Ali Cross Review

Anne Sey • 25 August 2022

WOW, WOW, WOW!! This is, by far, the WORST book I have ever read. (Scratch that, “Stamped” was worse). This is some of the sloppiest writing I have read, ever. I didn’t care about any of the characters because there was absolutely no depth. I guessed the “twist” halfway through the book.

“Ali Cross” is about the son of the famous character Alex Cross. So, really this book was written for adults but it tried to be juvenile, which may account for *some* of the poor writing.

There was not anything super woke, but there were a few things that got my dander up. The missing boy is black and when he isn’t found right away, his friends say that if he were white, he would be found within a few days. “Police brutality” plays a role in the story as well.

For those of you who are die hard Patterson fans, you will probably like this book. I’m sure some of his earlier work is good but he is far, far from being a good writer (or finding a good ghost writer).

I’m not going to lie, I truly and sincerely dislike Patterson. He is an arrogant know-it-all who decided writing for adults is not enough and has ventured into every part of children’s literature. I can’t stand him. But I really wanted to give him a shot. And it did not deliver.

Anyway, rant over. Take it for what it is!

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🚨THE BLUR🚨

by Anne Sey • 10 January 2023

The Blur

Booklist Signup Reopens in October

by Anne Sey • 9 September 2022

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The Tail of Emily Windsnap Review

by Anne Sey • 8 September 2022

First written in 2010, the Emily Windsnap series is still ongoing and is pretty popular. It has all the elements of a great story for girls (who WOULDN’T want to be a mermaid when you hit the water?), and is very fast paced. Emily lives on a boat with her mother, having never known her father. Her mother is portrayed as a bit scatter brained. Later we learn she is being drugged to forget that her husband is a merman, which is why her mother does not wish Emily to take swimming lessons. When Emily does eventually convince her mother, she learns she turns into a mermaid when she swims. Thus begins her story of finding out who she truly is and attempting to locate her father in the process. It’s not a badly written book but there are certain elements that gave me pause. Firstly, the relationship between Emily and her mother is more of a friendship than one of a mother and daughter. While it isn’t enough for me to not recommend the book, it wasn’t a great element. When Emily first learns she is a mermaid, she lies to her mom about being afraid of the water. Her mother then takes her to their friend “Mystic Millie” to be hypnotized. It was a bit of a silly part of the story and I wasn’t too concerned. However, by the end of the book, Millie takes on a more important role in the story and at one point, has to “realign the chakras” of a man Emily had knocked out. The story then delves a little deeper into New Age thinking and that is when I quit reading. Research into some of the other stories in this series revealed more New Age nonsense as well as stories based on climate change.

The Book That Did Not Want to Be Read Review

by Anne Sey • 3 September 2022

This book is kind of weird. It was initially written in Swedish and didn’t translate super well. It’s still a fun book and very interactive. I’d definitely recommend for your older kiddos (5-7). I liked the vintage pictures used. If your library has it, check it out!