Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery by Joe Stephens | Review-Excerpt-$25 Giveaway
A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me the information for this tour.
Book Details
KYLE & COREY and the Game-Store Mystery by Joe Stephens Series: KYLE & COREY #1
Published by Covfefe Press on 06/13/2021
Genres: Action & Adventure, Amateur Sleuth, Fiction, Children's, Detective/Sleuth, Humorous, Middle-Grade, Mystery
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 270
Kyle & Corey Holley (15 and 12) live in Fairly Springs, a small southern beach town. Kyle is a budding engineer; Corey is impetuous, funny, and sports-crazy.
Like most brothers, they fight often, but they also solve crimes-like the rash of recent robberies around town. When Kyle and Corey investigate, they learn that in each robbery, the thieves stole a high-end desktop computer. Why? What are they looking for? And how soon till they find it?
Other complications include Corey's wheelchair-bound math tutor, Kyle's after-school job in a local game store, and a revolutionary new video game launching soon.
Kyle and Corey: Brothers. Best Friends. Detectives. They don't go looking for trouble; it has them on speed dial!
Source: Amazon Purchase, Goddess Fish Promotions, Kindle Unlimited, Received from the author or publisher for review.
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Excerpt from Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery
That night at dinner, sitting at their comfortable round oak dining table at
home, Mrs. Holley said to Corey, “She thinks you’re a pathological liar.”
“He is a pathological liar,” Kyle said, helping himself to more mashed
potatoes and pouring a generous helping of brown gravy over them.
Corey, sitting across the table from him, glared over his plate of sliced roast
beef, steamed broccoli, and a smaller helping of mashed potatoes. “Liar is a
strong word. I know the difference between truth and a lie, you turd.”
“Corey!” his mother said in warning.
“Well, I do. I only lied at the end a little, when I said the whole thing was a
lie.”
“I know,” Mrs. Holley said. “Ms. Morrison hasn’t lived here long enough to
know what happened this summer.”
“That’s why I did it. If she’d thought it was really true, she’d have asked all
kinds of questions and probably made me write a whole other paper. She’s that
type.”
Mrs. Holley looked affectionately at her younger son. Corey had a knack for
picking out the essential personality traits in everyone he met, almost instantly.
He knew things about people after a ten-minute conversation that took therapists
months to root out.
Her husband Donald was proud of Kyle for his math and science abilities, his
kind and forgiving nature, his loyalty to friends, and his gift for taking raw
materials and turning them into something new and unexpected. He was proud
of Corey for his people smarts, his vivid personality, and his natural ability as an
athlete. “I wouldn’t trade either of ’em for a million bucks,” he told his wife
often, and she always answered, “Wait till someone makes you an offer.”
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Purchase Links for Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery
Amazon Amazon UK Bookshop/IndieBound
The Book Depository Waterstones B&N
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My thoughts on Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery
I enjoyed this middle-grade mystery more than I expected to. Although it’s written with a younger audience in mind, this Nana loved it. The young detective brothers are true to life. They fuss and dig at each other, but when needed, they band together and have one another’s back. Kyle and Corey are about the age of a couple of my grandsons. I found Kyle and Corey very realistically written.
While the book is a middle-grade mystery and that storyline is well-done, there are many subtle lessons to be learned along the way. I picked up on several themes, from inclusion to diversity to kindness and truthfulness.
The pacing is smooth throughout the book and the author drops clues just often enough to keep the reader turning the pages to see what happens next.
I highly recommend Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery to all lovers of youthful detective tales. Joe Stephens may have just written the new version of the Hardy Boys. I grew up reading the original Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stories. I think this book is undoubtedly equal in the engaging quality of the storytelling.
Do yourself a favor and grab a copy today. You’ll be happy you read this quick, fun, engaging tale.
I’ll be happy if you purchase it using one of my links…wink, wink.
I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion.
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Giveaway!
Joe Stephens will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Visit more stops on the tour for extra chances to win!
September 9: Our Town Book Reviews
September 9: Sandra’s Book Club
September 16: The Children’s & Teens’ Book Connection
September 16: Andi’s Middle Grade and Chapter Books
September 16: The Reading Addict
September 23: Notes From a Romantic’s Heart
September 23: Gina Rae Mitchell
September 30: Kit’ N Kabookle
September 30: Lisa’s Reading
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Purchase Kyle and Corey and the Game-Store Mystery online from a local book store.
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Easy Amazon Links
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Great cover, sounds like a good read.
I always loved mysteries (thanks to Nancy Drew books), and now my granddaughter, who is in Grade 3, loves them, too. This book sounds perfect for her!
Love mysteries. The title is interesting and intriguing. Makes me want to read it. Would love to read & review book in print format.
How did you come up with the title & Why did you choose this particular title?
Why did you choose the names Kyle & Corey?
please enter me
Hope I Win
Good Morning Crystal. Thanks for commenting. This is an excellent start to a new series. I also want to make sure you understand I can’t enter you in the contest. You have to click on the Rafflecopter link and follow their instructions to enter. (If I misunderstood your “please enter me”comment, I apologize.) Wishing you lots of luck with your entries!
Sorry I missed your comment earlier, Crystal! I’d LOVE to have you review it!
Kyle & Corey were names I gave two brothers I’ve known for years, who have the same kind of relationship as the boys in the book do. I wanted to write a series celebrating them and their very special bond, and I’m glad I got the chance! And ‘the Game-Store Mystery’ is really MY revenge on Game Stop, one of my LEAST favorite places, because every time I went in there with MY children, I spent way too much money on stuff I knew they wouldn’t stay with long-term, so I got in bad mood just walking in the door! I wanted these guys to be the bad guys, and I got the chance to make that happen! Revenge, thy name is author!
BTW, Gina is right; you can only enter the raffle by clicking on the link; if you follow me on the tour, you get extra entries for extra comments on other blogs! I have two more stops next week, though (tour schedule listed here), so you have more chances to win!
Thanks so much for hosting me today, and for the FANTASTIC review! So happy you enjoyed it, and so glad to connect with your readers!
It was my pleasure, Joe. I enjoyed the story and am anxiously awaiting the next.
Joe Stephens is new to me, but I love meeting new authors. Thanks to this blog for the introduction.
Glad you like authors, Audrey, because I like readers! Hope you’ll decide to make Kyle & Corey part of your (or your children’s or grandchildren’s) lives as well!
Thanks for hosting!
I like the cover and synopsis, this sounds like an excellent book to share with my grandchildren. Thank you for sharing your book and author details and for offering a giveaway
Thanks for your interest, Bea! Hope you WILL pass it on to your grandchildren; if they like mysteries and bro stories, they should enjoy this!