Really Puzzled

The Puzzled Mystery Adventure #2

by P.J. Nichols

Two years have passed since Peter and his friends went up against Zoltan—a supernatural being—in a battle of minds and wits, with the fate of the Earth on the line.

Life is great for Peter now: He and Nicola are still dating. He’s about to start high school, where he will be taking advanced science and math classes.

But then, out of nowhere, something happens… Something confusing and terrifying, which has the potential to cause immeasurable destruction. Is Zoltan angry again? Is Peter not living up to his promise? Or… is something else going on?

So once again, Peter and his friends’ problem-solving skills are needed. But this time, what they are faced with is way more puzzling, and the stakes are much, much higher.

Genres: Mystery, Ebooks, Childrens

169 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2019

About the author

P.J. Nichols is an author who really, really loves games. But not the kind you buy at stores. And not the kind you practice and practice and practice to get good at. He likes the games you think up and make by yourself.

No matter where he is, or what things are around him, P.J. will find a way to create a game. One where you race. Or one where you build. Or one where you think. Or maybe even one where you do all three.

Back when he was growing up with his three brothers in Canada, he was constantly making games. Neighborhood kids (and even some of their parents) would run over to join in. There was never a boring moment in or around the Nichols’ house.

P.J. is sure that his debut novel, Puzzled, will have you rushing to think up games for your friends, brothers, sisters, or parents to try!

Reviews

[Leia Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

The NEILSTER RETURNS

[Iseult Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice idea

I didn’t read book one, so I think I missed a lot with the background and characters. What I gathered was that a weather god held earth captive by making two young teens give him puzzles once a week in order to stop him from unleashing bad weather on the world.

I like the idea of the puzzles, but they don’t turn up until the end of the book. The whole weather god situation confused me. I guess they were aliens? Why did the teens suddenly consider Zoltan their friend? There was too much about the romantic relationships of the teens. The writing could use a polish as well. There was a lot of telling the story of things that had happened and I would have rather seen them as they unfolded.

[Natalie Haddad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing, and as requested by 🥁 (drumroll) P.J. Nicholas, I will be writing a review about this book. This book is just as good as the last one, except another problem emerges, Zoltan’s powerful and older evil brother has come to earth for revenge (because Zoltan stole a fraction of the attention intended for him as a baby) and is set to make him suffer. Here we see the master minds of Peter, Nicola, Bradley, Neal, and a little bit of Claire’s (who is Neal’s girlfriends). They solve puzzles, make plans, and even hold fake auditions. Last of all, we can’t forget that Peter and Nicola have been dating for two years since last time! What surprises me about this book is that the characters are so old, I usually imagine characters as my age, but the little sister in this book has the same age!

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second book syndrome. The plot felt farfetched and so much was happening "off screen" or "in secret," and really, what's the point then?

Also the puzzles, it took so long to even get to them, that I felt exhausted (reading) by the time the group finally got to solving them. And I felt kind of let down by some of them, too.

Lastly, flashbacks and page breaks galore. They threw everything out of whack. One happened in the middle of the action with a puzzle and completely disrupted the flow.

I wanted to read and finish this series, but I'm already questioning whether it's worth it (to me).

[Carol L. Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Comradery

I liked the comradery between the friends and how Zoltan fit into that. The tension was higher in the first story.

[Alexia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storyline was slow 🦥 but overall, it was a good 😊 book 📖😁

[sarah williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, Puzzles that make you think

The story makes me wish I was there, working out or solving puzzles too. Good friends and smart storyline makes this fun. Read and enjoy!

[Elliott Trickey · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I started reading it, I had high hopes for the book, and those hopes were surpassed. After their last puzzle-filled adventure, they have had a break. Until earthquakes and other huge natural disasters start to happen again. It turns out that it is another weather god, Xavier, and Peter (along with the rest of the crew) give him the choice to create puzzles for them: if they fail he is the Earth's weather god; if he loses, he doesn't replace the current god Zoltan. So, they embark on another puzzle adventure - this time harder than the last. But will they succeed, or not? I think that this book is better than its predecessor and has a lot more action and adventure inside. The description was simple, making it accessible for all reading types; and the plot was fun as well. This time, the characters were more developed than before and you got to learn more about them, which I enjoyed. I liked how I could finish it quickly and the action was more-or-less present from the start. All in all, I really enjoyed reading it.

[Mew Shin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one but good anyway

While the first gave enough clues in the description of each puzzle that the reader could think along to it, the puzzles in this book felt more like space fillers for the cheesy high school drama and overly simplistic fantasy plot. In fact, only 5 out of the 30 something chapters were related to puzzles at all. If viewed as a comedy instead of the puzzle mystery for pre teens that this was intended to be, it is entertaining in a sense in that scope. I do really hope the next book in the series comes out soon though!