I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Grimm House by Karen McQuestion
Genres: Middle Grade
Pages: 202
Goodreads
When Hadley's parents leave on a cruise and then are reported lost at sea, her perfect world is turned upside down. In a flash, she is whisked away to a new life of drudgery at Grimm House where she waits on not one but two persnickety old aunts. As she grudgingly fulfills their commands of cooking, cleaning, and even after-dinner-dancing, she comes to suspect the aunts are really witches who are scheming to take the thing she loves best. With only her wits and the help of some unlikely new friends, Hadley makes a plan to escape Grimm House and find her way home before it's too late.
If you missed any earlier October Authorly Love posts in which I feature Karen McQuestion, visit them here!
Disclaimer: Grimm House is a middle-grade novel recommended for children age 7-11. It is also the first middle-grade novel I have read and reviewed.
“Without passion, life has no meaning.”
This is a very gripping and haunting tale of one little girl determined to escape captivity from two mysterious “aunts”. I was actually quite pleased with how much this book captured me into the story. While I thought it was a completely predictable storyline, it surprised me in so many ways and took a turn I definitely wasn’t expecting. It has a very Twilight Zone feel to it, especially the ending.
Hadley is a young girl who has a passion for dancing. There is never an age given for her, but she is written with a distinct level of maturity. From the very beginning, she knows that there is something odd about her situation and begins searching for a way out – that says something about her intelligence. She’s a very independent and determined young girl.
The two “aunts” are very over-the-top characters. The personalities McQuestion created for them is good-cop-bad-cop which creates a bit of tension when Hadley does something wrong and needs to be punished for it.
Heck, I liked this so much even GiGi is a great character and View Spoiler »
Because this is a novella length, it moves at a very fast pace. However, it contains enough detail to understand the story and to get hooked on it. It was also very well written, with touches of humor, emotion and tension. It kept my attention from page 1. This isn’t a wacky-funny tale, though. It is quite dark and mysterious for a middle-grade story.
This haunting tale is a Coraline-Series of Unfortunate Events-Twilight Zone mixture – and it works. It’s incredibly fast paced and keeps your attention. For moms: there are hints of abuse in this story (Hadley gets slapped, they call her -very mild- names, and withhold food from her until she does what they want). However, this story has a fantastic moral lesson on passion and dreams – their importance in life and how you should always fight for your passion. This is a story worth your time whether you’re 10 or 35.
“No one expects you to be perfect. Just do your best and make it matter.”
| Rating Report | |
|---|---|
| Plot | |
| Characters | |
| Writing | |
| World Building | |
| Overall: | 5 / 5 |
2 Comments
I’ve seen this one a few times and I’ve been really curious about it! Middle grade reads can be super hit or miss, so it’s great to know that this one seemed to really work. I LOVE the Twilight Zone, so the fact that you made that comparison makes me want to read this ASAP! Great review 😀
Tracy @ Cornerfolds
I enjoyed it! It was such a quick and easy read, so I would say just give it a try! 🙂