Review: Circle of Silence by Carol M. Tanzman

 Circle of Silence by Carol M Tanzman

WiHi #2

Release Date: July 24^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 304

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Source: NetGalley

THE BIGGEST STORY OF MY LIFE COULD BE HOW IT ENDS It's my turn to run a "Campus News" crew, and I've put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead. A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda or initiation secrets-until a student lands in the hospital under "strange" circumstances. I "will" blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt...or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don't trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is "not" important to this story.) But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast...be sure to watch "Campus News" at 9:00 a.m. this Friday. "This addicting, thrilling mystery hits upon many of our worst fears."-"Booklist "on "dancergirl"

If there’s one thing I can say about this book, it’s that it’s a great mystery. I couldn’t really predict who MP was, who were part of the group, which is always a positive things. (I do have to say that I had guessed one of the members before the end of the book.) It is a little disappointing when at the middle of the book, you already now who the bad guys are. Skeletor is seriously something. He is quite scary when you realized how far he is ready to go.

Now, Valerie is the kind of stubborn character that is perfect for this kind of novel. After all, she just won’t give up, even if it puts her at risk. Did I want to scream at her to stop a few times during the book? Yes! Was I captivated by her story, as she tries to dig deeper and deeper to find the truth? Totally. And with Jagger added to the mix, who is almost as stubborn as Valerie, we were in for a hell of a chase. I have to say that I really l enjoy the interaction between those two. They both don’t want to back down, so there's some tension between those two (doesn’t help that they use to date too!) I really enjoy seeing Valerie reacts to Jagger. It was quite entertaining.

Now, I have to say that the MP group was a little more extreme than I had expected when first reading about the book. I didn’t expect them to put people in dangerous situations, the way they did. Still, it’s mostly Skeletor that is crazily scary. I mean, imagine if he is that twisted as a teenager, what will he be when he grows older!

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the mystery. It was well written, captivating and I simply couldn’t put it down. I had to figure out who they were and what would happen with Jagger, before I stop reading. Definitely worth reading!

Review: dancergirl

Title: dancergirl

Author: Carol M. Tanzman

Series: WiHi #1

Release Date: November 15^th, 2011

Number of Pages: 248

Publisher: Harlequin

Source: NetGalley

EVER FEEL LIKE SOMEONE’S WATCHING YOU?

ME TOO.

BUT LATELY IT’S BEEN HAPPENING IN MY ROOM.

WHEN I’M ALONE.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I’m no longer Alicia Ruffino. I’m dancergirl. And suddenly it’s like me against the world—everyone’s got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he’s acting weird. And some stalker isn’t content to just watch anymore.

Ali. dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you’ve seen me online, I’ve trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

 Wow! I was really surprised by this book. Not that I was expecting it to be bad. Far from it. I just didn’t expect it to really keep me on my toes as much as it did. I was expecting more a drama than that kind of mystery, which is why I was nicely surprised.

I think this book will probably get some teenagers to realize the impact of your online presence. That’s what I liked. It started as a couple of video filmed and staged to look slightly stalkerish, only to end up getting the attention of a real stalker. There was just enough creepiness with the videos being posted online to make people realize that posting everything online may not be the wisest idea.

The book is fast paced, as it is a little short (only 250 pages). It was slightly confusing at first I must say, as there were a lot of characters that were suddenly feature without really being introduced. That’s probably the only thing that was really missing for me. I like knowing a little more about the characters that are there for more than just two or three sentences.

Alicia may have been making me scream with some of her choices, especially when it came down to her best friend Jacy, but I still really liked her. I wished we could have known more about her best friends though. From what I’ve read, I really like Jacy, so a little more from him would have been nice (in the next book perhaps???). The other characters really didn’t stand out that much, which is understandable with a book that short.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I really got captivated by the mystery surrounding the stalker. It really got me hooked and I can’t wait to read more from Carol M. Tanzman.  If you’re looking for a fast and captivating book, you should probably give it a shot!