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Mcgrave’s Hotel by Steve Bryant: 1930’s Floors + A Strong Serving of MG Horror

Hey all, it’s Alexa! This week, I bring an appropriately spooky read as we hit two weeks to Halloween: new Middle Grade historical mystery, Mcgrave’s Hotel by Steve Bryant.

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Description from Cover Reveal:

It’s 1936, and nearly twelve-year-old JAMES ELLIOTT is a bellhop at McGrave’s Hotel, there a year since the night his parents died while on a spy mission into Nazi Germany.

JAMES craves a goodbye message from his parents, but is distracted by troublesome guests who require his help.

Assistance with locating a missing and priceless mummy, wrangling mutant spiders, and attaching the head of a bridegroom is just the kind of hospitality guests have come to expect while at McGrave’s hotel where guests are dying to check in.

But over the course of one frightful evening, James will team with Death’s daughter to fight Nazi sympathizers, monsters, and the undead in this riveting, deathly, historical adventure story unlike any you’ve read before.

Plot:

The interesting thing about this story is that it’s actually not one mystery; there are technically three major ones to be solved throughout the book, as well as a minor conundrum or two. 😉 For a Middle Grade, I thought that was kind of different since they tend to have a lot less going on, but it worked quite well for McGrave’s. It gave the story a taste of an episodic feel, as James would solve one mystery and then directly move on to another, but it also didn’t hurt the flow of the story. In fact, the rise and fall were beautifully executed, plus there were even a few plot twists that took me by surprise. And the ending was perfect. <3.

All-in-all, I’d say it’ll be a really enjoyable for middle grade ages and beyond.

Plot: 4 stars out of 5.

Characters:

James was a freaking spy kid, lol, capable of everything from knot-tying and wilderness survival to instant memorization and some self-defense. He was, as they put it in the book “a boy with skills,”… yet susceptible to the same lapses in judgement which befall any 11-year-old boy when he first comes to realize that “he had always liked girls, but never quite so much as this one.” 😉

At the same time, James never lost his head completely, and his smarts and skills definitely came into play that night to keep the hotel standing and the majority of the guests intact. Reasonably so, anyway.

As for the rest of the characters, many of them weren’t fleshed out quite as much as James, but still, they made the story what it was and I think the whole creepy cast will be fun to follow for MG readers.

Characters: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Writing Style/Setting:

The writing contained a bit more telling than I thought was necessary, however, for the most part it was appropriate for the age group and genre and it still drew me in several places.

Plus, THEM DESCRIPS THOUGH:

Here was someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, and a nation’s queen from the golden era of the pyramids, lying as she once did three thousand years ago under a brilliant Egyptian sun, when she was warmed by hot desert winds, adored by an empire, and guarded by the great crouching limestone lion with a pharaoh’s head.

All hail.

Writing Style/Setting: 4 stars out of 5.

And so we come in just under 4 stars out of 5. Mcgrave’s Hotel was charming, mysterious, and even a little bit creepy; as a teenaged YA reader I enjoyed it for its own merits, and I think kids that age will love it even more. If you’d like to check out a copy for yourself, you can find it on Amazon for $12.86.

So what are your Halloween plans for the end of this month? Got a favorite kids’ hotel or horror story? Can’t wait to hear from you all and I will see you in the comment section!

~ Love Alexa <3

Note: I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

2 Comments


  1. // Reply

    How much fun can a book be? Lots, it seems. I really enjoyed reading your review and the book’s on my TBR list.


    1. // Reply

      Thank you! And awesome; I’d love to hear what you think of it when you read it. 🙂

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