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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 4, 2012 11:38:52 GMT -5
One of my favourite parts of this book was the scene where Mary Anne and Abby are trimming the bushes and belting out retro girl-group songs. It was cute to see this interaction between the two, and also when Abby goes to Mary Anne's house for dinner. I thought it was also cute how Abby could bring out that silliness in Mary Anne.
I thought the pro shop was a bit creepy, especially hearing that everything still had their old price tags on.
zoar, I agree with you on the Sg. Johnson thing. I think in another book (if I remember correctly) they explain that he is in his 30s or something. Isn't he a middle-aged guy at the oldest? Maybe David and Sg. Johnson were actually kids in the 60s or something, before the club closed? That would make more sense.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jan 4, 2012 23:23:39 GMT -5
Oh, I liked the bit about the pro shop! It sounded cool. I liked Abby and Mary Anne singing too, but then Sgt. Johnson had to ruin it by creeping up on them and saying "just enjoying the show" or something, ew ;D
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sarish
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,618
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Post by sarish on Jan 5, 2012 12:49:00 GMT -5
I still need to get this book. It is one of the ones that I have been putting on my list to get next time I do a massive order from amazon. It seems I've cleared out every Goodwill and thrift shop in a 50 mile radius of BSC books! This one has always intrigued me. It especially does even more since I found out this is where Cary admitted to sending the fake letters from Logan to Mary Anne and vice versa! The parts you mentioned of Mary Anne and Abby singing sound so fun to read about! I might have to order this one sooner than later.
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Post by shannon86 on Jan 5, 2012 15:24:56 GMT -5
I just love this Abby book a lot! That kid on the cover is freaking adorable and the plot is good.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 5, 2012 16:15:33 GMT -5
^ I like how they drew in Stephan Stanton-Cha's rat tail, although I don't like how Jessi's hand is covering it up
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celaeno
Sitting For The Papadakis's
I have to share a room with Vanessa
Posts: 1,514
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Post by celaeno on Apr 12, 2013 17:47:43 GMT -5
When the girls first found out about the mysterious garden maze with the mysterious unknown structure in the middle (seen on the blueprint), did anyone else picture the book having a frightening final showdown like in The Shining? I actually really enjoyed reading this one, because I thought the build up with the cryptic clues was pretty well done, but the whole time I was fearing that the end would just fizzle out without really having everyone come together logically...and unfortunately that turned out to be true. THERE IS NO SENSE IN WHY DAVID LEFT A TRAIL OF RIDDLE CLUES. Seriously, WHY? Leaving all those clues obviously would have taken a long time - why did he not just go to Sergeant Johnson and be like "Hey, here's copies of all the dirt I've dug up so far; hold on to this in case something happens to me, ok?" Speaking of Sergeant Johnson, I had always pictured him as being a kind of young cop (and also looking similar to Benjamin Bratt...maybe because he's played several cops?) but I guess I was wrong. He says that David was killed 30 years ago when he was a reporter, so I guess Sergeant Johnson has to be at least in his 50s. This book also contains something that has bothered me in a few other BSC books - STOP USING THE TERM "AMERICAN" TO MEAN "WHITE". In this one Nicky says "Did you know that Stephen is Korean and American?" Well Mr. Cha, I guess your ethnicity means you can never be considered an American. Sorry! And apparently all Americans are white. They did the same thing in other books when talking about Russ and Peaches, and it drives me CRAZY.
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Post by wenonah4th on Apr 22, 2013 9:07:59 GMT -5
That's a good point- hadn't noticed, really!
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Post by booboobrewer on Feb 23, 2016 16:14:42 GMT -5
I actually really enjoyed reading this one, because I thought the build up with the cryptic clues was pretty well done, but the whole time I was fearing that the end would just fizzle out without really having everyone come together logically...and unfortunately that turned out to be true. THERE IS NO SENSE IN WHY DAVID LEFT A TRAIL OF RIDDLE CLUES. Seriously, WHY? Leaving all those clues obviously would have taken a long time - why did he not just go to Sergeant Johnson and be like "Hey, here's copies of all the dirt I've dug up so far; hold on to this in case something happens to me, ok?" Instead he leads them all on a clue hunt that ends with them all finding out he just really, really liked Ovaltine. I read this again today because I'm home sick and it's a February book. I really like it. I skipped the chapters with the kids/Stephen. I'd love to hang out at Greenbook (something about that name is blah, though). Something about this one really makes me look forward to spring/summer.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Jun 23, 2022 9:03:46 GMT -5
In the beginning of the book Abby says she loathed February. She would love Feb in Australia. For us it's the peak of summer. Winter for us Australians isn't til June and lasts til August.
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Post by oldmeanie on Apr 1, 2023 10:55:47 GMT -5
I couldn't really get into this one. On the surface the plot sounds exciting, but it's just... kind of meh in my opinion. I was originally not going to read this one, but I decided I wanted to read all the Abby mystery books.
Abby's personality doesn't come across in this one aside from the beginning. She doesn't really make a lot of jokes either. It's weird! I think this was the first Abby book written by Ellen Miles, so maybe she just didn't get her character yet. But yeah, I honestly don't understand why these girls were so excited about working at the country club. Keeping up with that, the BSC, and homework sounds crazy to me (and the last book was about Stacey being overworked). It's like any time they're bored or blue, something conveniently comes along to cure it. This book sort of felt similar to Mary Anne and the Library Mystery in that way, and the subplot felt similar to the Natalie one in Crazy Peaches.
How is Claudia ever bored? As an artist and creative person, when times are slower, I'm actually LESS bored because I have more time/ energy to create (so when I was a kid, I was never bored during summer but very much during school). I am far more introverted than she is, though.
Also, wtf Kristy? I know it's not Krushers season yet (I think?), but invite Stephen to join the Krushers! He's a baseball fan and needs to make friends, what's better than that?! Did this bother anyone else? I guess the club he created was a cool idea, but for some reason it felt like a bit much to me and I can't explain it.
I will say that I did enjoy the scavenger hunt part. It was fun to see what message they'd find next. I did think the maze scene got pretty dramatic (more so than I thought the BSC could get), but then it just, like... fizzled out. I agree with another commenter, WHY did David leave Sergeant Johnson a trail of clues? Idk, this book feels sort of messy to me and I can't explain it.
I didn't mind Stephen like other people did, though. I'm not biracial, but I've heard of kids who are dealing with similar frustrations. I cringed a little when Nicky was so aggressive about them not joining. I can see why it upset Stephen so much and was so glad when it was cleared up (Nicky might still be my favorite Pike after Mallory, not sure).
Overall, to be honest, this one was sort of a slog for me.
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