Burned (Hardy Boys UB #6) by Franklin W. Dixon

Title: Burned

Series: Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers

Author: Franklin W. Dixon (Pen name)

Release Date: October 1, 2005

Publisher: Aladdin

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis from Amazon:

ATAC BRIEFING FOR AGENTS FRANK AND JOE HARDY

MISSION:

To smoke out the mastermind behind and learn the structure of an illegal international CD-burning operation that employs teenagers.

LOCATION:

Local and global. Start close to home.

POTENTIAL VICTIMS:

Misicians. Record companies. Unsuspecting customers who are unaware that they are participating in illegal activity.

SUSPECTS:

Start with Julian sanders, your classmate. Work from there.

THIS MISSION REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.

THIS MESSAGE WILL BE ERASED IN FIVE SECONDS.

---

My Review:

Okay, so I'm not usually the queen of rereads as I'm usually someone who gets nervous when it comes to rereading a favorite book. Afraid I wouldn't love it as much as before. Afraid my feelings for it wouldn't be the same as the first time. After all, rereading a favorite book is usually never the same as the first time, right?

Well, but more than anything, I was so glad and relieved that that wasn't the case with the Hardy Boys UB #6 Burned.

After procrastinating for a long time on rereading a favorite Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book, I'm so glad to finally have the courage to pick up one of my favorite Hardy Boys book, UB #6 Burned.

This installment of the Hardy Boys UB series follows the Hardy brothers as they investigate the person behind the illegal international CD-burning operation.

I enjoyed the interaction between the Hardy family near the beginning of the book, and as usual, I loved the brother teamwork between Frank and Joe and their determination to do justice against evil, as well as the brotherly love and banters added between them, which obviously reminded me of why I got into the Hardy Boys in the first place.

This Hardy Boys mystery was intriguing as I couldn't wait to discover the identity of the mysterious C.D. Burns (it's been awhile since I've last read the book after all, so I kinda forgot who the culprit was 😉), and anxious for the Hardys to catch him.

One of my favorite parts was when the Hardy brothers were chasing that Mr. Ski Cap guy at the mall, and how Frank managed to kick butt (according to Joe), despite his injured foot. Great brother teamwork! I was so proud of him for that! Definitely the Hardys I know and love!

Finally, as I was reading that Hardy Boys book, I was feeling kinda nostalgic as I remembered my early bookworm days, and now all of a sudden, I have that burning urge to dig out all my other favorite Hardy Boys (and Nancy Drew) books, and start rereading. The joy of rereading a favorite!

Reading Burned, I also learned a lot about how illegal it is to burn CDs; shame for my ignorance back then! 🤭 Honestly, it kinda reminded me of my days in sixth grade when I attempted to burn CDs for my siblings. 🙈

Overall, I would recommend Burned to all the Hardy Boys and mystery fans out there.

Sweet Cold of Winter (Ashkettle Boys #6) by A.M. Goetz

Title: Sweet Cold of Winter

Series: Ashkettle Boys

Author: A.M. Goetz

Published: February 22, 2019

Purchase: Amazon

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Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Small towns hide big secrets.

When tourists discover the body of seasoned hiker James Fremont at the bottom of Scarface Mountain Trail, Sheriff Jacob Knight immediately suspects foul play. Fremont died with an engagement ring in his pocket and enough supplies to last two people for several days, yet there's no evidence of a woman at his abandoned campsite.

Worse -- Fremont's girlfriend, local cougar Denise Langerkamp -- won't admit they were ever a couple.

Denise has already moved on, her next target a scarred young man named Dack Ashkettle.

From the moment he first meets her, Dack is certain he loves Denise, but he's about to find out -- sometimes, loving the wrong woman can be murder.

Get your copy of Sweet Cold of Winter today.

---

My Review:

I'm so glad to finally get my hands on the last installment of the Ashkettle Boys series, Sweet Cold of Winter, on my kindle.

I've been looking forward to it ever since I finished Shaw's Obsession, and picked it up as soon as I finished a semester from my program.

For some reason, there is just something about wintery covers that intrigues me to a book, so it was a big bonus for me to see a wintery cover on an Ashkettle Boys book.

The last installment of the Ashkettle Boys series, Sweet Cold of Winter, was a book that intrigued me from beginning to end, as it followed the youngest Ashkettle still opening his eyes to the world and his experience with falling in love with the wrong woman...

Like Shaw's Obsession, Sweet Cold of Winter was a book that took me through a rollercoaster of emotions. I felt happy, angry, frustrated, excited, and almost cried...

I got hooked right from the first page as it opens with some tension between a couple at a campground. Between a man named James Fremont and the snake, Denise Langerkamp, and how she ended up murdering him by pushing him off the cliff...

