My 2016 In Books, According To Goodreads...

Discounting my poor blogging habits (the amount of posting, mostly) 2016 was a pretty good year for reading. I managed to rate 62 books with my highest '5 clock' rating. Even more incredible is the fact that 12 of those are graphic novels!

I am so pleased I managed to read over 100 of my own books, fingers crossed that trend will be continuing this year. I'm also happy that my Kindle reading went down and my library borrowing increased slightly. 2016 was obviously the year of reading physical books!

I started the year with a Kindle cozy mystery freebie,

and finished the year with the cutest children's book I read in 2016 (bought for Emily of course, not me...)

According to Goodreads...

Chasing Danger: Mystery At The Ice Hotel - Sara Grant

After surviving a kidnapping attempt in the Maldives, Chase and Mackenzie are off to the Ice Hotel in Iceland! What could go wrong there? But as soon as they arrive, accidents start to occur that seem targeted to scare - or worse, seriously hurt - the guests. When a body shows up frozen in an ice bed, it's up to the two girls to figure out who is behind the attacks ...before anyone else gets hurt!

This is a 2-for-1 review deal as I've read both Chasing Danger and Chasing Danger: Mystery At The Ice Hotel and can't really talk about one without the other! As you've probably guessed by now my new obsession seems to be mystery novels, whether they're MG or adult, and I'm hooked.

Chasing Danger is a mystery definitely worth reading. Charlotte 'Chase' Armstrong is off to the Maldives to stay with the grandmother she never knew she had. Determined to make the most of the time she has with Ariadne to discover who her mother is and what happened to her, she doesn't count on having to split her time with another teenager, the stunningly beautiful Mackenzie. Chase doesn't really have time to sulk though as she's soon caught up in a bombing at the resort where they're staying and trying to foil a kidnapping plot, aided and abetted by Mackenzie who has mad computer skills!

Not one but two brilliant female characters going up against the villains normally featuring boys makes for an outstanding read. Both Mackenzie and Chase are my favorite characters in a long time, they make a formidable team and the Maldives is the perfect setting for the kidnap of a princess...

After what feels like no time at all Chase and Mackenzie are soon up to their necks in it all over again. Only this time they've swapped a tropical paradise for the Arctic! Chase now knows that her mother is alive and is determined to contact her but first she has to figure out who seems to be trying to sabotage the launch of her grandmother's senior citizen dating app. The bodies are starting to pile up and Mackenzie is strangely reluctant to get dragged into another mystery quite so soon but thankfully TnT (also known as Toby & Taylor), boy twins, are on hand to help (well, mostly hinder).

The action doesn't let up from the get-go and there are red herrings aplenty. The girls really don't know who to trust this time and even suspect Ariadne at one point but the mystery is resolved thanks mostly to Chase's fearlessness, not that this is always a good thing!

A fantastic story featuring friendship, family and the ability to find a dead body even in the Arctic make this a gripping read. I loved both books but Mystery At The Ice Hotel sneaks over the line as my favorite, mainly because we get to see more of Chase's grandmother, Ariadne, this time round and the side story of her mother and who she really is. I can't wait for the third instalment as I'd like to know how in the world Chase is going to drop head first into another mystery in Kuriosity Kingdom Amusement Park...

Chasing Danger: Mystery At The Ice Hotel - Sara Grant

ISBN - 9781407163307

Publisher - Scholastic

Release date - October 6 2016

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon UK

About The Author

Sara Grant was born and raised in the Midwestern United States. She has worked as an editor and is also the author of a number of books for young readers and teens. She lives in London and writes full-time.

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