Monday, November 24, 2014

Book Review: Return to Canterbury by Melissa Ann Goodwin

Return to Canterbury
By Melissa Goodwin
Publisher: Melissa Goodwin
Published: Dec. 17, 2013
ASIN: B00HMA1TZ6

Melissa is running a Kindle Countdown promotion for Return to Canterbury 11/24 through 11/30.

From 11/24 - 11/26 Return to Canterbury will be 99 cents.
From 11/27 to 11/30 Return to Canterbury  will be $1.99.

Amazon Synopsis:

Age Level: 8 - 13 | Grade Level: 3 - 7
RETURN TO CANTERBURY is the highly anticipated sequel to The Christmas Village, winner of the 2013 Blogger Book Fair Award for Children's Action/Adventure.

Things have settled down for thirteen-year-old Jamie Reynolds since last Christmas. That’s when he time-traveled to 1932 and wound up in the town of Canterbury, Vermont. There he met Kelly and Christopher Pennysworth, who quickly became his best friends.


Back in his own time again, he misses them every day. But as the July 4th, 2008 holiday approaches, the biggest black cloud still hovering over Jamie’s life is the mystery of what happened to his dad, who has been missing for almost a year. Little does Jamie know that he will soon reunite with Kelly and Christopher for an adventure even bigger than their last.

Together they’ll uncover a secret plot that threatens to destroy Canterbury. But will they be able to stop it before it’s too late? And will Jamie finally solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance? Return to Canterbury with us and find out! 

Book Links

My Thoughts:                       

It had been a little over six months since Jamie had come back from Canterbury the first time at Christmas last year and now he was on his way to visit Kelly and Emilie again with his mom. But it was strange for him as he was 13 years old and Kelly was 86. When he’d traveled back in time to1932 in Canterbury at Christmas he’d been 12 and Kelly had been 10.

As Kelly and Emilie shared pictures of the 1935 July 4 Canterbury celebration with Jamie, he is shocked to see a familiar face – his father’s! No wonder they haven’t heard from him since he disappeared. Jamie recognizes that he has to figure out a way to get to Canterbury, find his dad and bring him home!

Return to Canterbury was a delightful sequel to The Christmas Village. It brings a great conclusion to the issue between Jamie, his mother and dad and solves the mystery of what happened when he disappeared.

When Jamie travels back to Canterbury this time, he is involved in another mystery that needs solving. Can he, Kelly and Chris solve the mystery before it’s too late?
I liked the way the author used the ingenious minds of these youngsters to interfere with the plans of the adults. It’s a bit reminiscent of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.

The depth of the characters continues to develop throughout the story. By the end of the story the characters all feel like good friends.

I thought that Return to Canterbury was an excellent read for middle school students. I gave it a rating of 5 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion is not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Melissa Ann Goodwin grew up in Andover, MA, where she spent a happy childhood living in her imagination and writing stories in her head. It was only a matter of time before those stories spilled out onto the written page. The Christmas Village and its sequel, Return to Canterbury, are the culmination of a lifelong dream to write the sort of books that she loved to read as a child.

Goodwin has been published extensively in children’s and national magazines and won a top award for her poetry in the 2010 Writer's Digest National Poetry Competition. Her first book, The Christmas Village, won the 2013 Book Blogger Fair Award for Action/Adventure.

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