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A review by paperbacksandsketchbooks
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I absolutely loved this book!
We have Marlowe, a socially awkward teenager, who goes to work on Ralston Island as a tour guide for a summer after feeling like she has to leave town when a first date goes horribly wrong. But alas.... things on the island don't go quite as planned.
Ralston Island was formerly inhabited by a very strange family in the 1930s - the Ralstons - whose partiarch was into eugenics. It's very creepy, and they were super into digestion and being healthy and perfect. It was weird, but it made for a great story.
First off, I loved the cast of characters and the diversity in this book. Even though they were teenagers, I felt like I could relate to how each person was feeling in certain situations. Everyone was so unique and they all brought something to the story.
Second, the setting was perfect. The author did a great job with the creepy haunted house on an island. And it was done in a unique way! An abandoned home that people can now take tours of, but the teen guides live on the premises, and research is being done on the history of the home so technically an adult is with them at all times. Sounds crazy (because it kind of is) but it worked so well for this story.
Third, I love the dual timeline. I always love when stories give me the past and present. Having that firsthand account of the Ralston household in the 1930s really made for a deeper story. So many little things are revealed, too, that end up being important in the end. And I loved that the present included Marlowe and Riki's own investigation into a mysterious present day death. I live for parallels in dual timeline books, and this delivered.
I did find some of Marlowe's narration to be obnoxious and sometimes cringey. But that's just Marlowe, and I did really like her. I also found some things to be a bit over explained and mentioned multiple times. It did get a bit overdramatic towards the end, and I was questioning why these teenagers are on this island basically unsupervised. It made for a great story, though!
Overall, amazing story and everything was wrapped up nicely in the end. Marlowe had excellent character development - loved how she went from a socially awkward individual to taking charge of her own destiny! (With help from Riki)
If you enjoy YA mysteries and thrillers, I think you'd like this one!
Thanks Book Sparks for the gifted review copy! All thoughts stated above are my own.
We have Marlowe, a socially awkward teenager, who goes to work on Ralston Island as a tour guide for a summer after feeling like she has to leave town when a first date goes horribly wrong. But alas.... things on the island don't go quite as planned.
Ralston Island was formerly inhabited by a very strange family in the 1930s - the Ralstons - whose partiarch was into eugenics. It's very creepy, and they were super into digestion and being healthy and perfect. It was weird, but it made for a great story.
First off, I loved the cast of characters and the diversity in this book. Even though they were teenagers, I felt like I could relate to how each person was feeling in certain situations. Everyone was so unique and they all brought something to the story.
Second, the setting was perfect. The author did a great job with the creepy haunted house on an island. And it was done in a unique way! An abandoned home that people can now take tours of, but the teen guides live on the premises, and research is being done on the history of the home so technically an adult is with them at all times. Sounds crazy (because it kind of is) but it worked so well for this story.
Third, I love the dual timeline. I always love when stories give me the past and present. Having that firsthand account of the Ralston household in the 1930s really made for a deeper story. So many little things are revealed, too, that end up being important in the end. And I loved that the present included Marlowe and Riki's own investigation into a mysterious present day death. I live for parallels in dual timeline books, and this delivered.
I did find some of Marlowe's narration to be obnoxious and sometimes cringey. But that's just Marlowe, and I did really like her. I also found some things to be a bit over explained and mentioned multiple times. It did get a bit overdramatic towards the end, and I was questioning why these teenagers are on this island basically unsupervised. It made for a great story, though!
Overall, amazing story and everything was wrapped up nicely in the end. Marlowe had excellent character development - loved how she went from a socially awkward individual to taking charge of her own destiny! (With help from Riki)
If you enjoy YA mysteries and thrillers, I think you'd like this one!
Thanks Book Sparks for the gifted review copy! All thoughts stated above are my own.