Barbara's Booky Blog

For his whole life, Jacob Portman's grandfather told him outrageous stories that somehow rang true. As it turns out, his grandfather's parents sent him from his home in Germany during WWII to keep him safe (he was Jewish and not safe in Germany). He ended up in an orphanage in Wales where there are strange children and where weird things happen. When his grandfather is murdered, Jacob finds strange clues at his grandfather's house that send him on a journey of discovery to Wales. When Jacob finds the bombed out remains of Miss Peregrine's Orphanage, he is defeated until he starts thinking of the clues. What follows is an exciting and dangerous adventure into the past where Jacob meets Emma, Millard, Bronwyn, Enoch, Claire, Olive, Horace, Hugh and of course, Miss Peregrine.

This starts out rather slowly but interesting enough to keep me reading. I actually found that I couldn't put it down...every spare moment I found myself reaching for this book. I found myself reading faster and faster as the action kicked up a notch worried when the monsters came and Miss Peregrine was kidnapped. I loved the creepy photos laced throughout the book. There are a great complement to the story except the one thing I wanted a photo of, wasn't there - the house itself. Here's the fabulous description given by the author: "What stood before me now as no refuge from monsters but a monster itself, staring down from it's perch on the hill with vacant hunger. Trees burst forth from broken windows and skies of scabrous vine gnawed at the walls like antibodies attacking a virus - but the house seemed unkillable, resolutely upright despite the wrongness of its angles and the jagged teeth of sky visible through section of collapsed roof." It was amazing to me that a scared 16 year old boy actually went inside this wreck of house...and more than once too.

NOTE: This is definitely young adult but for the older set...mild cursing, gross murders and heavy petting.