Rating: 7 out of 10

I reread this in college after reading it for the first time in 6th grade. I don't know why, but this book has always stuck with me. Still just as good as I remember it being!

This book was an action packed fast paced read that I found similar to books such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and other great series. In books like these it is a series of potentially dangerous situations that keep the characters moving along and going towards the finale of the book.

The main characters are Cordelia, Elinor and Brendan, three siblings who move into a new house after their father loses his job and has to move them into a big and scary house. They have only been there a few days when they are cursed by the daughter of the houses builder who sends the three main character inside one of her fathers books. They encounter a wide range of dangerous scenarios and meet a whole host of different characters in their attempt to get back to their parents.

There are a lot of secondary characters in this book but the most noteworthy one for me is Will the character in the book that they are trapped inside of, an army guy locked inside the book and unaware of the outside world. He provides a lot of pop culture references and a character for Cordelia to have a crush on, he also helps the three main characters in their adventure.

The storyline is very much an adventure story like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson where one thing leads to another. The pacing was good as it was extremely fast paced and quick moving with each situation leading to another.

4 stars a good read

Maybe it was just the readers voice but I found the little girls voice annoying and her character lacking. The deus ex machina at the end seemed a bit Hollywood.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, read it in one day. It's full of adventure and mystery and I'm really excited to see where the story goes in the next books! I'm not sure if it fits into Junior, Middle Grade, or YA, because there is violence but it still feels lighthearted. Overall, it's a fun read, and I would recommend it.

House of Secrets? More like House of Boredom. Yeah, I know, not funny, just like this book.

I like middle grade. I believe reading from a child's perspective can be quite interesting. Pity I can't say the same for this character.

The story follows three siblings who are thrown into a world of pirates and witches and I'm too lazy to continue. Anyway, I love books about siblings. Seeing their relationship and their dynamics are fun and enjoyable. But House of Secrets made me hate each and every character.

Eleanor. Possibly the best out of them, but still shit. She is supposed to be 7/8 years(I don't even remember anymore) and doesn't act like her age. I don't have much to say about her. She just felt annoying. It was meh.

Cordelia. She is the oldest of them (15 years) Well, the thing that bothered me the most about her was her sexist bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I strongly support feminism. The thing that bothered me was her relationship with a character which, honestly I will not name, not because of spoilers but because I can't stand him and writing his name means that I remember him. The thing is, this character is sexist and Cordelia is always reproaching him about the sexist stuff he says, but then she falls in love! Are you kiddin! Plus, she is a victim of the so terryfing instalove. Girl, wake up! He is not worth it!!!

Brendan. I'm trying to contain myself writing about him. One of the most annoying/childish/boring characters I have ever read. Seriously, this kid is the personfication of the things I hate. Every now and then he would attempt to say something funny, which I guess should make me laugh, but instead would make me roll my eyes.

But the reason I felt so disconnected to the characters is that there are scarce thoughts. Let me explain. In my opinion, one of the reasons a book is better than a movie is the possibility of exploring the character's mind and thus, connecting in a deeper way to the character. In the case of House of Secrets, it's just events. Like a movie. That's the problem. It doesn't work as a book. Maybe it could work as a movie, and seeing that one of the authors is the director of the first three Harry Potter movies, I was expecting much more.

Now, let's talk about magic system and world building. There's none of that. That's all. Just magic scattered all over the place. No effort.

And lastly, the plot. I mean, It wasn't bad? But I was so done with the book after reading page 250 (More or less) that my mind automatically forgot most of it after finishing it. I would have DNFed it but I want to finish my Goodreads Challenge and I was 200 pages in, and I do not believe that DNFing a book around 50/60% should count as ended. Maybe 75%. Don't know. Anyhow, a quick shout out to my sister for lending it (In her defense, she had read it when she was a kid and didn't remember much when she recommended it to me)

ehhh. that's all I can think of.

I felt like the House of Secrets pacing was off. It was either super fast paced and exciting or it was very slow and hard for me to even continue reading. I enjoyed the overall storyline. However I wish the story was better paced with a little less craziness going on.

I feel like I've read this before. Of course, I haven't, because it would be on here if I did, but children getting thrown into the pages of a book is not a new idea. The standard childhood bad guys are here as well: mean witch, pirates, and vicious fighting types. Nothing really sets this apart, which is unfortunate because it started off well. I enjoyed the nerdy bookish character and the inattentive video game playing character. The new house sounded interesting, and the repopulating bookshelves, but almost from the very first moment they were thrown into the books I lost focus. It turned from something potentially substantial and realistic to something silly and very stereotypical. The younger character got on my nerves more and more, and the cheesiness kept getting worse. A big bad book that you can only get by being selfish wasn't the breaking point for me though, I think it was the pirates. I knew since the first mention of a pirate book that the characters would eventually be sent to sea and that pirates would be involved, so I dreaded it the entire time and only hoped it would be short. Well, it wasn't. House of Secrets wasn't terrible, but it's definitely a kids book. I didn't previously think you had to be young to enjoy these types of books, but maybe you do, this just feels somewhat flat and predictable to me.