Tag: ghost

What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie

- Stephanie Leave a comment

What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie may be a juvenile fiction book, but parts still left me scared, checking my back seat for ghosts, my basement for shadows, and jumping at noises. Did that stop me from reading? No way!

Ginny Anderson has her summer all figured out. She will be spending time with her best friend at a mystery writing workshop. The kink to her plan: her dad. He works as a restoration expert in Chicago, traveling and restoring old buildings. He has surprised the family with a month-long trip to Michigan where they will be staying at Woodmoor Manor, a twenty-six room mansion surrounded by a dense forest.

In case being separated from her best friend isn’t bad enough, the grounds and the mansion are supposedly haunted! It’s not just a falling apart mansion determined to ruin this vacation – it’s the rumors swirling around town. The locals are leery of Woodmoor Manor. They believe that the surrounding woods are home to mutated creatures with glowing eyes. Locals say that many campers set foot in the woods, disappearing, never to be seen again. Great place to vacation, right?

The forest around Woodmoor Manor can’t be the only reason that locals want to tear the mansion to the ground though. From the moment Ginny sets foot inside, weird things start happening. The mansion seems to have a life of its own. Creaky floors, unexplained shadows, ticking clocks, power surges, and much more increase in frequency the longer they stay. Wanting to head back to Chicago as quickly as possible, Ginny seeks to learn the history of Woodmoor Manor and the surrounding areas with the help of her brother and a new friend. What they discover is certainly not what they expected.

If you’re looking for a spooky mystery book with a strong female protagonist, this is for you. Currie has crafted a story that won’t leave readers scared, perfect for juvenile fiction! This book ends with all the creepy elements tied up neat and tidy. Readers will also explore strong themes of family, bravery, and friendship – essential topics for readers of all ages.

This title is also available as a CD audiobook.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Do you ever read the BookPage magazines that are available for free at all three Davenport Public Library locations? As a selector, I always do! Each month, BookPage puts out a magazine as a discovery tool for readers to find their next great book. My latest read was featured on the front cover of the November 2023 issue. The related article was fascinating and pulled me to find the book immediately.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due honors the ghosts of her family’s painful past. In 2012, Due learned that her mother’s uncle, Robert Stephens, had most likely been buried on the grounds of the Dozier School for Boys, a now infamous reform school in Florida that was the site of monstrous abuse. As a result of this phone call, Due traveled to Florida to witness her great-uncle’s remains being unearthed. She also attended a meeting of Dozer survivors that cemented her desire to write something about the boys at Dozier. Due decided to write a novel, as she felt too removed from the situation to write a piece of non-fiction.

Her determination eventually led to The Reformatory, a horror novel that tells the fictionalized story of twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr. who was sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, the reformatory where horrific abuse took place for decades. Robbie’s crime: kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. When Robbie arrived at the reformatory, his talent for seeing ghosts, also known as haints, quickly became a burden. This gift used to comfort him after he lost his mother, but the ghosts he sees at the reformatory highlight the horrifying truth of what really happens at the school. Boys have been going missing there for years, but the haints he sees keep whispering to him that even worse things are happening to these boys. Robbie turns to other boys to learn how to survive, but his best efforts may not be enough to save them all in the end.

On the outside, Gloria is determined to get Robbie back home as quickly as possible. Her father is rather notorious in the community, so she knows that local officials will be less likely to help her. She rallies her network of friends and family, as well as various other Florida connections to hopefully get Robbie out of the Reformatory before he becomes yet another statistic. While this is a fictionalized account, Due gathered information about her lost relative and the lives of others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys in order to write this twisting novel.

This title is also available in large print and as a Libby eBook.

For more information about the Dozier School for Boys, both nonfiction and fictionalized, check out the following titles:

Burning Down the House: the End of Juvenile Prison by Nell Bernstein

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin H. Kimmerle

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Have you ever picked a title to read based purely on the cover? My latest read, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, was one I picked for that reason. Lucky for me, it ended up being right up my alley: ghostwriters, handsome editors, a family-run funeral home, literal ghosts, and a love story.

Florence Day no longer believes in love. This wouldn’t be a problem except that she is the ghostwriter for a very prolific romance author. Her job demands that Florence believe in love. She has her terrible ex-boyfriend to blame. He crushed her heart and left her standing in the rain after their breakup.

