The Heartbreak Cafe Series

The Heartbreak Cafe series consists of six books written by Janet Quin-Harkin.  The first three books were published in March 1990.  The last three books were published in April through June 1990, one per month.

1.  No Experience Required
2.  The Main Attraction
3.  At Your Service
4.  Catch of the Day
5.  Love to Go
6.  Just Desserts

The series is widely available in modern paperback editions and in digital format.  The original editions of the first five books can be found in softcover without too much trouble.  #6 is readily available in the hardcover Especially for Girls edition, but the original softcover edition of #6 is difficult to find and pricey.

In the Heartbreak Cafe series, Debbie Lesley's parents have recently divorced, and Debbie now lives with her mom.  Debbie's mom informs her that they don't have enough money to pay for the insurance for Debbie's car, so Debbie is forced to find a job.

By chance, Debbie ends up at the Heartbreak Cafe and applies for a job as a waitress.  She's hired, but the owner's grandson, Joe, is extremely arrogant.  Joe and Debbie do not get along at all.  And yet... at times Debbie feels like Joe could become more than just a coworker.  

The overarching story of the series is whether Debbie and Joe will ever have a romance.  They gradually become friendlier and share a few kisses here and there.  At the same time, they argue and insult each other constantly, which keeps them from beginning a real relationship.

The Heartbreak Cafe has a group of regular customers who appear in all six books.  During the first book, I felt like there were too many characters, but at the books continued, I became more familiar with them and was able to appreciate them.

I really enjoy teen series in which the protagonist has a real problem.  Debbie has a good share of real problems.  She must work, and she's lost her membership in the country club, which has caused some conflict.  Debbie's father is in some kind of mid-life crisis, and Debbie does not approve of his behavior.  Debbie's boyfriend, Grant, seems to be more interested in how Debbie can make him look good than in her as a person.  There is a lot going on.

Debbie also makes some really bad decisions at times, but considering the turn her life has taken, it is understandable.

These books are interesting and engaging.  They are loosely similar to Sweet Valley High in that the stories continue from book to book, and the same characters interact throughout the series.  Additionally, the plot elements are similar to Sweet Valley High as well.

Overall, this is an excellent series, and I greatly enjoyed reading through the set.

The James Budd Series by Dale Carlson

As I read the final Trixie Belden books, #35-39, I noticed advertisements for the James Budd series.  I was intrigued, especially because Dale Carlson also wrote the Jenny Dean series, which I enjoyed.  I purchased the four books.

The James Budd series consists of four books.

1.  The Mystery of the Madman at Cornwall Crag, 1984
2.  The Secret of Operation Brain, 1984
3.  The Mystery of the Lost Princess, 1984
4.  The Mystery of Galaxy Games, 1984

I find it interesting that Dale Carlson wrote a series for Grosset and Dunlap at about the same time that she wrote a series for Golden Press.  It's rather uncommon for an author to have series published almost simultaneously by rival publishing companies.

James Budd is like a teen version of James Bond.  His girlfriend is Honey Mack.  James and Honey are described as the perfect couple, perfectly matched to each other.  Both of them have spectacular fighting abilities.

I'm not going to do proper reviews of the four books, but I do want to mention the plot of the third book, which is particularly absurd.  In The Mystery of the Lost Princess, Sam Star, who is James' guardian, is in Europe looking for the lost princess of Mornia.  Meanwhile, Sasha is a girl who goes to school with James and Honey.  While in gym class, Honey notices that Sasha is being abused.  She has scars on her back from beatings.

James and Honey decide that they must get Sasha away from her aunt.  James comes up with an insane scheme to have Sasha pretend to be the lost princess of Mornia.  This means that he is even planning to fool Sam Star.  James and Honey look up facts about Mornia in books and have Sasha memorize them.

The scheme is so very wrong, and as soon as James decides to do it, I just knew that Sasha was probably going to turn out to be the real lost princess of Mornia.

I mostly read all four books.  They are not very interesting to me.  I have never liked spy thrillers, so I'm not surprised that I found them boring.  The books could appeal to those who do like spy thrillers.  If you are one of those people, then consider trying these books.

