Coral Cove Series
Author: Laura Kennedy
Genre: YA Girls, YA Mystery, Girls Mystery
Buy link for the series: https://amzn.to/3DSszHl
Surf Shop Sisters
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3HODAMh
Blurb
I guess everyone wants something in life. It was easy figuring out what each of my BFFs wanted the beginning of our Junior Year at Coral Cove High. For brainy Sudsy it was to get skinny; for upwardly mobile Tamara to get more stuff, and problem child Maria to be treated like she was older than ten. Who knew that bigger problems lurked in the swampy bayous of Coral Cove, like redheaded Paris Breck, threatening to take me, Brooke, down like a clump of stinky seaweed in the Gulf of Mexico.
Double Take
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/32xJJMM
Blurb
When sixteen-year-old Brooke Bentley’s green convertible and cell phone conk out during a tropical rainstorm, she believes it’s just bad luck. But when she darts through the dark to a dilapidated Victorian she thinks is the home of a friend and is invited in by a butler in a faded black tux, Brooke knows it must be karma. Because how often do you meet a reclusive 1950’s movie star who thinks she’s actress Terry Moore? And how often does someone as charming as eighty-year-old Laura de France insist on transforming you into a movie star, too?
How can something as simple as a dress control your life? It can if it’s the famous green toga worn by actress Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra and you’ll do anything to wear it.
“Reading ‘Double Take’ reminded me of my teen years at MGM studios where I had the good fortune to go to the Little Red School House with such young talent as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.”
– Sharon Randall, formerly Janice Chambers, ninety-year-old singer/actress.
NOTE: Though 'Double Take' was written and published first, 'Surf Shop Sisters' takes place prior to the events in 'Double Take'. The books may be read in any order.
Suddenly Singapore
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3FL1arv
Blurb
*NOTE: Recognizing Asian Pacific heritage month, special pricing of $2.99 on this book!
I should have known the night we landed at Singapore’s Changi Airport things would turn out badly.
That something was already steeping in the thick, black Malaysian air like a tea ball of Darjeeling in a teapot.
A something that would totally change my life forever.
Torn from her old existence in Florida, seventeen-year-old Brooke Bentley is forced to find new friends against a backdrop of intrigue, violence and revenge.
Reviewed By Grant Leishman for Readers’ Favorite - 4 Stars Suddenly Singapore (Coral Cove Book 3) by Laura Kennedy is a young adult thriller/mystery that centers around the adventures of a seventeen-year-old Floridian beauty, Brooke Bentley. Brooke should be experiencing her senior year at high school in Florida, enjoying her friends and the attentions of her boyfriend, but instead, she is jetting halfway around the world with her mother and younger brother to join her father who has been appointed to manage a hotel construction in Singapore, a job that will take around a year to complete. Brooke and her brother will attend the highly prestigious and exclusive Marlborough Academy with the sons and daughters of Singapore’s rich and powerful movers and shakers. She will have to deal with making new friends, exotic new foods, a foreign language, and a pace of life she will find very different from her laid-back days back in Florida. In Toy, a chubby, shy girl and Mu, a sweet, gay boy, she quickly finds acceptance and friendship but what really excites her is the possibility of joining the exclusive clique club known as the Chameleons, to which only the super-popular girls are privileged to belong. Brooke will discover the joys and excitement of the metropolis that is Singapore, along with her share of adventure and danger, not to mention a touch of romance. This year in a foreign country will be like nothing she has experienced before. Suddenly Singapore could best be described as “mean girls go Asian." Author Laura Kennedy has created an interesting character in Brooke. She is young, blonde, vivacious, and beautiful, which allows her to run with the popular, cliquey girls but she is also moral, kind-hearted, and sweet, which allows her to also empathize and befriend those who don’t always make the list of popular girls. I think it was her difference, her uniqueness as a blonde American that both made her stand out as different and strange, yet equally allowed her to fit in as someone unique and worthy of interest to the other young adults, especially in her school. I particularly enjoyed the breadth of characters that made up the Chameleons, with their wealthy pampered existence of maids, drivers, and beautiful houses that didn’t necessarily guarantee self-love, self-confidence, self-worth, and of course, happiness. Their often seemingly vacuous existence emphasized the idea that money definitely does not buy happiness. The plot was twisty enough to keep me interested as a reader and I did enjoy the opportunity to vicariously visit and picture the many attractions that make Singapore such an interesting city. The exotic location chosen by the author definitely gives the story a more exciting and magical feel. The writing was simple, straightforward and propelled the reader onward in such a way that it was easy to read the entire book in one sitting. For something entertaining, without requiring too much in-depth thought, this is a thoroughly readable young adult adventure that I can recommend.
Singapore Unveiled
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3DSEtAX
Blurb
The ancient game of mah-jongg is sort of like life, each ivory tile a clue, a direction to take, a season of the year or even danger ahead.
I realize now I should have paid more attention the months I was in Singapore. I should have sensed something ominous from those exotic designs warning me about Summer and her little sister Plum. But being me, I had to find out the hard way.
From Readers' Favorites
“Mean Girls go Asian.” “Exotic location … gives story an exciting and magical feel.” Reader’s Favorite 4 Star Review
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