Review: Sets up the rest of the series
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
LIVE! from Brentwood High was one of my favorite series when I was in junior high, so when I heard that Judy Baer was releasing updated versions of the books, I jumped at the chance to read and review them. After reading "Risky Assignment," book one in the series, I have mixed feelings.I love the journalism classroom setting, which lends itself to multiple storylines. And once all the team members were working together while witnessing a horrible accident, the pages flew by. But up to that point (about half of the book), I had a hard time connecting with the characters or caring about them. I know that this book basically serves as an intro to the characters who will be featured in future books, and I'm glad that Molly is the focus of book two, as I thought she was the most compelling of all the characters introduced in "Risky Assignment."I also have to mention that this version contains several formatting errors that sometimes make it difficult to follow the action. For example, there's no visual distinction between scenes in a chapter, which makes it quite jarring when the story skips ahead. Also, at times I had difficulty discerning which character was speaking as dialog tags are often left out.Overall, I'd say that this book is good but not great. I do look forward to reading the other books in the series, though, as I think they'll be more engaging now that the introductions are out of the way.Disclosure of material connections: I received this e-book free for review from a publicity company. The opinions expressed are my own.