Book Review: Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery by Ally Carter

Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery is the second book in a middle grade series by Ally Carter. I do recommend reading this series in order. Even as a returning reader it took me a few minutes to remember who everyone was, and the circumstances that lead them there. I think new readers would be at a loss. Since I really enjoyed the first book, this will not be a chore. 

Five orphans. Two sword-wielding vigilantes. One mansion. No rules. April thought she had her happy ending. After all, she has her new house and new friends and new guardian. But she also has a very big new secret. The kids of Winterborne House are the only ones who know that Gabriel Winterborne—famous billionaire and terrible cook—is really a sword-wielding vigilante. What they don’t know is that he’s not the only one. When a masked figure breaks in, looking for something—or someone—it’s clear that Gabriel has met his match, and now no one is safe. April and her friends will have to solve a decades-old mystery in order to hang on to the most important thing in the world: each other.

Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery is a solid middle grade mystery. There are great elements of character development for April, as well as the other members of her chosen family. I liked how the children supported each other and backed each other up even when they did not fully understand the reasoning or history behind the choices- only that there was one. There are a variety of new characters, and while I missed some of the characters from the first book, this installment made up for their missing state with a great deal of interesting discoveries about the Winterborne family. I like that there was some resolution to several mysteries, and a few new questions raised that left me wanting to know more but not feeling unsatisfied with the answers I had. That is a hard balance to strike, and the author did it beautifully. I think a wide range of readers will really enjoy this series, and I am looking forward to where it goes next.

Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery is a good continuation of the story, with plenty of character development and plot twists to keep a variety of readers happy and engaged.