An Update on Listings at eBay and Etsy

A week ago, I removed all of my items from my Bonanza booth and moved them to eBay and Etsy.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

My Bonanza sales were awful.  It was frustrating, since I knew that books that stayed on Bonanza for months would have sold quickly on eBay.  A total of 56 books were moved from Bonanza to eBay one week ago.  I did not lower any prices when I moved the books to eBay, and in a few cases, I raised the prices.  11 of those 56 books have already sold on eBay, which proves that Bonanza was a waste of effort.

eBay is the very best place to buy and sell vintage books.  It always has been, and it always will be.  I have never quit buying on eBay.  In early 2009 when I moved my listings to Bonanza, I continued to purchase lots of books on eBay.  I never left.  My items for sale left, not me.

I have now been back on eBay as a seller for nearly three years.  Yes, the fees can be high, but the items actually sell and without a lot of effort.  That's really important. 

I wrote of eBay's horrible changes in 2008 and 2009.  eBay has now undone nearly all of the changes that were awful for sellers.  It's not a horrible place.  Even better, eBay just recently announced that they are simplifying their listing form to make it easier to list.  It's about time!  From what was mentioned, I believe that eBay will be changing to a listing form that mimics Etsy and Bonanza.  Good.

I also moved 63 books to Etsy.  It's not surprising that none of them have sold in the last week.  It's the same story as Bonanza.  However, I can already tell that I have more traffic on Etsy than I did on Bonanza.  I have a better chance of success on Etsy since it actually has traffic.  I also know that since I have had no sales and since I have no feedback that it might take awhile to get sales. 

I figured out how to allow money order transactions on Etsy, so I changed that setting a few days ago.  If you are a buyer who likes to pay via money order, I can still accommodate you on Etsy just as I did on Bonanza.  On my payment options page, Etsy gives me a warning about how money order transactions have no seller protection.  I get why they give buyers that kind of warning, but warning the seller makes no sense.  I won't mail the item until I receive the money order, so I am not going to be defrauded. 

This weekend I added 20 books to my Etsy shop.  I selected some very hard to find books, since I already can tell that I have Google exposure for my Etsy listings.  I am using the same approach as I did with Bonanza.  I offer books on Etsy that I do not offer on eBay, which means that buyers have to check both sites to see what I have.

My summer vacation starts on the afternoon of May 25.  At that time, I will get caught up on many projects.  I will more thoroughly get caught up with listing books on both eBay and Etsy.  And I will tear through the rest of the Hardy Boys Digests, the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers, and the Hardy Boys Adventures.

Hardy Boys #89 Sky Blue Frame, #90 Danger on the Diamond, and #91 Shield of Fear

In Hardy Boys #89, The Sky Blue Frame, Mark Maxwell, owner of the Sky Blue Inn, hires Frank and Joe to stage a fake crime at the inn for a mystery weekend, which he has advertised for his guests.  Soon after the boys arrive several crimes are committed... or are the crimes fake?

On page 55, one guest does not socialize during dinner and instead reads a book.  Frank comments, "He's either very rude or a nut about mysteries."  How about he likes to read? 

This book is very interesting.  The reader is kept guessing as to what is really going on.  This story is better than Hardy Boys #154, The Caribbean Cruise Caper, which I had recently read.  The Caribbean Cruise Caper has the same premise, but in that book, everyone knows that the Hardys are staging a mystery.  In this book, none of the guests know that the Hardy Boys are at the inn to plant clues, which makes the story much better and more suspenseful.  Also, other items get stolen, and the reader begins wondering whether someone else is there to set up a fake mystery or whether real crimes are being committed.

This is an excellent story from beginning to end.

In Hardy Boys #90, Danger on the Diamond, Frank and Joe participate in a baseball camp run by a famous former baseball player.  Accidents begin to occur, and it soon becomes apparent that someone is sabotaging the baseball camp.

This story is nonstop action.  Around halfway through, it began to get to me and became annoying.  Once the exact details of the reason for the sabotage are revealed, the book becomes more interesting.

I overall greatly enjoyed the book.

In Hardy Boys #91, Shield of Fear, Frank and Joe are asked to go undercover as police cadets at the police academy in Philadelphia.  The police commissioner's grandson is getting into trouble at the academy, and the commissioner thinks that someone is setting him up.

