I absolutely loved this book. It has everything. An old house full of weird stuff. An evil secret society. Some spunky kids set on solving a mystery. A strange book full of fairytales that contains clues. And more! I found the story incredibly imaginative and compelling. The kids had their own personalities and conflicts. There was humor and some parts/characters were quite creepy as well. I literally can't wait until the next book is released and I'm not even mad that I didn't realize it was series before I started. ( )

Thirteens is a 2021 Lone Star novel. It's a super quick book to read, under 200 pages and a horror story, which will make it popular with the 6th graders. As y'all know, I don't enjoy horror, so this novel didn't do much for me. It's the first in a series. The cover seems very middle grades to me (grades 3 - 6) and the book proves to be as well.

Eleanor moves in with her aunt and uncle in Eden Eld in the family's old house, Ashford House, a strange mansion full of weirdness. She meets Otto and Pip on her first day at school with Halloween coming up on Saturday. They become fast friends because Eleanor can see the "wrong things" just like Pip and Otto. The townspeople don't see them; if they can be convinced to see them, the people quickly forget and become confused. The town remains perfect, magically. Everything raises questions in Eleanor's mind. Her own house stumps her. One oddity involves the grandfather clock outside her room, which runs backward yet has the correct time if you think about it. I know, odd.

As the week progresses, the kids discover the secret that keeps the town from having problems like other towns. All three of them were born on Halloween and will turn thirteen in a few days. They have that amount of time to solve all the clues Mr. Ashford left and change the future.

It was hard to write about this book because I could tell you about the entire book in a paragraph, but then I would be giving everything away. Truly, not much happens. The adventure, I suppose, will occur in book two. It's a quirky, horror novel mostly detailing the unusual things about the town and the people. The kids meet, you learn about the town and their families; in other words, you are gathering clues. There are talking animals as well as the mystery of Eleanor's parents that add some curiosity. The kids figure out a few things, have a short adventure, and will tackle mystery later after they have more time to think. ( )