The Shunning by Beverly Lewis

My work friends and I started reading this series because a couple of us had watched the Hallmark presentation of it. We just had to know what happened next because there were not anymore movies made! As always, the Amish community is always intriguing to read about. In Hickory Hollow, Pennsylvania, a secret lies within the Lapp family. When Katie Lapp stumbles upon a satin infant gown in the dusty leather trunk of her parents' attic, she knows that something is just not right. After figuring out the name in the dress is actually her natural born name she finally realizes why she has not always been the most obedient Amish girl. When she is supposed to marry widower Bishop John she is too distraught by the resent news to go through with it. She runs out of the wedding and as a result she is shunned from the community. At the end of this novel there was a twist that I was not even prepared for. I have just began the second novel, and can not wait to see where it leads.

29 by Adena Halpern

I ordered this book because it reminded me so much of my own grandmother. I really enjoyed this book, one of the most heartwarming and endearing books I've read in awhile. Ellie, a 75-year-old woman, wishes upon her birthday candles that she could be 29 again for one day. Her wish comes true and hilarious problems arise, leaving the reader giggling along with the tale of an old lady in a young woman's body once again. She spends the day with her granddaughter, Lucy. They try to fulfill her youthful wishes from new clothes, haircut, and love. In the mist of it, Ellie's best friend and daughter go on a searching rampage for her that is quite comical as well. In the end she finally realizes who the true love of her life has always been. "You're only young twice!"

Harvest by Tess Gerritsen

Another stand alone by Gerritsen, which was better than the last but not completely impressive. It plays on the conspiracy of hospital patients purposely being put into irreversible comas so that they can sell their organs for extremely high prices on the black market. The main character, young surgical resident Dr. Abby DiMatteo, puts the plot together and ultimately discover that the people she has trusted and learned from are behind the unbelievable acts. DiMatteo also faces many malpractices suits as one donation goes bad and the family is out to get her career. Finally, she finds herself thrown into the mix, about to get her own organs taken because she knows too much. There are also foreign orphans and Russian mobsters added into the plot. Along with doctors who's murders are disguised as suicides. Kind of all over the place, but not too bad of a novel.

The Bronze Pen by Zipha Keatly Snyder

I chose the latest Snyder book for Read Aloud because I enjoyed her books when I was younger. Although this one was good, it did not seem as magical to me as her older ones did. Audrey is a young girl who finds an old woman in a cave. The old lady gives her a bronze pen, that has unique powers. Whenever Audrey writes a store, it comes to life. She has to figure out what she can and can't ask for using the pen. Her main goals is to get rid of her father's heart problems and make her mother's boss at work nicer to her.

43 Old Cemetery Road: Over My Dead Body by Kate Klise

The sequel to the previous book I read... just as cute. This time a man named Dick Tater is out to get the trio because of their irregular arrangement of an old man, ghost, and young boy living together under the same roof writing ghost stories. Tater uses this opportunity to speak out against ghosts and to attempt to cancel Halloween. Grumply gets committed to the Illinois Home for the Deranged and has Seymour sent to the orphanage until his parents come to pick him up from their tour in France. Because the next 3 chapters in their book will not be published on time they decide to publish some of Olive's old manuscripts, but it becomes a problem since she can't remember where she hid them.Of course things get ironed out in the end, and it appears that there is a third installment to this new series. 

43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise

This was a super-quick and laughable read for young readers. The basic format of the book is set up into letters, newspaper articles, and pictures with captions. You can tell from the beginning that it is going to be a humorous read just by meeting the characters: Olive C. Spence, Seymour Hope, and I.B. Grumply. A children's author, Grumply, moves into a Victorian mansion to overcome a twenty year writer's block in order to complete his "Ghost Tamer" series. He finds out that the mansion is already occupied with a boy name Seymour and his cat, as well as a ghost of long ago deceased writer, Olive. She has vowed to haunt the house until one of her mysteries is published. The three main characters form a tight niche relationship and produce a book through collaboration. This sequel is next on my list!

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I had always seen great reviews about this book, but simply never got around to reading it. Finally, when I saw a preview of the movie based on this novel on television I decided to add this to my list of books to read. (I tend to do this quiet frequently, and find that the book is always better) In Water for Elephants, ninety-three year old Jacob Jankowski flashes back and forth between his present day in the nursing home and his past, when life went so wrong he joined the circus at twenty-one. Once there he does odds and ends for a place to stay on the train. Soon after they find out that he went to school to be a vet, and it was just his luck the circus had just found themselves short of one for their exotic animals. These animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and often abused. The sad part of all of this is that most of the events of the novel are based off of true circus events, and just added together into one story line. The author has definitely pulled in key information about circuses in that time that only thorough research could provide. Early on, he finds himself falling in love with the animal trainer's wife, Marlena... and also an elephant, Rosie. The characters and animals in this novel are well rounded, relateable, and detailed so that the reader can not help but feel a connection to each. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can not wait to see how they have interpreted it in the movie coming out next week starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Can Pattinson pull off a role that is not a vampire? We shall see!