Beauty by Robin McKinley

Teen fantasy. I have been revisiting some of my favorite books and reading them aloud to my children. I chose about 5 and let them pick which one I should start with. All three chose Beauty.

Robin McKinley is an incredible author whose descriptions and characters are life like and full of color. I've read Beauty too many times to count. I never tire of rereading it. It's the best retelling of Beauty and the Beast fairy tale that I have ever read (and I've read a lot of them)!  It's one of the books I always recommend to all types of readers, young and old, male and female. All three of my kids really enjoyed it. It's not too mushy for a 12 year old boy, but has enough romance for a 14 year girl to sink into. It has decisions that are hard to make and people who turn out to be more than you thought.

Recommend: Yes Yes Yes.

Murder in Waiting by Lynn Cahoon

Mystery. This is an addition to Cahoon's Tourist Trap Mystery series. I advance order each installment to read on my Kindle. It's always a wonderful surprise when I open up my email and see that it's been delivered!  I've bought into these characters hook line and sinker!  Admittedly they aren't always the best written plots, but the culprit is never easy to guess and I thoroughly enjoy getting lost in the fictional town of South Cove, California.

Jill is the owner of the local bookstore/coffee shop and her boyfriend, Greg, is the small town's police chief. With a cast of endearing characters in the town, including Jill's eccentric aunt and a police dispatcher who is clairvoyant, there is plenty of side plots going on amidst the murder investigation to keep the story moving well.

Recommend: Yes.