Jennifer AllisonRecensioni

Mystery

Trust Gilda Joyce, psychic investigator, to encounter a ghost even while she's an intern at the Spy Museum in Washington, D. C. I thoroughly enjoyed Gilda finding herself doing the same thing to children that she's hated having adults do to her while she was their counselor for spy camp week. (Yes, she's young, but she was the only volunteer when circumstances left the museum short one counselor.)

The ghost of Abraham Lincoln proves helpful when a woman's ghost seeks justice. The villain of this book is a true villain who deserves what he gets.

Signed by the author.

Advance copy. Signed by Jennifer Allison.

Signed by Jennifer Allison.

Signed by Jennifer Allison.

Advance copy.

Thirteen-year-old Gilda Jones randomly tells a lie to her class that she'll be spending the summer in San Francisco, so she has to finagle a way to get herself there. By luck, she manages to get herself invited to the home of a distant relative who lives in ... San Francisco. But there's a dark secret lurking in that great home, and rumors of ghosts haunting the place. Gilda, who thinks herself a psychic (as well as a novelist and several other things), is determined to find some answers.

Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with this book. There's very little redeeming about it; I'm surprise it received any positive reviews and that it spawned a series of books. Gilda is an annoying character who doesn't learn or grow at all as the book progresses. At times, she seems much younger than her 13 years, which gives the impression that this book is for younger kids. However, the subject matter seems more fitting for older kids, including passing remarks about pornography, teen mothers, etc. It also mocks those with physical disabilities, and the limited attempts at diverse characters end up being rather stereotypical (e.g., a Latina housekeeper who makes hot tamales).

At the crux of the book is a 'mystery' (not a particularly compelling or well-resolved one, with its anticlimactic conclusion) that involves mental illness and suicide. This book does NOT at all deal with these topics in deft manner. It is rather flippant about a lot of it and provides too easy solutions. For instance, here's some advice provided to a teenager struggling with anxiety and depression: "Whenever you feel really down, do what your cousin Gilda does and make a peanut butter, chocolate syrup, and banana sandwich." That's right, kids, EAT YOUR FEELINGS and you'll be alright.

The audiobook narrator did a decent job of providing a number of distinct accents and voices, but that wasn't enough to save this book.½

I enjoy books for younger readers. Sometimes I find I can indulge my inner child and just take it as it comes. However, whilst this book was okay, it wasn't enthralling. I wanted it to be. But it didn't quite make it for me. A younger reader will probably love it, but I don't think I'll be reading more in this series. I might, just to see how the next book goes, but not right now.

Fun teen mystery. I'm not sure if I hate Gilda or like her - the author makes it clear that she isn't quite as smart as she thinks she is. That kind of makes me root for Gilda and get mad at the author. I don't like laughing behind people's backs.

13-year-old Gilda Joyce has been working on her psychic skills ever since the death of her father. She heads to San Francisco for the summer to stay with a relative and tries to solve the mystery of a terrible family secret and the ghost who is haunting the family.

Just finished it for the second time. Reminds me of why I loved the Nancy Drew series when I was younger. Gilda is more of a cross between Nancy and Harriet the Spy, though. She's very spunky and quirky!

Almost-fifteen-year-old psychic investigator Gilda Joyce interns for the summer at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and solves a mystery involving national security.

Juliet starts out listless. Lester starts out clueless. The ghost starts out formless. All of these characters grow and change as a result of being around Gilda, and Gilda grows just a little bit herself. I liked this book quite a bit. I liked the author's skillful presentation of depression and the way families deal with (or don't deal with) it. I liked Gilda's determination and the fact that while I didn't always like her actions or the words she let out of her mouth, I still liked her and was rooting for her. I plan to read more books about Gilda Joyce and look forward to watching her continued growth.

It's the end of her eight-grade year, and Gilda Joyce is dreaming of adventure. Her best friend will be away at camp for the summer, and other classmates are looking forward to vacations and fun. When her teacher asks Gilda what she will be doing over the summer, Gilda impulsively announces that she will be traveling to San Francisco and writing a novel. Of course, she had no such plans up until the words came out of her mouth, but it does sound like an excellent idea. Gilda contacts a distant cousin of her mother's and invites herself on a visit, and through a series of mishaps and miscommunications, she gets a letter back with not only an invitation, but a plane ticket that will get her there. Once she arrives in San Francisco, she discovers that her uncle's old house, one of San Francisco's famous "Painted Ladies," was once the scene of a tragedy. Could the house be haunted? Gilda considers herself a psychic investigator, and she is determined to discover any mysteries that the house, and the people who live in it, may be hiding.

