Book Review: Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

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Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3)  by Heather Vogel Frederick  is the third book in a middle grade book series that is being rereleased. Chaos erupts in this third installment as the daughters in the book club get themselves into trouble. Each of the girls have big changes in their lives:  Jess is going to boarding school; Megan's grandmother comes to live with her; Emma starts a campaign against school uniforms; Cassidy has a lot of unexpected change coming to her family. Will the mother daughter book club stay together? I'd like to thank NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Dear Pen Pal  by Heather Vogel Frederick with it's upcoming rerelease to the public. I always love a good book that involves books, even if its target audience is children between the ages of eight and twelve. It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that it...
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Book Review: Seven-Year Witch (Witch Way Librarian Mysteries, #2) by Angela M. Sanders

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The Running Bibliophile's Book Review of Seven-Year Witch (Witch Way Librarian Mysteries, #2) by Angela M. Sanders
Seven-Year Witch (Witch Way Librarian Mysteries, #2) by Angela M. Sanders opens with Sam and Fiona Wilfred, along with their son, moving into Big House next door to the town library. The land Sam sold to a couple to build a retreat on is said to be cursed. The town librarian, Josie Way, is learning how to use her birthright, witchcraft, through letters her grandmother left her. This lesson has to do with curses. When someone is murdered and Fiona goes missing, the town believes it's the work of Sam's cursed land. Will Josie learn her grandmother's lesson in time to break the curse?

Taking place approximately six months after the first book ended, the author does a great job at reintroducing all of the characters and the backstory in the series without being redundant. My favorite character is the main character Josie. She seems like she would a great bff if she was a real person. Her grandmother seems like she would be a cool person as well. I really wish we knew her grandmother instead of just getting glimpses of her through Josie's memories and the grandmother's letters. Let's not forget about Rodney! The cat plays a bigger role as the series goes on, but I just love him. What can I say? I'm a cat person, lol.

Another favorite character is a Sam, even though he's a bit of a private person, he seems like he goes out of his way to help people. The most unlikable character in my opinion is Fiona. She seems like a very greedy person who is all about herself and doesn't seem to care about others at all. How did Sam and Fiona end up together in the first place? They seem like polar opposites of each other!

As for the storyline, I felt like the plot was a little light, but it wasn't a big deal to me. The reason being is that the author does a great job of building on the background of each character, which really helps the reader get a true feel of the characters along with the community. And, I know that many of the other books in the series are more plot driven, which is another reason I don't mind this installment being more character driven.

Four out of five stars is what I gave Seven-Year Witch (Witch Way Librarian Mysteries, #2) by Angela M. Sanders. It was the perfect story for the mood I was in at the time.  I am looking forward to reading the remaining stories in this series.

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