Hello and Welcome!

Red House Books is going through a bit of a update!

I've always had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted this space to be but I've been detoured from my path by...lots and lost of other people's opinions and ways of doing things...

I'm committed to this little chunk of the interweb but I've also branched out into other places so! Now it's time to think of Red House Books as more of a hub of all things me! And Me is a hell of a lot of book love!

Stay tuned!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Book Review: Island Sting by Bonnie J. Doerr

Title: Island Sting
Author: Bonnie J. Doerr
Publication Date: March 2010
Tags: eco-mystery, green teens, friendship, environmental awareness
Age: 12+ maybe younger (my guesstimate)
Pages: approx 218
Series: 1st in a series?
Book Acquisition: ARC from Around the World Tours AND Other World Tours*

My Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

(from Goodreads)
Kenzie Ryan's New York know-how and private girls' academy education prove useless in the middle of an island wildlife refuge.
Upon arrival in the exotic Florida Keys, she is thrown into the midst of an ecological mystery involving the endangered Florida Key deer. How can she navigate this upside down world? A world deftly maneuvered by Angelo--island native and nerve-wracking hunk. The two team up to accomplish what perplexes law enforcement, but Angelo exposes Kenzie's insecurities, as well as her inexperience with nature and the opposite sex.
Danger and disagreement follow the pair wherever they go. Enamored with Angelo and his local savvy, Kenzie hopes to secure his loyal friendship. But how can she win Angelo's trust when what she must tell him will crush his ego?
Island Sting includes notes on the endangered Florida Key Deer and the National Key Deer Refuge.

My Review:
It took me a little while to warm up to this one but once I did I very much enjoyed the story. The plot was interesting - a mystery thrown together with a strong environmental message.

I really liked how passionate Kenzie was about saving and protecting the adorable Florida Key Deer. But
at times I felt disconnected to the characters and exactly what they were either talking about or doing. This could be due to the fact that I read the advanced review copy – we all know the importance of a well placed punctuation mark! I’m not sure though. The story itself was well told but it seemed to jump around a lot..

I really liked the environmental issues it brought up and I think Bonnie did a great job bringing them to the forefront. Also, there is a small amount of romance which I found to be very cute.

I haven't been able to find any real info on it but there was a excerpt in the back of Island Sting for what I assume is the next book in the series, called Stakeout. It looks pretty good and I hope I can find a copy to read!

I would recommend this book to fans of the environment who like cute, spunky mystery stories.

*totally my fault that I signed up for this book tour with two different tour blogs - they are both great, run by great people and you should get them both out!

Books in the Series:
Island Sting (January 2010)
Stakeout?

Linkage Love:
Leap Books
Author's Website
To learn more about the Florida Keys refuge
To help the Florida Key deer

Other Reviews:
Reviews by other bloggers from both tours can be found here and here.

*if you would like your review added please leave me a link in the comments*

2 comments:

  1. This sounds cute! Who doesn't love a little mystery in a book? And it's great that this raises awareness about ecological issues, too.

    Emidy
    from Une Parole

    ReplyDelete



Thanks a bunch for visiting :)