Polly Brewster #3, Polly in New York

So, Polly and Nolla head to New York to set up house with Anne and her mother, Mrs. Stewart. They lease a former carriage house/artist's studio, with the two girls being taken on as a project by the former leasee, Mr. Fabian. They take night classes with him, while going to Mrs. Wellington's school during the day. They make a frenemy in Elizabeth Dalken, a schoolmate, but when the girls rescue her from a fire (and NOW we head into series book stereotypes), they make friends. Moreso, however, they creepily befriend her father, Mr. Dalken and his friends, the Ashbys, who happen to be a an interior decorator, his wife, and their daughter Ruth, another one of the girls' classmates.

Jim and Ken are at Yale and happily run up to visit until warned away by Anne and Mr. Fabian, who insist that the girls need to focus on their studies. Tom helps the cause in his influence over his younger brother. Of course, Tom also anonymously sends Polly these ridiculous roses for Valentine's Day. There's also a Christmas visit with all the Evans, Latimers, Maynards (with brother Pete), and Stewarts (with brother Paul). They all spend the summer back in Pebbly Pit, where Polly's dad figures out the score with some hints from Nolla.

Back in the city, the girls find (I kid you not) a baby on their doorstep. The whole "mystery" with this is just ridiculous, along with their plans to "give" the baby to Mr. Dalken, whose son died several years ago. They're thwarted when the baby's believed-to-be-long-dead (in the war, no less) father shows up, but he takes a position in the Dalkens' apartment, so all is well. I mean, this would all be kind of awesome, but it does rather regurgitate a Patty Fairfield plot, which was in itself not at all unique.

In the end, John and Anne get married, and the Ashbys agree to chaperone the girls on their European adventure. Seriously, this series is SO Patty Fairfield/Beverly Gray in some ways (not that I'm complaining!). As the girls get on the boat, Tom confesses about the roses by leaving another bouquet in their cabin, signed, "Your Valentine that was, and is, and always will be, in this world, and in the next, and forever, Tom." Polly FREAKS, and honestly, it's much even for me, who normally eats this stuff with a spoon. The other girls convince this nincompoop that it's just a joke, and they're off to Europe.

I like this book, although I admit that it gets brownie points for me for reminding me so much of the Patty Fairfield books that take place in NYC. As the series goes on, though, I like Polly less, because she's both a Mary Sue and SO OBLIVIOUS IT KILLS ME. Just, argh, I know you're a simple country miss with a pure and noble heart, but do you have NO knowledge of human nature/NEVER notice anyone else's feelings? Argh. I continue to adore Nolla, though, who is just a ball. Nolla throws me for a loop by bailing on those romantic vibes with Ken, making some with Jim, then having a secret letter correspondence with Anne's brother Paul that's mentioned at the end of the book. Play on, Nolla.

• Polly initially despises the city in this really annoying contemptuous way, mocking how in a hurry everyone is, the fashion, the crowdedness, etc. My girl Nolla loves it, of course.
• Polly is offended by how, "Most every woman and girl I met had faces covered thick with layers of white chalk, with a daub of red on each cheek, and lips as scarlet as a clown's." Very 20s.
• Polly is ridiculously provincial. She's never been in an automobile or used a telephone before. She's also never seen the ocean and says, "It's the only decent thing of which New York can boast."
  
• At one point Anne pays a deposit in "yellow bills." I thought money was considered and referred to as green at this point?
  
• My original timeline for the younger characters ages turns out to be completely off. Anne is described at the beginning of this book as, "just past 21," which means that Tom and John pretty much have to be 21 or older--especially when you consider that John is friends with Paul, Anne's brother, and unless they're twins . . . ? I'm now officially grossed out by 14 year old Polly and 21+ year old Tom. Ew. I forget that older school ages don't match up to modern ones/aren't as set in stone.
  
• It's also said at the end of the book that the now 16 year old girls have surpassed the roughly 20+ years old Jim and Ken in maturity, due to their extra education. I guess this is why Nolla moves on to Paul?
• Elizabeth Dalken is definitely more of a bad girl than ever appeared in Nancy Drew: "She could slyly cheat at bridge, smoke her mother's cigarettes, and flirt with the men who frequented her home, as well as her mother could." Mrs. Dalken is a terrible women who dared to leave her wonderful husband. She's the least sympathetically written character in the series by far.
• At one point, the Polly and Nolla are accosted by young hoods walking home from their night art class. Before being rescued by Mr. Dalken, it's strongly suggested that the threat is sexual, and the scene is genuinely scary--very unusual for a series book.
  
