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Book: “The Whisperwood Legacy” by Jo Schulte
Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, May 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: e-ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Welcome to Whisperwood, a sprawling theme park nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where thrilling rides and picture-perfect scenery bring cult-classic fairy tales to life. Or at least they did until eighteen months ago, when the family matriarch, Virginia Strauss, suddenly shut Whisperwood’s gates and the beloved park was left to wither away along with the family’s dwindling fortune.
For seventeen-year-old Frankie Strauss, Whisperwood’s closure has been a blessing in disguise. After seeing three generations of wealth’s corrupting influence, she is more than ready to shed the Strauss-family’s gilded handcuffs.
But when Virginia goes missing, Frankie realizes that her family might be guilty of something much worse than mere dysfunction. With the help of the mysterious and handsome groundskeeper, Jem, Frankie sifts through a web of near truths and outright lies, uncovering a reality where nothing is as it seems and fairy tales aren’t just real—they’re deadly.
Review: I live ever in hope that I will find a contemporary fantasy novel that I will connect with. It’s an entire subgenre of fantasy that I often struggle to fully appreciate. That said, I was excited by the concept of this one, especially by its creepy carnival cover! Alas, yet again, I find that I’m perhaps just not the correct reader for these books.
Let’s start with a few positives. While the story starts off weaker, things do begin to improve towards the middle point when some of the fantasy elements begin kicking in more fully. That said, it’s quite a wait to get to this portion, and I think the book would have been better served to have more carefully balanced the two halves and styles of the story. The fantasy aspects were also pretty wacky. This is a good and bad thing, I guess. On one hand, I was left with a strong sense of “what the heck is even happening” through much of it. But on the other, once we got into the back half of the book, it was easier to become more invested in finishing if just because I wanted to see what crazed situation would happen next.
However, this is definitely one of those YA fantasy novels that leans heavily in the YA direction. Of course, this is written for teens, so that isn’t a criticism on its own. However, many YA fantasy readers are adults, and there are way too many stereotypical YA fantasy tropes to be found here for it to be scalable to an older audience. For one thing, the romance struck heavily of instalove, with almost no attempt made for it to be given any further depth. There was also a heavy reliance on what I felt were fairly cringing modern references. Again, I’m not a teen, so maybe these will hit home better with this audience. But I have to say, this is the kind of style choice in writing that will quickly date this book, even by the standards of those who may enjoy it now.
However, while much of the writing and characterization felt very juevenile, there was also a lot of swearing, especially by one character in particular. Now, I’m no wilting flower, but it does leave me and others who recommend books in an odd position. Due to the simplistic nature of the book itself, I don’t think adults or even older teens are going to connect with it. However, I’d also feel a bit uncomfortable recommending it to middle graders, what with some of these language choices.
It was just an odd book, all told. If I had been left to my own devices, I probably would have DNF’d this one, but I always want to give a book I’ve received an ARC for my full attention through the end. This may work for some younger teen readers, but I don’t think it will connect to many readers beyond that. Perhaps, ultimately, this will best work for readers looking for a current version of “Goosebumps” or something of that ilk.
Rating 6: Overall, this read as very young even for a YA book and fell into too many tropes to have much new to over to the genre.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Whisperwood Legacy” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2025.
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