Long Lost

This was a really intriguing mystery/ghost story, all about relationships between sisters. Anyone with siblings can probably identify with something in this tale of multiple sets of siblings' rivalry—and love.

I read this book for a March book club. I borrowed it from my local library.

This is a solid middle grade book with eerie gothic tones. There are two parallel plots: the present day travails of Fiona Crane, an 11-year-old resentful of her older sister, Arden, who is an ice skating star and the reason their whole family just moves. Angry and adrift, Fiona explores the creepy old library in her new town and finds a peculiar book that tells a story about a pair of sisters a century ago. Something happened to them. Fiona has a hard time finding out what, however, as she keeps losing the book--or is someone stealing it?--and few things around the story make sense. What she does know: the events took place in her new town, the sisters were show more real, and there is something very creepy going on.

I really enjoyed this book. There's nothing quite like a cozy middle grade novel! I look forward to the book club, as the author will be there as well. show less

I should probably look it up for confirmation, but I can tell Jaqueline West has a sister - the relationship between Arden and Fiona rings so true that it has to be written from experience.

Fiona is mad and frustrated that her family had to move to support her sister's figure skating career, and takes refuge in her local library. There she begins reading a book about two sisters in a very similar town, and realizes that the book isn't so fictional after all.

I love the love for libraries and librarians, and how Fiona and Arden come together and apart as sisters do. (Seriously, it's a sucky situation for Fiona and I understand her anger towards Arden, but I understand Arden's disappointment about lack of her sister's support - the real show more "villains" here are the parents, who do not handle the situation well at all: I know work is important and Arden's figure skating competitions are the whole reason they moved, but it's a bad look to cancel the event your already struggling and angry younger daughter has been looking forward to for a month. They never addressed the issue head-on with Fiona, just letting her work through it herself. show less

I really really like this. Love it.

World building? Okay.
Characters? Okay in enough portion.
Mystery? Really good.

Bermula saat Crane Family move to Lost Lake, ans Fiona feels gloomy all day. Imagine, as 12 y.o, who really awkward and kinda hard to make a friends, and when finally she have it, she must move to another region (memang tidak terlalu jauh) just the intensity of their meetings is getting less and less and can only be through social media and playing games of course. Lalu, semakin diperparah dengan Fiona yang merasa dia itu unimportant, unwanted, dan semacam un- lainnya. Ditambah dengan kekecewaan yang menumpuk kepada Arden yang membuat hubungan dua bersaudara ini semakin renggang.

Suatu hari, saat Mrs. Crane akan mengantar Arden show more ke tempat latihan skating, tentunya Fiona is tag along tapi dia ogah-ogahan, akhirnya dia minta diturunkan di perpustakaan. Nah, dari sana dan saat di ruang baca khusus buku misteri, dia menemukan buku yang menurutnya aneh dan tidak ada nama pengarangnya. Akhirnya dia baca dan she's getting hook. Into the story, saat itulah kejanggalan mulai dia rasakan. Bukunya yang tiba-tiba menghilang dari rumahnya, seperti diawasi, dsb. Kemudian dia jadi tahu Pearl dan Hazel story, adik-kakak sepertinya dan Arden, yang merupakan karakter buku yang dia baca. Karena rasa penasaran dan jiwa keingintahuan sebagai future archeolog (she want that), akhirnya dia mencari tahu informasi lebih lanjut saat tiba-tiba di tengah buku, lembar selanjutnya kosong, blank, tidak ada kelanjutannya, yang menggiring dia menemukan hal yang tidak terduga dari balik kejadian kedua anak Chisholm di masa lampau.

What I really like in this story is bagaimana Fiona belajar dan tahu ada akhirnya Arden is important person in her life. I was touched at that time.

Novel ini menggunakan bahasa yang ringan, tidak terlalu berat dan mengalir begitu saja alurnya. Dan value in this novel is really good and important in your life, especially if you have siblings. Really.

And I RECOMMENDED y'all to read this. Is fun journey. show less

Long Lost is a ghost story wrapped up in a tale of family tensions that will send chills down your spine – if you’re prepared to wait patiently for them. (💫My full review here: https://newkidonthebookreviews.wordpress.com/2022/08/21/review-long-lost-by-jacq... 💫)

The book begins with Fiona and her family moving to an isolated town called “Lost Lake” to be closer to her sister’s figure skating club. Fiona is upset that she’s had to leave her friends and old life behind, but finds comfort in a mystery novel from the local library. Soon, she realizes the novel is not as fictional as it seems, and she sets out to understand the haunting similarities between the story of two sisters in a spooky town and her own life. Long show more Lost follows a book-within-a-book format, where narration alternates between telling the story of Fiona’s life and recounting the events in the mysterious novel.

The town in which the story is set seems to rise up from the book like a real place, full of secrets, shadowy figures and whisperings behind your back. I liked learning about the murky history of the town and its library. One of the best aspects of Long Lost is that for much of the story, you have no idea whether anything truly paranormal is happening in the town. The reader is kept guessing, along with Fiona, about whether the ghosts are real. As the mystery is revealed, the story is quite dark, so be prepared! I liked the ending, though everything was wrapped up so quickly that it felt rushed.
...
A difficulty was that Long Lost‘s plot was rather simple, with not much going on except for the two main plot lines. Though the book-within-a-book format was clever, it meant that much of the story when Fiona wasn’t reading the library book was simply “Fiona trying to read the book some more”. This made Long Lost predictable and slow-paced at times. I would have liked more complexity in the story, and especially for more interesting events to happen in Fiona’s life besides her trying to find ways to continue reading the library book.

I recommend this book to readers who would enjoy reading about ghosts and about a girl discovering hidden histories in a strange new town, and who don’t mind a simple and rather dark plot along with some very mean-spirited characters.
Check out my book blog 😊 https://newkidonthebookreviews.wordpress.com/ show less

Fiona and family leave family and friends behind to move to a new town much closer to big sister Arden's skating practices. Fiona finds herself resenting her big sister and feels she doesn't matter in her family. The only place she finds solace is at the town library in a beautiful old mansion. A strange old mystery book captivates her, not only because of the story of a girl who disappears, but because it moves from place to place on its own. Fiona meets a local boy, Charlie, and together they try to piece together the story which has taken place in this town. The 2 sisters in the story put her in mind of Arden and herself. As she struggles to solve the mystery in the story, she can't help shake the creepy feeling that their lives are show more intertwined and something supernatural is involved. Grades 4-7. show less

This was okay, but it could have been better. I would have preferred more of the historical timeline instead of the current one. I like fantasy over family drama. The parents were pretty awful.