At first, I greatly enjoyed the story.  As I read further, more characters are introduced, and I began having trouble remembering them.  Whenever that happens, I end up not enjoying the story as much.

I ended not enjoying the second half of the book very much and skimmed the book some towards the end.

Hardy Boys #86 Silver Star, #87 Program for Destruction, and #88 Tricky Business

In Hardy Boys #86, The Mystery of the Silver Star, Frank and Joe have been hired to investigate who is sabotaging Keith Holland's cross-country race.  The situation becomes grim when Keith disappears!

On page 97, Frank and Joe are asked to find Keith after his abduction.  Frank replies, "Kidnapping is a little out of our league.  I think you ought to contact the FBI."  Huh?  Frank and Joe have handled abductions before, and besides, they were on the Space Shuttle in the previous book.  This should be a piece of cake.

The comment about kidnapping being out of the boys' league is an inconsistency caused by having different writers.

This book starts out as the typical sabotage book.  However, partway through the story it becomes apparent that much more is at play, which makes the book very interesting.

This is a very good book.

In Hardy Boys #87, Program for Destruction, someone is sabotaging the CompuCar assembly line.  Frank and Joe are loaned one of the company's cars, and too late, the boys discover that the car's computer has been sabotaged, putting them in grave danger.

I wasn't impressed when I saw the cover, which has archaic computer equipment.  I'm sure the computer looked modern in 1987, but it doesn't now.

On page 6, Frank and Joe introduce themselves to their new client, Arnold Stockard.  Joe asks Stockard what the problem is, and Stockard replies, "Sabotage."  I had to laugh.  This is the second book written by writers from Mega-Books for Simon and Schuster, and the sabotage theme is immediately prevalent. 
 
This is an example of a book that keeps the number of characters down to a bare minimum with adequate characterization of each.  I could keep track of everyone, and the plot is very interesting.

This is an excellent book.  I read it very fast and loved it.

In  Hardy Boys #88, Tricky Business, Chet becomes one of the Trusty Teens, going door-to-door to sell merchandise for Trusty Home Products.  Later, Frank and Joe witness an explosion at the Trusty complex, and a teenager, Jimmy Quayle, is accused of causing the explosion.  Soon, Frank and Joe suspect a conspiracy and investigate the company and its workers.

This book has a twist that is unexpected.  Additionally, the criminals don't like each other, and several of them have turned on each other.  Some of them are blackmailing the others.  For much of the book, the reader isn't sure who all is guilty and who is innocent.  This makes the story very interesting.

This is a very good book.

Comparing the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Wanderer Books

One of the main reasons I decided to read all of the Hardy Boys Digest books is because I am interested in the treatment of the Hardy Boys as compared to Nancy Drew.  I am also interested in how both series changed alongside each other as compared to the earlier books in each series.

I had originally thought that because I do not like many of the Nancy Drew Wanderer books that I would not like the Hardy Boys Wanderer books.  Before I made my decision to compare the development of the two series, I had no intention of reading the Hardy Boys Wanderer books.  I decided to read a few just in case, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them.  I was intrigued.

Why did I like the Hardy Boys Wanderer books when I did not like many of the Nancy Drew Wanderer books?  Nancy Drew is my favorite series.  While I am very much enjoying my journey through the Hardy Boys series, I wouldn't place it as a favorite series.  Why do I like the Hardy Boys Wanderer books more than the corresponding books from my very favorite series?  What is different?

Before I get to that, we must journey back to 1930.  The Hardy Boys series had been in print for three years and a total of nine books.  The Nancy Drew series had just launched with the release of the first three books.  And then Edward Stratemeyer died.  Both series changed after Stratemeyer died.

The Hardy Boys series is more uneven than Nancy Drew in the years after Stratemeyer died.  My conjecture is that Harriet Adams took a greater interest in the Syndicate's girls' series offerings.  In fact, two new girls' series, Dana Girls and Kay Tracey, were created soon after Adams took over running the Syndicate.  We do know that years later that Harriet Adams was very protective of Nancy Drew and had taken sole responsibility of the series.  Not only that, Harriet Adams fancied herself as Nancy Drew.

