Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter

Summary from Goodreads:

April didn’t mean to start the fire. She wasn’t even the one who broke the vase. 

She had absolutely no intention of becoming the only person who knows that Gabriel Winterborne, the missing-and-presumed-dead billionaire, is neither missing nor dead and is actually living in the basement of Winterborne House, sharpening his swords and looking for vengeance. 

 

Now that April knows Gabriel Winterborne is alive, it’s up to her to keep him that way. But there’s only so much a twelve-year-old girl can do, so April must turn to the other orphans for help. Together, they’ll have to unravel the riddle of a missing heir and a creepy legend, and find a secret key, before the only home they’ve ever known is lost to them forever. 

Review:

I love this author. I loved her first two YA series, not so much her latest one. But, when I saw that she did a middle grade book, I thought “why not?” Sadly, there are a lot of new-ish books that have not being going out of my library because we still aren’t letting the public inside. Normally, they’d be on display and going out like hotcakes. But, our new books aren’t going out like they used to, so I’ve had more time to check out the new middle grade titles. So, I guess that’s a silver lining…

I’m so glad I decided to read this. I loved it so much that I now have my husband reading it. We can both be suckers for a good mystery. I told him it’s kind of the kid version of Truly Devious, and that’s all it took. He’s already halfway through it. Think: creepy old mansions by the sea, secret passages, genius orphans, giant fires, millions of dollars in reward money for finding a missing person, and well you get the bare basics of this book.

To say I ate this book up is an understatement. I spent a rainy Saturday reading this book and it was just the best day. I had to know what was going to happen next. There was just one suspenseful scene after another. Literally, you’re hopping from museum fires, to long lost millionaires, to swordfights, to well…I don’t want to spoil anything else.

This book does not have the most character development. That’s in fact the one thing it’s kind of lacking. And in a way, it feels intentional. Like, this adds to the mystery of everything. Almost, like the author plans to fill in certain holes later. But, in other ways, It’s super aggravating. I’m very disappointed in one character’s actions at the end. I just don’t understand them. But, I guess I also never really learned much about them. I just thought I did.

All in all though, I loved this. This book is great for suspenseful mystery fans. I think I read somewhere that there’s going to be at least one more…I hope so! Sometimes we all just need a good, rainy Saturday away from reality to read about orphans fighting bad guys and solving decades long mysteries. I give this one a 9/10.