I know Gilda is supposed to be funny and feisty, but she mostly had me rolling my eyes. Of course, I'm not the target audience, and tweens might find Gilda's quirky, impulsive style more appealing. The book does occasionally touch on dark themes like mental illness and suicide, and there are a few spooky scenes as one might expect from a book about paranormal investigation, but all in all the tone is light and amusing. I won't be continuing with the series, as I find the protagonist so annoying, but if I run across tweens or young teens looking for light paranormal fare, I'll know what to hand them.

I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinons expressed here are my own.

This is the second book in the new Iggy Loomis series by Jennifer Allison. Iggy and his brother Daniel live next door to a family of aliens. Allistair is Daniel's new best friend. Unfortunately something happened while Daniel and his brother were visiting Allistair and now when Iggy gets upset or super excited, he turns into a bug or his buggy parts start to appear. They have been able to control it most of the time. Iggy is super excited because Allistair has a cool pet. They go to see it and find out it is a hagfish. This is not what most humans would have as a pet. Unfortunately things in their life start to go really bad when Iggy drops Shirley the hagfish into the toilet and flushes it. This is a fun book to read. You keep wondering how they are going to get out of each situation without getting caught. You keep wondering what Iggy is going to turn into next. I would strongly suggest that you take this fun ride with Iggy and the gang and read this series now. Start you new year off right with a great book.

Jennifer Allison has done a great job in this last book in the Gilda Joyce series. First she set it in one of my favorite places in Florida, St. Augustine. This was the perfect setting to put Gilda in. Gilda’s mom is acting strange and Gilda knows it involves a man. She is not impressed with anything except the fact that the man owns a shop with vintage clothing. This is Gilda’s all time favorite thing. Gilda and her mom fly to Florida for the upcoming wedding. She is to be joined by her brother at a later date. Once he arrives they learn that things are not what they seem. They stumble into trouble that could cost them their lives. Can they help solve a mystery from long ago. You’ve got to read this to find out what Gilda comes up with and how she solves this mystery. This book is full of the fun and mystery that is one hundred percent Gilda Joyce. For me it was full of the history of St. Augustine. Jennifer definitely did her research on this one. If nothing else maybe this will entice the reader to come to St. Augustine to check out some of the wonderful history and maybe even check out a ghost or two. Definitely one of my favorite of her books.

This series just keeps getting better. I've read all but the last Gilda Joyce mystery and I haven't been disappointed yet. In this latest installment Gilda heads to Washington, DC to intern at the Spy Museum. While there Gilda is plagued by nightmares and feels that she is being drawn into a mystery involving some KGB artifacts that were donated to the museum. Great pacing and a plot that kept me guessing until the last page. It seems like Gilda grew up a bit in this volume and she seems to be more self aware. Jennifer Allison did a wonderful job researching this book and all the bits of DC history made the story even more captivating. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. 4 stars

I've had a blast reading Jennifer Allison's "Gilda Joyce" series.Now she's started a wonderful elementary series. Her main characters are wonderfully, funny kids. Daniel has just learned that his younger brother Iggy will be moved into his room. The reason is that he broke his crib. Iggy shared a room with his sister Dottie. She doesn’t want Iggy to move out since they’ve been together all their life. Iggy is ecstatic about the move. His older brother knows Iggy will break things that don’t belong to him. Iggy isn’t in Daniels room any time before he climbs onto the top bunk and in a tug of war over one of Daniel’s toys the mother and father come in. Daniel loses his toys to the gobblebox. The gobblebox is a box where toys are placed until the parents feel the kids have earned the back.

