Three teenagers work together to solve the mystery of a haunted house in Alex Crespo's chillingly atmospheric yet heartfelt YA horror/romance debut, Saint Juniper's Folly.
Saint Juniper is a small town in Vermont, bordered by Saint Juniper's Folly, "a massive, yawning valley" with woods that are rumored to be haunted. Seventeen-year-old, "pale blue-green"-eyed Theo feels stifled by life in dull Saint Juniper. While attempting to take a driving shortcut through the valley, Theo hears a scream. He follows the sound and finds an olive-skinned boy trapped inside an abandoned house--Jaime, a foster kid, fled his latest home only to become imprisoned by a malevolent spirit. Theo seeks assistance from Taylor, "a true-blue ancestral witch," who believes that Saint Juniper's Folly holds answers about the mysterious death of her witch mother. She agrees to help Jaime, and the three teens gradually unravel the mysteries of the house's history, realizing the key to stopping the haunting may lie in their own painful pasts.
The vividly drawn features of Saint Juniper's Folly create a suspenseful, unsettling atmosphere, but the chills and frights are interspersed with moments of levity and warmth, such as Theo and Jaime's flirtatious bickering or Taylor and Jaime's burgeoning friendship, as they bond over being Latino in a predominantly white town. Crespo uses the conventions of a ghost story to explore the impact of generational trauma on families and communities, with protagonists who are haunted by the shortcomings of adults. Theo, Taylor, and Jaime cannot undo their parents' decisions, but they can address the harms of the past and create a better future for themselves. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer