Through Thick & Thin

Through Thick & Thin by Sandra Byrd is the second book in her London Confidential series.

Savvy Smith, 15, sees her chance to write a full column in the paper, making her name and making her way in her new hometown near London, England. But the choices she faces when given the chance to choose between friends, family, and fame may turn her dream into a nightmare.

This book is just as good as the first one, Asking for Trouble. You learn more about Savvy’s struggles as she tries to fit into a new school and a new country. Now as a member of the newspaper staff, Savvy tries to make a name for herself. There turns out to be a fashion show at her “friend’s” house, and she wants to cover the story. She now has to choose between going to the fashion show and breaking a promise to her little sister, or keeping her promise and handing the story over to another member of the staff that she doesn’t like. This book is full of fashion, friendships, and fun and keeps you hooked to the story. I hope you love this book as much as I do.

Asking For Trouble

I read this book a few years ago and it was amazing! It’s called, Asking for Trouble, and it’s the first book in the London Confidential series.  It was the first book that I have ever read by Sandra Byrd, and I just fell in love with her writing.

When her family moves to London, 15-year-old Savvy Smith has to make her way in a new school and in a new country. She just knows the school newspaper is the right place for her, but she doesn’t have the required experience. Can she come up with a way to prove herself and nab the one available position on the newspaper staff at Wexburg Academy?

                I love this book! I can connect to Savvy with the way the author tells her story. You can really sense how lonely she feels after moving to a new country while leaving all her friends and family back in America. The author goes into great detail about the sights she sees while walking the streets of London and you feel like you are there, too. For example, Sandra Byrd writes, “The streets were lined with walls made of crumbling stone and held together with ivy. Wrought iron posts and lamps lit each corner, and I half expected Sherlock Holmes to show up.”  You get that feeling of walking down a London street in the olden days.  Sandra tells us about the struggles of being the new girl in school, and the country, and learning how much different London is from America. You get to look into a new culture and there way of living. This book is fantastic and keeps you wishing you could live in London.  I hope you love this book as much as I do.

What book can you never live without?

What book would you choose to take with you if you were stuck on a desert island? Well, for me, I would take Chasing Lilacs by Carla Stewart. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and it’s the type of book you can read over and over again and never get tired of it. Whenever I do a book review I will tell why I chose the book, type the description that the author put on the back, and then give my review. So, enjoy!

It’s the summer of 1958, and life in the small Texas community of Graham Camp should be simple and carefree. But not for Sammie Tucker. Sammie has plenty of questions about her mother’s “nerve” problems. About shock treatments. About whether her mother loves her.

As her life careens out of control, Sammie has to choose whom to trust with her deepest fears: her best friend who has an opinion about everything, the mysterious boy from California whose own troubles plague him, or her round-faced neighbor with gentle advice and strong shoulders to cry on. Then there’s the elderly widower who seems nice but has his own dark past.Trusting is one thing, but accepting the truth may be the hardest thing Sammie has ever done.

                This book is exceptional from the unique style of the author to the emotional experience you go through when reading it. Carla Stewart packs this book with twists and turns and always leaves you guessing what’s going to happen next in Sammie’s life. You will never guess what happens in the end and all of the surprise twists will never let you put it down. I hope you love the book as much as I do.

P.S.

Check out the info on Carla Stewart and feel free to go look at her website. J