Reviews

The Dark Deception by Morgan Baden, Josephine Ruby

randomly_kait's review

Go to review page

5.0

Another fantastic installment. Still reminds me how much I love Scooby Doo, and probably always will. I love that these have given us an updated version of something we all know and love. Not sure how I feel about the relationships getting shaken up from what I think is the usual, but we'll see how it all plays out.

settingsun's review

Go to review page

2.0

Not much happened in this book. Too much time was spent on a lot of stretched out inner monologues mainly about a pseudo Romance that was never developed beyond just young raging hormones.

In the end the Mystery/Case was small and took a back seat to a non-romance and more set up for future books.

I think Josephine Ruby, the author of book 1, captured more of what I wanted from this series.

lolareads_xo's review

Go to review page

2.0

This book calls itself an original story, and it definitely is that. It is not, however, accurate at all to the source characters. It's as if the author wrote a mystery with female leads and slapped the names Daphne and Velma on them.
I'm disappointed, I really enjoyed the first book but the authors are different and clearly take things in different directions.
I put this book down for months before I made myself finish it and honestly it wasn't worth it. I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it had simply just been an original story, I was too caught up in the established characters for this to work for me.

rainmustfall's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

mrsdarcy1813's review

Go to review page

adventurous lighthearted mysterious

3.0

courtney12345's review

Go to review page

5.0

This book is clearly written for people who watched Scooby-Doo as a kid. Older teens would relate to this book as well. It's a fun mystery book with some life lessons thrown in.

birdieandthebooks7's review

Go to review page

emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jenmurray's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

genieinanovel's review

Go to review page

5.0

*First thoughts: 4.5 stars because I want more Fred*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Dark Deception picks up where we left Daphne and Velma, which is to solve a mystery that’s going on with their friend Shaggy. He pretty much keeps to himself, but the warning they got from Marcy (the vanished girl in the previous book) has them a bit worried, so they tail him. Then something really weird happens at Crystal Cove… a ton of jewels wash up on their beach.

So now this sleuthing duo has two mysteries to solve, but it turns out they might be connected.

There wasn’t as much about the history of Daphne and Velma’s friendship in this book as the last one, but you can see how they’re on the mend and falling back into their old groove. Of course, this book was more about solving the mystery, not about the previously broken friendship, but we still do get to see how the girls are becoming close to each other once again, which brings up some cute moments. Girl friendships are the best when they’re genuine.

On another note, this one proved to me why Velma is my favorite character of the Scooby gang, because she is such a sass ball and I loved every second of it. We do get to see more of Shaggy this time around, which is awesome because I also love Shaggy, but I do wish we had more Fred. Maybe in the next book we’ll get more of him.

And yes, there is a third book coming! The author herself said so.

So if you haven’t picked up either of the Daphne and Velma books yet, what are you waiting for? It’s definitely a must-read if you’re a Scooby-Doo fan!

bookswithbonnie's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0