Cuddled up with three dogs and a stack of books has a lot of appeal to me, especially when it’s cold outside! I wish I had my camera so I could upload a picture of them right now. Love my public library where I was able to go online yesterday and mark all the books I consider possible Newbery winners I am hoping to read that I didn’t have and then have start arriving today, with a convenient pick-up reminder e-mail.
So I’ve started Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Bradley, which I am liking well-enough but I am not in love with. I then moved on to surfing KidLit blogs and find an old Mother Reader post that completely grabbed my attention.
“This is a new one for me. I read the first chapter of this book online, switched to Amazon, and ordered it immediately.”
I love the Kindle/Amazon feature that allows you to read the first chapter free! I currently have 43 free first chapters on the Kindle app on my iphone. I’ve read 17 of those first chapters, sometimes several in one sitting until I find something that grabs me. I keep the sample chapter if I think I might read later, kind of like a visual list, delete those that don’t grab me. It allows me try out books that I wouldn’t normally come across such as nonfiction books, business psychology books, as well as new Children’s and Young Adult books that other bloggers mention.
Mother Reader provides a link to the first chapter of The Only Ones by Aaron Stramer that is currently online 
and I will tell you that it grabbed me in a way that I want all Newbery contenders to be able to do. I think I’m wrapping this up to head to the library to check out their copy!
The Only Ones is in my pile of books to be read. I am happy to hear you are loving it so far. I hope it continues to deliver!
Oh, I’m so excited that my review made you get the book! I hope you like it. Like I said, I was hooked by that first chapter and thought the book was very smart. Enjoy!