Friday 29 July 2011

Texas Gothic review

Texas Gothic
Rosemary Clement-Moore
July 7th 2011
Random House Children's Books

Amy Goodnight knows that the world isn't as simple as it seems—she grew up surrounded by household spells and benevolent ghosts. But she also understands that "normal" doesn't mix with magic, and she's worked hard to build a wall between the two worlds. Not only to protect any hope of ever having a normal life. 

Ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas should be exactly that. Good old ordinary, uneventful hard work. Only, Amy and her sister, Phin, aren't alone. There's someone in the house with them—and it's not the living, breathing, amazingly hot cowboy from the ranch next door. 

It's a ghost, and it's more powerful than the Goodnights and all their protective spells combined. It wants something from Amy, and none of her carefully built defenses can hold it back. 

This is the summer when the wall between Amy's worlds is going to come crashing down.



I totally wasn't expect this book to be how it was. I thought it was gonna be some serious creepy ghost story thing, but it was a lot more light hearted than I thought, and a lot less creepy, but it was really great! Despite the fact it did feel a little Scooby-Doo in parts, and it could be a little predictable, it was a really fun romp which I really enjoyed.


Amy is a really relatable character. She's just a (fairly) normal girl who's kind of stuck in this crazy (awesome) family of kitchen witches and psychics when she doesn't really have her own paranormal niche like the rest of her family do, so she acts like the normal one who protects her family from the people who think they're just plain weird and don't like them. That is until the ghost turns up. But really, I really liked Amy. She was snarky but vulnerable and was just really sweet in how she really loved her family despite them being a little weird and how she liked to protect them, even if the people saying bad things about the Goodnight's got to her more than any one.


And I loved Phin! She was so quirky and awesome. I loved her and Amy's relationship, how good it was, and I loved how she was so clever but oblivious. I kept on smiling when people trying to take the piss but she just bamboozled them with her crazy paranormal science knowledge (out of genuinely not knowing the people were being mean and that they just wanted to know stuff) She was just lovely. I love people like her. 


And I liked Ben too. Him and Amy's first meeting just made me laugh. It was so awkward and funny, but not for those sorts of reasons. They hated each other. And their conversations were really good too. They made me wish I could come up with really good comebacks like theirs... But he was really sweet at the end of it. And it wasn't like in most books where at end the boy and the girl are all uber cheesy and send me off cringing. Because it kind of annoys when the snarky awesome funny boy ends up being Mr. Cheeseball. Blegh. ;)


The plot itself could be a little predictable at times, but nothing too bad, and while it did sort of end up being a bit of a movie plot or something, it was kind of taken the piss out of through the book too. Like, it didn't seem like it was taking itself too seriously, which I liked. And it wasn't that bad. Plus I liked the almost side plot of finding out about the real 'Mad Monk' and them finding out his story and finally putting him to rest.


Texas Gothic is a fun, cute book that I really did enjoy. It's an interesting mystery tied in with an awesome ghost story and a little bit of kissing which is always a good thing (unless it leads to a whole load of trouble, but still.. ;p) So worth a read! :D

2 comments:

  1. Great review!

    I just released that I haven't been officially 'following' although I have been reading your blog for a while now!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts and opinions about the book. Sounds like a great read!!

    ~Sherry

    Author Website Sherry Soule


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