Review of The House on Bo-Kay Lane by Greta Burroughs

Synopsis:

"House on Bo-Kay Lane" continues the adventure begun in book one in this series, "Gerald and the Wee People". Gerald and Vernon believe their time with the wee people came to an end after they returned to their home world but begin to wonder when strange things started to happen at an abandoned house in their neighborhood. Ghostly images of familiar faces from the wee people village are seen in the windows, echoes of voices from the past haunt the boys’ dreams and an undeniable curiosity draws Gerald and Vernon to investigate the mysterious haunted house. What they find takes them back to the world of the wee people and a new adventure begins. In "House on Bo-Kay Lane", a mirror is found in a forgotten room in the far-seers’ training center. Sheela, a far-seer master and Alyson, an apprentice firestarter are unwillingly drawn into the depths of the mirror and wind up in the abandoned house on Bo-Kay Lane. Sheela uses her telepathic skills to enlist the aid of Gerald, Vernon and Gerald’s father, Andrew to help find the way back to the world of the wee people. That problem resolved, they try to unravel the secrets of the mirror and find that it is a portal between their two worlds, as well as to a time in the future and possibly even to a parallel universe. They also discover that someone is trapped inside the mirror and the decision has to be made as to whether or not to help the trapped soul escape the confines of the portal. Meanwhile, the wee people discover the origins of their world. That knowledge is not well accepted and leads to discord between them and the outworlders, Gerald, Andrew and Vernon. An uneasy truce paves the way to an understanding and acceptance of the unwelcome facts and eventually to a solution of how to deal with the man in the mirror.

My Review:

This book has a great concept and an intriguing storyline. I can imagine the settings because the author put so much effort into designing the world that we could all fall into. I liked the trio of time lines and the hint that things are not always what they seem.

I found two faults with the book. First, this is the kind of book that someone has to read the first book in order to truly understand. It cannot really be read out of sequence. Especially because some of what happened in the first book is truly important in this book. The second fault I had was that it was so long and drawn out.

There were scenes that could have been expounded on and others that the extra wordage did nothing but make me want to skip past them. Sometimes in order to make a story a novel and not a novella, authors will stretch scenes. Unfortunately it doesn't always work in a positive manner for the story. This feels like one of those cases.

I have rated this book 3 out of 5.

About the Author:

Greta Burroughs loves to read. No matter where she is, there is always a book close at hand. Her love of reading began at an early age and blossomed over time to include many different genres, her favorite now being fantasy.
As a preschool and elementary school teacher, Greta tried to instill the joy of reading in the children she worked with. Books were an important part of her classroom and story time was the highlight of the day.
It has been a while since Greta was in a classroom but she had lots of experience in reading to children of various ages and remembers what they enjoyed listening to. She tries to incorporate that knowledge into her work as an author and believes it makes her a better writer of children's and young adult books.
She now resides in SC with her husband, Robert and three dogs. Greta has six books published at the present time; three children's books in the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat series, two MG/YA fantasy entitled "Gerald and the Wee People" and "House on Bo-Kay Lane", and a nonfiction account of her experiences with an autoimmune blood disorder called ITP - "Heartaches and Miracles".
For more information on Greta's books visit http://booksbygretaburroughs.weebly.com/