Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (5000)

Content

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2389 KP) rated Super Puzzletastic Mysteries in Books

Jul 5, 2020

Twenty Great Puzzles and Mysteries for You to Solve

This book for middle grade readers features twenty stories by members of Mystery Writers of America. Each story provides the clues and puzzles you need to solve it along with the characters. In fact, the solutions are at the back of the book to give you time to figure out what is really going on before you see if you got it right. While a few authors feature series sleuths, most of the stories feature original characters.

And all of them are fun. Many are straight up mysteries, but some feature puzzles we can learn about and solve with the characters along the way. The stories average about 15 pages each, so they would work well for reading aloud and solving as a group. It might take a group to solve some of them. I figured a few out, but many left me stumped until I turned to the end. There isn’t a bad story in the bunch, and kids will certainly enjoy this collection as much as I did.

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2389 KP) rated Murder on the Beach in Books

May 28, 2021

Beach Reads to Enjoy Anywhere

Surfs up with this collection of eight mystery short stories set on the beach. We’ve got everything from a constantly disappearing family heirloom at a beach side wedding reception to a dead body on a girls’ weekend, a death at a frog leg cooking competition, a ring half buried in the sand, and an accident plagued trip to Cabo San Lucas.

Each story in this collection averaged 40 minutes for me to read, so there is plenty of content in the book. While some of the authors have written about their series sleuths, all of the stories can be read on their own, which was good because I was only familiar with one set of characters before I started the collection. All the stories feature strong characters and fun mysteries in addition to the variety of beach settings. Whether you take this book along to read at the beach or read it at home while dreaming of being at the beach, you’ll enjoy it.

Kudos

The Language Of Thorns

Leigh Bardugo and Sara Kipin

8.7 (15 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns. Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by...

Young Adult Fantasy Illustrated Fairy Tales

Ari Augustine (10 KP) rated Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allen Poe in Books

May 4, 2020

Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allen Poe

Stacy King | 2017 | Comics & Graphic Novels, History & Politics

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Know what's better than reading Edgar Allen Poe's stories? Reading them in a Manga format!
Although I am still getting use to manga and the whole reading right to left system, it was a bit of a struggle to read, but honestly, it's so worth it.

The illustrations are beautifully drawn, freakishly eerie, and detailed to a level I wasn't expecting. I love graphic and these were definitely GRAPHIC, but I think that will work well for those who aren't into reading as much as seeing the story unfold.

I have always enjoyed "Tell-Tale Heart", "The Masque of the Red Death", and "The Cask of Amontillado", which is my favorite story, but what I enjoyed most about this version of the stories is that the images to words ratio is balanced perfectly. The spines of the plots are there, but the meat is presented differently, which made these stories both familiar and refreshing to me (as someone who adores Poe).

A huge thank you to Udon Entertainment and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.