On top of the adult books I’ve read over the last two months (I’m writing this on Feb 28th) I’ve read these middle grade books and they’re a hoot, while also being problematic. But the covers are so cute!
Tangled Up in Luck (book 1)
If you told Sloane Osburn and Amelia Miller-Poe that they’d be hiding in their town cemetery from an evil mastermind, they would have been hard-pressed to believe you. If you also told them that person was intent on beating them to a cache of long-lost jewels using nothing more than a slingshot and wicked aim, they’d have been sure you got your facts wrong. Finally, if you told them they’d be doing all of this as friends…well, they would have been sure you needed medical attention.
Whether through serendipity (really, really good luck) or zemblanity (really, really bad luck), someone tricked their teacher into using their seventh-grade class to investigate the mystery of their town’s long-missing treasure. From there, things have escalated. Quickly. Now, the girls are stuck hiding behind a gravestone, dodging acorns (who knew acorns could be so threatening?), and just a few clues short of those jewels.
It’s up to these enemies-turned-partners to uncover centuries-old clues to find the treasure at the end of this book before the mysterious person on their trail can get to it first…
Tangled Up in Nonsense (book 2)
When Sloane Osburn and Amelia Miller-Poe arrive at Tangle Glen mansion, they have one goal: find the two million dollars that went missing on its premises decades ago. Solving the mystery would be just the kind of splashy victory their new detective agency needs to gain traction.
Except that everything from the weirdly intense peony competition to the mansion’s cook who may or may not be hiding murder dolls in the attic seems to get in the way of their investigation. Not to mention Amelia’s obsession with speaking in 1920s slang, which sounds like a whole lot of nonsense to Sloane. And when it becomes clear that Amelia and Sloane aren’t the only ones searching for the missing millions, things start to get downright dangerous.
So, when Sloane finds herself stranded on the edge of a slippery roof as a terrified bloodhound careens toward her, she can only ask herself:
1: Why are adults so obsessed with peonies?
2: Just how far are the other detectives willing to go to find the millions first?
3: Is the rain gutter on a hundred-year-old mansion strong enough to hold the weight of a thirteen-year-old girl and an exuberant dog?
Tangled Up in Mayhem (book 3)
Sloane and Amelia’s amateur detective agency has landed their first paid gig! After seeing their YouTube documentary series, eccentric millionaire Covington Cooley hires them to solve a mystery: the secret location of a time capsule buried in 1865 somewhere on the grounds of Cedar Point Amusement Park. Cooley is sure that the box holds documents proving that his ancestor is the rightful owner of the land, a fact which, if proven, would turn him from a millionaire to a billionaire overnight.
But there are plenty of parties who are interested in stopping Sloane and Amelia from finding the capsule, like the park manager who wants to protect Cedar Point, Sloane and Amelia’s schoolmate bent on destroying their reputation, and the ghostly specter that’s been caught on camera tampering with documents and equipment related to the time capsule search!
Sloane and Amelia are determined to find out what’s going on no matter what, even if it means fighting off the possessed, undead clowns Amelia is certain roam all carnival parks.
There is lots to love about this middle grade series, and I did.
Two girls, Sloane, star athlete and potential mean girl who comes good, comes up with an insult for quirky nerd girl Amelia who longs for a best friend like Sloane, and thanks to the mystery they’re given to solve before their school holidays by their English teacher, Amelia may get her wish.
But there were also some things I didn’t like.
Like the fact the author, or editors, and there are always multiple, couldn’t fix the issue of what they were calling Amelia’s family.
Ameila’s mother, Amanda Miller, also called Amanda Poe in books 1 and 2, had her name switched back and forth. As did, and I had to try and figure out who was related to who, or is that whom, Aiden Poe, who is also called Miller in book one and Poe in book 2. He’s the son of Alexander Poe.
Amanda Miller/Poe, has a daughter, Ashley, who goes from being Poe to Miller from book 1 to 2.
Ameila is clearly the child of a second marriage, and she is Miller-Poe. Hyphenated.
All of this was ridiculous and a massive issue that should have been sorted out, UNLESS, it was meant on purpose. But what’s the point in confusing readers just for a joke?
A second mistake was the spelling of other kid’s names in the book. In book 1, there are two characters called Mylie and Kylee which was later spelled Kyleigh, if it’s the same character, in book 3.
A third mistake, the misspelling of the character’s names on the blurbs. Sloane’s surname is Osburn, but it’s spelt Osborn on one cover.
And in book three, the character is Covington Collymore, but they’ve put it as Covington Cooly on the cover. What the hell?
There were unresolved storylines, like that of Sloane having her room ransacked by the four-year-old daughter of her father’s girlfriend. She smeared jam on everything and took ownership of Sloane’s concrete goose like it was hers and it was never mentioned again, except when it was brought along in the 3rd book. Sloane had every right to privacy and the promise that her room wasn’t going to be broken into by a kid, who, by the way, never needed diapers, could bathe and toilet herself, and didn’t need help getting into bed. Neither did her seven-year-old brother.
Sloane’s feelings about her life being invaded by two kids from a relationship that may not have even worked out, brought up issues that were unnecessary as their parents had barely dated. They weren’t getting married, or moving in together, and yet they were taking over the house. Sloane had to try and reconcile her feelings while dealing with kids she hadn’t even met, and no one really sat down to discuss it with Sloane or Cynthia’s kids.
Even with all of these mistakes, if more books came along, I’d definitely read them.
If you love middle grade, and two girls overcoming their issues, Sloane’s mother died two years before and her grannies and great-granny are mobsters in tracksuits, and her dad has started dating a woman with two kids, and a girl with hyphenated family member issues and a bit of a quirk, then you might be able to overcome the issue to read these books.