Winterhouse #1- Ben Guterson

 

A lavish hotel with chandeliers, a lake for ice-skating, snow-covered hills for skiing, a candy kitchen, and a library complete with a librarian—who wouldn’t want to stay at Winterhouse for the Christmas season? Orphan Elizabeth Somers has no choice when her stingy aunt and uncle disappear, leaving her only a train ticket and reservations at the grand hotel. But in this charming, detailed debut novel by Ben Guterson, the 11-year-old bibliophile immediately finds Winterhouse to be magical—perhaps too magical.

Winterhouse #1- Ben Guterson

What I thought of it:

I liked this book. It wasn't my favorite book of all time, but it was nice. Of course, just like all books, the characters make really stupid decisions, which end up destroying the world (or in this case, a very old hotel. Almost.) or killing one of their friends, stuff like that. Another thing I like about it is the word games! There are lots of fun word games in the book. There are word ladders, palindromes, and more. There is one at the beginning of each chapter!

How I Found Out About it:

I don't really know how I found out about it! I think my mom got it for me, and I took one look at the cover and said, OK. You asked for it. I'm going to stay in my bed and read this for the rest of the day. The first chapter was really captivating. I loved how Elizabeth got home for Chrismas break and her uncle and aunt are already on a vacation (owo I was about to type volcano. My fingers are very cold and possibly not working) and they send Elizabeth off to an old hotel. Which is... WINTERHOUSE!

What You Should Know:

The only thing that sort of nagged at me was that the author did something like this a lot:
    "Hey, Elizabeth," Freddy said. Elizabeth turned to look at him. "Do you wanna go swimming?" 
    "Sure," Elizabeth said. She rushed up to her room... (blah blah blah something paranormal happens and then...) She had a fun time at the pool with Freddy, but she couldn't take her mind off the creepy picture she saw. *or...*
    Lunch with Norbridge was fun. *Hi! This is me popping in again. The author would kinda skip through Elizabeth's day. I understand this, being a writer myself, but it's not very interesting for the reader to read.*

How Many Stars:

3.5 out of 5

⭐⭐⭐💫*

*💫 = half a star

DISCLAIMER: The synopsis is not my own. Please note this, and don't think that I came up with that myself!! Let's give a moment to congratulate the amazing people who wrote that synopsis.