Marsha QualeyBesprekingen

Really liked this book. Many surprises. I wasn't sure where the author was taking me, but I enjoyed the ride. Great characters in unusual situations.

Beatrice Flinn loves bees, and is very clumsy, that is why everyone calls her by her nickname "Bumble B". This is a cute early chapter book for late primary, early junior readers. It is made up of 3 stories each made up of 2 or 3 chapters. Bumble B has her best friends, but realizes that she can be friends with new people as well in one story. She is funny and can laugh at herself, but does get frustrated in the story called Halloween. She also loves to help even though it sometimes does not go the way it was planned. I love the illustrations, especially the ones of Bumble B. She is cute with crazy curly red hair and an infectious smile. Her friends like her humor and love having fun with her. This is a cute read showing a couple of simple messages, but just a fun book. This would make a great book for a home, school or public library. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via netgalley.

This book is billed as a beginning chapter book, but it almost like four stories with the same main character. This is a Gracie LaRoo book, an adorable pig, who is part of a synchronized swim team. In the book she learns lessons in self-confidence, teamwork, being herself and being a good role model. The illustrations are adorable. The storylines are good and teach some good lessons. They are simple enough for younger children with just the right amount of detail. There was also some humour throughout the book. A great book for class and school libraries. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

This is an interesting book to review considering that it annoyed me so much at the beginning that I considered not finishing it, which can be done for a loaned ebook, but not so much for a purchased hard copy...even when it's bought used. However, i am glad that I plodded on. While the story didn't completely satisy, it improved and turned into a better experience. We will give this 3 and a half. If the main characyer hadn't initially been so grating, we would have gone higher.

I was deeply engaged by the protagonist of this one. Hanna deals with her world through her paints, her pencils, her crayons. She's prickly and sensitive and awkward. I liked her a lot, and was grateful for the last chapter. The plot's complex and interesting, the characters quirky and real. I want to read everything Marsh Qualey ever wrote, right away.

Hanna Martin has just broken up with her boyfriend of almost a year and is unsure how to feel about life. She knows she should feel sad or angry but instead she feels nothing. But then one midnight walk to clear her head changes everything about her life and makes her question her beliefs about love, friendship, and family.
I am so glad that I found this book in my local library. First off, the cover is beautiful. And I love the title, it is so thought provoking. Which describes the book as well, very thought provoking. I will admit that the writing style bugged me. The dialogue seemed a bit forced and just unnatural. But as a writer I understand how difficult dialogue is to write so I am looking passed that. Just throwing it out there as a warning.
Hanna comes across two couples on her midnight walk by the lake in her neighborhood. The first is a couple skiing and they warn her not to go out on the lake because although it is winter in Minnesota the ice is thin in some places. The second couple rides by on an ATV and they are laughing, celebrating their one year anniversary. They stop by and briefly talk to Hanna. And though she knows she should tell them not to ride on the lake, she doesn’t. Instead she lets them drive off and then she gets up and walks home. The next morning she finds out that the couple died. The ATV crashed through the ice and they were killed. Hanna is overcome by grief and guilt and cannot bring herself to talk to anyone about what happened. Until she meets Will, a boy who has secrets of his own.
This story idea is so original and it was like a breathe of fresh air after reading about five books in a row that I was able to predict the entire plotline about five pages into the novel. This one was different. I had no idea what to expect or where the story would go. I really like Hanna. She is down to earth and a very believable character. I also love the relationship between her and her mother, which is featured prominently in the book. They seem to have a near perfect relationship and I hope to have a similar one to my daughter when she grows up.
To get into the details that I loved about this book mean revealing basically the entire plotline. But to summarize, please read this book. Dig it out of your library’s YA section, request it through interlibrary loan, order it on amazon, do something. It’s an older book, written in 2005. But it’s too good to be forgotten about. It’s realistic, thought provoking, and has the right mix of intrigue, romance, mystery, angst-basically the recipe for the perfect teen novel. I will say that I plan on finding a copy on amazon and ordering ASAP. This book will definitely be added to my list of books that can be read over and over again. Read this book, you won’t regret it.

