HUNT FOR THE SILVER DRAGON — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I’ve always disliked words like inspiration. Writing is probably like a scientist thinking about some scientific problem, or an engineer about an engineering problem.”


~ Doris Lessing ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

K. M. Weiland always has good information in her posts. HERE she talks about Story Stakes: When to Reveal Them—and Why Timing Is Everything. Well worth your time.

Angela Ackerman has so much writing knowledge. When I see a post by her, I know I will learn something important. HERE she writes a guest post for Writers in the Storm called How to Use Character Tropes Without Writing Cliches. It’s a good one.

Janice Hardy has such great, useful posts on her Fiction University. HERE is one called 5 Questions to Turn a Character from Flat to Fabulous. Great ways to punch up your writing. Don’t miss it.

It’s been a quiet week here, but not so the rest of the country. The storms that have been raging are astonishing. I’m waiting to hear from some friends in the Southeast, and I won’t be quite comfortable until I do. I am endlessly amazed that there are still people who deny climate change is real. Let’s hope the weather ameliorates for a while, at least so people can get back on their feet. We have had a strange winter here in Northern California, but nothing terrible. It’s been unusually cold, and we have had, and continue to have, thick fog most days. It’s had an adverse impact on my solar system, but other than that, I can’t complain. I do hope we get some more rain. If we don’t, we could have trouble this summer. I do want to mention that I probably won’t be here next week. Super Bowl Sunday is kind of a holiday at my house, and we celebrate it fully. So I’ll see you in a couple weeks.

Last week, I offered a gently-read hardback of HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE by Dusti Bowling to one of you. This week’s winner is Rebecca Douglass. Congratulations, Rebecca! I will get your book out to you soon. Rebecca is a very prolific author and an adventurer. Check out her website and blog HERE.

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that I really can’t resist a mystery. When Linda Joy Singleton offered me a copy of her latest book in the Curious Cat Spy Club series in exchange for an honest review, I was excited to read it. HUNT FOR THE SILVER DRAGON is well into the series, but it stands fine on its own. And that cover! How could you resist? I really enjoyed it, and I will be trying to check some of the earlier books out when I have some time.

Kelsey, Becca, and Leo have been friends for a long time, and Kelsey is looking forward to spending every day of the coming summer with them doing Curious Cat Spy Club business. All are animal lovers, and they raise money for local shelters by finding lost pets and claiming the rewards. Kelsey narrates the story. Her mom is an animal control officer. Becca is Kelsey’s BFF, and her mom is runs an animal sanctuary. Becca’s mom is also dating the local sheriff. Leo is a computer whiz and a walking encyclopedic dictionary. When the kids are out walking, they find a sheep that has been injured, shot by an arrow that has a silver dragon painted on it. They call for help, and the sheriff and Kelsey’s mom arrive. They send the kids home with orders to not do their own investigation, but before they leave, Kelsey is able to read the sheriff’s lips from afar and discovers there have been other arrow attacks on animals. But can these members of the Curious Cat Spy Club really stay away from a mystery?

It sounds like this will be a pretty straightforward mystery until Becca and Kelsey have a falling out over a boy. An older boy named Rex volunteers at the animal sanctuary Becca’s mom runs, and Becca immediately has a crush on him. Kelsey just doesn’t trust him. She catches Rex in a bunch of lies, but Becca only sees perfection. Soon the girls aren’t speaking. Then Leo announces he is leaving to go to robotics camp. Kelsey is bereft. Her summer is ruined. Or is it? When the sheriff shows up and asks Kelsey to go undercover, summer suddenly gets much more interesting.

I love the young characters in this book, but I have to say Leo is my favorite. I have a real soft spot for people with big vocabularies. Becca has a typical schoolgirl crush that gets in the way of everything, and it is very believable. Kelsey and Leo clearly have a thing for each other, which can be very difficult to navigate within a close friendship, so it brings some good tension to the story. Linda Joy Singleton is really in touch with her inner child, which brings a real authenticity to this story. Her dialog is spot on for the age as are the friendship dramas that occur. There are enough red herrings to make this a very interesting mystery, and the ending is anything but predictable. Don’t miss this one.

I have a gently-read paperback to give to one of you. All you need to do is be a follower (it’s free and easy — see the top, right corner of the post) with a US Address, and leave a comment. If you share the link to this post on social media, please let me know in your comment, and you will get an extra chance. And please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.