KIND OF A BIG DEAL By Shannon Hale

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

KIND OF A BIG DEAL By Shannon HaleKind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale
Published by Roaring Brook Press on 8/25/20
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 397
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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There's nothing worse than peaking in high school. Nobody knows that better than Josie Pie.

She was kind of a big deal—she dropped out of high school to be a star! But the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Josie fell. Hard. Ouch. Broadway dream: dead.

Meanwhile, her life keeps imploding. Best friend: distant. Boyfriend: busy. Mom: not playing with a full deck? Desperate to escape, Josie gets into reading.

Literally. She reads a book and suddenly she's inside it. And with each book, she’s a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, a 17th century wench in a corset.

It’s alarming. But also . . . kind of amazing?

It’s the perfect way to live out her fantasies. Book after book, Josie the failed star finds a new way to shine. But the longer she stays in a story, the harder it becomes to escape.

Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever?

Short and Sweet Review

Josie peaked in high school, she was a great singer and she wanted to be on broadway but show biz is tough and she got turned away. Now Josie is a nanny in a state far away from New York. Josie still tries to live her high school life even though she dropped out to pursue her dreams, so she thinks about her boyfriend who’s been distant and her best friend who’s been too busy to talk. When Josie goes to a book store and gets a book and begins reading it she’s transported into the book and at first she’s scared but in these books she finds a way to see the people she misses and find a way to make her broadway dreams come true.

The plot of this story is great, who doesn’t want to go into their favorite books and see everything. The problem with this story is Josie. She wasn’t an easy character to connect to and unfortunately she thought very highly of herself and wasn’t great at taking criticism. She was more focused on making her dreams come true and in the process of doing that completely ignores what’s going on around her. Josie book hopped a lot and did a lot of complaining and over all everything was about her and by the time she learns a lesson about how the world doesn’t revolve around her the book is over. I didn’t care for the ending honestly if Josie was stuck in a book forever as punishment for her behavior I would have been fine with it, but overall not my favorite read and it took way too long for the climax to take place.

DASH & LILY’S BOOK OF DARES By Rachel Cohn AND David Levithan

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

DASH & LILY’S BOOK OF DARES By Rachel Cohn AND David LevithanDash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan, Rachel Cohn
Series: Dash & Lily #1
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on 10/26/10
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 274
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.

What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Short and Sweet Review

It’s the holiday season and while at a bookstore Dash finds a notebook waiting for someone to accept the challenge and complete the dares inside. Lily is just trying to find the right guy and hopefully the notebook will help her succeed. These two end up leaving the notebook in different places and doing different dares and at one point it’ll bring them together, but are these two right for each other?

This book has a fun plot, two teens going around New York City around Christmas time completing dares and maybe finding true love in the process. The problem with this book is the characters. Dash is like a hipster or something and Lily is awkward and quirky and doesn’t really have friends her own age. Lily’s dialogue is childish she’s a child in a teenagers body. I didn’t connect with either character. This is the second book I’ve read by Cohn and Levithan and for some reason I just don’t connect with their characters and somehow end up regret the time I spend reading their books, that being said, I probably won’t continue on with this series.

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnis

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnisThe Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/20/16
Genres: Contemporary, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 348
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

Short and Sweet Review

Alex Craft is known as the girl who has a dead older sister. Alex’s sister Anna was murdered and the killer walk free and that’s when Alex learned how to kill somebody and she doesn’t feel bad about knowing this. Alex’s crime has gone unpunished but she knows she can’t be trusted around other people, but eventually she becomes friends with Jack the star athlete and Peekay the preachers kid. Over time more of Alex’s violent nature comes out and it sets these three teens down a road they never thought they’d be on.

