Ricki – Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/23/25

June 23, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

Wednesday: Student Voices: Benefits of Reading and School Libraries from Annarita A., Leo S., Scarlet-Gray S., Arden W., and Diogo R.

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Kellee

I am taking a bit of a break from IMWAYR during this summer though I will be sharing some amazing Student Voice posts during that time, so please check them out! OH, and please keep linking up, checking out Ricki’s updates when she posts, and commenting on others in the community 📖💙

My next update will be August 11th, and I look forward to sharing what I read during the rest of the summer (because that’ll be the first day back to school for my students 😲!), but you can always you see what books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

Young Adult

Flamer by Mike Curato is a phenomenal book. I was reading it for the second time, but it is like a punch in the gut every time. I love this book so much.

Adult

I loved Monica Wood’s How to Read a Book. A friend recommended it, and I really enjoyed reading it. Wood does a phenomenal job depicting complex characters that reflect humanity.

Adult Romance

I adored each of these charming romances, which are getting me through the world at this moment. 🙂

Thursday: Sofia’s YA Book Nook: The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “What Would It Take to Love a Snake” by Sunya Mara, Author of Embrace the Serpent

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 6/9/25

June 13, 2025June 9, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Not If But When” by Madeleine Roux, Author of A Girl Walks Into a Forest

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Kellee

It’s my week off! You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I just arrived home from a trip to Wyoming! I had some great time to read, but it’s late, so I’ll post all of my most recent book updates next time!

We are taking a week off from posting this week! We hope you are dipping your toes into the summer, too!

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 5/26/25

May 26, 2025May 26, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Tuesday: Spelling it Out by Margaret Finnegan

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Embracing the Big Picture: Writing About Global Issues Through Fantasy” by Sarwat Chadda, Author of Storm Singer

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Kellee

It’s my week off. You can see what I’ve been up to by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I am unable to post this week, but I’ll be back next time!

Sunday: “A Writing Process, Possessed!” by Jessica Lewis, Author of Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 5/11/25

June 13, 2025May 12, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Tuesday: Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita

Sunday: Author’s Guest Post: “The Whole Family: Story’s Ability to Connect Young Readers to Second Culture Heritage” by Mima Tipper, Author of Kat’s Greek Summer

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Kellee

I am off this week! You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I read all adult books the last few weeks. I’ve been reading a lot of thrillers and romances to take my mind off the news.

I enjoyed Carter Wilson’s thriller Tell Me What You Did. It tells the story of a woman who is a podcast host. Her show is designed so people can call in and admit to crimes. But then her mom’s killer calls in…

I always enjoy the Katherine Center’s sweet stories. I also love a woman bodyguard! The main character in The Bodyguard is fierce!

Emily Henry is a gift, and this book (Great Big Beautiful Life) was a very enjoyable listen.

I enjoyed listening to Sophie Cousens’ Is She Really Going Out with Him? I didn’t love the title of the book, but the story was wonderful!

Abby Jimenez’s Say You’ll Remember Me offers a painful look at the impacts of dementia on a loved one’s family and friends.

Ricki

I am excited to read Monica Wood’s How to Read a Book. I’ve heard good things about it!

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Inspiring Students to Write about their own Complex Identities” by Marcella Pixley, Author of Neshama

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 4/28/25

May 4, 2025April 28, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Tuesday: Student Voices: What Kellee’s Middle Schoolers are Reading, Loving, and Promoting

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “The Power of Story: Inspired by the Classroom” by Trevor B. Spisto, Author of The Tiger and the Crane

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Kellee

This is my week off; I will see you next week! You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

My head is spinning with the semester ending, so I have to miss this week. I will see you in two weeks!

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Bringing History to Life” by k.m. Huber, Author of Call of the Owl Woman

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 4/14/25

April 14, 2025April 14, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Tuesday: George O’Connor’s Visit to Kellee’s Middle School

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Kellee

It’s my week off! You can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I had to take a break this week because my son’s team made it to Odyssey of the Mind Worlds, so I’ve been planning that!

Author Guest Post: “The Girl Who Gets the Girl” by Zakiya N. Jamal, Author of If We Were a Movie

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Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine

April 3, 2025 by Ricki

Sofia is a 13-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. Since she was 8 years old, on select weeks, Sofia shares her favorite books with other young people her age! She is one of the most well-read youth that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!

Dear readers,

Hello and welcome to another book review! This time, I am excited to present… Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine! This is a page-turner! I am pretty into YA mysteries right now and when I saw it, I knew I had to read it! I have also already read How to Survive Your Murder and I was super excited when I saw this book come out! I must say, I was not at all disappointed! It has many twists and turns and though I tried to figure out the murderer, I only knew a little before it ended. I must also say that this could be a nice rainy day book because it is more on the gloomy side. Additionally, there are a TON of characters which I found quite hard to keep track of (especially) for the first quarter of the book and found that it was just better if I read it all pretty much in one go. This is also a book with three perspectives which I also found aided in the storyline. Two of the points of view were people and the other one was essentially a time capsule back to when the murders happened.

Goodreads Summary

From the author of How to Survive Your Murder comes a propulsive thriller about two teens who return to the site of the famous murder case that sealed their fates. Most people’s births aren’t immortalized in a police report-but Olivia was born during the infamous Camp Lost Lake murders. Seventeen years later, Olivia’s life looks pretty perfect… until she discovers the man she calls dad is not her biological father. Now she wants answers about her bloodline, and the only place she knows to look is Camp Lost Lake. Most people don’t spend their formative years on the run with an alleged murderer-but Reagan did. In the court of public opinion, her mom was found guilty of the deaths at Camp Lost Lake, and both of them have been in hiding ever since. But Reagan believes in her mother’s innocence and is determined to clear her name. Luckily for Olivia and Reagan, Camp Lost Lake is finally reopening, providing the perfect opportunity to find answers. But someone else is dead set on keeping the past hidden, even if it means committing murder.

My Thoughts

I loved this book! It was super thrilling and I literally COULDN’T put it down! I was immediately drawn to it by the author (and cover) and am happy I was. I found it interesting that one of the perspectives was from the daughter of the camp director and that the other one was the daughter of the accused murderer. I also love that there was a perspective that took you back in time so you could gradually gather more information about the case, instead of it all being dumped on you at some point in the book. Since this was so fast paced, I would recommend this as a book to get a “non-reader” more interested in reading! I read this mostly on a sunny day which was nice but I, again, think that the atmosphere would have been better on a rainy day since it is darker, but not the night, because that would feel too spooky for me! Overall, I think this is a page-turning YA book with horror and mystery. Enjoy!

On Amazon, most of the reviewers were people buying it for people 14+. I would agree with this since it was pretty frightening in some scenes, especially the ones with the murderer! It was also a little hard to follow the characters since there are so many, and a lot of them with similar sounding names and little backstories you need to remember. Otherwise, I think if you or the person you are getting this for can handle those things, then I would let them read it!

**Thanks so much, Sofia!**