“There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad,
She was horrid” – 3.75/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: murder mystery books, roses, board games, ripped pages, cappuccinos, purple marbles, grief, dust, text messages, takeout food, diaries, rumours and rage.

Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented.

As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane’s mom also seems to be spiraling with the return of her childhood home, but she won’t reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the “storage room” her mom has kept locked isn’t for storage at all–it’s a little girl’s bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears….

Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more…horrid?

The cover is so stunning, and I admit I bought this book mainly for it, but now after reading it, I have some mixed feelings – not only for the story but for the characters as well.

For starters, I have some mixed feelings about Jane as a main character. Part of me feels sorry for her because she had so much going on in her life, but I still missed some development from her side. And this does not apply just to her, but to the other characters like her mom and her friends. There was very little character development in general, and it was evident.

There’s also something very curious about this book. Here’s the thing: the book is fast paced, but it still feels like nothing is happening. I kept thinking about this while reading because I was confused, but I think I finally understood what was going on. I think the main cause for this is a mixture of the writing style, the characters and the scenery. The scenes feel so long because the characters don’t develop, the story progresses always in the same spot (the house), and to contribute to this, there are no chapters. I personally like having specific places to stop/continuing reading, but even though the book is divided into parts, it still wasn’t enough for me.

Other than that, I still think the story was entertaining. I wouldn’t consider this too heavy on the horror side, but there are some creepy scenes here and there. The ending gave me chills though, not gonna lie!

I’m also glad the author made the decision not to add romance to this book. There was some potential with the guy from Jane’s work, but I’m glad it didn’t develop because it wouldn’t make sense to add an extra romance to this story. Good choice!

Like I said, I still think it was entertaining and I don’t regret reading it, but frankly there’s nothing too special about this one.

xoxo,

“Remember to look from all angles, see with your heart and believe in yourself.” – 4.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: keys, patches, apples, domes, velvet hats, rivers, swords, winds, beards, seagulls, portals, giants and a fox domovoi.

Olia lives with her parents in an old crumbling castle, filled with hidden turrets and secret doorways. When she follows a mysterious cat to one of the castle’s roof domes, she finds herself stepping through one such doorway into a magical land filled with wonders… But everything is not quite as it seems: the land is under threat from a scheming magician, Chernmor, and the magic is fading away.

With the help of an enchanted band of new friends, can Olia find a way to save both her own home, and the land of forbidden magic?

This was such a cute book! I don’t know why I usually have such a hard time getting into middle grade books, but this one grabbed my attention and it became the best I have ever read.

It’s such a creative story that you’ll keep reading until you’re finished with the book. One cool thing about it is that it is themed after slavic folklore – this was my first time reading about it, and it was really interesting! The characters were amazing and I loved that even though they were all so different, they worked together to help Olia. Olia was an amazing, strong main character! She was a very brave little girl who was always ready to help the others. 

And the illustrations… my God, the illustrations were beautiful! Saara Soderlund is the illustrator and she did an amazing job with this book. It really brought the story to life!

What I liked the most from this book was definitely the lessons behind the story. Lessons such as “belief is a very powerful thing” and “magic is everywhere” are only a few of the lessons this book teaches.

It’s beautifully written, full of details and magical touches! You can tell the author really took her time with this book, because you can feel the love through the pages. I would recommend this for the entire family.

xoxo,