BOOK REVIEW: ON THE WAY DOWN BY ELLA FOX

Title: On the Way Down

Author: Ella Fox

Genre: Romance, New Adult

Published on: October 16, 2018, self-published

What happens when one of the most famous actors in Hollywood falls head over heels in love with a high school senior?

She was too young

Shaelyn Monroe believed larger-than-life action star Garrett Riordan was out of her league.

He was too famous

Garrett knew the mysterious girl who ignored him like it was her job was something special.

Against all the odds, Garrett and Shaelyn worked.

Right up until the moment unthinkable happened.

On The Way Down is book one of The Retake Duet 

Are you a fan of star-crossed lovers in books? Then you might enjoy On The Way Down. It’s a contemporary romance about a superstar and an average person. The main character is Shaelyn Monroe. She’s a seventeen-year old with shallow pockets and modest aspirations. The love interest is Garrett Riordan, a popular Hollywood actor. They meet because Shaelyn’s mother is a low-level worker at the set of Garrett’s latest movie.

Garrett and Shaelyn notice each other at pretty much the same time. Shaelyn’s mother has been bringing her to work. Having nothing to do, Shaelyn spends her time reading at one of the trailers. Garrett spots her and breaks the ice. There’s easy rapport between them, which surprises Shaelyn a bit. She doesn’t fangirl over Garrett despite knowing who he is. Garrett seems to appreciate that Shaelyn isn’t a groupie. She treats him like a regular person.

BOOK REVIEW: WILDCARD BY MARIE LU

Title: Wildcard

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published on: September 18, 2018 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books

Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.

Determined to put a stop to Hideo's grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone's put a bounty on Emika's head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn't all that he seems--and his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

Prodigious eighteen-year-old hacker Emika Chen returns in this conclusion to her duology. Wildcard opens shortly after the aftermath of the final Warcross championship match. If you recall, Warcross is a globally popular AR game played through high-tech glasses. The creator, Hideo Tanaka, drafted Emika into an official team as a cover to hunt for someone. This was a great move, as Emika is not only a fine Warcross player. She’s also a notable bounty hunter, a job Emika took up so she could make ends meet. Emika spent most of the Warcross novel trying to catch Zero, an elusive black hat hacker.

Hideo and Emika were fairly sure Zero sought to take down the NeuroLink. That’s the software that powers Warcross and several other critical technologies. Emika managed to catch up to Zero during the final match. After stopping him, it seemed that Emika had saved the day. Then Zero made a shocking revelation. Emika may have been on the wrong side the whole time. Her efforts unwittingly activated a secret project Hideo had been working on. Emika’s trust in Hideo is damaged once she finds out what he kept from her.

BOOK REVIEW: CAREER OF EVIL BY ROBERT GALBRAITH

Title: Career of Evil
Author: Robert Galbraith
Genre: Mystery

Published on: October 20, 2015 by Mulholland Books

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible--and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them...

Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

After reading The Cuckoo’s Calling, I thought it was good enough that I bought the next two books right away. This one is the third entry. Yeah, Cormoran Strike is a trilogy now. I wonder if Career of Evil will be the last book. The characters are really good, but I’m still not a huge fan. Robin Ellacott is the exception. I’d totally read a series about her. She's one of those supporting characters that pretty much steals the show.

Career of Evil sees protagonist Cormoran Strike through his biggest case yet. After solving two murders, he’s become quite a celebrated private eye in London. Strike’s office has been getting steady business. It must be said that Robin Ellacott is in great part responsible for this success. She’s become more than a simple assistant since she began working for Strike. Robin was quite useful in the previous case, where her excellent driving skills made a big difference. It helps that Robin loves her job. Whether she's investigating or assisting an investigator, she enjoys it.

BOOK REVIEW: ALSO KNOWN AS BY ROBIN BENWAY

Title: Also Known As

Author: Robin Benway

Genre: Young Adult, mystery

Published on: February 26, 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

From New York Times bestselling, National Book Award winning author Robin Benway comes the first book in a hilarious and romantic duology about a normal girl . . . who just so happens to be a spy.

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

There’s a certain appeal to stories about spies. It’s likely about escapism. Spies (at least the way they’re portrayed in fiction) lead risky but arguably glamorous lives. They get to travel the world, for one. The protagonist of Also Known As certainly gets to do just that. She’s Maggie Silver, a teenage daughter of spy parents. The trio work for a covert organization called the Collective. When the story starts, the Silvers are finishing a mission in Iceland. Maggie’s part of the mission because she has a particular specialty. At just fifteen, Maggie is perhaps the best safecracker in the world. She can break into any safe or lock. Maggie’s been doing it all her life.

If you ask Maggie, one drawback about the spy life is how lonely it is. She’s rarely ever interacted with people her own age. Couple that with moving to different countries all the time, and it’s obvious Maggie hasn’t had the chance to make friends. So, when the Collective assign a new mission, Maggie is thrilled. This will be the first time Maggie handles a mission on her own. She feels ready to prove herself. Maggie and her parents fly to New York for the mission. The objective is for Maggie to attend a private high school. There, she must find a student by the name of Jesse Oliver. Maggie must befriend him to get access to his father, a journalist. The Collective believe that he is about to expose their organization.