When I first started reading this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I liked each of these characters. We get to read from the POVs of Alex, Jack, and Peekay. Alex is different from a lot of characters I’ve read before, she’s smart and she hasn’t had a lot of human interaction so she’s a bit awkward but in an endearing way. Alex’s violent nature is one that could be compared to an animal in the wild, if she feels threatened or if she feels that her friends are in danger she’ll attack. Peekay is the preachers kid and she meets Alex at the animal shelter and they become friends, Peekay is caring and she is good but sometimes she wants to be bad, and that’s where Alex usually brings her back to Earth. Jack likes Alex but he’s a typical teenage boy and he sometimes thinks with other extremities instead of his head.

We see Alex act on her violent nature a few times and it throws people off about how casual she is about it, on one hand people are for it and the other people are concerned about what else she could do. There’s a lot of tough topics discussed in this book and a lot of stereotypes that are tackled. I enjoyed this book and the ending is one that is bittersweet but I get it.

This book was powerful and one I’ll think about for a long time, its just so fascinating and a book I recommend!

POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL By Serena Valentino

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL By Serena ValentinoPoor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino
Series: Villains #3
Published by Disney Press on 7/26/16
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 140
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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The tale of the sea king's daughter Ariel is a beloved one of losing-and then finding-one's own voice. The story has been told many times and in many ways. But always the mergirl wants more than her world can offer, and her father demands that she live within the confines of his domain. Her rebelliousness costs the little mermaid her voice and nearly her soul. But the power of good prevails, and Ariel emerges proud and unchanged.

And yet this is only half the story. So what of Ariel's nemesis, Ursula, the sea witch? What led to her becoming so twisted, scorned, and filled with hatred? Many tales have tried to explain her motives. Here is one account of what might have shaped the sea witch into a detestable and poor unfortunate soul.

Short and Sweet Review

Poor Unfortunate Soul follows everyones favorite Sea Witch, Ursula. In this book we see Ursula express her anger and frustrations about how her brother Triton has treated her over the years and how her anger has consumed her over the years. Ursula comes up with a plan to get revenge by going after Tritons younger daughter, Ariel, and from there I think we all know how the story goes.

Unfortunately this book was a let down. There was more of a focus on the Odd sisters and Princess Tulip than there was on Ursula. The Odd sisters seek out Ursula and ask for their help in finding their sister Circe, and princess Tulip and her Nanny are involved because Circe has been helping them. Things could have been better if there was more of a focus on Ursula than everything else the author had going on. The previous books showed the Odd sisters but the focus was more on our title characters than them. Hopefully the next book in the series sticks to the actual main character and their story line rather than the secondary characters. The story was okay, I understand what the author was trying to do but this book was just too short to make it work.

BREAKUP FROM HELL By Ann Dávila Cardinal

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

BREAKUP FROM HELL By Ann Dávila CardinalBreakup from Hell by Ann Dávila Cardinal
Published by HarperTeen on 1/3/23
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 297
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Miguela Angeles is tired. Tired of her abuela keeping secrets, especially about her heritage. Tired of her small Vermont town and hanging out at the same places with the same friends she’s known forever. So when another boring Sunday trip to church turns into a run-in with Sam, a mysterious hottie in town on vacation, Mica seizes the opportunity to get closer to him.

It’s not long before she is under Sam’s spell and doing things she’s never done before, like winning all her martial arts sparring matches—and lying to her favorite people. The more time Mica spends with Sam, the more weird things start to happen, too. Like terrifying-visions-of-the-world-ending weird.

Mica’s gut instincts keep telling her something is off, yet Sam is the most exciting guy she’s ever met. But when Mica discovers his family’s roots, she realizes that instead of being in the typical high school relationship, she’s living in a horror novel.

She has to leave Sam, but will ending their relationship also bring an end to everything she knows and everyone she loves?

Short and Sweet Review

Miguela Angeles (Mica) lives with her grandma in a small town in Vermont, all Miguela wants is to break free of the small town life, her grandma keeping her on a tight leash, and just being with the same people and seeing the same things all the time. During a normal Sunday at Church Mica has a run in with a new guy Sam who isn’t so bad looking, Sam is on vacation and Mica gravitates towards him. After meeting Sam Mica realizes that weird things are starting to happen to her and her friends including new abilities and end of the world type dreams. Mica knows she has to stay away from Sam but for some reason it feels like ending it with him will be the end of the world as she knows it.

