Incantation

Alice Hoffman is a brilliant writer. Her works never fail to captivate and inspire me. Incantation is one of her works that had me reading through the night. The novel is well crafted and written brilliantly inside the mind of a 17 year old girl named Estrella whose best friend, Catalina, betrays her when she finds out that her cousin, Andres, likes Estrella and not her. Estrella's family faces persecution when Catalina reveals to the townspeople that Estrella's family is Jewish.
Alice Hoffman shows us what its like to live to live in Spain as a Jewish person and practicing their faith in the night. She also shows us how those who do get caught are called Marrano's and are killed in the worst possible way.
Estrella shows great strength after her family brutally killed. She remains strong for her grandmother and moves to a place where she, her grandmother and Andres can live peacefully.
Incantation is a short novel that shows us what happened to the Jews in the Spanish Inquisition and how it affected this one girl who finds the strength and hope to move to a better place. This novel will leave you remembering Estrella and her story.
 

The Lying Game Book 4: Hide and Seek

Laurel sure has it in for Emma now, and it looks like Garrett is using this to his advantage to get his revenge on Emma for not sleeping with him. Things have taken an ugly turn. Now the tables seem to be turning and pointing to  Laurel for the death of Sutton. Also Mr. Mercer was also at the scene of the murder hiding a huge secret from his family as well. In Hide and Seek, Emma come face to face with those who are hiding dirty secrets from her and Sutton's family. 
Laurel's transformation was something. She went from being sweet and nice to being vicious and evil over Thayer, and we all know that Thayer does not like Laurel in the same way that she does. Seeing this change in her could make anyone think that she killed Sutton.
Hide and seek uncovered a ton of secrets and shed some light on some touchy issues for Emma. It does seem like someone is playing Hide and Seek with her or is disappearing in and out of her life sporadically, but Emma doesn't know if that is a dream or if its real. We also see Mr. Mercer  hiding a big secret from his family as well. A secret that involves Emma and Sutton. Hide and seek raises the bar on the Emma in who could be the killer because it just might be someone she would not expect.
I would highly recommend The Lying Game series to everyone because this is the real story of Emma and Sutton, The real Lying Game, and not what is on ABCFamily. I will say that I do watch the show but now I just don't enjoy it as much as I do the books. I cannot wait for more of the The Lying Game series and would certainly like to see Emma get close to Sutton's killer and end this game of Hide and Seek. 
 

The Lying Game Book 3: Two Truths and One Lie

Things are really heating up now that Thayer has arrived in the scene, and Laurel has decided to show her true self,  her vicious self. However, this means that Emma's life is in more danger than ever. Who could have killed Sutton? Thayer or Laurel? Both seem to have good motives, and Laurel's reason to kill Sutton puts her on the spotlight more than Thayer. Laurel has begun to hate Sutton (Emma) more than ever, and she is the prime suspect on Emma's list, but is she the real killer, that is the question.
Emma's life has turned upside down since Thayer has entered the scene, and Laurel hatred for Sutton has turned her into an ugly person. She will find every reason to get Emma, and nothing has stopped her up until now. She does not plan on forgiving Sutton (Emma) any time soon. Also a new shocking twist in the story of the night of August 31st has turned the case completely around. It seems like Thayer had come to meet Sutton and was attacked by someone driving Sutton's car. However, Thayer saves Sutton and gets hurt in the process, so they call Laurel to help them since the killer took the car with him or her, but Sutton decides to hide in order to avoid conflict. This new shocking twist in the story has bought Emma back to square one. Now Emma must find out who was driving Sutton's car on that night before the killer gets to her.
Emma seems to be playing the blame game. She is putting the blame on someone, and doesn't seem to be thinking rationally through this. The story just seems to be stretching more and more with putting the blame on someone, and I'm just waiting for something big to happen. Something that will take us closer to the killer because as of now I don't feel like I'm getting close. The author brings us back to square one every time. However, we do find out what Sutton was doing on that night. That is one good thing, but they are just some puzzle pieces. Honestly, I'd love to see Sutton trying to communicate with Emma in some form or fashion or something that will start Emma connecting with Sutton more because I am getting tired of seeing Emma and Sutton separately since Sutton is inside of Emma. Nevertheless, Thayer has made everything interesting, and I can't wait to see what lies and truths are hidden underneath the night of August 31st.

Update on my Disappearance

Hey Everyone!

Sorry, its been taking me long to make a post on here. I have been so busy with my job that I haven't had too much time to read The Lying Game series. However, I just finished reading Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels and it got me all fired up in trying new things, so I will be posting a review on that and hope you get inspired by it just as much as I did.

