Book Review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

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Mad Mabel  by Sally Hepworth  is a domestic thriller about the youngest person convicted of murder in Australia, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. Now 81 years old, Elsie is living on Kenny Lane and has been for the past sixty years. When a mother named Roxanne moves into Mabel's neighborhood with her seven year old daughter, an unlikely friendship forms between Elsie and the seven year old child named Persephone. As Elsie's secrets come to light, her world comes crashing down.  Having read quite a few novels by Sally Hepworth, I requested an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Mad Mabel  without reading the synopsis of the story. I was thrilled when NetGalley and St. Martin's Press approved my request. The expected publication date of the book is April 21, 2026. Not knowing anything about the storyline before I started reading Mad Mabel  made the story much more interesting to me as I had no preconceived ideas. The tale was told from Mabel's perspective in alternating timeli...
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Book Review: Modern Love (Video High, #1) by Marilyn Kaye

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modern love video high marilyn kaye

Modern Love (Video High, #1) by Marilyn Kaye is a young adult book where a high school receives a grant to start a teen television show. The students decide to discuss controversial topics and current events related to them and their peers.

This is a book that I first read as a teenager, and I remembered loving it, so I decided to reread it as an adult to see if it held up the test of time. I enjoyed it just as much as I did as a teen even though it was a little juvenile for me as an adult.

What I loved about Modern Love (Video High, #1) is that it deals with subject matters that should be important to teenagers and shows two sides to the controversy. In this book, the big controversy is providing condoms for free at high school clinics, which segues into whether or not teens are having sex. The thing I find most interesting is this is a topic that is still relevant for teens and parents today, and there is still a huge divide between the two camps of whether or not teenagers should be given protection and whether they should be sexually active.

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that the characters are stereotyped and a bit pigeonholed in the way they act (i.e. the cheerleader, the nerd, etc.). With that being said, they are written very well as are the situations they get into.

I gave Modern Love (Video High, #1) by Marilyn Kaye five out five stars, and it's appropriate for kids aged thirteen through seventeen. If you liked this book, I recommend The Wind Blows Backward by Mary Downing Hahn.

 

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