If you're looking for a real scare then look somewhere else. This is more teen romance than horror. Pages and pages of descriptions about cleaning the dust from inside the manor. I couldn't finish this, got to about page 90. Repetitive and boring.

A mystery indeed.

The Haunting of Elmwood Manor is one book I could not put down until the very end. The characters were well-crafted and the storyline intriguing.

Anything with a ghost is something I quite enjoy. However, this book was by far one of my favorite so far as we meet Pekin Dewlap who has never seen a ghost. Come meet an angry ghost and find out what happened to Miranda all those years ago.

Creepy, creepy not a place I want to stay and time in the future. The more unsettling, I was the more I wanted to read it. The more it went this way and that, up and down, the more I needed to read it. To find out what happened you must make to the very end. A great read.

I love well written and easy to read books and this new author did not fail to provide that. This was a new author to me and I love reading books by new authors. This was a great written book and the characters were enchanting and easy to follow. Would love to read more by this author and highly recommend this book to everyone.

This book was pretty good. The storyline and premise were very good however the execution of the story was not done very well. I did enjoy the book but it was a push to finish the book and stay interested.

ekin Dewlap hasn’t seen a ghost since she was twelve. But she’d do anything to get them back. Starting a ghostbusting business with her two best friends, Amber and Scout, seems like the perfect way to accomplish her goal. Of course, playing with ghosts isn’t high on their wish list, so Pekin has to do some arm-twisting to get them on board.

Once committed, Pekin and her friends find themselves in deep, trying to solve the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Miranda Talbert. Miranda went missing in 1918, and her spirit has wandered the halls of Elmwood Manor for the last hundred years.

In the midst of finding Miranda, discovering her budding feelings for Scout, and consoling a terrified Amber, Pekin is met by an angry ghost set on thwarting her plans. Will the Ghosties be able to help Miranda, or will Pekin’s business die before she solves the mystery?The characters are easily relatible and the relationship between Pekin and Scout mirrors many friend-turned-into-more relationships that occur at this time of life. The author does a terrific job of detailing the misunderstandings that occur when one person is unsure of the feelings of the other.

This book had a very large scope of possibilities. The children, (although they are teens and one of them drives, their conversations made me feel like they existed in a separate younger world) have been friends since as far as they can remember. The story jumps right into the premise, providing us with information about the strange new job that Pekin has planned and is automatically assuming her friends will be a part of . Although aiming at a younger audience than me, I felt the interpersonal relationship swung between believable and not entirely probable. This was also the case with the public reaction to the new 'Ghost hunting' job. Some people took in too well into their stride but the others treated it with such disbelief that it was hard to imagine that all existed simultaneously within the same story. If these descriptions seem a little erratic, it will be accurately telling you of my reading experience.

Pekin wants to run an agency which helps ghosts 'move on' solely because she misses the ability to see them in daily life ( that is explained in more detail in the book). They find one job and as they embark on solving the mystery within the Elmwood house, they uncover more than they thought possible. As mentioned earlier, the base was interesting but it did not sustain my interest for too long. The people are the highlight of the narrative however, since they are all very vivid and each play important roles in the their own way. 

Overall, a decent start to a series. I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is completely based on my own reading experience.

Pekin Dewlap could see ghosts as a child, but that talent disappeared as she grew and know she misses it. So, she bullies her friends Amber and Scout into joining the new ghost hunting business she's starting. Although they've been friends since they were little, Pekin never told them about the ghosts. Despite the fact that Amber is scared out of her mind, Pekin repeatedly guilts her into helping. When a ghost finally does appear to them, will they be able to figure out how to help?

The premise of this book was intriguing, the execution was only so-so. The plot was uneven, I felt like some parts flew and some lagged. I was surprised at the age of the characters (most middle grade novels don't revolve around 15 & 16 year olds). However, the characters often acted like they were only 12 or 13 so maybe that's supposed to work? The teenage angst was also annoying in a middle grade novel, despite the fact that it was portrayed realistically. They mystery was interesting and the way Pekin got Miranda to appear to her was fun. I also enjoyed the twist about the actual haunting of the house.

However, the parts with the medium were just weird and came out of the blue. Especially in the set up for the sequel where she told them they needed to pray. To whom? For what? Why? None of that was ever really made clear. Nor do we really get why the medium is helping pro bono in the first place. It's like the author wasn't sure how to resolve the story and threw the medium in there for convenience sake. The interplay between the medium and the cops was laughable. I also didn't buy the reactions of Pekin's parents. First, who lets their 15 year old daughter start a ghost hunting business unsupervised? Then, the dad's reactions to Scout, whom we have to assume he's known for years since Scout, during the climax of the book are just crazy.

This was a quick enough read that I didn't really get bored, but I didn't get that "I've got to know what happens" feeling from it either. I know it is intended to be a middle grade novel, but that just didn't work for me. The characters acted like middle grade kids, but were supposedly older and the situations they found themselves in were definitely those of older kids so I felt a constant disconnect.

Overall, a decent but not outstanding read. 2.5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this ebook from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Pekin Dewlap is a 15-year-old girl who starts her own ghost hunting business and gets a little more than she bargained for. She has the very reluctant help of her friends, Scout and Amber. This is a YA/middle grade novel, but I found it engaging and suspenseful. I also appreciate that the characters face some pretty intense challenges and learn how to navigate through them without being helpless. Pekin’s mom is very open-minded and supportive of Pekin, especially near the end of the book. I think it is a great start to a series and I will definitely recommend it to my daughter when she’s a little bit older.

