American Girl Mysteries

[J9S]

I am at home, sick with a throat infection AND an ear infection, and to top it off, I'm horribly bored!

I do however, have a Barnes and Noble down the street AND a giftcard. I'm thinking of buying three AG mystery books. I haven't read any of them.

Which ones do you all recommend?

[cami713]

Which historicals are your favorites?

I've read all the mysteries except Kaya's, and I really enjoyed all of them, some more than others. I liked them in this order:

Kit- Danger at the Zoo
Samantha- The Stolen Sapphire (newer Sam one)
Josefina- Secrets in the Hills
Felicity- Peril at King's Creek
Samantha- The Curse of Ravenscourt (older Sam one)
Molly- A Spy on the Home Front.

They're all good, and probably you won't go wrong with any. If you have a favorite historical (unless it's Addy or Kirsten) you'd probably enjoy her story (or stories, if Sam) the best.

Kit is one of my favorite girls, book wise (not so much the doll, though), and I really thought the storyline made sense, and used her character and the supporting characters well. It wasn't too childish that I thought "yeah like that could happen," but it was obviously written for kids.

The new Sam one was a lot of fun because there were a bunch of extra characters, and plenty of scenarios for you to come up with (mine wasn't correct! [img]smile.gif[/img] ), so you'd probably be surprised when the end came. I also liked that they gave Nellie more of a storyline.

Although Josefina is one of my least favorites- book wise, I really loved her mystery. I was worried about how they'd get shy Josefina, who doesn't seem overly curious or nosey into a situation that seemed realistic for her solving a mystery. I loved what they did and thought it made a lot of sense.

I thought the Felicity one was too... predictable, I guess. I was very disappointed that I didn't like it more (Lissie is one of my favorites). Very early on it's easy to figure out who the "bad guy" is because there are only so many new characters in the book. And surely Lissie's mom wasn't the one stealing the horses [img]wink.gif[/img] .

The first Sam one I found a bit clich?d. I said this before, but it seemed very Alfred Hitchcock for kids, which might be someone else's cup of tea, but I found it corny. I did like the story and the "extra" stuff that we learned about the family, but the mystery was just too lame kiddie horror movie for me.

And the Molly one, although I read, I hardly remember at all, (Probably I should re-read it).

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 03, 2006 05:16 PM: Message edited by: cami713 ]</font>

[jerseycow6]

Ooh, Molly's was good!

I read the first four and Felicity's so:
Kaya's "The Silent Stranger"
Kit's "Danger at the Zoo"
Samantha's "The Curse of Ravenscourt"
Molly's "A Spy on the Homefront"
and
Felicity's "Peril at King's Creek"

I thought Felicity's book was a little too predictable, too, and the difference in authors seemed to leave a noticeable difference in style of the book and in some of the character interactions, as if they didn't read enough of the original books to be completely familiar with the characters.

I don't remember Kaya's book too well, which might say something about the book in and of itself.

And I think that Kit, Molly, and Samantha's books were equally good. Molly's actually had me kind of alarmed for a little while, so I probably would have been "on the edge of my seat" when I was younger. Actually, the same can be said for all three.

I'd suggest one of those three, though I haven't read Samantha's second book or Josefina's book yet. Picking the character you like best is a good bet.

[ksami]

I have yet to read Felicity's mystery or Josefina's mystery, but of the other five, my favorites are The Stolen Sapphire and The Silent Stranger.

Stolen Sapphire (Samantha) - Ok, maybe I am slightly biased because I am a big Samantha fan, but I felt that the author did a really good job with this book. There are lots of new characters, but as Cami said, I think that lends to the fun of the story. The clues are easy to follow and it's fun to make lots of (wrong!) guesses about "who dunnit." [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

Silent Stranger (Kaya) - This was a pretty predictable mystery, but I liked it anyways because I think it tied up Kaya's series nicely. For me, Changes for Kaya wasn't a satisfactory resolution to her core series; this mystery was. If you enjoyed her core series, you will probably like this book too! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

Get well soon!!! Hug a dolly and get lots of rest. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 03, 2006 05:56 PM: Message edited by: ksami ]</font>

[J9S]

Thanks for the help everyone! I ended up picking up Danger at the Zoo, The Curse of Ravenscourt (Just because I'm a sucker for Sam and wanted to read her first one first), and Secrets in the Hills. Josefina was my second doll and I REALLY wanted something new of hers to read so I could try and re-connect with her better.

Sooo. Reading time!

[MegadethLady]

I am addicted to reading and have read them all except for Kaya's as well.
They are all pretty good, esp. if you like the AG historicals. I am always happy to have a book that revolves around my favorite dolls.

Felicity's was very predictable. The first 3 chapters were good, but towards the mid to end of the book it really dragged on and got all into nature and stuff like that. So I skimmed from there to the end. Ben was hardly in it anyway.

Both of Sam's were good. I liked the Sapphire one probably the best of the two, but I didn't mind Ravenscourt. Nellie is kind of whiney in both of them.

Josefina's was good, and it goes into her relations her sisters so that was fun!

Kit's was pretty good. I thought the thing about a little girl writing for a professional paper a little far fetched but I have no problem with a far fetched story, that is why I like soap operas. [img]wink.gif[/img] It was pretty entertaining.

Molly's I did read, but don't remember very well. I know I figured it out right away though.

[cami713]

Ben was hardly in it anyway.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh my gosh, ROFL!!!!!!!!!

Before the book came out, I searched through it on b&n.com, and was confused/sad cause it looked like he was in so little of it. I was hoping the book just had a lot of "he" in place of "Ben." But that wasn't the case [img]frown.gif[/img] .

Lack of Ben made me sad, too. And when he was there, it seemed pointless and contrived. Like the author remembered they had to get something accomplished, and Ben just seemed like the easiest person to give the job to.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted a bit more Ben, [img]wink.gif[/img] .

And now I want to read Felicity Saves the Day for the millionth time, haha.

[MegadethLady]

Cami,

I'm a big Felicity/Ben fan. I think the "he" that was in the book was referring to that other new character dude they had. I can't remember his name, and my book is packed away. I want to say Mr. Haskall. I think he was quite a bit older than Felicity but for the first few chapters I didn't think he was that much older, so I thought maybe she'd have a little crush on him instead. I know there was one part where he was impressed with Felicity and her horse and he bows to her, and I thought there were going to be hints of romance, But it turned out that wasn't the case. Just a well, it would have been more compeition for Ben.

[Jeanette M.]

I just read Kaya's book last night, and I thought it was the best one one yet (I've read them all but Felicity's). Yes, it was somewhat predictable - they all are; but they are being written for young girls, who aren't that experienced at life yet. Kaya's Mystery Story shows her growing up and gaining more wisdom in the short time that she is trying to help the mystery woman who has come to their village. I found the decisions she made very satisfying to read about. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]