Diana Renn. TOKYO HEIST

Violet is staying with her artist father when her dream of visiting Japan comes true. Her father has been commissioned to paint a mural in the Japan office building of a prominent Yamada family.

A mystery begins in Seattle when a few Van Gogh sketches are stolen from the Yamada's Seattle mansion.  It continues in Japan and involves a ransom note, Japanese gangsters and an unexplained suicide.

TOKYO HEIST packs art, action, anime and Japanese culture into an intriguing mystery. It's brimming with lively characters and an engaging plot that will keep you reading long into the night.

I really adore this book! Violet is a smart and interesting character. She draws manga, so she has an artist perspective, like her father. The author has brilliantly integrated a mini manga story drawn by Violet into the the plot. It doesn't take over. It's just the right amount to make it intriguing.

Also, I love the way the author has sprinkled Japanese culture and vocabulary throughout the book. It fits nicely, without being too much for the reader to comprehend.

Overall, this is brilliant novel with lots of energy and excitement. I'm shocked to see that this is the Diana Renn's first book! I eagerly await her next one.

Find out more about the author at her amazing website here. And check out the trailer below:

Nina Lacour. THE DISENCHANTMENTS

Colby and Bev, life-long best friends, are bucking the college trend after graduation. Instead, they plan to travel across Europe and experience all the places they've dreamed about for years. But first, they have a short tour with their band, The Disenchantments. Colby is the only guy, and isn't officially in the band. Bev is the lead singer, Alexa is the drummer and Meg is the bassist. Colby is the roadie/best friend/driver.

They load up in Colby's uncle's VW Bus and head up the coast from San Francisco towards Portland on a road trip tour. They stop along the way for several gigs. At the end of the tour, Colby and Bev will leave for Europe, Meg will go to college, and Alexa will finish her last year in high school. The trip is their last hurrah before splitting up. But as they begin the trip, Colby gets news from Bev that shatters his plans. He no longer has any idea what's in his future. He doesn't even know if he can continue on the road trip, much less continue on to Europe.

I enjoyed this adventure for several reasons. First of all, each of the characters are amazingly talented and intriguing in their own way. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. Next, I love the way the author takes an ordinary scene and and makes it come so alive with fabulous characters and witty dialogue. Lastly, the author brilliantly evokes two dichotomous moods throughout the book. You feel how the four friends are loving every minute of being together. You feel their depth of friendship and history together. Yet, you also feel their melancholy about having to part at the end of the trip. They feel the pressure of growing up and making big "life" decisions.

Overall, it's a rocking coming of age adventure with meaningful friendships and delightful characters!

It appears that Nina Lacour is a fairly new published author. I'm definitely looking forward to more from her. Her website is here. Check out the cool book trailer below:

Maureen Johnson. THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE

If you didn't realize it by the title, this is the sequel to 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES, and if you haven't read that yet, STOP and go do that before you continue here. I warned you: SPOILERS ahead!

As you remember from the first book, Ginny's bag was stolen on a beach in Greece before she could read the last envelope. This book is about that last little envelope. One evening as she's waiting for Keith to pop up online and message her, she gets an unusual message from a stranger. The message includes the first half of that last little blue envelope. Supposedly, the person sending it purchased her stolen backpack and the letters were still in it. If she meets this person in London, she'll get to see the rest of the letter.

Since it's winter vacation, Ginny convinces her parents to let her go and stay with Richard while she figures this out. After visiting with Richard upon arrival, she seeks out Keith. He's used to her popping up out of nowhere, so she doesn't call first. She gets a surprise to find out that things aren't exactly the same between them. Also, when she meets this person (who turns out to be named Oliver), she finds that he isn't as horrendous as you'd expect a blackmailer to be. He might even be, well...handsome, in a brooding sort of way.