For that reason, I feel that more effort was made to keep the Nancy Drew series even and that the Hardy Boys series floundered a bit in the years after Stratemeyer died.  Nancy Drew seems more consistent.

Let's go to the Wanderer years where the reverse is true.  Harriet Adams had total control over Nancy Drew through the second Wanderer book, #58 The Flying Saucer Mystery.  She wrote the third Wanderer book, but the manuscript was so awful that it was rewritten by Nancy Axelrad.  After that, various authors other than Harriet were responsible for the series, and Harriet soon passed away.  This left Nancy Drew without the one person who had been watching after her for over 50 years.

The Nancy Drew series was the one that floundered in the years after Harriet Adams died.  The Hardy Boys series kept going strong with pretty good consistency in quality and tone.  The Nancy Drew books are uneven and at times bizarre.

I believe that the Stratemeyer Syndicate had to scramble to try to keep up with the Nancy Drew series after Harriet's death.  Some Nancy Drew Wanderer books were apparently rewritten from what would have been Hardy Boys books.  Nancy Drew #64 Captive Witness reads like a Hardy Boys book, and Nancy actually acts like a boy and not like herself.

Nancy Drew #67 The Sinister Omen also reads like a Hardy Boys book, and Nancy even rescues her father from imprisonment just like the Hardys would have done with Fenton.  Not only that, but in the first Wanderer printing of The Sinister Omen, Carson is actually called "Fenton" on page 79 and "Mr. Hardy" on page 84.  Last, Nancy Drew #75 The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery mentions Bayport!  It looks like three Hardy Boys books were changed into Nancy Drew books during the Wanderer era!

For #62 and up in the Nancy Drew Wanderer series, the books were written by authors who had nothing to do with the original 56 titles.  Six Wanderer books were written by James Lawrence, who wrote Hardy Boys books.  What gets me is that he purposely wrote the Nancy Drew books differently than the Hardy Boys books, which is not surprising, but what he wrote is not as good as his Hardy Boys output.  I do not like Lawrence's Nancy Drew books as much as I like his Hardy Boys books. 

For the Hardy Boys series, Andrew Svenson's involvement ended with #54 Mysterious Caravan.  Vincent Buranelli and James Lawrence wrote the last four books of the original 58.  For the Wanderer Hardy Boys books, James Lawrence and Vincent Buranelli wrote all titles up through #65.  Altogether Lawrence and Buranelli wrote 12 of the Hardy Boys Wanderer books, which made those books just like the higher-numbered of the original 58.  Even though the remaining Hardy Boys Wanderer books were written by other authors, the books were written in a style that closely matches the original premise and are equally good as the higher-numbered titles in the original set.

The reason I enjoy the Hardy Boys Wanderer books much more than the Nancy Drew Wanderer books is because the Hardy Boys Wanderer books are consistent with each other and mesh well with the original set.  In contrast, the Nancy Drew Wanderer books were written in an inconsistent fashion and frequently have extremely convoluted plots.  Nancy Drew's characterization is also inconsistent, and the Nancy Drew Wanderer books do not mesh with the original set. 

Closing a Door and Opening Another One

Having a booth on Bonanza has felt pointless for around two years.  The site appears to have little internal traffic.  I was extremely successful on Bonanza for several years.  I was successful when many other sellers were not getting traffic or sales.  This blog has a lot of traffic, and I had links to Bonanza.  I also was spared 90% of the glitches that drove other sellers away.  I do know that there was a lingering checkout glitch that affected international users, and that glitch surfaced every few months during the years that I had good sales.  I had international buyers angry with me, thinking it was my fault.  I know of a few lost sales.  There must have been others.

For the last two years, my Bonanza sales were very low regardless of how I advertised here and on Facebook.  I had a link at the top of my website from 2009 until yesterday.  That link no longer brought any traffic to Bonanza!  Why was that?

I assume that there was still a checkout glitch and that I lost many sales from it.  If I tried to buy from someone on a site previously unknown to me and had a glitch, I'd abandon the purchase and not tell the seller.  I suspect that might be a factor.

However, the bottom line is that some people just don't want to buy outside eBay.  I've mentioned this before.  It's not something I understand, but I have a group of repeat buyers on eBay going back 15 years who never interact with me outside eBay.  They don't join the Facebook groups.  They don't follow this blog.  They don't buy from me outside eBay.  They don't communicate other than on eBay.  This was verified again this weekend, but that comes later in this post.

