Cassidy Blake Victoria Schwab

Guess who’s back! Back with another Victoria aka V.E. Schwab review!

This time we’re in juvenile fiction, a genre of Schwab I’ve yet to explore before now. These are juvenile horror/ghost stories so there’s still plenty of creepy, haunting, and melancholy, but they have consistently happy and satisfying endings, which is not always a given with her stories geared towards older audiences. 

The Cassidy Blake books center around a girl named—you guessed it—Cassidy Blake. In book one, Cassidy is a 12 year old girl who loves taking photographs and hanging out with her friend Jacob, who happens to be a ghost.  Cassidy has been able to see ghosts ever since she almost drowned a year ago and Jacob saved her. She’s gotten pretty adept at hiding her ability but is looking forward to a quiet vacation at the beach, free from ghosts. Until her parents (paranormal investigators— highly interested yet deeply skeptical of the supernatural) announce their book is being turned into a TV show and instead of a quiet vacation, they’ll be filming episodes in the most haunted locations around the world. Surprise! And the best part? Cassidy is coming with them! They set off to Edinburgh, Scotland; the “city of ghosts,” the location of their first episode. Once there, Cassidy finds herself embroiled in ghostly predicaments she can’t tell anyone about, as well as becoming the target of impending danger. Will she be able to escape the danger and put things right, or be lost forever? Read to find out!

I really enjoyed these books, and my mom (who is not very into creepy) really did as well! While aged toward middle grade I thought the writing and plots were well done and interesting, and I highly recommend! They’re fairly short and fast paced which makes them easy to enjoy without setting a lot of time aside. Perfect for kids into creepy and high stakes while still ending well. There is no romance, and the themes around friendship are very sweet. 

Let me know if you read them and what you think. Happy reading!                                                                       -Gen  

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