TITLE: Deadly Cool
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Gemma Halliday
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery
PREMISE: When her ex is accused of murder Hartley does her best to clear his name.
MY REVIEW: This book came out of nowhere and surprised me with how much I loved it. I will warn some that it has some quite frank talk about sex and the fact that teenagers have it. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of talk then this book may not be for you though I will say you're missing out because this book is freaking hilarious and so much fun. Also other then a slight tendancy to name drop it's rather decently written (kudos to author for mentioning Castle).
Hartley is a wonderful MC. She's got personality, uses her brain, doesn't have half a million love interest that she toys with. In fact there's little romance in this, it's mostly her solving the mystery and it is a fun ride my friends. The author has a great character voice going on here, is good at depicting life in high school, and has some utterly brilliant dialogue. True, the mystery becomes a bit obvious by the middle as most of these do, but still it's so much fun and I loved practically all the characters. I even approve of the main couple the author sets up.
I hope this series catches on soon. The next book comes out in Spring of next year and I cannot wait. I found a new mystery addiction. Between this, Mythos Academy, and Clarity I can honestly say it's been a good year for the YA girl detective genre. Nancy Drew would be proud.
WHO SHOULD READ: mystery fans, Nancy Drew fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five magnifying glasses
Ooh, sounds awesome! I have the Kindle edition of this but hadn't seen any reviews until now - thanks! - ComaCalm's Corner
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I'm scratching my head as to why this hasn't become more popular and I'm honestly at a loss to explain it. Perhaps because there's no love triangle? I don't know.
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