While the sheriff, Jacob Knight, tries to solve the murder of James Fremont, whose body was found at the bottom of Scarface Mountain Trail, the youngest Ashkettle, Dack, is still in a coma back at their old hometown...

As usual, I loved the Ashkettle Boys' love and loyalty towards each other. I loved how Sonny and Bo were unwilling to give up on their younger brother; definitely the Ashkettles I know! I also loved the humor and banters between them throughout the book.

One of my favorites that kind of made me crack up:

(Between Dack and Bo, after Dack woke up from his coma)

"I know. It's cool, man. You go ahead and cry if you need to. Doc said it'd take you a while to start feeling like yourself again."

"Feel like... a... big... baby."

"Yeah? Well I'm off diaper-duty, dude. So don't get no ideas."

That was a great humor that lights a reader up after a serious situation.

Despite feeling happy and relieved that Dack survived his coma, I was feeling uneasy as, from my experience reading the Ashkettle Boys, whenever a trouble is resolved, a new trouble always comes up for them. They are boys who seem to always be targeted!

In Sweet Cold of Winter, that new trouble was Denise Langerkamp, as she approaches the youngest Ashkettle and starts taking advantage of the scarred young man, who's been through a lot.

As Dack falls in love with Denise the more he spent time with her, throughout most of the book, I've been wanting to reach into the pages and slap sense out of him to let him know that he's about to throw himself into another danger, and anxious for him to wake up soon! Sweet Cold of Winter has been one of those books, where you, as the reader, know something the character doesn't and you feel like slapping sense out of them, which, obviously, felt frustrating.

Throughout most of the book, I've also been cheering Bo, who was totally alert on who Denise really was and many times, tried to warn his younger brother against her.

More than anything, I've really been disgusted by this dirty woman and hoped with all my heart that she would get what she deserved.

Will Dack ever open his eyes and see who Denise really is? You'll have to read it to find out!

Finally, as soon as I finished reading it, I've instantly debated on a four or five stars, and finally decided on a four after much thinking.

While I really loved and enjoyed Sweet Cold of Winter, there were some minor issues I had with it. For instance, there were times when I felt like Dack, my favourite Ashkettle since the first book, was acting like a spoiled brat, which I felt was a bit out of character from him.

Also, again, like in Shaw's Obsession, Spoiler! we never got to know whether Merle was actually Dack's father or not. End Spoiler! I was expecting to find out in this book after the idea was left unconfirmed in Shaw's Obsession, but it was never mentioned again as though the idea never existed.

And about the ending - Spoiler! Wasn't Denise already supposed to be dead while Sonny was unconscious? End Spoiler!

Overall, the last book of the Ashkettle Boys series, Sweet Cold of Winter, was a great, intriguing read that teaches us something very important.

Be careful who you trust.

I will miss the Ashkettle Boys so much. 😭

Will eventually reread the series sometime in the near future though. :')

Some of Tim's Stories by S.E. Hinton

Title: Some of Tim's Stories

Author: S.E. Hinton

Release Date: April 2, 2009

Publisher: Speak

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synonpsis from Amazon:

Continue celebrating 50 years of The Outsiders by reading S. E. Hinton's profound and wry compilation of fourteen short stories. Terry and Mike are cousins whose families are almost seamlessly intertwined. Raised as close as brothers and living happy childhoods, neither one thinks of what can go wrong. But the unexpected deaths of both their fathers catapult their lives in two very different directions. Terry finds trouble with the law, while Mike lives his life racked with guilt and sadness. S. E. Hinton gives readers a gritty view of how one incident, one tragedy, affects two boys very differently, and changes their lives forever.

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My Review from February 13, 2022:

S.E. Hinton's Some of Tim's Stories is a collection of very short stories that are about two cousins, who were raised like brothers, and how one incident - one tragedy - affected their lives very differently.

Hinton "took a roundabout way of writing in first person, using a narrator who writes his stories in third person".

Being a Hinton fan ever since I read The Outsiders, when I first saw this, the cover pulled me in, and I instantly looked forward to it, expecting it to be a great, heartbreaking story about two boys who were like brothers.

Unfortunately, though, to my disappointment, it wasn't like I expected. They were just a collection of random short stories with just not much character depth for me to connect with them, and I agree with one reviewer on Goodreads saying that they were like a collection of "exercises that were written in a college creative writing course" and then combined together to make it a book. To be honest, reading it mostly felt like a chore. I expected more from it. Also, the last story ended in a cliffhanger, unfortunately.

The only thing I really enjoyed about this book though was the special features, which were the interviews with S.E. Hinton that took over the rest of the book.

I was really happy to get to know my favorite author more. I bet she really bonded with the actors who starred in her movies, especially Matt Dillion.

Finally, all I can say is that Some of Tim's Stories may not be my best S.E. Hinton read, but it was mostly good for pass time.