The Lying Game Book 2: Never Have I Ever

Emma might have just landed herself right where she needs to be and wants to be, which is close to finding out the truth about her sisters murder. With The Twitter Twins constantly trying to get her attention, the killer is sending her threats about stop digging or she'll be next. Emma thinks that the Twitter Twins are the killers because of what happened to Gabby (one of the Twitter Twins) on the night of the train track lying game. However, Emma finds out something completely unexpected and also finds someone completely unexpected at the end of the second book.
If I say anymore, it will destroy reading the second book, so I'll leave the summary at that. The second book opens up a whole other door, and Emma's attraction towards Ethan is getting stronger. Now that Ethan knows that she's not Sutton, they both have teamed up to find out who killed Sutton. 
 I must add that reading the books make me feel like I'm reading a completely different story than what I'm watching on ABC family. I prefer the books over the television show in any given day. Also the books make more sense as far as the story is concerned than the show. The show focuses more on the drama than the actual story. I would have loved seeing The Twitter Twins in the show and the books. I wish TV would stay true to the books.  

Emma is definitely the opposite of Sutton. However, after her death, Sutton is realizing just how horrible she was. Emma's character is strong, and she makes some great decisions. After Emma took over Sutton's life, things have become better around the Mercers house. A lot of Sutton's friendships have improved and Ethan is secretively making his way into Emma's life. However the tension still remains, and the killer is still loose. How long before the killer makes Emma play Never Have I Ever truthfully?

The Lying Game Book 1

Hey Everyone!

It's the start of the new year and I have read my first book of the year.

I know I'm a little late, and I apologize. I have been real busy trying to get settled in my new place and new town. Then I had to find the library in my new town and that wasn't easy but I finally found it. It was wedged in a corner and hard to find, but its great. It's bigger than the library I use to visit in my old town. Oh, the ultimate bliss of discovering the library. Now let's get started with my first review of the year.

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard had me spooked last night. I kept thinking that there was somebody watching me too just like Emma. I am still spooked whenever I pick up the series. The author doesn't give the readers a chance to relax. Emma is plunged into one danger after another. There is always someone to be weary of because this person might be a suspect in her twin sisters murder and there is always something going on that keeps us at the edge of our seats.

Yes, The Lying Game hit TV series is based off of these books, and let me tell you the books are 360 degrees better than the show. The show leaves so much out and adds so much unnecessary drama that its lame. In the book, Sutton is dead and is inside of Emma watching, hearing, and seeing everything through Emma's eyes. Emma doesn't know that Sutton is inside of her. The killer lures Emma into Sutton's life and tells her that she has to pretend to be Sutton and if she doesn't, she dies just like her sister. Now Emma is trying to find her sisters murderer before she gets killed just like her sister.

I love the dual personalities of the twins. Emma is sweet and Sutton is dangerous. However, now that she is dead, Sutton is starting to realize just how horrible she was. I also love how there is so much suspense created around Sutton's friends and family because the killer could be anyone because of the games Sutton played and the way she treated everyone. I also love Emma's character. She is real sweet and kind. She could have just relished the fact that she has family, friends and a great life, but she didn't. She doesn't want her sisters life. She wants to find out who killed her sister whom she never saw.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be spooked and freaked. I recommend this book to anyone who always thinks that maybe their friends don't like them as much as they think they do. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that the Lying Game is a great series, but they wouldn't want to take any part of it because they would not want to end up like Sutton. 

Between Shades of Gray

I didn't know what to expect from this book. When I picked it up, I didn't want to finish or read it. I thought it was going to be sad and disturbing to read and I was right. It was worse than what I had imagined. These people were treated terribly and in this time period, during World War II, I bet this was exactly what happened. In Between Shades of Gray, we follow Lina's life as she shares with us what had happened to her and her family during World War II.  
Lina had a great life with her parents and brother, but one day Soviets burst through the door taking everything she loved with them, including her family. Her father was never heard from again and her mother, her brother and herself kept praying that he was alive.The Soviets tried to kill her brother. That very day, Lina realized that her brother's life was worth a pocket watch. Lina and the rest of the Lithuanians are deported across the world into a place where they are suffering from malnutrition, worked hard and do not have a clue as to the whereabouts of their husbands or fathers. The Lithuanians go through terror as they struggled to stay alive. For Lina, she finds hope and love in Andrius who seems to have taken a liking in her. Throughout the novel, Lina hopes that she can stay with Andrius and see her father again.
Lina was a courageous and brave character. I applaud her bravery in many scenes in this novel. She risked her life many times to feed her family and save her self-respect. However, she is more like her mother. Her mother is just as courageous and brave as she, but her mother is more kind and gentle than Lina. All in all, I admire Lina's character for sticking through these tough times. She sets a fine example that any obstacle, no matter how big or small, can be overcome and that love does endure. 
What I also liked about the novel is that we get to see Lina's life before and during the war. We also get to read a real live letter from Lina at the end of the novel because the author did write this story based off of a real girl named Lina. We also get to read about the authors origin and how much she researched to bring the stories of what to these people and what they  had gone through. This is a work of fiction, but there is a grain of truth behind this novel as well such as Lina, Andrius, and some of the others, but out of all of the people who went through this, Lina's voice broke the silence of history.
I appreciate the author writing this book and I hope she continues to write more. I also hope there is a sequel to this novel as well because I'd love to read what happens to Lina and her brother after that doctor came to help them.