Alex and The Other: Weird Stories Gone Wrong #4 by Philippa Dowding

Book 4 in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series!Beware the haunted bathroom mirror at school. Beware strangers in overcoats and dark glasses, whispering in the trees. But most of all, Beware The Other …
Alex is the loneliest boy at school. Not only are his parents away (again), but his beloved cat is missing. Plus, one morning his reflection in the haunted bathroom mirror at school starts talking to him. Then two mysterious strangers in overcoats and sunglasses appear, whispering the same message, over and over: Beware The Other …

But, worse than all that, is the girl with the braid. She looks just like Alex. She’s better than him at everything, and they even share the same name. Soon, she’s the only Alex anyone can see, at school, at work, even at home. In no time, it’s almost as though the real Alex never existed at all.

Can the real Alex outsmart his evil twin and get his life back before she replaces him for good? And more importantly, who is the real Alex, anyway?


An engaging read for middle school grades.
Alex is a lonely boy who already feels invisible most of the time. After a mysterious green fog rolls in, it seems Alex may turn invisible for real. Someone is trying to take over his life, but help may come from the strangest of places. Mildly creepy, with cute illustrations, and a true life lesson to be yourself.
4 out of 5 stars
I received an advance copy for review.

The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her new-born, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: ‘Let’s take the child – and go.’

Is someone trying to steal her little girl?

In the bedroom, her daughter is safe asleep in her cot. Is the voice coming from a nearby house? But there aren’t any other babies living on her quiet country road…

The police don't believe her. And neither does her husband.

Kirstie knows something isn’t right. She thought she could trust her neighbours, now she isn’t sure. As she unravels the secrets of the people living on her street, Kirstie’s perfect life begins to fall apart.

Because someone is hiding a terrible lie. And they will do anything to stop Kirstie uncovering the truth. But is the danger closer to home than she thinks?


New mom Kirstie is finally living her happily ever after with her new baby daughter and husband Dom after years of struggling to carry a child to term. This should be the most wonderful time of her life.. but something isn't right in her ideal little neighborhood and nobody seems to believe her. This was a gripping psychological thriller that leaves you never knowing who to trust from one minute to the next. Could Kirstie's husband be gas-lighting her? Or is Kirstie suffering post partum depression and a wild imagination? Maybe it's that oddball neighbor or even her best friend who can't be trusted. You won't rest until you get to the end!
5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Trolls in the Attic: and other tales of the Supernatural by Joanie K. Findle

Description

Chilling spine-tingling mysteries. A single roll of the cursed dice can alter a life forever. What evil world is revealed when the music box plays its grim tune? Their seances had never successfully contacted the deceased... until now. Something terrifying lurks in the basement freezer. Nothing is as it seems...


This is a fun collection of supernatural (but not too scary) fanciful tales geared towards an audience of middle school  kids.
The stories I most enjoyed were Midnight at Camp Hideaway- where a family camping trip leads to a spooky midnight stake out to find out what's going on after Grandpa tells the kids to make sure they're tucked away and fast asleep by midnight.

Birds of a Feather- There's more than ice cream nestled in Auntie's basement freezer which starts a mighty strange occurrence at a family reunion.

Reflections in the Mirror- a magical mirror gives the gazer the ability to travel through time.

My absolute favorite was Buddy- a story about a stray cat who appears to lonely children when they are most in need of a friend.

4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review


 

The Manson Women and Me by Nikki Meredith

In the summer of 1969, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel carried out horrific acts of butchery on the orders of the charismatic cult leader Charles Manson. At their murder trial the following year, lead prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi described the two so-called Manson Women as "human monsters." But to anyone who knew them growing up, they were bright, promising girls, seemingly incapable of such an unfathomable crime.

Award-winning journalist Nikki Meredith began visiting Van Houten and Krenwinkel in prison to discover how they had changed during their incarceration. The more Meredith got to know them, the more she was lured into a deeper dilemma: What compels "normal" people to do unspeakable things?

The author's relationship with her subjects provides a chilling lens through which we gain insight into a particular kind of woman capable of a particular kind of brutality. Through their stories, Nikki Meredith takes readers on a dark journey into the very heart of evil

There's not a lot of new information on the Manson family (or Manson Women) contained in this book and for some reason the author has rambled on, jumping from decade to decade without much rhyme or reason. It's the 90s, then it's 2001 and then it's 1940 something and I am left wondering why I need to know that the author was having dreams about Hitler unless that somehow fits in with the ties they want to show that the Tate/ Labianca murders had something to do with being Jewish. I'm also not entirely clear on what the author's brother having been in jail has to do with anything. Maybe I dozed off. Sorry, there's nothing to see here.

I received an advance copy for review