Nancy Drew The Hidden Staircase Audio Book & DS Game

More driving in the car for work so I was in need of an audio book. I now have a few Nancy Drew Audio books so I decided to start with The Hidden Staircase as I hadn't read the book before.
The book is being read by Laura Linney and you can find them on Amazon etc. By the time I had done all the driving for the day I only had one chapter to go. The book was enjoyable to listen to, it definitely makes a difference having an actress as the reader.
As for the story it had the favourite mystery topic of many children's authors of a haunted house and unwanted, troublesome Ghosts. In this story there was an added twist of a family problem where Nancy's father is in danger. The story was well written, the first chapter is a good read with a strong start.
The Hidden Staircase itself within the mystery could of been a bit more interesting. I thought the Nancy Drew Mystery "The Mystery of The Hidden Window" was a lot more exciting in its tunnels than this book.



On a slightly different note but still talking about The Hidden Staircase The Nancy Drew The Hidden Staircase DS Game I was a little disappointed with after playing the Nancy Drew The deadly secret of Olde World Park which I loved, and is my favourite DS Game I have played so far.
What I didn't like about this game was the fact I was finished in such a short time. The aim of the game is to replay the game and try and quicken your time but who cares how quick you do something? I don't, I want something new to do.
That said the cover of the game has beautiful graphics and sort of reminded me of a Janet Loise Johnson style Nancy (Janet is the actress who played Nancy Drew in the later episodes of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries from 1978 & 1979.)

Twilight - Book 1 of the Saga

Not my usual type of series book that I read but after avoiding all the fanfare of seeing the Movie when it was in the cinema, prior to the release of The New Moon movie I was tempted to see the Twilight Movie on DVD after I heard that the movie's star Kristen Stewart was going to be playing one of my all time favourite rockers Joan Jett in an upcoming movie about The Runaways (Joan Jett's first band which also had heavy metal goddess Lita Ford in it.)
I loved the alternate style "edginess" to the first movie. (Forkes had that kind of Twin Peaks type town vibe to me) So unlike a lot of fans of the book who went to see the movie I was in the group that was intrigued to read the book after seeing the movie.
That's said there were some distinct differences in the book and some scenes in the movie that I felt would of benefited if they had been as the book was. The major one to me would of been towards the end of the book where Jacob comes to the Prom and asks Bella to dance whilst Edward looks on. In the movie Jacob sneaks up to Bella while she is outside the dance and doesn't dance with her unlike the book. I think that dancing may have helped establish the relationship between Bella and Jacob better for the second movie.
Another notable was the big fight scene in the ballet studio. In the book it barely happens. Reason being the book is being written in the first person with Bella as the star and after Bella is thrown against the mirror she goes off to the land of dreams until she wakes up in hospital. Thus what she missed is only referred to through her questioning of Edward.
I can see how the book and movies have become a huge hit, but I must say whilst reading the book I was being manipulated by the old tried and tested Days of Our Lives Super couples of the 90's. We could liken our heroine Bella very much to Hope and Edward to Bo. A good looking couple like / don't like each other (doth does protest too much) until they finally admit their feelings only to be torn apart by circumstances, their own feelings of lack of self worth, good looking other people that complicate there relationships, danger - with one of the partners trying to protect the other and keeping away from them for their own good ETC ETC ETC. Hey I know this stuff so well I should write my own love story. lol.

Nancy Drew Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion

Nancy Drew Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (Revised Edition - Important to note as the original book was a completely different story)

As I was having to attend a course in Sydney and had two days of catching a train into the City I decided I needed to choose a book to read that wasn't too heavy for my bag, (hence the Twilight hardcover book I was half way through reading was not a practical option)

I read this book in preparation for the Nancy Drew Convention next year.

Read over the two days of travel to and from the city I must say I was totally engrossed. I have been to Florida before on vacation but to not any of the places listed in this book and the story encouraged me to want to see The Kennedy Space Centre and Merritt Island.

It kind of reminded my of some of the Trixie Belden books that take place on vacation and make you feel like also taking a vacation to see the sites at the same place.

The story is a bit far fetched in places (okay that's an understatement) and Nancy is saved at the end and I prefer my heroines to do the saving but that aside the story flowed so well and kept me so interested it made me want to read another Nancy Drew book next even though Nancy isn't usually my first choice,

On a side note I love the Nancy Drew torch series, the covers are great and the books have a nostalgic feel to them and they aren't too heavy for a handbag.