ya Archives

Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (1941)

1940s Nancy Tackles Murders, a Plane Crash, and a Leopard Author: Carolyn Keene I’ve been chronologically making my way through an eBay haul of Nancy Drew mysteries and finally got to the one I was looking forward to the most: The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion. The thing about an eBay haul is that some of the books are the 60s/70s “Flashlight” edition (which are quite sanitized and often have completely different stories) and some of the books are the original version (20s-40s usually), where our sleuth isn’t quite such a retiring lady. As a matter of fact, Nancy can be [...]

Frances Carden2026-07-05T13:26:40-07:00July 5th, 2026|Tags: book review, Carolyn Keene, mystery, Nancy Drew, read, reading, ya|

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

“Adventures are never fun while you're having them.” Author: C.S. Lewis Lucy and Edmund are stuck with their cousin, Eustace, enduring his haughtiness, when suddenly they are all three sucked into a beautiful picture of a daring ship. They are back again, at last, in their beloved Narnia, and this time the adventure will take them across oceans to the very edge of the world where Aslan’s land is said to begin. The ship, the aptly named Dawn Treader, is captained by King Caspian who, along with his crew and Reepicheep (the brave mouse), are looking for seven lords banished by [...]

Frances Carden2026-06-14T17:08:28-07:00June 14th, 2026|Tags: book review, C.S. Lewis, Christian, Christian fiction, classic, fiction, Narnia, read, reading, ya|

Oasis

"The desert . . . . it’ll devour you whole if you display any sign of weakness." Author: Katya De Becerra While I was reading Oasis, Trav and I were housebound by the Snowcrete, so a book set in a lovely hot desert with supernatural overtones sounded like the perfect way to break the ice and free me to adventure, if only in my mind. It starts, as these things inevitably do, with a band of young friends, freshly graduated from high school and looking for their last hurrah before going off to separate colleges. Alif is our main character. Her [...]

Frances Carden2026-04-09T17:50:16-07:00April 9th, 2026|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, fantasy, legend, read, reading, ya|