This One is for you Lynette

A find, a treasure, a gem, a happy surprise. That's what I thought when I started reading this book. It was listed as a B&N pick, and I don't always trust those, cuz well not everyone's opinion is the same as mine. But like I've mentioned before a cover can really sell a book, and this one grabbed me.

Then after reading the back and finding out it was set in Wales, and was a mystery of sorts I thought - sounds good to me. What I didn't know was the premise the Author had used. Ransom Riggs is a genius! He is an avid collector of old photos, like the kind you'd find at a swap meet or garage sale. He wrote this story around his collection (and others) of photos. Some of the photos are screaming to tell a story, and he was able to put it all together. On his blog he has a whole post about how photos speak to him, also on his blog is a trailer - HE MADE - of his book. He traveled all over Europe to get old footage of creaky homes and villages. It's really great. Another thing about this book I discovered is the the movie rights were bought before the book even hit the shelves!

So there are two things I wasn't happy about. #1 It left no doubt that there will be another book. Just once I'd like an author to write a story that can stand on its own, I understand that 3 books make more money that 1, but really.... it stresses me out to have to wait a whole year for book 2 to come out then another year for it to make it to paperback. What if i loose interest by then, hu? What about that? #2 the book to movie idea... that can either be awesome, or disastrous, especially if they try to push it out really fast (Eragon anyone?) so fingers crossed.

Other than that, I had a lot of fun with it and it was a page turner. The photos were amazing there were over 50 and I got excited every time one came up.