Book Review: Missing Since Monday by Ann M. Martin

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Missing Since Monday by Ann M. Martin follows Maggie and her older brother when their father and stepmother leave on a long-delayed honeymoon, trusting the siblings to care for their four-year-old half sister, Courtenay. When Courtenay fails to come home from daycare one Monday afternoon, Maggie and her brother are thrust into a frightening mystery. With no adults around to help, they must piece together what happened and find a way to alert their parents before it’s too late. This standalone novel for readers ages eight to twelve was one I completely missed as a kid, but as an adult and a longtime fan of Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club  series, I couldn’t resist picking it up. The first chapter or two felt a bit choppy to me at first, but once the story found its footing, everything began to come together nicely . Because this is a short children’s book, the characters aren’t deeply developed, which is to be expected. That said, Martin does an excellent job conveying Maggie’...
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Book Review: The Doll's House, A Short Story by Lisa Unger

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book review the Doll's House short story lisa unger

The Doll's House: A Short Story by Lisa Unger is expected to be published on September 12, 2024 and is about Jules and her daughter Scout moving in with Jules' fiancé named Kirin. Like Jules and Scout, he's lost loved ones and wants to make them feel safe and secure. However, strange things start happening in the house and on the property. Is Jules imagining it, or is it real?

I'd like to thank NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy ARC of this short story. I received a copy for free in exchange for my honest review. Lisa Unger is one of my favorite authors and the cover art is amazing, so I was excited to read this latest story by her.

Told from alternating perspectives of Jules and Scout, the story was engaging and hard to put down. It has a familiar feel to it, and I let my mind go wild with different theories of where Lisa Unger was going with it. None of my theories panned out, which I'm glad about. 

Since The Doll's House is a short story, the author had to get to the ending quickly. However, I wish it had been a full fledged novel because it could have been fleshed out more and much spookier. I just wanted more to the story than what we received. Four out of five stars.

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