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Athena Protocol

Description: Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world. Athena operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill—so when Jessie can’t stop herself from pulling the trigger, she gets kicked out of the organization, right before a huge mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.   Jessie needs to right her wrong and prove herself, so she starts her own investigation into the trafficking. But going rogue means she has no one to watch her back as she delves into the horrors she uncovers. Meanwhile, her former teammates have been ordered to bring her down. Jessie must face danger from all sides if she’s to complete her mission—and survive. Review: I have always been frustrated with the James Bond and Mission Impossible movie franchises especially with their reductive treatment of women who are either the femme fatale caricuture or an "agent" who is suppose to be capable an...

The Secret

Greetings From Witness Protection!


Description: Nicki Demere is an orphan and a pickpocket. She also happens to be the U.S. Marshals’ best bet to keep a family alive. The marshals are looking for the perfect girl to join a mother, father, and son on the run from the nation’s most notorious criminals. After all, the bad guys are searching for a family with one kid, not two, and adding a streetwise girl who knows a little something about hiding things may be just what the marshals need.
  Nicki swears she can keep the Trevor family safe, but to do so she’ll have to dodge hitmen, cyberbullies, and the specter of standardized testing, all while maintaining her marshal-mandated B-minus average. As she barely balances the responsibilities of her new identity, Nicki learns that the biggest threats to her family’s security might not lurk on the road from New York to North Carolina, but rather in her own past.


Review: Greetings from Witness Protection! is a delightful balance of mystery, humor, and heart. Nicki Demere has been living in foster care ever since her father was arrested, biding her time until her father comes to bring her home. She has been trained by her Grammy to an expert pick pocketer with a keen eye on people watching. She records her stories in hopes of relaying them and connecting to her father, but he never comes. The FBI agents arrive first and they want Nicki to be part of an inaugural program that trains and places selected foster children with families under witness protection, thereby changing the nature of the families' makeup so they are harder to track down. When she learns that her father was recently released from jail and has no desire to contact her, Nicki reluctantly agrees. Besides she gets a do-over with a new family. Maybe for once she can be normal.
  I loved Nicki. She is snarky and hilarious. Despite her tough exterior, she finds herself building bonds and connecting with the new people in her life: shy gamer Britt who is bullied by her classmates, perky yet lovable student council member Holly, and, most of all, her new family, even her sullen "brother" Jackson. I loved how she helped those around her and used her skills for pick pocketing for good. Interspersed with Nicki's ordinary life as a middle schooler, we get a mystery woven throughout as the infamous mafia is out looking for the Trevor family. The book handles tough topics such as foster care, bullying, anxiety, and what makes a real family quite nicely and balances it with humor to keep the story afloat.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing, violent images. Recommended for Grades 5 and up.

If you like this book try: Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter

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Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

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Look Both Ways

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Pet

Description: Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look? There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question --How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist? Review: Pet is a slim novel that does not have much of a plot but it is packed with representation and big questions regarding justice, truth, and remembering. Jam is our protagonist, a transgender hearing person who communicates selectively, using both sign ...

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