Friday Book Recommendation--Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This week concludes the summer edition of Friday Book Recommendations--school is back in full swing here and my time for pleasure reading has already decreased. *sighs*  However, I'm ending with a book that I loved, loved, and then loved some more. Yes, it's creepy and yes, the cover is made of awesome. Check it out:

   


Summary from Goodreads:
A mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Kristi's take: Though it's hard to top the levitating girl on the cover, the vintage photographs woven throughout the book are eerie, strange, and haunting. I loved how the photos tied in with the story, and the setting in rain-soaked Wales was perfect. I couldn't even begin to explain the world-building, with its time loops and shape shifting, but luckily, the author does a great job of it--and makes it seem believable. My only quibble is with the psychiatrist character. NOTE: This isn't a spoiler because it's rare to find a psychologist or psychiatrist in ANY book or movie that isn't a) incompetent b) nuts c) a psychopath/murderer d) sleeping with their clients or e) some combination of the former. Most of us are actually ethical, competent, and hard-working. *steps off soapbox* Aside from that, I couldn't put this book down and will definitely be reading the sequel. FINAL NOTE: If you dislike clowns as much as I do, one picture in the book is downright freaky.