Intriguing Kindle Book Describes a Place where Bizarre is Normal

In the small state of Maine on the North-eastern coast of United States, hidden in a nondescript residential street there is a house where bizarre is normal. This is the stage where the drama in “The Monsterjunkies, An American Family Odyssey” is played out.

The main characters of this story are the 12 year old  boy Cromwell or Crow, and a 14 year old girl Indigo. The two siblings together manage bullying and emotional abuse in their unique way combing smarts and emotional quotient.

The Monsterjunkie estate and the family is unusual in many ways and it’s inhabitants seeks privacy making it difficult for children to have a normal life and do things other kids take for granted like having friends over.  They face ignorance combined with aggression in their attempt to lead their lives in their ancestral home.

Erik Daniel Shein, author of “The Monsterjunkies, An American Family Odyssey” does a great job in providing a peek inside the secret life of a family who struggles with inheritance and science. The characters are well developed and the plot flows on smoothly. Recommended for Teens, parents, teachers and school libraries.

Kindle Book Review: "The Obsidian Pebble" Winner of the 2012 Sharp Writ Book Awards

“The Obsidian Pebble,” by Rhys A. Jones, is the Sharp Writ Book Awards 2012 winner in the Young Adult category. It is the story of Oz Chambers, a boy who one day discovers that the house he and his mother are living in is haunted. Far from being intimidated, Oz is fascinated by the house and grows determined to discover its secrets.

But Oz is not the only one who is interested in the house’s mysteries, and once the secret is uncovered, Oz’s world is completely changed.

This book is a prime example of how spooky tales for children should look like. The characters are scary but the story is humorous and fun. Jones is a masterful storyteller who is able to make his characters come to life while he pulls his reader right into the story. It’s a story you can read to your kids and enjoy yourself.

Frontier Incursion: A Sci-Fi Novel that Animal Lovers Will Love

“Frontier Incursion” is a science fiction novel written for young adults. It’s about a young girl named Shanna, who has just attained her dream of being part of the Scout Corps, a group tasked with studying Frontier, a planet that their ancestors had discovered centuries ago. But Frontier is threatened by hostile forces, and Shanna and her compatriots need to do what they can to help save it.

Now, I am neither young nor a sci-fi fan, but I am happy to say that I enjoyed the book. As a work of fiction, I think it ranks among some of the most interesting ones I’ve read.

The book’s strongest point, I would say, is the author’s clean style of writing. I’ve noticed that many fantasy writers have a tendency to use too many words to describe too many things, but this book mercifully spares me from that. Ms. Rogers budgets her words like a prudent manager; still, she is able to pull you into the story. The narrative moves quickly, and you feel the characters, you get wide-eyed at the fascinating world that the characters see, and you believe the situations that the characters find themselves in.

One of the things that make this book special is its uncommon empathy for animals. Among the book’s highlighted characters are the starcats, a set of intelligent and regal pantherlike creatures who end up playing an important role in the scouts’ mission. Right now, I am in love with starcats. You simply don’t find a lot of books that have this kind of heart for animals these days, so I think animal lovers would enjoy this novel very much.

As a parent, I appreciate that this book was written with young adults well in mind. You see, our family shares one Kindle account, and my kids can access everything I download. Now some books, although I enjoy reading them myself, I would not feel comfortable having them displayed in my Kindle library, where they can be seen and read by my impressionable teenagers. But this is one book I would actually want them to read. The language is robust but clean. The story is adventurous but not crass. There are good values without any preaching. I dare say my kids will enjoy it too!

OMG: Adventure-Packed Sci-Fi Mystery for Young Adults

If you could go back in time to solve a mystery, save a life, and right a wrong, would you do it – even if you weren’t sure you could return to your own time, or that you would be changing history as we know it?

OMG is the first novel of the CUL8R time travel series. The story features four smart and independent teenagers Kelly, Scott, Zoey, and Austin, who travel to the past to accomplish an important mission while dealing with their own issues in their own lives.

The story begins with Kelly starting out her new life in Florida. She has just moved in with her aunt after she lost her parents to a car accident. Her whole world has completely changed, her comfort zone (as little as it had been) is gone, and –completely unknown to her – her greatest adventure is just about to start.

She meets Scott, the boy next door. Far from being a heartthrob, Scott is actually best known as the school’s top geek. His best friend Austin, however, is a heartthrob. Austin is their school’s quarterback, and unsurprisingly, all the girls find him super-cool and super-hot at the same time. Nonetheless, Austin never abandoned Scott.

Zoey is one of the girls that have their eyes on Austin. She’s one of the cheerleaders, a member of the so-called “jet set.” Though she would never give kids like Kelly and Scott the time of the day, she would give past, present, and future to Austin if he’d take it. She has no idea how close she’d get to literally doing that.

The big adventure begins when Scott finds a way to go back in time. He, Austin, Kelly, and Zoey travel to the past, where they help a girl solve a mystery and get a chance to make things right. However, they end up with a big dilemma: should they right the wrong that they discovered and end up changing history; or should they turn a blind eye, leave things as they are, and preserve the history that they know?

Throughout the novel, the reader is treated to a fast-paced narrative, a brain-tickling mystery, relatable teen issues, and an interesting (and educational) peek into a time when phones were wired to the wall, luggage was actually lugged instead of rolled, mail took days to reach the recipient, and the slower pace of life could actually help you save a life.

As a bonus, you get to meet Thomas Edison (yes, the Thomas Edison) up close and personal and learn about some pretty interesting rumors that hounded him in those days.

It’s a story that is sure to hook you in, and the best part of it is that it’s only the first of the series. In other words, the fun is just beginning.

This series of time travel books is written for teens by experienced writer Kathy Clark. Ms. Clark has written over twenty titles, sold more than 3 million books, and has another book series, Denver After Dark, that is nominated for two 2013 book awards.

To learn more about OMG and the other books in the series, go to www.cul8rseries.com.