The final Trixie Belden books, which were published at the same time as these books, are not as good as the earlier Trixie Belden books.  Let's just say that I like the final Trixie Belden books much better than the James Budd books.  In my opinion, the James Budd books are bland and uninteresting.

The Cassandra Best Series

The Cassandra Best series consists of the following books.

1.  Ticket to Danger, 1990
2.  Race Against Time, 1990
3.  Mystery in Hollywood, 1990
4.  Treasure Beach, 1990

The series was published by Grosset and Dunlap and written under the pseudonym of Jennifer Austin.  The books were published in glossy hardcover editions.

Cassandra Best Jones, known as Cassie to her family, is 18 years old.  Cassie's alter ego, Cassandra, is a detective.

In Cassandra Best #1, Ticket to Danger, Cassie's British pen pal, Alex, has sent her a plane ticket.  Cassie is nervous, because Alex thinks Cassie is wealthy.  Cassie is not wealthy and lives an ordinary life.  Cassie sets her worries aside as soon as she arrives at Alex's estate.  Alex is missing!  Cassie gets to play the role of Cassandra Best as she searches for her missing friend.

Near the end of the story Cassie tries to communicate telepathically with Alex.

This book has a good story idea that is lacking.  I enjoyed the first part just fine, then I started to get bored.  The text needs more description, something to make it more interesting.

In Cassandra Best #2, Race Against Time, Alex sends Cassie a ticket to the Kentucky Derby.  Cassie gets to investigate another mystery when the horse favored to win the race goes missing.

On page 18, Mr. Felsingham tells Cassie that he can always sense when something is wrong in the stable, even when he is in the house.  This is a second instance of telepathy in this series.  I sense a trend.

I enjoyed this book a little more than the first book.

In Cassandra Best #3, Mystery in Hollywood, Cassie investigates a mystery on the set of a horror movie.

On page 111, Cassie is captive in a room that is "pitch dark."  Cassie can't see a thing.  The problem is that a fire is burning inside the same room.  A fire causes light, but the room is "pitch dark."  This bothered me.

Like all "sabotage on a movie set" books, I had trouble getting into the story.

In Cassandra Best #4, Treasure Beach, Cassie and Alex visit a tropical island where a crew searches for sunken treasure.  One of the diving ships disappears, and Cassie suspects sabotage.

On page 6, Cassie believes that she might have developed a psychic connection with Alex.

Parts of this story bored me.

The problem with the Cassandra Best series is that the books were written with minimal description and minimal emotion.  They mostly lack everything that makes a story good.  The stories come across as not much more than a basic outline with text added.  I assume that the books were not written by a very skilled writer or else the author was paid practically nothing.  I did enjoy some parts of the books, but overall, this is a fairly bland series.

Bearstone and Far North by Will Hobbs

In Bearstone, Cloyd is a troubled teenager.  He has been sent by his tribe to a group home. Cloyd is then sent to live with Walter, an old man who lives on the mountain by himself.  Cloyd likes Walter, but when a group of hunters visits Walter, Cloyd decides that the hunters are Walter's real friends and that all of the men are laughing at him.

Cloyd strikes out to hurt Walter in the worst way possible, and when it is too late, Cloyd learns that Walter is his real friend.

This is not the kind of book that I typically enjoy.  I have trouble relating to a protagonist who is so full of anger and takes revenge upon someone who does not deserve it by doing the most appalling act possible.  Aside from that, the story is good and teaches a lesson.

In Far North, Gabe starts boarding school in the Northwest Territories of Canada.  His roommate is Raymond, an Indian from Nahanni Butte. Gabe gets an opportunity to ride on a bush plane one weekend, and to his shock, Raymond will be flying on the plane to return home.  He is dropping out of school.  Also taking the flight is Johnny, Raymond's great-uncle.

The pilot, Clint, takes the boys to an unscheduled stop on the Nahanni River to see the waterfall.  The plane's radio quits working, but Clint is unconcerned, even though no one knows where the plane is.  Upon landing on the river, the engine fails, stranding the passengers. Thus begins a terrifying struggle for survival that lasts for most of the harsh, northern Canadian winter.

