Promise Me by Harlan Coben, 325 pages

"It has been six years since entertainment agent Myron Bolitar last played superhero. In six years he hasn't thrown a punch. He hasn't held, much less fired, a gun. He hasn't called his friend Win, still the scariest man he knows, to back up or get him out of trouble.

All that is about to change...because of a promise.

The school year is almost over. Anxious families await word of college acceptances. In these last pressure-cooker months of high school, some kids will make the all-too-common and all-too-dangerous mistake of drinking and driving. But Myron is determined to help keep his friends' children safe, so he makes two neighborhood girls promise him: If they are ever in a bind but are afraid to call their parents, they must call him. Several nights later, the call comes at 2:00 a.m., and true to his word, Myron picks up one of the girls in midtown Manhattan and drives her to a quiet cul-de-sac in New Jersey where she says her friend lives.

The next day, the girl's parents discover that their daughter is missing. And that Myron was the last person to see her. Desperate to fulfill a well-intentioned promise turned nightmarishly wrong, Myron races to find her before she's gone forever. But his past will not be buried so easily - for trouble has always stalked him, and his loved ones often suffer. Now Myron must decide once and for all who he is and what he will stand up for if he is to have any hope of saving a young girl's life." -Book Jacket

I picked this book up at a used bookstore and needed something to read this week while I wait for the 5th Fablehaven so I chose this one.

The thing I like about Harlan Coben is that his characters are real people. They could live next door to you. They just happen to find themselves in complicated, usually dangerous, yet not totally unbelievable circumstances. Promise Me is a book about parents who are too competitive, want too much for their children, and go to any lengths to ensure their success. There were a lot of fun characters in this book. My favorite was Myron's friend Win, a rich, pompous man who dreams of being Bruce Wayne and pays enough money to be trained like him. He cracked me up - and he had mad martial art skills! Big Cyndi is equally lovable with her skin tight white lycra outfit. The mental picture the author painted was hilarious. I thought the friendships in this book were well-written. (There was a little language.) Little did I know that this is book 8 in the Myron Bolitar series so I'll definitely be checking on books 1-7.  

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull, 527 pages

"Two hidden artifacts have been found. Three more remain unrecovered. More preserves face destruction as the Society of the Evening Star relentlessly pursues new talismans. Reading in Patton's Journal of Secrets, Kendra learns the location of the key to a vault housing one of the artifacts. In order to retrieve it, the Knights of the Dawn must enter a death trap - a dragon sanctuary called Wyrmroost. The mission cannot proceed without stealing a sacred object zealously guarded by the centaurs. Anybody seen Seth?" -Book Jacket

Fablehaven is series that gets better and better with each book. Seth has grown up a lot over the course of four books. He is still reckless at times, but it seems to be more of a calculated recklessness. He seems to weigh his decisions more now rather than just charging full speed ahead. I try not to write too many spoilers so I'll just say that I loved the knapsack, I was saddened (and suprised) by the betrayal - although it was a great twist, I loved that Kendra and Seth discovered new powers when they held hands, I think that they will have to unite to defeat the Sphinx and I can't wait to read the last book.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, 173 pages

"Evan Treski is people-smart. He is good at talking to people, even grown-ups. His younger sister, Jessie, on the other hand, is math-smart - but not especially good at understanding people. She knows that feelings are her weakest subject. So when their lemonade war begins, there is no telling who will win - or if their fight will ever end." -Back Cover

The lemonade war begins when Jessie finds out she gets to skip a grade and will be in Evan's fourth grade class in the coming school year. Evan, of course, doesn't like that. In a frustrated moment he yells at Jessie and it leads to "war".

The girls really liked this book. Each chapter begins with a business term and definition. The lemonade war is entertaining, but what I liked most about it is that by the end Jessie and Evan can't really remember why they're fighting, they don't want to stay mad, they want things to go back to the way they were, but they're both too stubborn to admit it...until the end. I thought this book had a great message for siblings and was a good read for my girls who are often best friends, but who, on occasion, declare war on each other.