Beach Reading...Review of: IN THE CARDS: LOVE

As my summer of reading Aladdin Mix books continues, I've recently finished IN THE CARDS: LOVE By Mariah Fredericks. It's hard for me to read a book without also having KELLY QUINN on my mind. That is particularly true of IN THE CARDS because there are similarities. IN THE CARDS has three girls who inherit a deck of mysterious tarot cards. KELLY QUINN'S SECRET COOKING CLUB also has three girls who find a secret and mysterious book. Both stories have a similar magical smell.

IN THE CARDS: LOVE is the first of three books that explores middle-grader life, and all its friend-stuff. Anna, the narrator, is left a set of tarot cards by an elderly woman for whom she cat-sat, but who is now dead. Anna, a self-proclaimed 'nobody', has a crush on hottie Declan. The cards indicate Anna will get the boy, but she's disappointed to learn that Declan was seen kissing the popular girl at a Halloween party. That romance doesn't last long, because as the cards predicted, Declan soon chooses Anna instead. Anna's ego balloons and soon she blows off her buddies to spend more time with her now boyfriend...who turns out to be less awesome than she'd originally thought. There are all sorts of middle-grade emotions: jealousy, pettiness and self-consciousness run amok depicted in this book.

The recommendation: It's a good read filled with good characters, cool cats and interesting tarot tid-bits. This book delves into boyfriend-girlfriend relationships more than the other Aladdin Mix books I've read. It's still G, but might be for the older middle-graders ie: 11, 12, 13 even 14.

What are YOU reading on the beach??

You've gotta start somewhere

So, getting started was harder than I’d thought. I figured I’d start at the beginning. But the beginning of what?
Here it goes: ACT I, Scene 1
(Callaghan sits in the elbow of the microfiber sectional with her favorite pad and extra soft mechanical pencil.)
One day I woke up in suburbia with a husband, three children, three cats, a lazy dog, a job, a car (cooler than a minivan), a writing hobby, and a coffee addiction. Thankfully, U2, jeans, and fountain Diet Coke (DC) remain in style. Sadly, The X-Files, toe socks and roller skating are passé, not that I care very much about being “in.”
So, here I was thirty-something deciding to take my writing hobby seriously by writing a novel. I worked on several serious projects for several years.
>>>FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
I’m still thirty-something, and thanks to the handiwork of a crackerjack literary agent, Sarah Davies from the Greenhouse Literary Agency, Aladdin Books (Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing) is publishing my ‘tween book KELLY QUINN’S SECRET COOKING CLUB. And it’s this wonderful news that has brought me to the long pondered According to Moi.