I am placing a record of my Bonanza fees paid each month here since this gives an idea of how good my sales once were and how much worse they were the last couple of years.  A $3.00 fee means that I sold around $85 in books, and a $60 fee means that I sold around $1,700 in books.  December 2015 and July 2015 are exceptions to that because I was trying out a higher fee rate to see if I would get more sales.  It helped slightly but was not worth it.

I remember some important events in the chronology.  2009 does not have particularly high sales, but Bonanza had outstanding Google placement.  Whenever I listed a hard to find book, it sold quickly.  From 2010 on, I was always disappointed that I didn't have the Google placement I had at the beginning.

Bonanzle changed its name to Bonanza in September 2010.  This was a big mistake, at least for the small sellers.  Bonanzle was a unique name and was great for marketing.  The reason the name changed is because Bonanza was the name the owners originally wanted, but David Dortort owned the domain.  He died, freeing up the name.  The name change might have been good for the site's revenue, but it was not for mine.

In early 2013, Bonanza placed the Amazon links all over the site, further decreasing sales.  That's why I opened my store on eBay in July 2013.

I have known for two years that I would eventually close my Bonanza booth.  I kept my booth open as long as I did for two reasons.  First, it wasn't hurting anything.  Second, I have a few money order buyers and others who don't use eBay.  Just as some people only use eBay, other people refuse to use eBay.  I wanted to keep the booth open for those few buyers who won't use eBay or can't because they can't use money orders on eBay.

I had decided sometime in the last year that I had no emotional connection left to Bonanza and that it was a complete waste of time.  I decided that I would close the booth this year whenever I felt like getting around to it. 

Last week, my credit card had expired and was declined when Bonanza tried to bill me for my April fees.  I paid my fees through PayPal, and Bonanza tried to get me to enter a new card number since all sellers are required to have a valid credit card on file.

Hmm.  I realized that I had a golden opportunity that could not be passed up.  What better time to close my booth than at the time I had no credit card on file and owed no fees to Bonanza?  Friday evening, I finished setting up my Etsy store, which I had actually started setting up in December 2014.  I just never felt motivated to follow through. 

Early Friday evening, I began moving my Bonanza items to Etsy and eBay.  One item had been on Bonanza for many months.  I raised the price on eBay, and it sold to a repeat eBay buyer in less than one hour.  This is someone who does not interact with me outside eBay.  That's what I mean about people who will not go outside eBay for any reason.

It took 24 hours for me to move every Bonanza listing either to eBay or to Etsy.  I had to do every listing manually since I wasn't going to pay Bonanza to export the listings to eBay.  I around half the listings to eBay since I had enough free listings and had not replaced books that had sold in the last two months.  The books that would have duplicated existing eBay listings went to Etsy.

I had to pay $0.20 for each Etsy listing, and each listing is good for four months.  If I sell enough items to justify what I have incurred in fees, I will keep the shop open.  If not, I will close the Etsy shop in four months and sell only on eBay.

Saturday evening, I finished copying the last listings to Etsy and put my Bonanza booth on vacation.  I sold books on Bonanza for exactly seven years, four months, and one week.   The first five years were great, and I loved selling on Bonanza during that time.

I do like Etsy's interface, but the sales will be the sole deciding factor on whether I keep listings there.  That aside, Etsy's interface is as easy as Bonanza's was in 2009.  Bonanza's listing form had some glitches that developed after 2009 and was never as easy to use as it was in 2009.  Etsy's listing form is as easy as Bonanza's original listing form.

Since sellers do have to pay fees to list, Etsy has Google Analytics available and nice site stats for sellers who don't use Google Analytics.  So far, I like Etsy, but the final verdict will be determined by the sales.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

In around three weeks when my summer break starts, I'll get caught up listing new books.  I do have some nice new acquisitions that are extras.  I have been busy and exhausted and completely unmotivated to list anything.  The only reason I spent this weekend closing the Bonanza booth is because the credit card situation lit a fire under me.

In closing, I have some advice.  Unless you have a large following, be careful about listing items on a marginally known site that has perpetual free listings.  It most likely won't be worth it, and you'll not do well.  Stick with sites that charge a fee, or else just use eBay.  Etsy is a site that charges fees, but I can't say right now if it is a good place to sell vintage books.  I will just have to wait and see.

