Asbury High and the Thief's Gamble is the first book in Kelly Brady Channick's Teen/Young Adult Asbury High Cozy Mystery series. Much of this story focuses on the challenges the four longtime friends face as they navigate their freshman year of high school with all the drama and angst that entails. Because two of these individuals are from upperclass backgrounds and two from working class backgrounds, they are also faced with differing familial expectations as their year progresses. The mystery aspect of this book surrounded a series of burglaries of various upperclass families that this group of teens decides to try to solve as one of their mothers was considered a primary suspect due to her housecleaning business servicing all of the houses that were broken into.

Although this book brings to mind the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, I found the writing to be disjointed and confusing to the point that I struggled to just get through it. In addition to these concerns, I found that several of the aspects of the social interactions of the various high school age characters as well as the behavior of some of the adults was off-putting and perhaps sends inappropriate messages to the intended audience as it could be interpreted to encourage class discrimination, bullying and even entitlement. I would highly recommend parents to read and evaluate this book for themselves so they can engage in a responsible dialog with their children regarding its content and the situations it presents.

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and Purple Milk Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Asbury High and The Thief's Gamble by Kelly Brady Channick
This book was about 4 freshmen high school teenagers who are best friends in a small coastal town. In the town it is split between east and west Asbury which side you live on depends on the wealth of your family. The 4 friends decide to take it upon themselves when some burglary's begin to occur. The 4 try to solve the crime will they solve it?

This is a debut book by Mrs. Channick and she brings this town, high school and kids to life. It was very entertaining and a quick read. What I liked the most is that I did not figure out who was committing the burglaries it left me guessing until it was revealed. Who I thought was committing the crime was not the red herring. This was a fun read that keeps you on your toes there was a lot of themes in the book with some of the wealthy parents in town seem to be a bit much.

I loved the teens abilities some athletic which added to the story, a smart tech kid and a cheerleader who stories made it more than just a mystery. I felt this was a story within a story mixed with a mystery to add to its entertaining value.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery it is YA type mystery but just as good. I rate this 4.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kelly Brady Channick for a free copy of the book for an honest review.

Four teenagers in their freshman year of high school set out to solve the mystery of the robberies in their town.
Carly is a born gossip. Maddie is the brave yet oblivious friend. Cornelious is smart, rich, and the leader. Pilot has a knack for technology. Both the main and secondary characters are decently developed, with the relationships of the central crew interesting and funny. It takes a while to get to the action and I feel as if this is more of a middle grade novel, definitely geared toward a younger audience. I'm only slightly interested in continuing this series.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Purple Milk Publishing and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


I was a bit disappointed in this one. I had higher expectations for it unfortunately. I finished though it was rough.

While I had high hopes for this novel, I was left unimpressed. I found it hard to follow the choppy writing, and I didn't want to root for any of the four main characters. The town seemed like a parody of every 90's teen tv show, and while I wanted to like it enough to add to my classroom, I know my students (7th graders) would dislike it from page 1.

Asbury High and The Thief's Gamble is a striking young adult mystery novel. Although I wouldn't go to put it on as a 'young adult' novel, it's more of a pre-teen novel. The book definitely has all the necessary characteristics of a worthwile read.

Things I liked about Asbury High and the Thief's Gamble-

1. The concept- It gives Enid Blyton and Scooby Doo vibes. A group of friends, one rich, one big family, one the petite cheerleader and the nerd.

2. The feminism- What seemed so normal in this book was the strong theme of women being important to the family.

Things I didn't like about the book-

1. It was too generic. The plot, the dialogues, the characters, seemed like they had no depth. I didn't care for the characters at all.

2. Unrealistic- Now I understand it's part fantasy for younger readers, but sometimes, it stretched too far. Reports hiding in cupboards? Sign of a restaurant visible from space? Teen girl's parents don't care if guys crash in her bed?

3. There was a mention of a student dating a teacher, which kindof ruined the book for me. It's clearly meant for younger readers, and that is something I don't think they should be exposed to.

All in all, Asbury High and the thief's gamble, is a fine read, as long as you wouldn't like to think of it realistically. The young adult mystery vibe that I was looking for, wasn't found here. So yes, to say I'm disappointed, would be saying very less.

It's alright for younger readers, I would recommend it to 12-14 year olds. Don't make the same mistake as me and expect it to be a 'One of Us is lying' or 'The Dead List' category book.