A very amusing and entertaining story with unusual characters held captive in an apartment during a real estate viewing. During the course of the novel, each person's story is revealed, friendships are formed, questions are answered and all come together for a common humanity.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day was a different kind of book than what I usually gravitate towards (sci-fi). But I really loved this book anyway. It's about three boys who were in Ms. Bixby's class. When Ms. Bixby resigns during the school year because of terminal illness, the three boys band together to help make Ms. Bixby's dreams come true, to acknowledge how she changed their lives forever. I loved this feel-good realistic fiction that bounced between flashbacks and present day, told in turn by the three boys. I strongly encourage this book to basically everyone.

We love love love Hippos at our house! This was such a fun book to read and learn through. And I always love the AV options to go online and learn even more!! I am so happy I found this book because before it I had no idea about hippos being able to close their noses and ears when going in the water!!!

I expected this book to be a light beach read but it was actually more complex. I enjoyed the writing and how each chapter was from a different characters point of view. I also liked the way the timeline was organized and how it all came together in the end.

This is very much more of a character-driven story, and a character-exploration story, rather than a page turning, thrilling mystery novel. The main character, Anna, has just recently returned home after suffering a family tragedy and being kicked out by her husband. A detective who specializes in missing children, Anna's hometown has long haunted her as a girl she went to school with went missing in a still-unsolved case. Just as she returns, as it happens, another girl has gone missing - and Anna very quickly finds herself involved in solving the case. As she does so, her past trauma comes to light and becomes a force she will need to deal with if she is going to find Cameron and return to her family. I didn't really find this to be a page turner. In fact, it took me a while to get past the first section, because it's really just setting the stage and nothing much happens. I finally sat down and just plowed through the book in a day. It wasn't bad, but everything felt kind of flat and I didn't really care about Anna as a character. Even as she cried about the unknown trauma she had experienced, I never felt myself dying to know what had happened to her that led to her husband kicking her out. I just didn't care. I also don't love using real-life cases in a fictional story. It just felt exploitive and gross to me. Polly was a real girl who underwent something terrible, as did her family, and using it as some form of entertainment just doesn't sit right with me. Especially when you're going to make it a big piece of your plot, with your character investigating her bedroom and listening to a psychic talk about her.

I didn't really enjoy this book until I started getting closer to the end, to be honest. The interview format is definitely not for me, someone who tends to skip dialogue tags and just figure out context as I go - at one point I realized I should probably have made some kind of guide as to who was who and their relationship, but it felt like I was too far in the book to really bother with it. It's a great story about how everyone struggles, and how not everyone gets redemption. There was no one really likeable in the book, though? Everyone had so many faults that I wasn't really rooting for their success as a band. It's not as as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (by a longshot) but could be really good as an audiobook, especially with different people narrating each character.

The Benefits Of Being An Octopus brilliantly captures the story of Zoey, a middle schooler charged with the task of taking care of her three baby siblings. So when a teacher notices her ability to speak up when it matters, Zoey is encouraged to join the debate team. At home, Zoey deals with an overworked mom being verbally abused by her boyfriend. Explaining topics such as gun violence, verbal abuse, and finding friends, The Benefits Of Being An Octopus follows Zoey as she speaks up for the things that matter to her and those she cares about.

I was encouraged to read this interesting book by my daughter. Each chapter explores a different way that men get things that they feel entitled to, at a woman's expense. It was very cleverly done and revealed a lot of behaviors that I did not even realize that we take for granted The chapters gave just enough information and links to other articles that you could pursue it in depth as much as you wanted. It is a must read for everyone - especially men!

Nice book, action, not a lot of details though. Overall, I thought it was good but not great.

I would recommend this easy read. A difficult man (Victor) on his deathbed; a daughter ready to divulge the secrets of his life. This story about a dysfunctional family is filled with drama. As each family grapples with Victor's history, they are searching for a way to go forward. Not a best seller but kept your interest.