Life of a Random

Publication Date: October 1, 2012 Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books Pages: 368 Source: library Format: Hardcover "I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ." Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she's never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls. But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds--and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house's past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threate...

Publication Date: March 4, 2014 Publisher: Bethany House Pages: 317 Source: Bethany House Format: Paperback I did not go into this book expecting to like it. Let me explain...Usually, Christian fiction is churned out one after the other. Very similar plots, very similar characters, and very similar romances. But I loved this book because it wasn't like any other Christian fiction I've ever read! I liked it so much that I'm actually considering buying the first book since this is the second book in a series. Death by the Book is a historical mystery. That said, it totally rocked the mystery. I didn't guess the villain/murderer. Not even close. I had my doubts about every single person except the right one. The author did an amazing job of pulling my suspicion one way and then pulling it another way. I also felt like the author was being too obvious about the suspects, but it turns out she was weaving a complicated web of "suspects" on purpose tha...

About time I posted something, I think. I have been HUGELY busy (yes that is a thing) because it's coming down to the wire in my sociology class, in other words-- finals. Yikes! My final paper is sitting to my right. I'm scared of reading through it one last time because *pauses to collect myself* editing. If I find one comma wrong, I cannot stop myself from re-printing the entire paper. EDIT: I did find a mistake and I did reprint a whole page. School makes me grumpy. Today, my peeps, I give you a review. I also want to talk really quickly about the books I review on Life of a Random . First of all, I've never really stated specifically what I review but I focus almost completely on YA fiction, narrowing it further down to dystopian, sci-fi, and fantasy usually. However, I read in all types of genera so you can expect a historical YA fiction once in a while or a biography, or etc. etc. Also, I'm a reviewer for Bethany House now so you can probably expect one Ch...