Review by Booklist Review
Araceli Flores Harper is used to following her parents around the world to dangerous places while they report on conflicts and revolutions, but when they head to Venezuela, they decide its time for her to stay with her great-aunt in America and get a more stable education. But the small town Araceli arrives at in New York state seems anything but stable: people are constantly disappearing, and an ominous lab has sprung up near town. When Araceli discovers a box and some old letters from a WWI soldier in her great-aunt's attic, she answers one for a school project and stashes it in the box to her astonishment, she receives an answer from the soldier, a man named Oliver. Though convinced it's a prank, she continues to write to and fall for Oliver, and as she does, she begins to slowly connect this strange box in her attic to the disappearances in town. The packed (sometimes overly so) plot will appeal to YA Stranger Things fans, and the myriad cross-genre elements will draw readers of all kinds.--Maggie Reagan Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up--Araceli Flores Harper has been sent to spend her senior year of high school in a small town in upstate New York, in a ramshackle Victorian mansion, with a great-aunt she has never met. When she finds an old box in the attic, she begins corresponding with a soldier from the First World War. Then Araceli learns that people have been disappearing mysteriously for years, and there are strange lights and occurrences around a security-laden research compound in the woods. This is a unique and genre-bending tale; there are elements of a historical romance, a science fiction ghost story, and a spy thriller. However, the writing style, especially at the beginning of the novel, seems heavy-handed. Rather than setting the scene of an eerily empty small town, the narrator states that it is a strange place without much description. The rushed style may be due to the author attempting to cover so many different plotlines at once--Araceli is the new girl at school, falling in love with a World War I soldier and uncovering an underground experiment--but the way Aguirre ties together the disparate threads makes for a satisfying conclusion. A unique and exciting story imperfectly executed. VERDICT An additional purchase but with cross-genre appeal.--Jeri Murphy, C.F. Simmons Middle School, Aurora, IL
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A fast-paced paranormal romance blends teen life with thrilling covert exploits.Having traveled extensively with her journalist parents, Araceli Flores Harper is used to unusual experiences in far-flung locales. Senior year in exile at her great-aunt's crumbling Victorian home in rural New York state promises to be dull by comparison, but nothing could have prepared Araceli for the strange, frightening, and dangerous aspects of her newest home. Araceli, whose mother is white and American and father is Mexican, discovers that the town's deep-seated racism coupled with recent mysterious disappearances are keeping everyone in her ethnically and sexually diverse circle of new friends on edge. Digging into the details surrounding the town's secretive government research facility just creates more questionsand riskas Araceli struggles to find a connection between the ghosts of the past and the current conflict in which she's embroiled. Despite juggling dance team tryouts, learning to drive, and investigating leads, Araceli finds time to establish a romantic pen-pal relationship with an enigmatic stranger. Add this to the ever growing list of bizarre phenomena that she must navigate, and readers may find themselves wondering what to focus on. Social consciousness is woven naturally into the story, leaving readers with something more substantial to think on after the book has ended.Aguirre (The Shadow Warrior, 2019, etc.) writes compelling and accessible characters who fumble through complicated supernatural situations with humor and grit. (Supernatural thriller. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
