Asbury High and the Kidnapper’s Drive: Asbury High Series
Young Adult Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Publisher: Purple Milk Publishing (February 6, 2021)
Paperback: 383 pages

Synopsis

On a quiet summer night, in the peaceful seaside town of Asbury, a local girl is kidnapped from her home.

That very same day, a car thief is chased through an empty car lot, narrowly escaping from their teenage pursuer.

Can the two be connected?

Once again, it’s up to Asbury’s favorite, fearless foursome to find out.

Carly, Maddie, Pilot and Cornelious enter the summer before their junior year ready for normalcy. After a few weeks of calm, it seems that Carly may finally have the drama-free summer of her dreams—other than her boyfriend returning from his two-week vacation hotter than ever, drawing interest from her peers.

Just as Asbury is lulled into a sense of serenity, tragedy strikes when a local six-year-old is kidnapped from her home…with no sign of a break-in, no ransom, and no reason. While the town is desperate to find the missing girl, car parts from Maddie’s father’s shop suddenly go missing, and the gang begins to wonder if the two are connected. With little faith in law enforcement, and prodding from Maddie’s younger siblings, the gang finds themselves at the center of the investigation.

Unfortunately, solving both cases isn’t so easy, as the gang must work around the continually growing criminal enterprise of the Pitbulls, the constant construction occurring around town from Governor Gibbz’s Grant, as well as their changing feelings towards each other. When Maddie and Cornelious begin to sense their friendship might be more than what they realize, jealousies arise as the teens garner attention from others.

With all these distractions, can the foursome save the missing girl and figure out who is stealing from Petrozza Auto?

Asbury High and the Kidnapper’s Drive is the fourth book in a thrilling young adult cozy mystery series, that fans of Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and Scooby Doo will love.

Guest Post

Today we have Carly here to tell us a little bit about herself. Take it away Carly!

How you take care of yourself/practice self-care?—Carly Cosentino

Hi!

So as the only member of the gang who actually cares what they look like, and also knows how feeling good can positively affect your daily outlook, I’ve decided to share how I take care of myself.

Basically, my daily regimen of positivity.

Living in Asbury, where its more of a summer boom town than anything, I’ve learned the importance of taking time for myself. And with my three besties (yes, including my adorably awesome boyfriend, Pilot Owens), that also means being mentally and physically ready to spring into action. For some reason, mysteries are attracted to us like flies.

You can’t just swat them away either. I’ve tried.

Anyway, don’t let me forget I’m also a Cheer Captain of my high school squad—which means my arm strength and core is killer, so I’m usually ready to go (although I like to use physical strength as a last option, as opposed to my friends…they’re brutes!).

To begin my day, after ensuring a full eight hours sleep—don’t downplay the importance of sleep, I highly doubt the business moguls and billionaires of the world who claim they sleep two hours are telling the truth. Sleep is vitally important! Now, where was I…Oh yeah! After doing my best to ensure a full eight hours, I have an alarm set to wake me up to whatever song I’m currently obsessed with. I find that’s a good and fun way to pull me out of bed (especially on test or project presentation day).

After rising from bed, I spend the next ten minutes doing some light yoga stretches and mindful meditation. I’m a huge believer of yoga as it helps me set my goals for the day.

Wrapping up the yoga, I head to my bathroom and jump into the shower and continue my hair and face wash regimen. After drying off, I take a moment to add moisturizer with SPF onto my face and neck (if you plan to copy this, please DON’T FORGET YOUR NECK! I mean, you don’t want to have a nice face and then a gobbly chicken wrinkly neck, do you?!).

After choosing my outfit for the day—depending on the mood, or what shenanigans I’m likely to get up to—I then brush my hair and, more often than not, utilize my favorite red tie-back headband here. It’s from my grandmother and I try not to go anywhere without it. Even on the days where my hair looks flawless down, with no accessories needed. Because you can also bet those are the days that Maddie drags us into some dangerous mystery…

Next, I apply some mascara and sometimes light eyeliner. I’m lucky to have pretty blue eyes, so I feel like I don’t need too much eye makeup. Or at least I think so, and Pilot agrees.

Because I’m a teenage girl and life’s not always fair, I do need to occasionally put on some light coverup over problem areas, but the face wash and moisturizing routine does wonders to minimize that, so I feel fortunate there.

Before I leave my oasis of a bedroom for the day, I take a moment to look over my vision board (I make one each year) and scan over the images that I hope will soon come to fruition. I’m a big believer in goals and visions, as you can tell.

After eating some breakfast, always fruit and a protein shake, sometimes more (my mom is the world’s best baker—well, besides Heidi over at Heidi’s Hub in town), I head over to school.

Practicing self-care is not as easy when I get to school. It is high school after all, and let’s be real, I do love gossip. However, I do my best to get to the truth and not spread things that likely aren’t true. And if it’s mean, then that piece of gossip ends with me.

Anyway, the only way to practice self-care in school, at least for me, is to do my best to focus on my teacher’s lessons and try to have fun too. Life’s too short to be too serious.

On good days, I’ll have cheerleading practice, which is a great release of energy.

Keeping me happy and sane, are my three besties, Cornelious, Maddie and Pilot. We tend to meet at Brady’s to catch up, laugh and yes, solve crime.

When I do get home, I make sure to eat dinner, sometimes a snack (never go to bed hungry, if you don’t have to. Too many unfortunate people on this Earth have no choice here, so appreciate your life people!).

After showering, remoisturizing, and reflecting on my day, I’ll call Pilot, and talk to him. Sometimes even until one of us fall asleep (not gonna lie, it’s always me who falls asleep first)!

And that’s a day of self-care. To sum it up, respect yourself and others, and please, don’t take yourself too seriously! Remember to smile, laugh and enjoy your life!

About the Author

For as long as she could remember, Kelly Brady Channick loved making up stories and leaving her listeners/readers on the edge of their seats.

Perhaps that’s why she always managed to talk herself out of trouble…

After graduating from NJ’s own Ocean City High School, Kelly accepted a basketball scholarship to Holy Family University, in Philadelphia. As a lifelong athlete, Kelly understands the importance of teamwork and overcoming adversity, something she hopes translates into her books.

Before writing page-turners, she taught first, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade — like a dessert menu, she simply had to test them all out. But her favorite job is the one she’s now doing full time: writing. Kelly loves to craft whodunit mysteries, leading readers through various twists and turns filled with red-herrings, hidden clues, and more peculiar characters than a reality show.

Kelly lives in South Jersey with her handsome husband, energetic baby boy, two cookie-stealing dogs, and an awfully smart cat.

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