Adventure, magic, humor, and talking animals, what more could you want in a kids book. Forget kids, what more could you want in any book? This book has all of that plus the mystery of who is good and who is bad. The best part about having some mystery to this book is the knowledge that answers are going to come as you read. Not everything is revealed at once, just little pieces at a time. I know that there is a second book out now, and I can't wait to see what happens next. This is a fun book for all ages. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to enjoy a good mystery with magic thrown in.

This book was fantastic! I enjoy reading middle grade and childrens books because I am a substitute teacher and like to read the books before I make them available to my children in class and my son at home. Fun fun adventure the whole way through.

Lucy Goodly is a perfect gambling buddy, she never loses. With the help of a blank, magic card she can win every hand--though she sometimes loses on purpose... to throw off suspicion, of course. One night, after watching her parents lose a few hands to an unsuspecting grumpy looking older man, named Lord Grave, Lucy is called into play. The stakes are made high, though--if Lucy wins her family will bet set for a long time, if Lord Grave wins she becomes his new boot girl--indefinitely.

Knowing that she never loses the bet seems easy. As she changes the cards in her favor mid game she thinks that she has won--until, in the split second after, the cards change again and this time in Lord Grave's favor!

As she walks into her new life she notices oddities around the Grave Manor, oddities that correlate with the missing children mentioned in the Penny Dreadful. Is Lord Grave and his strange guests a part of it?

This was an excellent middle grade book! The artwork is wonderful as well. I kept thinking about how much it reminded me, a bit, of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I am glad I had a chance to read this one, but I have to say that I can't read any further than 25%.

There were just too many things going on in the story with NO explanation as of yet. Instead it just keeps throwing new things in my face without any regards of giving me a reason why. Oh here, this girl stole a magical card from someone who tried to kidnap her, this Lord also seems to have such a card, this Lord also has a zoo at home, there are kidnappings going on, oh yes, and did I mention our latest magical adventure? Suddenly out of nowhere came a carriage and 2 horses with wings... No one could see them except our MC. Whut? Why?

I am quite sure that eventually the answers will pop up, but my head is hurting already a great deal today, and I am not looking forward to giving my head even more pain.

The art is great, then again it is Becka Moore.

I may try this book again in paperback, it wouldn't be the first time I hated the ebook but loved a paperback or hardcover.