We also meet two other characters. Chauncey has been Iggy’s friend for a long time. However, I found him to be rude and obnoxious. He is not allowed to eat candy yet he goes to Daniel’s house and eats as many sweets as he can find, even rummaging through Daniel’s moms purse to get some gum. He is a trouble maker and blames Daniel for things he does, and gets Daniel in trouble.
Daniel's new neighbor Alistair is a strange kid. He collects bugs, can make toys fly and only eats broccoli. Daniel likes him even though he acts weird and they become friends. But, Alistair has a secret. While Daniel and Alistair are supposed to be watching Iggy he gets into Allistair’s backpack and eats some of his bug specimens. This is going to cause more trouble for everyone involved.

Kids are going to love this book. The drawings are charming, the story line carries you along so much that you don’t want to put it down. I could picture kids reading the book and thinking, “yeah that’s just like my brother.” There will be so many ways they will connect with this book. This is only the first book in the series. I am looking forward to reading more.

Another great volume in the Gilda Joyce series! The Ghost Sonata follows Gilda and her best friend, Wendy Choy's antics at a piano competition in Oxford, England. As usual Gilda is up to her usual tricks with her fashion forward wardrobe and acerbic wit. Although the story had plenty of humor it was the creepiest of the Gilda books I've read so far. If you haven't checked out this series yet don't delay any longer!

Gilda Joyce :Physic Investigator was a fun quirky little mystery. Gilda is a outspoken but good hearted heroine. After managing to invite herself to her distant cousins home in San Francisco for the summer she finds herself involved in a mystery. Gilda manages to solve the mystery with her own personal style and plenty of humor.½

When Gilda finishes up eighth grade, she has a few things she needs to do over the summer. Number one - continue furthering her career as a psychic investigator. Number two - find a way to get to San Fransisco. Number three - write a novel. Gilda has set herself up for failure until she gets the chance to visit long lost family in California with a big mystery to solve about an aunt's suicide.

This book is spooky and clever. I enjoyed the realistic-ness of Gilda and Juliet's friendship as well as the bumps in the night that kept me guessing. This would be perfect for tween readers...but it touches on a lot of heavy topics (death of a parent, suicide - both attempts and carried out) so it is not a light read.

This the second book I have read in the Gilda Joyce series and I'm hooked. I enjoyed the first book, but I loved, loved, loved The Ladies of the Lake. Gilda is an absolute HOOT! She has no "internal editor" and just says whatever pops in her head which often has disastrous yet humorous results.

In this latest book in the series, Gilda has been accepted into the exclusive private school, Our Lady of the Lake. She wasn't all the excited about attending the school until she found out that a student had drowned in the lake and that there might be a paranormal mystery to solve. Gilda is also dealing with her mom's new boyfriend and she is not happy about her mother dating.

If you enjoy spunky heroines, mysteries and humor than pick up your copy of Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake today.

This was a cute book. Even though a character had previously committed suicide the book was kind of a light, funny read. This really is for Tweens. Older teens would probably be bored.

(I listened to this through Audible Audiobooks.)

First off, I'm very glad that audible kept the same reader for this book as for the previous one in the series. I really do wish that Audible would release them all on audio, as the reader does an excellent job and somehow manages to perfectly capture the tone and cadence of a junior-high student -- not to mention all the accents and quirks of speech for the other characters, many of whom are from countries like India, Russia, China, and Scotland. Much applause for reader Jessica Almasy!

As for the story itself, I'm afraid that I didn't enjoy this installment of the series nearly as much as I'd enjoyed The Ladies of the Lake. In this book, Gilda's friend Wendy is invited to participate in an international piano competition in Oxford, England... and of course, Gilda manages to finagle her way into joining Wendy at the competition as her official "page turner". Once they arrive, Wendy starts hearing and seeing some strange things, and it seems like she's being haunted by a local ghost. Naturally, this is Gilda's area of expertise, and she gets right to work.

That said, there's a different feel to this book than the previous one I'd read, in that this book actually requires you to suspend disbelief and accept that there has been, without question, supernatural influence. In other words (and I'm trying to make this as un-spoilery as possible), there really is a ghost (but you already knew that from the third chapter or so), as opposed to The Ladies of the Lake (though I wonder about the other books in this series?), where there's a perfectly logical explanation for everything.

I like a good ghost story as much as the next person, but part of this series' charm for me was Gilda's unwavering belief in ghosts and her psychic abilities... even though the reader knows that it's not exactly real, and gets to see everything play out with logic and reasoning.