Hardy Boys #83 Swamp Monster, #84 Desert Phantom, and #85 Skyfire Puzzle

In Hardy Boys #83, The Swamp Monster, death threats have been made against naturalist Martin Pierce.  The boys travel to southeast Texas to investigate.

The setting is great with the Spanish moss and swamp, but the author's description falls short, leaving it flat.

The book has too many characters that I couldn't keep straight.  If the author had written the story better, I could have kept them straight.  The number was really not too many, but the author should have made it easier for the reader to remember which man was which.  I had to keep flipping back to earlier pages to try to remember.

The word "tightly" is overused.  The author should have used a few other words like "tensely" and "grimly."

The climax where the fake alligator is discovered goes too fast, is uninteresting, and is anticlimactic.

In the beginning of the story, something called the "Lost Column" is mentioned.  Near the end of the book, everyone concludes that someone is looking for something in the swamp.  They spend hours brainstorming and finally figure out the villains are searching for the Lost Column.  Duh... I could have told them that.  I knew ever since the Lost Column was mentioned that it was at the heart of the story.  How stupid.

This book has a great setting that was not described anywhere near as well as it should have been.  It also has a great story that was not written well enough.  I enjoyed this book, but I wish it had been written better.

In Hardy Boys #84, Revenge of the Desert Phantom, Frank and Joe are tasked with finding Niki Jerusa, who is hiding after a revolution in her African nation.  Frank and Joe must find her and take her back home so that she can help overthrow the government. 

We learn on page 21 that Joe and Iola have relationship troubles, which is a first in the Hardy Boys Digest series.  This book and the next one are the last two Hardy Boys Wanderer books and were the pilots for the Hardy Boys Casefiles series.  The last two Nancy Drew Wanderer books also served the same function for the Nancy Drew Files series.

I don't like the last two Nancy Drew Wanderer books very much, since Nancy's character is changed too much.  She is smitten with every man she meets and even is attracted to a villain when the reader can tell that he is a creep.

While this book does have a different tone and is much more exciting than the other Hardy Boys books, the story remains true to the boys' personalities.  What's different in this book is the outrageous adventure where the boys drive a tank and use machine guns.

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected.  I didn't like the premise at first, but the author added the right emotions and made the plot so interesting that I greatly enjoyed the story.  I read it very quickly.

This is an excellent book.

In Hardy Boys #85, The Skyfire Puzzle, Frank and Joe go to NASA to help prevent someone from sabotaging the next space shuttle mission. 

This book is as action-packed as the previous one.  This time there is a hint of attraction between Frank and Suzanne, but it goes no further than that.

On page 34, Frank and Joe learn that civilians such as teachers and students are now allowed to go on shuttle missions, therefore Frank and Joe will go on the shuttle flight.  I cringed, since this book was published in 1985, and Challenger blew up in 1986 with teacher Christa McAuliffe on board. 

This book was written by the same author as The Swamp Monster.  Fortunately, "tightly" was used less often.

This book is very exciting.  I enjoyed it very much and read it very quickly.

Hardy Boys #80 Roaring River, #81 Demon's Den, and #82 Blackwing Puzzle

In Hardy Boys #80, The Roaring River Mystery, Frank and Joe work on solving a bank robbery in which a large amount of money and a valuable diamond ring were stolen.  The boys also assist their new friend, Ollie Fernandez, as he hopes to lead the first expedition through the rapids of Roaring River.  Ollie believes someone is trying to stop him.  Almost all of Ollie's life jackets have been stolen, and Ollie has had several other acts of sabotage.

It should be noted that the stolen life jackets were purchased from a store very close to the bank and that the bank robbers had been in the store.  By page 40, I had already guessed the significance of the stolen life jackets and was annoyed that the Hardys have no idea.

On page 77, the boys realize that someone is after the life jacket that Ollie still has, a life jacket that had already been noted to have a mended tear.  Hmm.  Clueless Frank and Joe don't inspect the life jacket.

So there's a missing diamond ring.  Hmm.  I wonder where the diamond ring could possibly be?  On page 117, Frank remarks, referring to the life jackets, "I still can't figure out what the crooks want with them."  Well, gosh, I wonder.