Reviewed by The Compulsive Reader for TeensReadToo.com

Maud and Jeff are two teenagers, thrown together by protesting the Vietnam war. They feel a special connection over both having lost a sibling because of the war -- Maud's sister, Lucy, in an explosion of a science lab at the University of Minnesota, and Jeff's brother in Vietnam.

These events cause them to forge a bond and lead them to a commune where they try to come to terms with their losses and the war around them.

Strong, a little controversial, and wholly authentic, COME IN FROM THE COLD candidly captures life in America circa 1969 -- all of the tension, apprehension, hope, and love.

Ms. Qualey has crafted a read that is not only inspiring but also historically educational. It's so entertaining, though, you won't even realize it. The novel accurately mirrors all of the passion, urgency, and even violence of the times.

Life can change in an instant. When Hanna, who is 18, discovers she was the last to see two teens before their accidental deaths, she is overwhelmed with guilt and confusion. Her passion for art becomes an obsession. She finds comfort in Will, a sensitive senator's son who is also linked to the deaths. Hanna quickly ends her relationship with Will when she discovers his age. Subsequently, her best friends betray her trust, gossip spreads, and Hanna feels alienated. With enough credits to graduate, she decides to finish school a semester early. In her free time, she reflects on her father's death and the mystery of her runaway grandmother. An epilogue concludes with Hanna happily attending college in Chicago and Will of legal age.

Qualey's novel explores life's uncertainty, learning to cope with sudden losses, and the meaning of family. Hanna's intelligent and authentic narrative will engage readers. The subtle description of a brief sexual encounter between Will and Hanna demonstrates the author's finesse. Unfortunately, the epilogue conclusion is too tidy, and readers may feel cheated.½

It's winter and Hannah just broke up with her boyfriend. Strangely, she feels nothing. No sadness, no freedom, not anything. She really thinks that she should at least feel some sort of emotion, but she doesn't. So she decides to go for a walk to the lake. When she gets there, she sees a couple on the lake. They appear to be happy. The ice looks to be strong enough for someone to walk on. After a while, she goes home.

A little later, she finds out that she was the last person to see them before the fell into the icy lake and died. She keeps it to herself, she doesn't even tell her best friend or her mother. When she meets Will, the boy she's been seeing all around town, she opens up completely. She tells him all about it, and finds that it wasn't so strange that they seem to be oddly good for each other.

I didn't really like this book. It wasn't all that great. I thought the story was a good idea but I don't really think that the main character of this story really handled anything that well. I found her slightly annoying.

The cover is cool, the petals and the feet, but they really didn't relate to the story at all. Let's see: 1. This story takes place in the winter...where it's cold and people usually wear shoes. 2. Flowers don't grow in the winter...especially when it's cold. The title fit the book better than the cover. I can understand why they called it that...but the cover is still confusing me. I just realized that now too.

I don't think I'd recommend this book to many people. I guess it really depends on the type of books you usually read. But I probably wouldn't run around waving it above my head and screaming "Read it! Read it! READ IT!"

Hannah is sitting on a bench beside a frozen lake, sulking over her first romantic breakup, when she sees a young couple zipping around the lake on an ATV. They're loud and obnoxious and Hannah's in such a bad mood, she doesn't warn them about the patches of dangerously thin ice. When she hears the news the next morning, and learns that the ATV crashed through the ice and both young people died, she's consumed with guilt and becomes obsessed with the accident. A sudden and intense ill-fated relationship blossoms between her and Will, a young man who has also been touched by the tragedy, and who has secrets of his own. This situation alone could have been developed into a satisfying novel, but the author creates a jumbled web of subplots involving friendship, betrayal, and secret histories of both Hannah's and Will's families, and the story quickly loses focus. However, Hannah is a believable and sympathetic character and her strong voice compels the reader to follow the meandering plot.

A tragic accident ending with the death of two people her own age changes life forever for an eighteen-year-old woman

Amazon book reviews
http://www.amazon.com/Close-Killer-Marsha-Qualey/dp/0385325975½