100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Phoebe's family has picked up and moved from sunny San Fransico to dreary England to live in a long abandoned mansion. This is a big change for sixteen-year-old Phoebe, but she is taking it in stride knowing that something she did but can't quite remember is the reason that her family must move.  Phoebe's step-father is heir to the Arnaud Manor in England, a mansion built in the 1700's for wealthy French expatriates; this is where Phoebe, her little sister Tabby and her mom and step-dad must now live.   Phoebe begins to explore the vast rooms of the mansion, she finds some weird things and begins to have creepy visions.  When Phoebe meets Miles, a cute boy her age who enjoys swimming as much as she does, Miles tells her the legend of Madame Arnaud, who is said to still haunt Phoebe's new home.  Together, Phoebe and Miles find out the Madame Arnaud is still around, and she wants to hurt Phoebe's little sister.  Miles and Phoebe try to stop Madame Arnaud, but they must battle their own demons first. 

Haunted has a great premise for a different type of Young Adult Paranormal read.  The setting was perfect, a creepy, old mansion with plenty of rooms, hidden passageways and a tragic history that pulled me into the mystery.  Madame Arnaud's legend was also especially disturbing and unique.  Phoebe's character was easy to relate to for a sixteen-year-old, she was strong but had plenty of issues to deal with including boys, parents and jealousy over her baby sister.  When I read horror and paranormal books I like to feel unsettled by the themes, setting and characters for the majority of the read.  In Haunted I did figure out the big plot twist rather early on, taking away some of this feeling. Much of the mystery for me was then turned to how Miles and Phoebe would fight Madame Arnaud.  I would still be interested in reading the next book in the series since many questions about Phoebe and Miles are left unanswered. Overall, this was a good paranormal story with a fairly predictable twist.