(2) 4-6 This spooky, dark, and utterly delicious tale begins with a bang: protagonist Garnet is vomiting up frogs, a pestilence that will ease only when she returns to Crossroad House, the house her mother grew up in and fled, vowing never to return. The occasion is a fraught one. Family patriarch Jasper Carrefour is dying, and the last time he was seriously ill, two decades ago in 1998, a wing of the house burned down, four family members were killed, two were gravely injured, and another girl went missing. The suspicion is that Jasper recovered by stealing each one's life force. At Crossroad House, Garnet learns the reason for her mother's self-imposed exile: a cousin foresaw Garnet's disappearance while visiting ruins on the grounds of Crossroad House. Unable to leave this magically enforced family reunion until Jasper "transitions," Garnet promises to avoid the ruins, but with the house itself playing tricks, her promise might be difficult to keep. Building on a family where element-based magic is commonplace (Garnet and her mother work with stones; others wield weather, plants, or even fire), Salerni sustains an atmosphere of menace through a death, several near-fatal accidents, and revelations of other ancestors' fates that Garnet learns about through a newfound talent for time-walking that connects her to her great-great-grandmother and the missing girl from 1998. Interconnected ­mysteries keep readers turning pages, and when they all converge, the payoff is spine-chilling and satisfying.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) 4-6 Jadie Martin isn't your typical thirteen-year-old. In her spare time she hops out of three-dimensional space and reenters elsewhere to make tiny but ­consequential "course corrections" to the fate of humankind as ordered by the Seers, ­­super-intelligent beings from a higher dimension. One day she comes across some startling information about the family who (supposedly) abandoned her as an infant before she was rescued by her adoptive parents. Jadie learns that, rather than rejecting her, her birth family loves her very much, but the Seers seem focused on orchestrating a string of bad luck for them far beyond what chance would dictate. Could the Seers have misled everyone about their true intentions? Inspired by Flatland, the 1884 novella by Edwin Abbott Abbott, which imagined two-dimensional beings encountering a three-dimensional shape, Salerni threads a healthy dose of theoretical physics through the plot line, which should please young sci-fi fans. Well-earned reversals in the developing action will keep less mathematically minded readers engaged, while refreshingly un-clichéd characterization steers the narrative clear of tired tropes. While many middle-grade novels ask "What if...?" Jadie's adventures give the question real teeth.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) 4-6 In an alternate-universe 1898 New York City, cousins Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt unite to solve the mystery of the ghost who has recently "erupted" in their aunt Bye's house. Here ghost eruptions are common; professional diagnosticians determine if spirits are Friendlies, Unawares, or Vengefuls. The one haunting Aunt Bye's house is initially categorized as a Friendly--so why the vicious pranks, the cruel auditory hallucinations, the attempted poisoning of Aunt Bye, and worse? Salerni skillfully incorporates facts about the extended Roosevelt family (Theodore's grief over his first wife's death; the burgeoning romance between Eleanor and Franklin) into a lively and inventive ghost story/mystery/historical fiction mashup. Chapters alternate between Eleanor's and Alice's point of views, allowing readers insight into each young woman's thoughts, emotions, and personality. Introverted and awkward, Eleanor longs to continue her education in London and escape life with her oppressive Grandmother Hall; daring, self-confident, outrageously misbehaving Alice misses the mother she never knew and longs for her distant father's attention. Initially not at all close, the two bond over their shared mission to solve the mystery and dispatch the ghost, and in so doing uncover a second haunting and a dark family secret. Although the novel is engrossing right from the start, tensions build very quickly to a thrilling, Ghostbusters-esque climax, and readers will never think about FDR in quite the same way again after seeing him swing an iron poker at a ghost--though in fact it is Eleanor and Alice who finish the job. Who you gonna call? An author's note provides additional information about the Roosevelt family.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(4) 4-6 Complicated alliances and feuds paired with mythologies both original and Arthurian make this third time-slip novel (The Eighth Day; The Inquisitor's Mark) challenging to navigate. Thirteen-year-old "Transitioner" Jax works with sisters Addie and Evangeline to defeat the Kin, defend everyone against the Morrigan, and cope with powerful ancient treasures. Salerni satisfyingly ties up most loose ends but leaves room for more sequels.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) 4-6 Long-lost relatives kidnap one of Jax's friends and threaten his loyalties to both his mentor and liege lady. In her loosely Arthurian, time-slip fantasy world, Salerni provocatively presents an eighth day in each week that only the select ("Transitioners") can experience and use, but too many characters with myriad complications muddle the clever premise in this sequel to The Eighth Day.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) 4-6 Jax's discovery that he is a "Transitioner"--someone who involuntarily moves once a week between the timeline of the regular world and an alternate eight-day-week timeline--opens up a realm of secret powers, alliances, and responsibilities that stretch back to the days of King Arthur. Jax's confusion as he struggles to discern friend from foe is tangible in this original, complex adventure novel.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) YA When Verity returns to rural Pennsylvania in 1867 for an arranged marriage, she's met with old family secrets, unexpected suitors, and plenty of hostility. Most upsetting, however, is the discovery that her long-deceased mother was buried in unhallowed ground in a "caged grave." As vigorous, intelligent Verity investigates the mysterious burial, she unearths old crimes and new plots. A fresh, compelling history-imbued story.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac