Bookish Thursday - Halloway Hills Middle School Mystery Tour!

I've gone back to school! 

Well, I'm reading a trio of middle school mysteries for this blog tour with WOW-Women on Writing this time. 

And to change it up a little, I had Lady K, who is in the third grade, read one of the three stories with me.

But first, a bit about the author and the books. 

Three short, page-turning mysteries for ages 9-11 featuring mischievous cats and their middle-grade owners.

In Hiding Out on Halloween, Avery Mcintosh borrows the Super Ultimate Minecraft Hacks book from the school library, much to the dismay of the school bully Becky. When Avery accidentally splashes Becky with an invisibility potion that he learned from the book, she not only disappears from Minecraft, but from the real world too.Trying to ease his guilt about Becky’s disappearance, with the help of his friend Jordan and a black cat who appears to be stalking him, Avery sets out to find Becky.

In Creeping Up on Christmas, it’s time for the Halloway Hills Middle School Christmas fair and Violet Sidhu and her friends have planned to sell crocheted hats to raise money for charity. There’s just one problem—the hats are missing!When Violet discovers what’s happened to her hats, thanks to the new guy at school, getting them back turns out to be harder than she thought.

In Veering Off on Valentine’s, Jordan Cartwright learns the meaning of true love . . . from her cat! After feeling rejected by her best friend Avery because of Valentine’s Day, Jordan wonders if she can still be friends with him.As she tries to avoid Avery, Jordan witnesses some strange behaviour from her cat Blizzard. When Blizzard goes missing during a snowstorm, Jordan enlists Avery’s help to find him and learns an important lesson in the process.

Includes bonus cookie recipe and word search!

Purchase all three books for Kindle on Amazon.com and make sure to add these books to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author, AJ Kormon

AJ Kormon started out writing books about money to help explain the concept to her kids. As her kids got older, they showed signs of not wanting to read, so she enlisted their help creating a series for resistant readers. This is how the Halloway Hills Middle School Mysteries were born. When AJ isn't writing and cartooning, you'll find her losing to her kids at Uno.

Find A.J. Kormon at: 

Website: www.ajkormon.com

BookBub: www.bookbub.com/profile/a-j-kormon

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20379395.A_J_Kormon

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ajkormon

OK. So now for the opinion of Lady K and me on the first book in the series, Hiding Out On Halloween.

First, I have to say when I asked her to 'help' me with this review by reading one of the books. She will be nine in March, so while not middle school yet, she does fit the age range. And since Halloween was approaching and it's one of our favorite times of the year, we decided that was the buddy-read book. However...

I was informed 'Grandma, I like non-fiction. You know - facts!'

But the saving grace of the book was MINECRAFT! If you child doesn't want to read, but plays Minecraft, this is a great book to get them reading. 

Basically, Avery uses a potion while playing with friends online and one of the friends (or is she an enemy?) disappears in real life also. And Avery is afraid it's all his fault because of the potion he used in the game. Now he has to figure out what happened to her.

In the meantime, he is being stalked by a black cat, who he tries to friend. 

Lady K was really thrilled to see the references to Minecraft. How Avery and his friends go home after school and get online to play the game is just like what Lady K does. She has several classmates she plays with. That being said, it does help to have a bit of knowledge of Minecraft and the lingo of the game. I have that knowledge strictly from listening to Lady K play and converse about the game. And no, I refuse to get sucked into playing it.

But as Avery searches for his missing friend/enemy, you learn what has happened to Avery's mother. You also get to watch his slow winning over of a stray cat which seems to be following him. everywhere. 

So, what do Lady K and I feel about the book?

For someone who only wants to read non-fiction these days, she really enjoyed it. She was reading a PDF of the book I had printed out for her, so she really wanted some pictures. Sigh.  

But she did read it and enjoy the book.

I, on the other hand, sat myself down on the couch for a reading sprint and whizzed through all 3 books in one sitting. I had forgotten the 'simplicity' of middle school books as compared to the YA and adult books I normally read.

My only 'thing' is have against the book is Avery stops by school during the Halloween Dance and he is allowed to come and go with ease. In my own experience, kids who attend these dances can only leave when they are picked up by an adult they know at the door. In fact, Avery seems to run around after dark a bit more than most kids do in real life. So that took me out of the book at bit. 'Mommy mind' kicked in.

Overall, I really enjoyed the series. The fact all three of the main characters have a cat and they play an important part of the story is a really fun item. And that the settings for each book is around a holiday is nice.

Go pick up the series as a gift for the middle-schooler in your life! Especially if they like cats and play Minecraft!