THE WHISPERWOOD LEGACY By Jo Schulte

Dani Young 

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE WHISPERWOOD LEGACY By Jo SchulteThe Whisperwood Legacy by Jo Schulte
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 5/27/25
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 346
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
three-half-stars

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.

Short and Sweet Review

Nestled away in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains is Whisperwood Theme Park where the scenery and rides bring fairytales to life. Eighteen months ago the family matriarch Virginia shut down the park without warning. Frankie hasn’t cared too much about the park closing down and in all honesty considers it a blessing in disguise especially when she sees how the money tears her family apart. When Virginia goes missing, Frankie knows there’s secrets her family is hiding and she needs to find the truth, fortunately for Frankie she gets the help of Jem the mysterious groundskeeper.

Out of five stars I would give this book 3.5. I didn’t love it as I initially thought I would I think I went into it thinking there would be more time spent in the theme park and seeing how the fairytales came into play. The first part of the book we meet all of the family members and we can see that most of them think Virginia isn’t fit to run the park and some are even waiting for her to die so when she goes missing Frankie is concerned but others are waiting for the will to be read. The second half of the book focuses on the theme park. We get to read some of the stories and they were interesting and we saw how that played out in the park. It was interesting to see what was actually going on in the park. I will say some things would have done better off with better explanations. Frankie was a good character she was one of the characters using logic and thinking about the bigger picture and not just herself. I didn’t really care about Jem but he played a big part because he knew Virginia well and he’s Frankie’s love interest. I think I would have liked this book more if the first half and second half felt more cohesive.

Overall, this was a good book. It’s not my favorite but I can see it being a good read for others. I would check this book out if you’re into darker books with a mystery and a Grimm fairytale kind of vibe.

three-half-stars

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