Winterhouse - Ben Guterson

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Elizabeth Somers is an orphan, who lives with her Aunt and Uncle who are horrible to her. One year, when Elizabeth is 12, they send her off to the mysterious Winterhouse hotel for three weeks over Christmas and New Year's. 

When she gets there, she instantly falls in love with the hotel. She makes a new friend in Freddy and the hotel owner - a Mr. Norbridge Falls is wonderful to her. But despite really liking her stay and everything Winterhouse, strange things start happening. From the train ride, she took to get there, Elizabeth knew something was amiss. 

Winterhouse stops being a magical happy fantasy and things take a dark turn. Something sinister is afoot. 


About the Author: 


Ben Guterson was a high school and middle school teacher in New Mexico and Colorado for a decade before working for several years at Microsoft as a program manager. He and his family live near Seattle in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.  

Social Media (Twitter):  https://twitter.com/ben_guterson



What I thought of the book: 

I really enjoyed this book! 

The characters were well developed and likable (the good ones) but the characters who were "bad" were still really well written and fleshed out. Elizabeth as a character was annoying at times, but unlike some other characters I've read who were annoying, she understood what she had done and apologized. I really liked the friendships she made with Freddy and Norbridge. 

The atmosphere in this book is immaculate and one of my favourite things about it. It is a wintery-Christmas book, but when I read them I don't like it to be icy, and this was the perfect mixture of the cold and the cosy. 

I also really enjoyed the writing and all the word ladders in between chapters. The anagrams throughout were also really cool (like how Elizabeth can become 'heartless zombie').

The plot in this book is great too, and takes a lot of twists and turns and kept me guessing and at the edge of my seat till the end. 

Also, this book has some really nice illustrations. 

This is a trilogy, and I will definitely be reading the next 2 books.     

This book has parties, friendship, mysteries, and my dream hotel - do I really need to say anything more? 

Overall, it's a solid 4 stars which I would definitely recommend. 


More Details: 

I read this book over 3 days. 


Page Count: 384 

Age group: 8+ 

My rating: 4/5 stars



Happy Reading! 




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