Review: The Garden - Book #4 Shelfbrooke Academy Series - Amy Sparling - July 2019 Growing up, did you enjoy the children's classic novel - The Secret Garden? I just adored the whole idea of finding a magical garden tucked away that could become not only a safe haven but a spot of healing and joy. Our book starts with the introduction of Sophia Brass who lives in California and rubs shoulders with celebrities. She has never needed for anything as she lives in a world of luxury. Her life has been a series of private tutors and homeschooling, however, her grades are starting to slip due to her extra-curricular of partying and drinking, etc. Her parents decide to enroll her in Shelfbrooke Academy till graduation. Sophia's cousin Belle attends Shelfbrooke Academy and Sophia has managed to board with her. Turns out though that Sophia who thought she could just slip into the popular crowd finds it a challenge as she ends up being blacklisted and ignored. It doesn'...

Review: Sway - Book #3 Shelfbrooke Academy Series - M.F Lorson - July 2019 As readers know during this quarantine period, I have been trying my hardest to clear my kindle of old books rather than reading 2020 releases all the time. I was in the mood for a YA last night and a high school romance. One of my favorite series is the Shelfbrooke Academy. Each book is based on a classic story/play. Book #3 Sway is based on the Jane Austen classic Persuasion with Anne Elliot and Wentworth. In the real story of Persuasion, Anne and Captain Wentworth get engaged only to be split and not see each other for seven years. After being reunited, Anne tries to win back Wentworth's heart and hand in marriage.  As Shelfbrooke Academy is a YA and set more in the modern world of teens and dating. Our book starts one summer where Anne Elliot and her family have moved to Boston to live with her Aunt after her mother's death. During this time, she explores Boston and the islands su...

Review: Tessa -  Book #2 Shelfbrooke Academy Series - Kayla Tirrell - June 2019 Wanting a YA series to read? I have been enjoying so far the Shelfbrooke Academy series as each book is a loosely based rendition of a famous classic novel/play. Tessa is based on the classic novel Tess of the D'Ubervilles. In Tessa, we meet adopted daughter Tessa Fielder who has just learned she has inherited a lot of money and is, in fact, a long-lost descendant of the D'Villes name. Tessa is then given the chance to attend Shelfbrooke Academy and is given a private room. While at the school, her first friends are both scholarship students whom she connects well with as despite the newfound wealth, she is still Tessa Fielder who was adopted and saved from a life in the Foster Care system. When she arrives at the school though, someone knows her true identity and believes that she should embrace the D'Ville name which of course isn't Tessa's intentions. She later l...