Kelly Green

Plot: This story is another adventure for Shadow Abby Grace to tackle as she finds another borrower, Michelle, a beautiful teen girl with a best friend brokenhearted over her boyfriend who suddenly dumped her for a more attractive girl. It's up to Abby, who is starting to remember a little of who she really is, or was, to set things straight and reunite the two lovers.

Characters: Abby gets a hint at what she's supposed to do from Will, her helper guy, and it's to reunite the two lovers. This means something along the lines of getting Michelle's best friend, Heather and her ex-boyfriend, Sam, back together again. I think in so little space, the new characters for this episode can't be judged properly. But, seeing more of Abby and Will does reveal more character development for them. They even seem to be liking each other, despite the fact that Abby always pretends to be someone else, and has to pretend to like someone else. It would seem confusing, but it doesn't come off that way.

Writing: The writing is better in this episode compared to the first one, The Shadow. It seemed more efficient and descriptive, especially of Abby Grace herself, the real Abby Grace whose face can be seen only by herself whenever she looks into a mirror.

Story: I like the story pretty well because, like the first installment, it is a mystery that Abby needed to solve in a short period of time, and it took on a lot of unexpected twists and turns. With this one, I was always guessing the outcome along the way, but it turned out not quite like how I figured would. It's pretty fun reading.

Overall Quality: Good quality—I liked it, although not as much as the first novella. People who love mysteries and Nancy Drew-like stories would really like this contemporary series.

Favorite Scene/Moment: The scene where Abby(Michelle) chatted with Sam, the best friend's ex-boyfriend, and ate pizza with him on the beach. He had come to her rescue when her own boyfriend had stranded her there because she wouldn't put-out. I like that Sam turned out to be a dear old friend of Michelle's that she hadn't talked to in years because Michelle had changed during her relationship with her awful boyfriend.… (mer)

Read this review on my blog at: http://abnormallyparanormal.blogspot.com/2012/04/book-review-borrowing-abby-grac...

Plot: Abby Grace is a Shadow, a mystical being, formerly human, who inhabits the bodies of living people who need her to solve their problems. But, her problem is that she has amnesia upon first inhabiting her new body and doesn't remember anything about herself. She is in the process of being kidnapped when she first comes to, in the beginning, and manages to get away. Then, discovering who she is and who she's pretending to be takes her on a wild Nancy Drew-like mystery solving journey. The main objective of this episode is for Abby to find the kidnapped younger brother of Brooke, the girl whose body she's inhabiting.

Characters: Abby is a funny girl, apparently a teenager herself, though she has no body. We never find out why she is a Shadow, or rather, she never finds out how the whole "shadowing" process works and why she's a part of it. The other presence in the story is a boy her age named Will, who is like a ghost, and he's there to help her out. He can't tell her how to solve her mysteries, or anything about who she's supposed to be helping, but he can tell her some things about what is expected of her, how much time she has to complete her mission, and the consequences if she doesn't complete it on time. Clearly, he has an important function, but I can't form an opinion of Will because he simply isn't in the story enough.

Technical Writing: It's good and written in a believable YA voice. Abby has probably been leaping around from body to body (kind of like Quantum Leap) recently, since she's aware of modern technology and knows how to use it, even with amnesia.

Storytelling: It's supposed to be an homage to the Nancy Drew mysteries of yesteryear, but I can't even draw that comparison because I never read any Nancy Drew. My older sisters loved those books, but they're ten years older than me, and I just had no interest. I thought the books were outdated, but, that was how I felt as a kid. (Don't kill me!) Still, I thought the mystery was done really well insofar as mysteries are concerned, and I never saw the climax coming. It wasn't predictable, and Abby did her job, even helping to repair a broken family at the end. It was very sweet.

Overall Quality: Great. I wasn't sure what to think when I first started reading, but it quickly became a fast, fun, engaging story as Abby tried to figure out so many different unknowns all at once. I'm surprised it could be done within such a short space (40 pages).

Favorite Scene/Moment: Easy. The scene where Abby sings a solo as Brooke (who has a killer voice) in the choir concert. She didn't know the words to "Danny Boy," so she started making up stuff around the middle of the song--stuff about Danny losing his teddy bear and eating a hamburger. Then, in the middle of her solo, she takes off, chasing after a kid she believes is connected to the little brother's kidnapping, leaving the entire audience completely O__O. I laughed out loud at the pure Randomy McRandom-ness of it all!… (mer)

WARNING - Some spoilers from episodes 1-2-3

Have I said that I'm in love with this series? If I haven't, I'm saying it right now! I love this series! In the first episode Kelly Green brought us a story with really lovely characters, a different story… a fresh story about a girl that doesn't know anything about her life, she doesn't remember anything, and she is in the body of someone else…

The second episode continues with the same style. Abby in the body of another girl, where she needs to resolve something. And maybe if you haven't read the books yet, you're thinking that the story is kind of repetitive… and I'm telling you… No, it's not. It's awesome. In every book Abby not only needs to help those people and discover the mystery around them, but she also needs to discover her life, who is she? Who is her mother, her dad? What is her story?

The last episode was literally heartbreaking at the end. I wanted to read more, to know a little bit more about Abby's life, but time was over, and she needed to move forward. Top of the Class starts with a big change and a big challenge for Abby, and I must say that the cover is very revealing! Ha! Abby is now a boy and the needs to behave like one… and you need to add a big mystery that needs to be resolved before time is over, or Abby will be stuck forever in the body of a boy that is going to jail.

Like the first two books, there is a lot of suspense, and nothing is what it seems. Secrets and lots of secrets and Abby is running against time. Will she make it? Again, I think I said it before, I really like her character, she is so smart, so intelligent… but at the same time, sweet… strong… And Will, even though he just appears at the beginning and at the end of the book, I really like his character, and I would love to know a little bit more about him.

Top of the class is the third episode of this series, and it's as amazing as the first two books. Now I can't wait to read the next one!

If you haven't read those books yet, I highly recommend you to do it. They are short books with a lot of mystery, secrets, fun, high schools… and romance? Maybe? Who knows?… (mer)

In episode one, Abby learns that she is a shade – someone who borrows the bodies of others to fix a problem in their life. I enjoyed episode one and was eager to see what happened next, so I purchased Girl Steals Guy shortly after and I was happy to find that it was even more enjoyable than the first episode.

In Girl Steals Guy, Abby, who’s borrowing Michelle’s body, finds herself in Heather’s room, unsure of what her mission is this time. All she knows is that there’s a crying girl. Until Will, her guardian, informs her that she is to reunite the lovers. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Because things – relationships – are not as they appear to be. In order to fix things and, hopefully, find her way back home, Abby must uncover the truth of what’s going on with the people around her.

I really enjoyed the outcome of the story, mainly because it’s something I didn’t see coming. The blackmail answer seemed rather believable. But I enjoyed the little twist at the end.

What I like most about this series is that these are short, yet exciting reads. I can’t wait for episode three to read more about Abby and Will!… (mer)