This is an outstanding book.  The author does not get bogged down on extreme detail, and the story flows well in a very interesting fashion.  The story is quite moving, and as I read the final chapter, tears came to my eyes.  That doesn't happen often.

Mystery Solvers Series by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson

I enjoyed reading the Mysteries in Our National Parks series by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson.  I really wanted to read additional books by the authors, so I looked to see if they had written anything else that might appeal to me.  I found the Mystery Solvers series from the late 1990s.

1.  Mystery of the Spooky Shadow, 1996
2.  Mystery of the Vanishing Creatures, 1997
3.  Mystery of the Haunted Silver Mine, 1997
4.  Mystery of the Fire in the Sky, 1997

I think I have the books in the right order. Goodreads has the books listed in the wrong order.

Caitlin Marsh and her mother, April, live near Three Peaks, Colorado, in a trailer that is located on Mr. Giles' ranch.  April Marsh earns a living by knitting ski caps, which are sold in the gift shops of nearby ski resorts.

Caitlin is in the third grade, and she really likes Joe Daniel Giles, who is in the sixth grade. Joe Daniel typically ignores her.  Caitlin, Joe Daniel, and several other students are members of the Three Peaks Science Club. The club sponsor, Mr. Mahoney, takes the students on field trips.

These books are for ages six through nine. The stories run around 60 pages.  I don't usually read books for younger children such as these, but I made an exception since I enjoyed the Mysteries in Our National Parks series so much.

In Mystery of the Spooky Shadow, Caitlin and her friends discover a valuable Native American artifact while on a field trip in the nearby national park.  They mark the location and are shocked later when they are told that the artifact has vanished.  One of the students is under suspicion for the theft, but Caitlin is certain that he is not guilty.

In Mystery of the Vanishing Creatures, the Three Peaks Science Club has created a display of reptiles and insects in the library. The students are devastated when the creatures begin disappearing.  Each time a creature vanishes, an ominous note is left behind mentioning something about the creature dying.  Caitlin is determined to solve the mystery.

In Mystery of the Haunted Silver Mine, the science club takes a field trip into the deserted silver mine.  Caitlin and Lily decide to play a trick on another student who is always playing jokes, so they run ahead in the tunnel and hide.  Their prank backfires when they become lost and end up in a dangerous situation.



In Mystery of the Fire in the Sky, Caitlin and her new friend, Paige, are standing on the side of a mountain when they see a bright flash of light in the sky.  They tell the adults, but nobody will believe them.  Finally, the girls find that some of the other children also saw the light.  Mr. Mahoney takes the science club on a field trip so that they can search for evidence of what happened.

The mysteries in all four books are extremely easy to solve.  Even though I could guess the solution in each case, I still found the books to be suspenseful.

I enjoyed reading these books.  My favorite is probably Mystery of the Haunted Silver Mine.

Richie Tankersley Cusick The Locker, Someone at the Door, and The Drifter

In The Locker, Marlee and her family have moved to a new town, and Marlee begins attending her new school.  The first time Marlee opens her locker, she has a terrible experience that she knows is real.  Marlee learns that her locker belonged to a girl who disappeared, and Marlee realizes that the other students are keeping secrets from her.

The beginning of the story drags at times.  The second half of the book is much more suspenseful.  I overall enjoyed the story.

In Someone at the Door, Hannah and Meg are stranded alone in their isolated home during a blizzard.  Two strangers arrive needing help, and Hannah suspects that one of them is a dangerous murderer who escaped from prison.  Meg trusts the men, but Hannah is certain that they are up to no good.

The second half of the book is very suspenseful and very scary.  The reader is kept guessing, although the cover art spoils one part of the plot. However, I found that it didn't bother me and actually creeped me out as I neared that part of the story and waited for that part to play out.

In The Drifter, Carolyn and her mother have recently moved into their new home, Glanton House.  Almost right after their arrival, a man arrives wanting to live with them and help them fix up the house.  Carolyn's mother agrees, much to Carolyn's horror.  And events steadily deteriorate into a scary situation.

It's incredible that Carolyn's mother lets a strange man move in when she knows nothing about him. Of course, this is done to set up the story, but it's ridiculous.

This was the first Cusick book where I noticed that the characters "mumbled" over and over.  In some cases, mumbling made no sense.  Yelling would have been better.

I found most of the book to be a bit too slow.  The last one-third of the book is the best part.

This is a decent book and nothing more.  I would never read it again.

My Cusick journey went downhill from this point on.  I tried reading Silent Stalker and had to skim most of it.  The characters tease each other so much that the story is boring.  They also "mumbled" a lot.  Argh!

I then tried reading The Mall and Help Wanted which have lots of teasing, stupidity, and mumbling.  I couldn't read them.  I hadn't read all of my Cusick books, but I had to take a break and read something else.  I don't know if I will get back to the rest or not.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Richie Tankersley Cusick Fatal Secrets and House Next Door

In Fatal Secrets, Ryan's sister Marissa falls through the ice and drowns.  Marissa was trying to tell her something just before she died, and Ryan realizes that Marissa had a secret.  Charles Eastman, a friend of Marissa's, arrives at Ryan's home to stay.  Ryan doesn't trust him, but her mother will not listen.  Frightening events occur, and Ryan feels like she is losing her mind.

I realized fairly early in the story that Ryan was being gaslighted.  I was quite engaged in the story as I tried to figure out who was involved. One character behaved so extremely suspicious that I knew he was involved, but other culprits were shocking.

Ryan saw her sister multiple times throughout the story.  It's not clear whether this was a sign of her mental breakdown or whether a spirit was involved.  It is not explained, and the reader must decide.

This is an excellent book.  Some scenes are scary and hilarious at the same time, like when Ryan is chased down a deserted street by Santa Claus.  This book would have made a perfect horror movie.

In The House Next Door, Emma's twin brother, Charlie, dares her to spend the night in the abandoned  house next door.  Soon after Emma enters the house, she meets a spirit and has a strange experience.

When Emma enters the house next door, she travels into the past in a similar fashion as what happens in the book The Twisted Room.

Emma and Charlie tease each other relentlessly.  I found it very annoying and juvenile.  Once both Emma and Charlie are thoroughly frightened by what is happening, the teasing lessens, which makes the story much better.

I did not care for the beginning of the book, but the last part is quite scary and thrilling.

Note:  I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post. Please follow this link to join.

Scholastic's Point Horror Series and Fear Street

I have already mentioned how I read one R. L. Stine book as a teenager and did not care for it.  I decided to give Stine another try and purchased some of his books.  I also purchased some of Diane Hoh's Nightmare Hall books and some other miscellaneous teen books.

The books seen in this picture are the books that I sampled that are the main subject of this post.

It did not go well.  I tried to read all of them, but I only read enough of three of them to be able to list those books on my list of books read in 2016.  Even the three that I read were partially skimmed.  The other five books were skimmed until partway through and then abandoned without finishing them.

Seven of the eight books are Scholastic books.  This gives me little confidence in any teen horror book published by Scholastic aside from the ones written by Richie Tankersley Cusick.  I will probably try to avoid all Scholastic teen horror books from now on other than Cusick.

Let's start with R. L. Stine.  I cannot stand his writing style.  That must be why I did not like Blind Date when I read it as a teen.  I realize that many of you love R. L. Stine, but the allure of his books completely escapes me.  I think if I had been introduced to Stine's books at a much younger age than 16 to 18, I might have enjoyed them.  I suspect that most of us who did not read Stine as teens are unable to enjoy them as adults when reading them for the first time.

I find Stine's characters and their behavior to be obnoxious.  The characters in Stine's books go into hysterics over nothing.  They scream at each other and get scared often when nothing is wrong.  Stine's writing is repetitious with lots of short sentences, all designed to take up lots of space.  Here is an example.

To be fair, most of the text isn't as bad as this example.  However, I have a low tolerance for this style of writing, and examples like this are scattered throughout each of Stine's books.  This writing style is too much like books for very young children, and I am not interested in those kinds of books.

I tried four different Stine books and enjoyed none of them.  I did enjoy some parts of some of the books, but not enough to want to read more of them.

