Book Review: Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis

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Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis is the first installment in the Maya and Sandra Mystery series, a cozy mystery series centered on private investigators. The story follows Sandra Wallage , the wife of a U.S. senator and the newly elected president of Portland High School’s PTA, who becomes the latest target of a vicious gossip website called Dirty Laundry . After a heated PTA meeting, Sandra crosses paths with Maya Kendrick , a private investigator who has uncovered the identity of the person behind the gossip site. When the two women attempt to confront the culprit, they instead discover a dead body. Was it really a suicide, or did someone have a motive for murder? I’m a longtime fan of books by Lee Hollis , which is actually the pen name for sibling writing duo Rick Copp and Holly Simason . They’ve written several cozy mystery series, and what I appreciate most about their books is that they aren’t overly kitschy, unlike some other cozy mysteries I’ve ...
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Book Review: The Dare by Natasha Preston

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young adult horror book review the dare by natasha preston
The Dare by Natasha Preston is a young adult horror novel about Marley and her friends Atlas, Lucia, and Jesse are seniors in high school.  The senior pranks are fun and lighthearted until Rhett starts doling out dares that are more serious.  Will Marley and her friends survive?

A huge thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy of The Dare by Natasha Preston.  The last book I read by this author was so well written, I knew I wanted to give her latest story a try.

The first thing I noticed about the story is it's reminiscent of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, which brought back all the feels from my childhood.  Pretty quickly, the storyline shifts and is eerily similar to the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.  It's at this point that I became disappointed with the book and almost stopped reading it.  Additionally, there were other parts that reminded me of The Secret Diaries by Janice Harrell.  So, overall, The Dare wasn't very original.

The relationship between the main character, Marley, and the student doling out the dares, Rhett, was a bit bizarre and didn't make a lot of sense.  In fact, Marley's friendship with Atlas, Lucia, and Jesse was strange as well.  Things that happened between them seemed to come out of left field.

Overall, I was disappointed in The Dare by Natasha Preston and gave it three out of five stars.
 
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