Rachel Reads & Reviews

Sharing books for everyone

  • Top 5 Canterwood Crest

    Chosen: This one probably gets first as it has at least 50-100 pages more than the other books in the series being a super special at all. That allows Burkhart to carve more time to get into Lauren’s internal struggle as a rider coming down from being a champion to getting over her fears. That constant insecurity is an interesting battle to see her combat and I enjoy watching her build up her confidence again thanks to her friends, and family. Also has the most meta last line ever that I just adore.

    Best Enemies: This one is enjoyable for having real consequences and changing the stakes by actually expelling several key side characters. It adds weight to the word and I was on the edge of my seat to find out what happens next.

    Chasing Blue: Only the second book in but not only does it humanize Heather somewhat and hint that she may be more than her mean girl anatgonism by forcing her and Sasha to work together to better improve their riding. But it also introduces Eric! And I love Eric, he’s just so so sweet and I still enjoy them together.

    Rumors, Secrets and Lies: Once more I have a tendency to enjoy the group-changing books and what better demonstration than here with Britt becoming more included in YENT and the mysterious gossip mongering ruining their reps and spreading lies. Additionally, Sasha, Callie and Paige still have ways to go before returning to their formerly easy friendship and even then, it’s not quite the same. I just enjoy how Burkhart isn’t afraid to change the status quo.

    Initiation: Super fun for introducing a whole new cast of characters, all very distinct and likable alongside new mean girls alongside the beginning of Lauren’s overarching secret arc.

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  • Ranking The Popularity Papers

    The Rocky Road Trip of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang: I love road trip stories so this one gets the top spot as Lydia and Julie get to spend the summer across the American West and East Coast encountering giant dinosaurs, mutant blueberries, and earthquakes. But more dangerous than the rattlesnake (possibly flat tire) they encountered on the road is the family drama as Lydia stays with her estranged Dad and his hyper active sons as well as Julie dealing with her homophobic grandparents. The two learn family is what you make of it and that self-worth can only be determined by you, not your family’s approval. Surprisingly those words of wisdom come from Melody whose trip abroad has turned her back to blonde which may be one of the craziest revelations of all during that summer.

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  • Top 5 Vet Volunteers

    Trapped: This one comes first for me because I love deer so the story of Brenna taking care of an injured fawn is just adorable. But what is also interesting is the focus on Brenna’s brother and his growing enviromental radicalism and how far he is willing to go to stop poachers. Anderson presents the pros of such staunch care for the enviroment and its animals while warning not to let it go so far into harming humans in the zeal to protect wild critters.

    Fear of Falling: David’s personal problems are just as engaging as his attempts to get over his fears of high-jumping while still seeming like a man about it. His story of trying to gain his Dad’s attention during the uncertainty of his parent’s divorce is a heartfelt as one can see how much he wants to make his Dad pride while also wreastling with his animosity for his Dad leaving the family so easily.

    Fight for Life: This first book brings the gang together and tears to my eyes every time as it unveals the cruelty of puppy mills. It does a good job in setting up the premises and the dynamics of the group while Maggie struggles in letting others into the world she feels as a private sanctuary.

    Masks: Once again, Anderson presents the complicated world of vetinary research as Sunita discovers when she interns at a local lab. She loves animal so how can she condone the testing done on them? It’s a difficult problem and in an ideal world we wouldn’t have to but as Sunita learns it is necessry to find cures and other medicine for humans and animals. That leaves the rest of the book for her to contemplate where her future path lies if not in vet science?

    Helping Hands: This book dives into the abuse of pony ride and other petting zoo animals which I never thought of but wow, this paints a rather graphic picture. Really, the whole series does (so much animal abuse everywhere) but it’s still worthwhile to learn so I appreciate this book being out there to highlight its existance.

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  • Ranking Wildflowers

    Jade: Jade got number one mainly because I enjoy emotional turmoil and Jade has plenty of emotional turmoil as the pawn in her parent’s vicious divorce where both are utterly focused on climbing the corporate ladders that they neglect her. So she turns to internet chat rooms which leads to a traumatic kidnapping that is so perverted that Jade may have even blocked out some of it. So yeah, lots of stuff happen that combine the cold, hardened shield that Jade forms aorund her heart and her cynical nature.

    Cat: This is a perfect combination of Gothic with all the Andrews’ tropes of incest, sexual repression, evil matriarchs and trauma with all the building suspense of old Law and Order: SVU episodes as Cat reccounts her confusing relationship with her father that turns from her ally to worst abuser.

