Lynn Carthage

Phoebe is moving to England with her mother, step-father and little sister, Tabby. Lately Phoebe feels a bit jealous of her little sister. Her parents are ignoring her because of something she did, but she feels she might be losing her mind because she can't remember exactly what she did. Is she mentally ill? Is she hallucinating? Is she sick? Maybe moving to her step-father Steven's ancestral home in England will help her family re-unite and make things like they used to be. Phoebe likes exploring the old mansion, until she learns of its horrifying past. Will she be able to protect her parents and her little sister from the evil that lurks in the old house? And will she be able to handle what she discovers about herself?

Haunted is the first book in the Arnaud Legacy Trilogy. Lynn Carthage is a pseudonym used by author Erika Mailman (The Witch's Trinity, Woman of Ill Fame). She decided to write her YA novels under a pen name to keep them separate from her adult fiction.

I enjoyed this book. I'm always up for a good, spooky ghost story. The plot was a bit predictable, but the spookily awesome Madame Arnaud more than made up for the lack of surprise. (For Middle Grade kids [after all it is a YA novel], the plot might have more of a shock value than it does for me, after reading thousands of horror stories in my lifetime). And some aspects of the storyline were a bit unrealistic -- whose step-father just happens to have a family ancestral home sitting on 30,000 acres? When Phoebe's family moves to England they certainly do it in style. 30,000 acres? That's almost 47 square miles. It pulled me out of the story just a bit because I had this hilarious mental picture of Phoebe's mom sending her out to mow the lawn......all 47 square miles of it. :) Now that would be some teen angst causing labor right there.

All in all, the backdrop of a dilapidated, English manor house, an evil ancestor with a disturbing legend, and Phoebe trying to reunite her family & discover what's wrong with her made this a nicely paced, spooky, fun read. I enjoyed it enough to return to check in on Phoebe in book 2 to see what happens next. I liked the writing style enough to also check out the Witch's Trinity.

The book had some scary scenes, but all was definintely age appropriate.

The second book, Betrayed, was published in February of this year. The third and last installment will be published in 2017.

My rating: 7/10
Ages 10… (more)

I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to The Arnaud Legacy Trilogy. Three ghosts are trying to work together in order to fulfill a prophecy written in an English dialect so old google translate won't work. The author did a great job in how her characters interacted with each other through dialogue, body language and flashbacks. Their interactions with people and how that could happen was done on a level that could be 'believable' given the material. It was a very satisfying conclusion to a well thought out trilogy and I particularly enjoyed the surprise twist connected to one of Britain's best histories.… (more)

I received a copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read and enjoyed the first book of this series, Haunted, last year. And I was invited by NetGalley to read and review book 2. I was excited to read more about Phoebe, Miles and Eleanor and Phoebe's family. I was really intrigued by the idea of them going to Versailles because I had been there 7 years ago and really loved it there. As Phoebe's family traversed around Paris, it was really interesting to hear some of the ghosts being described by Miles. While the first book kept me hooked by the creepy factor, this one didn't have the same effect. Overall, it was a fun read though and I think if you read and enjoyed book 1, you would enjoy this one as well.… (more)

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.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (more)