Mica starts a relationship with the new guy Sam and sees that things with him aren’t what they seem. After being with Mica starts getting Buffy the Vampire Slayer like powers and she knows that this isn’t normal. Come to find out Mica is a descendent of the Archangel Michael and Sam is unfortunately the son of Satan. Their relationship ends up turning them into enemies.

The plot was interesting I mean its not everyday you end up dating Satans son. I liked that Mica’s friends were also special and that she didn’t have to go through things alone. The dialogue was a bit cheesy and it felt juvenile like something from a bad superhero movie. I think one of my favorite things was that each of the chapters started with a verse from Revelation which only makes sense because this relationship may cause the end of the world. I didn’t connect with Mica but I did like the whole angel aspect of the book. The relationship between Mica and Sam wasn’t really anything to look forward to it’s instalove and very short lived.

If you want a short book that involves angels and demons then this book is a good way to start off your new year.

HEIR OF FIRE By Sarah J. Maas

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

HEIR OF FIRE By Sarah J. MaasHeir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #3
Published by Bloomsbury YA on 9/2/14
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 576
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak-but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could change her life-and her future-forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

Short and Sweet Review

After the events of Crown of Midnight, Chaol manages to get Celaena sent to Wendlyn under the guise of killing the royal family. Celaena has no idea why Chaol would even suggest this but now that she’s in Wendlyn with no intentions of killing the royal family she doesn’t know what to do with herself until her aunt the queen of fae, Maeve sends for her. Celaena decides that this is the perfect time to learn more about wyrdkeys but her aunt won’t answer her questions until she deems Celaena worthy and now Celaena has to train with Rowan to learn to control the magic that she’s suppressed for all of these years. Meanwhile back at the castle, Dorian is learning to control his magic and Chaol starts exchanging information with Aedion who just happens to be Celaena’s cousin. Also there’s a new character Manon Blackbeak, an Ironteeth witch. She’s tasked with picking a wyvern and training him until he’s ready to fight in the kings army, Manon’s goal is to work for the king until she can reclaim her country.

There’s a lot going on in this book but in a good way. I enjoyed all of the POVs but my favorite is Aelin’s (Celaena) we learn so much about her and what happened the day almost everyone in her kingdom was slaughtered. Aelin has been suppressing her fae form for a long time so now that she’s training with Rowan she’s struggling to perfect the art of shifting and control her fire magic. These two had an interesting relationship because at first, Rowan wanted nothing to do with Aelin but we all know she knows how to work her charm and honestly I’m looking forward to see where this all goes. Also the king is up to some shady stuff and the magic he’s been working is dark like the kind of magic they tell you to stay away from. I felt bad for Dorian he has magic but his father banished all magic from the kingdom so he has to learn to use it in secret. I also liked the addition of Aedion when we read from his POV we see how much he cares about Aelin even though he hasn’t seen her since they were kids. Manon is okay she’s a tough character and lets people know she’s a boss but I’m interested in learning more about her because we mostly see her training her wyvern in this book.

Heir of Fire is exciting and offers so much backstory and interesting new characters. I can’t wait to see what happens in Queen of Shadows!

NINE LIARS By Maureen Johnson

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

NINE LIARS By Maureen JohnsonNine Liars by Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious #5
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 12/27/22
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 457
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.

Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.

The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.

Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

Short and Sweet Review

It’s senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie and its not going well, she needs to start thinking about colleges but she’d rather not. So when her boyfriend in David who is currently in London invites Stevie and her friends to London it’s a welcome distraction. In London David introduces Stevie to Izzy who just happens to mention a double murder from 1995 that was never solved and involves her aunt and her remaining six friends.

