Samantha Rindfuss

When Sophie’s father dies, she goes to live with her grandmother, Emma. Before she even gets to the house, bad dreams start, dreams she later learns are being brought on by the ghost of Carol, a girl who died in the house long before. The ghost continues to haunt her from the first day, and then, Sophie learns from her new schoolmates, Lillian and Thomas, that her grandmother’s house is not just a normal house; it was once a funeral home owned by Carol’s father, a distraught man who show more went insane after his daughter’s death and eventually hung himself.
Carol gives Sophie an ultimatum; find a way for her to reunite with her father’s spirit, or die herself. Only Lillian and Thomas believe Sophie’s story, and they set out to help her comply with the ghostly command.
An interesting ghost of possession and danger, that tends, unfortunately, to drag a bit in places, but that is nonetheless an interesting read, and is probably written appropriately for younger readers. show less

I frequently read children's books for myself or when I read them out loud to my six year old. I generally stick with classic literature for children or books that are entertainingly written or have an interesting story.

I will not be reading Andy the Spider out loud to anyone. I could barely get through it myself. Besides the missing punctuation and a few spelling errors that get in the way, the text is just not interesting. It lacks much narration. There is a lot of dialogue between all show more the characters, a lot of it very tedious. Is some of it realistic? Yes. But imagine if you had to listen to someone tell you a story and mention every tiny piece of dialogue that anyone in the story happened to have, even the most mundane bits. That's what you get in Andy the Spider. It reads like it was written by a child without much experience in writing.

The story itself has potential but it's not worth wading through the whole book just to see how it all ends. The book could be re-written to be a good one but as it is, I would avoid it at all costs. There is too much good children's literature out there to spend any time on low quality writing. show less

I received this free from Library Thing to read and review. This is the first installment of a series. When I first began the book, I was unsure whether I would read it or like it. However, since I read it all in one sitting, this is a real testament to the author’s ability to write. The story involves Sophie who moves to her grandmother’s after her father dies (her mother had died earlier). Once there, strange things begin to happen. She has a strange dream. She starts seeing a show more mysterious girl, who she decides is a ghost. The lights go out only in her room. She becomes ill. Her friends at school tell her that her house was once a funeral home, where the owner’s daughter died mysteriously, with her father committing suicide a short time later. Are all these connected? Sophie finds out just how they are. This story is, as I said earlier, well written and interesting. However, I think a young adult audience would find it far more interesting than an adult one because of the main characters and the tone. The author has combined the spiritual side with the ordinary, everyday life of the characters in a smooth manner. The plot is not very complex, which also helps keep the reader’s interest focused. In addition, the story is not all that long, which allows the reader to read the story quickly and find out what happens. The ending, though happening a bit abruptly is quite good and satisfying for the reader. Once finished with this story, the reader can move on to the next installment, where there will probably be mention of what has occurred without belaboring the details. I think most readers, regardless of age, will like this story and I look forward to subsequent installments. show less

The Amityville Horror meets Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Samantha Rindfuss’s young adult drama Spirits of Lakewood: Hidden Secrets. Rindfuss moves the tale at an easy stride so the reader can grasp the details as they are being revealed through each phase.

In the story, middle school aged Sophie is sent to live with her grandmother Emma after her father dies. Mysterious occurrences arise when Sophie lives in her grandmother’s house, encounters that suggest the house is show more haunted by a poltergeist, hence the Amityville house horror connection. Sophie discovers from two friends at her school, Lillian and Thomas, that the grandmother’s house was once a funeral parlor owned by Mr. Turner who went insane and committed suicide after his daughter Carol died. It was rumored that he cremated Carol and hid her ashes in the house.
Read the rest of the review at Barnes and Noble here: http://my.barnesandnoble.com/communityportal/Reviews.aspx?reviewid=4370415&p... show less