ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title:   Bloody Mary, Book 1: Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan Publisher: Disney/Hyperion 256 pages Genre: YA - horror I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for a fair review. This title will be released on September 2, 2014. Synopsis:  There is a right way and a wrong way to summon her. Jess had done the research. Success requires precision: a dark room, a mirror, a candle, salt, and four teenage girls. Each of them--Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna--must link hands, follow the rules . . . and never let go. A thrilling fear spins around the room the first time Jess calls her name: "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY." A ripple of terror follows when a shadowy silhouette emerges through the fog, a specter trapped behind the mirror. Once is not enough, though--at least not for Jess. Mary is called again. And again. But when their summoning circle is broken, Bloody Mary slips through the glass with a tast...

Title:  The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Letters to their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon Publisher: Scholastic 288 pages Genre:  LGBT, Synopsis: If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say? What do you wish it would say? That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college? That the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing? In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons ...

Title:   Summer House with Swimming Pool: A Novel  by Herman Koch Publisher: Hogarth 402 pages Genre: Mystery I received an e-galley of this book directly from the publisher through Blogging for Books  in exchange for an honest review.  Synopsis:  When a medical procedure goes horribly wrong and famous actor Ralph Meier winds up dead, Dr. Marc Schlosser needs to come up with some answers. After all, reputation is everything in this business. Personally, he’s not exactly upset that Ralph is gone, but as a high profile doctor to the stars, Marc can't hide from the truth forever. It all started the previous summer. Marc, his wife, and their two beautiful teenage daughters agreed to spend a week at the Meier’s extravagant summer home on the Mediterranean. Joined by Ralph and his striking wife Judith, her mother, and film director Stanley Forbes and his much younger girlfriend, the large group settles in for days of sunshine, wine tasting, and trips to th...

Title:   The Farm by Tom Rob Smith Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing 368 pages Genre: Thriller I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  If you refuse to believe me, I will no longer consider you my son. Daniel believed that his parents were enjoying a peaceful retirement on a remote farm in Sweden. But with a single phone call, everything changes. Your mother...she's not well , his father tells him.  She's been imagining things - terrible, terrible things . She's had a psychotic breakdown, and been committed to a mental hospital. Before Daniel can board a plane to Sweden, his mother calls:  Everything that man has told you is a lie. I'm not mad... I need the police... Meet me at Heathrow. Caught between his parents, and unsure of who to believe or trust, Daniel becomes his mother's unwilling judge and jury as she tells him an urgent tale of secrets, of lies, of ...