Age Group
9+ The book is not scary and has no real horror to it.
Genre
Mystery/Paranormal
Summary
Ginny Anderson is devastated when her parents move her and her brother into an old mansion for the summer. As the story progresses, Ginny finds out more about the locals and the stories that surround the mansion. When haunting music begins to lead her up to the ballroom, Ginny knows that she has to investigate just like her favorite author, Agatha Christie would.
Things I did not like
I have to be honest, I didn’t like this book. The characters were a bit bland and stereotypical. Ginny herself comes off as pretty ungrateful when her parents tell her she can’t go to a writing workshop. Ginny idolizes Agatha Christie and asks herself how she can be like her which comes across as kind of cringe-y. Naturally her whole character arc is realizing she can be her own person and not look to a singular author to base decisions off of.
The book also doesn’t actually have much to do with things living in the woods and Ginny doesn’t explore them during the book. While I liked the idea of a spooky haunted mansion, the author changes the narrative a bit and it ends up being more sad than spooky. I know that I’m definitely not the target audience for this book, but even though I love the author’s other book, Scritch Scratch, I just wasn’t a fan of this one.
Things I did like
I liked the setting as the haunted mansion and spooky woods are a great setup for a middle grade paranormal story. The town and its inhabitants are interesting and like-able and there are certain parts of the story I like. For example, the haunted type writer is really well written and I wish it was expanded upon more. To give credit where credit is due, this book does have a nice wholesome ending but it just doesn’t fit with the suspense built up in the first chapters.
Overall Rating
5/10