In 1995 a group of nine friends decided to play hide and go seek late at night and sometime in the morning it was discovered that two of them were murdered with an ax, also this group of friends have been hiding the truth about what actually happened that night.

When Stevie hears about this the wheels start turning and when she meets Angela, Izzy’s aunt, Stevie starts to wonder what really happened that night, but the thing is Stevie is supposed to be in London for a cultural immersion and learning things that she’ll eventually have to report back to Dr. Quinn who is keeping close tabs on the group. The rest of the group, especially Janelle is trying to stick to the schedule, but when Angela goes missing Stevie feels compelled to solve this case.

This was actually a pretty interesting case, a game of hide and seek a group of friends, an axe murderer, and now a missing woman. I will say the book started off slow but once the case was told to Stevie things start to pick up. This one was a little more complicated because Stevie had to make sure Dr. Quinn didn’t know what she was up to and Stevie kind of felt constricted by her friends because she didn’t want them to get in trouble because she felt the need to stray from their original plans. I will say Stevie made some bad decisions when it came to her friends, on one hand I understand why she did what she did, but on the other she really ended up hurting her friends. Also there was a bigger focus on Stevie and her relationship with David and all I’ll say is I still don’t understand why she likes him and everything I’ve said about him in my other reviews for the previous books in the series just made me see that I was right about him all along. Anyway Stevie is still determined to solve mysteries and catch culprits and we see in this book how much it may lead to her detriment. The ending was okay I was expecting some arrests, a few cop cars, and satisfaction. The book left off on a cliffhanger and I really want to know what Stevie’s next moves are because things seem pretty crappy for her at the moment.

The Truly Devious series is perfect for anyone who likes mysteries and Nine Liars is as compelling as the previous four books in the series. Join Stevie as she solves another mystery and also puts her heart on the line.

BURN DOWN, RISE UP By Vincent Tirado

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

BURN DOWN, RISE UP By Vincent TiradoBurn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 5/3/22
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 308
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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For over a year, the Bronx has been plagued by sudden disappearances that no one can explain. Sixteen-year-old Raquel does her best to ignore it. After all, the police only look for the white kids. But when her crush Charlize's cousin goes missing, Raquel starts to pay attention—especially when her own mom comes down with a mysterious illness that seems linked to the disappearances.

Raquel and Charlize team up to investigate, but they soon discover that everything is tied to a terrifying urban legend called the Echo Game. The game is rumored to trap people in a sinister world underneath the city, and the rules are based on a particularly dark chapter in New York's past. And if the friends want to save their home and everyone they love, they will have to play the game and destroy the evil at its heart—or die trying.

Short and Sweet Review

For the past year teens have been disappearing in the Bronx and no one has an answer about what’s happening. Raquel usually ignores these things but when one of the disappearances hits close to home Raquel knows she needs to help. When Charlize, Raquels crush’s cousin goes missing and Raquels mom contracts a mysteries illness, the girls team up to investigate what’s going on in the Bronx.

The book starts off with us seeing Cisco, Charlize’s cousin going a little crazy and he asks Charlize for help but eventually he ends up going missing. Raquels mom was in close contact with Cisco and ends up having to be quarantined and put in a medical induced coma. The girls don’t really know what’s going on but they find out that Cisco was playing a game called the echo. Essentially the Echo is played at like 3 in the morning and there’s a set of rules and if you break one of those rules you’re in trouble.

This book was so good, it was creepy and at some points I really did regret reading it at night. The echo was interesting because it takes the people who play to a dark chapter in their city’s past and in this case it took Raquel and her friends to the period of the Bronx burnings. I liked Raquel even though this whole situation was scary, she faced it head on twice! If it were me I would have no parts of playing the echo game. This group of friends were resourceful and had each others backs which I appreciated because everyone needs a good support system and Raquel had that. There was some good history in this book, I’ve never heard of the Bronx burnings before reading this book.

