This haunting YA thriller fuses modern facets of speculative horror e strange and the mysterious th contemporary digital elements to create a narrative that is sure to keep readers engaged. After being forced to leave the glamour of New York City, Isa can't imagine discovering anything worth her time in small-town life. But her family's new, creepy, gorgeous old mansion with a mind of its own seems certainly haunted, with its eerie, closed-off rooms, hidden artwork, and apparent disapproval of modern technology. When it begins offering Isa the means become an internet fashion influencer, she finds herself pulled into a vortex of its ominous powers. And when the house decides to enact a price d girls start dying a must wonder if that power is worth what it gave her. Laurin weaves a spellbinding story that blends the old and the new in this modern haunted-house tale. Fans of mystery and speculative fiction will eagerly immerse themselves in discovering the truth about the artist's muse who died in Isa's new home.

A teen's identity becomes entangled with social media fame when she moves to a remote mansion with a troubling history in this thriller.Sixteen-year-old Isabella is crestfallen to leave her Brooklyn home for a small town in Massachusetts when her parents take positions at a college that includes lodging in an ornate old house that was inhabited by Isabella Granger, an artist's model and muse from the early 1900s. An aspiring actor, Isabella is naturally disappointed to not only be leaving her best friend, Eve, but that Eve will assume her starring role in the school's production. However, her initial feelings of foreboding about the eerie house give way to appreciation and more after her new friend, Alexa, convinces her to allow her to photograph and post images of Isabella in the house dressed in clothing and jewelry left behind by Granger that the two girls discover in a hidden storage room. Divided into four parts and riffing heavily on The Picture of Dorian Gray, this mashup of spiritual possession and obsessive social media attention-seeking creates an air of discomfit that is lengthily sustained by creepy but obvious jump scares involving mirrors, shadowy figures, and unexplored rooms. It's familiar territory and wraps up with quite a few loose ends, though the exploration of the psychological allure of going viral is interesting. All main characters read as White.Atmospheric but predictable; one for die-hard fans of haunted-house stories. (Thriller. 13-18)

Gr 7-10 Isabella "Isa" Brixton is horrified to learn she will be moving from Brooklyn to the tiny college town of Amory, Massachusetts. Her parents were offered jobs too good to pass up and despite Isa's protests, the family relocates to a giant old home once owned by a wealthy socialite. Isabella Granger was widely known for her beauty. Testament to her popularity are the portraits of Granger covering many of the walls in the worn-down mansion. At first, Isa is too busy feeling sorry for herself to embrace her new community, especially when she realizes Eve, her best friend back in Brooklyn, has taken her coveted leading lady role. Thanks to the notoriety of the Granger mansion, Isa quickly attracts curious fans. When one of her new classmates, Alexa, suggests they take pictures at the famous mansion to post on Instagram, Isa reluctantly allows her to come over and post pictures of her. As Isa's Instagram fame grows, so does her personality and appearance. She becomes so obsessed with greedily sucking in more followers that she can't see she has become possessed by Granger. Only the main characters are fleshed out. Isa comes across as spoiled and entitled even before she is possessed. Suspense is consistent throughout, and readers will have a hard time putting the book down. The race of the characters is not clearly stated. VERDICT Hand to fans of Mary Downing Hahn, Peg Kehret, and Dan Poblocki. Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elem. Sch., Gastonia, NC