I had a mediocre response to the first book in this series, and the second wasn’t much better.  Again, Hall sets up a good mystery, but can’t really sustain the suspense through the end of the book.  She does have some interesting characters, and I do appreciate an author who can write a mystery without explicit violence, profanity or sex.  However, the writing isn’t strong enough to draw me in completely.

I could not have been more disappointed in this book.  I was so looking forward to Brashares’ first novel for adults.  (Her previous young adult series, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is fabulous.)  This book was a bit better than Danielle Steel, but not much.  Brashares used the absolutely worst romantic plot device ever:  Two lovers are kept apart because they won’t just sit down and have a 5 minute chat about a problem.  Instead, there are all sorts of contrived reasons for keeping them from talking about their relatively small issues that last the entire book.  I hate reading these types of books.  I skimmed the last half because I also hate starting books and not finishing them.  I would recommend to you that you just don’t start this one.

On June 19, 1865, slaves in Texas finally received their freedom. The day came to be known as Juneteenth. This is more than 2 years after freedom was granted to slaves in the East. Because Texas was so isolated from the rest of the country, slave owners conspired to keep this news from their slaves as long as possible. The end of the Civil War and the arrival of Yankee soldiers finally broke the silence.

Rinaldi’s novel tells the story of one Texas rancher’s family, and of the tragic effects that slavery and the lies that were told to the slaves had on their family. The history of Juneteenth is tragic and unbelievable. Rinaldi writes an interesting book about this piece of history that I knew nothing about.

14 year old Rachel tries to unravel the secrets behind her teenage brother’s tragic death.  Not terrible, not spectacular, probably not worth the read.

An excellent young adult book. Robin is a teenage girl, who finds the only meaning in her life from her boyfriend Chris. When Chris unexpectedly goes away for the summer, Robin decides to spend the summer traveling with her aunt and cousins. Wittlinger teaches many good values in her book without being preachy or condescending to teens. They include: respect for parents, finding your own identity separate from your boyfriend or girlfriend, the importance of education, appreciation for our country, building relationships with family and friends, and many more. It sounds like too much when I list them out, but they are woven into the story without coming across as contrived.

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