Melissa’s Review: Nightfall Gardens by Allen Houston

Nightfall Gardens (Nightfall Gardens: Book One)
written by Allen Houston
published by Flycatcher Books, 2013

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book: It’s creepy and awesome: much more than I was expecting. I had a few, “oh, that’s going to be a vocabulary word” moments while reading, but I think with a few literary upgrades this could be an awesome adult novel, too. I’m new to the MG niche, and I’ll be honest, I had nightmares the first few nights after I started reading, but I bet my teenage self would’ve loved the darkness (and, you know, the *teeny* hint of romance). I’m going to start the next book in the series just as soon as I get the kids to bed.

 

Would I recommend it: Yes. I sort of want to see it as a real-life Disney movie. You hear that, Disney? Let’s get working on it!

 

About the book – from Goodreads: Vain Lily Blackwood and her shy brother Silas wonder if their family will ever settle in one place long enough to lead a normal life. When a mysterious stranger arrives claiming to be their uncle, they discover their parents have been hiding a secret that turns their world upside down.

The two are kidnapped to Nightfall Gardens, the family’s ancestral home, a place shrouded in ancient mystery, where they meet their dying grandmother and learn of an age-old curse placed on Blackwood females.

Lily must take over as protector of the house and three haunted gardens that hold mythical beasts, fairy-tale nightmares and far worse. If she doesn’t, the evil trapped there will be unleashed and bring on a new dark age.

While she deals with malevolent ghosts inside the house, Silas is put to work in the gardens, where one wrong step means death.

Along the way, they search to unlock the secrets of the house and to stop the creatures in the gardens before time runs out and the world is destroyed.