15-year-old Julianna parents haven't been getting along since her father's architecture career started taking up all his time. Her mother decides to renew her neglected art career with a change -- moving back to England. Her three adopted Californian children aren't excited about leaving their father and schools, but they make the best of it. However, they have hardly arrived in Blackthorn before one of their new acquaintances -- an art school friend their mother had just gotten back in touch with -- is murdered. Locals are happy to pin the crime on the town "lager lout," Simon, but Julianna can't help but recall that practically everyone she's meet so far has expressed a wish to kill selfish, rude Liza. And when she starts investigating, it is clear that someone has something to hide. But is it Liza's murder, or an older secret?This nice solid, traditional small-town murder mystery, of the sort where almost everyone has a motive for doing away with the unpleasant victim, or for lying to keep secrets. Reiss adds a nice twist by combining this with the (again, traditional and well-executed) YA themes of identity, familial change, and growing up. Repeated nosy questions about her adoption and "real" parents cause Julianna to wonder anew about the birth mother she can't remember, but who may have been British. What happened to her? Why can't Julianna, who was adopted at age 5, remember anything from her earlier life? Is she about to lose her second dad as well? And does that cute red-headed boy next door have a girlfriend?Julianna's personal life and the mystery fit together very naturally and believably, although a couple elements were a bit too coincidental. Reiss does a great job giving minor characters depth, and I especially liked that the nine-year-old siblings were realistic kids with differing interests rather than the usual precocious or bratty cardboard-cut-out kids. Will definitely look for more by this author.
This book is awesome! It pretty much has all the elements that I love in a story: it's a murder mystery with a teenaged girl who solves it and there's lots of danger and suspense. There's lots of suspects, too, and of course, the least expected person is the guilty one. It also has a sub- mystery involving the heroine's adoption and her amnesia of the events in her early life. And a huge plus is that the book takes place in England in a gloomy little village with ruins of a castle on the hill! This is sort of a young adult gothic. Fifteen year-old Juliana isn't happy when her parents agree to a trial separation and she and her younger brother and sister, both 9 and born on the same day but not twins, move to the sleepy little English village of Blackthorn with their mother so that her mother can take up her painting again. England is so different from California and Juliana misses her father terribly. A plus is when she meets Duncan, the red-haired stepson of their landlord. But soon her mother's best friend from her artist days is found murdered. Juliana can't help but notice things and this makes the murderer very nervous. The final chapters are very exciting as Juliana flees for her life. I thought that this was going to be a ghost story but there are no ghosts, just the awakening memories of a girl who couldn't remember her earlier life. I'm pretty sure that this is a single title book but I would dearly love to know what happens to Juliana and Duncan and if Juliana ever met her birth family. My copy has a different cover, by the way.
Do You like book Blackthorn Winter (2006)?
Fifteen-year-old Juliana can't imagine a place more different from her old home in California than Blackthorn, England a damp, gray colony filled with old homes and people who seem to know everyone else's business. But when she is befriended by the boy next door. Juliana begins to think living in Blackthorn may not be so bad after all. Just as her family is settling in, their new life is shaken by a grisly murder. Juliana is compelled to investigate the crime only to find that it echoes long-buried secrets from her own past. Can Juliana put all the clues together before the killer strikes again?Part of the reason why I gave this book 5 stars is because of how this book made me scared so much at a point I started to say to my sell that it us just a book and no more reading it at night. This book has got to be one of the best mystery books I've ever read. The thing about this book the it's not just the same old mystery book no, this has a love story and a killer that is coming after her. I recommend this book to people that like adventures love stories and murder mysteries.
—Talabrsn
Plot: When Juliana's family (minus dad, due to her parents trial separation) move to Blackthorn Village in England, she is forced to c confront her forgotten past when a suspicious death occurs in teh village.Why I picked it up: I'm on a committee in my library system that plans a "one county, one book" type of program for late-elementary/early middle school students. This is one of the books on our long-list. Why I kept reading: Outside of the fact I needed to read the whole book in order to make a fair assessment of it's potential for the reading program, I was drawn in by the suspense. For the most part, Reiss does a good job planting clues and suggesting suspects. This part did drag on a bit too long for my tastes, but when the mystery was solved, I admit I was taken a bit by surprise. When I finished the book, I felt like I'd been on Juliana's emotional roller coaster right along with her. It was a great ending, very satisfying.
—librarian4Him02
Fifteen-year-old Juliana can't imagine a place more different from her old home in California than Blackthorn, England - a damp, gray artists' colony filled with ancient homes and residents who seem to know everyone else's business. But when she is befriended by the handsome young man next door, Juliana begins to think living in Blackthorn may not be so bad after all. Just as her family is settling in, their new life is shaken by a grisly murder. Juliana is compelled to investigate the crime - only to find that it echoes long-buried secrets from her own mysterious past. Can Juliana put all the clues together before the killer strikes again?
—Teen