    Star: Star’s story was interesting as she tells about her parent’s detoriating marriage and how her mother’s alcoholism forced her to become the parent for herself and her little brother which forces her to repress her needs and self-care. She only finds solace in the new boy but even that brief happiness is torn from her. Even so, I admire her hesistancy in sharing her story as well as her fears that they’ll see her as a stereotype before coming to feel the healing power of sharing with her fellow wildflowers.

    Misty: Not much to say here as Misty’s story of her divorcing parents and realizing they weren’t the perfect people she idolized them to be could almost be a tv movie of the week but Andrews does a decent job in introducing the other Wildflowers, building the mystery around their stories and the important of the story.

    Into the Garden: This big novel brings the Wildflowers together to cement their sisterhood in the most dramatic way possible when Cat’s guardian, Gereldine dies. they bury her in secret and not tell the police. What could go wrong? A lot as you can imagine. Unfortunately this big book ends up showing that they aren’t as stalwart friends as they said they’d be especially when it leads Cat to more isolation and danger. It also has so many things going on that the girls feel too different from their time in therapy. Which makes sense as how one acts in their personal life is probably different from group therapy but also felt like plot convenience at times.

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  • Ranking Cheer!

    1. Home for the Holidays: This got the number one spot because it brings the biggest plot twist and potential status quo changer in the form of Katie and Maddy bonding in New York. There’s also the possibility that she’ll move to NY permenantly to live with her father and boring Beth so Maddy really begins to question whether she wants to continue her time as cheerleader or go back to her artistic roots. So yes, a lot of plot done here that moves Maddy’s characterization and the story along. Also Laine’s crush on Dustin Parker (a clear Justin Bieber ripoff) is just hilarious here.

    2. Confessions of a Wannabe Cheerleader: I love Evan’s work here in creating such a distinct, cheerleading obssessed voice in Maddy when she fails during her Titan’s tryout and ends up on the dreaded B-team. But as she is the most cheer-happy person on this side of California she puts in the work to make this ragtag group into cheer boot camp experts. I admire how Maddy begins to see each of her teammates more than the losers she first saw them as but as people (with some coordination problems). It also has a decent mother-daughter subplot as she rebels against her mother’s smothering and Maddy gains a new cheerleader friend in the form of Jacqui that bolster her self-esteem after her disasterous tryout.

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  • Top 5 Cupcake Diaries

    Mia’s Boiling Point: This takes a well-treaded upon subject. Mean girls. But there are different types of mean girls and Olivia Allen is lying, using drama queen. She’s the type whose charismatic so Mia is inadvertedly drawn to her web with their shared love of fashion and Mia understanding the perils of being a new girl gives her too many benefits of the doubt. But Simon does an excellent job in depicting the separation between sneaky insults and genuine mistakes and setting boundaries when splitting from the mean girl’s web and her potential wrath.

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  • Top 5 Magic School Bus

    Makes a Rainbow: Honestly this one was always my favorite was because I love rainbows. So man colors and Ms. Frizzle shares how the color spectrum interacts with the eye and how we perceive color. Which is a good thing too because they need to know their rainbow magic in order to help Ms. Frizzle save her arcade game from the Principle.

    Takes a Dive: This book introduces another infamous Frizzle ancestor, her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-greatgrandfather Red Beard was a pirate and for their field trip, they’re gonna find his sunken treasure! On the way they turn into various sea animals and learn about aquatic ecosystems and symbosi.

    Wet All Over: The group takes a field trip through the water cycle and is quite memorable to me for how they end up in the water faucet, scaring Arnold’s poor crush for life.

    Going Batty: Ms. Frizzle’s outfits are always creative but this one takes the cake during Parent-Teeacher Conferance Night. No wonder Ralph is convinced that Mrs. Frizzle is part of the vampire spieces. Of course, he’s seen one too many Dracula movies but the kids and parents learn a bit about bats, ecolocation and more on the way.

    Gets Cold Feet: Liz has disappeared and the kids are sure Ms. Frizzle know where the lizard is and follow her to a upscale terrenium hotel where they not only learn a bit about Liz’s biology but that of all other cold blooded creatures.

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  • Top 5 Series of Unfortunate Events

    1. The Slippery Slope This gets number one spot for not only having the suspense of Sunny’s second kidnapping (or perhaps third) but placed in very real danger on the aforementioned slippery slopes. Not to mention, finally seeing the Quagmire triplets again with a rather sweet, censored interaction between Violet and Quigley allowing some happiness for those unfortunate orphans. Also Olaf and Esme adopt Carmalita and it’s as hilarious and horrible as you can imagine.