I tried Diane Hoh—or at first, I thought I did.  I began reading Nightmare Hall #2 The Roommate.  I couldn't believe how similar the style is to R. L. Stine.  I felt like I was reading another Stine book, so I looked at the copyright page.  I discovered that the book was actually written by Nola Thacker.  Okay, so Diane Hoh wrote a bunch of books, but some of Hoh's books were really written by Nola Thacker.  Here is the most awful part of The Roommate, and it reads just like R. L. Stine.

Somebody please save me!  I wasn't feeling too good about the Nightmare Hall series, but I wanted to read one actually written by Diane Hoh before making a final decision.  I started reading Nightmare Hall #3, Deadly Attraction, which is credited to Diane Hoh on the copyright page.  Too many characters are introduced too fast, and I found no reason to care about them.  The text isn't nearly as choppy as Stine and Thacker, but I still didn't like it.  The girls are shallow and only interested in hunks who are also shallow.  Spare me.

I decided that I wouldn't be reading any more Stine or Nightmare Hall books.

I tried The Vampire's Promise by Caroline B. Cooney.  The story is hard to follow, switching between characters and between past and present scenes for all the characters.  I couldn't keep anything straight and quickly grew bored.  Actually, I was bored from the first page.  I gave up within the first 30 pages since it wasn't worth it.

I tried Junior High Private Eyes.  This book actually reads the most like a normal book of all of these books.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very interesting, and I abandoned it as well.

After I photographed the books for this post, I tried Camp Fear by Carol Ellis, which is another Scholastic teen horror book.  Too many characters are introduced all at once.  I can never keep up with a plot when an author does that.  Despite my confusion, I tried to forge ahead, and then I gave up.  Authors who can write well avoid throwing a bunch of information at the reader all at once.

Finally, I tried The Accident by Diane Hoh.  It is okay, and I was able to get through the entire book.  However, I won't ever read it again.

The bottom line is that I won't be keeping any of these books, and at least I don't have to worry about building a set of R. L. Stine books.

Vintage Teen Horror Series

I am currently reading the Twilight and Dark Forces teen horror series from the 1980s. The experience is going so well that I want to find other older teen horror books to read.  This is where you can help me.

I ran some searches for teen horror books and came upon Scholastic's Point Horror set.  I am definitely going to purchase and read some of those books, since I spotted Richie Tankersley Cusick's name as the author of a number of them.  I recently read Evil on the Bayou by Cusick and greatly enjoyed it.  Evil on the Bayou is one of her first books, and authors typically get better as they write additional books.  I have to try some of her Point Horror books since they came later.

Of course this means that I am also interested in sampling some of the Point Horror books by other authors.  The other author that interests me is Diane Hoh and her Nightmare Hall set.  I want to try at least one of those.  Has anyone ever read books by Diane Hoh?  If so, what did you think of them?

And then there's that other author who shows up in the Point Horror Set:  R. L. Stine.

I read most all of Christopher Pike's teen horror books in the 1980s and 1990s.  Pike is an author I hold in high esteem.  I lived and breathed those books.  I read them over and over again.  Last Act, Spellbound, Gimme a Kiss, and all the rest.  I still remember many of them vividly even though I haven't read them in around 15 years.  I plan to read them again sometime in the next year.

I read exactly one R. L. Stine book during the time that I was reading Christopher Pike. I believe it was Stine's Blind Date, which happens to be the first book in the Point Horror set.  I did not like it very much.  When I read it, all I could think was how it paled in comparison to Christopher Pike.  I never purchased another R. L. Stine book, and they were shelved in abundance in bookstores in those days.  I saw them everywhere but refused to buy them.

I want to make sure that I still would not like R. L. Stine, so I need to purchase at least one to try.  I am quite reluctant since I can't get Blind Date out of my mind.  Have any of you read R. L. Stine's books and do you like them?  How does Blind Date compare to Stine's other books?

As I have looked to see what is available in the Point Horror series, I have spotted other teen horror books.  If you are familiar with any teen horror books from the 1980s and 1990s, let me know what you think of them.  I want to go on another buying spree.