"The Haunting of Elmwood Manor" will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow Pekin and her friends in their quest to rid the house of a ghost. When they finally make friends with the ghost of a 14 year old that was murdered you think you can relax but then it gets really scary as an evil voice yells, GET OUT! Are Pekin and the Ghosties in over their heads? If you aren't to scared enter into Elmwood Manor and find out the horror that awaits.

Good solid story with the trio of friends Pekin, Amber and Scout. Pekin used to see ghosts when she was younger and wants to see them again so she sets a business as a ghostie service. Pekin gets a job at 12 Elmwood which has been vacant for almost 50 years. This is an entertaining story with teenage angst and murder from years gone by. Great for teenagers and adults. Was definitely scary and creepy in parts.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC of this as I really wanted to get started on this ASAP! :)

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The characters were supposed to be 15/16 years old but the book and the characters read very much like a middle grade book. Had the characters been 11 years old, I may have rated it higher, but the way they acted and the level of "fright" in the book was much more on the middle grade than YA side.

Remember the movie Monster House? This book has an adjacent atmosphere to that animation. This was a lot of fun, and I'm really happy that out young blood is getting this type of quality entertainment that doesn't assume it needs to talk down to them for it to be understandable and enjoyable.

A great read for any person, both young and young at heart, who wants to break away from their everyday life and join in a spooky adventure. The curiosity and imagination of a group of friends led by a young girl, who at the age of 5 experienced her first contact with the hereafter when her grandmother passed away, sets the stage for the ensuing adventures. After the initial chapters building the background of the group, the story takes off and quickly reaches a point where you can't put it down. I read it from front to back in two days and now can't wait for the next ghostly adventure from the creative mind of this new author.

This book had a great concept that it couldn't quite live up to. Pekin as a character is both likeable and annoying. She can be very bossy and self-centered, but is able to admit it and apologize when she realizes she's pushing her friends around. I have to say, her friends were much more forgiving of her pushiness than I probably would have been at that age. I could have done with a little less teen angst between her and Scout, but the target audience of the book may not be as put off by that as an adult.

The plot moves smoothly in some parts, but drags or seems forced in other parts. The beginning moves along well and is interesting, then it takes a detour into dating and prom, then picks up again as a murder mystery, then drags again toward the end. I wish there had been more time spent on the murder and the killer's motivation - there was a little bit of a hole in that part of the plot. The parts with the medium and the police officers were a little cheesy and resulted in a lack of believability for large parts of the story. The line from the medium about preparing themselves next time by praying came out of nowhere and seemed to just be for the purpose of adding a religious angle to the book.

What I didn't understand was how in a book about someone who can see ghosts the show Ghost Whisperer is never mentioned once. Also, Pekin is a fan of X-Files but not Supernatural? Even with the return of X-Files a few years ago I still don't know if I completely bought that a 15 year old girl would have been enough of a fan to have posters in her room. Perhaps if they had been Supernatural fans they would have been better prepared for all they encountered.

This is not a terrible book, but I felt it could have been so much better. It had a good basic structure and characters, but had problems with the pacing and went off on unnecessary tangents. With that said, I would be open to reading the next book in the series to see if the weaknesses are worked out.

2.5 stars

While not intended as such, I believe McCord has created a series that would serve well in the category of High Interest/Low Vocabulary. These books offer highly engaging stories, that will bring a reader into the plot. The end result is a further development of reading skills such as fluency, increased vocabulary and, hopefully, an increased interest in reading.

This volume is intended as the first in a series featuring Pekin Dewlap, a budding entrepreneur and
ghost hunter. As a child, Pekin could see and communicate with ghosts. Her mother had the same ability. In both cases the talent faded as they aged. Pekin would like to be a ghost hunter. Her parents have supported this idea. The book opens with Pekin approaching her best friends, expecting them to go along wholeheartedly. This is one example of Pekin's impulsive nature, which adds credibility to her teen age character.

Teen romance plays a big part in the novel. What do you do when your best friend from childhood, Scout, starts to bring tingles to your heart when you see him? This is Pekin's problem. Amber's crush seems to be progressing nicely; compounding her problem.

On the other hand, the ghost hunting is a success. Miranda appears. She is a compelling teen age ghost, who was murdered. Will the ghost hunters be able to help without adult influence? Why is the house under observation? Is there more than one spirit involved?

The novel finishes on a high note, with a suggestion that volume 2 is on it's way.

Recommended for YA readers.

Full disclosure: I received this copy from netgalley.com and Acorn Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.


Reading Progress

THE HAUNTING OF ELMWOOD MANOR is a truly delightful YA paranormal with elements of horror and mystery. It's also a well-thought out coming-of-age drama, even though the characters are 15 and 16 (usually it seems coming-of-age stories have younger characters, but in this novel the theme works so well as the three best friends are maturing toward adulthood and viewing each other and their peers in a different light). There is a strong emphasis on "doing the right thing" and on solidifying one's place in the world as well. Although the events in the early 20th century that resulted in the hauntings were horrendous, the author doesn't detail these but skirts around them so that the tragic emotional impact is intuited but the details of the horrifying crimes are not revealed.

I was so absorbed in the story that it was a one-sitting reading for me and I hope to read more from this author.