EFR REVIEWS

FLOR & MIRANDA Miranda is the lead singer in her family's musical band, Miranda y Los Reyes. Her family has worked hard performing at festivals and quinceañeras. Now, they have a shot at the main stage. How will Miranda make it a performance to remember?  Flor's family runs the petting zoo at Mr. Barsetti's carnival. When she accidentally overhears Mr. Barsetti and Miranda's dad talk about cutting the zoo to accommodate Miranda y Los Reyes's main stage salary, she knows she has to take action. Will she have the heart for sabotage once she and Miranda actually start to become friends? ★★★☆☆ Miranda is the lead singer in the family band Miranda y los Reyes. When traveling carnival owner Mr. Barsetti sees her sing, he offers the band a chance to join the performer roster. It'll mean the biggest crowds the band has ever seen! But in order to make this dream happen for them, Mr. Barsetti feels he'll have to cut someone else from the team

*Note: Little Paris Bookshop review originally posted October 2015* LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself. ★   ★ ★ ☆

ANGEL DOLL   Set in a North Carolina manufacturing town during the 1950s, it is the poignant story of two ten-year-old boys and their search for an angel doll, a search that turned into a lesson of love. Every day Whitey Black reads The Littlest Angel to his sister Sandy, a four-year-old stricken with polio. Now she wants just one thing for Christmas: an angel doll. Unfortunately, in this small North Carolina town, no one has ever heard of such a thing. Nevertheless, Whitey Black and his best friend set out to find her one, at great cost and for even greater reward. ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ The Angel Doll , short story / novella length and set primarily in the 1950s, is the story of Jimmy "Whitey" Black, a ten year old boy whose four year old sister Sandy is battling polio. Every day,  Sandy's favorite part of the day, Jimmy sits down to read the book The Littlest Angel to his sister.  The Littlest Angel (1949),  read by Loretta Young Knowing his sister loves an

AN UNCOMMON WOMAN Unflinching and plainspoken, Tessa Swan is not your typical 18th-century woman. Born and bred on the western Virginia frontier along with her five brothers, she is a force to be reckoned with.  Quiet and courageous, Clay Tygart is not your typical 18th-century man. Raised by Lenape Indians, he returns a hero from the French and Indian War to the fort that bears his name, bringing with him Tessa's long-lost friend, Keturah, a redeemed Indian captive like himself.  Determined to avoid any romantic entanglements as fort commander, Clay remains aloof whenever he encounters the lovely Tessa. But when harm befalls Tessa, his hand--and heart--are forced, leading to one very private and one very public reckoning.  Intense, evocative, and laced with intricate historical details that bring the past to life,   An Uncommon Woman   will transport you to the picturesque and dangerous western Virginia mountains of 1770. ★★★1/2 In 1770 West Virginia, Tessa Swan is