ARC, 310 pagesRelease Date: September 4, 2018Published by: Scholastic
Read from: September 2- ,2018Source: TxLATW: N/A
For fans of: Paranormal, Middle Grade,
Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.
When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.
*MY THOUGHTS*
There's only SOME middle grade that I will read... Re-tellings, mythology, or by an author I love. And this one falls under one of my favorite authors. And for a middle grade novel, she did not disappoint.
"Ninth rule of friendship," he says, "ghost-watching is a two-person sport.'"pg. 8
Cassidy is surrounded by ghosts. Her family hunts them, she sees them, and her best friend is one. But then her parents get picked up for a tv show and they make their way to Scotland. Where she meets Lara, someone like her. With her help she finds so much more about her abilities than she knew she had.
"For most people, life and death are pretty black and white. But something happened that day when Jacob pulled me out of the water. [...] now I'm not all alive and he's not all dead."pg. 29
As I said, Schwab is one of my favorites, so it didn't matter that this was a middle grade book. It just mattered that she wrote it. And she did not disappoint. For the characters to be 12 (....and um an undead 12?) they were so smart and so independent. At some points I was even in awe of her because there was NO. WAY. I would so easily slip behind "the veil" and walk among the things she did. She was super brave, best friend or not.
"Oh don't mind that," says Mrs. Weathershire. "It's probably just my husband." "Will we be meeting him asks Dad. Our host gives a small laugh. "I shouldn't think so. Mr. Weatheershire been dead for nigh on eight years." Her smile never wavers."pg. 67
I also liked the "creep factor" of this book. It was a middle grade so it wasn't too creepy, but it was still good enough for me to not want to read it n the house alone. I haven't read a ghost book that made me feel like that in a long time. But let's be honest, The Red Raven and her myth is enough to creep anyone out. Pair that with what she was doing.... Yeah, it was pretty weird.
"She bounces off, with all the enthusiam of someone rushing toward cake, not corpses."pg. 81
But the best thing about this book had to be the ending. It was totally not what I was expecting and I was genuinely concerned about them and how it would end up. I really worried about them like they were people I really knew.
"Stories have power," she says. "So long as you believe them."pg. 95
The only thing that took away from this book was the background. I wish we had gotten some info on Jacob and what happened to him and why he decided to do what he did for Cassidy. I have a feeling these questions will be answered in the series later, but I would have liked it to be answered in this one, as I thought I had missed something.
This book was the perfect blend of creepy and funny and I can't wait to see where else Schwab takes these two. No matter what their destination, I hope it's just as good as the first."You don't think about how unnerving silence is until its everywhere."pg. 241
Overall, I give this
