The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox

Title: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle

Author: Janet Fox

Pages: 388

Finished: November 13, 2018

First Sentence: It is 1863

Summary: Kat and her siblings evacuate London during World War II. They end up at Rookskill Castle in Scotland, a castle of a family member and currently a school. Kat herself is very sensible. Everything has a logical explanation. So when they hear weird sounds and see weird things, the most she can come up with is that there's a Nazi spy. But as the days continue, things get weirder and weirder, and even Kat can't come up with an explanation.

Thoughts: I liked it. I feel I have to say this right out because after I read it, I found a ton of reviews about how awful it was. Whether or not it was good or bad, it was fun. To me. The book is part historical novel, part horror story, part mystery. Historical fiction isn't my favorite genre, but WWII evacuation type stories generally make their way past my wall.

The horror was... not all that scary, but I was okay with that. It was more of a mystery along with callbacks to an even earlier history. I thought the villain was decently creepy. The protagonist was annoying, but that was what she was supposed to be. I thought the hint at romance was subtle enough to keep this firmly middle grade rather than YA. I could definitely write fanfic off of it if I desired, but one could easily miss it entirely.

The book was compelling enough for me to continue reading it. I ended up reading 90% of it in one day thanks to the fact that my kid was sick and wanted to sleep on me.