Burn Down, Rise Up will keep you up at night, and its a good kind of spooky that’ll have you flipping pages until you find out what’s really happening down in the echo and whether our protagonist can survive this game!

H2O By Virginia Bergin

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

H2O By Virginia BerginH2O by Virginia Bergin
Series: The Rain #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 10/7/14
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 354
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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.27 is a number Ruby hates. It's a number that marks the percentage of the population that has survived. It's a number that means she's one of the "lucky" few still standing. And it's a number that says her father is probably dead.

Against all odds, Ruby has survived the catastrophic onset of the killer rain. Two weeks after the radio started broadcasting the warning, "It's in the rain. It's fatal and there's no cure," the drinkable water is running out. Ruby's left with two options: persevere on her own or embark on a treacherous journey across the country to find her father—if he's even still alive.

Short and Sweet Review

Ruby is hanging out at a friends house when the panic begins that something is wrong with the rain and it ends up being all the water. The rain is deadly and one drop hitting you could kill you, Ruby ends up surviving but its been two weeks since the initial rain storm that started everything and now drinkable water is running out. Now Ruby has decide whether she wants to stick it out on her own or try to go to London and find her dad.

This was an interesting book because it’s all about your survival instincts and Ruby has to learn to think about herself if she’s going to make it. After the first storm, Ruby was with her mom, baby brother, and step dad, but eventually it’s just Ruby. When it’s just Ruby that’s when I thought the book started to pick up mainly because we get to see how she’s going to survive on her own and make the trip to London. Eventually she meets up with someone from school Darius and a girl that he found and they begin to travel with Ruby. This is where things started to go downhill. I thought Ruby was better off on her own, there was nothing wrong with Darius he honestly had a lot of good input but for some reason Ruby always wanted to argue with him, most of their dialogue was Ruby shouting at him. She also started to make some questionable decisions. The book is written in a way in which its Ruby writing about her experience. I didn’t mind the writing style but I did mind how a promising character seemed to forget what she should be focusing on.

Overall the premise is interesting and I may read the sequel just to see how everything ends.

IN THE BALLROOM WITH THE CANDLESTICK By Diana Peterfreund

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

IN THE BALLROOM WITH THE CANDLESTICK By Diana PeterfreundIn the Ballroom with the Candlestick by Diana Peterfreund
Series: Clue Mystery #3
Published by Amulet Books on 11/2/21
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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After a tragic accident at Blackbrook Academy kills one of their own, Orchid, Scarlett, Peacock, Mustard, and Plum are desperate to put the pieces back together and finish out the year. The Murder Crew may have earned their nickname, but the last of their secrets are still coming to light and threatening to destroy friendships, futures, and more. And when another suspicious death rocks the campus and Blackbrook's dark past crashes into its present, they have a choice: Band together or turn on each other.

Because this year's prom? It's to die for.

Short and Sweet

In the Ballroom with the Candlestick picks up where the previous book left off. Vaughn is dead and everyone is still reeling from his death especially Orchid. The rest of the murder crew just wants to finish the school year, but it seems like murder is a trend at Blackbrook and this group has to stick together or let the pressure turn them against each other.

This was an okay ending to everything. Everyone finally learns that Vaughn has a twin brother and he causes a mess of things because people don’t know what his intentions are. People are still getting murdered and the murder crew is determined to finally put an end to the tragedies that has been plaguing the academy. Beth still has the shortest chapters and this time her chapters are of her trying to solve the mystery. Scarlet is still making boss moves and trying to prove that she’s able to be in charge. Mustard and Finn are doing their own thing. Orchid is trying to figure out what she can about Oliver the evil twin. I feel like with all of the POVs there’s not really much character development and over the course of three books these characters didn’t have much substance. I think my favorite thing about this book was the ending and how we got to see alternate endings and see an array of suspects.

This is a fun book series, the mystery was a little confusing, but if you’re looking for a nostalgic and fun read this series is for you.