Review: "Kristy's Mystery Admirer: The Baby-Sitters Club #38"

Kristy's Mystery Admirer: The Baby-Sitters Club #38 by Ann M Martin
3 out of 5 stars

"Who is sending Kristy love letters?" I'll give you a hint...it's not Shannon Kilbourne. And it rhymes with "Cokie Mason"...oops, did I give it away? ;) This book was basically a repeat of Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery, just with Kristy this time. Kristy starts getting love notes from a secret admirer with sickening sweet poems and heart stickers (which she kind of likes) and she thinks they are from Bart, so she asks him to the Halloween Hop. Very forward of her. He says yes, they start hanging out and talking on the phone more, he walks her home from several of the Krushers/Bashers games, it's all good. (Except, you know, her liking girls and all.)

Then the notes turn sinister: "violets are blue, blood is red, I'll remember you when you are dead." And one has fingernail clippings in it, g-ross. Kristy freaks out and goes thru all sorts of scenarios: Bart's a psychopath (so she and Shannon both start ignoring him completely), someone is trying to kidnap her because her stepdad is a millionaire (even though it would be easier to steal Andrew, Karen or Emily), etc...all but the obvious: that cow Cokie Mason wanting revenge for last Halloween. Seriously, they even talk about it at lunch and a meeting one day, but don't even connect the dots!? "Remember last Halloween when this exact same thing happened? Gee, I wonder what this new thing is?" D-U-M. 

Okay, let's pause the sarcasm for a moment for What Claudia is Wearing: [Claudia is] a real fashion plate. Talk about distant. Her clothes are so distant. (That's a word my friends and I made up to mean supercool. [And to use approximately 60 times in this book.]) Claudia is the most interesting dresser I know. She is always wearing things like Day-Glo high-top sneakers, cut-up jeans, off-the-shoulder sweat shirts (sometimes torn), and friendship bracelets.

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Okay, so Kristy goes on ignoring Bart, coaching the Krushers, and freaking about the notes. Bart finally corners Kristy at home and demands to know what's going on. Kristy comes clean and shows him the notes, which he blushes and admits to...but only the nice ones. He has no idea where the other ones came from. Then, at the Krushers vs Bashers World Series (which is only one game btw and not technically a "series"), Cokie Mason and her skank BFFs show up, which is highly suspicious to Kristy. Duh, you think? Cokie says she is there to cheer Kristy on, because she's (Kristy) looked kind of down all week. Kristy says she's not down, she has a boyfriend and Cokie is like, "Uh yeah right?" Kristy's reply: "We plan to spend our lives together." What??? Lol...Cokie says some smart aleck remark about "eternal togetherness" which finally clues Kristy in that Cokie wrote the notes and she smacks her around...okay not really, she just says that she's going to tell the whole school it was Cokie. But, wouldn't that embarrass Kristy too? Anyway, Cokie slinks off, Kristy tells everyone she's not in danger of being kidnapped, a few people cheer, the Krushers actually beat the pants off the Bashers, Bart & Kristy go to the Halloween Hop as lobsters & Bart kisses Kristy in the middle of the dance floor. ZOMG!! And the BSCers + Shannon the human have another sleepover at Kristy's McMansion. The End.