Audiobook - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

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Regaled through his childhood by his grandfather's fairy tales about time spent growing up in the U.K. during WWII, Jacob of course understands that they cannot possibly be real ... right?  But when a panicked phone call leads Jacob to his grandfather's Florida retirement home just in time to witness his grandfather's death, Jacob must now sort through his own life and that of his grandfather to determine what "real" even means.  It's true that Abe's troubled WWII-era upbringing caused him a certain level of emotional close-mouthedness, but when Jacob goes the the small island where Abe grew up to seek closure, he discovers that he - and his grandfather's past - may be in more trouble than he imagined.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was my very first audiobook ever in my life!  I borrowed it from my library's eBook partner and it downloaded to an app right on my phone.  It was wonderful to be able to do things like clean, wash dishes, drive, and walk to the library while still "reading."  I am still holding out because I heard World War Z's audiobook is amazing, but this was such a great first experience with the medium!

The book itself was a lot of fun.  It took on hints of the macabre in a refreshing way, and I went in excited about the parts of the plot that I knew.  I think this book will be good for YA fantasy lovers as well as Dr. Who fans.

I will start out by saying that it did include one of my pet peeves, which is a book that ends in an obvious emotional cliffhanger in order to get you to read the sequel.  A first book should be able to stand alone!  Unless it is part of The Lord of the Rings, which was supposed to be one book anyway.

That being said, I am a real sucker for anything that has WWII tie-ins.  German/East European magical realism that sprung from WWII is my jam, as are nonfiction books about WWII (just checked out The Monuments Men), so I got into the aspects of the book affected by its placement, at least part of the time, in September of 1940.

The book's writing was not as strong as I would have wanted it to be.  It was written in the voice of a 16-year-old kid, so I suppose you could make the argument that it's well-written for this kind of narrator.  Some of the slang and reactionary moments were a little hokey for me, though, as a result of this minor shortcoming.

I would recommend reading this one despite the caveats made above, and I bet it would be faster if you're not listening to it - a good weekend or getaway read.  I will be picking up the second in the series for sure! (Drat, Riggs, you win this one!)