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Hart and Soul #1
Kill the Story
A new series of YA mysteries featuring teenaged sleuths, Amanda Hart and Mick Soul. In Kill the Story, the pair expose a blackmail/shoplifting operation in one of the sororities at Amanda's trendy private high school. In Play Dead, Amanda and her friends become part of a professional theater company in order to solve an attempted murder.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1989
About the author
Jahnna N. Malcolm
100 books76 followersJahnna N. Malcolm is the pen name for husband-and-wife team Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner. Together they've written four musicals, two movies, three CD-ROM games, and nearly one hundred books, including the popular series The Jewel Kingdom. They met in the theater and were married on the stage using Marlowe's famous love letter from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" as their wedding vows.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 23, 2020
Oh man! I got so excited when I hit the jackpot and found a lot of books from my childhood at a local book sale. I found the first four books in this series and scooped them up instantly. I remember always wanting to read these from the library but I always maxed out the number of books I could have out. I never actually ended up reading this series even though my heart was set on them. So, fast forward many, many years and I finally get to experience the books that all of the 'popular' kids were reading.
This book was so pleasant and clearly written back in the eighties and nineties. AND I LOVED IT. It's so nostalgic for me, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.
Amanda Hart is a writer (and the editor-in-chief for her school's newspaper). She is going to release a series of stories about the sororities present in her city and someone is NOT happy. They are going after her with vicious notes and threats. When Amanda and her team call upon a courier service, along comes Mick Soul with his handy dandy bicycle. He gets attacked when trying to deliver a copy of their story, and suddenly Hart and Soul wind up working on the mystery together. Mick enrolls in her high school to help figure out who is threatening her... because what else is a bicycle courier supposed to do in his spare time? School? Pfft, no!
It's a "will they, won't they" sort of duo - like Bones and Booth, Ross and Rachel, Jane and Rafael, etc. Hart and Mick have so much chemistry for a middle grade (almost YA) novel that it's unbelievable. Seriously, I just need to finish the series to know if they end up together because they are super flirty in this book!
There's a good cast of characters filling up the typical high school tropes: Jason the nerd who wants his story in the paper, Pepper the best friend, Josh the tech geek, Whitney the mean girl, and so on.
My one big flaw is as followed: you can kind of figure out what's going to happen by the end but it's not really hinted at. I love when mystery books leave you little hints here and there, but there's not much until the end. I had a pretty good inkling of what would happen based off reading way to many mystery books and watching too many mystery shows, but I wanted to work my way through this mystery with Hart and Soul. It doesn't ruin the story by any means, but I'm a picky reader like that.
Side note, this is my FAVOURITE line in the whole book:
"What a slime!"
Seriously, that's a Briar insult from my childhood. Score +1 for that gem!
Overall, this book is cute and fun! I love a good throw back and I'm so glad I found this book. I will 100% be continuing this series, especially since I have the next three books on my shelf. Hopefully I managed to score the rest of the series! This book is an absolute delight and I 100% recommend it either for middle grader/YA readers or some of you as old as me who want a childhood nostalgia trip.
Three out of five stars!
This book was so pleasant and clearly written back in the eighties and nineties. AND I LOVED IT. It's so nostalgic for me, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.
Amanda Hart is a writer (and the editor-in-chief for her school's newspaper). She is going to release a series of stories about the sororities present in her city and someone is NOT happy. They are going after her with vicious notes and threats. When Amanda and her team call upon a courier service, along comes Mick Soul with his handy dandy bicycle. He gets attacked when trying to deliver a copy of their story, and suddenly Hart and Soul wind up working on the mystery together. Mick enrolls in her high school to help figure out who is threatening her... because what else is a bicycle courier supposed to do in his spare time? School? Pfft, no!
It's a "will they, won't they" sort of duo - like Bones and Booth, Ross and Rachel, Jane and Rafael, etc. Hart and Mick have so much chemistry for a middle grade (almost YA) novel that it's unbelievable. Seriously, I just need to finish the series to know if they end up together because they are super flirty in this book!
There's a good cast of characters filling up the typical high school tropes: Jason the nerd who wants his story in the paper, Pepper the best friend, Josh the tech geek, Whitney the mean girl, and so on.
My one big flaw is as followed: you can kind of figure out what's going to happen by the end but it's not really hinted at. I love when mystery books leave you little hints here and there, but there's not much until the end. I had a pretty good inkling of what would happen based off reading way to many mystery books and watching too many mystery shows, but I wanted to work my way through this mystery with Hart and Soul. It doesn't ruin the story by any means, but I'm a picky reader like that.
Side note, this is my FAVOURITE line in the whole book:
"What a slime!"
Seriously, that's a Briar insult from my childhood. Score +1 for that gem!
Overall, this book is cute and fun! I love a good throw back and I'm so glad I found this book. I will 100% be continuing this series, especially since I have the next three books on my shelf. Hopefully I managed to score the rest of the series! This book is an absolute delight and I 100% recommend it either for middle grader/YA readers or some of you as old as me who want a childhood nostalgia trip.
Three out of five stars!
October 22, 2017
Amanda Hart is doing a three-story piece on the sororities at Sutter Academy, when she becomes the target of death threats and frightening incidents. Somebody wants her to kill her story! Which sorority has secrets to hide? Bike messenger Mickey Soul gets involved when he is hired to deliver the paper to the printers, and gets mugged by a gang of girls, his bike ruined! So he enrols at Sutter Academy, also determined to uncover the truth.
Surprisingly enjoyable teen mystery. Amanda was a bit too surly and Judgy-McJudypants for my liking, but I enjoyed her chemistry with Mickey. As for Mickey, if only I were 20 years younger! Kind of like a Harlequin Intrigue hero in teen form, I developed a bit of a crush! The mystery unwinds at a decent pace, and I was actually unable to pick out the culprit. I've got all eight books in the series, and I'm looking forward to reading the others!
Surprisingly enjoyable teen mystery. Amanda was a bit too surly and Judgy-McJudypants for my liking, but I enjoyed her chemistry with Mickey. As for Mickey, if only I were 20 years younger! Kind of like a Harlequin Intrigue hero in teen form, I developed a bit of a crush! The mystery unwinds at a decent pace, and I was actually unable to pick out the culprit. I've got all eight books in the series, and I'm looking forward to reading the others!
March 23, 2011
I still have this book on my bookshelf.
May 21, 2013
I read this series countless times when I was young... The memory of the stories are still with me. Love the characters!
February 6, 2023
An interesting couple for a mystery solving duo.
June 10, 2023
When these books were published, I was marginally above the intended reader's age. The snappy dialogue quickly made these a favourite. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews