Winterhouse

This story is very well written. There are puzzles, riddles and more fun things to keep you interested in this store. The characters are fascinating. Especially Elizabeth with the difficult things she has had to deal with at such a young age. I am sure you will enjoy this book.

My daughter (age 10) and I both read this book. I found the book to be charming and sweet with a twist of mystery and mild suspense. The characters are well developed and interesting. I ordered the next book in the series and am looking forward to finding out what happens next. I give this book a 9/10, my daughter says its a 8/10. Worth the read!

This book is so adorable! The dust jacket has little cutouts, that let the people underneath show through. I love it. I read it aloud to my 8 and 9 year olds and it was perfect. There WERE a couple scary parts, and one illustration that scared my 8 year old, but she loved it. Some kids like to be frightened a tiny bit. If your child is especially sensitive, maybe wait until they are older. The story takes place in that big beautiful hotel on the cover, called Winterhouse. There is a girl, Elizabeth and a boy, Freddy, who have adventures and solve ghostly mysteries in the hotel. The book has a lot of fun with word ladders and codes. My girls totally loved it, and we’ve bought the entire series. There is nothing inappropriate in this book, no words I wouldn’t want my children saying, no bad behavior by the children, though Emily does tell a lie. She realizes her mistake and apologizes.

I so enjoyed winterhouse by Ben Guterson. I'm also glad I got the audible accompaniment to the ebook edition. I found the story to be very delightful and I look forward to the next book.

As a retired junior high English teacher, I still love to read books for young people. I have just started reading the 3 books in this series and would certainly recommend them. The setting of the Winterhouse Hotel is truly magical. The young heroine, sympahtetic as well as intelligent, is adapt at solving all kinds of puzzles, including those involving her own family background. The characters are well-developed, and both the plots and the word puzzles (anagrams, word ladders, scavenger hunt clues) keep the reader interested but not overwhelmed. Hopefully, my colleagues have already included this series in the students' reading lists.

Bought this for a 10-year-old.But after reading/perusing the entire book, (spoiler alert) it turns out that the protagonist has special "powers" from which the story is not quite clear about; but the fact that the other "power holders" in the story are evil, and that there are paranormal types of things that happen --- it's just too heavy for a child.I actually wish that even teenagers would not romanticize this type of story, but of course they would.Bottom line: it is very well written, interesting plot, good characters. However (a BIG however) the story could be very disturbing for a young reader, I believe. Or more to the point, it might influence a belief - however distant - that can shape a young blank slate in their view of our world, the universe, spirituality, etc.recommended for young adults who like escapist literature

A great read, well paced with both likable and despicable characters. Can’t wait to read the next installments of this fantastic adventure!

I went into this with high expectations and honestly, I feel a little let down.First, the cover is beautiful. Let me just get that out of the way. Yes, this was a TOTAL cover buy. I knew I wanted it before I even read the synopsis. But then I read the synopsis and I thought... yeah, this is going to be excellent.And it was.Almost.I loved the characters. Elizabeth is a relatable heroine to any book nerd who has felt like they don't belong. She's also a sad figure, almost cut from the same cloth as my beloved Anne Shirley, as an orphan who has faced uncertain living conditions with her aunt and uncle who seem to think she's more of a stray animal that hangs around that a niece who deserves to be taken care of. While the story certainly does hint that there is a reason why Elizabeth's aunt is so cold towards her, we don't get that story in this one (this is to be a trilogy, if I've understood right). As the story progresses, we meet more characters, all of them living or staying at Winterhouse which is where the bulk of our story takes place. Guterson has a way with characters and even the ones we're supposed to hate have a sort of charm about them that made me care for their plotlines as well.It was the pacing that lost me. I felt like there were huge chunks where nothing at all happened except average every day stuff that didn't progress the story as much as it just made the book thicker. I read this one with my 10 year old goddaughter and a hundred pages in, she was ready to call it quits because nothing had happened. Sadly, nothing really does happen until the end of the book.The book would have benefitted in having a subplot, honestly. I will be reading the second book, though, to see how the story progresses and how Guterson grows as an author... there's so much potential there!If a slower pacing doesn't bother you, then this is probably the perfect winter mystery for your collection!