(4) 4-6 Mary, a Nantucket ghost, and a group of local children struggle to save the island's centuries-old homes--and the spirits who inhabit them--from demolition. The novel is slow to pick up steam and narrative shifts can be jarring. That said, Balliett masterfully builds a sense of place with lyrical details ("Rafters and corner posts shiver in their sudden nudity"), and a surprise ending is satisfying.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(3) YA Seventeen-year-old Ren is spending the summer nannying for a family on Nantucket, far from her London home. It's a summer of danger (for the second year, a foreign nanny is murdered) and romance (Ren's torn between rich, charming Jeremy and bad boy Jesse and his "Abercrombie chest"). This addictive, Gossip Girl–esque read is full of secrets, parties, privilege, passion, and suspense.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) YA Cricket is back on Nantucket, waitressing to save money for Brown in the fall and nursing a broken heart. Tenuously reunited with Jules and bunking with unconventional Liz, Cricket reevaluates her priorities: perhaps the Ivy League isn't her dream, after all. Nantucket Blue's fans will eagerly follow Cricket as she resolves to find out in this enjoyable, beach-ready follow-up.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(4) 4-6 Nancy Drew Diaries series. In the sixth and seventh mysteries in this iteration of the franchise, Nancy, Bess, and George are on a camping trip in Mystic Lake Park that turns nightmarish from unexplained happenings; then the trio is on Nantucket, but acts of sabotage at the nautical museum derail their vacation plans. Nancy Drew aficionados will delight in the formulaic twists, red herrings, and cliffhanger chapter endings. Review covers these Nancy Drew Diaries titles: The Phantom of Nantucket and Secret at Mystic Lake.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) YA Lacrosse-champ Cricket Thompson has always been welcomed by her best friend Jules's affluent family. But when Nina, Jules's mother, dies suddenly, big changes ensue. Expecting her usual warm reception, Cricket shows up at Jules's family home on Nantucket to find herself shunned. There's some emotional heaviness to the story, but it's also a breezy, beach-ready tale of self-awakening and first love.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(4) YA Shy Helen tries to hide her preternatural size, strength, and beauty. But when the equally extraordinary Delos family comes to Nantucket, Helen discovers her true heritage: she is a scion of Greek demigods, fated to love and destroy fellow scion Lucas. Angelini's ungainly prose rarely interferes with the compulsion to turn the pages of this romance brimming with battles and urgent sexual tension.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(4) 4-6 Living in Nantucket in the 1820s, Arthur Cooper was a real escaped slave who was pursued by slave catchers. Stowe's novel focuses on the fictional ten-year-old Phebe Folger, who befriends Arthur and his wife, Mary, who works for the Folgers. With this rich historical background, it's a shame the story of the real Coopers wasn't developed more.

Reviewer: Kristen Oravec

(2) 4-6 New jacket art by Edward Gorey perfectly suits these reissues of Aiken's take-offs on nineteenth-century melodrama.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: October, 1966