By S. J. Henderson on February 2, 2015
Although I’m not in the target audience for the Skylar Robbins series, I’m definitely still a kid at heart. Pretty sure that still counts. Anyway… the book.What a great story! I’ve always been a fan of mysteries, and read quite a few of my mom’s Nancy Drew books growing up. Spooky settings like Xandra’s mansion always draw me in, too, so Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels drew me in almost immediately even though I started behind the game by not having read book 1.
Loved the dumbwaiter idea, a childhood dream of mine since the TV series “Webster.” And the turret and gazebo and… yes. The setting was great.Because I missed that first part of the series, I assumed I’d know more about the Secret Agents. I also assume there’s an online community somewhere where readers have the opportunity to win mentions in these books. That’s a fun idea, and I know younger readers would enjoy seeing their screen names in print. This bit of missing info/back story didn’t ruin the reading experience for me. The author did a decent job making sure new readers could pick up this book with a minimum of confusion.
As an adult, I wanted to shake Skylar more than a few times for not alerting her parents to the Crew Gang’s menacing behavior. It made for a tense story, but I don’t think it’s a great idea for kids to imitate that in real life. If someone is threatening you or your family for any reason, seek help. Jewels or boys or whatever aren’t a good enough reason to let sociopaths persist. That aside…I’d definitely read another Skylar Robbins book, and I’m happy to recommend them to girls looking for clean mysteries with a modern twist.