    2. The Penultimate Peril: If a book has a trial in it, I’m sure ot like it and this was no exception as the Bauldiares and Olaf go on trial in a kangaroo court. A rather confused kangaroo court but that only adds to the humor when every ridiculous character gets their chance onto the stand. Plus as it is the 12th book, we get to some very important information regarding the occupation of the Bauldiare parents, the V.F. and we finally meet Kit Snicket.

    3. The Austure Academy: An important book that introduces the Quagmire triplets and Carmalita, this is one where the Bauldiares really begin to earnestly investigate the V.F. and find some steadfast allies as they do so.

    4. The Grim Grotto: I heartily enjoyed this nautical change of pace with Fiona and the Captain onboard the submarine. Even though it ends up a bit of a red herring as the kids do not find the truth they were looking for. But it provides several important items that will be relevant in later books.

    5. The Erastz Elevator: This one was just funny to me even though its another sad chapter in the Bauldiares’ tragic lives. But poor Jerome’s spineless personality along with Esme’s maniacal evil pair-up with Olaf is always surpremely entertaining to me.

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  • Top 5 Camp Confidential

    1. Charmed Forces: As a super special, this one gets number one as it provides double the fun and some magical surprises when Alyssa, my favorite of the campers, finds a crystal that really does seem to gift her with prophetic dreams. I enjoy the bit of magical realism as well as putting the spotlight on the shyer, more artistic character. Literally as her new “powers” makes her Miss Popular at camp but soon backfire when she misinterprets a dream wrong. I enjoyed the fun as well as the conflict, not to mention the forshadowing of the bittersweet ending of summer.

    2. Wish You Weren’t Here: At Camp Lakeview, Sarah is able to be the athletic superstar. A team player and all around pal. Nothing like her more introverted, bookish self at home. At camp, she feels free but then a classmate from school joins camp, disrupting the separation between home and summer and threatens to expose her “nerdish” side of her “real life”. Now she feels she must answer for hiding herself away to home, a fact that she resents and takes out on when Phoebe when she reasonably asks her why she never tries out for sports at home. I enjoyed how

    3. Grace’s Twist: Grace is feeling left behind as her friend Alex bonds with other girls in the cabin so Grace is drawn to Tori as a semi-replacement BFF when Alex is busy. However, Tori’s bossy nature is a bad influence on Grace as she neglects her summer school work and almost puts the cabin at risk during a nightly prank. A good story about setting boundaries and recognizing toxic friendships. Also sweet in how the Cabin 4A girls help Grace combat her reading boredom so she’s able to go on the waterpark trip.

    4. RSVP: Technically does not take place at camp but it’s a Cabin 4A reunion when Natalie and her friends arrange for them to meet up in New York. However, things go a bit haywire from Natalie feeling disconnected from Alyssa who doesn’t vibe with Natalie’s friends from school to Chelsea on the defense when the girls find out about her father’s cancer diagnosis. Like above, I enjoy how Morgan is able to balance the varying POVs, and the differing personalities and dynamics that make up such a close knit group in the midst of friendship and growing pains.

    5. Best (Boy) Friend: Priya and Jordan have long been best friends but they’re teens now and there are expectations. Everyone thinks they got the hots for each other but Priya doesn’t. She’s sure she doesn’t so why does it annoy her that Jordan is hanging out with Sarah a lot more now. Morgan does a nice job in portraying the tricky balance between boys and girls as friends, romance and the confusion of feelings as Priya begins to believe her feelings are actually infuation thanks to everyone planting the idea in her head. Plus Jordan and Priya are able to have a pretty mature conversation about their relationship and feelings.

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  • Ranking Drama!

    1. Everyone’s a Critic: This book comes at number one because of the major shift in character development and aspirations for the series’ protagonist, Bryan Stark. And it’s only the second episode! Bryan has always wanted to be an actor, not on Meryl Streap-level, that’s his best friend’s Sam’s perogative but he is fine with the idea of becoming a character actor with steady income of supporting roles. He’s an observer by nature. But that dream goes to pieces when famed Hollywood director and critic comes to Orion Academy’s Summer Stock and brutally rips apart everyone’s auditions. Sam is too practiced. Hope is too broad, only good for comedy. And Bryan. Bryan gets no critique at all because Blackstone proclaims he will never be an actor.

    From there, Bryan spirals in his life’s focus and no one cna get their head in the game for their second audition, an ensamble piece that is supposed to help two students clinche the chance of working with Blackstone. You can see the series is living up to its name and it’s thoroughly enjoyable in not only exploring what it means when confronted with your dreams being too unrealistic to pursue but resolves Bryan’s crisis with a new goal that was in him all along.

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