Cathy's Key: If Found 650-266-8202

Cathy only recently discovered that her boyfriend (and a number of others) is immortal - now she's attempting to fend off Victor's immortal father who also has his sights set on her romantically (talk about creepy). When a stint on a Greyhound leads to her diary (Cathy's Book) and her identity being stolen, Cathy has even more problems than before.

Victor is absent for most of the book because he's being held hostage to work on a formula to make everyone immortal. And since he's not around, his and Cathy's relationship doesn't get much of a chance to grow, which is a bit disappointing.

The drawings are still lovely in this volume, especially the ones on 'parchment' from the Ponce de Leon letter. And there are some really funny scenes show more here - I loved Cathy's work at the fondue restaurant. There is just so much that can go hilariously wrong when you combine Cathy's klutziness with boiling cheese and all the craziness of food service jobs.

The mystery here seemed less put together. I had no trouble figuring out one of the bigger mysteries, and the others were also fairly well telegraphed. Also, I wasn't sure how well the 'extras' and interactive elements fit in this case. This was still a fun read, and I'm definitely interested in seeing how it all wraps up.

More posted at my blog.

FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy from the publisher. show less

Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com

I really liked CATHY'S KEY, much more so than CATHY'S BOOK. It takes place six months after Cathy found out that her boyfriend is immortal.

He is gone from her life, she has graduated from high school, and she is trying to find a job. She keeps being fired from her places of employment, which is a running gag in the story. She is now on a bus heading home from St. Louis. She has just seen a psychic immortal who told her to be wary of Tsao and a bombshell about her dead father. She told her that her father had probably been murdered.

On the bus, Cathy meets a girl named Jewel. Jewel, through a series of adventures, manages to steal Cathy's identity. When Cathy gets home, she spends the rest of show more the story discovering facts about her father and her boyfriend, Victor. She actually grows up and learns that what is on the surface is probably not all that is happening, and you need to dig deep down to discover what is true.

I enjoyed this book and love to read a journal where the author is an artist. It helps clarify the story and is fun to read. But I didn't need the "extras" that CATHY'S KEY contains. I looked at them but really didn't need them. I do recommend the reading of this book, though! It is a fun summer story. show less

This is the first book I was able to read in one sitting. I stayed up all night reading this. I didn't stop. I just read and read, didn't stop. It never once got boring, it was fast pace, and it felt like I was watching a movie. I'm not doing a review on the first book in the series, Cathy's Book, because I don't have it anymore and I don't remember much. At first, before reading this, I was worried that I wouldn't remember the storyline or wouldn't be able to follow along but the authors did a wonderful job of recapping and the whole story was easy to follow along. The ending will make you want to read the next one ASAP. The book also is very unique because they give you items inside the book which are evidence and your able to phone show more the characters, check their voice mail, e-mail them, go to websites the characters visit, see pictures, birth certificates, Chinese coins, ect; It's just wonderful book that will have you on feet the whole time. The characters are lovable. My favorites are Cathy, Emma, and Jewel. I can definitely see anyone making this into a movie. Also every page has doodles in it which makes it more fun and unique to read. It is written in a story/diary like way and I know the readers will enjoy that. I don't really have any complaints about this book it was amazing and having items inside made it even more fun. All I can say if you haven't read this yet then go, go, go to the bookstore and buy it. Remember Cathy's Book is the first one, Cathy's Key is the sequel, and Cathy's Ring is the thrid and current book out right now. Anyways I love it XD. show less

Didn't like this one as much as the first. I guess the whole notion of an "evil twin" seemed just a bit too much. I think there was already enough other stuff going on in the story without throwing that in there. The characters from the first book were already interesting enough to make too many additional characters necessary. Also, ending of this one = very cheesy. Won't read any more of these.

Cathy finds out more about the immortals and about her boyfriend and also about her dad, while juggling trying to find a job and being impersonated by a girl she met on a bus.

It's not a bad sequel, the illustrations are a lot of fun as well.

The war of the immortals has just begun, all in order to stop death and time.

The war of the immortals has just begun, all in order to stop death and time.