Massive Phil Hickes fan and although I hate spooky stories as an adult as I get scared, I loved his way of telling a scary story so that there is that real fear and tension, but it is totally appropriate for the MG audience - the correct amount of fear, but not so much that you are going to have nightmares and flashbacks (ok maybe a little!.
This is the second in the series of Shadowhall Academy and Lilian and her group of friends have established a great rapport with each other. Each character has their own personality, interests and strengths and that really comes through in this book. Somehow they end up investigating a "Book of Secrets" that a prefect told them about in their late night meeting of the ghost story society. Imagine actually finding that book of secrets hidden under a trapdoor in the drama store room and reading people's secrets they had added to the book. And imagine if then you investigated the history of the school and found out that some things related to these secrets had actually come true? Well of course, Lilian and her group test out the book and I loved the part when Lilian put in that she hated carrots and then the next day the entire menu was carrot based! All fun right? Well it is until they go to put the book back and it whispers that it wants one last secret from Lilian. You just know it is going to be bad as you are reading it. But what harm can an imaginary friend do? A lot is the answer and this is the part where I really got hooked into wanting to find out what was going to happen next and also getting anxious about how scary it was going to be!! An absolute triumphant book 2. Do I love this series as much as Aveline? Absolutely I do and it just keeps getting better and better.