American Gangsters: The Life and Legacy of Al Capone, by Charles River Editors

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• Explains the legends and separates fact from fiction regarding Capone's most famous hits, including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. 
• Includes pictures of Capone and important people, places, and events in his life. 
• Includes a Table of Contents

2.5 stars, upped to three because it was free on Amazon and I didn't hate it.

The authors of this book, the Charles River Editors, could have done a much better job with...um, editing: timelines went backward and forward; punctuation was missing or in the wrong place; the word "somehow" was used every time someone survived an assassination attempt; and so on.

I also expected more "fact vs. fiction" as promised in the synopsis--at least more than a few paragraphs at the end.

Screwed, by Laurie Plissner

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Flattered by the attentions of Nick, the cutest guy in school, seventeen-year-old Grace Warren, captain of the math team, lets down her guard and gets pregnant the night she loses her virginity. Hopeful that Nick will drop to one knee and propose when she breaks the baby news to him, Grace is heartbroken--Nick wants nothing to do with her.

Her best friend, Jennifer, thinks she should get an abortion, but Grace is certain that her morally upright parents will insist that she keep the baby. After she comes clean to her super-religious, strait-laced parents, they surprise her by insisting that she terminate the pregnancy to avoid humiliating the family.

But when she sees the fetus on the ultrasound, she decides she can't get rid of it. Deciding to save the tiny life growing inside of her, Grace must face the consequences of being that girl - the good girl who got knocked up.




I wasn't a fan of Plissner's previous work, Louder Than Words, but I wanted to give her another chance.  I won't do that again. 

This YA novel feels like it was written by a twelve-year-old, not an established author.  And I have a very hard time believing that staunch Pro-Lifers would suddenly want to force their daughter to have an abortion.  I am Pro-Choice and would never ever ever force someone to terminate a pregnancy.

There was a lot that was unrealistic, but what really pissed me off was all of the slut-shaming.  Why do women do that to each other?  Sex is a natural part of life.  It's healthy.  It's fun.  Yes, teen pregnancies happen.  But they don't just happen to the "bad" girls--those who have sex more than once(!).  Grace is portrayed as so.much.better than those stupid whores who got knocked up.  They're all low-class, low-GPA, unambitious leg-spreaders.  Smart girls don't get pregnant, so Grace is at a complete and total loss about how this happened!  AS IS HER DOCTOR.

I just...can't.

I'm so pissed off at this book.  I won't be reading anything else by Laurie Plissner.  EVER.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Weather Witch (Weather Witch #1), by Shannon Delany

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In a vastly different and darker Philadelphia of 1844, steam power has been repressed, war threatens from deep, dark waters, and one young lady of high social standing is expecting a surprise at her seventeenth birthday party–but certainly not the one she gets!

Jordan Astraea, who has lived out all of her life in Philadelphia’s most exclusive neighborhood, is preparing to celebrate her birthday with friends, family and all the extravagance they might muster. The young man who is most often her dashing companion, Rowen Burchette, has told her a surprise awaits her and her best friend, Catrina Hollindale, wouldn’t miss this night for all the world!

But storm clouds are gathering and threatening to do far more than dampen her party plans because someone in the Astraea household has committed the greatest of social sins by Harboring a Weather Witch.




World-building is extremely important, whether you're creating a universe from scratch, or simply modifying a location for the purpose of telling your story.  The idea of Delany's Steampunkish world is compelling; the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Within the first few chapters, we are treated to many details about Philadelphia and the individuals who reside there.  Many many many details.  It feels very much like an infodump: all of this data is presented to the reader with no relational map.  And the Proper Nouns.  Oh, the Proper Nouns.  Every new Thing or Group we meet is a new Classification.  And because all of these Proper Nouns are simply dumped into the reader's lap, one is left wondering how they all fit together.  While there is a plethora of information in one regard, there is a lot that seems to have been left out.  

I found it incredibly confusing and dense, especially considering it's a Young Adult novel.

I really disliked Jordan, our fearless (ha!) heroine.  The very first time we meet Jordan, she gives us a list of her faults and goes all emo on us because she's not perfect.  

I'm so tired of reading about I'm-so-pretty-but-I-think-I'm-ugly female characters.  It's such a stereotype in YA literature and I'm over it.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Dead and Buried, by Kim Harrington

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A haunted house, a buried mystery, and a very angry ghost make this one unforgettable thriller.

Jade loves the house she's just moved into with her family. She doesn't even mind being the new girl at the high school: It's a fresh start, and there's that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade's little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade's jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn't.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who's seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade's school — until her untimely death last year. It's up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer?



The Dead and Buried started out as a four-star book, but I ultimately had to give it two stars.

I should know better than to read ghost stories.  I have an over-active imagination and freak myself out over the smallest things.  :: shudder ::

This is not, however, a book that will scare me and keep me up at night.  It's a quick read à la R.L. Stine or Christopher Pike: enjoyable, but without a whole lot of depth.  This book is marketed to the Young Adult crowd, but I would recommend it for the middle grades.  It has a much younger feel to it than what I usually read in YA.

There are a few things that jumped out at me when reading this book:

1. I'm tempted to take away another star for these comments alone:

I felt guilty for my snap judgement earlier about his behavior in the office.  He wasn't a jerk.  He was just . . .broken.

and

He was broken.  Maybe beyond repair.  I had to accept it and move on.

I am SO.TIRED. of the "broken" generalization.  It's over-used and seems like such a "crutch" description in the YA genre.  Don't know how to portray a character?  Call him broken and get your point across without having to do any work!  This rant isn't necessarily directed at The Dead and Buried (it's the whole genre, really), but the moment I came across this phrase, I groaned aloud.

2. Do five-year-olds play with Star Wars figurines and watch the movies?  I can't imagine letting my son watch something that violent.  Not a criticism, just something I wondered about while reading.

3. Incorrect usage of number vs. amount.  A person does not have an amount of shirts.  A person has a number of shirts.  It really bugs me when editors miss such glaring grammatical errors.

If I hadn't received this as a review copy, I would have given up.  Thankfully, it didn't take too much time to read.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.