Book Review: "Greenglass House"

Let me start off by saying I kept putting this book off… for months.  I had no idea what it was about, but for whatever reason, I wouldn’t crack the spine.  And I’m so sorry I didn’t read it for so long!  It’s a great mystery with unexpected surprises, quirky characters, and a plot that made me not want to put it down!
Milo’s parents run an inn, commonly used by smugglers, but it’s the first night of winter vacation and Milo is excited for a little quiet time – just him and his parents, that is, until the doorbell rings.  Before he knows it, the inn is filled with unexpected guests each sharing a story that is somehow connected to the old inn.  As the story unfolds, you learn more about Milo, specifically his feelings about his own adoption, his birth family, and his adopted family.  It’s not the main focus of the book, but it does come up fairly regularly, making it a great book about diversity as well.
This is a great mystery for boys and girls alike in middle grades – although it’s fairly long at 375 pages, it has an interesting storyline with, like I said, really quirky characters, each with a rich background story  and somehow they are all intertwined with the history of the inn.
Learn more about the author by visiting her website!
I’m going to try and start doing something new that I picked up from The Sharp-Schu Book Club: a 140-character book synopsis.  So here it goes:
“Milo must solve the mystery of his home, an inn called Greenglass House after learning about its history from a cast of quirky characters.”
Title: Greenglass House
Author: Kate Milford
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: 2014
Page Number: 376 pgs.