When Florence meets with her new editor, she’s distracted to find that he’s incredibly handsome. However, he won’t give her an extension for her book deadline and even mentions getting legal involved if she misses her current deadline! Florence is distraught, but all her work worries cease to matter when she receives a devastating phone call from home. She has to return home for the first time in a decade. Florence’s father has died.

Her tiny hometown has never understood her. Although she misses her eccentric family, their funeral parlor, and the sweet sounds of a warm Southern night, Florence was desperate to escape as soon as she could. Now that she’s back, it seems as if nothing has changed. Her feelings are thrown for a loop when she discovers a ghost standing on the porch of the funeral parlor, confused about why he’s there. Florence must help him pass on, but is unsure how. The ghost’s unfinished business, combined with her own grief, will have Florence confused about what she believed about herself. Does she really think romance is dead and that love stories are lost to her forever?

This title is also available in the following formats:

Joyland by Stephen King

- Rachel Leave a comment

Recently, I went on a road trip and I wanted to listen to an audiobook during the long drive. My travelling companion brought Stephen King’s Joyland. I was not thrilled. I have not read a Stephen King book for quite awhile and I imagined that I was going to listen to another book about some weird creepy monsters. As you might guess, books about monsters are not the books that I typically read anymore. So, as I put the CD in the car, I told myself to give it a chance. Maybe I would enjoy this book.

I’m glad that I gave it a chance.

Joyland is not a book about weird creepy monsters. Our narrator, Devin Jones, tells us the story of the summer when he was 21 years old. The year was 1973. Devin was a college student at the University of New Hampshire. While he was looking through the help wanted section, he saw a listing for an amusement park in North Carolina. The park was called Joyland. Devin’s girlfriend encourages him to apply for the job, telling him that it will be an adventure. So Devin takes the bus down to Joyland to apply for the job. One carny, Lane Hardy, has worked at Joyland for years. He gives Devin pointers on where to eat and tells him about a boardinghouse he can live at during the summer. Lane lets Devin ride the Carolina Spin (the Ferris Wheel). Devin enjoys the view of the beach and the ocean. He knows that he wants to work at Joyland. When Devin goes to the boardinghouse, his new landlady tells him about a ghost story at the amusement park. A few years earlier, a young woman named Linda Gray was murdered in the Funhouse of Fear. Some people claim that they saw her ghost while they were on the ride.

When Devin comes back to North Carolina for the summer, he meets the other boarders at the house. Tom and Erin are also college students working at Joyland for the summer. The trio quickly become friends and they work on the same team at the park. Devin’s girlfriend breaks up with him and he is heartbroken. Devin drops a lot of weight and the staff at the park become concerned about him. Lane Hardy tells Devin that he needs to eat. Devin finds that Lane is a helpful guy and the two have many positive interactions. Lane may be carny and Devin a greenie, but it is clear that Lane likes the kid.

One day, Devin, Erin and Tom have the day off. They decide to go to Joyland to check out the Funhouse of Fear and see if they spot the ghost of Linda Gray. Devin and Erin have a good time on the ride but Tom does not. He reveals that he saw Linda Gray and refuses to speak about it. Devin asks Erin to research Linda Gray when she goes back to college. Devin decides to stay at Joyland and mend his broken heart. Erin comes back to visit Devin in October. She reveals that there were other murders at other amusement parks. She finds pictures of Linda Gray and her killer at Joyland. Something about the pictures bothers Devin but he cannot figure out what is troubling him.

After the amusement park is closed for the summer, Devin meets a woman and her son. They live in a large house on the beach. At first, the woman, Annie, is distant even though Mike tries to engage Devin. One day, Annie and Mike are struggling to fly a kite. Devin offers to help and is able to get the kite in the air. Mike is overjoyed and Annie warms up to Devin. They develop a friendship. Devin quickly figures out that Mike has some psychic abilities when Mike is able to answer Devin’s unspoken questions. The fortune teller at Joyland had told Devin that he would meet a kid with the Sight. This ability proves to be useful to Devin.

Joyland was not the typical Stephen King horror story. If you were a fan of Stephen King’s novella, “The Body” in the book Different Seasons, you will like Joyland. If you do not remember the story, “The Body”, then you might remember the movie that it was based on, Stand By Me. Joyland is full of mystery and suspense and the tone is nostalgic. The audiobook narrator, Michael Kelly, has a great voice to listen. I highly recommend listening to this one.