A review by carnisht
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

4.0

Based on the synopsis I had read of this book, I was expecting a book similar to the Lemoncello or the Book Scavenger series. I was anticipating a lot of little mini-mysteries throughout the story guiding the characters through the plot. However, I was really glad to find out that this was just one big mystery that Elizabeth was solving. I was also expecting this book to be similar to The Greenglass House, mainly because they’re both mysteries in old hotels… so ya know, the similarities are there on a surface level. Obviously, the settings were the same, and the eloquence of the characters and the writing style were similar, but the plots themselves were very different which I greatly appreciated. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep them separate, but there are definitely noticeable differences.

With this setting in mind, I have to mention how much I LOVED this setting! I would absolutely love to go to this magical hotel for Christmas. Spending the winter holidays sledding, skiing, doing puzzles by the fire… FREAKIN’ YES PLEASE! SIGN ME UP!

One of the more surprising elements of this book was the seemingly random inclusion of fantasy elements. Elizabeth had some weird power she described as “the feeling”, which was basically just amateur telekinesis. Norbridge was kind of like a stage magician… except his magic was real. Gracella came back from the dead with the help of The Book. It was all very random and surprising for me and not really what I expected from the book, but it was okay.

To read more of my thoughts on this book, check out https://yalitreader.wordpress.com/2021/10/18/winterhouse-by-ben-guterson/