I've read two books by Brent Hartinger before; The Otto Digmore Difference & The Otto Digmore Deciscion and I LOVED those books. When I saw this one on Netgalley I was excited to start reading it. Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations. It was a fairly enjoyable book, but nothing amazing, in my opinion.

Pros
Information: The information and history about Tacoma were a lot of fun to read! It made the book much more real. I'm interested in anything history anyways, so the parts about the history of Tacoma were fun to read!
Creative: This book contains a lot of creative ways to make money. I was very curious what the main characters would come up with next to make some money.
Coming of age: This book feels very much like a coming of age story and I always love a good one. I do feel that Brent Hartinger writes good LGBTQIA+ books, and I would have loved for that to play a bigger part in this book. Next to it being a coming of age book, it could also have been a great coming out book.

Cons
Believable: This story was a lot of fun, but not at all that believable. For example: The money they make on a garage sale? I never got over 300 euros so it's pretty far fetched in my opinion. The book was adventurous, but it just didn't feel very real to me and that took away some of the fun for me. I was like: "Yeah, right..." Several times.

Overall
I would definitely recommend the Otto Digmore books by Brent Hartinger way more than this book. It just wasn't for me. "Maybe I'm too old", is what I ask myself when I don't like Middle Grade books, but I do feel like a bit of realism is definitely wanted in Middle Grade books and this one had some very far fetched parts. I did love the history aspect, the coming of age and the creative ways of making money.

I think this book works more like a movie than a book. It’s funny and a light story. I enjoy some parts but there still some moments that feels so unreal. Everything in this book could be solved really quick, i think this kids really learn their leason.

Ps: now i can’t trust in old ladies

From the beginning, I had trouble with the details of this book. One or two details that defy logic or don't match how things work in the real world are annoying but workable. But this book is littered with them in every chapter. Like the fact that Dave and his friends calculate the total they will need based on a 40 hour work week. It's a little detail, but what teen works a 40 hour week, especially for a first job? Or the sheer number of opportunities they have to make thousands of dollars in a single scheme in a small town Contests, solving crimes, treasure hunts - they have both fantastic and terrible luck. If the characters were more complex, it could be more forgiving of such a nonsense plot but that simply isn't the case. Dave, Curtis, and Hannah have no real depth and the parents are even more one dimensional. Hard pass.

I'm a huge fan of Brent's books. I've read the the entire Russell Middlebrook series and loved it. When I saw this title I jumped for it. It had a lot more character development than the original and I loved the mystery solving. It was a fun read that I'd definitely give to a young reader looking for a good story

I am a fan of Brent Hartinger and was curious when he had rewritten project pay day. I enjoyed the narrative, although slightly predictable in part. Overall a nice heartwarming book. My only criticism I would have like a bit more character development.

The concept of the story is quite fanciful and sounds like a solid story in theory. I wish that there was a bit more development in the plot and characters.. I've read every one of Hartinger's novels over the last nearly twenty years, and this was the first one that felt forced. It was a quick read that told more than showed us why we should care for this little troika of friends.

Project Pay Day is a cute teen adventure tale by Brent Hartinger.
I would definitely recommend this to preteens and teens looking for a fun read.
And best of all, there are some LGBTQ characters who are just there as part of the fun, rather than anyone making a big deal out of their sexuality.

I got an arc of this book.

I am a huge fan of Hartinger. I have read almost everything he has written, I still squeak and run around when he emails me to let me know a new book is coming out. This is a rewrite of a book I have read in the last few years. This is the first time I have ever knowingly read both the original and the rewrite of a book.

This one didn't hold up as well as the first one did when it came to the overall plot. I think this is partially because I have had to deal with the plot twice now. It is really hard to believe a 14 year old and two 15 year olds can get full time work in a few days or at all. It is hard enough for me, an adult with multiple degrees, to get a full time job. So that was the biggest issue. If this had been a part time job situation, then I would have been more into the idea and felt more like it was realistic. While this aligns with Washington labor laws, it just doesn't feel realistic that it would be that quick or easy. The original read as a 90's, early 2000's book, but it was updated to be more modern which made this even more unbelievable.

Another issue was the sheer amount of money the kids needed to raise. The math was not checked, but I believe that Hartinger can use a calculator better than I can. The biggest issue for me is the idea that the kids could have raised almost enough money by selling things in their three bedrooms and from their club house. I feel like I would have issues raising that much money with just my hobby supplies (video games, crafting, reading) and extra clothes. What did the kids have that was worth so much? I don't get it. It felt like a glaring plot hole that the kids made so much money from a yard sale. Of all of the plots, this was the least believable.

What this new version there was a bit more character development. There was more emotion. I loved that the MC read as more queer. He even had his very first coming out talk on page. It was heartwarming. There was a weird romance that was never full explored between two other characters. I think it needed a bit more fleshing out before it just felt thrown on.

I was hoping that the rewrite would make this book a five star book, but it isn't a book that stands up well to me re-reading it. I couldn't suspend my disbelief at some of the basic ideas of the major plot. I was able to the first time, but the second time just had me questioning things more. This is a great book, but it is not one I would read over and over again like I have with Hartinger's other books.

If you want to read a fun, fast-paced book about a group of friends attempting to accomplish a plan, this is the book for you! The first thing that grabbed my attention was the book’s cover, and the book ended up going way above my initial expectations. This story felt fresh and every time I picked it up, I felt excited to continue reading it. I liked all three characters in the friend group and I think their personalities were well written for the target audience. I really liked this book, and the ending was satisfying. The reason I gave this book five stars is because it lives up to what it was advertised as, and is really enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a quick and easy read for me.

I think as a YA fiction it works really well, there is plenty of 'adventures' that the likeable characters have and the plot moves on quickly throughout. I really felt for the gang as they faced the different problems along the way.

The recognition of LGBTQ characters was great, it wasn't a focus point it was just a matter of fact feature of the characters that wasn't used to define who they were (if that makes sense).

I only had one bug-bare with this that made me drop a star, which was the total amount of money that the kids had to try and earn in a matter of weeks. A grown adult would struggle to make that much! (This may however be due to the fact that I am reading this as an English reader and $10 an hour sounds like an awful lot!)

I also am not a massive fan of the front cover, but that is just a personal preference for me as I am not particularly a fan of front covers with characters on.

Overall, a great read, and I can see many teens enjoying this!