It Makes You Feel Happy Like An Old-Time Movie

Expected Publication: February 1st, 2013

The Return of Abracadabra (Hocus Pocus Hotel # 2)

By: Michael Dahl

Stone Arch Books

ISBN-13: 9781434247216

Charlie Hitchcock figured out that Brack is really Abracadabra, the missing magician. But as Brack prepares to unveil his true identity to the rest of the world, magical mysteries continue to unfold at his hotel. Charlie and Tyler Yu have solved challenging tricks here before, but can they do it again before time runs out for Brack . . . and the hotel?

Review

     Charlie Hitchcock, class geek and Tyler Yu, class bully are stuck in a tentative friendship after solving the mysteries happening at the hotel Tyler's family owns so Tyler could buy the motorcycle he had been saving up for.  Now the elevator operator Brack (who is really the famous missing magician, Abracadabra) is planning to put on a show at the hotel and reveal his secret identity to the press and the rest of the world.  The only problem is that the currently famous magician Theopolis comes to the hotel and performs some seemingly impossible feats of magic - all at the same time.  Can the boys figure out how he managed it, or was it really magic after all?  And will Theopolis succeed in stealing the show and Brack's part of the hotel right out from under him?  This was a good follow-up to the first novel, which had Charlie and Tyler solving the mysteries of the hotel itself.  This time they have to find out Theopolis' secrets before Brack loses everything.  To me the illustrations were the best part, just like in the first book.  It was a cute book about friendship and mystery, but I felt like it was lacking some of the magic in the original.  The description and following picture of Brack's secret room on top of the hotel was awesome.  And the answer to the mystery was plausible, but predictable.  I think this book would have been a lot more fun if I was still under 13 years old and loved magic tricks.  Overall, a fun book that was just a good fluffy, middle-grade read to give my brain a break from all the YA and Harlequin angst.  I would recommend this to middle-school and late elementary teachers for reluctant readers and young boys.

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is February 1st, 2013.*

Deadly to My Brain

Published:  September 2nd, 2011

Deadly.com

By: Cindy McDonald

Createspace

ISBN-13:  9781463647193

The novel is the first in a series about the West family, proprietors of Westwood Thoroughbred Farm, and their friends and associates in the world of horse racing. Socially awkward George gives everyone at the racetrack a creepy feeling and is avoided by all. But he uses an online portal to create a very different alternate identity to romance a multitude of attractive women including Kate West and her brother's ex-wife, Ava. When Mike West is forced to fire George, frustration and jealousy combine to make the voices in the jockey agent's head unbearable. Soon people start turning up dead and the path of destruction leads right to the West family home.

Review

     Kate West hasn't had much luck with lasting relationships and love.  So, she decides to give in to cultural pressure and join a social networking/dating website to find her Mr. Right.  What she is unaware of is that George, a very socially awkward jockey agent, is obsessed with her and pretending to be someone else to catch her interest on the site.  But when he asks Kate out while working with his jockey at the ranch and she denies him, obsession turns deadly very fast.  When George is fired by Kate's brother Mike and spurned by Mike's ex-wife Ava, he has a full-on psychotic break with reality.  When people begin to die, can Kate and Mike find a way to survive the greatest chaos they've ever faced?  I had my doubts to begin with, as this is basically self-published and it's a very cliched subject matter.  However, it sounded like it could be a fresh, exciting take on an old plot line.  So I gave it a shot.  I wish that I had never wasted the space on my Kindle for this supposed piece of literature.  It got off to an okay start, but it just disappeared when the characters really got going with their stupidity.  It read like a very badly written soap opera, with bumbling police officers and one-dimensional characters.  The most complex character was George (the psychopathic killer) and even he seemed like a badly reconstructed rip-off of other creations in past literature.  Kate and Mike were stupid, annoying and completely unpalatable   Every time they started to show some sense, they completely negated it by saying or doing something utterly inexcusable for a mature adult.  Ava was a waste of space and served only as a plot point, to move things along.  All I wanted was for the book to be over and it seemed like the author dragged out the murder plot twice as long as she needed to.  It had a completely ridiculous ending and if it had been a print book I would have thrown it against the wall.  I will never subject myself to this sort of torture again.  NEVER.  

VERDICT:  1/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published September 2nd, 2011.*