The Teen Witch Series by Megan Barnes

The Teen Witch series by Megan Barnes consists of four titles that were published in 1988 and 1989.  I saw an eBay listing for three of the four titles which appeared in a Nancy Drew search, since the seller had used a Nancy Drew ISBN on the listing.  Normally, I ignore such listings, but for some reason that I cannot explain, I was intrigued.

I thought about it for five or ten minutes, really not sure that I wanted to make such an impulsive purchase.  I was feeling the same way I felt when I saw the Lovecraft Middle School books in a local store. As with those books, I was certain that I would somehow like the Teen Witch books, even though it was counterintuitive.  After all, reading about a teen witch seems stupid.

I purchased the books, since I couldn't let go of the thought of acquiring them.  After the books arrived, I read the beginning of the first book and knew that I would like it, so I purchased the remaining title that I needed.

In Teen Witch #1, Lucky 13, Sarah Connell turns 13 and learns that she is a witch.  Aunt Pam tells Sarah that she is also a witch and explains to Sarah that in time she will learn more about her powers.  Sarah decides to use her powers to make the cutest guy in school fall in love with her.  Unfortunately, Sarah's plan doesn't work out the way she expects.

Sarah is 12 years old at the beginning of the story and then turns 13 shortly into the story.  She is already a student at Waterview High School.  This is so weird, since students are typically 14 before they enter high school.  No explanation is made for the young age, and this is one of many things about these books that make no sense.

Did I care?  Nope.  The book is light reading and great fun.  I loved it.

In Teen Witch #2, Be Careful What You Wish For, Sarah decides to get a boyfriend for her best friend, Micki.  Unfortunately, Micki's personality changes with the new boyfriend.  Then the situation takes a huge turn for the worse when Sarah accidentally wishes away Waterview High School.  Oops.

On page 15, Sarah and Micki mention differential equations.  Later on pages 144-145, Sarah doesn't know what quadrants are, except that they make her think of geometry.  Right, quadrants are learned by Sarah's age, but she doesn't know about them.  Instead, she knows about differential equations, which is a college course requiring calculus.  Lots about these books make absolutely no sense.

The cover art is not accurate.  It makes it look like the school is still there, just closed.  The school vanished, leaving an empty lot with bare dirt.  That wouldn't have looked as interesting on the cover.

Obviously, an entire high school vanishing is not logical, but who cares?  This book is even more fun than the first book in the series.

In Teen Witch #3, Gone with the Witch, Sarah accidentally wishes herself and Micki back in time to Georgia just before the Civil War.  Sarah ends up enjoying herself, but Micki wants to go back home.  In time, Sarah realizes that they need to return, but she can't get her powers to work!

The cover art for this book is also not accurate.  Micki is shown wearing her modern clothing, but the girls' modern clothing did not travel to the past with them.

On page 112, I was interested in the use of the term "spit and image," which, as far as I know, I have always seen as "spitting image."  I had to look it up, and apparently, "spit and image" is the original idiom that some people still use.  There is also some dispute on the origin of the phrase, where some people claim that it was once "spirit and image."  However, it apparently was originally "spit and image." 

This third book is the one that most people like the best because of the historical content.  I have loved all the books, but this one has a greater impact, since most of the story is set in the past.

In Teen Witch #4, Witch Switch, Sarah is jealous of her sister, Nicole.  Sarah feels that Nicole's life is perfect.   When Nicole goes away for the weekend, Sarah decides to take her place and falls in love with Nicole's boyfriend!

This is another solid entry in the series and is unfortunately the final book.

These books remind me of Sweet Valley High.  The premise is not the same, obviously, but the style, devotion to fashion, references to pop culture of the 1980s, and the humor are all strongly reminiscent of Sweet Valley High and other books that I read in the late 1980s.  I felt like I had stepped back into my teen years as I read these books.  I loved reading these books and couldn't read them fast enough.

I loved all four books enough that I decided that I should try to get some more books from the same time period.  I recall that I enjoyed reading some of the Sweet Dreams books.  I decided to purchase some of those to see if they still hold up.  I hope they do.