#Readathon-@LOHFiction and @HeyLilThrifter-‘City Of Ghosts’ and ‘Tunnel Of Bones’ by Victoria Schwab

About the books..

City Of Ghosts

Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn’t like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead… and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost. So things are already pretty strange. But they’re about to get much stranger.

When Cass’s parents start hosting a TV show about the world’s most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, graveyards, castles, and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms. And when Cass meets a girl who shares her “gift,” she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil — and herself. And she’ll have to learn fast.

The city of ghosts is more dangerous than she ever imagined. bestselling author Victoria Schwab delivers a thrillingly spooky and action-packed tale of hauntings, history, mystery, and the bond between friends (even if that friend is a ghost…).

”Embrace your strange,dear daughter.Where’s the fun in being normal?”

Cassidy Blake is reluctantly whisked off to Edinburgh,ghost best friend Jacob in tow as her parents prepare to film their new tv show ,’The Inspecters’. They are currently unaware of the fact that following a near death experience, she can see ghosts and can part the Veil to the other side. Warned by Jacob that the longer she spends there, the harder it is to get back, she carries her beloved camera everywhere just in case she can actually record the existence of ghosts.

Once in Edinburgh, she becomes keenly aware of the dead around her at the sites of the filming and that there is both a girl, Lara, and a woman ghost, who sings to lure her beyond the Veil for nefarious purposes. Lara has been aware of the rules of the dead courtesy of her spectral uncle, and has to catch Cassidy up quickly to speed before this ancient ghost, the Raven In Red, causes untold harm to Cassidy.

What I love about this book is how it introduces Cassidy at the start of her journeys, she has just gotten to grips with the existence of ghosts and now , outside of her narrow sphere of experience, she has to get up to speed and fast. The pull of the ghosts is thickening the Veil and it is harder each time to come back. Lara is a great foil to Cassidy and I love how Victoria Schwab writes about Cassidy experiencing another culture-my favourite part is Cassidy trying chips for the first time, it’s a glorious scene!

Cassidy is fun, sparky and entirely her own person, trying to find out what the widerm world is like and what her place is in it. I absolutely loved it, the plot and the pace build towards a finale that leaves you breathless and it is shot through with great humour. SUPERB!!

Tunnel Of Bones

The thrilling sequel to Victoria Schwab’s New York Times bestselling City of Ghosts! Trouble is haunting Cassidy Blake . . . even more than usual. She (plus her ghost best friend, Jacob, of course) are in Paris, where Cass’s parents are filming their TV show about the world’s most haunted cities. Sure, it’s fun eating croissants and seeing the Eiffel Tower, but there’s true ghostly danger lurking beneath Paris, in the creepy underground Catacombs. When Cass accidentally awakens a frighteningly strong spirit, she must rely on her still-growing skills as a ghosthunter — and turn to friends both old and new to help her unravel a mystery. But time is running out, and the spirit is only growing stronger. And if Cass fails, the force she’s unleashed could haunt the city forever. New York Times bestselling author Victoria Schwab returns to the spooky and heart-pounding world of City of Ghosts, delivering thrilling new adventures and an unforgettable spin on friendship. (Because sometimes, even psychic ghost best friends have secrets…)

”First comes mischief,then comes menace,then mayhem. The more trouble poltergeists cause,the more powerful they get.”

‘City Of Ghosts’ is out now from Scholastic UK and is available in paperback and ‘Tunnel Of Bones’ is published in paperback from 05/09/2019. Thank you to Scholastic for my gifted paperback review copy of ‘Tunnel Of Bones’, ‘City Of Ghosts’  is my own copy because, hey, it’s Victoria Schwab and you aren’t not going to work through her novels!

Immediately following her escapades in Edinburgh, Cassidy is whisked to Paris, where her parents are going to visit certain sites of ghost hauntings such as Pere Lachaise cemetery and the catacombs underneath the city, built when the graveyards were overflowing-quite literally-into the streets. A two year transportation of disintered dead means that 6 million sets of bones are now enclosed underneath the streets and have become a ghoulish tourist attraction.

As seen in ‘City Of Ghosts’, Cassidy has to work hard to avoid being pulled through the Veil, and finds it harder the more dead there are around her. So going underground and being surrounded by the dead releases a cacophony of souls all reaching for her…in scenes that are suffocating and claustrophobic, this is an intense and all to believable scene which left me reaching for my asthma pump. Lara is on hand to aid Cassidy via text, from Scotland as they fall into a partnership, Cassidy using what she has learnt in book one and reporting on it back to Lara. as this time she is fighting a poltergeist of over a hundred years old.

As a teen, Thomas Alain Laurrent had gone to explore the Catacombs with his brother, and never returned. Their human guide to Paris, Pauline, is a sceptic and has never seen a ghost but spending enough time with Cassidy is enough to convince her. Especially as the longer Thomas is around and not sent permamantly beyond the Veil, the more obvious damage he is doing to the human world.

Brilliantly building on the mysteries and lore that was touched on in Book 1, this takes the over arching story to the next level as we, and Cassidy, go beyond the Veil and learn about the different kinds of ghosts and the rules that bind them and us to what passes for life. Fantastic reading highly recommended for children from mid grade up and upwards.I am 44 and found it a fascinating read as Victoria Schwab took us to a city we have never been to, but which she brought to life in our minds, as me and Flo (the youngest of the girls)read this as our bedtime book.

Cannot wait for what happens next and where Cassidy and her parents will visit on their worldwide spooktacular travels,

About the author..

Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say “tom-ah-toes,” “like,” and “y’all.”

She also tells stories.

She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems.

Links-http://www.victoriaschwab.com/

Twitter @veschwab

@scholasticuk

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