If you loved Nancy Drew, you don’t want to miss the debut novel in the Holly Lewis series by two-time USA Today Bestselling Author, Dianne Harman.Family secrets. A murdered mother. An estranged aunt. A diary. A vandalized high school.Holly knows nothing about her biological family living in Missouri. When her aunt invites her to stay with them for two weeks after her mother’s murder, she has … mother’s murder, she has mixed feeling but decides to accept the invitation.
Once she’s there, she’s determined to find out why her mother chose to live alone and at a distance from her family. What happened, and why won’t her aunt talk about it? Does the diary she finds hold the key?
And who’s been vandalizing the high school? Her cousin’s friend has been accused, but is she guilty? Holly has to use her skills solving mysteries both at the high school and in her family.
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You may remember Holly from the Cottonwood Springs series. Well now she has her own series and it is really good! This one can be read by tweens and adults alike. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and it does kind of remind me of them. Of course the things that can happen are more up to date. If you have read the Cottonwood Springs series then you know that Holly was invited to visit relatives she never knew she had.
Of course she was nervous and really wanted to know why her Mom never mentioned these relatives to her. She wanted to find out the truth**It took a bit of digging and finding and reading her Mom’s diary in her Grandfather’s house (she hadn’t known about him either!). However–all that got sidelined when a girl at her cousins school was accused of defaming school lockers and walls–unfairly. Some one had dressed to look like her–Holly and two cousins decided to find out who really did this to exonerate the friend and so the Bonfire the girl’s parents threw every year would go on. As most of us are aware–high school girls can be very two faced–pretend to be your friend–but can also be VERY jealous and back stabbing.
There were several girls who were suspects and Holly and cousins had to slowly figure out who did it.
Does Holly figure out both mysteries? This does end on a kind of happy note—Parents beware of just how popular you want your children to be!!
Dianne Harman is the maven of suspense. With this book, she extends her skillful writing to reach a new audience. This book is a YA suspense book, with Holly, the teenage daughter of a recently murdered woman, visits her biological family in Missouri. She had never met any of them before, and while she is there, mysteries start unfolding. Holly developed her investigative skills by catching a student in her school who posted mean pics of her. “Surely,” she thinks, “figuring out what’s going on in this family shouldn’t be too hard?” Forming an instant bond with her two cousins, Steven and Lissa, she’s on the case.
I misspoke: not just one case, but two. On the family front, Holly tries to understand why her Aunt and her mother never spoke. Her Grandfather was still alive, she finds out, and meeting him will lead her to read her mother’s diary from years ago, and bring her to uncover long-kept secrets.
On the school front, Holly decides to help Chloe, the most envied and the most adored girl in school, when she is falsely identified—because of video tape footage—as the figure who caused damage to school property. Who could have framed her, by wearing Chloe’s favorite hoodie, which was embroidered by her grandmother? Who could have worn a wig to resemble Chloe’s distinctive pale blonde hair?
One possible suspect is Alison, who had made it her job to make sure her mother took care of herself. Her Ma had a habit of forgetting to eat, and Alison is driven to excel in her school work and surpass Chloe. Another possible suspect is Carrie, who has a crush on Kyle. Carrie is Chloe’s friend but not her fan, maybe she was a while ago, before Kyle told her he had a crush on Chloe.
This is a wholesome story where the two investigations combine to showcase not only Holly’s investigative skills but her character too. Highly recommended.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s not just for teenagers.