On page 140, the numbskulls finally open the mended tear in the life jacket to find what I knew was there all along.  Idiots!

While I enjoyed this book, it has no suspense.  The solution is obvious all along, and the only reason the story has a mystery is because Frank and Joe act like fools.

In Hardy Boys #81, The Demon's Den, Frank and Joe vacation in Vermont with Chet and Biff.  A boy goes missing from a nearby camp, and Frank and Joe look for him.  Meanwhile, Fenton Hardy is looking for a missing scientist who may be working for a foreign power.  The scientist is believed to be in Vermont, and the boys look for him as well.

This book captured my interest quickly.  I did lose interest at times, since I found the story of the missing boy to be more interesting than the story of the missing scientist.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.

In Hardy Boys #82, The Blackwing Puzzle, an old house is said to be haunted by the ghost of a slave trader.  A strange black shadow hovers in the sky over the house.  Frank and Joe suspect some kind of aircraft holds the solution, but they cannot figure out why no motor can be heard. 

The story has slightly too many characters, which always decreases my enjoyment.  I had trouble keeping all of them straight. 

The book also has too many subplots.  One subplot, which has to do with a jeweled butterfly found by the boys, is not necessary to the case.   Focusing more on the old house would have been better.  The boys spend very little time in the house.

While I enjoyed this story, it could have been better.

Hardy Boys #77 Crimson Flame, #78 Cave-In, and #79 Sky Sabotage

In Hardy Boys #77, The Crimson Flame, Frank and Joe travel to Arizona to assist Alfred McVay, a rancher who fears that his valuable ruby will be stolen.  Once in Arizona, the boys notice that several of the McVay's employees are behaving suspiciously, although McVay refuses to believe that any of them could be in on the plot.

As soon as I began reading this book, I felt that this is more like it.  This is the type of plot I enjoy.  While I have read many stories set on ranches with suspicious employees, I never tire of that type of story when it is written well.

I enjoyed this book.

In Hardy Boys #78, Cave-In, Frank and Joe are asked to find a missing Hollywood actor, Richard Chase.  Their search takes them to the an old hotel near Lake Tahoe.  The hotel is the set of Chase's latest movie.  Frank and Joe also find themselves in the middle of a conflict between rival teen gangs and soon suspect that the villains are pitting the teens against each other.

I greatly enjoyed this book from the very first page.  I don't know what it is, but the book had me from the opening paragraphs.  Some books are easier and more fun to read, and this is one of them.

I really like the setting at and near the ski lodge.  I enjoyed the setting with the two rival gangs of boys.

The boys end up staying with Tim because Phil Cohen mentioned him, thinking he works on the set of the movie.  Tim didn't tell the truth and used Phil so that he could get the Hardys to help him fight the rival gang.  The Hardys refuse, and in fact, end up spending time around the rival gang.  Soon, the boys learn that someone is pitting the two gangs together.  It has something to do with the mine, and this is an intriguing mystery. 

Stories like this are so much more engaging to me than reading about Pentagon spies, terrorist organizations, and gambling on football games.  It's a throwback to a simpler type of book that is much more interesting.

I greatly enjoyed this book from start to finish.  Nothing was boring, and nothing dragged.

In Hardy Boys #79, Sky Sabotage, Fenton Hardy believes that a sabotage attempt will be made to prevent the launch of an important satellite from Cape Canaveral.  Frank and Joe go to Florida to investigate.  Meanwhile, the boys also search for some missing pet porpoises. 

One scene in this book is ridiculous.  A loan shark steals an electric eel so that he can use it to torture someone who owes him money.  A metal plate is inside the aquarium and wires run from the metal plate to a chair where the victim is strapped.  Each time the eel comes into contact with the metal plate, the victim is shocked.  This is crazy!  It sounds like the sort of thing that would happen in a Kay Tracey book.

On page 124, Chet has been abducted by the criminals.  Fenton Hardy tells his sons, "Chet's been in tight spots before.  He'll be all right."  Sure Fenton, whatever you say.

The book lost me a little bit in the last several chapters, and I skimmed some parts.  There were a few too many characters, which always causes me to lose interest.  Overall, I enjoyed this book, even though the number of characters took away from my enjoyment.