Review: Secret Letters by Leah Scheier

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 336

Received: Received from Hatchette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: June 26, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

Inquisitive and observant, Dora dreams of escaping her aristocratic country life to solve mysteries alongside Sherlock Holmes. So when she learns that the legendary detective might be her biological father, Dora jumps on the opportunity to travel to London and enlist his help in solving the mystery of her cousin's ransomed love letters. But Dora arrives in London to devastating news: Sherlock Holmes is dead. Her dreams dashed, Dora is left to rely on her wits--and the assistance of an attractive yet enigmatic young detective--to save her cousin's reputation and help rescue a kidnapped heiress along the way. 

Steeped in Victorian atmosphere and intrigue, this gripping novel heralds the arrival of a fresh new voice in young adult literature. 

My Review:

Dora wants to help her cousin find out who is blackmailing her, using old love letters, but what Dora doesn't tell her cousin is that she has her own reasons for travelling to London. While there, Dora learns that the person she wanted to see, Sherlock Holmes is dead. She turns to a different detective for help, and with that ends up with a bigger mystery to solve than she bargained for.  

I absolutely love Sherlock Holmes and any mystery books that go along with it. I am also a huge fan of the Victorian era, so when you put those two together, you get SECRET LETTERS by Leah Scheier, which was awesome and completely girpping. 

I was excited to read this book when I first heard about it because I haven't read a good YA mystery book lately. They have all been more so paranormal type books. When I first started reading this, I thought it was going to be a light book, but Scheier gets into some really dark twists with her writing. I definitely was surprised by what happened with a lot of the characters.

I really loved Dora's strength throughout the book. She has a lot of trouble with her family because they expect her to be the quiet and sweet girl, and she feels like she wants to be strong. She is odd because she notices things that normal people don't, and states it out loud (and I say she has a bit of an attitude). But my favourite character had to be that of Peter Cartwright. He's one of those guys that likes to get the girl all worked up by teasing her all the time. He was adorable and very protective of Dora, definitely my type of guy.

I really felt like I was reading a new version of a Sherlock Holmes story with SECRET LETTERS, and found that there are quite a few mentions of Holmes' stories. This is a great story for mystery lovers out there, Scheier writes some great twists that I couldn't even guess. This is a book with great characters and a great storyline.