Return to Ghost Hotel by Larry Weinberg

Ghost Hotel #2

by Larry Weinberg

Anna returns to the present with Rafe, a young escaped slave from the 1850s, but the two are forced to return to the past to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Rafe's mother.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

Paperback

Reviews

[Allison Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this series because of the nostalgia factor and the fact that it's a children's story about the underground railroad enticed me. The first book, Ghost Hotel was just alright in my opinion but it did set the story for this second book. The covers are unrelated to anything in the books, are purely made to attract kids who like scary books.

In Return to Ghost Hotel Rafe is struggling to adapt to life in the present (early 1990s) after traveling from the pre-civil war past with Hanna/Anna. He misses his mother, Mother Freedom a freed former slave who helped many freedom seekers escape from slavery in the south via the underground railroad. Rafe wonders if his mother really was killed the night he traveled to the present or if she could possibly be alive. He's willing to travel back in time to find out or to try and change his mother's fate.

I found the characters in this story more interesting and the story easier to follow and get into. I think there is enough flash backs and recaps that you wouldn't need to read the first book before reading this one.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember really enjoying the first book of this trilogy as a kid, but I did not know there were follow up books until now. I re-read Ghost Hotel before reading this and I still wasn't a huge fan of it.

The ending felt cheap, almost like the first book didn't really matter. It could also be that I wasn't the intended audience anymore and missed out on being able to really relate to Rafe.

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I had nothing to read for a while, I picked this book off my bookshelf. I love mystery books and horror I thought this would be a great choice. There are three books: Ghost Hotel, Return to Ghost Hotel, and Escape from Ghost Hotel. In this one, a girl named Anna visits this old mansion, known as the Ghost Hotel. She is transported into 1850 to help an escaped slave, Rafe. They are forced to unravel the mystery of his mother. Was she killed or did she escape? To find out, read this book. This story teaches a lot about family and slavery.

[Shadow Jubilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the first book as a child and loved it. I had been looking for years to read the sequel, and found it almost 20 years later. I wish that I'd been able to read this when I was younger. I couldn't sink into the story.

[Candide · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending was really predictable and I didn't like it so much but it was still an okay book to read.

[Harold Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly entertaining.