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Cammie O'Reilly knows what it's like to have a caretaker, but not a mother.  Hers died 12 years ago when Cammie was just a baby.  For as long as she can remember, it's been her and her father, who works as a warden at the local prison.  Since the O'Reillys live in an apartment above the entrance to the facility, she's always had one of the female inmates—a prison trustee—as a housekeeper and Cammie-keeper.  Which is all well and good, but this is a pivotal time for Cammie; she wants a mother of her own to help her through it.

There are plenty of women in the Hancock County Prison from whom to choose.  Maybe they're not the most ideal candidates in the world, but Cammie's not all that picky.  Boo Boo, a flamboyant shoplifter, would be a fun mother.  Eloda, the current Cammie-minder isn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type, but she would do.  Cammie just has to do a little scheming to make all her mother-shaped dreams come true.

Of course, procuring a mother isn't that easy.  Neither is growing up, as Cammie is finding out the hard way.  Between her determined mom-scheming, her friends acting strangely, the discovery of an unlikely new pal, and the arrival of an intriguing inmate, her emotions are running high.  It will be a summer full of startling revelations—truths that will change everything for one "Cannonball" Cammie O'Reilly.

I've never read anything by Jerry Spinelli, so when a copy of his newest—The Warden's Daughter—arrived at my kids' school library, I jumped at the chance to read it.  The jail setting caught my attention, as did Cammie's endearing plight.  While I didn't end up loving the novel, I did find it a thoughtful and poignant book that tells a sad but intriguing story. Overall, I did like the tale, which reminded me a lot of the old Rolling Stones adage "You can't always get what you ... you get what you need."

(Readalikes: Reminds me of the Al Capone series [Al Capone Does My Shirts; Al Capone Shines My Shoes; and Al Capone Does My Homework] by Gennifer Choldenko)

Grade:

 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

 

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs)

To the FTC, with love:  I borrowed a copy of The Warden's Daughter from my kids' elementary school library.

 

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Sarah Whitaker is used to standing on her own two feet.  In breeches and work boots no less.  Running a sheep farm in the Australian Outback, in a colony overrun with poisonous spiders, venomous snakes, and exiled convicts, is not for the faint of heart. Sarah may be a lady, but she's also as tough as the wilderness surrounding her.  She has to be.  With no family to protect her, no guardian to instruct her, and no neighbors to come to her rescue, she's on her own.  And doing just fine, thank you very much.

After a money-earning stunt goes horribly wrong, Daniel Burton (who happens to be the brother of Meg, who stars in Miss Burton Unmasks a Prince) is scheduled to hang.  Overwhelmed with guilt and shame, he knows he deserves his fate.  When an influential relative intervenes, however, Daniel can't help but jump at the chance to start over.  Although he's required to serve a 14-year sentence in an Australian penal colony, he will not be treated as the other convicts.  Unlike them, he'll be allowed to own land, to work his own farm, and to make his own profits.  Determined to prove himself a solid, trustworthy man, he sets himself to the task.

 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

 

for scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart from the generous folks at Covenant.  Thank you!

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Interested in following along on the Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart blog tour?  Just click on the links below:

April 10th: http://booksaresanity.blogspot.com/, http://rockinbookreviews.com/, http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com/, http://www.iamareader.com/

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 (Image from Barnes & Noble)

Note: While this review will not contain spoilers for How the Light Gets In, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier Armand Gamache mysteries.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.

"Three Pines, he knew, was not immune to dreadful loss.  To sorrow and pain.  What Three Pines had wasn't immunity but a rare ability to heal" (117).

Things are not going well for Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec.  Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Gamache's faithful protegé, has left his mentor's side in a fit of anger, choosing a life of addiction and alliance to a corrupt leader over service at the side of the man he's always thought of as a second father.  Most of the Inspector's loyal detecting team is also gone, leaving him with untested, disrespectful rookies.  With the Sûreté's higher ups calling for Gamache's dismissal, the decorated policeman's sterling reputation may be tarnished beyond repair.  Exposing corruption within the Sûreté is the only way to save his job, but does he have the guts to take on his most powerful enemies?  Is it worth losing everything—and everyone—that matters to him?

In the midst of this personal turmoil, Gamache receives a call from Myrna Landers, owner of the used bookstore in Three Pines.  She's worried about a friend who failed to return to the tiny village as expected.  Myrna's reluctance to expose the woman's identity puzzles Gamache until he learns that 77-year-old Constance Pineault was once a very famous woman, a household name not just in Canada, but all over the world.  Who killed the reluctant celebrity?  And why?  It's up to Gamache to find out.  

Juggling the case in Three Pines as well as a major internal crisis decades in the making, Gamache may be in over his head.  Especially without his loyal subjects by his side.  Will the Chief Inspector emerge triumphant?  Or will his brilliant career come to a tragic, shameful end?

It's no secret how much I love Louise Penny's immersive mystery series set mostly in the unforgettable hamlet of Three Pines.  I adore it for many reasons, but mostly because of the kind, intelligent man at its center.  Armand Gamache is a character like no other, one who inspires admiration from both his fictional colleagues and leagues of real people who enjoy reading about his exploits.  It's tough for a raging fangirl like me to see the great man suffer, so How the Light Gets In—the ninth installment in the series—was a bit of a painful read for me.  And, yet, I think it's my favorite Gamache novel so far.  It's tense, exciting, fascinating, funny, and tender.  I loved it, from its first sentence to its last (especially the last).  I can't wait to see what's in store for this beloved cast in the next book, The Long Way Home.  That title sounds kind of ominous, actually ... should I be worried?

(Readalikes: Other books in the Armand Gamache series, including Still Life; A Fatal Grace; The Cruelest Month; A Rule Against Murder; The Brutal Telling; Bury Your Dead; The Hangman [novella]; A Trick of the Light; The Beautiful Mystery; The Long Way Home; The Nature of the Beast; A Great Reckoning; and Glass Houses)

Grade:

 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

  

for language, violence, and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of How The Light Gets In from Changing Hands Bookstore with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.