Oliver won't simply give her the letter. He reveals that they must go on a journey to find several more pieces of art that Aunt Peg left around the world. After they assemble them, then they will put them up for sale. But he's going with her, because he wants a cut of the profits. Keith won't let her go alone with this stranger, so he worms his way into the trip. And he brings his "friend" Ellis with them. The four trek off together to solve Aunt Peg's last mission.

I enjoyed this very much! Maureen Johnson did a fantastic job of making this different, but just as exciting as the first. The first book was so intriguing and I enjoyed going on each of the journeys with Ginny. So to make the sequel as interesting, but while also making it a different, yet still a conclusion, in a way, of the first book - well that was challenging, I'm sure. And the author lived up to that challenge! Without revealing too much, I will tell you that Aunt Peg's last letter was worthy of the wait! I wanted to quote a large portion here, but I would rather you read the book and discover it for yourself.

Maureen Johnson is one of my favorite authors! Here are some of my previous reviews. I think my favorite overall is SUITE SCARLETT and the sequel. This is the original cover, which I adore! Anyway, check out all of MJ's books here at her beautiful website!

Ally Carter. UNCOMMON CRIMINALS

What fun!! I LOVE this series! I reviewed the first one just a while back, so I was thrilled to get a review copy of the sequel so soon. I said last time that this series is like a cross between Thomas Crown Affair and Ocean's Eleven. But this time it feels more like White Collar, but with teens. Maybe that's because the season just started and I watched it last night. But anyway, I adore that show, so that's a huge plus. This book is sophisticated, smart and a ton of fun. Each caper is more elaborate than the last.

In this book, we join Kat in Russia as she's finishing a job recovering a Cezanne originally stolen by the Nazis. so it can be returned to its owner. We learn that she's been doing these jobs all by herself while refusing help from Hale and the crew. But when the next job includes recovering the largest emerald ever known and originally belonging to Cleopatra, Hale convinces her she needs help. Many attempts have been made on this emerald over the years and they've all been disastrous, which explains why it supposedly has a curse on it.  Uncle Eddie strictly forbids the attempt. So the crew must figure a way to complete the heist without his help.

Ally Carter is such a talented writer! She brings action scenes to life like no other, all while creating the most interesting characters! Kat and her crew are so vivid in my mind. I feel like I spent this adventure alongside them. And it was a BLAST!

You will not want to put this one down. Join these Uncommon Criminals on June 21!

Ally Carter. HEIST SOCIETY

You know Ally Carter from the I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU series. Her new series feels like a cross between The Thomas Crown Affair and Ocean's Eleven, but with teens. And it's fantastic!

Katarina Bishop has left the family business. Or at least she thought she did. After three months at a boarding school trying to live a "normal" life, her old friend, Hale, rescues her. Well, technically, he gets her kicked out, but he considers it rescuing. Then through a series of false accusations, Kat gets pulled back into the family business, which is white collar crime. However, she's really just stealing some paintings back to save her father's life. She's not planning to get back into the life.

Ally Carter is masterful at action packed, funny capers. This is not only fun, but smart. I really enjoyed the quirky family members, as well as the two cute boys Kat gets to hang around.

The next book is due out in June.

Cecil Castellucci & Jim Rugg. THE PLAIN JANES

After a disaster strikes her hometown of Metro City, Jane’s parents are frightened to the suburbs. Jane really misses the big city, but resigns herself to trying to make friends. She finally becomes friends with a few other girls, also all named Jane. Jane decides to shake things up in suburbia. The Janes start an art tribe and try to save the town from the plainness with secret art projects all over town. The cops seem to think they’re defacing property and committing crimes, but the other teenagers are backing them up. Can art really save this town?
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The art really supports the engaging characters. It was smart & fun!

The author is a pretty cool character herself. Check her out here:

http://www.misscecil.com/

Some of her other books:

Here's the info on the artist: http://www.streetangelcomics.com/

This is a great addition to my graphic novel collection in the library. I’ll be ordering a lot more soon. I already have some great titles in mind, but if anyone has more great ideas for a middle school library, please let me know.