Winterhouse

Really lovely middle grade fiction. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

There are some very typical tropes of the genre, an orphan who is extra special, relatives she lives with are awful, some magic, etc. I don't think I will ever get tired of those! There were some new ideas as well. The Book, the family tree, and the inventor were fun new additions. It was a little darker than I expected, but it is still very much in the juvenile group. And it has left some interesting options for the next book, which I will be picking up!

Very predictable. Decent characters, but little plot or growth in any of the characters throughout.

A sweet middle-grade read that almost transcends the genre. It could almost be so much more, with slightly more sophisticated descriptions and a hint of complexity to the “bad” characters, but it will be appreciated by young bookworms.