• Just so you know, Bob ends up engaged to some balding society aristocrat named Percival. Oh, Bob.
  

Still loving this series, but I need to sleep! Next up will be Polly and Her Friends Abroad, which is mistakenly referred to at the end of this book as Polly and Eleanor Abroad.

Shirley Flight #1, Air Hostess

The latest misfortune to befall my electronics involved me dropping my camera's rechargeable lithium battery down an air vent. So until the new one gets here, I'm stuck reviewing books of which I already have pictures on my computer. Thus you get Shirley Flight, Air Hostess.

Shirley is an overachieving multilinguial librarian/part time probationary nurse who still lives with her parents. In the opening pages, she receives news that she's been selected for an interview for Transcontinental Air Lines (TCAL). Switching things up nicely from Vicki Barr, it's her mom who's a nervous wreck, while her father is all into it. Obviously, she aces the interview, as well as surviving the eight week training course.

Along the way, she acquires a new pal, redhead Wendy Moreland, the daughter of a Secret Service man/diplomat. Naturally, they're dragged into international intrigue involving stolen Italian government documents. On the smaller scale, there is plenty of the sort of melodrama that can only abound with large amounts of girls/women. I'm a nurse, I know what I'm talking about here. She also meets First Officer Tony Garland, who remains her mysteriously platonic love interest for the rest of the series. He's portrayed as tall and awkward, and, yeah, I have a weakness. Too bad he's kind of a moron.

Of course, Shirley manages to save the document, Tony, Wendy, and, dare I say, the security of the world. How Nancy Drew of her. Too bad I prefer the vulnerability of Judy and Trixie. Which really sums up my opinion of this book: while I liked it more than The Great Bullion Mystery or Desert Adventure, Shirley is just too much of a Mary Sue character for me to empathize with her.

• I really was turned off by Shirley's mom, better known as Mumsie. She's the quintessential 50s mom, with no life outside her daughter and husband. She says things like, "You know what a bear he can be if his breakfast isn't done just how he likes it." Which somehow reflects more on her than on her husband. I normally love series book moms (or housekeepers as the case may be), but Mumsie gives off moron vibes.
• Moreso than Sara Gay or Sally Baxter, I had to look up a lot of Britishisms. Just so you know, a "rasher" is a thin fried slice of bacon/ham, "Lancashire hot pot" sounds suspiciously like American pot roast (only mutton/lamb) and veggies, and a "prang" is a crash. Or cocaine, depending on the decade. I'll let you guess which it is in this story.
• There is lots of great fashion. Shirley wears a "trim terylene suit and half-length sheepskin coat," while her socialite coursemate wears a "natty line in half-length flying coats with a broad white lambswool collar." Lola, the countess/spy (love it!) channels her inner Madonna with a "startling leopard skin coat with fingerless black netting gloves." At one point Wendy buys "multi glitter sandals" and wears "a fluffy pullover and tailor-made jeans."
  
• They go to a dance at a club, where Wendy "daringly matched her red hair with a sheeny and romantically fully-skirted evening frock and satin pumps of the same vivid hue, with the whole ensemble given a little additional hint of glamour with crossed low-sweeping shoulder bands and a waist girdle with a chic bow and dangling ends of narrow strips designed in gold and emerald-blue. Glittering brooches pinned to the pumps drew the eyes down to full length." I thought it rated its own bullet point.
• This book had an obvious wit that I enjoyed. Their instructor self-deprecatingly says that, "One of the first duties of an air hostess is to learn to stay awake, even in the most provocative of circumstances,"--the provoking element being his teaching.
  
• Lola-Madonna says, "If my blood is blue, then it is probably cigarette smoke." Love. It.
• Wendy calls herself and Shirley "the pals of the two crossed fingers." You know, like when you cross two of your fingers, and say, "We're like THIS." I'm borrowing this at first opportunity.
• The second girl to get dismissed is constantly hounded for being a leftie. She gets "remonstrance" when she attempts to use her left hand, and it's cited as one of the reasons for her clumsiness and why she's kicked off the island. I thought this went out with the Victorians, but apparently I was wrong.
  
