Greenglass House
by Kate Milford, Jaime Zollars
Series: Greenglass House #1
Series Rating:
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on August 26, 2014
Genres: Middle Grade Mystery
Pages: 377
Format: Kindle
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Books-A-Million
It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.
Greenglass House by Kate Milford is set during the winter vacation at a beautiful inn with many stained glass windows. We also have a bunch of guests popping up all over the place.
Will the Pines keep all the guests happy this winter?
The Pine Family
The Pine family consists of Nora, Ben, and Milo Pine. Nora has lived in Greenglass House since she was twelve when her parents bought it. Her family decided to turn the house into an Inn that many people have used. Let them be law-abiding citizens who just need a place to stay or smugglers. The smugglers who use the house only come during a particular season, and that’s the way it has always been. While Nora was living there, she met Ben, and the two, as some would say, lived happily ever after. They are married and end up with the Inn when Nora’s parents hand it off to them to be run by a young couple.
Nora and Ben decided to adopt a child out of the goodness of their hearts. That child is Milo, and he has been with them since he was a baby. The happy couple is happy to have a child run around the house and keep their guests on their toes. Milo is now twelve years old and does whatever his parents need him to do on their on-season but not off-season. Winter is usually their off-season since not many people would dare go to them as there aren’t many different ways to get to the Inn. The fact that they ended up with five people this winter vacation didn’t bode well for poor Milo.
The way that Ms. Milford wrote this family dynamic between the three of them was well executed. I loved how the three of them were intuned to what the other one of them needed. For example, Milo knows he must talk and be present with Nora. I love the little competition that the two of them do with their guests. Except when Milo was with Ben, Milo knew that Ben liked the silence, and just a head nod was all the acknowledgment that Milo needed to give at the time.
The Mystery
Milo is just starting his winter vacation right after finishing his homework when the guest bell rings throughout the night. They had an empty house with just the three of them, and then out of nowhere, five guests showed up, all wanting to stay during the holiday. Almost all of them had something to do with the house somehow, and Milo had no clue how or why they had to show up. Not only that, but why now, and what is the connection? Milo met a girl named Meddy, the Inn’s chef’s daughter, and they decided to figure it out while playing a game. I had difficulty keeping track of some things, but I did guess who the odd person was. Except I didn’t figure out why that person was there.
Four Stars
Ms. Milford has written an excellent book, and I wouldn’t mind diving back into the series at another date. Mostly to figure out what other types of trouble Milo and Meddy get themselves into. I am giving Greenglass House by Kate Milford four stars and recommending it. It’s a good book for people who like roleplaying games like dungeons and dragons.
Greenglass House
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Greenglass House by Kate Milford.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
About Kate Milford
Kate is the author of THE BONESHAKER, THE BROKEN LANDS, GREENGLASS HOUSE, and THE LEFT-HANDED FATE, as well as their companion novellas THE KAIROS MECHANISM and BLUECROWNE (available at www.clockworkfoundry.com). Forthcoming books include GHOSTS OF GREENGLASS HOUSE (2017) and THE RACONTEUR’S COMMONPLACE BOOK. She has also written several plays, a couple of screenplays, and an assortment of scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as self-aware ironmongery and how to make saltwater taffy in a haunted kitchen. She is a contributing writer for the Nagspeake Board of Tourism and Culture at www.nagspeake.com and a passionate shutterbug. Originally from Annapolis, she now splits her time between Brooklyn and the Magothy coast. She has a husband called Nathan, a kid called Griffin, and two dogs called Sprocket and Ed. She drinks way too much coffee.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2023 ABC Soup RC
- 2023 Cloak and Dagger
- 2023 Goodreads RC
- 2023 Let Us Read Middle Grade
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