Tuesday, December 15, 2015


On a quiet street near a pub in a working class neighborhood is Slade Alley from which one might find Slade House. Slade house residents discreetly lure certain people to visit...a visit from which they will never return. Visitors find the short and narrow black iron door, which is the entrance to Slade House at 9 year intervals beginning in 1979. After each disappearence, there is a flurry of activity to locate the missing person which eventually ends. During the interval years the missing people are forgotten until a new disappearence occurs. Events come to a climax in 2015 with a hair raising conclusion that the reader will not see coming.This is a true modern day horror story! The premise is original, the suspense electric, and the protagonists portrayed in each chapter are characters with whom the reader can  relate. It so grabs you that it can be read in one sitting.  A most intelligent, thought provoking and profoundly disturbing read. 


Review by Karen 

Friday, December 4, 2015


Book Review:  Between the Notes by Sharon Russ Roat
Ivy Emerson’s life is forever changed when her father’s business fails and the cost of her brother’s therapy for a disability causes the family to lose their home.  The family moves from a posh, affluent neighborhood to Lakeside which for Ivy is the same as living on the wrong side of the tracks.  The new apartment, a quarter of the size of her home will not fit her beloved piano! Ivy’s piano is the primary way she deals with her emotions which she expresses by composing and singing about the events of her life.   Ivy hides the change from her high school friends and a cute new guy with whom she hopes to start a relationship.  The more Ivy tries to hide the change in her life with lies the more complicated things become.  Along the way she also sees how much she thinks she knows about her friends and new people she meets in Lakeside that she thought she could never like.   As events unfold Ivy learns that not everyone is who she thought they were…including Ivy herself. 
A delightful and charming story that is sure to be enjoyed by teen readers and adults alike!


Review by Karen