• At one point they're put into a decompression chamber to see how they'll react if the plane loses pressure at high altitudes. The tattletale girl they nickname Snooper has hidden a past history of neurasthenia, and she goes totally crackers once her mask is off.
• Shirley is a Mary Sue's Mary Sue. Who wouldn't be a little internally pleased if your arch-enemy turned out to be a bit of a nutter? Hint: not Shirley. Not only does Shirley never do anything wrong, the only time she ever gets in trouble is when she's covering for someone else. Shirley, you're not a Christ figure. Please stop. No one can relate to you. And while you probably assumed this, she does rescue a child from soon-to-be fiery wreckage. *eye roll*
  
• And in a final note, Shirley Flight has the most hideous, middle-aged tranny cover art of any of the World Distributors series. However, I think the blue airplane boards are adorable.
  

So, while this book definitely had more charm than the other two titles I've read in this series, it still suffered from the same failures as the other two. Namely, that Shirley has no personality and an unusually high percentage of the characters suffer from what a lot of romance readers refer to as TSTL: Too Stupid To Live. I have another title, The Flying Doctor, but apparently I should avoid making predictions about what I'll be reviewing next. You all like surprises, no?

Mary Lou #2, The Mystery of the Fires

Well, thankfully, I quite liked this book, which gives me hope for the final volume, The Mystery of the Secret Band. It reminded me a lot of the Kay Tracey book, The Message in the Sand Dunes, with traces of Doris Force at Cloudy Cove. In other words, the basic idea of being on vacation at a beach cottage and being all chummy with the vacationers at other cottages.

ML, her mother, Freckles, and Jane are off to their cottage at Shady Nook (which there's a convenient map of in the front) for the summer. Sticking with the pattern of the last book, ML's dad is off on a case and doesn't show up until the final chapters. When they arrive, they're told that their friends' (the Hunters) cabin burned down last week, and arson is suspected. The main suspects are Cliff, who technically owns the cabin since his dad died and needs the insurance money, and Ditmar, an out of work architect, who needs the contract for the rebuild. Soon though, Flicks' cabin and inn/restaurant is torched, as well as the Smiths' house. David McCall, who is way unreciprocatedly into ML, manages to get Cliff arrested. Another suspect, Rebecca Adams, who is certifiably crazy, crops up.

In the end, ML figures out it's Mr. Frazier, whose overpriced inn is benefitting from the closure of the cabins and the rival inn, with the paid help of Rebecca's brother, Tom. Tom and Frazier catch ML eavesdropping and manage to get her committed by pretending that ML is actually Rebecca. In the end, ML manages to signal Norman and Max, who are out looking for her in their car. Tom and Frazier get arrested, and Cliff gets released.

• Cliff is described as "homely," but very personable and a good guy. He's known for his card tricks. I like the break from the typical gorgeous athlete type. He and Jane have a sort-of-romance.
• The mental institution bit is seriously scary. Every time ML tries to tell them who she is, they think it's part of her illness.
  
• The institution is described as a pretty nice place of its type (which is definitely unrealistic for the time), and Rebecca decides to go live there voluntarily.
• ML follows the Nancy Drew mold by not being super interested in any of the boys who are obsessed with her, even though she's grateful to Max for rescuing her.
• ML rescues the Smiths' little girl from the fire, in series stereotype #322.
• ML's dad seriously does nothing. He helps get the bad guys arrested, AFTER ML figures out who they are, and the boys rescue her.
• ML is supposed to be 16, and David McCall is 22. Rather icky, no? Cliff is around 19(sophomore at Yale), ftr.
• ML knows how to signal because she's a Girl Scout, which is also mentioned in the previous book (she uses it as a reason to not get rewards for good deeds). I don't really like these references, even though it's not surprising, since Edie was a troop leader. ML's just too old and not that much of a goody-goody.
• As you can see in the map, Shady Nook is on the Hudson. Adirondacks, possibly? It takes them a full day to drive there, so that would be in keeping with a Pennsylvania locale.
  

So again, Edie gets points for scary situations, and I like Jane's character a bit more after this book, even though she's still a little bland. I'm optimistic for the next (and final) book, The Mystery of the Secret Band, which seems like it will actually involved her father and yet another setting (urban).