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Fear Street Sagas #2: House of Whispers (R.L. Stine)

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Even though the last book took place in the early 1900s, this one takes us all the way back to the Civil War. Amy Pierce is on her way to New Orleans to live with her mother's cousin, Angelica Fear, as well as Angelica's husband Simon Fear. Amy's own father was injured in the War, her mother went to be with him, and it's way too improper for a young woman to live on her own. She arrives and meet her cousins Hannah and Julia. Angelica also introduces her to Nellie, one of the servants. Hannah is pretty much your spoiled little rich girl, while Julia isn't as pretty but much nicer. Angelica goes out of her way to give Hannah anything she wants and makes a big deal out of her at the same time ignoring her other daughter. Nellie talks an awful lot but seems pretty nice. Julia stops by that night and warns Amy to never open her door at night, no matter what she might hear. She explains that she once saw a servant disappear into a fog. Her parents told her it

The Nancy Drew Case Files #47: Flirting with Danger (1990)

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Ned's good college friend Josh got an internship out in Hollywood and invited Ned to come stay with him and his family in Beverly Hills for a few weeks and is nice enough to invite Nancy along too. Though they look forward to spending some time alone, she almost immediately gets caught up in a mystery. Rachel, Josh's little sister, is just about to graduate from high school. Nancy overhears her fighting with someone named Dennis on the phone before she goes missing. Rachel drives to her graduation but never shows up. Our list of suspects include: Beth: Rachel's best friend keeps trying to tell Nancy something and then hesitating. She also wears this necklace with a cat charm that has white eyes, which she constantly twists when she's nervous, so all the time. Jessica: Jessica is a super bitch. She keeps saying that it's a good thing Rachel is gone and that no one will miss her, and she stops Beth from talking to Nancy several times. Mike:

The Unicorn Club #22: Jessica's Dream Date

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The Unicorn Club and all the rest of Sweet Valley is all atwitter because Johnny Buck is coming back to town. This time he's coming to do a fundraising concert for the pediatric hospital, which is apparently the leader in children's cancer treatments, which is something you'd think we would have heard before. A local talk show held a contest and let everyone send in postcards. One winner will get the chance to meet Buck and show him around town. Lila absolutely cannot stop bragging because her dad got the whole club VIP passes for the club. She literally will not shut up about it and acts like it's the most important thing in the history of the world. That's why she's less than happy when Johnny appears on the show, draws a name, and announces that Jessica is the winner. Everyone goes apeshit about how she's the luckiest girl in the world. The next day, the club confronts her and tells her that it wasn't just Jessica that won, it was

Fear Street Sagas #1: A New Fear

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I actually went to a secondhand bookstore, Second and Charles, where I keep stocking up on the newer Nancy Drew books cheap and decided to check out the “teen” area. Imagine my surprise when I found eleven of the Fear Street Sagas books. After reading through the first two, I have to say that this series is pretty gnarly! In case you didn't read the Fear Street Saga set, Nora Goode was a woman who fell in love with Daniel Fear despite their families being sworn enemies. The Fear Mansion caught on fire, a bunch of random shit happened, and everyone except her died. The cops show up, refuse to believe her story, and finally put her in the nut house until she agrees to tell them what really happened. About a year later, Nora is still there and gave birth to her son, Nicholas. The head nurse comes in to remind her that it's bath time and leaves the baby with a 12 year old patient. Nora comes back and surprisingly does not find her son mutilated in pieces. He's

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #172: The Riding Club Crime (2003)

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The gals all have some random friend named Elsa. Elsa works at Green Spring Pony Club, which Mrs. Rogers operates. I have no knowledge whatsoever about horseback riding, but I'll try and explain how it works. The clubs function like riding camps but select an elite team of kids to join a rally team at the end. That team competes against others for a prize. Mrs. Rogers established a scholarship program that lets kids who can't afford the camp come in and stay. She even provides them with horses and riding gear if they need it. While riding with George and Elsa, Nancy's horse falls in a horse and nearly throws her. It becomes clear that someone deliberately dug the hole in the ground. Elsa then confesses that other things happened. Someone lost their gear, someone else had a minor accident, and a horse got spooked. Elsa volunteers to talk to Mrs. Rogers on Nancy's behalf and gets her and George jobs working for the club. They just lost a counselor and some cam

Sweet Valley High #123: Elizabeth's Rival

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The twins are all set to head off to Camp Echo Mountain, a random performing arts camp in Montana. Jessica goes out to pick up new hiking boots and comes home to hear Liz on the phone with someone and talking about how this will be the best summer ever. It turns out that Maria Slater from back in middle school is transferring back to Sweet Valley since moving to New York with her family. She also just so happens to be coming to camp as a counselor with her new best friend Nicole. Jessica is all down and depressed because this takes place after Christian's death. She heads over to see Lila and help her pack, which mainly consists of taking out all her fancy beaded dresses and designer clothing before telling her that she made a pact for the summer: no more guys. Yeah, right. When Jess isn't looking, Lila pockets her gold lame bikini just in case. Jess is also a little upset that Liz will apparently spend the whole summer with Maria and Nicole instead of paying att

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #117: Mystery on the Menu (1994)

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George and Bess apparently love watching cooking shows and reading cooking magazines. When one ran a contest for an original recipe for Valentine's Day, they had a bet. George entered a recipe for raspberry chiffon cake that her grandmother once made and won, so Bess owes her 20 bucks. Three winners get free dessert cooking lessons from some major cooking school. Since anyone else can sign up and pay for the same lessons, Nancy and Bess decide to go along too. They quickly meet Sophie, the woman who runs the cooking school, and her head administrator, Baird. The girls also meet Paul and Lila, the other two winners, and Gloria, a woman who signed up for the classes, as well as Regis and Alicia, the two instructors for the classes. Regis has his own restaurant in NYC, while Alicia has a restaurant in New Orleans. Not only does Regis make it clear that he dislikes Alicia, but he also brings two yappy little dogs with him. It doesn't take long before Nancy discovers