Review: The Morrow Secrets

Title: The Morrow Secrets
Series: Tallitha Mouldson #1
Author: Susan McNally
Release date: September 26th 2013
Age group: Middle grade; Age 10-14
Pages:243

Synopsis:
‘The Morrow Secrets’ is a fantasy adventure story written for readers who love delving into the world of mystery, suspense, imagination and make-believe. It is the first book in a series about Tallitha Mouldson, a headstrong girl caught up in the sinister web of her eccentric family, the powerful Morrow dynasty. This fantasy saga is set in an alternative world and begins in a strange, rambling house called Winderling Spires in the land of Wycham Elva. The Morrow Secrets is an epic tale of dark forces, with a beguiling mystery to be solved, an exciting yarn of deception with frightening twists and wicked turns. The story has weird, whimsical characters, some motivated by wicked intent. They lurk round corners... watching Tallitha and luring her further into the dreadful secret....



I received this book from Sweet Cherry Publishing in exchange of an honest review. 

Expectations

I'm curious to see if I enjoy reading this book. The synopsis sounds good. One thing I can say, I love the cover! 

Review:

I'm glad to say I enjoyed reading this book a lot. The beautiful cover fits the story perfectly. 

The story takes place in an alternate world with a lot of fantasy elements. Tallitha is a girl who's easily relatable, which is good (especially for a childrens book).
Her family wants her to be a lady, because she is the heir of Winderling Spires. But she doesn't want to be ladylike, so she creates a plan with her brother Tyaas. 

Halfway through the book the adventure really begins, I would have liked it a bit sooner. After the first 100 pages the story kept growing and getting better and better. The world-introduction was at times a bit slow for me, but considering this is middle-grade and the first book in a series, I can understand why the author would like to spend some more time on the introduction. 

The writing was great, adapted to the age-group but not too childish, if you understand what I mean. Tallitha was a nice main-character, I really liked her brother Tyaas too.I also liked the other characters in the book, although there were a lot of side characters, which was a bit much. 

Especially in the beginning I had some trouble to remember who was who. 
Within the story there were a lot of new fantasy creatures introduced like shroves, skinks, etc.) I had the same problem remembering what those creatures looked like (maybe this is my problem.. :P).

Quote from the book:
'The metal door creaked open uncertainly on its hinges, letting wafts of freezing air into the boiler room. Inside the dark tunnel the old stone walls were grimy, soaked and blackened over the years from oozing, trickling water. The stench of stale air hit Tallitha in the face. It was going to be grim in this dark, wet place.'


The creepy house was described  in great detail, which was a lot of fun to read. The drawings are AMAZING, each chapter ends with a great, dark black and white drawing! 

Here are some examples:

I would definitely recommend this to children (and adults as well!).

Rating

I wanna thank Nisha from Sweet Cherry Publishing for contacting me and sending the book !

Have a great day !

Myra