#Review & #Giveaway: Dead Week by Kelly Brakenhoff #cozymystery #DeafCulture

Dead Week (A Cassandra Sato Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Nebraska
Publisher: Emerald Prairie Press (December 7, 2019)
Paperback: 322 pages
ISBN-10: 1733742425
ISBN-13: 978-1733742429

Digital ASIN: B07ZHN2SMS

Synopsis:

 VP of Student Affairs Cassandra Sato has a desk full of problems and it’s not even Thanksgiving break.

A student’s injury and a deaf advocacy project brings national media attention to underfunded Morton College.

Cassandra’s new boss talks to her dead husband. Cassandra’s mentor thinks he’s a superhero in a senior citizen’s body. And Cassandra, recently moved from Hawai’i, can’t crack the code of what to wear during November in Nebraska.

Is there more to the Vietnam-era story of a student’s death? Cassandra’s 

search for the long-buried truth stirs up the wrath of those who want to keep the past forgotten.

My review:

This book is a nice departure of the cozy mysteries I have read before. Although still a female "detective", the main character's setting is on a college campus and she is not a store owner. No, she is a college vice president and has a load to figure out. 

I was intrigued by this book to begin with as the characters in the book, with the exception of the VP, are Deaf. It is also written into the book that they use ASL to communicate their issues on campus. This is mainly the premise of the book to advocate for those on the campus who would not be able to hear in emergency devices being used on campus. The teacher backing this project is also Deaf, the VP is the student's advocate, and all of them find themselves in a 40 year old mystery which ties together so nicely.

It is very unusual to find good stories, if any, about Deaf culture. I could identify with many of the issues surrounding this group as I too am deaf. Because of that, I could not put the book down but even more so, the author wrote a good mystery! The twists were just enough that I wanted to keep going and certainly glad I did. Just as I thought the "killer" was caught, BAM, a twist to make me think otherwise.

Great piece! 4 stars from me.

Disclosure: I received a Kindle copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle

Where to find the author:

KELLY BRAKENHOFF is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. Her first novel, Death by Dissertation, kicked off the Cassandra Sato Mystery Series. She also wrote Never Mind, first in a children’s picture book series featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. She serves on the Board of Editors for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf publication, VIEWs. The mother of four young adults and two dogs, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.

Her first mystery, Death by Dissertation, released April 22, 2019.

Website – http://kellybrakenhoff.com/

Amazon – Https://amazon.com/author/kellybrakenhoff

Giveaway:

Michelle of Reading Authors Network is not responsible for the giveaway.

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#Review: You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner #Deaf #DeafCulture #StreetArt #YA

Summary:
When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural.

Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up.

Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war.


My review:
This YA book is one of the best I have read and that I simply could not put down once I started reading it. The main character, Julia, is a street artist that is Deaf. That alone made me intrigued by the book as there are very few books written with the main character being Deaf.
In addition, Julia has two moms who are also Deaf.

Julia finds great solace in her street art and takes great pains to make her art just right. However, in a new community, she finds that someone had decided to take Julia on, and tags her art by one-upping her. Who is this person or persons? Why have they chosen her? If they are so good, why don't they do their own work?

The book drops hints throughout who the person or persons might be. However, the twist was so well done that I did not know until near the end of the book.

The author does an amazing job of immersing the reader into the Deaf culture as well. She illustrates how people often interact with Deaf people and give a peek into what it is like for the person.

The author also gives a hint what it may be like having same-sexed parents but does not make that big of a deal over it. It could, however, leave open a possible sequel to this book and a continuation of where the book left off.

I highly recommend this book for young adults and adults to read. There is certainly much discussion that could come from this book as well.

5 stars!

Disclosure: I picked up a copy of this book from my local library. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle aka Naila Moon

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