Reviews

I know all books require you to suspend your disbelief in one manner or another, but this Goldie Vance story opens with Goldie as the victim of an intentional hit & run. A car runs her over while she's riding home; her helmet is destroyed as is her bicycle, but she is left unharmed. My problem is that NO ONE ever mentions that perhaps the police should be called. Her biggest complaints were 1. they didn't offer her a ride home and 2. her bike was totaled. I can see how involving the police was not what the author wanted to do with the story, but this was just ridiculous. One of Goldie's rivals specifically wanted the bike ruined, but this seemed a ridiculous way to go about it, story-wise.

Goldie's nemesis, Sugar Maple, whose family owns the hotel where she & her father work, is a race car driver that has been suffering from sabotage on the track. She hires Goldie to help her solve the case.

Spoiler

Sugar's wanna-be boyfriend sabotaged his own car so Sugar would win. Sugar's father is cheating to help Sugar win because their fortune has dwindled due to her older sister's sabotage of the family's investments. Her sister also detonates a bomb in the racetrack, nearly killing Sugar.

I like that these books focus on women characters and overall, they're fine. I'm guessing that if there was a larger selection of women-centric stories being told, I wouldn't be as interested in reading subsequent books....they're not BAD, but there's always something kind of 'off' in them. The illustrations are fun & they're good for the girls to see strong female characters.

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