Got through a few...

Managed to read The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, and The Grim Grotto. I find that I get very distracted by them now, since I am trying to figure out why they annoy me so much (aside from the villians picking up the new annoying habit of laughing "ha ha hair trigger"-- what?) and why the children like them. Maybe it is as simple as the children liking them because adults don't?

Also looked at Judith Casely's The Kissing Diary, which was okay if I had needed a book about a girl struggling through her parents' divorce, combined with the general trauma of being 13, but I think the title will confuse girls and make them think it is pink and fluffy instead of depressing. Will hold off on purchase.