, handsome man called Romeo, who she falls in love with instantly. Tybalt, Lord Capulet's nephew, recognized Romeo as a member of the Montague family, who have been rivals with the Capulet family for years. He is about to go get his rapier, when Lord Capulet stops him. 

The Prince of Verona had prohibited any fighting between the Capulets and the Montagues. Tybalt argues with Lord Capulet, saying that Romeo will only make a fool of their family that he sneaked into the Capulets'

The Taming of the Shrew

By norahaddad |

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare

Somewhere in the English countryside, a tinker by the name of Christopher Sly becomes the mark of a joke by a local lord and is found drunk in front of an alehouse. The lord's men take Christopher to his manor and treat him as a lord. When Christopher recovers, the lord's men tell him that he is actually a lord and that he only believes himself to be a tinker because he went insane for the past years. When Christopher wakes up, he denies the story--but then he sees his wife, a pageboy dressed in women's clothes, and agrees. He wants to be alone with his

Warriors: The Broken Code #1: Lost Stars

By norahaddad |

Another new series by Erin Hunter, and it doesn't disappoint! The main characters of Lost Stars are Bristlefrost, Rootpaw, and Shadowpaw. Bristlefrost is from ThunderClan, Rootpaw is from SkyClan, and Shadowpaw is from ShadowClan (who is a medicine cat apprentice).

Rootpaw is a warrior in training and his mentor is Dewspring. Though he is loyal to his Clan, he secretly has a crush on Bristlefrost from ThunderClan. Secondly, Shadowpaw is a gifted medicine cat apprentice, but his gift comes with a price. Sometimes he has severe visions, during which he experiences spasms. The main message he

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid

By norahaddad |

First of all, I'm glad Jeff Kinney made a book from Rowley's perspective. It gives you a behind-the-scenes look of Rowley's point of view compared to Greg. The basic plot is that Rowley is describing what he and Greg do (e.g. how they studied together, pranks Greg pulled, sleepovers etc). The targeted audience depends, but it doesn't exceed middle-school age (12, 13). 

Overall, hilarious. Good if you just need to have a few quick laughs. I think that Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid has to be more amusing than the more popular Wimpy Kid series, and I'd love to see it expand.

Physik

By norahaddad |

This was a good book and very intriguing. There are lots of spoilers in this review so don't read if you don't want to know! In this book there are spirits who are part solid and part not solid, lots of magic...there are the doors of time which connect the time period 500 years ago with the present time- that the book is written in-. This is the third book in the Septimus Heap series and continues in the same setting for part of the book and part of the book takes place 500 years in the past. At the begining of the book Septimus is transported 500 years into the past, where he becomes